#the point of a piece of media is (GENERALLY) not to catch you specifically off-guard.

[eyeoftheaxolotl]

"this was so obvious to me" wasn't for me. "this game is so easy who would even enjoy this" i did and i found it challenging actually. "nobody would ever fall for this" i did.

when you talk about a video game through the lens of your own experience, you are speaking as a player with your own capabilities and preferences. remember that

[megaboy335]

Anime and Manga Log [5/28/23]

Over the years I’ve thought about doing a blog to post my thoughts about various manga and anime. Recently my good buddy @silvertsundere​ started a weekly AniManga post where he posts some short thoughts each week.  I however, usually have a lot to say. It would take me forever to write up long discussions about every single chapter update I read each week. So I’ll be picking out a few titles to talk about each week. From Jump I will discuss my weekly top 3 and anything else I want to talk about.

Weekly Shonen Jump has been the core of my reading diet for nearly 15 years now. I have been following Shonen Jump since the mid-2000s when Viz was releasing the print magazine. Later around mid-2008 and into 2009 I got into Ohba and Obata’s Bakuman. This lead me to learning about the toc rankings and I started following the magazine religiously. I love the raw energy of a Shonen Jump series. Due to the competitive nature of its ranking system the series are always trying to improve themselves and catch the readers off guard. There’s nothing else quite like it. In comparison, Shonen Magazine series frequently have an emphasis on romance (and fan service) or its a sports manga. Shonen Sunday titles are usually very chill. They prefer to develop characters at a slow natural pace. Jump series always have something happening since losing readership could cost them a position in the magazine. I’ve been entertained by series of all genres short and long out of Jump. In fact it was talking about Nisekoi that made my Tumblr blog semi-famous in 2014-16. The creed of “Friendship! Effort! Victory!” will never fail you. I’m currently reading everything from Weekly Shonen Jump, most Jump+ titles, and a few other series from other magazines. My Kodansha reads are paused at the moment because KManga is a bad app. The only Shonen Sunday series I am caught up with is Frieren (on hiatus). Eventually I’ll get caught up with a few others so I can follow Viz Media simuls. I generally only read official releases and prefer to keep scanlations to a minimum. 

So without further ado, discussion for the series listed below are under the Keep Reading. I’m hoping to make this a weekly post going forward. There will be spoilers and opinions below. Be warned. 

- Sakamoto Days Ch.120 - Blue Box Ch.102 - Cipher Academy Ch.25 - Naruto: Konoha Story Ch.15 [END] - Pokemon Horizons Ep.8 - Soaring Sky! Precure Ep.17

Sakamoto Days 120: Sakamoto Days is the mindless action series in the line-up right now. Its very much inspired by movies like John Wick. Lately we’ve been a backstory about Uzuki and Sakamoto’s relationship. The biggest selling point of the series is Suzuki’s endless creative imagination of cool set pieces. They never cease to amaze me with how the character interact with the location to defeat their opponent. If I had to guess, the series is about halfway complete right now. Still a ways to go, but plotlines are starting to center around the baddie of the series. This week’s chapter finished the backstory with a fight between Sakamoto and Uzuki. Instead of the grand speculate we usually have, this fight was more grounded. No dialogue for half the chapter. Just a rapid exchange of blows. Leaving the backstory in Uzuki’s pov shows this how incident is still something he thinks about, and connects his character to Sakamoto. I always look forward to reading this series. When is the anime going to be announced? Blue Box 102: The series just cleared its 2nd anniversary and its going as strong as ever. Blue Box is a slow burn romance following our main couple struggling in sports and love. Its a story filled with youth and presented with the thin loose line work of Kouji Miura. She always puts an emphasis on capturing a character’s expressions in the moment. It will frequently hold a reaction shot to show specific mannerisms. Lately, the series has been gearing up for a long awaited confession between Taiki and Chinatsu. Its been a long time coming, though I am unsure if the series will actually do it. Rom-Coms aren’t known for changing the status quo in the middle of the series. This week’s chapter teases our main couple being much closer than they imagined in terms of proximity. They’re both unknowingly to the other in the same area. That’s lead Taiki on a fast sprint to catch up with Chinatsu. Will they meet each other or just barely miss? Its hard to say. The scenery shot of the frozen lake in this week’s chapter was very pretty.  Cipher Academy 25: The return of Nisioisin to Jump was near the top of my wish list, and I can confidently say he’s been delivering week after week. The story is about an academy of code solvers where literally every single thing is decided by your ability to decode a puzzle. It’s such a Nisioisin concept. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be catching on with readers. Cipher Academy has been ranking low in the toc rankings. The recent chapters have been getting down to business with moving the plot to its ultimate goal of unearthing the big Crypto collection (yes you read right that, Nisio is writing about Crypto of all things) hidden deep within the academy. The leading Class Private of each class are going to participate in a tournament arc to determine the “Code Emperor”. Now admittedly for a manga about codes, they don’t matter that much in the grand scheme of the writing. The codes are always plot devices for the characters to interact around. Nisio’s greatest strength of conveying character traits with eccentric dialogue is very much here, and with the added visual language of Iwasaki art. Together they compliment each other quite well. But anyhow, Nisio tournament arc sounds like its going to be exciting. Iroha is going to have to put his brain into overdrive to outwit his peers. Don’t get cancelled on me Cipher Academy!

Naruto: Konoha Story Ch.15 [END] This finishes the pair of Naruto Light Novel manga adaptations that began last fall. Konoha Story was previously adapted into Boruto so I was already familiar with the story. It followed Mirai learning to believe in herself more and discovering the legacy she’s been left. Throughout the story we had cameos from several old character each of whom imparted some wisdom into Mirai. Sadly, it falls into the trap of all post-Naruto. They rely on recycling old plotlines instead of pushing the canon forward. In this case because the story is about Mirai and since Asuma died to Hidan, from the Jishin cult, Mirai has to face someone from the cult in modern day. Luckily, Kishimoto left a good foundation with the team 10 dynamics for the story to work with. At the very least Mirai’s character feel more natural in the world and something we were bound to see at some point. Overall, enjoyable and the manga was a nice way to experience the story again. [Final Score: 6/10]

Pokemon Horizons Ep.8: We’re two months into the new Pokemon anime and its finishing the prologue phase of the story. We’ve had intro arcs for both Riko and Roy. They each have an ancient artifact that’s sure to connect to a bigger plot. We know very little about the villain group right now. However, its still been great so far! First, its refreshing to have a female protagonist for a change and have main characters who can have organic character development. I guess placing them both school better connects to the target audience and game characters. Poor Riko only got to spend 1 episode in school before getting swept up in the plot. I appreciate slower pace of long running anime. Episode 8 focused on the streamer character Dot. She’s a shy in person, but puts on a high energy performance on the internet. Similar to the seiyuu’s counterpart in Bocchi. Exciting things are ahead as the gang is about to land in Paldea.

Soaring Sky! Precure Ep.17: I started watching Precure weekly during the 15th anniversary series Hugtto, and here we are at the 20th series Soaring Sky. Precure series often have some of the most solid character writing among airing shows. Unlike 1 cour incomplete adaptations, Precure gets 4 whole cours to flesh out its characters. Soaring Sky is a return to form with a focus on a central main duo and hand to hand combat. The cure designs are better made than usual for animation. That allows for most episodes to feature some nice movement or character acting when it matters most, as seen once again in this week’s episode. Sora was tasked running a relay, and she wanted Mashiro to be the one passing the baton. It was a cute story that once again reinforces the friendship bond shared between our duo. Despite monster fight feeling tacked onto the scenario this week, it featured some slick movements. Next episode is the long awaited debut of Cure Butterfly. Ageha can finally start on Precure adventures as one of the squad.

Full read/watch list for the week:

[snackhobi]

Hi! I read your fic “catch your drift” a while ago and I absolutely adored it! One thing that really stuck out to me was the way you really seemed to know what you were talking about, the amount of research you probably did was insane!

I was wondering, with a niche subject like that, how did you do your research for that? What kind of media did you watch/read to learn more about it? I’ve been thinking of writing a story like that myself, but I have no idea where to start. It’s writers like you that inspire me to put extra care into my stories, because it always shows at the end! You’re an amazing writer, I can’t wait to see what else you put out in the future <3

hi lovely! okay, first of all, I want to say thank you so much for enjoying cyd but also for noticing all the details!! I did do quite a bit of research (I fell down a rabbit hole, really) and it’s nice to know that it makes the world feel realistic/makes it seem that I knew what I was talking about 💕

for me, when it comes to doing research for subjects I’m not familiar with, I sort of have two overarching segments: 1) the technical details, and 2) the visual details. I’ll break down exactly what I mean by those, using examples from cyd (though I wrote the story over a year ago so I might miss some bits and pieces, hopefully it should help to give you an idea 🥰) (under a cut because WHOO did I go on for a bit) -

1) the technical details

I’m not a drift racer, so honestly, I did a lot of googling and digging around for things! my first stop was wikipedia, which gave me a general idea of what drifting was like/involved, and then I delved deeper from there (because it only really talks about the official drifting competitions, which is obviously different to an underground community). I found articles from car magazines that spoke about the underground tweaking/drifting community in south korea and japan, so I knew they were reputable sources (or that they at least knew what they were talking about!). that’s how I got my details on the types of car they use in that community, on what it’s like to be a drifter over there. I found websites that broke down drifting jargon so I had a dictionary to refer to. I also watched youtube videos of people who’d visited the underground meets, so I got a feel of what it was like/they would often talk about the specs of each car, which helped as well.

I remember I got details of the area around seoul/the main drifting areas from the articles I mentioned, but I also looked at a map and did some googling for areas that seemed to work for what I already had in mind (like the meet in yongsan, which has a US military base, hence why the driver there had a mustang - another american car).

stuff like this does take time to research but I like to write about subjects I enjoy/find interesting so it’s fun to read up on it!!

the reason why I think of these as the technical details is because they’re facts related to the subject I’m talking about (drifting/life in south korea/the car community there etc). it’s the nitty gritty stuff. not only do I try to find relevant terminology, I also try to read around the subject enough to know how that terminology is then used; if I’m not sure, then I avoid using it. (it’s sort of like in movies when you see someone playing a video game, and they’re using the wrong controller for the wrong console and the game on screen doesn’t match up with what the person is doing - it’s like you have all the relevant parts, but when you put them together, it’s clear that you don’t know what you’re talking about. you know? if in doubt, leave it out.)

the visual details are a bit different.

2) the visual details

this is a bit more of a vague thing and I might not describe it very well, but visual details are usually visual references/things that give me an idea of how to describe how something looks/feels, rather than the actual moving parts inside it. I’ve never watched fast and furious or need for speed, BUT I already knew that they existed, so I looked up videos of races in them for an idea of how everything looked/felt. (sort of related to the videos I mentioned above of the car meets, but, yes.) I also watched other drifting videos from competitions, and I looked up images/videos of the cars I mentioned in the story, so I could describe them in a way that would feel accessible but also interesting? for example the sentence “2007 Solstice GXP” probably doesn’t mean anything to someone who doesn’t know about cars, but if you then describe it being shorter than other cars and how it drifts around corners, that’s the focal point of the scene. it’s all in the visual description vs the technical name. a visual detail is immediately accessible because you’re describing what someone can see, which doesn’t require any foreknowledge of the subject.

obviously a lot of this will vary dependant on what your personal style is like, but if I drop in specific terminology that I think a reader might not know, I’ll then explain it, too. so it’s mixing the visual with the technical. here’s an example: “he throws you off when he slings himself out of a turn and slides into a choku-dori, the zig-zagging motion of his car catching you off guard” - choku-dori is the name of a specific drifting move, but I don’t expect people to know that, which is why I then describe the zig-zagging motion; it relates a visual detail (accessible) to a technical one (probably not as accessible).

(pinterest can be fantastic for reference pictures, dependent on your topic. I’ll save visual references for quick refs if I find ones I like!)

so, for me, with any subject, it’s about researching what you need to know about the topic you’re writing about, and researching how to then make it come across in your story in a way that’s interesting, and accessible, and makes sense. honestly, a lot of my research is googling, and reading, and learning key terms from that reading, which then means I can research more effectively, which is an ongoing cycle for each story I have going on. sometimes you’ll do far more research than comes up in the final product, but it’s better to have too much than not enough! I know it can feel daunting to start with, coming at a subject that you might not know anything about, but for the most part googling things is enough to trick people into thinking you’re an expert 🤭 (although if there are any drifting experts out there who are laughing at my newbie slip ups or whatever then I apologise and also you will be forever cooler than me 🤧)

one other source of references which I think might not occur to people is other fanfic. obviously don’t plagiarise, but if you wanted to write a drifting story, you could use places/terminology/cars from catch your drift as a springboard for your own research, for example! (you said you’ve been thinking about “writing a story like that” and if you mean a drifting one, feel free to drop me another message because I’ve still saved a bunch of the links I used to reference from! I didn’t save all of them bc I’m a clown but I have at least enough to give you an idea of what it’s like ✨)

I hope that made sense!! and if you need me to clarify something or explain it in a way that’s not garbled and rambly, honestly please drop into my inbox any time! good luck!

[hybbat]

Okay, I know this may come off weird. I do not play DnD or anything like it, but I saw some of your characters and I fell in love with them. If you do not mind answering me, I enjoy writing, and I am curious as to how you design your characters.

Not at all, besides D&D I also write in my spare time as well and make comics. I find they all have slightly different processes at least for me.

Since digital art is my main medium of expression, I tend to first draw characters before anything. Characters like Mikeitaa my druid tiefling I went into a blank page and just drew out and pieced it together along the way.

Others are inspired by things that make me excited; the most blatant is my aasimar barbarian, Ashar, who I drew after the KDA music video was dropped.

Its usually less blatant than that though, such as a general aesthetic, a colour palette, a design concept, sometimes its as little as a line I drew that just catches my attention. The important part is that inspiration.

I find this process is quite successful for me when creating PCs that I like enough to play. I usually develope their personality and character along the way while drawing, filling in the blanks here and there once I'm done to flesh them out. A good example of this I think is Reqei

His inspiration was his style of horns, specifically the thought of "what if their "eyebrows" were just hair tufts sticking out from the bottom of their horns?" I ended up drawing a tilted and kind of sad face and as the rest came out I developed the idea of this emotionally numb slave soldier. Talking to my DM about his setting placed him as a slave of the dwarves, his nicer attire and weapon due to being sold as a personal guard after not dying, and informed many other aspects of his psychology and personality. I filled in smaller things with the details that caught my attention and some creative thinking: he wouldn't use a gun and the starting gear doesn't allow for it but his master would certainly have his life threatened with one, so its a broken gun that serves as a memory. His claws don't quite match his colour palette though it compliments his gear's metal buttons and halberd.

Reqei is already someone who goes into instinctual survival mode and would use anything as a weapon, what if he saved his master clawing someone's face off with a cheap metal prosthetic claw and he had all of them replaced for his sake so Reqei had more weapons? Of course dueing this all the characters related to Reqei are also being fleshed out, such as his master and his master's wife.

I think the most important thing is that these things are not irrelevant. They inform/shape not only his character but the characters involved with him. I always ask "what does this tell me about the character?" Especially durring this process of fleshing out the little things. With this even simple characters become interesting and without it big characters might wring hollow, I've had both happen to me.

Its important that you are personaly interested in the character regardless of the medium, even if its just and npc or side character, something like "I would really like to see more of that character and see their story unfold." Thats how I usually make NPCs for my players, and its easy to control if you know what appeals to certain people and you can make it obvious that certain characters clearly have more going on to draw the eye even while making everyone interesting looking.

Some of that can translate to written and other mediums but I think for more structured storytelling like comics and especially writing you have to take a different approach. I find for comics its important for me to draw characters first still because the characters i come up with in my head I might not be able to draw to my satisfaction, but for writing you can go hogwild with your imagination as long as you can describe it, the character isn't as limited by your personal skill as in visual mediums.

The most important difference between them and D&D though is that you already know the story you're putting them in, they're often developed alongside the story as a part of it, not inserted into it. Because of that you have to think a little more utilitarian. "Does this serve a purpose to the narrative/themes/aesop?" In D&D its part of the DM's job to build a narritive AROUND the PCs and its developing live. In a written story this is usually a bad idea because it ends up with plot holes and such so its important characters be fitted into the story and not just created separately and inserted.

For zombiegirl we wanted to make a gag 4koma so we created characters that could clash and create comedic moments, made their personalities a little ridiculous and over the top, and most importantly created characters who while quirky in their own right, could play straightmen to the comedy. The genre really shaped the characters we made and many of the side characters were made to fill comedic niches that fit the aesthetic and themes.

They're also all visually distinct, with visual media people usually go by the rule of "every character has an identifiable sillouette". In writing I find a decent equivelant to be speech patterns and unique identifiable features that can be refered to quickly. This character has red hair, this character is the shortest, this one has no eyebrows; Something that could easily be used as an identifying nickname in a situation where their name isn't known.

In general I tend to write very eccentric and somewhat extreme characters. The most important thing to me is their point of interest. Something makes me want to play/draw/write more about them, something to explore. I tend to end up with "main character NPCs" because of this, where they're too interesting for their role in the story and never get explored to a satisfactory extent. In D&D thats okay because you never really know who your players will want to talk to and have a story with, but in structured writing it can just leave you unsatisfied if their interestingness isnt properly scaled.

I guess the most important thing is it feels natural. While people say "don't judge a book by its cover" people do express themselves consciously or not. Their appearance should serve a purpose. Whether you should create the appearance first or the personality first depends on what they're being made for. I always remind myself that in the end, characters are tools of their story and vice versa and to varying amounts create them with that in mind.

My last note is that I draw from things that interest me. I like plants and flower language and bugs and animals, nature in general. Sometimes I make characters with similar interests but more often I use that knowledge to create characters; characters themed after animals, motifs, drawing from animal behaviours and exploring them in a more self aware humanoid. I end up with a lot of wild child types and alien psychology because of this.

My most recent example of this is the harvester god who holds fatherhood as the most important relationship and opposes the eat or be eaten matriarchal drow spider goddess, inspired by how male harvestmen protect their eggs from egg eating females. I have to remind myself sometimes that when it comes to inspiration its more important that you like the resulting concept than accuracy to the inspiration unless accuracy is the point.

Some people get caught up trying to make one to one allegories but if you're writing fantasy then I think those are pointless. I like fantasy's ability to explore situations and characters that can't exist in real life, beyond just magical abilities and such. I end up creating very alien characters because of that. I tend to frame characters more biologically than philosophically which informs how they themselves think, which is often very animalistic.

I dont know if any of that satisfies your curiosity I think I got off track a lot, sorry. I hope I answered your question somewhere in there.

[talesofwindcheats-blog]

Tales of Wind Guide

Tales of Wind Guide is another thing to enable you to improve at Tales of Wind. well the game is fun and has many element yet excessively centered in day by day occasion so I drop it cause I can't login at specific time and I miss Spirals money in there(Guild move/war/and so on) Idk it looks simply like another run of the mill anime gacha. It's practically similar to they are made in a similar processing plant like those Clash of Clans-ish games. The voice acting in this game is screwing frightful is there in any case to utilize Japanese voice acting without changing the language of the content?! In the gathering, Asura is the character who convey other gathering individuals yet troth to be told his maximum capacity is arrived at just when there is a Paladin in the gathering as well. Asura's abilities are: Ninja is a stealthy professional killer who controls the foes by consistent incapacitating strikes. He has an incredible evade chance so not at all like Asura, he is equipped for supporting the assaults for a better than average measure of time. While he is in stealth his basic strike chance is significantly expanded which implies that his double swords could deliver gigantic harm whenever utilized appropriately. Their astounding sturdiness makes them amazing for fledglings, just as veterans. In the correct hands, this class isn't just the most durable yet additionally truly solid since they can recuperate themselves to a degree. The Warrior can progress to turn into a Berserker or a Paladin. This decision is polarizing for the class since it radically influences its viability at specific jobs in battle. Paladins are simply cautious, with numerous choices to shield and mend themselves, while Berserkers are powerhouses that can destroy their adversaries however are significantly more delicate than their partner. Moreover, the apparatus upgrades are not restricted to explicit pieces since they move consequently when you swap them for other, better bits of rigging. For instance: on the off chance that you overhaul your gloves to +1, and afterward swap them for a superior pair, the new gloves will be +1 too without beginning the redesigning procedure sans preparation. On the off chance that your dress is the establishment of your character's capacity, the cards are the materials with which you will assemble the rest. By finishing certain difficulties and prisons in Laplace, you will get cards as a reward, which you can implant in your weapons and guards to expand their characteristics. As these are ordinarily testing particularly on the off chance that you need to be a decent cooperative person, don't depend on auto mode for these kinds of missions. In the event that you can stand to, try to shape or be in a gathering that speaks to each class and capacity all around ok as a full group with a tank, healer, and DPS has a greatly improved shot of making due than only an arbitrary gathering of classes. Make a point to recollect that group plays on a harder trouble setting can be unmistakably more testing than what you may regularly expect considering the general details of the adversaries as contrasted and a similar stage on solo play. By the by, these Clerics can change impressively in the wake of moving class. On one hand, on the off chance that they become Priests, their mending capacities increment significantly further, to the point where they can get familiar with a spell to give their partners power for a few seconds. Then again, on the off chance that they become a Ranger, they will learn numerous capacities for managing harm, while likewise keeping a portion of their mending aptitudes. More or less, Assassins are units with the most noteworthy harm potential in the whole game. You can dole out up to 5 Guardians however every watchman space will be opened by your most extreme level (fifth Guardian opening is opened at level 65). Gatekeepers are restrained when you use Monster Net on the beast egg. Beast Nets can be procured or purchased in a few different ways. Make sure to check your sack regularly and utilize each Monster Net you find. Like nearly everything in Tales of Wind, restraining a gatekeeper is additionally robotized so it will be simple for you to gain proficiency with the fundamentals. You may need to frame a group to have the option to do certain missions. The clever group discoverer alternative made this undertaking simpler. In any case, we encourage you to do them all day by day with the goal that you will be at the top! Garbage your corroded apparatuses when you show signs of improvement ones. To do as such utilize the Disassemble All catch which you will discover in your stock. The main things you focus on are cards. Regardless of whether they merit keeping or not is still dependent upon you to choose. They are anecdotal after all being in a dreamland. 1) Why accomplishes something being an "escape from the real world" mean it doesn't have minorities in it? Who is truly getting the chance to "escape" with media like that, and for what reason would they like to? 2) Diversity isn't constrained in. Assorted variety is only a practical default that makers have little motivation to stray from, similar to characters having noses in their countenances rather than on their elbows. At the point when it's absent, it has been constrained *out*. It feels like when I proceed to play one of the games from the prior web 20 years back, the old progressively inconvenient cell gathering instruments in them. It's charming, yet difficult to pay attention to with it being generally all autoplay and the unpleasant prison gathering. Hell the prison gathering is the main progressively confounded manual thing you do in the whole game, and it's the one thing that ought to have been simple and robotized. The reason gathering is how it is, so you can do different things inside a similar gathering its a mmo after all implied for players to meet up the dynamic of gathering you are searching for is arrangement in other sort of games like arpg and such you have to comprehend the class you are playing. What's more, you are contrasting auto pursue with auto playing truly? Ppl on auto pass on in cells except if they are route more grounded than the prison they playing which makes auto accommodating to help ppl out while you can do different things throughout everyday life, yet in the event that u arent above cell rec auto will get you killed. Auto pursue just encourages you get starting with one target then onto the next snappier, see when you are on auto pursue to somebody with a mount that moves quicker then you and they zone the auto pursue makes you zone with them and not need to hold back to get up to speed and enter making your group look out for you cause your mount isnt as quick as theirs. Each reforge expends bronze, iron, or mithril relying upon the rigging's level, and some Silverstar. When you click on the reforge catch, you will see the eventual details of your gear and on the off chance that you like what you see, at that point essentially click on the spare catch. There's not really any set in stone choices to make here yet first off, remember that each purpose of detail is a point towards an expansion in BR and commonly, you would need to have details that outcome to higher BR. The primary thing you will be required to do in (Tales of Wind) is to choose a class and begin your experience. It gets along nicely at offering various jobs to players with various ability trees and free reset for focuses.Commonly you won't have the ability focuses from simply leveling. You need to open the abilities window and utilize the Redeem catch. You're exchanging EXP for aptitude focuses with that catch. Focus on journey rewards since some should give you aptitude focuses. I THINK it's the one indicating saying you must be level 49 with 45 ability focuses. So don't try too hard when exchanging for aptitude focuses excessively. One of your better wagers so far is to be on in any event level 50 preceding exchanging for aptitude focuses. You can change a Warrior to a Paladin or a Berserker. Safeguard and managing Damage are warriors claim to fame. In this way, their subclass will be something related. The Mage can pick between a Pyromancer or a Frostweaver. Since this class has a place with casters, you will most likely arrangement a ton of harm and utilize some group control when looked with foes. The Cleric can either change into a Priest or a Ranger. Expert players may discover this class phenomenal as they can either mend or harm. Minister aptitudes are: Ranger is the help who uses a bow and bolt to disturb the foes and information of nature to toxic substance and revile them. He can recuperate or he can incur harm however he isn't in the same class as Priest or Mage. This advantageous class is most appropriate for solo playing in spite of the fact that it tends to be valuable for the gathering now and then. Officer does not exceed expectations in any job which makes him less alluring than a Priest however then again, he is absolutely independent. Those rewards will apply to your character. Additionally, this does not influence the watchman you have conveyed. The sent watchman does not need to be in the Guardian Array by any stretch of the imagination. For instance, despite the fact that "BigCat" is appearing in the above screen shot, it isn't the conveyed gatekeeper for this situation. Another 2 star watchman is conveyed because of it having a gathering expertise. In the event that by chance regardless you question the watchman getting technique depicted above, simply realize that "BigCat" in the above screen shot was a 2 star gatekeeper when it was picked up! It's nothing especially one of a kind, however there's a feeling of brotherhood here not exactly introduce in other versatile MMORPGs. That is much obliged, to some degree, to the gathering framework, which is somewhat of a blended sack. Most MMORPGs use matchmaking to rapidly place you into a comparative level and aptitude gathering. Story of Wind, rather, selects to utilize a gathering discoverer framework. This isn't innately awful, and really brings about groups feeling less like nondescript players. You can set messages for the sort of player or class you need and get the gathering that is directly for you, for example. The principle technique for this circumstance is in certainty to pause. In the long run your positioning will go down again and you can discover a lot simpler adversaries to play against. This can be seen as "extra gooey with no test" yet it works. Simply consider the way that you ought to consistently be going for the success to the exclusion of everything else. For those that need to attempt to continue onward, this is the place you need to make a genuine informed decision. There are adversaries on the rundown in which you can thrashing contingent upon your character's arrangement and your moves/strategies. With incalculable PvE, PvP, and GvG (Guild versus Society) modes, you can make sure there will consistently be somebody to battle with, or close by, in Tales of Wind. Other than the puzzling cells players can investigate, there are likewise in excess of 20 diverse easygoing exercises, including hustling, shooting, tests and so forth. Players can change their outfits and catch adorable mounts in this open world. What's more, above all one can meet the foreordained sentiment in this fabulous voyage! Go get hitched in Tales of Wind! Furthermore, following journey lines furnish you with significant things and materials you will discover much all the more testing to acquire from different sources. There are a few kinds of missions accessible in Tales of Wind yet first off, you should expect to achieve the principle journeys. Tales of Wind happens on Arlesdore, a dream landmass where evil presences seemed a large number of years prior. A few of these evil spirits, known as Calamity Lieges, were viewed as the most awful of all, and it's dependent upon the player to find reality behind their abrupt appearance so as to take light back to the world." As we noted at the time, Neocraft is going up by a Blizzard China organizer, and the game is promising four fundamental classes with two subclasses each, "spirit cards" that enable players to transform into beasts, PvE cells, PvP and GvG as well, in addition to a piece of sandboxy highlights. "Notwithstanding investigating strange prisons, players can partake in more than 20 diverse easygoing exercises, including hustling, shooting, tests and that's only the tip of the iceberg," the official statement says. "Players can change their outfits from huge amounts of choices and catch adorable however ground-breaking mounts in this open world. Autoplay is here and present however there's to a lesser degree an attention on it. The center, rather, is on joining forces up with different players and taking an interest in gathering occasions. You'll invest the majority of your energy in Tale of Wind scrutinizing the Kingdom tab, where the majority of the gathering substance is found. There's a genuine measure of this kind of substance on offer, and it gives a huge amount of remunerations. There are your ordinary prisons, which you can fight through to open the best gear and updates, PvP, and a flat out abundance of constrained time occasions, which furnish huge amounts of one of a kind ongoing interaction with tremendous gatherings of players. On the off chance that you just began to play the game and wind up in somewhat of a crunch understanding the essential ideas of the game or to some degree befuddled about what to organize or on the off chance that you played enough yet need to have a progressively proficient method for step up your character and expanding your BR, at that point our Tales of Wind Beginner's Guide can clearly enable you to begin directly on the game. Tales of Wind has 4 particular classes to browse and every one has increasingly concentrated occupation moves up to look over later on. He can mend after some time whole gathering or he can recuperate totally one character, he can rinse every single negative impact, award invulnerability for a concise period and he can resuscitate fallen partners. Great planning is of the substance so make sure to utilize your capacities when it is significant and does not depend on auto-play since it is pointless to spend abilities when everyone has the full wellbeing and it is far more detestable to not have the cooldowns when required. In the event that you be a Priest you will be a fundamental piece of any gathering all the time which implies that you will consistently host a get-together. Continuously go for the prizes with things first.Oddly enough and to the shock of many, Tales of Wind figured out how to create an upbeat medium! That is the missing part which caused objections about the Auto-play framework! In any case, before they can help you in the field, you should first "prepare" them by tapping on "convey" in the watchman menu. Besides, the watchmen that you keep on save can be prepared to the gatekeeper cluster in this equivalent menu. The rewards they award from this component will increment with the quality and uncommonness of the watchman, so it's in every case better to utilize your best critters for the cluster. The components that we've referenced in this guide are just a couple of strategies that you can use for improving your character in Tales of Wind. Next, cautiously take a gander at the aptitudes offering it has. The aptitudes that are indicating are going to in the long run discharge to your character as it increases levels. Those are the short rundown of the character's aptitudes showed when making a character. Usually, those abilities won't open as you foreseen! The most elevated suggestion is to evaluate the simpler characters Tales of Wind offers. This incorporates the berserker, the mage, and the officer. Every one can be ruinous, has a decent survival rate, and isn't hard to play. Warriors in this game are the inhabitant tanks, intended to withstand crazy measures of discipline and arrangement it ideal back to the foe. With sword and shield close by, this class spends significant time in group control aptitudes alongside different assaults that can harm everything remaining in his manner. Their fundamental capacities comprise of assaults to uproot their foes, paralyze them, and hurt everybody around him. In this sense, this class possibly feels comfortable when encompassed by various adversaries. Warriors are perfect for players who like to confront each test with their swords held up high.

[equallyreal]

Unsolicited Opinion: The Characters of Pacific Rim

In the interest of keeping my mind fresh while also getting to scream about the things I love, I’ve decided to start up a new essay project. Unsolicited Opinion will cover my thoughts on specific elements of media, from tropes to characters to plots. What better way to kick things off than by talking about one of my favorite movies of all time, the one and only Pacific Rim?

A common complaint about the film is that the characters are kind of archetypal and flat and therefore boring. This is an assessment I soundly disagree with, for two reasons. One, being derived from archetype isn’t a bad thing as long as you do it well. Two, the characters of Pacific Rim, in my opinion, subvert or play with the archetype they’re derived from in interesting ways. This essay series will cover the ways the narrative achieves this. As a quick housekeeping note, I will only be using the film to make my points. At most, I may talk about a deleted scene, but the paracanon (novels, art of book, comics, etc.) will not be included in the discussion.

We’ll start with our lens character in part one of this essay series: Raleigh Becket is a Good Egg.

Raleigh is set up to be the Hero Protagonist, specifically the confident Maverick sort of Hero Protagonist. All the pieces for this character type are there in the first fifteen minutes. He’s the first of the main heroes that we see. The opening montage specifically mentions that Raleigh belonged to a generation of Jaeger pilots that were considered rock stars, that “We got real good at it, winning.” He’s shown to be cocky, a bit loud, a bit brash, eager to get out there and earn the “fifth notch on the belt.” He wears a leather jacket. He’s got swagger. He cracks jokes about girls with the head LOCCENT officer. He and his brother, Yancy, deliberately disobey orders from their commanding officer in favor of their own wishes. He’s every over-confident male lead in an action movie, sure of his own ability to win and more than willing to say so. On top of that, he suffers a traumatic loss, which is usually a setup for a hero’s plot arc of some sort.

However, this is a plot arc that never comes. Raleigh starts the film as a Hero Protagonist and ends it a Secondary Protagonist Mentor to Mako’s Protagonist. Because the first fifteen minutes are about Raleigh, a lot of people miss that shift and assume that he’s just a really boring main character. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. You just have to follow the plot threads and see where they diverge from the expected.

In order to examine what Raleigh’s true plot arc is, we have to look at what his plot arc would’ve been in any other movie. This post on tumblr really sums it up; in another film, he would’ve spent the movie being angsty, taking out his frustrations on other people, learning how to trust again just in time for a big fight and ultimately saving the day and avenging his brother in one fell swoop with the help of side character and emotional crutch, Mako Mori. Almost none of that happens on-screen or at all. The middle part, the no doubt crushing guilt and anger that Raleigh feels that losing his older brother at the young age of twenty-one, is entirely off screen. We catch a glimpse of it early in the film when Stacker picks him up at the Wall—Raleigh is guarded, unwilling to go back, concerned that he won’t be able to handle having someone else in his head because last time hurt too much. But that is dropped like a hot potato the second he meets Mako.

In fact, a lot of things that usually would accompany Raleigh re-joining the plot are dropped like a hot potato. A big one is any emphasis that Raleigh is important. There were already seeds of this subversion early on, with Raleigh explicitly saying that he wasn’t the hero type and that his only unique traits are his fighting skills and his ability to Drift. When he re-arrives at the Shatterdome, there’s no talk of Raleigh’s five notches on the belt, and minimal talk of his incredibly impressive solo Jaeger piloting—something only one other person has been able to do (though we’ll get to that detail later). The one conversation he has about his glory days is centered on how he knows another character via a fight that he refers to as a team effort. He’s not spoken of in reverent whispers, nor does anyone coddle him for being a former legend. He’s not a formal legend, by his own admission—he’s a has-been, and the narrative treats him as such.

Another reason no one coddles him is that no one has to. The plot doesn’t place excess emphasis on his pain, and Raleigh never, at any point, takes out his anger about the loss of Yancy on other people. There are moments that show it still hurts: he still carries a picture of Yancy with him, and it’s his memories of losing his brother that send his first Drift in five years, four months out of alignment. But he also recovers first from the trauma because he has learned to deal with it, and how he’s learned to deal with it does not involve being an asshole to others, no matter what. While he defends his past actions to Mako when she points out his tendency towards unpredictable fighting can be dangerous, he also admits that she has a point and thanks her for her honesty. When finally he pushes back against Chuck instead of just glaring, it’s not because of comments Chuck has made about him or Yancy—it’s because of comments made about Mako. When he makes a mistake in the Drift, he owns up to it. When Stacker rightfully smacks him down for overstepping his boundaries, Raleigh backs down, and never once has an I told you so moment when his assertion that he and Mako would make a great team is proven right. There’s no time for Raleigh to have an ego or to be a bitter jerk. He has other things to focus on.

Which brings us back to Mako.

From the get-go, Raleigh is interested in her. This interest, however, is never about his feelings for her (regardless of how you interpret those feelings); it’s entirely centered on Mako as a person. He asks what her story is, expresses admiration for her skills, and starts supporting her dream of becoming a pilot within a day of meeting her. He’s attentive to her expressions and behavior to the point of being able to read her like a book by day one, which is both a sign of their compatibility and the attention he’s willing to give to her. He opens up to her, rather fittingly in front of their Jaeger as her “heart” is uncovered to be repaired. Raleigh re-frames his experiences with Jaeger piloting, the loss of his brother, and his mistakes in such a way that they benefit Mako, and help her along in her hero’s journey. At the end of their first conversation alone, Raleigh tells Mako that sometimes, “you make decisions, and you have to live with the consequences. That’s what I’m trying to do.” If the behavior described in the paragraphs above this one is anything to go by, he has definitely learned to live with the consequences, and he’s more than willing to pass that knowledge on to Mako.

It’s worth noting that Raleigh does so without being too over bearing. He’s not a know-it-all; there’s never a point where Mako has to roll her eyes and be like “Yeah, I knew that already.” There are two reasons for this. One, he generally helps her out with things she wouldn’t have any way of having concrete knowledge about, like RABITs. Other times, he knows when to back down. He offers advice during their duel until Mako starts flourishing; that’s his cue to shut up and let her actions speak for themselves. He tries to convince her to stand up to Stacker until she makes it clear that she’s not interested; even when he visibly wants to, he walks away from her door and on to see who his pilot will be, even if it’s not her, because that’s what she wants.

This isn’t to say that he won’t fight for her at all. In fact, most of his conflict with Stacker is centered around Mako (that or Stacker withholding information, which is a legitimate concern to be fair). He fights for her, because he views her desires as important. Raleigh doesn’t fight for himself, doesn’t lash out when Chuck insults him, doesn’t care if he gets in trouble for making a mistake. But he’ll fight like hell for Mako.

A white male protagonist whose plot arc is not focused on his pain, but rather on the fact that there is a life after it and you can move on without being a jerk to other people is unique on its own. The fact that he then goes on to frame his pain and loss and use it to help another person—a woman, no less, who fills many of the plot elements that Raleigh would’ve in any other movie—is extraordinary. So much of Raleigh’s plot is focused on helping Mako, and I think that’s a detail a lot of people miss. He’s her sidekick, her copilot, and his plot would not be the same without her.

Which isn’t to say the only resolution of Raleigh’s plot is in using his pain to help Mako. While we don’t see Raleigh coming to terms with his pain, we do get to see him find some peace and resolution as the plot goes on. There are three moments that give Raleigh closure and wrap up his plot arc by allowing him to redeem himself. The first and most obvious comes in their defeat of Leatherback. Raleigh shows he’s learned more caution with a nice bit of overkill, suggesting the double-tap that guarantees Leatherback won’t be an issue the way Knifehead was. Part two comes when he expresses to Mako that he’s finally started thinking about a future for himself. Granted, it’s a moment that comes just as he’s about to go on a mission that could lead to his death, but it’s still a moment that underlines the fact that he has healed. More importantly, he’s healed as a result of their bond. This detail carries over to the third and final stage of Raleigh’s closure: the boss battle at the Breach.

It starts with Stacker. Some of his last words to Raleigh are the last words that he heard from Yancy: Raleigh, listen to me. Unlike last time, though, Raleigh is able to hear the last request, and follow through on it, offering some healing both to the trauma of never being able to do that with his brother, and in the contentious relationship he had with Stacker. This is especially important because it was revealed, not too long before the fight, that Stacker was the other man who had piloted solo. They are alike in that sense, and that discovery along with this scene forge a bond between them that erases past mistakes and disagreements, leaving only mutual respect.

It ends, as it should, with Mako. There are some people who didn’t like the fact that Mako has to sit out the detonation of G. Danger and be saved by Raleigh. I am not one of those people, and there’s two big reasons why. The first is that it shows Mako as a character worth saving, which is important for reasons I’ll get into in my Mako essay. The second is that it is an incredible act of healing for Raleigh that also emphasizes his position as an unconventional, secondary protagonist. He is able to save Mako when he could not save Yancy; in doing so, he de-emphasizes his own importance and emphasizes hers. “I can do this alone,” he tells her. “All I have to do is fall. Anyone can fall.”

Raleigh is doing something anyone could do so that Mako, whom he views as more than just anyone, can live. To borrow a line from Wonder Woman, he can save today, and he really believes that she can save the world—or that she already has, and deserves to live because of it. Anyone can fall is one of my favorite lines in the film, and emphasizes why I love this character so much. Raleigh Becket can be a little shit, manipulative in that way of younger brothers who have learned how to push buttons to get what they want, brash, and questions authority a bit too much. But he’s also kind, empathetic, respectful, and ultimately heroic in all the right ways. His transition from cocksure Hero Protagonist to humble Mentor Secondary Protagonist is, in my opinion, a very solid character arc that deserves more recognition, and more emulation for that matter. The world could use more men like Raleigh Becket in it.

And that’s it for my Raleigh essay! Tune back in on December 20th for Part II of this series, which will focus on Mako Mori and why she’s the most amazing character ever of all time, don’t @ me, I’m right about this.

If you like what you read and want to help me write more four-page single-spaced essays about the characters of Pacific Rim, consider leaving a donation on ko-fi or becoming a patron (links in the blog bio). I know, their new system is questionable, but I’ll be adding more patron benefits to make up for the additional cost, including access to my full character notes from the Pacific Rim essays.

[katsuragi-yako]

majin tantei nougami neuro week day seven: identity

notes: And here we go! Here's the final drabble for the "Identity" prompt! I had a lot of fun working on these throughout the week, but boy, am I ready for a break haha! I hope you've all enjoyed them! Also, if this is too hard to read on my blog and you don’t have “Read More Now” for x-kit, all of my drabbles are getting posted onto AO3 as well!

    She stares at the screen with a certain amount of surprise, having not been expecting what she sees staring back at her at all.

    One of the rare times that she actually bothers to check her social media accounts, and this is one of the first things she stumbles upon? A recording of her being thrown on stage during Aya's concert? Who had even posted it? It has to be at least five years old now; why would anyone even bother? The same exact video had circulated countless times from countless different sources at the time—it had been a live show, after all. Did yet another video of the same old thing really need to be dredged up again? Especially since it had happened that long ago?

    Yet, as much as its appearance on the page she's scrolling through confuses her, Yako can't help but stop to watch the video in its entirety. She sees the former star singing on stage, entrancing the audience as she's always been able to. Then, right in front of the cameras, she watches her teenage self suddenly fly through the air and land precisely in the right spot where everyone watching would be able to see her. There's a few seconds where everything is still, and everyone except the demon hidden in the crowd is wearing an expression of pure bewilderment. And finally, she watches her past self's hand shoot up into the air and swoop forward to point at Aya. Though she doesn't have the sound for the video turned on, she can still hear in her memories the shocked and confused murmurs echoing throughout the room when she'd said her line.

    The recording ends there, which is a little odd; she knows that longer versions of the video exist, since she had been forced to see them everywhere for weeks after the incident. But that's not the reason she keeps gazing at her computer with a surprised look frozen upon her face. No, she's taken aback by something else entirely.

    —She had been so different back then.

The girl thrown onto the stage had looked so small, so shocked, and so out of her element. And though she can recognize it as herself and remember everything that she had been feeling in those moments, she still feels as though there's such a great separation. Almost like the person she sees on the screen is just the slightest bit foreign to her, even though she shouldn't be.

    Because she knows now what to expect if Neuro brings her into a situation like that one. She knows how to react if he thrusts her into the middle of something bizarre. She knows how to improvise, how to settle things down if need be, how to barrel forward and make sure that her voice reaches exactly who it needs to reach. It's become second nature to her, and though cases can still throw her for a loop or catch her off guard, she's rarely ever frozen in place or at a loss for what to do. But the girl in the video had only just started working with a demon. She didn't know him, how to deal with him, how to react to cases, or know to expect something like being thrown on a stage in front of tens of thousands of people. It had been the very beginning of her journey, the first “real” case she'd worked, and the first time she'd ever shown her potential for reading the human heart. And it makes her think about how much she really has changed over the years.

    Of course, she already knows she's changed. It's something that she's reminded of quite often through various little things. Yet seeing it with her own eyes in such a way is making all of it hit her at once. In comparison to the girl on the screen, she feels like an entirely different person. And, honestly, she kind of is. Not in a sense that she considers to be bad or unnatural, obviously—there's still very core elements of herself that remain and make her who she is. No, it's more that she's been molded a specific very way. Still the same material that she's always been, but in a different shape than before.

    The ups and downs she's had in her life, the experience she's gained, the people she's met, her own determination to grow, and Neuro's harsh but effective methods—all of it and more have made her exactly who she is in the present. And, on an even more general scale, the demon himself had been the one to jump start it all. Had he not tore his way out of hell and landed in her world right where he had, her life would be drastically different. There's been people she's met that have affected her on a very grand scale, but none such as him. No one has managed to touch her life the same that he has.

    He's turned her world upside down, and she finds she likes it that way now.

    Because just like her, so too has her partner changed with time. Just as he had waltzed in and flipped everything she thought she knew on its head, so too have humans given him a brand new perspective. The demon that once only saw her species as a field to harvest mysteries from had quickly had his curiosity piqued by their ways. He'd gained an interest in them beyond the food that they could offer him, and then a certain amount of fondness for them. And finally, though he would likely not admit it easily, a type of respect and willingness to protect them. The human race gives him puzzles, and in return, he will keep it safe from threats like Sicks.

    And though it may come off as presumptuous, Yako likes to think that she specifically has played a large roll in his growth as well, just as he has in her's. She's the human that he spends the most of his time around, that has heard the most about him and his time in hell. She is always the first ( and likely the only ) person to hear his questions regarding humanity and his struggles with understanding it. She is the one that he has found common ground with, regarding their shared ravenous appetites. She is the one that he can speak to without words, using only his eyes to convey what it is he wants to say.

    They both have evolved in each other's company, poking and prodding and pushing each other in ways that practically make it impossible for them not to be constantly learning and changing. And though they are more than capable of existing and growing without one another, she thinks that it is when they are together that they are at their best. Because they are partners, moving forward and taking whatever the world can throw at them as a team. And just like how seeing her younger self in the video on her laptop is jarring to her now, so too will a video from who she is in the present likely seem strange and distant to her in the future. She knows this because she is confident that the two of them will not plateau or become stagnant.

    Even if the pace eventually slows, she strives for the two of them to be both growing even just a little whenever possible up until the day that she passes. And then, after that, she hopes that the demon can continue onward with his long life, learning one final lesson about humanity from her in death.

    The screen on her laptop is suddenly pushed down with an abrupt clap, and she twitches ever-so-slightly in surprise as she is pulled from her thoughts. Brown eyes snap up, and she is met with the sight of Neuro staring down at her with one brow raised. He doesn't even have to say anything; she can already see the question in his gaze. Realization dawns on her that she's been sitting in her chair staring into space for likely half an hour, completely forgetting that she had only meant to briefly check up on a few things before looking through a stack of papers for articles that could contain potential mysteries. But she had gotten sidetracked after seeing the video, she remembers as she squeezes her eyes shut in frustration. Long enough for him to notice and decide to come and pull her out of her musings himself. And to be honest, she's actually surprised that he hasn't used her distraction as an excuse to “punish” her somehow like he usually does in situations such as this. Letting her eyes slip open again, she tilts her head a little and inspects his expression.

    And there in the swirling green of his irises, she finds a knowing look, as though he is completely aware of what had caught and kept her attention.

    Had she been that candid in her thinking? Had it really been so obvious that she had been thinking about him? How he'd changed her life? How they'd evolved together? Perhaps he'd managed to get a glimpse of the video and had pieced it together from there? Regardless, he seems at least somewhat aware of what had been occupying her thoughts, and there's no use in trying to deny or hide it. She gives both a small smile and half-shrug before standing up to get on with the task that she's supposed to be doing. Of course, he could still stop her to inflict some sort of “torture” upon her, but there's always the small chance that he won't if it will keep her from finding him more food.

    Though, to her surprise, he stops her by gripping her shoulder as she moves past him. And while his grip is far tighter than that of a normal human's and may leave a tiny bruise, it's still no where near the level of the “abuse” he normally puts her through. It's obviously just what it seems to be: he's stopping her, and nothing more. She glances up at him quizzically, but instead of looking down at her to answer, he simply begins walking, making his way across the office to stand in front of the windows overlooking the city.

    Then, after a moment or two, he turns his head just enough for her to see that he's beckoning her with his eyes to join him.

    Without a moment's hesitation, her heels begin to click against the floor as Yako hurries after the demon and stops only when she's standing right beside him. And there they stand, silently looking through the glass at the street and people down beneath them. These are the moments she thinks she enjoys the most: the quiet ones where they soak up each other's presence and company. Not needing to say anything, just simply being together. She wouldn't trade it for anything in the world; she's exactly where she wants to be. There's no where else she can think she'd rather be, nor can she imagine her life any other way, despite the fact that it very well could have been. Some other mystery could have just as easily lured the demon to another human, but he had landed in the exact right place to follow the one that would lead him to her.

    A smile tugs at her lips, and she slowly reaches out to grab a hold of his hand, meshing her fingers in between his own. It is a bold move, one that could easily either deepen the moment, or cause it to crumble, depending upon whether or not he is willing to put up with any kind of human affection. But finally, after a few long seconds of contemplation, he returns the gesture, his fingers curling up to grasp her hand in his own.

    And as they stare out the window and grip each other tightly, she can't help but remember the first time that she had ever seen him: standing on the wall and warping the very world around him as she sat on the floor trembling in utter shock. Back then, neither one of them likely could have even imagined how both of their lives were going to change, and how much they were going to overcome.

    They've come so far since then.

    And she can't wait to see how far they'll go.

[50funny]

Mage: Chapter 51- The Aftermath

Written By 50Funny

Part 1- The Aftermath

When we finally got back to the safety of the outpost, we thought we would be given a hero’s welcome for our hard work, as it turned out that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Almost as soon as we got back, we were taken to a large facility near the outpost along with all of the others who had been in the city. We were told that the government was worried that due to our close contact with the creatures in the city we may carry and spread the so-called virus and cause another outbreak later down the line. The facility they kept us all in was cramped and baron of any real distinguishing features. Alex was about to lose it and try and break out after a couple of day’s but luckily we all managed to talk him out of that before he did anything stupid. We ended up being kept locked up under the guard’s watchful eyes for a whole month before they were finally convinced that we were safe to re-enter society. Even though we had only been locked up for four weeks, so much had changed that it might as well have been years. The government had tried to keep everything that had happened in the city. They swore everyone who knew what had happened to silence under non-specific threats, I even heard of a few more loose-lipped people disappearing under suspicious circumstances. Even with all there efforts, somehow the story got leaked to the media. Within a week the story was being spread everywhere by everyone. Riots were starting up all across the country, from Sol Dantol to Seaside. The government went into full damage control, saying that they had no other choice and that if they hadn’t have done what they did it could have spread across the entire country. Even though what they said was pretty much all true, by that point there were no stopping things, the publics' rage was growing at an exponential rate with many even calling the actions taken as treason. In the end, an emergency vote was ordered with many guilds being hired to take and count the ballets. In the end, the current president and his entire party were deposed and replaced by a new one, promising to be more open and honest with the public. Even with the changes in the government, the people still didn’t feel any safer. The horrors that had happened in the city were out for all to see and the people knew that at any moment for any reason the same thing could happen to them.

Part 2- Crossed Paths

Liz, Alex, and Bip waved at Edgar and Calem as they walked off in the other direction. They watched until they were completely out of sight. The group stood alone in an empty wide-open field just outside the makeshift camp that they had been kept in for the last weeks.

“Well… looks like this is it,” Liz said. “ So what’s next.”

“Well I guess the next step would be to go to Steel Lake and see what we can dig up there,” replied Alex.

“Sounds like a plan to me, Let’s book it back to the nearest city and we can catch a bus to…”

Liz turned around to walk off before stopping in her tracks as she sores a familiar figure standing in front of her.

“Well well, it looks like you really were in the city like they said,” Es said as he stared down the pair. “If I had known that going into the city I might have gone a little faster.”

“Wh… what the hell are you doing here,” stammered Liz?

“Oh, nothing really… just catching up with an old friend.”

Liz took up a fighting stance, spawning in sharpened icicles all around her pointing towards Es. Alex followed Liz, reaching out his hand and spawning his blade in a cloud of smoke before preparing himself for a fight.

“Yeah… I find that hard to believe,” Alex said.

“Haha… you have such a low opinion of me. Honestly, I’m only here to see how much you’ve changed, although if I could, I definitely would like to test your new strength but that not in the cards so whatever.”

“And why exactly is it out of the cards?” Asked Liz.

Es looked away off into the distance.

“Government's been tracking my every step, pretty sure they have someone watching me right now in fact. Something about keeping me in check and making sure I don’t go spreading any nasty little secrets, don’t know why it matters… I mean not that it matters anyway, everyone already knows everything that went down in the city now anyway… Anyway if you remember thanks to you I'm not actually a mage, so if I killed you it would be straight to jail for me.” Es said before looking back to the others still standing ready to fight at a moment's notice. “ Would you two drop it already, I said I'm not gonna attack you… what more do you want?"

“You to leave… now!” Liz ordered.

Es shifted his gaze across to focus solely on Liz. His eyes met hers, noticing a dark and ominous oraer circling around just behind them. He let out a slight chuckle.

“Looks like you’ve changed a lot since the last time we met. You’ve seen some shit haven’t you, or maybe even done some, never the less your not the same scared, frankly pathetic little girl I fought before,” Es taunted before looking back across to Alex. “You’ve noticed it to… haven’t you.”

Alex locked eyes with Es for a moment before averting his gaze away, trying to block Es’s words out, despite already knowing it to be true.

“I’d really love to fight you now but oh well… guess that nothing can be done about it.”

Liz growled an irritated growl as her gaze grew more and more frustrated and bloodthirsty.

“Ok… ok. geez you guys are no fun,” teased Es before turning around and beginning to walk away. As he walked he waved behind him. “Until next time…”

Liz and Alex watched as Es walked off into the distance before letting down their guard.

“Can you believe him, just showing up here and expecting us to trust him, yeah as if. And what was all that crap about me changing, honestly what is he talking about?”

Alex once again averted his gaze as he thought on Es’s words. He turned around and walked off, ignoring Liz's question.

“Come on, let's get going,” Alex muttered as he walked.

Liz looked at Alex as he walked off before staring down at her own hands for a few seconds. She shook her head snapping herself out of it before following on after Alex.

Part 3- The Clean Up

A large group of people covered in yellow hazmat suits rummaged around in the ash and scorched earth. One of the people grabbed at a large piece of scorched black metal and with a hefty push moved it to the side. They looked back to where the metal had once sat, their eyes widening at what they sore. Underneath was a small safe completely untouched by the fires that had destroyed the city. A man dressed in a suit and tie with masks covering their mouths as they looked over all the workers going about there business. General Barker walked up beside the pair.

“Thank you for coming down here mister president, but I assure you we have the whole situation under control,”

“That may be the case but even still I need to ensure that we find it. such a power… it would be a shame if it were to be lost forever.”

“General… General!” came a yell from further down the scorched street.

The pair looked over to the source of the noise to see one of the men in hazmat suits running over to them at full speed. They came to a complete stop as they reached the pair, taking a moment to catch their breath.

“Oh… mister president…you’re here too,” the man panted.

“Don’t be so rude, this is the president your speaking to…” General Barker scolded.

“Don’t worry about it, what do you have to report soldier,” said the president.

The soldier looked up to the president for a moment before reaching up to hand to him, holding a piece of neatly rolled paper up to him.

“Sir…” The man panted. “We found it.”

________________________________________________________________

Thank you for reading chapter 51 of mage. If you like what you see consider checking out my AO3 at this link https://archiveofourown.org/users/50Funny to see all new chapters 3 days early. Just another reminder that this week there wont be a new chapter on my Ao3 as im taking a week off. If you feel so inclined please consider following my tumblr for all updates and other tid bits. Until next time , have a good day.

[payment-providers]

New Post has been published on Payment-Providers.com

New Post has been published on https://payment-providers.com/the-bling-ring-ii-2018s-least-wanted-reboot/

The Bling Ring II, 2018's Least Wanted Reboot

Share

Tweet

Share

Share

Share

Print

Email

Reboots have officially jumped the shark.

We’re not sure whether the world needed a fifth version of A Star is Born or the 2018 edition of the Furby, but we have them both and early views bode well for both.

It is also true that the problem of repetition is not exactly modern. The phrase “there is no new thing under the sun,” is so old it is attributed to King Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes. That said, at the point when crime sprees are getting in on the trend, we may have officially reached the point where we can definitively say there is one reboot too many in the world.

We’re talking specifically about The Bling Ring Redux.

The Bling Ring Rides Again

Earlier in the week it was reported that the Los Angeles police department arrested a criminal gang composed of three teenage boys and one of their mothers in connection with a string of high-profile robberies.

According to the LAPD, they were arrested after being pulled over in South LA. The trio allegedly had just robbed the home of Los Angeles Rams receiver Robert Woods. In the car was reportedly $50,000 in cash as well as assorted jewelry, watches and handbags. The mother of one of the teens was also charged in the case, in connection with a firearm also recovered from the car.

At the time, the police did not believe the suspects were involved in anything more than a single robbery.

However.

“During recent months, the Los Angeles Police Department has become aware of residential burglaries targeting actors, producers, musicians, and professional athletes living in the Los Angeles area,” said Lillian L. Carranza, captain of LAPD’s commercial crimes division, during a press conference.

The trio were eventually connected to burglaries at the homes of Rihanna, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig, Christina Milian and her boyfriend, French singer Matthieu “M. Pokora” Tota. Rihanna’s burglary marks her second in recent months — in May a 26-year-old man was charged with burglary and stalking after allegedly breaking into her home and staying there 12 hours. The latest crew seemed much less interested in hanging out — and though there are no reports on what was taken, police have confirmed that damage to the singer’s home was “extensive.”

According to police reports the suspects planned to hit the homes of LeBron James, Viola Davis and Matt Damon next.

They were dubbed by local and national media channels “The Bling Ring” given their love of stealing shiny things — mostly jewelry — from homes of famous people, like the previous holders of the title.

The More Dramatic Original  

The original Bling Ring was a group of mostly of young women from upper-middle class California suburbs who between October of 2008 and August of 2009 collectively stole more than $3 million in jewelry and high-end designer goods from people like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Rachel Bilson and Megan Fox, among others. All of the suspects were described as “club kids” who were according a Vanity Fair piece “obsessed with celebrity culture.”

The original Bling Ring also had a few more bizarre twists and turns, including an impassioned voicemail from one of its members on what she felt was an unflattering portrayal of her story in the Vanity Fair piece.

“I opened up to you so that way the world could potentially know what a great, amazing, talented, strong, healthy girl that I am, not even a girl, young woman. I am PETRIFIED, petrified with this story! I am so disappointed. And I’m letting you know that I will clear this up. Have a nice life, bye.”

Then there was the ironic twist that this person also ended up sharing a cell with Lindsay Lohan during the month she spent in prison in connection with the robbery spree.

But unlike their more current version, the earlier Bling Ring kept much of what they stole, especially the designer shoes and jewelry. Today’s Bling Ring wants the cash and, according to reports, was interested in selling those stolen goods on eBay.

The Instagram Problem

Social media channels, particularly the photo-based Instagram, are excellent places for celebrities to connect with their fans — and show off their stuff. And this is done for very good commercial reasons — celebrity influencers have a well-established track record of using social media to kick of trends in cosmetics, fashion, jewelry and consumer electronics.

But the downside to social media is that it’s also an excellent information channel for the dishonest. It offers the world a detailed inventory of one’s most valuable possessions, along with an exact schedule of when one will not be home to guard them. The LAPD lieutenant investigating the most recent round of Bling Ring-style thefts noted that the boys in the group had targeted celebrities and professional athletes based on their touring schedules and social-media posts.

The original Bling Ring participants noted the same habits, though slightly adjusted for the time. Instagram wasn’t an option the first time around, but they did use social channels like Twitter and Facebook, combined with Google Maps data, to give them a clear idea of where the people they wanted to rob lived — and when those people would not be at home.

For most consumers, the risk is that the information available online about them can be co-opted by cyber thieves for digital fraud. For the rich, famous and heavily followed online, the threat is that the bolder thieves and fraudsters of the world are collecting that personal information — and making house calls.

Police continue to investigate the Bling Ring Redux  in Los Angeles, noting that they believe the scheme is larger than the four participants they have in custody.

The good news? Sort of? According to experts, the same tactics and tendencies that make it easier for potential thieves to smash and grab celebrity goods also make it easier for the authorities to eventually catch up with those thieves. Simply said: showing one’s ill-gotten gains on social media is a common, but not terribly smart, move.

“Criminals may be smart when it comes to operational planning,” Simon Atkinson, a former British Army officer trained in covert operations who now works for the Glasgow-based Athena Security & Intelligence Consultants, told Town and Country. “But the unintelligent ones are often caught because they flaunt what they’ve done: buying expensive cars and posting pictures of them on Facebook. It also makes it easy to find informants.”

The trick is to turn the jewelry into cold cash, but anything from a high-profile robbery is tough to flip quickly on the open market as legitimate buyers will question where the items came from — maybe even using some of those same social media channels to check on items.

Moreover, Atkinson noted, thieves who steal high-profile goods from high-profile people often find they have a problem on their hands. Unless, like the original Bling Ringers, a thief is looking to keep trophies, stolen items have limited use because they are difficult to sell when the authorities are on the lookout for them. Stealing stuff, Atkinson noted, is often much, much easier than selling it.

So even when crime gets a reboot, it generally always ends the same way — in handcuffs.

Source link

[listiqueblog]

Drive Ecommerce Sales with a Funnel Strategy

The buying habits of Americans are in flux. Increasingly, purchases are being made online.

In fact, in 2016, ecommerce sales in the U.S. were estimated at $394.9 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

And it continues to increase. With this move to online, ecommerce retailers need sound strategies to drive business growth — that means retaining existing customers and attracting new ones by meeting them when and where they shop.

To help drive business growth, online brands should think about their consumer and that individual’s buying journey.

One way to model the consumer journey is through a funnel, starting at the top with awareness and going through to an ultimate, final action — a purchase.

Though a consumer’s journey through the funnel is not linear, it provides businesses with a strategic framework from which to build out a plan. Below are the four stages to the funnel, what the goals of each stage are and examples for bringing those stages to life.

Awareness

The “top of funnel” is the first stage in the sales funnel; it’s the awareness stage. This is where potential customers become aware of your business and offerings (e.g., a product or a service) and how it may solve a pain point.

The potential customer may not even know they have a problem that you could solve. Therefore, the goal of this stage in the funnel is to make the potential customer aware by focusing on content—or information—that identifies consumer segments, highlights a potential problem and introduces your brand.

Think of the awareness stage as an initial conversation between you and the potential customer.

You both are getting to know each, with the potential customer demonstrating some interest. Introduce yourself. Do not try to make a hard sell. In practice, this can take many forms.

If you’re an ecommerce B2C brand selling razor blades for men, for instance, your initial interaction with the potential customer could take the form of content that tries to draw people into the brand’s website or community. But the razor blade brand is not selling this potential customer a razor blade.

An example of this content might be a video regarding ways to improve your shave, in which your brand offers up information to reaching that perfect shave in an effort to be a valuable resource for the potential customer. Or maybe that razor blade brand creates a listicle of tips for eliminating ingrown hairs.

This content provides information that the customer may find valuable, and it may even solve a problem—whether they knew it beforehand or not—that they have. Again, this content in the awareness stage does not attempt to sell anything.

Likewise, a B2B brand would offer up similar content that tries to be a valuable resource and not a hard sell.

In the case of the B2B brand, though, your content might be very specific to a particular audience — the C-suite, product managers, marketers, etc. — and it may offer up more thought leadership and technical content.

Driving awareness of your brand is not just about content, though. Whether the potential customer is searching for a product (e.g., razor blades for men) or trying to find a solution to a problem they have (e.g., eliminating ingrown hairs), they will likely do an online search.

Your job, then? Be one of the first batch of results that populate the search results. Not just the first page, but the top result. 

By having a well-honed search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) strategy, you can increase your chances of catching your customer’s eye. Google uses a handful of barometers to gauge which sites it delivers to searchers, including site speed, relevance and mobile-readiness.

Here are three things you can do to help boost your brand’s Google search engine ranking.

Improve site speed by using the HTTP/2 network protocol by accepting multiple concurrent requests and therefore reduce dormancy. Faster speed can also be achieved by limiting 404 errors, too many redirects and orphaned pages.

Shift your focus from content quantity to content quality. Previously, Google rewarded sites for their breadth of content. No more. Today, sites with well-researched, organized content, with an emphasis on multi-media, are in favor.

Make sure your site is mobile-optimized. Google plans to change its algorithm to one that favors sites that read well on smartphones, which means users can load all pieces of page content, read the text without zooming in or scrolling up or down, and being able to easily interact with page buttons.

Interest

The second stage of the sales funnel is the “interest” phase. When a potential customer moves into this stage of the funnel, it means they are interested in your brand’s story or the pain point you may be solving.

They are, well, interested in learning more.

Keep in mind: Just because a potential customer is aware of a brand and its products and/or services, it doesn’t mean that the potential customer has an interest.

It may just be bad timing for some. For others, there can be varying lengths of “awareness” that stretch out over days, weeks, months, and so on. Or, there will be those you might not be able to interest at all. But this is to be expected. Each customer is different, and each moves (or doesn’t) through the funnel at their own pace.

When the potential customer does move into the interest stage, it takes the form of making further initial contact. Meaning, for example, if you have a newsletter, they subscribe; if you have an infographic, they download; if you have a social media presence, they connect.

The interest stage is a way for the potential customer to engager further with your brand to see what you have to offer, still without the hard sell.

Going back to the online razor blades brand, this is a chance to connect the content to the product. Your potential customer read the listicle on tips to eliminating ingrown hairs. Connect your product to that pain point. Beyond that obvious connection, the interest stage in the funnel is a chance for the potential customer to essentially window shop.

Here are three ways to help keep that interested consumer browsing and potentially move them into the next stage of the funnel.

Use navigation wisely. Your visitor needs to know where to go, how to get there and what to do. A header that travels with him to allow him to toggle between pages will keep him on the site longer. Help by including filters that allow him to scale down the products he sees on each page to a list that speaks to what he is looking for, and buttons that allow him to quickly make a purchase.

Integrate social media into your site. Include links to your Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts, to ensure that potential customers have a way of connecting with you, and you with them, on the platforms they use most.

Provide an offer. In exchange for his email, give your visitor an offer for a discount off a first purchase, or bonus item upon a certain spend. This will reel him in and provide a way for you to reach our after he has left the site.

Decision

The third stage in the funnel is the “decision” stage. Here, the consumer has moved beyond browsing products and solutions to contemplating a purchase. In this stage, your job as the brand is to convince the consumer of the value of the actual product or service.

Proving value can be achieved through a variety of means. Word of mouth and user-generated content is one way. Case studies from your brand are another.

Here are three tactics to help demonstrate product/service value to the consumer and help move them to a purchase decision.

Provide clear, compelling product descriptions. When your shopper can’t touch the pair of jeans he is eyeing or hold them up to his legs to gauge their fit, he is forced to rely on the information you provide him. Seize this opportunity by providing clear product descriptions, including specifications like sizing charts, measurements, weight, and key materials, using bullet points and high-resolution visuals to display this information in an east-to-digest format.

Online shoppers trust peer reviews. Be sure to include those online reviews on your site. Make the experience a valuable one for potential customers by providing written reviews rather than a star system only, and make the time to keep on top of the reviews coming in and reply to valid complaints promptly and professionally.

Perks such as free shipping, relevant discounts, and easy returns can both make buying seamless, get customers into follow through on their purchase and entice them to buy from you again.

Action

The fourth, and final, stage in the sales funnel is the “action” stage. Once a consumer has made their decision to purchase, they need a final push to action—making that purchase from your ecommerce site.

One way to ensure the consumer takes action on your site is by focusing on a frictionless purchasing experience. Here are three tips to help improve the online checkout experience. 

Use predictive entry to auto-populate fields. Help your customer save time at checkout by allowing him to create an account which will fill in transactional fields such as shipping and billing addresses, saving him precious minutes and getting him to the “Buy Now” button faster.

Use progress indicators to keep users up to speed on what part of the checkout process they are in, and keep your customers’ baskets in full view throughout the checkout process so they are less inclined to move away from the transaction to check cost, size, and other specifications.

Make sure customers are aware of your site’s security. Educate consumers on the security measures of your website to let them know that their personal and payments information is well guarded. With high-profile data breaches announced in the news, this could help alleviate concerns during uncertain times.

Be sure to accept all forms of payment.  With the myriad of ways to pay, it’s crucial to meet the preferences of your customers by offering acceptance of all card types. Your customer might carry multiple cards for different purposes. Likewise, this includes integrating digital payments into your checkout experience. For example, explore accepting digital wallets such as Android Pay, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.

In all, an understanding and proper use of the sales funnel can help fuel and increase your online sales. Think about your customer, and think about how you can facilitate each stage of their buying journey.  

Want more insights like this?

We’re on a mission to provide businesses like yours marketing and sales tips, tricks and industry leading knowledge to build the next house-hold name brand. Don’t miss a post. Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Email*

jQuery(document).bind('gform_post_render', function(event, formId, currentPage){if(formId == 1) {if(typeof Placeholders != 'undefined'){ Placeholders.enable(); }} } );jQuery(document).bind('gform_post_conditional_logic', function(event, formId, fields, isInit){} ); jQuery(document).ready(function(){jQuery(document).trigger('gform_post_render', [1, 1]) } );

Reference

1 “U.S. Census Bureau News,” U.S. Department of Commerce, February 2017.

The article and information provided herein are sponsored by Discover® Global Network for informational purposes only based on independent research and are not intended as a substitute for professional advice.

Drive Ecommerce Sales with a Funnel Strategy published first on http://ift.tt/2wGG0YJ