#standalone mobile design

[gremoria411]

How to get into Gundam

Because fuck it, I was gonna do one of these sooner or later anyway.

So you want to know what this Gundam thing’s about, maybe you like the mecha design, maybe you caught part of an episode one time and want to catch up, or maybe you saw a nice piece of Chamuro fanart and want to go to the source.

But there’s so many shows and timelines that it can be quite daunting on first look, so this guide is intended to give a rough overview.

I would however like to stress two four things beforehand however:

This guide is not intended as “The One True Way” or anything. There’s no harm it coming into it a different way, and these are only my own opinions.

There’s nothing stopping you from just watching one show and leaving it there. You don’t have to watch every single show going, even I’ve only seen most of these, not all. Gundam typically has variations on similar themes - it’s very nice watching multiple shows because they complement one another, but it’s not necessarily required.

I am very much an insider looking out here, so let me know if there’s any details I’ve missed.

I’m not gonna recommend these on a “if you like X, then watch Y basis”, mostly because I don’t personally find genre recommendations helpful, so I’d recommend picking based on promotional material (vibes, if you will).

I’ll be using this chart, supplied by the excellent@l-crimson-l, to illustrate everything.

Gundam as a whole can principally be divided into three sections: Universal Century (or UC), the Alternate Universes (AU’s) and the Build Series.

The AU’s are below the light blue line, near the bottom of the Chart, the Build Series is within the bright green line at the top-right corner of the chart and UC is the big line in the middle. We’ll talk about each of them individually.

The AU’s

The Alternate Universes were conceived as a way to get away from the continuity-heavy nature of Universal Century and provide an easy jumping-on point for new fans. The AU’s are standalone and require no prior knowledge, and are thus an excellent place to start. Honestly, I’d recommend quickly searching some promotional materials (like posters) and just going with the one you find most appealing based on that. They are (in production order):

Mobile Fighter G Gundam (1994)

New Mobile Report Gundam Wing (1995)

After War Gundam X (1996)

Turn A Gundam (1999)

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (2002)

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (2007)

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE (2011)

Gundam: Reconguista in G (2014)

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans (2015)

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury (2022)

There’s side series and movies and other things besides, but these are the mainline shows, if you will. I have specific notes on a few of them:

Witch From Mercury - It’s of a shorter length than is usual for mainline shows, so consequently it’s a much smaller time investment than the others.

Mobile Fighter G Gundam - While undeniably rad as hell, I would recommend watching another AU first. G Gundam differs from its stablemates in a few key areas, and I find it helps to have a contrast to fully appreciate those differences.

Gundam AGE - is probably the only one I wouldn’t recommend. I didn’t like the art style and the technical explanations just got on my nerves, so I stopped watching.

Turn A and G-Reconguista are technically part of UC as well, but it’s not really crucial information so don’t feel like you have to watch UC first (I’m only including this detail for completionism).

I’ve found all the AU’s I’ve seen to be pretty good, so I’d say that which one you start with really just comes down to personal taste.

The Build Series

Is just kind of doing its own thing. The Build series is basically Buy Our Toys: the series. It’s got a far lighter tone, and I’ve had cause to compare it to pokemon prior. It’s also chock full of references and in-jokes to the other series.

Build Fighters and Build Fighters Try are the ones I’d recommend - they’ve got actual stakes and the fight scenes are really good.

Build Divers and Build Divers Re:rise I can’t recommend - I just find Build Divers aggressively boring. Build Divers Re:Rise is just okay - neither standout good or particularly bad. Its main flaw is that it’s a sequel to Build Divers.

The OVA’s are pretty much bad across the board - I’d particularly recommend avoiding Gundam Build Metaverse.

Universal Century

Universal Century is the big main timeline of Gundam, and is the timeline the original Mobile Suit Gundam from 1979 takes place in. There’s a tendency among certain fans to place UC as the one-above-all of Gundam, but I wouldn’t really go that far. It’s all pretty good, but I wouldnt really say one timeline is better than another (save personal preference, anyway).

Because UC is so big, it can be subdivided a couple times. The primary division is “Mainline” UC versus everything else. Basically there’s four-five shows in Universal Century from which everything else flows. As long as you know roughly what happens in these shows, then you can watch basically anything else in UC and have a good idea of what’s going on. These are (in order):

Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) - sometimes called Mobile Suit Gundam 0079.

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985)

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (1986)

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack (1988)

With Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (2010) as a nominal fifth (honestly I feel like you could argue either way).

The rest of the shows are:

Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (1989 Three-Episode OVA)

Mobile Suit Gundam F91 (1991 Movie)

Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory (1991 Thirteen-episode OVA)

Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (1993)

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team (1999 Twelve-episode OVA)

G-Saviour (2000 Live Action Movie) - nobody ever talks about or acknowledges this one, it’s just here for completionism.

Mobile Suit Gundam MS Igloo (2004-2009 Three OVA’s with three Episodes each)

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (2015 Six-Episode OVA, adapted from the Manga of the same name)

Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt (2015 Eight-Episode Series, adapted from the Manga of the same name)

Mobile Suit Gundam: Twilight Axis (2017 episode, adapted from a light novel of the same name. Later rereleased as Gundam Twilight Axis Red Trace, with additional footage)

Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative (2018 sequel movie to Gundam Unicorn)

Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway (2021 ongoing movie series, very much adapted from the novel Hathaway’s Flash)

Most of the other series relate to events in the aforementioned “mainline” shows in some way, but a lot of the sidestories set during the One Year War require very little introduction (Thunderbolt, 0080 and 08th MS Team). Similarly, works set in “Late UC” (F91 and Victory Gundam) carry on from the other series thematically but don’t have any plot connections, so they can all be watched without any background knowledge of the rest of the Universal Century.

Compilation Movies

Just a quick note here - many of the Gundam series have compilation movies, where either a whole series or part of one are compressed down into a movie. While each movie compares differently, they usually boil down to this: Compilation Movies usually have worse pacing, but really nice animation.

One of the great things about Gundam is that different shows offer variations on themes, so seeing how different characters react to similar situations, or how different settings change their approaches can make it incredibly rewarding.

I haven’t seen enough of SD Gundam to make any sort of recommendations there, and Manga is something I might touch on another day.

EDIT: Oh hey also: You can watch a good chunk of these on YouTube, for free, officially. The Official Gundam.Info YouTube channel rotates the series shown on its channel periodically. I think it’s got F91 and SEED on there currently? But it’s had Wing, 00 and Witch From Mercury before. Also all of the Build Fighters series are there.

So yeah, that’s a thing.

[survivalove]

Air Temple Island, the Water Tribes & the Real Life Influences that bring them together

I was gonna screenshot a post I saw and add it to my post but I don’t feel like giving that individual attention (and the 300+ notes they got), so I just decided to make my own standalone post debunking this narrative that air temple island is this fully air nomad brothel (yes they said this) with ZERO water tribe motifs which katara is forced to live in until aang passed away.

frankly it just reminded me of how little people in this fandom actually bother to analyze the actual content, instead preferring to write entirely made up scenarios of katara being reduced to an air nomad incubator along with dozens other female acolytes (yes they also said this lmao. also them acting like both male AND female acolytes weren’t living on the whole other side of the island 😭)

when in truth, i’ve come to find a lot of elements of both water tribes as well as traditional inuit elements across air temple island:

1. the paifang

a traditionally chinese element that for some reason is exclusively found in the northern water tribe (why do they have a gate inside a throne room, you ask? ask the white people that made this show). the one on the left is actually one of two aang BUILT, at the main entrance and another at the temple entrance. this is just one example of water tribe design on the island.

2. the bagua mosaic

another structure is the bagua mosaic on the training grounds. bagua is a set of traditional chinese symbols of the cosmology, taoism. the bagua composes of 8 sets of broken or unbroken lines that represent yin and yang. where have we seen yin and yang in the original series? oh yeah, as tui and la of the water tribe! (because atla is a mess of asiatic and indigenous motifs joined together and spread out across each nation, mainly traditionally chinese elements at that.) aang building this right next to the air nomad training grounds is a symbol of the dual bending heritage their children will have.

3. gold and blue accents

now, gold and blue are the main colors of the exterior structures but is also very strong inside the air temple itself. note, the massive air nomad symbol designed fully in blue in the center and the blue banners and rugs throughout the temple. this is no doubt, for me, a visual depiction of both katara and aang’s representative cultures, but of course this is not limited to color only.

4. cloud carvings

now, this is a slight detour since clouds aren’t a significant part of either of their individual cultures (that we know) but i love the kataang monopoly they have on clouds as a couple so i’m talking about it. if you look at these images very closely what do you see? CLOUD CARVINGS!! specifically near the ceiling of the pavilion (left) and the arches and walls of the temple (right) just imagining aang painting and etching these very consistent swirls, like he’ll never be the selfish inconsiderate unromantic loser you people want him to be, but let’s get more into the southern water tribe style interior.

5. interior design

so here is a southern water tribe white lotus outpost vs the air temple island main dining room. first thing, the seat cushions and rug! while we don’t see air nomad eating quarters we do get to see enough SWT customs both in atla and lok, to know this is how they traditionally eat compared to the north (limiting myself on pics cuz mobile).

another thing is the dining table itself. both have what i believe to be built in fire pits (i couldn’t actually tell for the air temple island one cuz of the quality but if you zoom in you can see the lines go in the table plus the hanging kettle on it makes it obvious to me idk). the southern water tribe one however is clear and likely a more traditional version of what aang and katara have.

thirdly, the exposed timber on the ceiling. i actually looked it up and found this is a common element of these two inuit structures: left is an aasiaat peat house and right is an igloolik turf house. all this for me to believe not only did aang build air temple island to be a haven for the TWO of them but also that katara herself had a lot of input on the interior than people care to notice lol.

maybe instead of projecting these loser fantasies of katara being some unwilling air nomad baby making machine so you can feel better about your fantasies of katara living in a red palace with people that tried to wipe her out for a whole century, you all can go study the actual canon you were shown and the real life cultures the franchise takes from.

6. lastly, some of my own headcanons/stuff i want to see in the movie

the bathroom because I LIVE for a white marble tiled bathroom. i just know katara has to have a HUGE tub and they have one of those insane glass showers that can fit like 3 people, with cloud swirls everywhere because aang clearly got it like that

the KITCHEN, i imagine it being timber like the dining room and is probably on the other side behind the built-in shelf (get into the details like hello). in a perfect world, it would be open plan but hey

the bedroom, now we saw it in lok a bit but i wanna see it in the gaang movie too. i’m on pic limit but there’s a lot of artwork and flowers throughout the whole house which i give katara credit for because I can. like the desk, the bookshelf, that fancy looking vase thing? these two clearly have taste like don’t talk to me rn

I also didn’t show the rooms and aang’s study but there’s a lot of blue decor in those places which makes me think katara decorated the whole house, even the acolytes’ hall has blue sitting cushions and columns which i think is such a nice detail.

if you guys have any air temple island headcanons of your own please reply with some i’m feening lol

big shoutout to this user:

atla-annotated (their page is so great and filled with a lot of incredible information if you guys like this sort of stuff)

[if-whats-new]

~ SMALL TALK… ISSUE 1 (2025) ~

> WITH HARRIS POWELL-SMITH @hpowellsmith

BY BRIAR AND PETER

Joining us is an award-winning narrative designer and writer: Harris Powell-Smith! Author of the Crème de la Crème series, “Blood Money” and many more!

⟶ Hello, Harris! Welcome to Small Talk. We are absolutely thrilled to have you here with us! Before we officially begin, would you mind sharing with us a bit about yourself?

Hi! I'm a narrative designer and game writer who's worked on a few indie and mobile games including the multiplayer King of the Castle and the mobile Love Island tie-in game. Currently I'm freelancing and mostly creating choose-your-path text games with Choice of Games, which I've now been doing for eight years.

I'm most known for my dark academia Crème de la Crème series, and most recently released Honor Bound, the fourth standalone game in the series!

⟶ Now, onto the questions! Can you tell us how you started your IF writing journey?)

My very first experience with interactive writing was as a teenager, making NPC mods for Baldur's Gate 2 with my then-girlfriend, now-wife. Along with being a lot of fun, doing that gave me an understanding of branching dialogue, conditional text, and scripting, as well as how to playtest effectively, take feedback, and tailoring dialogue to fit within an existing game.

Then life happened and I didn't do much of that kind of writing until ten years ago, when I learned about Twine and started making games using it. That led me to publishing IF with the now-defunct sub-Q Magazine which was a great initiative that paid well for interactive fiction. From there I revisited Choice of Games which I'd played a bit previously, started publishing with them, and then began doing other work in the games industry.

⟶ Looking back, is there anything you wish you knew before starting IF writing?

Scope creep is a massive thing, and it's important to try to mitigate it where possible when planning and while writing. But... although I'm great at working within restrictions that other people put on me, I have a tendency to spread past most restrictions I put on myself, like a large cat overflowing over the edges of a small box. My CoG game Noblesse Oblige, the one in which I kept the closest eye on word count, ended up 40,000 words longer than I originally intended. Honor Bound, which I intended to be shorter than my previous game Royal Affairs, is over 100,000 words longer. So I haven't really internalised that advice for myself!

⟶ You started your journey into IF games with Twine. Was there a particular reason for that. Was it largely due to the loss of sub-Q Magazine? And what led you to try out CScript after?

Heh, it's more that with my Choice of Games titles, I have more freedom than I have with other projects so I have more leeway to go bigger with it!

I learned about various IF communities around the time that my friend Maz Hamilton made their Twine game Detritus in 2013. I felt inspired by playing lots of Twine games, decided to learn myself and made my first game, Aquarium! I liked that I didn't have to be a programmer to understand and use it, and that I could play around with lots of reactivity to the player's actions.

Alongside that, I rediscovered Choice of Games and got very into their catalogue. I learned ChoiceScript - again, I appreciated that it was beginner-friendly with potential for more complexity if I wanted it - and started three or so games which didn't go anywhere. But when sub-Q Magazine contacted me to ask about reprinting one of my Twine games it was very exciting to hear that people would pay me for my writing!

After publishing more IF with sub-Q, I applied to write for Choice of Games and went from there. That said, though, I carried on making games with other engines like Twine, Raconteur (which I don't know if many others have done!), Texture, and ink, plus various in-house studio's engines. So although I'm mostly working with ChoiceScript right now (which I love!), there's always been a lot of overlap. There are advantages to different tools for different kinds of projects!

⟶ You’ve written quite a few academia inspired IF games. Is this a genre you’re a big fan of? Is there a genre you’re looking forward to trying next?

Yes, I've enjoyed a lot of books in academic settings, including in boarding schools, ever since I was little! In adult life, I especially enjoyed Laurinda by Alice Pung, Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark, and The Secret History by Donna Tartt. And when I'm writing, I enjoy putting player characters in situations where they have rules guiding them (whether that's school, social etiquette, a workplace, family obligations, a reality TV show, etc...) and they can work within those rules or push against them. I also like exploring the gaps and tensions between work/school and the outside world. Plus schools are a hothouse of intense emotions and boarding schools have everyone living in each other's pockets - making them great places for drama to ensue!

⟶ Honour Bound just came out recently, congratulations! Even if it’s not your first project, it must be quite exciting. Any post-release thoughts you would like to share with us?

Thank you so much! Releasing a title never gets old, so I've been very excited (and nervous) around this time. For people who don't know Honor Bound, in it you play as a disgraced, injured military officer who's been reassigned to guard a teenage prodigy at a wilderness boarding school for the children of the rich and famous. You can recover or trash your health, career, and reputation, and befriend, romance, or backstab your colleagues, and thwart or enact shady schemes.

I love Honor Bound and I'm really proud of it! It was really fun to write from the perspective of an adult in the Crème de la Crème setting and explore another part of the world. The small town and school in which Honor Bound is set feel like real places to me that I'd love to visit, and I really fell in love with the characters - the PC as well as the NPCs. The PC can develop such different personalities and go down different paths and I'm delighted to be hearing about people's adventures.

I learned a huge amount from writing Honor Bound and developed a lot of skills doing it. I'm a little sad to leave it behind, but excited for what I'm doing next!

⟶ Besides Honour Bound and your other amazing creations in the Crème de la Crème universe, there are also shorts available on your Itch.io page. Did you always plan on making several games or did that idea come later?

Haha, I wasn't really planning anything when I first started writing IF! I was just experimenting and writing things that I enjoyed making and that I thought I'd enjoy playing, and learning different things that IF tools could do along the way.

I certainly didn't think I'd be doing this as a job ten years on! (I do very much recommend starting with shorter pieces when learning new tools/languages - it's much easier to get something finished that way, and I learn something with every project I complete.)

⟶ What’s your process of deciding how many choices the readers get? That’s something many have a tad bit trouble finalizing.

It depends a lot on the kind of game and scene it is. I like using the choices available to show something about the PC's state of mind and priorities, as well as inviting the player to choose what actions they want to take. It helps with setting different tones a lot! think a lot about what the effects of the choice are, whether it splits into major or minor branches, has mechanical effects, or is self-expressive for the PC, etc.

In my Choice of Games games, and with some of the other games I've worked on, there have been style requirements to always have at least three choices. With CoG work I usually write more like four or five because I like the variety. I tend to lean towards 3-5 even if I'm just writing something for myself, depending on the kind of scene and set of options... but there are always exceptions. Having two choices or even one can be effective too!

⟶ How do you deal with the complexity of branching narratives? Are there moments when you feel frustrated?

I plan it out in quite a lot of detail in advance - if I try to code and write at the same time, I get bogged down. I can still change things up and make discoveries as I do each type of work, but it helps me not go down as many rabbit-holes as I would if I didn't plan...

That said, frustration can definitely happen when I've planned something more complicated than I intended and I feel tied to it, or when I go down a path a little too long before realising I need to change something. Both those things can be mitigated with experience, planning, and clear intentions, but it tends to happen at some stage no matter how many games I make - it's in the nature of it!

⟶ How do you get inspired? It’s different for everyone, but we are curious about your inspiration process—after all, a good story comes into being from the first spark, correct?

I get inspired by all kinds of things! Sometimes from games, books, film, or TV that I've enjoyed - or didn't enjoy as much as I hoped, or that I'd like to explore myself from a different angle. Sometimes from art, technology, nature, current and historical events, scientific facts and developments, or something that happened in a TTRPG session. Often, something will sit in my mind for a long time before I use it for something. For my first CoG game, Blood Money, I liked the idea of magic powered by blood because I wanted it to be harmful to the person using it; various pieces of folklore and myth include ghosts being attracted to blood, so putting that together helped me think of the magic mechanics. For Crème de la Crème, I liked the idea of writing a mostly non-violent game, as Blood Money was very violent, that still had high stakes; I'd also been wanting to write a school story for some time as I enjoyed that kind of setting. I love the process of developing a PC, mechanics, and goals from an initial set of nebulous thoughts.

The big thing, I think, is that I try to be open to a wide variety of ideas and inspiration, and not to limit myself. Taking inspiration purely from one area - whether that's the type of media being read or played, or the genre, or tone - means missing out on a lot of richness and texture. So I always recommend that people who want to start writing IF explore a lot of different kinds of writing and games. (Really that's good advice no matter how long you've been writing!)

⟶ What about writer’s block? Many people suffer from it. How do you deal with your creative block?

The vast majority of the times I have trouble writing, it's because of outside factors - life stuff, stress, health, etc. So in those circumstances, my being blocked means I need to pay attention to those factors to avoid burnout. Trying to power through causes problems, so rest and protecting my health are what I try to do then.

The rest of the time is usually due to me trying to push through a scene that doesn't feel strong enough, or doesn't feel true to the characters involved, or doesn't quite work for some other reason. The "block" is a signal that I need to change something. When that happens, talking to someone is my first port of call. Sometimes just talking it out (like "rubber ducking") is enough for me to recognise what that change needs to be; sometimes it involves a more in-depth discussion. Either way, it always helps untangle things and put me back on the right track.

⟶ How do you create characters that a player can connect with? And characters that feel real?

I like creating characters with specificity. They might start with a general feel or inspiration - in Honor Bound, for example, I knew I wanted the parent of the PC's teenage charge to be a single parent who was a romanceable character. But it's important to me to quickly drill into the details of what makes them feel authentic and specific. Great characters are more than what players want them to do, or being a vehicle for a trope, or attractiveness.

The characters I love best are the ones who feel like they have their own minds, while being responsive to the player's actions. When writing IF, there's a great opportunity to invite players to engage directly with characters, and that responsiveness is what makes them feel real.

⟶ For you, has there ever been a moment when you felt a deep connection to a character(s) you wrote?

I feel that a lot! Pretty much whenever I'm writing. For some particular moments, though... the PC eavesdropping on a conversation between Hartmann or Delacroix with their parents in Crème de la Crème; Pascha climbing on rocks at the beach in Noblesse Oblige; Hyacinthe talking about success and failure in Royal Affairs; Savarel talking about burnout in Honor Bound.

I feel a particular connection with the Honor Bound PC - partly because they're the most recent PC that I wrote, and partly because there's a lot of self-expression that the player can do and explore. I really enjoyed giving players the chance to personalise their PC's life and to write responsively to it.

⟶ Do you have a character that you think is slightly difficult to write as compared to the others?

Characters whom the PC already knows well can be challenging because of the knowledge/familiarity gap between the PC and the player. A lot of the family members in Blood Money were like this; the PC's family and their guard Asher in Royal Affairs; the PC's old friend Denario and the PC's mentor, Alva, in Honor Bound.

Asher in Royal Affairs was especially difficult because at least the PC hasn't seen Denario for a number of years! But with Asher, they've been in close proximity for many years before the start of the game and it would have been easy for interactions to lean too hard on assumed past feelings or experiences. So it was a juggling act making interactions feel fresh with them while keeping a sense of familiarity and giving options for the PC not to want to hang out with them!

⟶ Is there a character whose backstory was the most fun to write? Why?

I enjoy writing characters who don't want to talk about their backstories, so the process of finding out more about them can be an emotional experience in itself. Honor Bound is very fresh in my mind and I'm feeling very affectionate towards the characters in it at the moment so I'd say Korzha the aloof teacher, Fiore the anxious scientist, and Savarel the thoughtful workaholic priest... For various reasons, they aren't immediately forthcoming about things in their life and history, and it was fun writing the points at which the PC can discover that and get to know them better.

⟶ Would you choose a happy ending or sad one? Why?

The joy of writing games is that I don't have to choose a single ending. Sometimes the endings have similar tones - some of my Twine games have bleak endings, like Heretic Dreams or Thanksgiving. But sometimes they can vary a lot more and I love exploring that! I do enjoy making sure that a less successful, or sad, ending has a lot of emotion in it, to make it feel worth playing.

For playing... I have a lot of fondness for endings that allow me to have ambivalent or bittersweet situations. When I played Love Undying: A Kiss Before Dawn and Stars Arisen, or indeed the non-IF game Pathologic 2 this year, I didn't have "perfect" endings but they were very satisfying and reflected where my character was at. So things don't always have to go my PC's way to end on a note that feels good.

⟶ Just recently you officially announced a new project. Could you tell us more about it? What can we be excited about?

Ooh, I will keep most of it under wraps for the moment! But for now I will say... it's a second-world fantasy game, there's a great deal of peril, a lot of creepy magic, and a selection of intense and complicated characters who I can't wait to write!

⟶ How would the person you were when you started this journey react to how far you've gotten?

Oh gosh! Honestly, ten years ago I couldn't have imagined that I'd still be putting my work out there at all, still less that people would pay for it or that it could possibly be my job. Life was so different then as well in any number of ways! I think they'd be shocked and intrigued, and wonder how it happened. Which is how I feel sometimes myself, haha!

⟶ Do you have any advice for people who want to get into IF writing?

Experiment with short or simple writing first, and try different styles to figure out what you do and don't like, and don't expect to write something perfect on the first try. Play lots of different kinds of games. Have a solid sense of what your intention is, while also taking feedback into consideration. And most of all, enjoy yourself!

ONCE AGAIN BIG THANKS TO HARRIS POWELL-SMITH FOR SITTING WITH US!

IT WAS LOVELY TO HAVE YOU!

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Fujitsumon

Debut: Digimon Pendulum 2.0 Deep Savers (kind of. It's a little complicated. But don't worry about that)

Fujitsumon is a darling little eyes-in-a-void barnacle! With their brown exteriors, they really do bring to mind Jawas, world-renowned eyes-in-a-void creature. This is a rare design choice for a barnacle, and a barnacle is a rare creature inspiration choice! Too rare! They are such incredible and fascinating animals, and should absolutely be represented as such, and not just background decorations!

Fujitsumon is essentially a Digimon by technicality, an accessory of a creature, and I'm fine with that. They're acknowledged as creatures, and that's enough for me! They're almost always seen attached to the surface of another creature, and that sure is barnacle of them!

This is their host, Octomon! Or Octmon, if you don't like the dub name, but I think Octomon sounds better. Octomon wears a clay pot on its head, and Fujitsumon live on top of that! This is a smart setup. If I lived underwater I would love to wear a hat that some barnacle friends of mine could live on! Fujitsumon and Octomon have a mutualistic relationship going on, where the barnacles will sense danger, and warn the octopus of it, getting the whole group out of danger!

The reason I wasn't so sure about Fujitsumon's debut is that in Deep Savers, Octomon's sprite looks like this, not nearly detailed enough to even depict some barnacles! However, it does seem like the official art was made around this time, so I might as well consider this Fujitsumon's debut too.

There isn't much to Fujitsumon, but I love it! It's cute, it's a barnacle, and it's almost a "secret" creature, and that makes it, dare I say, even more fun than if it was a standalone obtainable Digimon! A charming little oddity in the digital world.

That's what I thought until I found out this little barnacle has a whole dedicated ANIME EPISODE! YEEHAW! This is the best barnacle-related cartoon episode I've ever seen! Better than SpongeBob SquarePants episode 164a Barnacle Face! Why, even better than Benny the Barnacle (2022)! Can you believe it? Better than Benny the Barnacle? I can.

In this episode of Digimon Ghost Game, the human protagonist is tormented by premonitions of disasters occurring to everyone around him, revealed to be caused by a Fujitsumon settled on his head. A land mammal is no place for a barnacle! Wouldn't it be crazy if you could go to the beach and leave with a barnacle settled on your fingernail? What would you even do? I would probably feel obligated to dip my finger into the ocean regularly to let it filter-feed. If only we had air plankton!

This Fujitsumon, as well as others that are affecting other humans, come from one particular Octomon, who got so angry at his barnacles that they Left. These are no real-life, cemented-in-place-for-the-rest-of-their-lives barnacles! They can just get up and leave if they're bothered. I bet real barnacles wish they could do that! It would be so embarrassing to end up settled right next to a turtle's... hehe... I shan't say...!

Octomon's petty outburst was over his magic brain barnacles not using their clairvoyance to help him win at a mobile game. Now, because of his Gamer Moment, there are Fujitsumon stuck directly to peoples' heads, which can cause these heads to explode. Maybe he should have just played a good mobile game, like Pico Pets Puzzle! *high fives someone offscreen*

Don't worry! Everything's ok in the end, like it always is with invertebrate friends! Octomon apologizes, the lead Fujitsumon gathers the whole crusty crew, and everything is fine except for the physical damage that has already been done, but don't worry! The virtual invertebrates are all friends again! Squishy or chitinous, none of us have spines, and that's what matters!

If you know of any obscure barnacles in media, please let me know in the notes! And until the next high tide, remember to close your armored plates to prevent dessication!

[wannaeatramyeon]

Word quantity: high. Word quality: low. You have been warned.

Goo Kim x Reader: School Days with Princess & the Delinquent

Epilogue - can be read as a standalone?!

Index: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Epilogue

A few months later-

For someone that prefers their skin to be flawless and smooth, Goo is awfully fascinated with yours. His hands constantly wander, tracing over your blemishes and imperfections.

"Hmm, I like your skin," his fingers run along your ribcage, taking his time, as if he's counting each one.

"What, to wear?" you ask him one evening, after he spent far too long pouring over your body.

He looks up from caressing a freckle on your hip and chuckles. 

Well, that's comforting.

“Are you still mad, Princess?”

Damn this guy. He knows to pick his battles with you at your weakest. When you’ve spent the whole day in bed together, him drawing constant moans and whimpers from your lips until your mind is completely blank and your whole body is quivering.

Well. What does he think? 

To be honest, after the shine of your reunion and your kiss had worn off, you had been filled with rage. Honestly, you never would have thought you would see a delinquent such as Goo Kim cower because of you.

It took weeks, months of work. Of peaks and troughs to get over the way he treated you. How he heartlessly ghosted you and tossed you aside and then reappeared in your life again as if that was fine.

Goo learnt the consequences to his actions, hated every moment, and had some eye opening lessons. 

So no. You’re not mad anymore. Although-

“What if I still am?”

Your boyfriend grins at you with an insatiable hunger, ready to make you black out from pleasure.

.

.

Late nights are usual for Goo. He often comes home to find you fast asleep on his side of the bed, burying yourself in his scent like a safety blanket.

Tonight, while he undresses, the moonlight peeps through the gap in the curtains and illuminates your face.

Even seeing you lifts his spirits.

Especially tonight, as unfortunately, it also highlights your drool. 

He laughs to himself, swiping it away with his hand, you stirring in your sleep when he does so.

A little gesture, that is really quite ordinary and meaningless but so desperately intimate is how the realisation comes crashing down on Goo that he is deeply in love with you.

That even as he felt his feelings blossoming, he never really managed to put the words to it until now.

How, before you, he never thought he would be someone that could fall in love but now there is no denying it. 

Love is the only way to describe how he feels about you.

.

.

And another few months later-

Goo waits outside a small cafe, leaning against his eye-wateringly expensive car and fiddling with his phone.

A handsome blonde in a designer suit catches the eyes of many but he ignores them all, fixated on the mobile game. 

And actually, a very happily taken man.

Knowing these pretenders would never be able to keep up with him. Not like you do.

He senses your presence before anything else, and looks up to catch you waving goodbye to your college study group.

As soon as you’re alone, you slump. The weariness of the day taking its toll on you; the demanding pace of your prestigious university course maybe being a bit too much.

Goo waits for you to spot him and it doesn’t take long. As soon your eyes meet, your face transforms, lighting up and your smile is brighter than the sun.

“Let’s go home hmm, Princess?”

.

.

“And this is the partner that I don’t hate,” Goo smirks, gesturing at you and happy with his backhanded words.

Gun doesn’t say anything, just studies you from the other side of the counter as you bag up their purchases.

“Hi,” you say, then look to your boyfriend for an introduction.

He flaps his hand in your direction, “He’s a nobody. Don’t worry about it.”

“Gun Park,” the other man says, letting the insult slide off him and extending his hand out.

This Gun is intense, matching that of your boyfriend, just in very different ways. But luckily, you may be the best person on earth to handle Goo Kim. You’re sure you can handle Gun Park too.

Not flinching from his black eyes, you hold his gaze as you reach out and shake his hand. Firm grip, brief, professional.

When they both leave, Goo blows you a kiss and Gun gives you a small nod.

You tilt your head at the dark haired man. Something about that nod feels like him approving of you.

.

.

And a lot more than a few months later-

Goo staggers in, reeking of alcohol, loud and headache-inducing.

“This is your problem now.” Gun dumps him in the doorway and leaves without a second glance.

“Huh?” Goo looks around, glasses askew, trying to place exactly where the fuck he is.

“Good night?” You ask, diverting his attention to you as a far off voice in his brain tells him this is his home.

“Y/N!” He slurs, suddenly hit with a burst of energy and throwing himself in your direction. Boy is he pleased to see you. Although, now he thinks about it, when is he not. 

Goo grins, lopsided and with heart eyes, “I want to see you everyday.”

You must be cursed. Because even though Goo is an absolute nuisance when he's drunk, even more so than usual if that is possible; at the same time, his sappiness comes out in droves and you can never find it in yourself to be mad at him.

“You do,” you reply, handing over a glass of water.

“No. I want to spend all my time with you.” He frowns down at the drink that has appeared out of nowhere in his hand.

“You do.”

“No,” he pouts, on the verge of a tantrum because why on earth are you being so dense and not understanding him right now.

“I’m not dense, you’re just drunk!” 

Oops. Goo giggles to himself when he sees you glaring at him. He was supposed to just think that.

“Princess,” he says, puppy dog eyes appearing after you force him to down the water in one go, “You don’t get it.”

“Tell me then.”

“I want to marry you.”

 “Is that it?” You pluck the glass from his hand and replace it with another full one.

“Yes!” Goo is this close to stomping his feet. Can you please stop handing him water. That is not a reasonable response to him pouring his heart out over here.

“You tell me that all the time too.”

A frown. “I do?”

“Yes. But babe…”

“Hmm?” 

“We’re already married.”

Goo looks impossibly confused until he glances down, and spots a shiny band around his ring finger. “Oh!”

He gives you another grin and your heart melts.

.

.

Goo used to think you would be an idiot marrying his high school sweetheart but turns out, he’s one and the same.

[dying-suffering-french-stalkers]

What is Ghost Trick????? Is it based on an anime? Is it a mystery? Are there any ghosts or just a detective with protagonist hair? And what's the trick?

1) Ghost Trick is a standalone, single-player puzzle/adventure game originally released for the Nintendo DS in 2010 and now available on Steam, Switch, mobile, and probably some other platforms. It was made by the creator of the Ace Attorney franchise and uses some of the same sound effects and dynamic portrait styles, though based on what little AA I've played, the gameplay is quite different.

2) It is not based on an anime, though a major character's appearance is blatantly, lovingly inspired by Lupin III. (There's a minor character who looks an awful lot like Jigen as well.)

3) It is a mystery! See below.

4) You play as a ghost trying to discover why you were killed. Along the way, you meet other characters whose lives and fates intertwine with your own mystery and help you get closer to unraveling the past. You do very much have protagonist hair, though. (It's designed to look like a ghost/spirit!)

5) Your abilities are literally “ghost” and “trick” — if you want to see what exactly that entails, you should play the game! Barring that, you could watch a playthrough (or part of one) and see if it's for you.

[passive-t-u-m-b-l-r-user]

I hate this horrible game of telephone people are playing with Nomura's Interview.

Read it yourself. Stop freaking out and misinterpreting.

...

Young Jump Interview Page 3

(Translated by Liodin on KHInsider)

Q1: The Kingdom Hearts series has many intricate settings and characters. How do you consolidate these and communicate them to the team?

TN: I don't think the team fully understands everything. For example, during recordings, sometimes the staff explaining the settings or characters to the voice actors will ask me, “This is correct, right?” and I might respond, “No, not quite.” This kind of back-and-forth happens (laughs). However, it’s understandable because I’m the only one who knows the parts of the characters that haven't been depicted yet. I personally navigate through the complex storylines, constantly swaying between different directions. On the other hand, I encourage the team to question or point out anything to me.

Q2: Do you have a sort of "bible" or documentation for the settings?

TN: I do have personal notes to ensure I don't forget things. These include the footsteps of important characters, events that haven't been depicted yet, and future developments.

Q3: So, these aren’t shared with the team?

TN: No, I keep them a secret (laughs). But when necessary, I sometimes write sudden bursts of detailed settings into the script to make sure the staff understands.

Q4: In Kingdom Hearts, you seem to lay out foreshadowing that spans multiple installments. How do you keep track of everything?

TN: A lot of it is written in my notes, but I also rely on the staff to remember things. Since I enjoy watching videos, I sometimes check gameplay footage and fan theories on YouTube. Rather than relying on my notes, I often ask the staff how things played out in previous titles.

Q5: Do you watch fan theory videos? Do you ever think, “They’ve figured it out, so I’ll change it,” or “They don’t get it at all”?

TN: I find them genuinely interesting to watch. Often, I think, “It’s not as complicated as people think.” I’m frequently impressed by how deeply people analyze things. For instance, some people try to connect Kingdom Hearts to the Final Fantasy series, but the writers for each are different, and even though I’m involved with both, there’s no connection between the titles.

Q6: At the time of the first Kingdom Hearts, I assume you didn’t have the entire current storyline planned. As the series progresses and more settings and characters are introduced, does it become increasingly difficult to maintain coherence? Do you mostly make things up as you go?

TN: I had a general direction from the first game. As I mentioned earlier, I do take notes on future developments. When things don’t quite align with the planned direction, I make adjustments on the fly. While the details weren’t fully fleshed out at the time of Kingdom Hearts I (released in 2002), I had thought about the next few installments ahead of time. So, while we were working on Kingdom Hearts III (released in 2019), I already had Kingdom Hearts IV and beyond in mind and worked toward that.

Q7: This year, Kingdom Hearts: Missing-Link, a mobile app, is also set for release. With important story elements being released on mobile or handheld devices, are you concerned that some players may lose track of the storyline?

TN: Yes, that is a concern (laughs). That’s why Missing-Link takes place in a much earlier timeline than the main Kingdom Hearts series. However, as fans often joke, “Even though Kingdom Hearts IV is coming out, it’s really more like Kingdom Hearts XIII” since the non-numbered titles are obviously connected. Still, I believe it allows for a deeper enjoyment of the Kingdom Hearts universe. That said, both Missing-Link and Kingdom Hearts IV are being designed with a strong emphasis on being standalone titles rather than just sequels. For instance, a new approach in the scenario writing is that I’ve had staff members who haven’t been involved in Kingdom Hearts before join the writing process. Of course, I’ll make final adjustments, but the base script was written by people unfamiliar with the series, which is why I don’t think these projects will feel like obligatory follow-ups. With Missing-Link, we’re addressing “the lost history,” so the expectation is that not knowing everything is part of the experience. If you know the lore, it’s more enjoyable, but it’s not a prerequisite.

Q8: Much like how starting a long-running manga series can be daunting, the large number of Kingdom Hearts titles poses a similar challenge. How do you plan to attract new users?

TN: I’d love to know the answer to that (laughs). As I mentioned earlier, Missing-Link and Kingdom Hearts IV are kind of reset points for me. I felt like Kingdom Hearts III was a natural conclusion of sorts, so we’re resetting things by bringing in new writers and even redesigning the logo to make the series more accessible.

Q9: So, that’s why the logo changed.

TN: If you’ve seen the ending of Kingdom Hearts III, you’ll understand, but the way Sora’s story ended was a way to reset things, so Kingdom Hearts IV should be more accessible than previous titles. Of course, longtime fans will recognize the familiar feel of the series, but we’re designing it to be approachable for newcomers as well.

Q10: In a past interview, you mentioned that players would spend a lot of time in “Quadratum” (a field resembling Shibuya) in Kingdom Hearts IV. Why bring in a more realistic setting to a world that was previously pure fantasy?

TN: There are a few reasons, but I personally like settings that are slightly removed from reality rather than being completely fantastical. It’s the same with films—I find it harder to get immersed in worlds that are entirely fictional with no connection to reality. That’s why Quadratum is based on Shibuya but isn’t the real Shibuya. I’m fascinated by the idea of a slightly off-kilter version of reality, rather than a pure fantasy world.

Q11: Manga like Tokyo Ghoul, set in Tokyo, and Jujutsu Kaisen, with its Shibuya arc, are similar in that they use real-world locations. Perhaps fans of both manga and games enjoy these grounded yet fantastical settings.

TN: That might be true. It’s easier to relate to. Additionally, I’ve always thought there were plenty of creators already doing medieval high fantasy, so I didn’t need to. In 2007, we released The World Ends with You, which was also set in Shibuya, but now many works use Shibuya as a setting. It feels like everyone has come to Shibuya (laughs).

Q12: It does seem like more works are set in Japan these days. Speaking of the mix between reality and fantasy, at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts, there’s a monologue where Sora says, “I’ve been having these weird thoughts lately… Like, is any of this for real or not?” Did you already have Quadratum in mind back then?

TN: The name “Quadratum” didn’t exist at that time, but I had the concept in mind. It was a long-term plan that I knew we would eventually reach (laughs).

Q13: So it’s a 20-year-long payoff for that foreshadowing. Lastly, do you see the ending of the Kingdom Hearts series in the future?

TN: To give you a realistic answer, I’m approaching retirement age, so it’s becoming a race between retirement and finishing the series (laughs). However, I am creating Kingdom Hearts IV with the intent of leading toward the series’ conclusion.

https://www.khinsider.com/forums/index.php?threads/when-are-we-expecting-news.238707/post-6668282

[yeah-yeah-beebiss-1]

miscellaneous disjointed gquuuuuuuuuuuuuuuux thoughts

-on the whole, it was a really enjoyable experience, although it’s debatable how much of that was sustained by the seeing-it-in-theaters aspect

-(i say that mostly because a lot of my thoughts probably sound harsher than my actual feelings)

-the editing in general was pretty awkward, in more than the usual “tv episodes stitched into a movie” kind of way

-the whole first half felt like a very rapid highlight reel of the (alternate) OYW, which makes me wonder if it’s going to be broken up in the actual show as flashbacks

-speaking of which, it was very clear that the first half was basically hideaki anno’s indulgent what-if fanfic for 0079 - i don’t mean this in a bad way, but the amount of name drops and deep cuts had strong “written by and for hardcore gundam nerds” energy to the point where i imagine it must be pretty incomprehensible to people who aren’t said hardcore nerds

-which makes the general tone shift in the second half feel a bit jarring - it definitely gave the impression that sunrise/bandai wanted to lean in on the khara talent to create something different that would attract new audiences, while the khara folks were so excited to be working with UC gundam that they went all-in on the deep cuts, creating something that’s too unconventional for gundam purists but too granular for newcomers

-i like that amate carried on the grand kamille tradition of “weird kid using hijacked mobile suit to antagonize cops”

-i’m also glad that the positive reception to suletta mercury appears to have paved the way for the next generation of weird girl protagonists

-g-kwucks???

-the yamashita mobile suit designs definitely look way better in motion than the kits and lineart suggested

-giving the zakus spherical ass cheeks like a jerma edit was a choice, though

-i really hope that people are too focused on the char/challia homoeroticism to get into annoying ship wars over the main trio, but i’m not holding my breath

-as jarring as they look paired directly with the 0079 designs, take’s character designs feel like a really good fit for the whole khara/gainax aesthetic

-on the whole, while i don’t know how much it works as a standalone movie, i’m in that venn diagram intersection of “gundam nerd” and “gainax enjoyer” so i had a good time and i’m interested to see how this pans out

-fucking g-kwucks??????

[the-monkey-ruler]

Minecraft (2009)

Date: May 17, 2009 Platform: Mac / Xbox 360 / PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 Games Store / PlayStation Network (PS3) / PC / iPhone / iPad / Android / Windows Phone / PlayStation Vita / Wii U / Browser / PlayStation Network (Vita) / Xbox One / PlayStation 4 / Linux / Amazon Fire TV / New Nintendo 3DS / Nintendo Switch / Xbox Series X|S Developer: Mojang AB / 4J Studios / Other Ocean Interactive / Digital Eclipse Software, Inc. Publisher: Mojang AB / Xbox Game Studios / Sony Interactive Entertainment America / Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe Genre: Action-Adventure Theme: Fantasy Franchises: Minecraft Also known as: Minecraft Xbox One Edition / Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition / Minecraft: PlayStation 4 Edition Type: Crossover

Summary:

Minecraft is an open world, first-person, survival sandbox game, developed and published by Mojang. It was originally released in a pre-alpha state via the TIGSource forums on May 17, 2009, and was later hosted online for supported browsers before receiving a standalone release for PC, Mac, and Linux on June 30, 2010. The game would officially exit its Beta version on November 18, 2011, although major updates continue to be released. Since August 2011, a number of ports of the game have released for consoles and mobile devices.

Presented with a unique low-resolution "voxel" aesthetic (where everything is shaped using cubes), the game allows players to interact with a variety of different "blocks" in a procedurally-generated world. Along with both resource mining/gathering and item crafting (hence the game name), the game features exploration (with multiple biomes and locations), combat, and construction. In addition to the standard "Survival" mode, the game features a "Creative" mode that allows players to design environments with an unlimited amount of blocks at their disposal and no survival elements. The game supports online multiplayer and later supported numerous content packs (including new world/block textures and player skins, many of which are cross-promotions with other games and franchises).

Originally created by indie developer Markus "Notch" Persson (whose roles were later taken over by fellow indie developer Jens "Jeb" Bergensten), Minecraft was ported to numerous smartphones (originally known as Minecraft: Pocket Edition) and consoles (originally known as Minecraft: Console Edition, with the "Console" in the name being replaced by the console's name). On September 20, 2017, the game received a major "Better Together" update that merges the smartphone version with some console versions (including Windows 10, Xbox One, and later Nintendo Switch) together for a single multi-platform version (known as Minecraft: Bedrock Edition, with the original computer versions renamed to Minecraft: Java Edition) with all features accessible (including cross-platform multiplayer). Alternate editions include a multi-platform version for use in classroom settings (Minecraft: Education Edition), a cut-down version for small RaspberryPi microcomputers (Minecraft: Pi Edition), and a multi-platform version for use in China (Minecraft China).

The game has received a number of spin-offs, including the 2015 adventure game Minecraft: Story Mode (and its 2017 sequel), the 2020 dungeon crawler Minecraft: Dungeons, and the augmented-reality mobile game Minecraft Earth. As well, Minecraft's procedurally-generated sandbox elements would inspire many other games, in both 2D (such as Terraria and Starbound) and 3D (such as Dragon Quest Builders and LEGO Worlds).

Source: https://www.giantbomb.com/minecraft/3030-30475/

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOphBjAAxTo

[scarlet--wiccan]

Favourite adaption of Wanda outside of comics?

None. I really don't feel like Wanda has any legitimately good adaptations. The movies are obviously a total wash, but I'm not in love with any of her cartoon appearances, either. Most of the time she's either explicitly whitewashed, or just whitewashed by omission-- no mention of her background or upbringing, and nothing in her character design to indicate that she's not white or American. By that metric, I guess that her best animated adaptations are probably the 90s Iron Man series and United They Stand, since she has a really strong accent throughout. I feel like they actually made an effort to faithfully translate her magic and probability powers in those shows, too. Wanda and Pietro are definitely interesting and well-executed characters in WatXM, but they have almost nothing in common with source material. It's really just like a House of M AU for them.

Most of Wanda's video game appearances just don't have enough substance to be worth discussion. She's in a lot of mobile games and arcade or fighting-style titles, but those don't offer much in terms of character or story. Her roles in stuff like Ultimate Alliance are just really small. I’m super excited about Rivals, mostly because it's the first time she's ever been explicitly depicted as a Romani woman of color outside of comics. The story material in Rivals is pretty scant, so far, but they've consistently made strong choices that show an impressive familiarity with the source material.

Wanda gets more plot focus in Midnight Suns than any other game, and I do think that there is a foundation there for a really good Scarlet Witch story. I've said it before, but Midnight Suns works really well as a standalone story about magic, the Darkhold, and Mount Wundagore. It feels like it should be a story about Wanda, and if she were actually in the lead role, I think it would be an excellent adaptation, especially for modern Wanda, who needs to be able stand on her own with just her magic backstory. Unfortunately, she's not in the lead role, and a lot of her narrative beats are allocated to the Hunter instead, so the depth of her connection to Chthon gets kind of lost. Although I do like her characterization, and especially her relationships with the other cast members, this version of Wanda is whitewashed by omission, and I really didn't like the way they adapted her upbringing, or the fact that they left Pietro out of the game.

[hath-e]

RX-105-Π PsiXi Gundam,

An Anaheim attempt at adapting the Psycho Frame design of the Unicorn into a fully equipped Atmospheric flight suit, equipped with the NT-D system as well as a fully fledged Minovsky Flight Unit both integrated directly into the Suit,

This is both the most expensive and largest standalone Anaheim Gundam, while keeping the 26 meter height of the Xi Gundam, whenever the NT-D activates and the Psycho Frame fully extends the suit reaches over 28 meters in height.

As the base model of the Mobile Suit is the Xi Gundam most weapon systems remain largely unchanged with only the Funnel Missiles being exchanged for the more sophisticated Funnel Launchers, The Beam Rifle being swapped out by the Beam Magnum and the shield being upgraded into a Psycho based shield bit.

(Insert really cool art of the Xi mode and Destroy mode next to eachother)

(Also I had this idea that in Destroy mode the whiskers would fold into the head hiding the exposed frame bits and the lower part of the V-fin and the red forehead cover would slide down below the eyes)

The Suit itself was acquired by Alberto Vist due to his connections with Anaheim and later given by him to the Mineva Faction. Officially however it was marked as sold to a PMC as just a standard RX-105 Xi Gundam unit.

The knowledge of the MS's full Psycho Frame capabilities was known only to a select few, and all relevant documentation of it's complete design was destroyed in order to uphold secrecy about Anaheim building new Psycho Frame suits.

Inspite of the fact that the suit was made to be used on the earths sphere due to the Minovsky Flight system utilizing I-fields to perpetuate flight it's one of the fastest known MS both in atmosphere and space.

The Funnel Launcher is a psycommune based weapon similar to the Funnel Missiles the biggest difference being is that the Funnel Launcher instead of itself being the missile it shoots out a timed warhead before returning to the Mobile Suit to reload.

The Beam Magnum is much similar to the Unicorns however it posses a more efficient E-Pak system allowing for a single "magazine" to hold 8 shots instead of 5 without affecting the size. Due to the integrated Psycho Frame the Mobile suit can fire the Magnum without suffering any damage.

The Shield Bit mimics the Shield of the original Xi Gundam, however it has been fitted with Psycho Frame material and is equipped with a single Beam gattling. It can be utilized as a full fledged Bit whenever the suit enters NT-D, otherwise it is equipped on the suits left arm.

Like the RX-0 series of suits, the RX-105-Π Psycho Frame also emits a glow which is much closer in coloration to the blue on the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam 03 Phenex then the expected of the Green glow that the RX-0 Unicorn possess.

As the Gundam is the original RX-105 used by Mafty at it's base that opts instead to integrate the Psycho Frame material into it's parts, it has become really important to the Mafty sympathizers in Side 3 awaiting the return of "the Just King of all the Prophets"

The combination of Anaheim Electronics 2 most powerful in class Gundam mobile suits, combing their 2 most advanced pieces of Tech and very far advanced Mobile Suit weaponry makes this Gundam lack any competition other than other Psycho Frame equipped machines piloted by powerful Newtype pilots. The cost and the risk of it's development however put Anaheim at significant deficit meaning that it's sister unit RX-104FF-Π was discontinued as the idea of a separately attached Minovsky Flight Unit seemed both irrelevant and too costly.

[gauntletqueen]

has anyone suggested Gundam Lfrith Jiu and her giant rocket fist yet

They have not! Oh this thing is from a standalone manga based on the Gwitch series it seems? Interesting I might read if this mech plays a significant role in it.......

The Robot Body Scale ranges from 1 to 10 and reflects how happy I, Zoey Gauntletqueen, would be for a robot body to be my body. 5 is the base, being the same as my current human body. It does not reflect my opinion on the design as a whole.

The poblem with mechs is that they need to be piloted. That means if their body was my body, under most circumstances, I wouldn't be able to do anything unless I was being Ratatouille'd. Mechs get a 0 unless special conditions apply.

FUCK YEAH GIANT FIST HELL YEAH Like all gundam robots, this one looks very cool. and is perfectly detailed. Not the most unique, but I like its more agile build. It looks like it'd be very manouverable, and it compliments the size of the Tiger Hand well! Something I very much appreciate >:3 It's an androgynous design, so I can work with that too! Reading the wiki, it seems this model of mobile suit is relatively weak as it wasn't designed for battle, but that this individual machine has been souped up. But even a relatively weak giant robot would be a big step up from a human body!

0 (8.9 if not for the pilot issue)

[bronzemettle]

How do your big teams like the Justice League or Avengers work? Do they have set rosters at any given time (ie, "in 2016, the Avengers consisted of Iron Man, Captain America, She-Hulk, Iron Fist, Doctor Strange, Thor, and Hawkeye"), or is it a Justice League Unlimited situation where just about everybody is a member and they get assigned into little squads for their missions?

The Avengers is a single team with fairly high turnover of people joining and leaving or taking extended breaks. You could give a set roster for it, which would usually be under 40 heroes in total, but what that roster is would vary every few weeks, not year-to-year. That being said, it wouldn't be a faux-pas to call someone "an Avenger" who has been on the team frequently but isn't currently, so the boundary isn't totally hardline, and it's all treated p. informally. The Avengers like to think of themselves as a family.

The Avengers is usually based out of the Avengers Mansion in outer NYC, but they often work closely with SHIELD and will sometimes use Helicarriers as mobile headquarters, as they were doing in Sokovia when the Terrigen Reactor exploded in early 2014 ("A-Day") leading to the temporary disbanding of the team and creation of the Sokovia Accords and Nonhuman Registration Act. The Justice League started out p. similar, but after the launching of the Watchtower station in 2011 they expanded drastically with other new infrastructure into a formally much larger and more organization-like entity, with a triple-digits number of heroes, supported by a large and well-paid staff of mostly unpowered specialists in various fields, deployed into operation squads of usually under a dozen per mission (unless things get really hairy), and of course able to call on each other for backup as needed.

The Justice League does not by default trade intel with or operate alongside any goverment organizations or law enforcement. It's not a rule against it. They will contact authorities (such as Jim Gordon) often. But it's always case-by-case judgement and need-to-know.

As a result of this autonomy and their large membership roster, the Justice League operates multiple bases scattered in different places besides the Watctower, including the Gotham Clocktower (home of the Birds of Prey), the Hall of Justice, the Detroit compound, Happy Harbor, the Secret Sanctuary, and Mars Refuge. These bases are connected via Zeta Tubes, and a combination of that and the fleet of Javelin spacecraft on the Watchtower can quickly deploy squads nearly anywhere on the planet (and a few other places).

There is also an even larger collection of heroes and some civilian allies designated as Justice League Associates, the JLA. This includes other teams like the Titans, Outsiders, and Birds of Prey, sidekicks and supporting heroes to JL members, and some standalone heroes who just don't quite fit. Helena Bertinelli, for example, was kicked out of the Justice League proper for starting to kill again, but once she stopped killing again was in time allowed back under the wider JLA label instead. John Constantine has never been on the Justice League, but is recognized as JLA.

[irradiate-space]

On Gundam AGE

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE tries to build a big multigenerational plot arc like Mobile Suit Gundam, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ and Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack did, but in the space of one 49-episode season in a standalone timeline. It mostly pulled that off, but a lot of Gundam fans don't like it. Their reasons are their own; here's mine.

This is the AGE Builder, the primary component of the AGE System. The AGE System is composed of a combination thumb drive and phone and mobile-suit operation key (the AGE Device), an autonomous factory (the AGE Builder), and whatever its outputs are (the Gundams AGE, their weapons, some spaceship upgrades). The AGE System uses feedback from its outputs, captured in the AGE Device, to generate solutions to loosely-specified problems ("the enemy MS is too powerful!"). The AGE System manufactures those solutions using an autonomous factory (the AGE Builder). Over the course of a one-year war, the AGE System develops several radically-improved mobile suit designs, equivalent to a generational leap in technological development. In the case of one solution, the Photon Blaster Cannon, the AGE System also provides a power supply for the cannon that is greater than the power supply of the battleship the PBC is mounted in.

In short: the AGE System is 1) a massive energy supply and 2) a radically transformative integrated R&D pipeline.

Readers of this blog with a certain mindset will have all sorts of ideas about how to use this, so let's describe how it's used in Mobile Suit Gundam AGE:

In the year 115 AG, the AGE System is used aboard the first-of-its-class flagship Diva to fabricate upgrades to military technology.

In the year 141 AG, the AGE System is used aboard the de-mothballed Diva to fabricate upgrades to military technology.

In the year 164 AG, the AGE System is used aboard the re-de-mothballed Diva to fabricate upgrades to military technology, before the Diva is sacrificed in battle.

Readers of a certain mindset are wondering what happened during the other years. As far as I can tell, the answer is: nothing. The AGE System was not used for any purpose.

That's the problem with the AGE System.

Now, I could go off on a tangent about how someone could use the AGE System for mass civilizational uplift (AU where Fezarl Ezelcant steals the Diva and fixes Mars) but instead I'll talk about how the AGE System is used in the story.

The AGE System is initially presented as a gacha-pull system: Sometimes it gives a good upgrade; sometimes it gives a bad one. But this happens perhaps twice, and thereafter it's a deus ex machina machine: Just at a point of narrative tension, where the heroes might lose, the AGE System whips out a new day-saving upgrade, and the heroes win again. It's not really the central feature of the story, though: the story is about the interpersonal relationships between the protagonists and antagonists, and the sparring sides of the Federation and Vagan. The AGE System is primarily a way to introduce new toys for the show to advertise, but there's no real emotional impact of their inclusion. And for all its importance to the Federation's war effort during wartime, in peacetime it doesn't get used, even by the people who used for wartime R&D. They develop minor upgrades to the post-war MS, and other than that, there's no progress in the setting. The setting only advances technologically during war, at all other times being in stasis. For all that the wars are caused by politics, we see none of that, and none of it changes in ways that the audience sees. (well, there's one on-screen arrest, but we don't see the fallout, because the POV character changes right afterwards) It's a really boring setting.

Here's the other thing: The Federation has the AGE System. What do their enemies, the Vagan, have? They appear to have stolen access to an archive of banned advanced technology from the Before Times. The Federation is playing technological catch-up to the Vagan, and their only technological advancement comes when they use the AGE System. The Vagan have a cheat sheet. The Federation is vibe-coding. Through the power of piloting while yelling really hard, the Federation wins.

...

I think Mobile Suit Gundam AGE would've been a better story if all that R&D was the result of a talented engineering team headed by the Asuno, Dyson, and Gunhale families, getting feedback from the pilots. Keep all else the same. This one swap would result in better pacing, sustained tension, and more character development, sure, but it would also better establish the differences between the Federation and the Vagans: the Federation are doing R&D and understand the principles by which their machines work; the Vagans are copy-pasting high-powered tech they don't understand. In this version of the story, the Federation wins through teamwork, effort, and understanding, not RNGesus.

The multi-generation rivalry and base conflict can stay; that's the good part of Gundam AGE.

If you want the AGE System, then the story really does need to commit to the random-tech-per-episode toy advertisement bit. Build the story around the upgrade process in a way that moves at more than one mech per generation. It should be a story about surfing the wave of future shock, of adapting or wiping out, of continued humanity in the presence of immense changes in way of life, and the ways that technology can help form new connections across intergenerational divides and interplanetary space.

[window-window]

Good news, the Neocities site (excluding my own special designs which I will incorporate later) is ALMOST ready!!

Bad news, it's NOT MOBILE FRIENDLY and I'm still trying to figure that out but SOON. SOON. You can expect that to be UP

ADDITIONALLY: I don't know if I will be allowed to put it on the actual r/nosleep and if not I'll instead go to AO3 and my own site for this one, but the first Window Window lore post will be a short horror story centering people outside the main cast!

It's Pretending That It's Home will be canon to the comic and brought up in the story later on, but also works as a standalone story, focusing on aquarium educators Emiliano Estrada (he/they) and Einar Søndergaard (he/they) and their experience with the Labyrinth at what could formerly be called Spark Abyssal Aquarium. Told from first person, Emiliano's POV.

They will not be mentioned until later on in Window Window because they have no connections to the main characters (except a very loose tie to Leonid), and because they live in New York. Right on the border of the NJ area but they still do!

It will be posted if allowed under @/bluebutton_hydroid in r/nosleep, and if it can't go up I'll have a pseudonym on AO3 under the same name. In both situations, It's Pretending That It's Home will be the only thing on there, you can't miss it!

Once everything is up and ready and good to go I will LET YOU KNOW !! YAYYY okay I'm done

[glazierpops]

Wuthering Waves: First Thoughts

Opening

First thoughts of this game it’s definitely heavily relying on Genshin impact fan base and mechanics. Though it does make itself feel a bit distinct and its mechanics. And overtime I feel if they are willing, they can make this distinctness an even bigger gap between it and Genshin. 

Style

While the style is similar to Genshin, (though all anime games, feel a little similar) it’s distinctive enough with its landscapes.

It does have a little bit of rendering issues with faces kind of blending out from further distances. I have so far enjoyed monster and character designs. Nothing immediately has stood out, but overall, I find it very pleasant.

The way it mixes styles, with what I feel is some kind of Chinese traditional fantasy, with fantasy Tech. Very interesting take on fantasy a little bit, feels a little bit like honkie, but still distinctive.

Story

Story wise I was immediately hooked. I think it has a really good opening that catches the viewers attention and I do feel it does waiver a bit and it’s beginning opening dialogue. Jumping right into the action does help keep the viewer and continue playing.

Also, the story has what I feel is a more interesting MC as there is a lot to figure out about them and definitely feels a lot different from Genshin so I’m excited to see how their story plays out.

One big point I wanna praise on the story is making it feel like our voice dialogue options have weight. I really hope going for this game continues to put in the time to make the main characters in point matter unlike other anime Gacha games ( Genshin ).

Play Feel

Once again, I feel this game does rely pretty heavily on the base mechanics from Genshin and other Gacha games. I wouldn’t say that is a take away. I feel it would be hard for beginners to play this game. The fighting style is pretty fast-paced and requires a lot of timing. I think it’s a great jumping off point in making it its own game making it feel different from other Gacha games.

What I want to see change

I think this game has a lot of potential to be its own standalone Gacha game, not being influenced by other games. It’s got a great backbone, but it definitely does need some improvements.

And my biggest change I want to see immediately is the jumping animation. It looks and feels horrible in game though it does rely heavily with fighting. I think it just looks horrible and takes away a lot from the immersion in the game itself.

Another thing I wanna see change is the option to fully opt out of camera lock. I like my sensitivity really high so I can move the camera at my own free camera really makes it harder for players like me to play. Maybe for PC players this is a better idea but for mobile players camera lock is not helpful. 

Also characters dialogue seems to fade out randomly at some points. Not sure if this is on purpose but I think it’s unnecessary and I’d rather them just say they’re full line.

I’d like to see is better rendering times and lighting while overall these are not a huge issue. Just there is some issues with rendering times for all of the assets in a certain level and sometimes the shadow is not high enough and things just look super washed out or overexposed.

Con

Overall, I’m pretty excited to see where this game is gonna end up in a year or two I hope it continues to grow and actively keeps getting updates and being worked on. I hope it just isn’t an immediate cash grab though all got games usually are. So I can’t hit it too hard on that.

Good luck to wuthering waves as it grows!!