#take lemmy for example

[delightfuldevin]

I forgot to post this very canon meme with my kids cfchgcvjghbj

[rippleclan]

I'm curious: how do you convert clan gen prompts into the events within RippleClan? I imagine things like kits and scars are easy, but what about like what happened to Carnationspeckle? Was she lost in game from a two leg event but you switched it to the Witch Hunters? Or did you make it up entirely for the story?

I have a clan in the works I want to turn into an art/writing Clan Gen blog but I'm worried I'll never be able to come up with anything haha

Okay, I’ll dive into Carnationspeckle as a starting example.

Oilstripe and Carnationspeckle went on a hunting patrol in Moon 55. They went to the human settlement to hunt and returned successfully. I wrote this down in my notes and noted that I could loop it in with the Witch Hunters.

When the time came to write the scene, I realized it would be more exciting if I held Carnationspeckle hostage, so I did just that and sent her home in Moon 57 after I ran a border patrol with Weedfoot and the others seen in the event.

The big thing with playing Clangen is looking at what the game gives you and deciding how to build from there. I take extensive notes when I play through a moon, noting down potential plot points and my personal elaboration on canon events. This is where the idea of Lemmy and the Witch Hunters came from! Mosspounce kept meeting a kittypet/rogue by the border, and eventually Lemmy was born!

The key to Clangen stories is noting down recurring elements. Are there a few characters you like to focus on, or that have had a lot happen to them lately? Is there a random relationship note you want to build on?

[cocoa-rococo]

Koopaling Headcanons: Larry

Larry | Morton | Wendy | Iggy | Roy | Lemmy | Ludwig

Everyone's favorite little brother and general pest for plumbers! He's just a lil' rascal.

Right handed.

His love of tennis originally started as a way to stand out from his siblings, but eventually, he really enjoyed the sensation of playing.

He became a big fan of a Horse Girl animated show after the Olympics, but is super embarrassed about it and won't tell anyone because he thinks it wrecks his ‘cool guy’ image.

Red-green colorblind.

He likes painting with Bowser Jr, and he's a decent comic artist, but he's pretty shy about showing people his work, partially stemming from feeling inferior to Ludwig.

Hypoglycemic. Combine that with his age and his tennis hobby, this boy burns through glucose like a powder trail. It's also partially why he eats so much.

Very much a visual learner, as he tunes out if people tell him things without example, and gets frustrated if asked to try and do something on his own / with his hands and zero instruction.

A frighteningly good pickpocket. He once had a conversation with Bowser and managed to take off all five of his spiked cuffs in three minutes. It's only when he returned them did Bowser even realize they were gone.

He's a big fan of milkshakes, especially chocolate ones. Also a big fan of blowing his straw wrapper at his siblings before he drinks, and blowing bubbles in his drink if he's thinking.

Favorite breakfast food is waffles, with butter, syrup, chocolate chips, and fruit.

Can beatbox almost anything, and he's learning how to breakdance, too. He likes looking up tutorials and practicing in his room for both the space and privacy.

He does gaming streams in his free time, mostly online team-based games or RPGs that let you sink hours of play into useless but fulfilling sidequests. Gaming companies love him because they’ll get guaranteed sales if they offer a trial.

Has a pretty good head for directions, but only for cities. If you tell him you need to find a building from a particular place, he'll give you precise instructions on where to go. Highways and roadmaps are a completely different story.

That said, he got lost so often as a kid that Ludwig gifted him a compass, and he carries it with him constantly.

Not really a flower person, but ever since he got an anonymous bouquet of them, he's got a small appreciation for forget-me-nots.

He's a big fan of punk rock bands, and would love to attend a concert (and be a professional rockstar).

Favorite fruit is either strawberries or pears, but one of his favorite treats is caramel apples.

He’s got a leather jacket that's got a big star bedazzled on the back. It’s his prized possession because he thinks it makes him look cool (and it does, marginally).

Saw a flyer for a new DJ at the Electrodrome and applied on a whim. He got hired (much to his surprise), and greatly enjoys his work. In fact, his time learning the electronics is what inspired his light company.

Likes watching baking and cooking shows with Morton, but while Morton watches to improve and get ideas for recipes, Larry watches to yell at the contestants, because what the FUCK, Michael!!!!! Don’t put your custard on a high temperature, it!!! Is going!!!!!! To curdle!!!!!!!!!!!!

Legitimately has a very good palate for food, and can point out individual flavors where others can't. He will also visit a five-star restaurant and order chicken tenders off the kids menu.

One of his favorite things to do when he was a kid was hiding around the castle and pretending he was a spy; listening in on conversations and writing them down, coming up with codes, always carrying a walkie-talkie, the works. It started his earlier pictographic babble, and what lead him to being such a sneakster later on.

Can and will cheat outrageously at any card, board, dice, or wheel game. Not at video games, though. Those are sacred. That and laser tag.

Looooves chocolate, especially fudge. Do not let him get anywhere near fudge.

He was a shark kid growing up. He dreamed of visiting the aquarium for his birthday, and when he finally got to do so, came home with an armload of various shark plushies and memorabilia.

A big fan of giving and receiving nicknames. Bowser once called him ‘blueberry’ and he cried about it for like seven minutes.

He’s got an admiration for Princess Daisy, for both her fearless attitude and tennis skills.

Favorite candy is gummy worms, but is really fond of sour stuff, too, along with super sugary energy drinks.

Loves sci-fi books / comics and mecha anime with Iggy, but personally loves the adventure genre with pirates and treasure hunters and wild westerns.

Has a private stash of snacks he keeps hidden in rotation for both late night munchies and keeping away from his siblings.

Genuinely likes cooking, but baking feels too precise for him. That said, he's more then happy to taste the end results of both.

Likes going skating with Wendy and Lemmy. He keeps trying complicated moves and keeps running into the walls.

Runs a recipe blog that doubles as a restaurant critique and rating site. It's gotten surprisingly popular.

[childofsardior]

What do you think of the versions of the koopalings from Super Show? I usually hc them as just younger versions of the current koopalings

Thanks for asking! This is an interesting question.

I'll start saying that I've recently finished re-watching the Super Mario Bros. 3 Super Show with my sibling and we wanted to re-watch the Super Mario World one, too. So I saw their show version very recently and have a fresh memory of them all.

Short answer: (in my HC) The Super Show ones are not the younger version of my Koopalings, but I took some charateristics from them to give to my current (or younger) Koopalings!

Long answer: I personally like to think about the Super Show whole universe as one of the many alternative timelines/versions of the Super Mario World, so I see the show Koopalings too as alternative versions of the games/current ones. For my HC/AU, I am working on my personal view of the Koopalings + Jr. as kids. Most of them are quite or totally different from their Super Show versions, but I wanted to take some inspirations from details I liked about their personality in the show, too, as little references!

For example, Larry cheats a lot. I think he started cheating when he was little, considering the amount of older siblings he had to fight to impose himself. And being the youngest - exception made for Jr., that being the official Heir is a spoiled brat and will be always protected by Kamek or one of his careteakers - he could not win a single fight without finding the smartest (or dirtiest) way to do it. I want to think he was especially unsufferable when he was younger, while now he only cheats when needed (that's still often). I took this from his Super Show version and from Super Mario Kart 8 description.

Wendy is another example. Right now she has style and everything but it's not hard for me to think about a child version of her being extremely bratty and demanding as Kootie Pie is in the Show. I also love the idea of her being (or thinking herself as) Bowser's "favorite" when she was little, along with Junior probably, being the only girl and everything. But I also see my younger version of Wendy being actually cute and affectionate to her adoptive father in a sincere way.

(BTW Kootie Pie is probably my fav from the Super Show Koopalings, NGL)

I can kinda see Bully resembling a younger version of Roy, to be honest. But I personally was mostly inspired by his Super Show name. In fact I mostly headcanon kid-Roy as a tiny Dragon-Turtle that wanted his indipendence most of all and fighted a lot with his siblings, even before being adopted by Bowser, and resembling an actual "bully" for the most time he had to spend around younger siblings or underlings.

For my HC Ludwig, I actually took two details from Kookie in the show: one being baby/kid Ludwig HATING brushes and totally refusing to cut his hair, resulting in a blue mess of wild hair running around until he was like 12 or so; the other one is the French Fries joke in the last episode, when Kookie can only think about the Fries when King Koopa goes to France. Well, you can guess who is the one that always, casually and classily, orders French Fries at restaurants among my HC Koopalings.

I do not have much to say about Morton, Iggy and Lemmy compared to Big Mouth, Hip and Hop, except for the fact that I am saving the characters of Hip and Hop (or, to be honest, an inspired, fan-made version of them with the same names) to be future twin sons of Iggy - when all the Koopalings will be adult, with their own domains and everything and some of them with their own new families and kids! But this is a very long story and who knows, maybe I'll tell you in a distant future ;3

[ask-carmenpondiego]

Chapter 23: Not the Sharpest Lightbulb in the Crayon Drawer

The next morning, Molli stood on the doorstep and adjusted her outfit, trying to look presentable. She changed her body color to be her more natural color of such a deep red, it almost looks black. She wore a blue jumpsuit with a gold belt with a rose buckle. She hesitated a moment and knocked on the door. A few moments went by and the door was opened, revealing a surprised Waldo. The two stared at each other for a moment, “Holy moley! Molli! I haven’t seen you in forever! Does M know you’re here? Lemmie get him for you..” she tried shushing him frantically as he called out for his brother. Both M and Carmen came to the door, wondering what the commotion was, and one look from M had him rolling his eyes, “What the fuck are you still doing here?” Molli straightened up and smiled nervously, “Well, I was just about to tell your brother here about me thinking of joining… here. As a henchman-woman.. person.” Wally raised an eyebrow, “You were?” M crossed his arms, “Bullshit. You still have that hit on Red.” Carmen looked at M a bit surprised, “She what?” Molli waved her hands defensively, “No no I swear! I cancelled that contract. After I got free from that spear, I came over and saw how happy everyone, like Skaedfryd, was to be here! I mean, if people are happy, the boss must be doing something right.. right? Oh.. and I wanted to give this back too. Its still so cold, its weird..” she handed the spear back to M and put her hands behind herself, twisting anxiously. “I wanted to have a fresh start, I promise to try not to be a pest or a weed to you. I want to help out.” M snatched the spear and leaned on it like a wizard staff. “I will say it again. I do not fucking like you and I want you to get off this fucking island.”

Carmen puts her hand on his arm, making Molli’s eye twitch for a brief moment, “I personally think we should give her a chance. I mean, if we don’t help her out somehow, she could go back to doing worse things than we do. First sign of broken trust, I’ll let you send her off. How’s that?” M narrowed his eyes at his ex, putting the spear tip to her throat, “One whiff of deception from you and I will make sure you never find every single piece of your body to stitch back together..” Molli gulps and gingerly pushes the spear away from her neck, “Good to know, lover boy. So when can I start?” Carmen shows her inside, and has her follow her to her office. M gripped the unicorn’s arm and whispered, “Keep yer door open. I don’t want you alone with her. I don’t fully trust her yet.” She smiled and patted his hand, “You worry too much. I’m sure it will be fine.” M growled as the two girls went up to her office, the door stayed open much to M’s relief. Wally scratched his head, “Did I miss something?” M shadowed the spear back to Lekir’s room and he shoved a cigarette into his maw. “Red’s bleeding heart is gonna land her in more trouble than she can handle.. she’s already dealing with different body parts and powers up her ass, I don’t think she realizes she still fucking vulnerable. It aint like those superhero movies where they automatically good at things. Example, she took weeks to learn to walk again without aid. These powers?? She’s NEVER had magic. Her horn is.. is as good as shattered. You knew that, but it got worse when you were gone. Its completely dead in the water.” Wally rubbed his neck as M paused to take a drag. “We tried to do simple shapeshifting the only way I know how. She could barely muster the focus to grow a single hair on that piece of metal. She couldnt even change the color. She needs training and actual progress before she’s as invincible as she feels. And with Molli showing up last night and tellin me she has a hit on Red? Then joins us the next day? It don’t taste right.” Wally sighs, “Maybe she’s being truthful though. You may not see or even want to admit it but I can see you are happy here. Maybe she wants that. And who knows, maybe you can get together again. Don’t let the past breakup ruin the future bonds. Its an open opportunity to move on and possibly gain a new friend if anything.” M strode off, grumbling.

He passed Lekir who had watched from the other room, but didn’t get to hear much. “So, who was that, Bugboy? And why does she look familiar?” M groans and rubs his face, “She’s…. My ex. I stabbed her last night with your spear.” Lekir nodded, “So thats why it was returned with dirt and blood on it.. so if you stabbed her, why did you welcome her in?” M turned and snapped, “I wasn’t the one to welcome her. Yer fuckin wife and her fuckin bleedin heart did. And I stabbed her because she is a crazy dumb bitch who is horny for me seven ways to tuesday.. last night she said she was assigned a hit on Red but then this morning said she had a change of heart and canceled it to become better like me.” She gave a concerned look at him and at the ceiling where Carmen and Molli were in a meeting. Lekir sighs, rubbing her temples before looking back at M. “She's gonna turn on us one day you know that right? She's just waiting for the right moment. And if she is anything like you powerwise, Carmen can't win with her current state, neither can I because you can overtake me. You need to tell me and the others exactly what you know about her in its entirety. Leave nothing out.”

M rolled his eye with a groan, “Fine.. when Red gets out of her meeting I’ll call the rest of the group and give a full situation report briefing without my ex present.” Lekir nodded, “I definitely think a sit-rep is very much needed. Especially that threat of a hit. Why did she tell you about the hit? Didn’t she know you were security here? Or did she not read her own report?” M snickered, “Thats the thing, she does things half assed, probably only saw the target and location and when I saw her last night, she thought I had the same job and spilled the beans before I told her what I am here. She really isn’t too bright. She’s durable, like me. Hard to fully kill, but her powers are plant based and not very expertly controlled. Her emotions get in the way and her attacks are weak. She does excel in the knowledge of poisons and many of her thorns are laced with a decent cocktail. But she has never been known to finish a job.” Lekir raised an eyebrow, “And her job is to kill the world’s second biggest pacifist next to her himbo husband..”

Carmen came down from her office after supposedly showing Molli her room. “Hey Lekir. M, mind if you gather the other agents, other than Molli to the war room, I need to give a bit of a sit-rep briefing for everyone asap.” Lekir and M looked at eachother with a slight air of relief. Lekir turns to Carmen, “Please tell me we didnt just adopt a stray cobra..” Her wife chuckled, “More like a cartoon coyote. She’s still in my office, asleep.”

Lekir tilted her head, “What do you mean asleep?” The mare smirked, “I left my coffee on the desk unattended as a test. I had my back turned while at my file cabinet, you know, beside the mirror? I saw her put something in my coffee, and stir it with my spoon I had near it. She then licked the spoon. And now she is face-planted at my desk.” Lekir furrowed her brow with concern, “Is she a complete moron?!”

M lit his cigarette, “Its like I’ve been trying to tell you two. She COULD be formidable if she wasnt a dumb bitch.” Carmen smirks, “I think we should stick to my plan of treating her with kindness, though heavily restrict her from the more advanced things like heists and access to 079 fully. I’ll tell more at the briefing.” Carmen headed off to the war room when Lekir suddenly pinned M to the wall, holding an ice blade to his face, “You better handle this because if she ever succeeds in even hurting Carmen, I will make you pay! I spent 6000 years regretting not being able to save my husband from death. Make sure this is plenty preventable.. and prevent it before I prevent you from ever finding your head. Got it?!” M growled and shoved her back, straightening out his leather jacket, “You say this like I wasn’t going to already! News flash! You ain’t the only one who would go absolutely apeshit ballistic if Red were hurt! Now back the fuck off so I can do my fucking job!” M snorted as Lekir stormed off, brushing past Carmen who had a concerned look.

M flicked his cigarette angrily and checked in on Molli, who was still face-planted and out cold with slight foam to the mouth. He still felt her neck and wrist, disappointed at feeling a pulse but glad he didnt have to dispose of a body. He was about to reach for the coffee to pour it down the drain and his eyes caught on some of the paperwork they were working on for her hiring. Looking closer he noticed her signature, “Mali Negatta” and hmmed. He’ll need to ask when she had changed her name. She groaned a bit trying to lift her head. He remembered nights she used to get drunk off some of her lighter concoctions because alcohol didnt touch them as far as drunkenness. He sighed and shadowed a handkerchief to help clean her face from the drool and foam. He pulled her back and her head somewhat rolled on her shoulders, she slow blinks her eyes open as he gently cleans her face. “Hey you.. we should totally bang on the deshk here.. office sexssis soooo sexy..” she slurred. He paused silently and took the coffee cup, “Here, have some coffee, sober up..” he knew full well what she did, and wanted to know if she even remembered. Which she did not and eagerly took the cup and downed the whole thing. After a moment, she hiccuped and face-planted on the desk again. “Oooh I smell a new fuckin betting pool with this one.” He chuckled, patting her back and leaving her there to set up the meeting. “Fuckin lightweight.”

The meeting was very detailed, strategies were put into place and betting pools were cast, a bingo sheet for the kinds of attempts, and how she would fail, and how long until she either quits trying to kill or quits VILE itself. It was a mix of extreme seriousness and mockery. They knew the severity of the situation if she should actually succeed. But given her track record already, that severity was guarded by cautious ridicule and vice versa. And thats how it went from then on, although many heists were placed on hold while they tried figuring out a new cure for Wally’s condition.

Carmen searched all her books on afflictions and curses, minerals and crystals, and even diseases and illnesses. She felt she barely had anything on the subject and the internet didn’t come up with much either. She shut the large book she was looking in and sighed, taking off her purple glasses to rub her eyes. “Alright..” she said to herself, “Looks like I’ll need to take a trip to Canterlot.. they may have the book I need in the royal library. Might get a new hat too while I’m there..” She was sad when her hat had fell into the acid during the whole stone pillar incident but it was better than losing her life. She headed to the mech lab where M had been hooking up some new device to the chronoskimmer. She didn’t see him around and checked in with 079. “I haven’t seen the rude one today, he’s probably being harassed by that stray twig you brought in.” Carmen tsked, “You shouldn’t say things like that! Yeah she’s pretty thin but you dont know if its her metabolism or an eating disorder! I’m working on helping her gain a bit of meat either way. But I’m not judging her. Now can this thing still take me to current day Canterlot?” The ai sighed as if asked a huge burden, “Does Canterlot exist?” Carmen raised an eyebrow, “Yes.. thats a silly question.” The ai just looked at her, “Exactly my point. Just set the dials and be on your way..” Carmen wrinkled her nose and rolled her eyes, “Just tell M that I’m popping out for a book. And I’ll be right back.” She set the dials to open a doorway to right inside the castle, by the stained glass windows. She’ll be able to get to the library with ease from there providing no guards had seen her. She stepped through and closed the doorway back, knowing that she’ll be able to dial it back if she needed on her phone. She looked around and stood back, admiring the stained glass craftponyship of the multiple pieces. “I need to come back for one of these eventually. I always forget how beautiful they are in person.” She mused quietly to herself.

[thisonerandomgirl]

Even though King Julien’s character in the PoM show is more selfish and narcissistic, I love that Julien’s soft spot for children is consistent across the board.

When I first started AHKJ and watched S2E8:“Daddy Julien”, despite the weirdness of Mort pretending to be his son, I loved seeing Julien act so sweet and caring towards his “child”. He feed him, played with him, read parenting books, and comforted “Prince Falcon” when he got upset. It really drives home the point of what Julien truly desires: a family of his own, where he can give unconditional love and receive it in return (likely stemming from his neglectful upbringing with his own parents).

At first I thought “if only this side of King Julien existed early on in the PoM show “. But, after rewatching the show recently, there is definitely moments where his paternal side shines through!

Some notable examples are:

Lemmy the Robot Lemur 🤖: Julien was so happy to “raise” Lemmy and teach him all his dance moves, it is very similar to how a father proudly teaches his son all his favorite activities to spend time together. He was so unexpectedly heartbroken when the penguins blew him up that they decided to fix Lemmy again to make him happy. He acted like such a proud dad too when he saw Lemmy on TV before he was eaten by an alien.

Eggy the Duckling 🐣: In his first appearance, Julien was smitten with that tiny duck egg. He had a whole song dedicated to him! Singing about all the things him and his “JJ” would do together once he hatched. My heart broke for him when Mama Duck took Eggy back and said “Does she get to keep ALL the JJ’s”. But when he returned, Julien encouraged Eggy’s (albeit dangerous) dream of being a commando. And when Eggy couldn’t defeat him, he cheered him up by showing him the ways of “shaking booty”. Cause there was no way his “JJ” would be sad on his watch!

Baby Skipper 🐧: Julien was gushing over baby Skipper, whom he named “Petey”, about how cute and tiny he was. And despite being an annoying babysitter, Julien still tried to take good care of him. He played peak-a-boo with him, “feed” him (a misconstrued way yes but it’s the thought that counts), and sang him a lullaby. But his greatest moment was when he jumped in front of “Petey” to protect him from a flying brick thrown his way. That lemur would do anything to protect an adorable baby!

Baby Fossa 🐱: Though he spent most of the episode being afraid of the baby fossa and tried to ship him away, the minute the fossa called him “dada” he did a compete 180! He went as far as to keep him safe from Savio! You know, the giant boa snake whom Julien abandoned the Penguins and Marlene to in a previous episode, and even offered himself up to be eaten first instead of the baby fossa. He has such a soft spot for babies, it’s implied he stayed around the fossa afterwards despite being bitten by him constantly, and referred to himself as “papa” when saying goodbye on the fossa’s last day at the zoo.

It goes to show that even in his worst adaptations, Julien still has a good heart deep down❣️, at least when it comes to children.

Even though it’ll likely never happen, if Dreamworks ever decides to give him kids, I firmly believe King Julien would make a great papa! 👨‍👧‍👦

[anivirus]

Andy the Mouse - Meditation (+Personal Status Update)

(For now I will keep this post exclusive to Tumblr)

Howdy, fellow followers and those who are just passing by. Today I would like to address the long break I have taken and try to self reflect. In fact, this art depicts my overall state as of now the best. Foggy and thorny.

Initially I was planning to get back into work in second half in July but a bunch of things happened. I have started feeling exhaustion in a lot of aspects in my life. I have left the communities, projects I was working on, primarily because my OCD forces me into giving all of my energy into them in expense for physical and mental health. By July 3rd I was weighing 46kg while being 183cm tall. Things needed to be changed. I am currently on medication, a healthy diet I couldn't build and sustain ever before, and trying to build up a daily schedule which also contains regular fitness. Currently I am almost never falling into panic and despair which had been draining all of my life force. After 2,5 months I weigh 58kg and still aiming for better results to be the perfect femmmmmm boyyyyyyy!

However... Things are still not perfect, I need more time to adapt and overcome the fog of my mind. However I have a bunch of plans. Let me inform you.

1. I will differentiate some of my social networks

I love you all, my cutest and fluffiest furry boys, girls, enbys and everyone else. However I know that you might not be interested in some other stuff I might do - like composing music, sowtware engineering, or even femboy fashion. The solution for that would be creating multiple blogs on social networks. Like, for example, my idea for Tumblr is making two extra blogs - for bottomposting and software engineering. I still don't know which one would be my main, probably, this one - for furry art. Anyways, I will make a poll in that regard since I'm not sure about the idea

2. Updating my social networks

I have left Twitter because Elon Musk is a literal nazi I will never support. That said, Threads is the lesser evil, which is also connected to my Instagram account. By the way, my social links are down below!

UPD: Reddit is ass, i won't be able to post there. Thinking about using Lemmy instead

3. I will be discontinuing Patreon subscription

In heat of creativity I have gone greedy and decided to try taking money from people. No more! For now my content will stop being paywalled just as it should have been since the start. It will simply act as a hub for all of my content.

P.S. I don't think I'm ready to continue my furry art journey yet. But I am trying my best to come back soon.

Cya! >.<

[recreationaldivorce]

I'm not super familiar with lemmy and the broader fediverse, but where are some good places to start? Are there competing sub-lemmys (unsure what they're called) I'm only familiar with I think a piracy one (lol) but id love to learn more and start using it more, especially given this update. thanks! <3

apologies if you already know all this & this is patronising, just explaining the basics in case that needs to be established:

so you know how emails work where i can be eg revolutionarysuicide@tumblr.com and i can email billgates@microsoft.com just as easily as i could email joshawatt11@tumblr.com, even though billgates is on a different domain to me whereas you're on the same domain? the fediverse works the same way. in the same way that it's not a huge deal what email provider you sign up with bc you can still send and receive emails to/from anyone, it's not a huge deal what lemmy instance you sign up with because you can still subscribe to and participate in any community. to use reddit as a familiar comparator, if you were joshawatt11@otherreddit.com you could still post to r/askreddit@reddit.com as though you had a reddit account.

the points at which lemmy instance would matter is that each lemmy instance is run by its hosts, who may set their own rules on those instances. eg a left-wing political instance wouldn't allow conservatives to sign up and would ban right-wingers from their instance. so if someone were a fascist they could be banned from an entire left-wing instance, including all the communities in that instance.

another way that they matter is that you can "defederate" where you ban an entire instance, eg some pretty liberal instances like to talk about defederating with some of the more commie instances so that people from those instances can't interact with anything on the liberal instance, and vice versa. like in the above example, if tumblr.com and microsoft.com defederated then revolutionarysuicide@tumblr.com and billgates@microsoft.com couldn't email each other because tumblr.com and microsoft.com have blocked each other basically.

you can also host your own lemmy instance—with the email example that's like registering your own domain and you could just use that domain for your own email address and nothing else, or alternatively you could decide to let your friends use that domain for their email addresses too, or you could decide to host an email service on that domain allowing anyone to sign up for an email at that domain.

you can browse some of the instances here. some of them are very general instances, some of them may be instances centred around a particular interest/hobby, a particular political viewpoint, a particular common identity eg lgbt instances, and so on. like i said above i dont think it particularly matters so long as you join a generally non-offensive instance that other instances won't have blocked and you wouldn't get banned from.

i really dunno in-depth about many lemmy instances & tbh i rarely look at what instance someone is posting from so i wouldn't notice those kinds of patterns, but off the top of my head i can think of:

lemmy.ml, the original lemmy instance run by the lemmy devs. the lemmy devs are communists so they're chill. politics seem to be generally left-leaning, like from reddit-style socdems to actual communists is the range i've seen on there.

hexbear, an explicitly "leftist" instance. politics seem to be similar to that of left tumblr, so take that how you will...

lemmygrad, ml instance

obviously those are listed by politics but if you wanna pick an instance based on interests or something that's fine too, literally just read the rules and see if you agree and have a look at their front page to see what kind of posts & communities are on that instance. if you like the vibes sign up. you can always sign up for a different instance if you get banned or if you don't like the one you signed up for

[mywifeleftme]

355: Motörhead // No Remorse

No Remorse Motörhead 1984, Bronze

I heard British comics writer Warren Ellis tell a story about hearing a horrible banging in the hallway outside his flat late one night in the mid-1980s. When he poked his head outside to give the noisenik hell he discovered Lemmy wandering around smacking the walls with a wooden cooking spoon. After he managed to get the metal legend’s attention, Lemmy waved the implement at him and snarled, “You ever hear of a coke spoon? This is my coke spoon!”

*

This past Friday, I talked to a 50-something punk named Joey P who has 26 Motörhead records on vinyl (including the coveted leatherbound version of No Remorse). If you ever want to have a long conversation with Joey P, I recommend starting with a riff on if Ronnie James Dio was a mob-connected / Rat Pack wiseguy, and then letting him go into antiquarian detail on which Motörhead records are kind of underrated (Another Perfect Day), underrated (Bastards), and really underrated (1916). Love that guy, and I think he’s mostly right. 26 is probably too many Motörhead records even for me, but they are one of those long-running, very sonically consistent bands who turn their deepest fans into sommeliers. I can hold forth about the subtle differences in tasting notes between an Ace of Spades and an Iron Fist (let alone a departure like Orgasmatron!) while an outsider looks doubtfully into their two indistinguishable cups of Jack and Coke. A band like this gives men of a certain age a way to sniff each other over when they meet in a clearing, a low-impact ritual of butting heads.

*

For years I remembered a story I thought one of my friends had told me about running into Lemmy at the Dominion Tavern in Ottawa towards the end of his life. He was miserably drinking white wine on his doctor’s orders, not looking for conversation. The image always struck me as both funny (I cannot imagine the house wine at the Dom having a nice finish), and sad (the day Lemmy Goddamn Kilmister lets anyone tell him he can’t have whiskey!). I think I’ve repeated it once or twice over the years as an example of how age mellows us all, but when I asked the pal I thought had told me, she denied it (though she did add that her ex told her Lemmy’d gone to see “the rippers in Aylmer once”). So, I dunno, maybe he escaped the fate of the Dom Chardonnay.

*

Speaking of fate, Lemmy was a damned sharp fellow beneath all the drugging and boozing (who else could’ve written the lyric “Fourth day, five-day marathon / We’re moving like a parallelogram”), and he rightly figured his label had pitched doing a hits compilation in 1984 because they thought the band was washed up. (The limp sales and savage critical reaction to Another Perfect Day having had something to do with that.) Kilmister insisted on inserting a side’s worth of new songs onto the double LP comp to emphasize that Motörhead remained very much a going concern. Of the four, only the brilliantly dumb “Killed By Death” became a classic in its own right, but the new tracks showed the band were still capable of churning out the sound that had defined them with undiminished ferocity. They never lost it.

*

I do know a woman who hooked up with Lemmy towards the end of his life (if anything in rock and roll can be believed, she had about 1,000 peers. It was like a more pleasant [?] Germs burn). They went home from the bar in Montreal and drank whiskey, and then she split in the morning without leaving her number. She thought the story was funny and I thought not leaving a number was a pretty good flex, but at the end she still gave a bit of a wistful, “I know he probably wouldn’t have called me anyway…”

*

Lemmy picked the songs for No Remorse himself, and even provides short annotations in the liners, so if you’re going to quibble with the selections, you’ll have to take it up with the mole man. (As he says of “Like a Nightmare,” a left-field inclusion, “This was one of my favourite B-sides. Everyone didn’t like it, but seeing as I’m the only one of the old band left, here it is!!”) There are a load of Motörhead compilations out there (I’m partial to 2000’s lavish, oddly-sequenced double-CD The Best of, since it’s the one I had as a kid), and as Joey P will tell you, they did lots of good stuff after 1984. But if 1) you only need one Motörhead record on wax, 2) you’re mostly into the original lineup, and 3) you want something reasonably comprehensive, No Remorse is a no-brainer. It has a few relative duds (“Louie, Louie”) and lacks some absolute classics (“Dead Men Tell No Tales”; “Tear Ya Down”; “City Kids”; “Love Me Like a Reptile”; “White Line Fever” etc. etc.) but why complain given the teeth-rattling abundance there is? As Lemmy says, “Here is Motörhead as you’ve come to expect them. Write your opinion on a Beatle wig and send it to someone who gives a damn. Even if you get us banned, we ain’t gonna stop!”

*

Motörhead were obviously a legendary live act, and they were my first metal show (on a bill at Detroit’s Pine Knob with Dio and Iron Maiden). They played a lot of arenas, but they made the most sense in small theatres. Bigger venues tend to dwarf them, like a small motorcycle gang trying to take over a castle. In a theatre, or better yet a bar, they own the place like The Wild Ones. I don’t remember much specific from their Pine Knob set, except that before closing with “Ace of Spades,” a song Lem was famously bored of playing every night, he told us all, “You’ll know this one, sing along if you want, I won’t be able to hear you anyway,” and then abruptly launched into that hellbent bass riff. Then he disappeared (probably there was some walking beforehand, couldn’t tell you for sure).

*

Lemmy’s funeral was livestreamed back in 2015, and it’s genuinely one of the sweetest, silliest things I have ever watched. The altar features flower arrangements in the shape of the ace of spades; an iron cross in place of a crucifix; two Marshall stacks; a pair of Triple H’s wrestling boots; a 3D-printed urn in the shape of his cavalry hat; and a mirror with a big line of speed on it. Everybody cries, many of them the sort of people the PMRC would’ve expected to burst into flames if they were to enter a church. Everybody talks about how genuinely nice he was. His girlfriend Cheryl, a job that earns you instant and eternal That Poor Woman status from all who observe, gives a super brief statement: “Lemmy loved me, but his greatest love was his fans and his music. I remember saying, ‘Baby, stay home, don’t go, skip this tour. And he said, ‘Baby, I can’t. I love my fans.’” (Imagine that being an interaction between two genuine living people—yet I believe it.) Apparently, he was an absolute pinball fiend. His bootmaker gives a speech. Somebody reads some limericks Lem wrote. What a life. What a story.

*

“Can’t get enough / And you know it’s some righteous stuff / Goes up like prices at Christmas! / Motörhead / Remember me now / Motörhead, alright"

355/365

[aces-and-angels]

i understand this would take a lot of time so this is not a request and rather just a query, but would you consider doing character analysis for the relationships but with all 3 routes (blood/merge/shadow) ? 🙂

Thanks for the message anon! To answer your question: I have and haven't done what you're asking lmaoo- lemmie explain (adding a read more bc tis long and I am incapable of simple saying yes or no, I gotta get into it lol)

---

My methodology when developing my 'final thoughts' posts is fairly simple:

Use my main route save as a reference

Use Rowan's greatest desire seen in the Power realm to determine their ending (blood/mixed/shadow)

See where that takes me lol

I have the ability to see how each route (blood/mixed/shadow) can end with each of the characters. In fact, I have played through each of them with Abel, Amalia, and Matthias. Looking at the other variants was mainly a tool for me to help strengthen my talking points for my canon endings (and to see what could happen, obviously lol) For example: I used MC losing all their nerve if they chose to merge with their Power-half to add to my discussion on why they ultimately become human in Amalia's route.

For Matthias- I responded to a very sweet message (which may or may not be you as well 👀) which you can read here; it goes into Ro's shadow ending with him if they split the Power between themselves aka the 'Power Couple' ending. Highly encourage peeps to stick around till the end of that post bc there's a bonus question that I'd like answered ♥

Since I have seen every variation for his end routes I'll fulfill your request for Matty right here, right now ☺

As for a mixed!route with him- to the best of my knowledge- there isn't a way for your MC to stay with Matthias without merging with the Power. If there is, it really puts a damper on my whole Matthias is only loyal to the Power rhetoric I've been harping on about lol. I think my statement here pretty much covers my thoughts across the endings he can have w/ Ro: humanity and Matthias do not mix. Period. If MC is rocking with Matthias in any way, it points to a very deep character flaw (or slay if you wanna think of it that way lol). They mirror Matthias' insecurities, ambitions, and drive. They both believe that as they are before the conclusion of the series, they are not enough. Utterly desperate and ruthless in their quest to make their desires a reality.

Ro's choice to side w/ Matthias and then betray him as well is a very good twist on a similar thought I had with Abel x MC mixed ending. With the end of their route, I see Abel and MC as a couple proving their words ("But if we truly love each other, we won’t hold each other back.”) with the progression of their relationship post-finale. Whatever transpires between them, it happens with the intent of seeing each other achieve their greatest potential. The double-cross ending is the ultimate I am choosing ME story. Ro chooses themselves over Matthias. Over their 'true purpose' made by Loha. Over the bonds they may have formed between the members of the ILW crew. All of that is cast aside in favor of possessing an unimaginable amount of power. To someone who believes they've never been granted the opportunity to forge their own path, receiving this level of autonomy is gratifying. Absolutely nothing holds Ro back from getting what they want. And nothing ever will again.

---

Luckily for me, I was able to unlock all three endings (blood/shadow/mixed) amongst all the LIs with my main saves.

Abel: mixed

Amalia, Lincoln, Matthias: blood

Jocelyn: shadow

The plan I have right now is to write out my full thoughts on Jocelyn's route first because I have yet to analyze a shadow ending that doesn't end with Rowan and Matty burning the world to the ground lol.

My approach with Lincoln will be slightly different.

By the time I get to writing his post, I will have shared thoughts on all of the possible endings at least once. My main save with Linc allows Ro to successfully achieve each end without losing too much nerve that they need to be revived/killed. Because of this, I decided that I will choose the ending, and not solely base my choice on what is seen in the Power dimension.

---

So after a very lengthy how-to, where does that leave this anon's query? I think I will have a better understanding on what I want to say about each of the routes (blood/mixed/shadow) in regards to each character when I've completed going through all my save files. For now, here are my initial thoughts on alt. routes for the LIs. I will make additional posts if I come up with anything substantial worth mentioning in regards to a specific LI ♥

A mixed ending with Joss as an LI has the highest probability of lasting out of the mixed endings with the other LIs. Disclaimer: I have yet to see Jocelyn's route, but I do know that she is the only one who chooses to stay and help hunt horrors. The others express their desire to leave those days in the past.

The shadow route just hurts- I can understand why it's difficult for players to want to end their journey like that and why it's slipping in the polls LMAO fr tho yall need to give shadow route more dang love its achingly wonderful

But seriously, it's altruism to the extreme. This is a stark contrast to Rowan's reasoning to claim the Power as their sole form in Matthias' route; Them severing all ties to their humanity for the sake of saving the rest of the world is the ultimate sacrifice. What's even more heartbreaking is that the majority of the world will never know of it.

The ones that do (the LIs) hold the heavy burden of trying to honor that sacrifice by enjoying the healed world around them while simultaneously grieving the loss of what they considered to be their world: Rowan. It's a love story that transcends realms- expressed not with soft caresses- but in the soft breeze in the air, the gentle warmth from the sun that hits their skin, the stars that shine brightly in the sky. A physical representation of the peace that was restored by paying the ultimate price.

Blood route: As of 3-9-23, this route is leading the polls as players chosen ending. I've said before that I connect most with a mixed ending. So it is a bit more difficult for me to frame Ro as solely human by the end of the series. If I'm strictly just answering the question of 'will they last?' the Blood route offers the highest potential of achieving a long lasting, established relationship for Ro x their LI simply because the majority of the LIs are ready to move on from their involvement with the Power. Makes sense. They are, in fact, human lmaoo. The drawback with this route is Rowan's guilt for leaving the Power behind. A somewhat selfish, albeit less extreme version of the double-crossing option, choice to put themselves over others in order to achieve their version of happiness.

Overall, each of the LIs will help Ro through this grief. Their approach may differ slightly, but the goal is the same. My main talking point that I think is worth mentioning is how Ro's guilt will manifest post-finale/the consequences of that.

The end scene right before credits roll is Rowan suffering from another nightmare- an indicator of their survivor's guilt. Their ability to move past that guilt is determinant on a player's interpretation

My take: To be connected to the Power for that long, to have it be an integral part of your identity- I cannot see Rowan not getting back into the fold in all things Power-related. Maybe it's my personal bias of wanting a mixed route, but I truly feel that Ro pushing themselves towards 'normalcy' by going full domestic isn't the answer to them overcoming their guilt (except maybe in Amalia's story, since I played the ultimate bff to lovers story) This might not be the case with other MCs. If you played as someone who yearned for that lifestyle, I think your MC will have an easier time coming to terms with their life as a human. How I view MC in the majority of my routes however, makes me think otherwise.

I'll refer to this line from Devon to Rowan to frame my stance:

Devon: Think we can count on you to help us out with that? Rowan: Me? But I'm just a full human now. Devon: So? Most people are just regular humans. I might not be anymore, I guess, but all of our other friends are. Rowan: I... I'll think about it.

This moment alone gives enough opportunity to speculate the POSSIBILITY of Rowan turning back to the life of the Power. To what degree? I can't say, but I play Rowan as someone who has deep ties to their connection to the Power, even if by the end of the Blood route, they have no physical ties to it.

Whew. That was a lot. If you made it this far- CONGRATS! Here's another secret poll so I can see how many people made it to the end 😊

[m4y4fun]

Kirby Timeline (In my au)

(There’s a lot of yapping here btw)

Everybody turns human by this mysterious force ooooo (That’ll be explained later)

Kirby’s Dreamland

Kirby Right Back At Ya (Replacing Kirby’s Adventure and BOY lemmie tell you I changed up a whoooole bunch of stuff..)

Kirby’s dreamland 2 (Goes basically the same. I can spare extra details!)

Kirby Superstar (Mainly Milkyway Wishes)

Kirby’s dreamland 3 (Same as Dreamland 2)

Kirby Canvas Curse (I’m thinking about what happens here, but it’d be the same)

Kirby Squeak Squad

Kirby Mass Attack (Kirby and Daroach would definitely get closer as friends overall here.)

Kirby’s Pinball Land (Who doesn’t like a spinoff?)

Kirby Tilt n Tumble (Extra details can be spared)

Kirby and the amazing Mirror (I’m thinking of maybe giving each Kirby a personality of their own..I don’t know yet though!)

Kirby Super Star Ultra (Basically Revenge Of The King and Revenge Of Meta Knight)

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse (I have nothing to say here.)

Kirby’s Avalanche (Kirby learns to talk a bit better and more because he could barely speak in the first place.)

Kirby 64 / Kirby and the Crystal Shards (His love for his friends grows!!)

Kirby’s Epic Yarn (Abnormal Dees arrive! Abnormal Dees are the yarn Waddle Dees from Yin Yarn in Dreamland turned human. I’ll spare more details for sure!)

Kirby’s return to Dreamland (Plays out entirely the same, just a little bit more like the novels)

Kirby Triple Deluxe ((+DededeTour) Strengthens the bond of the destined rivals! I also mixed up quite. Bit here, but not too much!)

Dream (Team) Kirby Clash Deluxe (This game all happens in a dream. It’s not until after everything happens and settles down, this dream fabricates into a universe.)

Kirby Battle Royal (Strengthens the bond with his favorite Waddle Dee!)

Kirby Planet Robobot (So much stuff is changed here, goodness..)

Kirby Test-Tubed (This is not a real game!! This is a game that I’m still thinking about. I can give details if anyone is interested!)

Kirby Star Allies (This is altered quite a bit as well! For example, Magolor Epilogue takes place here as well while Magolor is going through Heroes In Another Dimension.)

Super Kirby Clash (All of the enemies from Dream Kirby Clash are suddenly revived by a mysterious wizard, and all of Team Kirby’s work has to be done over)

Kirby Fighters 2 (Is mostly the same, except all four of the main characters form a bond closer than ever!)

Kirby and the Forgotten Land (It’s all mostly the same here. (May add an oc tho))

Kirby’s Return To Dreamland Deluxe (Merry Magoland is open! I can spare details)

And until the next Kirby game..I’ll add more!!

[pbandjesse]

The coughing continues. Thankfully I was able to sleep easier but the Mucinex I took made me wake up with gummy eye balls and it was terrifying and horrible. And every time I moved I would start coughing again anyway. So was it worth waking up with very gummy and very red eyes? No. But at least I got some sleep.

James left for work long before I got up. I had planned on sleeping until 930 but my coughing woke me up around 830. And after washing the junk from my eyes I would just lay in bed and scroll on my phone until I couldnt take the coughing anymore. The coughing is a lot worse when I'm laying down.

I got up and got dressed. I took my time trying to make myself feel better. Even wore the new sparkling eyeliner stick I got. And it helped. I felt a lot better even if it wasn't perfect.

I made an omelette for breakfast. I think the pan was maybe to hot because the eggs did not spread. But I put cheese in it and had Sriracha mayo and avocado with itbsnd it was honestly great.

I would do a little more organizing. Pulled all my materials for my workshop. And went to take the box to the car.

I could not have chosen a better time so do this. As I was walking to the car a neighbor I hadn't met was walking there dog. Around me and James's age. And then another. Neighbor came out and these to neighbors started talking and as I walked back they introduced themselves. They had also just met.

The first neighbor is Ryan and his dog I believe is named Lenny or Lemmy. Unsure. But he seems great and lives right across from our house with a partner. The other neighbor is Sean (guessing at the spelling), and he is Victoria's boyfriend! And he let us know that she's pregnant! Ah! And due soon! I guess I just through her winter coat was big!

I ended up standing outside with these guys for a half hour talking and it was just awesome. What nice people. I got to learn some stuff about characters in the neighborhood and their back stories. Ryan has an art and music teaching background but works in content creation for an AR company now, and Sean, who I didn't catch what he does, but his mom was an art conservator for the national gallery! Incredible.

I'm literally pleased how nice everyone has been. I hope that trend continues.

I headed back inside and grabbed a few things and then I was off to my workshop. I was nervous! But the nerves were not needed.

Because almost no one showed up. I don't know why this program seems to have this problem. People sign up! But they don't follow through. But it wasn't completely a no show.

I best Michael there. But waited by the door sitting in my wagon with all my materials. And he brought his dog! A mini Australian shepherd named Quin. Who was a bundle of energy but was so lovely.

The space we were working in was very very hot. But it it was fine. It would cool down. Me and Michael covered the tables with trashcan and I set everything up.

And then my one family came. They had come to my workshops before, and I specifically remember the dad from the Lego printmaking class because he made a helicopter. And they were really sweet.

We started at 1230 and I talked about the flamingo, the history of plastics, and how those things relate. Especially through plastic flamingos and acrylic paint. We went through the steps for drawing it out and encouraged them to make changes from my original example.

Michael would do a painting to. Though he left his half finished so his girlfriend could do the other half which I thought was sweet. But I'm besides jumping in to give some techniques and technical advice, it was mostly quiet working.

I made a new painting and I thought it was really funny seeing my simple example vs my new more textured piece. But it was even better seeing what everyone else did. The whole family all did two tones flamingos. The mom did a sunset. The dad added frogs and fish. And the daughter painted very tiny hermit crabs. It was so fun.

We finished up around 230. We cleaned up together and I after giving them my website and letting them know I would have another nat guard workshop soon! I hope they join.

I was down in Towson so I decided to go to the goodwill right there before getting a late lunch.

It was a good stop. I got this very cool corner cabinet for my table top. And it needed a little fixing but I had a vision. I had a nice conversation with the cashier and then I was off.

I went to Chipotle but the line was very long. It was like all the staff changed at the same time. But it was fine. I listened to my podcast. And once I got my food I felt a lot better.

I had plenty to save and brought that home for lunch tomorrow.

I walked to the five below and got a couple little blind bags. And some candy. And a little black romer. And then it was time to go home.

When I got back here I was a little tired.

I got changed and worked on my drawing for the day. I went and cleaned up the small room. And then James was home. I was so happy to see them.

They had been planning on playing a game with friends tonight but that got canceled so instead they would make a run to the apartment. Get my mirrors and and few other things.

And while they were gone I worked on creating a rainbow on the small rooms window out of cellophane. Which took a while to cut out but I'm really pleased with it and it even casts a beautiful rainbow on the wall from the alley lights.

James came back and brought Sweetp to the bedroom so they could unload the car. And then we would work on fixing the curtains that didn't go well yesterday. And they look so much better. We swapped the swing out rods for a regular rod and that seems like the better move for now. The swing outs may be used in our bedroom but we will see what happens.

While James was hanging the curtain I worked on putting fake stained glass on the corner cabinet I got. I also added a little handle where it's had gone missing. And I put that on my desk and it's perfect.

I would work on hanging s few of the mirrors. I had to ask James for help with holding my very heavy shield one, and because the ceilings are lower I had to move the other things in the wall but it's fine. I am really pleased with how it's coming to there. I also hung a mirror on the back of the bathroom door and I absolutely love how it looks.

I would order another bath mat for the bathroom. And text me my mom. And eventually I went to take a bath.

It was a lot harder to get the water to be warm enough but I struggled through and washed my hair and while it was unpleasant at least I was clean.

James gave me an early birthday gift after my shower. An absolutely giant frog plush and a pin of the Maryland Pennsylvania railroad pin. So sweet. I love them. Both the gifts and my husband.

We are laying in bed and watching a scary video. And I feel happy. Tired, sick of coughing, but happy. And I have two days to rest and do moving things and what ever else. I hope I can just keep feeling better.

I love you all. Goodnight everyone.

[cocoa-rococo]

thinking about iggy koopa today, and i realized one of the reasons i like him so much isn't just because he's a loony lil guy who likes causing explosions (though that definitely adds to it). it's because he makes a great rubber-ball character.

by that, i mean he's fascinating to put with others and see what dynamics pop up in response, as well as how he shifts the character development of those he interacts with. you throw a rubber ball at a surface, and it either bounces back or breaks something.

he's an inventor! which means he can create things that impact a story: macguffins that other people (good and bad) want, devices that help other characters fix their problems (or "fix" them, and cause more issues down the road), and gives him a need to perhaps talk and travel with other people to get supplies he requires.

it also gives something for him to bond with in others, whether that be through a fellow love of or rivalry. it also might give him a hard time connecting with people if they don't share that passion, which means they both might have to find some common ground in different ways so the two can work well together, if at all.

the other neat thing is that iggy does not take anyone super seriously at face value, not even bowser (remember how he laughed in his face in bjj?), and that makes him really fun as a foil for more sterner characters. put in a room with ludwig, wendy, and yes, even mario -- who're more likely to be assured about their abilities and inclined towards keeping order -- and watch what happens. how do they get along? can they, even? what's something that would make them do so?

it also makes him a nice buddy to pair with those who're less concerned about "big pictures" affairs -- like larry, morton, and roy -- to tag along and snipe in his own commentary with whatever they're doing. his whole dynamic with lemmy is a great example: they're able to balance each other out and grow while still maintaining their Silly Guy personalities.

he's such a cool character to put next to others and see how things change, from plots and stories to character growth. he also just so happens to be the fun flavor of Mad Scientist Turtle while he's at it.

[childofsardior]

Unexpected third ask, but how close was the Malatone X incident in this AU to canon? You mentioned that poisoning Morton would take a high dose, but it’s the “more time” that I’m curious about. In canon, it didn’t take long, although it was slightly longer than the other minions.

Hello there!

First of all, thank you for asking! Do not worry, I saw your previous asks and I am going to reply them eventually ;3 but I will start from this one being the easier one for me!

Short answer: Most of the events that happened in the main/RPG spin-offs games (or at least in the games that I played and liked) kind of happened in my HC/AU as well, but with twists or new elements and in general rewrite-from-my-perspective-and-tastes-way.

About Bowser Jr. Journey specifically: I HC the whole story in a way that adapts to my personal lore (the Koopalings being Junior's half-siblings, for example, and not just his minions etc.), so the whole thing already starts in a very Alternative Version way.

Specifically about the Malatone Formula:X thing: I was... fascinated from that scene. I saw it in English the first time and then in my first language and then watched it again and was like... "okay, this is very important, and the fact that Morton (in the canon game) is doing his best to NOT hurt Jr even when, literally, poisoned and slowly brainwashed by the BFF... it was like, WOW? And that was the point in which Jr, like, realized he cared about his buddy? Like... ToT

SO, this was my first impression. Then I thought about it more and more and realized "you know what? I want to emphatize that scene in my AU; the fact that Morton was resisting a whole dose of Malatone Formula:X all alone was a very interesting fact. I HC Morton having a very strong will, but it could also be combined with a strong body to create the most resilient Tarrasquin that the world has ever seen in the last centuries". And from that, I started to work on some of my Morton related charateristics as well.

In the end: In my AU version, the dose that the BFF gave to Morton would have probably been lethal for any non-draconic creature, and would have totally poisoned even the mind of King Bowser himself in a bunch of seconds. But Morton resisted for several minutes (that in this case is a LOT), trying to warn his little brother to run away and refusing to fight at first - and even when the Malatone's power kicked, I HC Morton unconsciounsly still trying to fight the poison from time to time, for example when fighting against his siblings I like to think he somehow managed to refrain from fighting at his max strenght, at least when he was in front of Junior or Larry or Lemmy.

[jameshasbdd]

Do I have Body Dysmorphia? (how to tell if you have BDD)

Artwork by DanielHannah

Close your eyes for a moment.

Now picture yourself…

What do you see?

What are the details that stand out in this picture of yourself?

What feelings go with this picture?

…

Now open your eyes.

If you saw details that you feel are highly dissatisfactory, or you felt a strong negative sensation such as an almost burning or heaviness, then you might have Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD).

What am I supposed to do about this?

Well as you probably might have guessed- it’s a little complicated.

Truthfully, the material focus of your BDD is usually seen by others as insignificant or even imperceptible. But BDD is not based in reality, so nevertheless, we often choose to try and “fix” our appearances’.

About Cosmetic Enhancement

Now if a “fix” can be made then that’s ok. But hold on one second before you go and book your £10,000 surgery- ‘if it can be made’. By this I mean that the “fix” you’re trying to make should create an obvious improvement to your appearance.

You should always speak to a qualified medical professional first before getting a procedure done because they will be able to tell you if this aspect of your appearance can or can’t be improved.

This is extremely important because these procedures have the potential to worsen your appearance, and then in turn, your mental health.

And just to note, the same advice goes for people thinking of taking steroids which can additionally cause lasting damage to your body.

An obvious example of a good “fix” is makeup. For example wearing concealer to cover up scars or acne often offers a marked benefit to people suffering with BDD.

Fixing negative thought processes

Image by storyset on Freepik

Here is what most helps people deal with BDD.

Fixing negative thought processes targets the actual problem in people with body dysmorphia: Body Image.

Body Image refers to your perception of your body. In people with BDD, this perception often has a strong negative skew, which is inaccurate and extremely unrepresentative of their actual physical appearance.

This is the problem that fixing negative thought processes specifically targets, and the problem of which the most popular therapy techniques are designed around.

How do I start fixing negative thought processes?

Thankfully, there are a bunch of ways you can start fixing your negative thought processes right now!

Here are some helpful free resources:

BDD Foundation — this contains tons of information about BDD. It ranges from information, support services, and others’ stories.

Building Body Acceptance by CCI — this contains a rich and complete workbook that guides you and helps you understand your BDD.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder Lemmy Community — this is an online forum space run by me (@porcelain@lemm.ee on lemmy) where you can talk about everything to do with BDD.

Dedicated self-help resources such as Building Body Acceptance as well as other reputable books use techniques created by psychologists that are medically reviewed and proven to be successful in helping people deal with BDD.

What if this doesn’t help me or I decide I want/need even more help?

Image by pikisuperstar on Freepik

If body dysmorphia is seriously affecting your life then the first step you should take is to speak to your doctor about it.

You may want to mention therapy or anti-depressants if you’re thinking about them, as well as any self-help materials you’ve tried if you’ve tried any.

Hopefully after speaking to your doctor you’ll have a treatment plan ready for the foreseeable future.

If you’re not satisfied with your doctor’s advice however, you can always refer yourself to a therapist to gain more insight into yourself, or if you want to talk to someone understanding for free then the BDD Foundation offers an email helpline specifically for body dysmorphia.

I’m experiencing thoughts of suicide or self-harm what do I do?

If you’re in this position, it’s important to speak to someone as soon as you can. You can contact a crisis hotline in your country by using this list.

Conclusion

If you’re someone suffering with BDD; I hope this article has given you a place to start.

Thank you for reading, and remember to be kind to yourself!

Sources

I am not a medical professional, however this article has been written with the help of facts from reputable medical sources.

Here is each section of the article followed by the sources used in it:

(the introduction) — Building Body Acceptance — Module 1: Understanding Body Dysmorphic Disorder — Link — Archived Link (archive.org)

‘What am I supposed to do about this?’ — Mayoclinic — Link — Archived Link № 1 (archive.org) — Archived Link № 2 (archive.today)

‘About Cosmetic Enhancement’ — BDD Foundation Youtube Channel — Link — Archived Link (archive.org)

‘Fixing negative thought processes’ — Building Body Acceptance — Module 1: Understanding Body Dysmorphic Disorder — Link — Archived Link (archive.org), Mind — Link — Archived Link № 1 (archive.org) — Archived Link № 2 (archive.today)

‘How do I start fixing negative thought processes?’ — BDD Foundation — Self-help books for BDD — Link — Archived Link № 1 (archive.org) — Archived Link № 2 (archive.today)

‘What if this doesn’t help me or I decide I want/need even more help?’ — NHS — Link — Archived Link № 1 (archive.org) — Archived Link № 2 (archive.today), IMPORTANT NOTICE: Note that the advice suggesting to speak with your doctor about therapy & anti-depressants, as well as the advice on what to do if you’re unhappy with your doctor’s advice, is my own advice based on my personal experience and knowledge.

‘I’m experiencing thoughts of suicide or self-harm what do I do?’ — NHS — Link — Archived Link № 1 (archive.org) — Archived Link № 2 (archive.today)

‘Conclusion’ — N/A

[corbindavenport]

Taking another look at Mastodon

I talked a bit about Mastodon last year, right as the big migration from Twitter was underway. There's a lot that has changed since then, including some of my own opinions.

First, I'm getting the definitions out of the way. Mastodon is an open-source and federated social media network. "Federated" means it's made up of a bunch of independent but interconnected servers. Those servers use a protocol called ActivityPub to talk to each other, like how Gmail and Yahoo can send and receive emails between each other with IMAP. Other social media platforms use ActivityPub too, like PixelFed, which are collectively referred to as "the Fediverse."

According to FediDB, a service set up by PixelFed developer Daniel Supernault (dansup), there are somewhere around 7.5 million Mastodon accounts spread across over 12,000 servers. Roughly 1.2 million of those accounts are active users (have posted in the past month), which is down slightly from the start of the year. The last peak was in February 2023, when the platform was around 1.68 million active users.

That's only part of the puzzle, though. Other software like Misskey, PeerTube, Calckey, and PixelFed are part of the same larger Fediverse network, adding more users into the mix.

The most significant event this year so far for Mastodon and other Fediverse platforms has been Reddit's collapse, as it pushed through similar API lockdowns as Twitter. Reddit isn't quite as terrible as Twitter yet, but Reddit's CEO continuously saying the dumbest shit possible is not helping. Several Reddit communities are migrating to Lemmy and Kbin, both of which support ActivityPub, which means they are intercompatible with Mastodon and other Fediverse software.

If we look at FediDB again, Lemmy and Kbin are getting close to 100,000 active users, an increase of roughly 10x since the start of the month. That's pretty remarkable, especially considering both projects are far less mature than Mastodon and options for mobile apps are limited. It remains to be seen if we'll see Reddit app developers embrace these new platforms in the same way that some popular Twitter client developers did -- the only example I've seen so far is the Sync for Reddit developer working on a Lemmy client.

The next big event will likely be the launch of Meta's Twitter clone, which will probably be called "Threads," and is expected to use ActivityPub at some point. Whenever that happens, Meta's service will probably very quickly become the top server in the Fediverse ecosystem. Most of the responses to this have been in one of three camps: "this is a good thing because the Fediverse will have more users", "we should be cautious about this", and "Meta will ruin everything we've built and we're blocking them."

To be clear, that last option is usually referring to defederation: when a Mastodon/Fediverse server completely blocks all communication with a specific other server. If you're following someone on a server, and your admin defederates the server, you don't follow them anymore and can't re-follow them. This is a pretty frequent action with servers hosting illegal content or no user moderation. When the far-right social media platform Gab introduced ActivityPub support, pretty much every Mastodon server defederated with it.

I don't really know where I stand on defederating Meta's service, because we don't have all the details yet, but I can understand where people are coming from with an outright block. The Fediverse is full of people who have been pushed away or suddenly banned from Meta-owned platforms or other big social networks (LGBTQ+ people, journalists, sex workers, etc.), and those companies generally have moderation policies that are farther to the right of most Mastodon servers. It's not difficult to see a reality where user reports about posts and users on Meta's server might overwhelm Mastodon moderators, who then simply ban Meta's server instead of continuing to deal with its users. Meta also now officially allows COVID-19 misinformation, and isn't pushing back on election interference lies.

The discourse around Meta's platform, some other Fediverse drama, and the continued onboarding issues with Mastodon do make me think that Mastodon and other Fediverse platforms probably won't ever "go mainstream," which seemed more likely to me at the end of last year. There's a lot of people who completely zone out when you have to explain how servers work, or why you can't favorite a post without copying and pasting a link, or something else like that. I do still think a lot of the people raising those points are being disingenuous, and they aren't entirely the fault of the projects (you're working against years of learned behavior about centralized platforms), but that doesn't make them invalid.

However, I do think Mastodon and other Fediverse platforms are now set up for long-term success. The big migration from Twitter gave it more name recognition, a lot more apps, and support from mainstream social media tools like Buffer and WordPress Jetpack. If I'm a big company, organization, or news site, it's now so much easier to maintain a presence on Mastodon (and thus, the rest of the Fediverse) than it was a year ago. With tools like Buffer, Mastodon is just another button you click, right next to the Twitter and Facebook buttons. That's huge.

Right now, the Fediverse is basically the desktop Linux of social media. It's not mainstream, and probably won't ever be, but it's grown enough now that it can't be completely ignored anymore. Just like the Linux userbase, the Fediverse community leans more towards tech people, but there are also a lot of guys, gals, and non-binary pals on Mastodon who have other interests and are there because they just like the experience.

I'll miss the Twitter of the past, and I will miss a few very specific and small parts of Reddit, but it's so exciting to watch Mastodon and other federated social media adapt to the failure of centralized platforms. There's still a lot more work to be done, but if Twitter, Reddit, and Facebook are any indication, "going mainstream" isn't the right goal.