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otome-corner-cafe · 3 years

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Well now that I have an otome side blog I guess I'll talk about this.

So the idea is the brainchild of my answer to a post that read something along the lines of "the last tv show you watch gets crossover with the last game you played."

When I saw that post, the last tv show I had watched was Black Clover. The last game I played was Dandelion: Wishes Brought to You.

Thus, the unholy abomination of...

Black Dandelion~!

(Alternatively, it could be called Clover: Luck Brought to You but hnnnghhhhhh, I thought of "Black Dandelion" first and wishes are kind of a big thing in Dandelion.)

Where was I?

Right!

I'm going to take the base premise of Dandelion and insert my choice of Black Clover characters into it. So this is a modern setting with minimal presence of magic.

So to set the scene: we've got one jerkwad wizard who decides to mess with a particular individual (MC) with a game. Jerk wizard picks out five animal men from the local alternate world and sends them to MC. Five love interests (LIs), one MC. Whoever MC falls for wins, gets a wish granted, and returns to their original world.

The five LIs I chose: Nacht, Morgen, Nozel, Fuegoleon, and William (two of my personal faves and then some fandom faves.)

I have ideas for what animals the guys would be as well as a basic run down of their routes/stories. That info shall be under the cut.

(Fair warning Dandelion fans, I'm messing with the canon social structures because I can.)

.....

Nacht, the white dog (Gimodelo seems to be Nacht's main devil, thus he is a dog man and he's got white hair because punk Nacht lives in my head rent free). In my mind, he would no doubt have a dark route, if not the darkest route in the game. There wouldn't be any devils but he would've been a member of a no-good gang in the animal world. He did whatever he liked with no thought of how it affected others. That was until Morgen tried to stop Nacht and the gang, and the gang retaliated by attacking Morgen. Thankfully, Morgen lived but was left terribly scarred. Nacht became guilt-ridden for the incident and everything he did before. His route would be similar Jiyeon's but not exactly the same. He would act nice and polite to MC (not cutesy like Jiyeon), admiring their goodness and encouraging them when they're down. But then, as he and MC get closer, he gets scared that becoming too close to MC would get them hurt because trouble follows him wherever he goes. Thus, he starts pushing MC away and tries to keep himself away, maybe by even repeating what he did in the animal world like an idiot (but my beloved idiot) to prove a point. He will eventually see that he doesn’t have to blame himself for all the trouble in his life. His wish would be for Morgen to be healed.

Morgen, the black dog (since he's Nacht's brother, he would be a dog too). One of the softer/easier routes to deal with. Morgen would be affectionate towards and supportive of MC. He’s got a visible injury/scar from getting attacked by Nacht’s gang that supposedly doesn’t bother him. A running gag with him is that he’d be encouraging MC to pursue Nacht instead (even though you can’t change the route once you're on one). The biggest issues he has are that he's too selfless, having no idea how to say “no” to any request, and refuses to show negativity so it’d be hard to tell when he’s actually feeling troubled. He fears being a burden on others after seeing Nacht blame himself for the terrible incident. His route arc is him accepting his frustrations and even being a little selfish with his own desires. His wish would be for Nacht to get a clean slate in life (meaning everyone in the animal world would get a mind wipe of who Nacht is).

(Nacht and Morgen would also have a deal like Jihae and Jieun where, if one of them wins, both get to return home.)

Nozel, the silver cat (he has the attitude of a hard-to-please, stand-offish cat, let's be real). Like canon Nozel, Acier died when he was young and he was left in charge of caring for his siblings. His poorly executed protectiveness from canon effects Nebra, Solid, and Noelle now. He puts more focus on keeping them safe rather than loving them and letting them have fulfilling lives. Nozel would have your stereotypical tsundere route. He goes back and forth between brushing MC off and being endeared to MC. He would also show concern over somewhat mundane things: hanging out with people he doesn't know or trying exotic food. Not a super dark route but just sad when MC learns why he's cautious and why he refuses to show love. Nozel forgot how to love properly, worries about loving MC the wrong way, and fears having his heart broken by loving too much. His wish would be for Acier to come back to life so his family would be made whole and Noelle would actually get to meet her mother. (No, the wish isn't too out there. Someone in Dandelion also wishes to restore a life.)

Fuegoleon, the orange cat (lion is a big cat so he’s becoming a house cat). He would likely have the easiest route out of all the guys. His story is that he's a warrior in the animal world and his family has been separated. Mereoleona left to be a wanderer while Leopold is forced to hide away from Fuegoleon because some unsavory cats have beef against the upstanding Fueggy. He’s a chivalrous and kind man but his formality makes it hard to tell if he’s being polite or affectionate to MC. The big trouble in his route is his rigid sense of duty; he feels he needs to win and return home to fulfill his role to his family and people. He needs to learn how to relax and just enjoy what he likes. His wish would be to reunite his family.

William, the white and gray spotted rabbit (he’s got “soft and tame” vibes all over him and has plant associations, thus rabbit). Similar to the effect of his curse mark in canon, William is looked down upon for being spotted as it is stated in-game that solid coats are preferred in rabbits. As a result, he has some dislike for the society of the animal world. He’s glad to be in the human world as he has a fresh start. His route would be pretty tame if a bit frustrating because of his constant self-doubt issues. Thanks to Julius and Patry back in the animal world, William knows that people can care for him but there's still doubt in his mind. Doubt that the care is nothing more than pity and so true love is out of reach for him. His wish would be to reunite with his long lost friend, Patry.

.....

That's pretty much all the ideas I have in mind. I feel bad that Fuegoleon and William's sections are shorter than the other guys. I do like them, just not as much as the others. (My favoritism is showing, whoops.)

In the end, this is just me thinking silly thoughts about pretty men with animal ears.

But gosh, what I would give for a dating sim featuring the men from Black Clover. There'd be so many to choose from! And the routes... Would the dating sim follow canon? Or would it be in some alternate reality where everything is peaceful and the perfect stage for romance?

#black clover #black clover au #dandelion wishes brought to you #erika's ramblings #nacht faust #morgen faust #nozel silva #fuegoleon vermillion #willian vangeance #black clover dating sim when?

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borisbubbles · 4 years

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17. CZECH REPUBLIC

Benny Christo - “Kemama”

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So first off, thank you for the nice commens. 😇The past few months haven’t been the happiest time for me, so thank you for your patience as I scraped my bearings together for another post! 😁

So I will now extend that same sympathy to Benny Christo, whom I think I damn fucking underrated. Let’s jump in~

ENTRY ANALYSIS

As one may expect i INSTANTLY liked “Kemama” because you know, it’s a fun, laid-back, tropical afro-breeze, completely different from anything else we would see in NFs and the year. EXACTLY the type of song I was hoping the Czech NF would deliver (and deliver they did, see NF Corner). This level of mild like swung into strong unironic like upon realizing that the title is a contraction of “Okay Mother” 😍 and the song deals with the subject of overcoming racially-tinged discrimination and rising above the hate. That just feels very poetic and apt? “Kemama” felt like the entry that had to overcome the highest odds in order to earn the respect it so fully deserves, and still hasn’t fully reached it.

.In our Western European bubble, comprised mostly of gays and left-liberal straights, we have a very grateful and universal acceptance of many different kinds of [lizard] people that make up Eurovision casts. Yet with “Kemama” we may have reached an unusually grimy undercurrent of coded racism.

Of course nothing I read was outrageously rancid, than Cod for that. The worst statement I read was a double-whammy of “EWW THIS ISN’T CARIBBEANVISION” and “WHY WOULD SOMEONE FROM *KENYA* WANT TO REP CZECHIA IN EUROVISION?”, and yes they first got the continent wrong and then *also* got the country wrong in the follow-up post and then they were torn limb from limb by a pack of aformentioned left-liberals. I’m sorry but i can’t not have any other response than laughter in the face of yet another fucking MORON faceplanting themselves with words like a... racist JK Rowling if you will?

Still, while I never read something outright vile about Benny doesn’t mean I found his deniers really annoying and they were! Think “Ew Solovey is ‘Too Aggressive’ it will NEVER DO WELL IN ESC”, a statement that isn’t coded nor racist (and yet extremely false and misguided), functioned as a similar idea by the same minds. A statement borne from the same breed of narrow-minded stubbornness which has caused elitist morons to be all “there is **SOMETHING** about “Kemama” i do *NOT* like and I cannot lay my finger on it... but I **DO NOT** like it at ALL. It won’t ever qualify because everyone will think the same way I do” -- Eurovision snobs, tiptoeing around racial coda in January 2020.

They would also insist that Benny was “arrogant” because he was seemingly impervious to their (de)constructive criticism. Like, if you were a biracial butterfly living in a slavic country who had to deal with statements such as the above on a regular basis, you WOULD block out the noise. And if you heard them often enough you will start to block them out pre-emptively. DO YOU NOT KNOW HOW COPING MECHANISMS WORK?? (oh wait you’re white-privileged. Nevermind 🙄)

So naturally, when Benny decided that he would revamp “Okay Mother” by adding in MORE African elements it only made me love him even more lol. 😍 Was it a bull-headed, contrarian and possibly really stupid decision? Yes, yes and absolutely yes. Was it worth it? Well he managed to incite even more meltdowns in a group of people I feel nothing but contempt for, so hell yeah? Eurovision was cancelled anyway so who cares how much ‘worse’ “Kemama” actually got.

Okay, so we’ve arrived at the revamp.

Granted, it wasn’t the best ‘vamp, I’d be a fool to deny it. The new elements threw a wrench in the melodic balance of the song. Out went tropical laid-back fun, IN went that fucking guitar oh my god this is some Hotel FM piano levels of overbearing I swear. (nb: this still didn’t stop me from ironically stanning Hotel FM’s lame asses anyway 😍). However, it made the personal backstory that I loved and savoured take a backseat to the now inferior composition. 😭

Regardless, New Kemama was fundamentally the same song, and I fundamentally liked Old Kemama, so whatevs, it made no different to me. In the eyes of many Eurovision diehards we were experiencing WORST PRESHOW SEASON EVER (after three songs... lol) and nothing clinches this brainworm more than a revamp announcement. “OH MY GOD HE WILL RUIN IT! I CAN GUARANTEE YOU I *WON’T* LIKE IT”. Self-fulfilling prophecies, ya know? It certainly didn’t help when the official channel accidentally uploaded a vid with broken soundmixing (‘OMG HORRIBLE LAST IN THE SEMI!!!!’ calm the ever-loving HELL down) and took another FULL WEEK to upload the correct vid. The damage had already been done. Typing "SEE I TOLD YOU THE REVAMP WOULD BE SHITE HA HA HA” in the Kemama comment box really just is the ESC equivalent of reponding with “Actually, *all* lives matter :smug:” to a BLM support pamphlet, isn’t it?

NF CORNER

While not my favourite NF of the bunch, I found the Czech NF to be lowkey epic. Not epic enough to remember its name but regardless Czechvision or whatever marked the end of an era because it was also the last selection spearheaded by Jan Bors :o

I think I’ve made it clear enough in the past that I’m somewhat mixed on Bors Era Czechia - Lake Malawi were a toetapping good, Ickolas was a pockmarked, skin-crawling evil and the other three inhibit a purgatory somewhere between “moderately nice” and “moderate timewaste.”

Still, I have great respect for the man who orchestrated Czech’s comeback after scoring NINE POINTS TOTAL across three years with the mindset of “So what? Why says we can’t win?” so ofc I was all into the idea of the “EIGHT INDIE ANGELS, HAND-PICKED BY BORS HIMSELF” NF that would serve as his swan song.

Naturally things went down the drain the second Bors left, with one of the eight peacing and his successor cancelling the live broadcast (does anyone remember what exactly happened? I vaguely recall one was the cause of the other but lol it’s July can’t be bothered to factscheck (Factsczeck?) anymore, bitches.

Anyway, ON TO THE GOOD STUFF, and yes, there was plenty.

We All Poop - “ All the Blood (Positive Song Actually)”

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Yes, as you can imagine I ofc IMMEDIATELY fell into like when I saw that chyron and invisioned the inevitability of the Czech Rep’s Rep immediately alienating every parent just based on their name alone <3 😍 w/e WAP quickly became that “Good but not great” song you find in every NF that everyone gushes over because it’s the whitest option available. Like, yes, “All the blood” is good, but musically it’s identical to Green Day and Twenty-One Pilots and god name ANY 90s-early00′s American Punk Rock band. For me the enjoyment came from the fact that WAP were openly crazy vegan fundamentalists and the VC clip actively condemns the use ANY animal protein by replacing the cattle and game with LITERAL HUMAN BEINGS. 😍 :fusedmarcintensifies: :kasiamosage:

Pam Rabbit - “Get up”

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Ohhhh YES a glorious experimental Synth-Trap song only I could love and ofc I did. God what is there even to say; the provocative darkness of the verses combined with the swirling amorphousness of the chorus gives me LIFE. LUFF THIS SHIT <3333 Ftr, this was also the fave of Slovene Juror duo / synth angels / Boris faves ZALAGASPER, further proving their pathetic naysayers that they own all things music and the haters can suck a series of-

Barbora Mochowa - “White and Black Holes“

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Lol, yes even with a “Get up” existing, there was a song I liked even more. Barbora proved a very competent Lana del Gay last year, but I was a YUGE fan of this year’s... Kate Bush-Björk blend of ethereal awesome. It is so soothingly beautiful and the rare example of a song that I find completely free of flaws. Were the competition not such a hard place, I’d be pissed she didnt win (at least she won the jury vote MASSIVE KUDOS to every alum on that) but w/e this selection had opions and I’m rather robbed of a “Kemama” than I am of a BRILLIANT IRREPLICABLE AETHERBALLAD. ~Danse balance sûr les white and black holes~

Elis Mraz & Cis T - “Wanna be like”

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I *VERY* strongly felt that if the Czech Republic wanted to win ESC, they should have picked Elis and even now I STILL believe she could have won. That isn’t to say I gushed over “Wanna be like” because I find it kind of annoying lol. Yes, I LOVE an annoying female voice (:Tones&Icackle:) but Elis’s reaches a Camilla Cabello sort of place for me (good lord get Senorita OFF the fucking radio) and the Scat + White Guy Rapping middle-eight. 😬. However, the second I opened up the video clip for this paragraph and was immediately BLASTED by Elis murdering a ukelele and wearing a “schoolgirl” outfit straight from a Japanese tentacle porn movie and OH MY GOD THE AGGRESSIVE TWERKING made me reconsider that hey, this min-sized Meghan Traynor actually kinda highkey owns, yo! Yet, I’m not at all bothered we lost her in the Czech NF because we got UNO DOS QUATRO CINCO SEIS :fatmansplit: fill up the megameme slot instead, so...

Eurovision 2020 vs Eurovision 2021

BENNY RUINED HIS SONG AND NEVER WOULD HAVE QUALIFIED. jk I’m not a moron. Sure, “Kemama” wasn’t an easy sell because you know AFROBEAT in a contest where half of the people watching are fash (ie: all of Eastern Europe, who watch out of ~Nationalistic Sentiment~ 😬), but there are Kemama live renditions out there and he owns them SO hard lol. A few soundmixing issues really would not have stopped Benny from qualifying in that RIDICULOUSLY WEAKSAUCE SEMIFINAL are you fucking kidding me. He probably would’ve bombed in the Grand Final, but I mean it’s Czech and it’s not Ickolas so ofc it would have.

And Czech renewed him for 2021 regardless of the sceptics, woohoo! I think part of it was due the Czech not wanting to re-organize an ENTIRE NF from scratch without Jan Bors, but probably also because Benny owns live when he isn’t engaged in psychological trench warfare with actual human detritus <3 and also because the Czech fucking CARE about their artists and don’t drop them like a sack of rotten potatoes wtfshitprus.

Can’t wait for the moment when he qualifies and Efendi does not, etc, etc.

FREAKY! FRIDAY! FACTOR!

I’d say that the core around which the Ben Drama spun was pretty standard fare: niche fave beats out the concensus fave, meltdowns ensue, people convince themselves it was the WRONG decision because it wasn the result they wanted, try to disown the song and make a fool of themselves because the song slaps, sorry. Even the revamp drama felt more of less generic for me, because yawn fantards melting down over a revamp of a song they don’t even like what else is new.

However, what I do take away that the revamp was ENTIRELY Benny’s idea which he told no one about (cue to JAN BORS having a social media meltdown like he’s Caesar at the Ides of March 💔) added MORE afrobeat just to troll his haters even more <3 God, I’d say it was bad from a musical perspective but this level of in-your-face defiance is fucking iconic and hilarious, sorry. This entire this year is so batshit bonkers that the concept of a someone potentially shooting themselves in the foot and “torpedo’ing” their qualification chances (not rly, he would’ve Q’d anyway lol) JUST to take the moral high ground in a racially coded argument only HE took seriously may not even be the craziest concept in the year! (lol it definitely isn’t. Look at the pics I haven’t greyed out yet)

This and more yield Benny some well-earned Senheads! Yay!!

Score: 3 Senhits out of 5.

#Eurovision #Eurovision 2020 #Eurovision Song Contest #Czech Republic #Czechia #Bohemia #Ben Christovão #Benny Christo

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bigskydreaming · 4 years

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A thing that makes me always raise my eyebrows is the insistence that Tim is “obviously” the smart one. Not only it’s contradicted in plenty of official DC material, but it doesn’t make sense because you can’t measure genius and even if he was it wouldn’t make the others less brilliant. They're all confirmed prodigies. And yet the extent to which this headcanon is treated as law, it's such that sometime it’s difficult not to wonder why they chose the high-class boy to lord as the smart one.

Yeah. I don’t know if you’ve seen any of my posts about finding it pointless to compare and rank members of a family whose high concept is they’re ALL Mary Sues, essentially, but you’re dead on about not being able to measure genius. As far as I’m concerned, canon validates the idea that they’re all genius-level intellects and when everyone in the room is a genius, who the hell even cares who the ‘most genius’ is?

Like, its one thing to emphasize different areas of expertise and the way they correlate to the different siblings’ personalities, to give them each a measure of distinction - for instance, personally I tend to write Dick as the most intuitive of the kids and most strategically minded when it comes to coordinating and understanding people and their motivations, strengths and weaknesses. I write Jason as the most tactical minded, better suited to taking point in operations or cases that revolve around understanding and manipulating situational and environmental factors and elements. I mention a lot how similar I view Dick and Jason being and this is another one of those areas….they have very similar fields of genius, but slightly different focuses in how that manifests.

Tim, to me, is the most analytically minded, which is what for me makes him the most like Bruce in terms of HOW his mind works, his approach to things, not because he and Bruce are like, top tier and everyone else falls somewhere beneath them….rather, I view Tim and Bruce being similar in that they both excel at compartmentalizing not just emotions but big picture puzzles or issues in general…they’re good at ‘taking apart’ situations, disassembling them to their individual components and thus making deductions that others miss or would just take more circuitous routes to reach. I would also put Babs in this particular school of thought as well.

Damian is still developing so its hard to say for sure yet since writers in canon are still feeling him out in a lot of cases, which results in a lot of his inconsistent writing in particular - they’re still trying to find what methodologies and areas of expertise will make him most distinct as he ages, I feel. But personally, as of now I would actually put him and Steph as being similar in their genius lying in adaptive thinking….Damian in particular does not get nearly enough credit for how MUCH he changed and how QUICKLY, in terms of comic book time…..he’s shifted entire worldviews of his in a matter of just a year or two, based on an influx of new information and new paradigms, which is NOT easy to do. People focus overly much on his temperament, I think, and use that to pigeonhole him as stubborn and not all that different from when he first debuted, but those are just mannerisms. His actual ways of thinking have dramatically shifted in a very short time.

Cass I would put on the other side of Dick….like if Dick’s genius lies in emotional intelligence, strategic thought, and intuitive thinking, those areas….Jason’s to the right of him, overlapping most with strategic thought and intuitive thinking, while Cass is to the left of Dick, more heavily oriented around emotional intelligence and strategic thought. Though again, all of them have high degrees of all of the above, I’m just talking about what gets emphasized most in most of their thoughts and actions relative to each other, specifically.

Duke is also still developing, due to how new he is overall, and how few writers other than his creator have written him. But for the moment I see him as a mix of adaptive genius, emotional intelligence and deductive reasoning.

But bottom line….they’re ALL exceptionally brilliant. There’s no way for them to do what they do otherwise. The entire premise of the Batfamily is you put any single one of them on a team or in a room filled with anyone other than their family….and they’re going to end up in the top percentile and usually take the leadership position, even while there are other bonafide genius inventors, scientists and intellects in the room. They’re a family of geniuses. Its just fact, lol.

So like you said, the casual insistence on Tim, Babs and Bruce being the most genius, despite repeated canon instances of all the others easily keeping pace….its suspect, and doesn’t help that Tim, Babs and Bruce are the three characters with the most ‘normal’ middle and upper class backgrounds, while Dick, Jason and Steph had lower class origins and Dick, Cass, Damian and Duke have unorthodox upbringings and are characters of color.

Like I said, I myself see certain similarities in HOW Tim, Babs and Bruce approach situations and overlap in their methodologies and schools of thought that the others don’t necessarily share to the same degree….and these actually could theoretically stem from certain similarities in their early backgrounds that the others don’t share as much. But these are all about the APPLICATION of their intellects. It has nothing to do with like….them being smarter than the others or more adept at problem solving, outwitting bad guys or making save-the-world strategies, things all of them have done in abundance.

I feel like way too many fans put way too much effort into picking apart canon in search of panels that definitively prove so and so is the smartest Robin or best detective in the family, when the reason it IS so hard to find a definitive answer for that and the reason fans of every character have provided ‘proof’ that backs up their claim that their fave is the smartest….

Is because that’s not a question that has an actual answer and all that’s really being proven is that every single member of this family is a freaking genius.

And again, there is no blue ribbon or gold medal for being the mostest genius.

So the more people insist on treating those specific three as obviously the smartest, and the more its taken for granted and not questioned….yeah, that’s when I raise an eyebrow with you, anon, and go….are you sure you guys are actually saying what you think you’re saying there, because some of us are hearing something a little different here.

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crazyfreckledginger · 6 years

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Q&A

Thank you to those who have asked questions, y’all are awesome!! It also means the world to me that we got this far! 80k you guys oh my god! You guys brighten my day I love and appreciate every single one of you!

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Everywhere! I want to visit every

Which Robin is your personal favorite?

Oh no you didn’t! 😂 I can’t really choose, but I know my least favourite is Tim! (Sorry timmy!) But Dick, Jay and Dami are my boys!

Do you like to read? And if so, do you have a favorite book or series? / favorite book?

I like to read fanfiction, does that count? 😂 But as books, I love ‘Finding Audrey’ by Sophie Kinsella and ‘Everything, Everything’ by Nicola Yoon

What got you into the batboys?/ How did you develop interest in the batfamily?

I have absolutely no idea! Oh, no, actually, I think I saw an imagine on Tumblr a year ago and just started reading fanfiction about it!

Outside the Batfamily, who is your favorite superhero (or superheroes)?

Wanda Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff, Peter Parker Laura Kinney and Logan Howlett!

do you considere the robin's similar to peter Parker??

Yes, especially Tim!

How to you get inspiration for your one-shots?/ What inspired you to start writing? / What made you want to start writing? What do you do to get inspiration in writing?/ What is your motivation or drive?

Before I started requests, I just had an accumulation of random stories in my head and had to write them out, now, most things. Sometimes it’s because of dreams, movie I watch with interesting scenes or plot twists, books or general ideas that just pop into my head, sometimes it’s also ‘what if’ type questions, if that makes sense.

If your favorite batboy died, how would you feel?

TeRiRbIE, probably mourning for the rest of my life lol.

Young justice season 3?

HELL YEAH DICK IS HAWT AF OMG

What's your favourite food?/ Favorite Food,

Indian and Mexican food for life!

What do you like the most about your fave batboy?

EVERYTHING, MY BOYS ARE PRECIOUS

Do you think the rumor about Damian being Jason's son is true?

I didn’t hear about this before but nope, I mean how even?? 😂 Like, in most universes, the age gap between the two is between 10 to 14 years, how- I don’t- no, and besides, they come from a completely different background and I don’t know where this is from but it’s always going to be a no in my heart!

Can you relate to any of the batboys?

All of them! I’ll generalise a lot because this might turn into an essay otherwise lmao.

Damian for his love of animals and hating people in general. Tim for the lack of sleep. Jason is me tbh. Dick loves puns and jokes as much as I do.

Are Bruce and your father alike?

Kind of?

What's your favourite T.V show?

Sons Of Anarchy, Friends, The Vampire Diaries and Good Girls

Are you looking forward to Titans on October 18th?

I have mixed feelings about it, I’m happy they are making a live action Dick and Jason but it looks really bad, I’m still going to keep an open mind though!

Jason and Artemis or Kori and Dick?

Kori and Dick, I don’t seen Jason and Artemis’ relationship as more than friends, I don’t know what happened in RHATO, which is funny how I keep talking about the comics since I magically have never read any of them???

Thoughts on Redhood's transformation In Redhood the Outlaw?

I want my Jaybird hair back. I’m oKaY with the new design but I adore the old design!

Cookies: Alfred or M'gann?

Alfred’s (that was a tough one though!)

Is Brenton Thwaites good enough to be Robin in the upcoming series?

I don’t know! I’ve never really had a good face claim for Dick so I’m going to keep an open mind about it. He’d better had a nice bubble butt though!

Jason's gun or Dick's eskrimas?

Ughh this is haaard! Maybe Dick’s eskrima sticks.

Talia or Selena?

Selena

Poison ivy or Harley Quinn?

Harley Quinn

If you were in DC universe and you will be able to make a crossover it will be with?: Marvel, Transformers, Supernatural

Marvel or Transformers!!

Do you like birdflash?

I only see them as bros but I respect people’s choice of shipping them together!

Besides Batman what other fandoms are you into ?

Marvel, Sons Of Anarchy, Transformers, Stranger Things, Good Girls, From Dusk Till Dawn, The Vampire Diaries and loads more!

What’s your most liked story on wattpad

This one lmao (batboys x reader)

Do you like voltron if so who’s your favorite paladin

I don’t watch Voltron, sorry, the fandom is insane and scary on Tumblr (without wanting to generalise) . I’ve tried watching an episode but I just can’t seem to get into it!

Will you take request in the future Not that I’m asking for one I’m just curious I love your writing style

Aw thanks! 🙈 That’s so sweet of you. And yes of course!! I just closed them because I didn’t know when I would be able to have a reliable amount of time to write, I’m opening them soon hopefully! :)

Favorite movie of all time/ What's your favorite movie and why?

Logan, the FeElS, plus my girl Laura plus my man Donald Pierce is in it.

The Dark Knight (the one with Bane and The Joker) both villains are extremely intimidating and Nolan was able to portray them in an extremely terrifying way whilst keeping us on edge for the whole movies! True masterpieces.

Also Tomb Raider because kick some ass queen omg.

favorite character characters

DONALD PIERCE, Wanda Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff, Natasha Romanoff, Laura Kinney, Dick Grayson, Wally West, Roy Harper, Jason Todd, Damian Wayne among so so many others.

favorite (video) game,

Outlast and Until Dawn!

Do you have/wish to have any pets?

Yes I have had a bunch! Three rabbits, a sheep and a goat! I wish I’d have a cat though!

How would you describe your clothing style?

Comfortable and tries to be at least a little stylish lol

Any artists/celebs You look up to?

Not really no, I’ve never really looked up to anyone.

What kind of music do you like?

Pop, Classical not the Mozart type of classical.

Do You have any "rituals" regarding your writing process?

Yes! If it’s a series, I write the whole plot down on a book with details and elements that I want included. I keep it besie me to be sure I follow the plot whislt writing it.

Since I write in the evening, if there’s a one shot request that I lack inspiration about, I write something else and think of a plot when I’m in bed before i go to sleep. It really helps be get the requests written and in the queue.

I normally sit in front of my TV, catching up on my series or something and just write. I don’t really have a ritual other than this!

Favourite cartoon?

Young Justice ayyye!

If you were to choose your own name, what would it be?

I’ve never really thought about it, I don’t know, I like my name!

But I really like Kia or *gasp* Sam. Not Samantha but just Sam.

Favourite mythical creature?

Griffin, phenix and dragons!

What language do you wish to speak?

Italian and Spanish!

Any lucky items/superstisions?

A tiger’s eye necklace my cousin gave me three years ago, I wear it everyday! If you could be any animal, real or mythical, what would you be?

A tiger, an eagle or a griffin. I can’t choose lol!

Do you think you'd survive in a post apocalyptic world?

Maybe? I mean I feel like I would be smart enough but I saw World War Z and dying is better than surviving with traumatic experiences running through your head 24/7!

Where would you go for a dream vacation?

Everywhere! I want to visit the world!

If a genie granted you 3 wishes, what would you wish for? (No wishing for more wishes lol)

DANG IT!

1. That everyone should have a different perspective so that they can realise how bad the world is becoming and to change that.

2. Appreciation of every single being on the planet that sexual orientation does not matter in a relationship and that, no matter what you consider yourself, that society accepts you no matter what.

3. That everyone becomes the best person they can possibly be. We could conquer the world!

Do you prefer rain or sun?

RAIN!

Do you like thunderstorms?

Hell yeah!

Are you good at puzzles?

Depends which ones, generally yes. Depending on my mood, I can be very stubborn and finish it and sometimes I’m going to be screw it I give up lol!

What do you enjoy most about life?

My mutuals, happiness, fraternity, you guys and a few other things I’m sure (can’t remember)

What's your favorite fictional world? (DC, Marvel, Shadowhunters, etc)

DC, Marvel, Transformers and the 10 year old in me says Narnia as well!

What do you think happens after we die?

I feel like you’d come back as a different person. I’ve always wanted to believe that you’d become an animal but I have no idea!

If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Indian food!!

Do you like to dance?

Yes but alone! I’m horrible at dancing!

Where do you feel most comfortable/safe?

With my best friend! Or at home!

What's something that always makes you smile?

My mutuals, your comments they seriously make my day a little brighter.

Are you good at gardening?

Nope I don’t like it either!

What's your preferred footwear?

Sneakers if that’s what it’s called!

Favorite flower?

Roses!

What fills up your heart to bursting level?

Kitties and puppies! 😍 Also anything including helping people or animals together and/or animals with their owners.

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done?

Opening up to someone, showing my feelings and emotions and getting out there to make friends. I haven’t had the best childhood.

What’s your favorite poem or saying?

“Hope for the Best, Plan for the Worst”

And most importantly: do you think we'll ever see good writing again in DC for our favorite characters?

I really hope so, the writers are becoming more and more despised. Only DC fans hate DC on a completely different level of hatred lmao.

What'd you think of Heath Ledger's Joker?

Terrifying. heath Ledge did a fine good job at portraying someome that puts that unsettling feeling in your gut. Every one of his scenes are iconic. The best Joker so far in my opinion.

whO rAnKs NumBer TwO iN "Batboys with a fresh booty" since we all know dick ranks number one

Hmmmm,

Conclusion...

That’s a very cute tushy if you ask me!

[not my pics]

what do you think about Erik Lehnsherr and Stephen Strange?

I’m not particularly attacted to Erik but I know he’s misunderstood and I understand why he’s so loveable by many people in the X-Men fandom. But he’s just not my type of guy.

Stephen Strange is badass and a sass master and no one can convince me otherwise. He’s an awesome character.

what would your perfect date with Donnie (Donald Pierce) be like?

Ohhh, going to the movies and then just hanging out somewhere nice, talking and laughing and then ordering takeaway and cuddling up on the couch whilst watching Netflix ahhh! 🙈

#get to know the writer #milestone #75 000 reads on wattpad #wattpad #80k now tho #tag game #q&a #celebration

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attract-mode-collective · 6 years

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Not An April Fools Gag; That’s A Game Boy Advance With A GameCube Stick Affixed For Reals

What you're seeing is a modded GBA that I spotted on eBay. It's a real thing! Though it doesn't magically grant analogue control to all the digital input only games on the system, which is all of them for the record (sorry). Then again, it could be argued that the controls in WarioWare Twisted is technically analogue...

That aside aside, welcome to yet another recap of stuff posted over at the Attract Mode Twitter! Though this time it's gonna be a bit on the short side, relatively speaking; even I know covering two entire whole weeks has led to hard to handle Tumblr posts, so I'm going to try concentrating on just one week at a time/attempt weekly updates.

Let's see how well that goes...

Hey, it's SF2 IRL thanks to ARKit (via prostheticknowledge)...

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At the time, when I first tweeted about it, there were only three left of Amanda Visell’s Player One Mario; no idea how many there are now...

When you can make a decision regarding lunch (via @Mechazawa)....

If you appreciate both the ease of slip-on sneakers and the taste of ghosts, then Games Glorious has something for you (via miki800.com)...

As a connoisseur of video games on the printed page, it is my goal to one day own a copy of Namco's newsletter that was distributed in game centers during the 80s & 90s, NG (via miki800)...

Remember that time Namco got someone from Yellow Magic Orchestra to hawk their wares (via namcomuseum)...

Both in print and on TV…

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The YMO member in question, Haruomi Hosono, also did a Xevious remix album, which longtime readers of the blog will hopefully recall.

Sticking with Namco CMs, there’s a pair of longtime faves that I could have sworn I’ve already posted as well, yet cannot find. Though as noted, many times already, the search functionality here is broken.

So here’s a boy playing with his Famicom in the middle of the woods...

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And here’s a girl playing with his Famicom in the middle of the woods...

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Back to the subject of print, can’t seem to find any info on the Futabasha Fantasy Novel Series, which (I think) was a line of video game novelizations; this one appears to be written by the creator of Xevious himself (via shmups)...

The focus here is supposed to be the Lawson’s reward card with Kirby on it, but I am all about that Space Invaders whatever the heck it is (via miki800)...

Spent MANY hours at Japanese bookstores during my college years, flipping through Sega Saturn Magazine; seeing these VF Kids ads again makes me feel all warm & fuzzy (via thesegasource)...

This (what I believe to be a) farewell image of the face of the Saturn from the very first issue of Dreamcast Magazine, also gives me the feels (via oldgamemags)...

BTW, everyone knows the identity of Saturn's pitchman (Segata Sanshiro), but what about the Mega Drive's? (via yokosuka87)...

Back to the Saturn; I love how Sega want from Segata Sanshiro to Hidekazu Yukawa for the Dreamcast. This launch edition of the console, btw, was spotted at VideoGamesNewYork...

It's also where they Kira Kira Star Night DX for twice the asking price, as @gamespite)...

Speaking of music, to fully enjoy this animated gif of Eggman running…

… you need to have this song playing (via lunaticobscurity).

And to fully enjoy this image of Eggman on the sax…

... you need to have this song playing (via very-territorial-oak).

@ondoruragitan sez: "whoever designed that clown lady in ace attorney is probably the most horny artist to ever exist" (it's funny cuz it's true)...

So the big news these past few weeks, especially among video game folk my age, has been the end of the Toys R Us. Many have been sharing artifacts from the glory days, with my fave example being these old flyers, with the obvious highlight seeing all the original MSRP prices (via retrogamerblog)...

Oh, and don’t forget the gifs (via nintendroid)...

The following are more appropriate for my way, way overdue batch of game culture snapshots, but since we're on the subject of retail anyway; I recently stumbled across Nintendo's collab with Bloomingdale's that I had no idea even existed...

Took a bunch of pics, but unfortunately, due to the harsh lighting at the SoHo store, it was impossible to capture the women’s section, hence the abundance of men’s wear...

These women's sweatshirts are the best example of the line's overall design sensibilities, or lack thereof; it’s just a bunch of random Nintendo sprites on attire that is available at Bloomingdale's, period. That's all it aspires to be, nothing more...

... And that's a real shame, cuz aside from the quality of the clothing itself being high, some of the ho-hum looking designs could be really engaging with a few minor tweaks, like this b&w women's jacket with a very random assortment of b&w Super Mario World sprites...

In addition to clothing, you had accessories, like iPhone cases...

Plus sunglasses, which revealed Super Mario World playing on what appears to the naked eye to be a blank, white screen....

Speaking of Super Mario World, here's a hamster enjoying the game (via @kousuke_teppei)...

The lil guy also owns an original Famicom, and here we is playing Solomon's Key (thanks to @Topherocious for helping me to identify the game)...

Being that friend who is REALLY into video games means I'm asked a wide variety of questions from folks who are not, like why @beesmygod is "freaking out" over a Sonic & Garfield two pack for the PC...

... I'll be honest, I don't really understand why either.

Here we have a mockup for an ad blocker that replaces banners with GBA screenshots, which I really want to see happen (via @tinycartridge)...

I also really want to see this happen too (via @truongasm)...

Back to Tiny Cart; that's where I found out that you no longer have to play emulated Tiger handheld games sans backgrounds...

Nothing beats a pic of a dimly lit arcade, especially when it's shot on ACTUAL film (via mendelpalace)...

As for this particular arcade show, @kappuru theorizes "it looks like cinestill film, or a filter designed to mimic it." (via parkerwoods)...

"WHO IS THIS NUN?! WHY DOES SHE LOOK SO SINISTER?" is a great KOF related question (via vice-s-assistant)...

And "BOWL BEFORE ME" is a great KOF related gag (via brondeef)...

"this is the best cosplay i’ve ever seen" is a a great costume play related observation made by lunaticobscurity...

"how to get away with playing super mario odyssey in class" is the caption given by retrogamerblog...

"Stardew Valley gave me 500 characters to use as my farm name, so I put down an entire 1-star amazon review for an Independence Day DVD" is the explanation given by @NoahHafford...

Hey, you never know, maybe one day a homebrew dev might make “Shinjuku-Nichome Gay District Serial Murders” a reality? (via mendelpalace)

When you’ve got one copy of Melee with two boxes, and one copy of Air Ride with zero boxes… just gotta improvise (via stellatuna)...

When you’ve got a killer Game Genie code but no paper to write it down on... and then you discover the code does something totally different (via theassortment)...

And when I asked what this 4koma featuring a Dreamcast VMU was all about, @JonahD was kind enough to explain: "VMUs are playing hide and seek, Black is seeking. One VMU thinks hiding in the controller would be good but it makes a bunch of noise and they’re found immediately" (via posthumanwanderings)...

Whereas I have yet to find out what all these Sonics are doing at a German airport (via sonicthehedgeblog)...

I normally don’t let the weather get to me, yet the constant cold weather in NYC over the past few weeks began taking its toll, to the point that I’m starting to resemble an upside down Super Famicom/European SNES (via sixteen-bit)...

I also really wish I could have checked out Sakura-Con, and not just cuz the weather is so much nicer in Seattle, but to pick up @alexisparade's Monster Factory zine...

I stared at gif illustrating the wacky perspective-related behavior of Super Mario 64’s trees for an entire day, no joke (via suppermariobroth)...

Here we have the rarely seen alternate angle of the internet famous "LAN party gamer duct-taped to the ceiling" photo (via reddit.com)...

Turning the clock back even further, here's yet another kind of party, one that doesn’t involve first person shooters but shoot ‘em ups; it’s the 1986 Hudson Caravan (via videogamesdensetsu)...

Recently, a modded NES Max controller showed up on Kotaku, in which the cycloid nub has been replaced with an analogue stick...

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... Which actually appeared the day after I spotted that modded GBA at the very top of this page. I am also willing to admit the disappointment over my tweet not catching on as expected/hoped it would, hence why I'm sharing another pic...

At any rate, I was also reminded of my buddy Nick Santaniello's modded Jaguar controller, which allows for arcade perfect Tempest 2000 controls...

... Which in turned led to me republishing the post from which it hails from originally, my recap of Nick's Shmup Appreciation Night, for Medium (and also sharing additional pics on Twitter)...

BTW, for those wondering, based upon the last round of tweets; the kitchen isn’t just for playing old Mega Drive & PC Engine shmups… you can also play old Naomi fighting games (via internetflexin)...

Guess that's it for now? Sorry, but it finally feels like spring in NYC, and I feel the need to step away from the computer & enjoy weather! Just like Mega Man (via arcadequartermaster)...

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courtreadsmostlyfiction · 4 years

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Best books of 2019

I read 179 books in 2019 (and finished the 179th, The Handmaid’s Tale, on 12/31, so I can watch the series and read The Testaments). This is the most I’ve ever read in one year (in 2018, I read 173). I was sharing this update with my grandmother, and she asked me if my goal was to read as many books as possible. I thought about it for a bit, and it’s not but it is? I told her how I knew I only had so many books I’d get to read in a lifetime, and I probably think about that fact too much. I don’t want to read just for quantity’s sake, yet I know that I find some of the best books because I have an insatiable appetite for reading. Too many books, too little (life)time.

I also read instead of watching TV (generally), and love when I’m reading something that pulls me away from social media. I love reading when Grant is reading next to me (on the couch, in bed, across from me at a restaurant on an introvert date).

And last but not least, books have saved my life before many times, and making time for reading helps keep me sane.

...now onto our program - my favorite books of the year! This year I also blogged more, if not *regularly*, so some of the books below were suggested before. If you got my Christmas card, some of these might not be surprises, either, since we had the fun idea of listing our family member’s favorite books. Some of mine are different, though, since I had to have that done in early December, and there was so much good reading time left in the year! I went on holiday break on the 17th and had saved a lot of good books for my vacation.

TOP ELEVEN (I wrote about all except the last three -- thanks December reading for those books that made this list! -- in previous posts, so will try to capture in one sentence why you might want to pick it up):

Good Talk (graphic memoir) - I bought my copy at The Strand, and have bought at least 10 copies to give to friends who are parenting in the age of Trump.

(posting this pic to prove my point, even though I’ll likely get shit from Grant about our Amazon bill)

The Most Fun We Ever Had (literary fiction) - a book with a dysfunctional family (yes, please!) and a character who cusses a lot PLUS a ginkgo biloba tree.

Fleishman Is In Trouble (literary fiction) - I want to reread this, and I rarely reread things; a rare 5-star rating from me that made me think about how I participate in misogyny without even realizing it.

Speak No Evil (literary fiction) - a queer, black immigrant high schooler in DC grapples with his identity.

The Nickel Boys (literary fiction) - a fictionalized story of real history: a disciplinary school in Florida where black boys are sent (and often “disappear”); the ending had me crying. (Also on Obama’s list of his fave reads of 2019)

Red, White & Royal Blue (romance) - more romance with bi relationships and politics, please!

Educated (non-fiction, memoir) - it wasn’t what I expected at all, I couldn’t put it down, and ultimately I think it’s about surviving.

Heads of the Colored People (short stories) - stories (and usually I hate short stories) about black identity that I’m STILL thinking about.

Disappearing Earth (mystery) - this was on so many best of lists (including the NYTimes top TEN for the year), and the hard cover had been sitting on my shelf for two long. I had it first on my read-during-winter-break list. As soon as I read two pages, I was sucked in. Two young sisters disappear in Russia’s Far East, and then the story unfolds, told by the perspectives of folks directly and indirectly connected to the crime.

All This Could Be Yours (literary fiction) - I requested this at the library before it even had a cover :) because I’m a Jami Attenberg fan. A dysfunctional family’s patriarch is dying, and his son and daughter are called to his bedside, where the whole family grapples with his life of crime and abuse.

Juliet Takes A Breath (YA) - Juliet (Nuyorican lesbian) gets a coveted internship with hippy, white feminist author, and white feminism rears it’s ugly head.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Nothing To See Here (literary fiction) - one time, a guy in Chicago had a job at a newspaper where he was the Biblioracle and he would recommend books to folks who wrote in if you told him favorites and what you read recently. 1) I need that job! and 2) he recommended Kevin Wilson’s The Family Fang to me, and I loved it. I was excited to read this, and it felt like such a real representative of politics and friendship even though people literally burst into flames.

The River (literary fiction / mystery) - in Grant’s top 5 of the year, and one of my favorite Peter Heller books (which is saying something, since I loved The Dog Stars and Celine). Two high school boys go for a graduation trip in the boundary waters, and there’s a brushfire growing and possibly a woman missing.

The Chain (thriller) - I keep picking up thrillers that people swear are the next Gone Girl or even better, and nothing is. This didn’t make my top ten, but if you want a page turner with a twist and also think about the banality of evil and what you might or might not do, try this.

Royal Holiday (romance) - Jasmine Guillory is always on point! I couldn’t even save this for Christmas reading!* A personal stylist gets to go to England to style the Meghan Markle (shout out to Suits!) fictionalized equivalent, and her mom goes along and finds romance.

Intercepted, Fumbled, Blitzed (romance series) - have you read all of Jasmine Guillory? Pick up Alexa Martin next! It’s funny and captures the nuance of being a football fan or former football fan; the book doesn’t deny how it exploits men of color or the traumatic brain injuries.

They Called Us Enemy (graphic memoir) - I don’t think that I would have ever picked up a graphic memoir if I didn’t already love Mira Jacobs (see Good Talk, above) and George Takei (LOVE him on facebook) already. Now I might seek them out. It’s George’s story of the Japanese internment camps that America likes to not remember.

Slay (YA) - Q: Do you need a YA version of Ready Player One written by a black woman? A: YES! After all of the racism she experiences in gaming, a black high schooler creates a video game only for black folks. No one knows she’s the creator. When a young kid is killed supposedly due to the game, she faces being revealed and wonders what she created.

The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali (YA) - I couldn’t put this book down; it’s about a young, queer Muslim woman whose parents want to marry her off. It’s never the right time to come out, and when they find out unexpectedly, she’s sent off to Bangladesh.

Heaven, My Home (mystery) - The follow up to Bluebird, Bluebird, and just as wonderful. Black Texas Ranger Darren Matthews is back, and is tasked with finding a missing 9 year-old boy from a white supremacist family.

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed (non-fiction) - I asked my therapist if she had read this, but she hadn’t yet. She did tell me that she sees a therapist, though. Reading this (and hearing that) made me feel less alone and less crazy. It’s also pretty funny. (AND you know I don’t like non-fiction!!!)

What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About (non-fiction, essays)

Southernmost (rural fiction) - did I just make up a genre? Yes! If you liked Plainsong or anything by Kent Haruf (and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, read that instead), I think you’d like this. A rural town, where a preacher decides not to turn his back on a gay couple, and then faces the consequences. I found it thoughtful, nuanced, and real.

The View from Penthouse B (light fiction) - hmm, can’t stop making up genres! This is witty and well written, and I think is the book equivalent of a warm bath. I loved these sisters who end up living together in an NYC penthouse (the sister who owns it: separated from her scandal-ridden husband and lost her fortune in a Madoff-like ponzi scheme, and the sister who moves in is fairly recently widowed and everyone but her is ready for her to get over it).

Daisy Jones & The Six (historical fiction) - I think this was Grant’s favorite of the year, and it was definitely in the top 5. I loved it, too. It felt like the book version of Almost Famous.

American Spy (spy thriller) - it has so many things I’m looking for in a book all-in-one: excellent writing, fully developed characters, and moving plot. The premise is a black woman in U.S. intelligence during the Cold War, and the book grapples with racism and sexism and patriotism and family. So good!

To Night Owl from Dogfish (middle grade fiction) - I picked this up because Meg Wolitzer is one of the authors (wrote The Interestings) and because I’ve seen it on so many (non-middle grade) lists. It didn’t disappoint! Q: Do you need an LGBTQ Parent Trap-like book in your life (A: Yes, obvs). Pick this one up! I will try to read it with Ox in a year or so.

WHEW!

In 2020, I’m hoping for more 5 star reads (only five in 2019 - Good Talk, Fleishman Is In Trouble, Educated, Speak No Evil, Heads of the Colored People), more mysteries to make this list (bonus if it’s a new series [or new-to-me series] I can get lost in), and that I find the time to paint more book covers.

BONUS MEME

*Gah this meme is me, but this is my blog, so whatevs! Also a lot of these memes, too, which I hadn’t seen before!

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nyxelestia · 7 years

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Racism in the Teen Wolf Fandom

[This post originally tagged several people I was directly addressing, as I was expecting it to mostly be reblogged by them and their followers, with maybe a small handful of people I asked to take a look at this post even bothering to read this behemoth, let alone share it. However, a lot more people than I expected paid attention to and shared this post, including a blog that dedicates itself to highlighting racism in fandom. In the interests of preventing "raiding"/dogpiling behavior against the people I addressed this post to, I have removed their handles.]

tl;dr - I don't actually believe any of you are racists, no more than I am, than we all are by virtue of being raised in a white-centric culture, internalizing the attitudes expressed by our media and community, and carrying those attitudes with us into fandom. But that is all the more reason we need to address bigotry in our communities, no matter how passive or benign or minor, because that is the only way to engender change in this fandom, in fandom in general, and in ourselves. I take issue with your guys' posts and meta not because I think everyone should worship Scott - hey, he's not my #1 fave either - or because I think he is perfect (no one is, perfect characters are boring). I take issue with the fact a lot of your logic, meta, and analyses rely on the same racist arguments that permeate mainstream media. I object to the casual dismissal of canonical events, and the way headcanons and assumptions are treated as canon when analyzing the show (especially when they are overwhelmingly skewed a certain direction). And I object to the fact every attempt by myself and many, many others to point all of this out is often met with little more than dismissing everything with the vague claim that we're "too sensitive" and "see racism everywhere" and "are only using buzzwords". I don't think any of you are racists, but I think all of you have utilized or enabled racist rhetoric when talking about Scott (and several other characters, but primarily Scott, for reasons I explain down below).

I'm temporarily disabling anon - either one of you, or one of your followers, constantly fills my inbox with misogynistic slurs every time I speak up against bigotry in fandom, and I just do not have the time to IP block each one. I just got this lovely one just yesterday:

(I and everyone else who talk about racism in Teen Wolf fandom are accused of "using buzzwords", while I'm getting anons who accuse me of misogyny while calling me a cunt. Yay irony.)

If you want to yell at me, do it under your own name. And yes, out of all the people circle-jerking on the original post, I blocked the one who used name-calling now, and has demonstrated some remarkably immature behavior in the past. If bhadpodcast is going to act and post like I blocked them, I might as well actually block them and save myself the headache. They can still relay messages to me through one of you. The rest of you have demonstrated yourself to be open-minded and willing to listen to logical arguments in the past (or I don't know you well enough to assume that you'll ignore my words and skip straight to the name-calling) which is why I've tagged you.

This is a rodeo I've ridden before, and while I can always hope for change, the reality is that I have already expressed all of this in meta before, and that I've spoken to most of you directly about all of this. I'm familiar with the arguments you make, and I'm tired. So it's going to take pretty much all of my self-control to do this, but no matter what you reblog, I am not going to respond. I'm not going to get caught up in the tactics of deflection and distraction, I'm not going to let you draw me into petty arguments on isolated comments and use that as an excuse to ignore the overwhelming majority of this post, and I'm not interested in rehashing arguments I've already had a dozen times over with almost all of you at one point or another.

If you actually read this entire thing and have an honest rebuttal to something I stated below, and its something that is based in the canonical source material, is not contradicted by other canonical source material, and is not contingent on a headcanon, my Messenger is open. Otherwise, it's been good talking to you, and I'm sure we'll be talking about all of this again, soon enough. But I am stating my piece and peacing out, because I need to save up my energy for the next time this wank comes around - and given the way fandom has shown itself to act in the past (and the fact racism has been around far, far longer than television, letalone fandom), that is not an 'if', but a 'when'.

Below the cut:

1.) Yes, Scott is a character of color, I don't care what country you're in.

2.) The fact that most of the racism in Teen Wolf fandom comes in microaggressions does not make it less racist.

3.) Actors and characters are held to tremendously disparate double standards and this is a huge problem, probably the biggest one.

4.) Racism of Teen Wolf fandom is highly reflective of racism offline/in the "real world".

On Scott actually being a character of color

Now, first and foremost - I don't really care what country you are from, Scott is a character of color. I get that some of you come from backgrounds where someone with his complexion is coded as white, but ignoring the fact that 1.) internalized racism is as much of a problem as external racism and 2.) most of ya'll have your own serious problems with colorism and race (where do you think America got it from?), the reality is that you are watching an American TV show, filmed using Amercian actors and and in a setting whose populace is designed to look American. On top of that, most of you have consumed plenty of American media before Teen Wolf, or media that reflects/contains the same problems with colorism and racism as American media.

Even if you did not perceive Scott as white on your first watch, the majority of the target audience did, a significant portion of your meta still used logic and arguments saturated in racist rhetorical history (American racism and otherwise), and many of your character delineations still fell along racial lines (i.e. which characters you headcanon as being secretly evil or having ulterior motives, and which ones you headcanon as secretly not being as evil as they act). As this article points out, the actual TV show has a pretty sketchy history when it comes to its treatment of non white, non male characters - granted, it's nothing new, most TV shows do this or something like this, as does most media in general. But "everyone else does it" and "it's always been this way" has never been an excuse before, and Teen Wolf doesn't get to start now.

On top of that, even if you personally came from a country with no ties to or influences from Western racism at all, you are still engaging in a fandom that is largely rooted in America, with American racial preconceptions, and dealing with American racial norms. Much of my issues with racism in your posts, meta, and reponses is not that an individual is immediately being racist, but rather are perpetuating racist misconstructions.

i.e. Stiles gets struggles on a test, and it's because he has ADHD, so/and he's still a genius, which is reinforced by all the times outside of school. Allison openly admits to having had to repeat a year before and failing a class now, and it's attributed to familial and superantural stress. But Scott gets a bad grade, he's an idiot, and the idea that he "never" does anything outside of school. You aren't going to call Scott stupid because of his ethnicity. But by taking away situations in which he has demonstrated intelligence and cunning and attributing it to someone else, you reinforce anti-Scott fans' rhetoric that Scott is an idiot who can't do anything, most of which traces back to racial stereotypes about Latino boys in the American education system. This is just one of many, many examples.

I understand why you feel like the fact you didn't code Scott as white on your first watch means you don't and can't possibly have racist attitudes towards him or express it in meta. But the thing is, bigotry is rarely about you individually, it's almost always about how you connect to and relate to a broader tradition of oppression and marginalization. There is not a single English-speaking or European country that does not currently have problems with racism and colorism, and while the nuances of how racism manifests varies from country to country, the traditions, media trends, and social habits do not - which is why the fact that people from different countries perceive characters' a little differently based on their appearances, the underlying rhetoric and logic is still the same.

Teen Wolf Fandom Racism

In the post this came clusterfuck from, the person I was responding to literally says, 'the hero is not a hero, and the villain IS the hero'. The fact that she didn't actually say their races doesn't change the fact all the positive attributes or successes of the character of color were projected onto white characters, while supporting the idea that the character of color is evil. She literally removed the character of color from the story, by claiming that the adult werewolf is actually the "teen wolf". AUs are fine and dandy and dark AUs are a lot of fun. But we call them AUs for a reason. The show itself is one created by people, not some documentary about real life events. The story presented is the story intended, and the post is one which undermines that story in order to demonize a character of color, while also deifying white characters, in a way that is contingent of separating the character of color from his own story and plastering his story onto white characters.

It's a not-so-micro microaggression. Just because you don't intend a certain bias, does not mean you are not acting it out or perpetuating it. Just because you are not intentionally judging someone on the basis of race, does not eliminate the fact you (and I) were raised in a very racist culture, and especially in a racist media environment, and express racialized judgments without intending it. We all do this - up until her library scene with Mason in Season 5, I was doing this with Kira all the time. And I've also fallen prey to the tendency to sideline Boyd. When I recognized that I ponder the stories of white characters who has as much screen time as him or even less so, I strove to change that.

This article explains the way fandom treats characters of color and how erasure manifests in fandom, and very specifically #3 in to one of you whose meta I was responding to before. The article is primarily about shipping, but it also specifically addresses the demonization of Deaton, and other characters of color, in the Teen Wolf fandom, and puts these into the context of fandom racism in general, not just Teen Wolf. In particular:

When characters of color are distanced from their triumphs and relationships in canon via headcanon, photo manipulations/edits, or simply not being written or drawn into fanworks, it’s an attempt to minimize the importance of the character. Whether or not it’s a subconscious or conscious distancing, the fact of the matter is that fandom does this on the regular and it usually only benefits white characters (and largely white fans) because it takes importance away from the few characters of color that the canon gives us.

This is literally erasing a character of color and replacing him with a white character, who the fuck thought this was okay? I get that this was a Stiles-centric event, but if you can smoothly switch out heads and paste in characters, then you can damn well make your own banner pulling together all the characters independently, without erasing the character of color and pasting a white character over him.

On top of that, the post points out how much racism in fandom manifests as separating characters of color from their white friend.

Take a look at the finale of Season 2. We never once see Stiles' reaction to Gerard (he wasn't even there, yet). Only edited for size and brightness, here is Stiles' entrance to the scene - after Gerard has already collapsed from the mountain ash:

Incidentally, the show never explains how Stiles actually knew to go to this warehouse in the first place, and at the the beginning of the scene, it was Scott, Chris, and Isaac who arrived here first, setting the location for the finale. There are a lot of possible explanations for all of these. But fandom only treats one as if it were canon, while rarely or never mentioning the other, equally likely, possibility. Why? Because that creates a separation between Scott and Stiles (despite/especially because of the fact the season literally ends with the two of them goofing off together).

The very ending of the season is about Scott and Stiles playing lacrosse together after Scott respectfully walks away from Allison when she breaks up with him, but how many post-S2 fics start out with Stiles feeling lonely because Scott abandoned him for Allison? We see Stiles discovering the alpha symbol and learning about the alpha pack at the same time as Scott at the beginning of Season 3A - yet why do so many people talk about Stiles helping Derek look for them over the summer as if it were canon? (In the interest of demonstrating full disclosure about our own mistakes, even I used to think this, just because it appeared in fanfic so many times. It wasn't until my second watch of S3 that I realized Stiles hadn't canonically been helping Derek look for Erica and Boyd, or known about the alpha pack beforehand.)

(Sloppy gif is sloppy. Derek and Scott were talking about alphas, so Derek actually said "A pack of them." This conversation was interspersed with cuts from the Braeden and Alpha Pack fight scene, so the awkward jumps are from cutting those out.)

This unconscious racism also manifests in how fandom treats actors of color in the fandom, and in Teen Wolf fandom.

Dylan O'Brien made a joke about violating native law and taking advantage of sacred land for his own personal humor, and fandom largely forgot about it in a week. Tyler Posey makes a joke about being gay, and fandom still rails at him over it. Tyler and Dylan should be held accountable to the same standards. Both of them made a stupid, shitty joke, and both apologized pretty quickly. Only one of them is still being taken to task for it.

One Tyler calls Sterek twisted and bizarre, the other Tyler calls Sterek disrespectful. Only one is taken to task over it, and it's the one who was routinely harassed about this ship, whose character is almost systemically marginalized from his own TV show, and whose character's death was being advocated to make another character into the lead of the show.

For those who want more quantative evidence

The number of fanworks about Scott compared to Stiles and Derek is ridiculous. On its own, in the context of a fandom that wasn't so otherwise racist or engaging in racist rhetoric and behavior, I'd buy that it was because there are many reasons why someone could identify with Stiles and Derek more than Scott. But most of the reasons people profess for identifying with Stiles - complexity, mental illness, etc., - are also attributes that apply to Scott's character, which means if you eliminate the things that are same, the racial difference becomes much, MUCH more prominent.

This is before getting into the fact that if you go into the Scott McCall tag right now, most of the fics (based on other tags, and summaries) aren't even about him, but about Stiles and/or Derek. Out of the 10 results in the first page when I just checked, only 1 had a summary that wasn't about Stiles or Derek. And it's really hard to take "Scott is just not that interesting" too seriously when I see how many people have forgotten really engaging scenes and stories with him, and how often people think a scene between him and either Stiles or Derek was actually between Stiles and Derek - and not him - in the show. People erase Scott from his own story, then claim he has no story.

Other Prominent Examples and Points of Contention

We live in a culture that romanticizes white pain in media, and dismisses the experiences and pain of non-white characters. Western audiences are trained and predisposed to dismissing characters of color, their experiences, their pain, and their development - or to taking these experiences and projecting them onto white characters. People are culturally trained to romanticize white, male suffering (which they do with Derek and Stiles), and dismiss men of color or their needs or pain (which they do with Scott).

To put it more bluntly, people will make a hundred gifsets about Stiles crying in the waiting room, but barely a dozen of Scott crying into his mother's arms. There are a hundred gifsets of Stiles conning Derek into a striptease in the first season, but barely any of Scott admitting he'd made a mistake in accusing Derek of murder, and trying to fix it. Does anyone remember that while Stiles and Derek were paralyzed on the floor of the police station in Matt's rampage, Scott had been shot? I've seen hundreds of gifs and images made of Stiles and Derek's pool scene - but I can't remember ever seeing a gifset about Gerard torturing Scott after that, stabbing him and holding the knife in while threatening his mother. And oh, hey, do you remember what Scott was dealing with during the pool scene?

No one is actively racist against Scott, but the implications that he's never changed, that he's never suffered, that he has no story, etc. etc. that so much of the anti-Scott meta is built upon - those are because people just dismiss his experiences and his story, without ever once actually thinking about it. They dismiss it when they watch it, and then again when they make a million gifs about Stiles and Derek's experiences, yet only a fraction as many about Scott's experiences.

This post illustrates my point quite nicely.

It's a pair of gifs from the first season about the boys after Hunters show up at the school, with feel good tags about Stiles "swooping in to save Derek". But here's the thing, those gifs have been edited to cut out Scott from the scene. Scott was the one driving Derek's car to rescue them. *Scott was was saving Derek too.* They were BOTH saving Derek's ass in here, but the gifs are edited to only show Stiles, and the tags only talk about Stiles. If you didn't actually watch this scene yourself, you probably wouldn't know that Scott was even there, let alone the fact the scene was primarily between him and Derek, not Stiles and Derek. How often do we see characters of color in critical roles get dismissed as "support staff"? Scott is "just" the getaway driver, so he's not important anymore to this scene, he no longer exists, only Stiles does.

(This can be a cute Sterek moment, but it can also be a cute Scerek moment and McHaleinski moment. Stiles and Derek actually have the least interaction in this scene, and Stiles is literally in the backseat and mostly in the background of the scene, which is focused on Derek and Scott.)

So now a lot of people are seeing this gifset, and not just internalizing those feel-good tags - they are internalizing the idea that it was only Stiles saving Derek, conveniently forgetting that Scott was even there. On top of that, the ensuing dialogue involves Scott admitting he made a mistake in accusing Derek of murder when he thought Derek was dead, and trying to fix the problem - but how many meta accuse him of never changing, admitting his mistakes, or addressing problems that he caused?

And this is just one example, from the very first season.

On top of that, that scene was also where Stiles and Derek find out the symbol Derek was investigating was on Allison's pendant. The next scene is Stiles pushing Scott to ignore Allison's need for space, in order to get that necklace - but Scott is the one who is blamed for "emotionally abusing her/manipulating her" for trying to reach out to her. I'd bet money that if Scott had decided to respect Allison's space, fandom would be decrying him for not helping Stiles and Derek hunt down an actual killer just because he didn't want to make a teenaged girl he barely knew a little uncomfortable. :|

Other Double Standards

Scott is called an abuser for levels of interpersonal violence that Stiles and Derek are constantly excused for it. Scott lies, and is called manipulative, Stiles lies, and he's just trying to protect people. People in fandom say that Derek is "violent, but not abusive", despite recurring acts of violence against relatively vulnerable characters who are under his care, yet they call Scott an abuser for all of two instances of lashing out at Isaac over something stupid.

Alan Deaton gets headcanons painting him as evil because he withholds information from the main characters. Stiles withholds information from the other characters, and he's just traumatized and scared.

Marin Morrell said if no other solutions to the nogitsune problem was found, then she'd kill one teenager who they already have confirmed is the source/host of the villain, in order to protect the rest of the town from the definite threat. Derek nearly murdered an innocent teenager, hoped for and attempted to engineer the death of another teenager, and dragged three more teenagers into a violent situation which they had little understanding of because he needed a pack (the alpha pack didn't come until later). But he is not called a villain at nearly half the rate Morrell is, if at all outside of the anti-Derek fandom. (Side note: neither of them are villains. Both of them are stuck dealing with the actual villains who've forced them into shitty situations. My problem is that while neither of them are villains, only one of them is repeatedly called and portrayed as one in fanworks.)

Boyd probably fares best, by virtue of barely ever getting mentioned in fanfic or meta, even in comparison to Cora or Erica (who he had about as much screentime as).

Fandom compares Scott to a rapist for using Derek's body against his will in order to save Allison's life. But where were they when Liam tried to kill Scott for his girlfriend, and Scott takes a few weeks to feel safe around him again instead of welcoming him back with open arms right away?

By the way, wanna know why fandom rarely gifs the scene of Scott forcing Derek to Bite Gerard with the actual dialogue?

Because you can't compare Scott to a rapist for using Derek's body against him when we see that he's only doing it because the villain is holding someone hostage and threatening their life, and you can't claim that Scott never apologizes for anything if you see him literally apologizing for what he's doing to Derek. And I'd bet even more money that if the reverse had happened, fandom would have decried Scott for letting Allison die "just" so Derek wouldn't have had to Bite someone he didn't want to, and called him a murderer for it.

People castigate Scott for successfully setting a broken leg when it was technically illegal, but I don't see any posts castigating Stiles for interfering in police investigations, violating people's privacy and boundaries, or interfering with an active crime scene/body search.

People call Scott a murderer because Theo killed Tracy and Josh on another character's information - not even a suggestion, just information - yet Derek actively sought to violate a girl's bodily autonomy and got her killed as a result. (I don't think he is a murderer for it - I think that if he isn't a murderer for Paige's death, then it's as ridiculous or even more so to claim that Scott is responsible for Theo's victims.)

Scott isn't perfect, no one on this show is, because perfect characters are boring. But only Scott is considered evil and villainous for not being perfect, while white characters' flaws are celebrated. Scott is derided for not being held accountable, but not only are the instances where he is held accountable erased, white characters' actions are constantly excused or justified without anybody screaming about their lack of accountability. Fandom hates on Scott for not verbally apologizing for things, but no one makes hate posts about the fact Stiles and Derek never verbally apologize, either. Fandom holds Scott up to an impossible standard while having little to no standards for the white characters. They use "he's the main character/protagonist/hero!" to justify the double standard, but then try to claim he ISN'T the protagonist or hero to justify giving his story to a white character - in the instance at the beginning of this post, a white villain no less - and casting him as the villain.

Main Points

I like darkfic as much as the next person, but that doesn't erase the fact that the process of making Scott a villain (as in, claiming Scott is actually a villain in the context of canon) is contingent on the racist traditions of separating a character of color from their own story, wiping away that characters' story, and romanticizing the struggles and personal strifes of white characters (often in the process of "giving" the character of colors' stories to them).

This problem isn't unique to Teen Wolf. Just about every fandom is racist, and many (if not most) of their media sources are even more racist than Teen Wolf. If anything, one thing Teen Wolf fandom has going for it is that, while it still has a lot of sexism and misogyny, it seems to have less so than most other, similar fandoms. Though the biggest point of comparison is the Supernatural fandom, so that might not be saying much.

The difference is that in other fandoms, the main characters are white, and most of the surrounding characters are white, too. Characters of color are always secondary ones. A Netflix show was the first time an MCU production had a non-white character as its lead. But in Teen Wolf, the main character is a character of color, and he's still getting treated the same way as secondary characters of other fandoms, if not even worse so.

I don't think any of you, as individuals, are racist. But I do think that all of you, as individuals, never examine racial biases in your media consumption or analysis. This leads to you microaggressively expressing racist attitudes in your meta, passively perpetuating racist stereotypes and tropes, and - however unintentionally - enabling racism in fandom.

I was also asked if I admit to my own biases, so here it is: When it comes to analyzing Teen Wolf (and making judgments about the show and the characters therein), I don't care about people's headcanons, or fanons, just the source material. The show was written by written by over a dozen people alongside Jeff Davis and produced by MTV, it did not magically appear out of thin air, nor is it a skewed documentation of some "real" story or "real" events. I believe in holding the characters' to the same level of accountability, and the same standards, as each other. If this makes me biased, then yes, fine, I'm biased.

I also know that none of these problems are unique to Teen Wolf fandom, and that actual Scott stans have also justified his poor decisions, and hated on Stiles and Derek. Some of you might remember me getting blocked by some Sciles BNFs for saying "Derek's not a rapist", and I've lost track of the number of times I'd try to reblog a Stydia or Stalia gifset, only for it to turn out I can't, and most likely this comes from my past of pointing out misogyny in those fandoms.

Meanwhile, Sciles fandom slathers heteronormativity onto the pairing as much as Sterek fandom does, and the fact that it's being done on an interracial relationship actually makes it a little worse than when it's on the all-white Sterek ship (but that's a can of worms for another day). Female characters like Allison, Lydia, Malia, and Kira are constantly utilized as little more than talking plot-devices or fag-hags in fandom unless it's explicitly about them, and they are reduced to caricatures instead of characters even more than the most underserved male characters of color, like Boyd. For all of them, I went onto their character tags, and I didn't find a fic summary that was about them until I got the second page, which is worse than Scott having only 1 out of 10 in the first page.

But the sheer amount of Scott hate outpaces hate of all the other characters combined, and the sheer amount of fanworks about these secondary characters outpaces the fanworks about the main character. And yes, every ship and character's fandom sent rape and death threats to the cast and crew over their stupid ship or character. But the amount leveled at Tyler Posey from Sterek fans, even before he finally snapped and made an unprofessional comment about it, is tremendously higher than all the other kinds of hate - especially when compared to the fandom's reaction to the Tyler Hoechlin also saying a negative comments about Sterek.

Fandom does not exist in a vacuum.

The attitudes by which white characters' trauma and experiences are used to justify their violence while characters of colors' victimizations are dismissed, is the same logic used to defend cops who "just reacted" or "panicked", while blaming young children of color for "getting shot" by not behaving 100% correctly. The logic by which a white characters' abusive behavior and characters of colors' abuse are dismissed, while the white characters' abuse and the character of colors' abusive behaviors are exaggerated, is the same logic for which white rapists are painted as "merely making a mistake" while a black shoplifter is painted as a bankrobber in the making.

And the logic of calling someone who explains all this an "ableist troll" for pointing this out is the same logic used to pit marginalized peoples against each other in an effort to maintain the status quo - why do you think racism between racial minorities exists? And the logic of claiming someone is just "exploiting real tragedies" to talk about racism in fandom only makes sense if you assume all fans are white, and therefore none have ever been or will be touched by racism or racial violence in their real lives, and only bring up race to prop up fictional characters. (Yes, these are why I blocked bhadpodcast.)

Some of you can choose to walk away from racism, you can talk about it in fandom and that is the only place it will ever affect you directly. Not all of us get that luxury. Some of us have to confront racism in our daily lives, and sometimes, the racism online and the racism offline start to look and sound the same.

And I will apologize for one thing on the post that started this: my tags in my initial response were needlessly aggressive. I had to deal with racism in my real life, and then I came home, and see echoes of that exact same racism in a fandom post, and I over-reacted in the tags.

The logic by which a character of color is erased from his own narrative, derided as a villain, and replaced by a white character, is the same logic that is used in professional environments to judge who has "worked hard" and who hasn't (and thus, who gets promoted and who doesn't). Maybe, if you've never experienced racial bias in the work place, these seem like problems worlds away from each other, but they are not, these are two different manifestations of the same subconscious bias. When I came into fandom and saw someone I consider close to a friend regurgitating the exact same illogic as one of my workplace superiors, I snapped.

When I say that fandom doesn't exist in a vacuum, this is what I mean. The same attitudes and judgments of people that exist in offline life - based on their physical appearance, their skin tone, their heritage, etc. - follow us into fandom, whether we like it or not.

I acknowledge I should've been a lot calmer about expressing my frustrations with that post. I probably shouldn't have answered so soon after work-life problems and just before I was supposed to go to bed. I tell people all the time to hold back on topics which are personal to them and wait until they are calmer to address it, and here I went and ignored that. I took out my anger on athena via those tags, and for that, I am sorry.

But it's also the only thing I'm sorry about. I still stand by my notion that the post I was responding to was very racist, and the fact that the characters' races were never brought up in the post itself does not change that.

#teen wolf fandom meta #teen wolf fandom problems #teen wolf fandom #scott mccall defense squad #pro scott mccall #but also pro derek and stiles and everybody #except the villains #i'm basically anti anti-ism #i can get why people might not realize that though #racism in teen wolf fandom #racism in fandom #references to #misogyny #racism #long post

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tokupedia · 7 years

Text

Kamen Rider 45th Anniversary File: Gaim

*ominous chimes sound followed by the sound of marching drums* ♫ Got it, Move~ Wooow~ ♬

2013

After a long hiatus with clipshow series to tide fans over, Tsuburaya finally creates a brand new Ultraman Series and Ultraman to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary: Ultraman Ginga

Neo Ultra Q bring the original Ultra Q concept into the modern day as its “second season” and airs on satellite TV.

Kyoryu plus Humans! After almost a decade, the fandom’s favorite motif of Dino Sentai returns! HEAR OUR ROAR! The invincible superstars of the 37th Sentai, Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger debut! Perfect-de gozaru!

DokiDoki! PreCure runs alongside the Strongest Braves and Armored Riders as the Pretty Cure series of that year.

Garo: Yami o Terasu Mono debuts on TV and stars a new Makai Knight: Ryuga Dougai.

Kouga returns for one last outing as the original Garo in Garo: Soukoku no Maryu. This film takes a more dark fantasy approach akin to 1980s Jim Henson as it is less about the scares and boobs and more of a gothic Wizard of Oz/Alice in Wonderland tale that the whole family can enjoy with only a little blood here and there.

Gatchaman becomes a live action movie....with disappointing changes made to the source material that upset the fans, resulting in a box office flop as it made it to #6 on the charts for only its first week and then fell hard straight to the bottom in the following weeks. Fans consider it one of the top 10 worst live action adaptations of an anime.

Another dud was the film re-imagining of the 1960s hero Tiger Mask starring Eiji Wentz.

On the more raunchy side of things, Hentai Kamen debuts on the silver screen.

Koichi Sakamoto does two solo film projects: Travelers, a sci-fi action flick starring Nao Nagasawa and Ayumi Kinoshita and 009-1, a movie that commemorated the 75th anniversary of the birth of Shotaro Ishinomori (And haunts my nightmares!)

Nuligumar Z, something that slipped past even my radar. It is a film about a Magical Girl henshin superheroine who fights zombies!

When it came time to plan the next season, Producer Naomi Takebe had an interest in breaking away from the formula a bit as the Kamen Rider series had fallen into certain patterns such as only 2 or 3 heroes each season. The first idea that came about in the Toei studio was that there would be more Riders, akin to Ryuki. The next idea was that each would have a motif unique to each of them, at first the team passed around the idea of birds and insects but Bandai suggested something completely unorthodox: Fruit.

Naomi loved this idea as it was something that was never done before and would give a unique look to each Rider to match their personality. The Toei staff test marketed kids to find out what kinds of fruit they liked, with the most popular being oranges. So they decided to make an orange fruit samurai as the main lead!

In terms of music, Avex got a band outside their record label, reggae group Shonan no Kaze, to perform some of the songs of the show and movies with the actors who play the main heroes doing their own themes. Ei Ei OH!

As for the trinkets, the staff wanted it to be like OOO where the device was easy to swap out. (And because OOO was the highest selling Kamen Rider toys on record to date and they kept trying to get those numbers again despite OOO being a lightning in a bottle happenstance.).

Naomi had one idea about “unlocking potential” and after some brainstorming, the staff came up with the idea of using padlocks as a gimmick and enhance it with the fruit motif. But the staff decided it needed a bit more pizazz so they chose to set the show it in a “Sengoku-like setting”, thus the concept of armors came about. To add more flavor, no pun intended, they chose not just armors from ancient Japan, but ancient China, European Knights, Norse Vikings, ancient Arabian archers and a Roman gladiator!

To add to the sheer bizarreness of this mixture they added a guy famously known for a show about killing young girls in a dark deconstruction of the magical girl genre as its head writer:

Gen Urobuchi, dubbed by fans of his work as “Gen the Butcher” or “The Urobutcher.” A self proclaimed nihilist in terms of his dark style of writing, Gen’s involvement caused quite a stir in the fandom and excitement built up. This happened because the voice of Kivat the 3rd from Kiva, Tomokazu Sugita, worked with him previously and introduced him to Naomi Takebe.

Despite seeming out of place for this type of thing, Gen was a huge fan of Kamen Rider, having read Ishinomori’s Black manga when he was a teen and favorites like Ryuki (which may or may not have inspired Puella Magi Madoka Magica) as well as universal fan faves like the Kamen Rider Black TV Show.

Gen also saw this as a challenge, as he had been in a rut doing nothing but anime for a while and needed a change of pace. He was instructed to make the series like “Early Showa Era” Kamen Rider, which only made fans want to see it more.

Then we saw the costumes.....and the fandom had a schism form as some thought Kamen Rider was “ruined 4everz”.

But Gaim is now one of the more highly praised Kamen Rider shows of recent memory. Many enjoying it for going into darker territory at times, having characters you root for, a few deaths and a genuine sense of danger if the heroes fail in the later parts of the season. Also, a plot that neatly threads together (more or less).

Granted, it also had a few hiccups, like the summer 2014 film that was more or less a forced tie-in to the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Kamen Rider Taisen’s plot and the awesome but forced and disrupting-a-story-arc Kikaider crossover episode to plug the movie Kikiader Reboot.

The praise was so high for the show that internet geek fan website Den of Geek proclaimed it as the best tokusatsu show in years. (I’d like to think Garo deserves that title at least once in a while and every toku franchise has its day when it hits it outta the park, but I’m just a Fox with opinion) I’d say go into Gaim with expectations leveled, as you are automatically setting yourself up for possible disappointment if overhype clouds your judgement.

If you think it is as great as everybody says, great! If you don’t like it, there are (currently as of this post) 27 other shows of varying styles and tone you can try out or other franchises of the toku genre that may be your cup of tea.

But enough yammering...It’s Lord Kouta’s stage now! ORAAAAA!

(Mr. Kazuraba circa 2013)

Real Name: Kouta Kazuraba

“Pluck the fruit of Heaven. That the world may be dyed in your image. Is that the glory you seek? Is that burden one you can bear? Know this. The lives of men are not ours to control, not even our own. We cannot defy the inexorable current of fate that carries us. But what if fate itself were to call you... To change the world? To turn the course of the future? You cannot defy your fate. But the fate of the world is in your hands!”

In a bustling planned community called Zawame City, the Yggdrasil Corporation provides everyday needs, from healthcare to housing to schools. Zawame used to be a small town, but Yggdrasil moved in and made it a pet project. With a large corporation running everything, people in Zawame feel it is like a “castle town” of the Sengoku Era of old.

And in this town, they call home, everyone hails to a Beat Rider song. Beat Riders are special dance groups that lift the spirits of the citizens. Beat Riders also engage in competitions for turf with other Beat Riders dance groups in Pokemon-like battles using Lock Seeds to summon monsters from another dimension called Inves. One former dancer is Kouta Kazuraba, who has given up his life as a member of Team Gaim and fun to basically adult. (I know that feeling all too well). This has caused a rift between his friends such as Mai as he no longer has time for them and after spending time with Team Gaim’s leader Yuya, goes back to his adult life.

Yuya later talks to a Lock Dealer named Sid, who offers him something to turn Team Gaim’s luck around after their loss to Team Baron...

Kouta later gets a text from Yuya, telling him he found “something good” with an image of a strange device sent as an attachment. Mai and Kouta then encounter a dimensional tear and go inside it, After Kouta picks some strange fruit from the dimension, a larger Inves appears and attacks Mai. They find the device lying on the ground and no sign of Yuya anywhere. Kouta puts on the device, as it looks like a belt buckle and it causes the fruit he was carrying to transform into Lock Seeds. The Inves finds them and chases them again back into their world, and after distracting it, Kouta uses the belt and a Lock seed to become what would later be dubbed an “Armored Rider”.

During his battle with the Inves, a mysterious blonde woman appears to warn Kouta that what he chooses next will determine the course of his fate. If he continues to continue, he will be forced to fight until the very end. Kouta kills the Inves and then goes down a winding path of mysteries, alliances, betrayals and revelations of the dark truth of both Yggdrasil Corp. and the Inves.

Looking back on it, that was when the gears were just starting to turn. But, we didn't realize anything at all. We didn't know that our fates were already written in stone. We just wanted the power to reach our dreams. We thought that helped shape us. That's what we all believed. In the endless war that was yet to come. We would discover that for ourselves.

-Kouta Kazuraba

During one adventure, he met his predecessor Kamen Rider Wizard, who bestowed the title of Kamen Rider to him and the two fought an evil sorcerer alongside the other Heisei Riders.

Gear:

Sengoku Driver

Lockseeds

Lockseed Holder

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Lock_Vehicles

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Armor_Parts

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Musou_Saber_Holster

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Musou_Saber

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Daidaimaru

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Ichigo_Kunai

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Pine_Iron

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Suika_Sojinto

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Sonic_Arrow

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Genesis_Driver#Genesis_Core_Unit

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/DJ_Gun

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Senyo_Joint

Powers:

Enhanced Strength from the various armors, skilled weapons user with various weapons at Gaim’s disposal which is further enhanced by his final form.

The Jimber Forms give Kouta a specific enhancement: Super Hearing in Jimber Peach, Super Speed in Jimber Cherry and Enhanced Power in Jimber Lemon. Kachidoki Arms generates fire from the war flags that Gaim carries and has an AWESOME Gun that turns into a Zanbatō!

When the “Madoka moment” happens in the show, Gaim basically becomes a demi-god. He has florakinesis, teleportation, spirit mediumship, telepathy, attack nullification, exorcism, healing powers, dream walking, reality warping, time travel (by way of the golden fruit), portal creation, resurrection ability and a healing factor. Kouta also possessed the power to terraform an environment as large as an entire planet.

Even if his Lockseeds are damaged, Kouta can regenerate them to working condition as long as he is alive and bears the power of the fruit.

Kiwami Arms can summon multiple Arms weapons which Kouta can manipulate via telekinesis to attack his opponents (as seen in the game All Kamen Rider: Rider Revolution).

Weaknesses:

Before the “Madoka moment”, all one needed to do to defeat Gaim was destroy his driver as he was an ordinary human or swipe away all his Lockseeds. He also was susceptible to mind control and “Dark Henshin-ed” once in to a black version of Gaim.

As a demi-god, it is shown that while Kouta is a formidable opponent, certain beings can drain his power away rendering him human again and thus able to be killed (Ex. Megahex). If the “back-up” of his genetic data inside the Kiwami Lockseed is destroyed, then Kouta would be dead and gone forever as he would have no means of reviving.

He also can be overpowered by stronger beings, though ones of such god-like cosmic threat level are few in the Kamen Rider universe.

Given his near God-tier status now though, it is a difficult task to even make a dent in him for the average Rider.

Enemies:

Inves

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Inves

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Advanced_Inves

Inves are beings from another dimension who at first are like Pokemon to the people of Earth, a fun harmless pet they could summon to fight battles in called the Inves Games from Lockseeds. However, it becomes apparent after the first episode that they are far from innocent, as they are wild beasts who feed on the fruit of the Helheim Forest/Lockseeds to grow even stronger and evolve into larger monsters and attack people. However, despite seeming to be mindless, there is a dark secret as to what exactly they are.

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Over_Lord_Inves

Some of the Inves posses sapient-level intelligence and these are classified a the OverLord Inves. They command the feral and savage members of their race.

Yggdrasil Corp.

(Riff: Yggdrasil, a subsidiary of EvilCorp Conglomerates United and Amalgamated Cheese.)

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Yggdrasill_Corporation

Yggdrasil is a major multinational corporation run by the Kureshima family. They set up their new HQ in Zawame seemingly out of interest in a city development project, but have a more serious ulterior motive in stopping a mass outbreak of the Inves that they believe will wipe out humanity.

Despite this seemingly noble goal of saving humanity, Yggdrasil’s means of doing so are morally questionable at best and outright horrifying at worst.

Word eventually gets leaked that they were going to let 6 billion humans die as they could only save 1 billion in the event of mass outbreak if the Helheim Forest spread. They are then labeled as terrorists by the UN and after a domino effect, including a siege of the Zawame Branch by the Inves, the company went into bankruptcy.

However, its former CEO does try to repent for his company’s sins by helping rebuild Zawame and protecting it in Kouta’s absence.

(Though the Melon Lord wasn’t a bad guy to begin with, just a bit arrogant and misguided in believing there was no other way to save humanity and things went out of his control as the series progressed. Kouta eventually got through to him and the two became friends.)

That’s all for now, I leave you to bask in the metal mustachioed glory that is Kachidoki Arms!

#RiseUpYourFlag!

#kamen rider #45th anniversary #kamen rider gaim #fruit #samurai #2013 #tokusatsu #kachidoki arms #fruit basket #dai dai dai shougun #soiya #this is our stage now #dancing #dj gun #sengoku driver #lockseed #gen urobuchi

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porter-sydney-blog · 7 years

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Potential Roomies - Tinney

WHO: Sydney Porter & Tina Cohen-Chang (@tina-noelle)

WHEN: February 26, 2017

WHERE: Sydney’s House

WHAT: Tina has seen an ad posted around campus for someone looking for a roommate. With her currently living situation being turned on its head, Tina contacts Sydney and is quickly granted a grande tour of the house.

WARNINGS: None.

Tina was sort of nervous. She was possibly going to meet someone who would let her move into her house and be her roommate. She hadn't had one since freshman year, with Melody, so she hoped that she was still a good one. Tina had talked with Sydney before, but she couldn't say that they were close; more like a little friendly she guessed. She liked the girl though, so that was definitely a plus. After the hour was up, she got her stuff together and drove to the address of her potential new home.

Sydney had posted ads on campus, in each building a number of weeks ago pertaining to the open bedroom in her house. At this point, she had honestly forgotten she had even put them up, but when Tina contacted her, Sydney was more than overjoyed to have someone interested in checking the place out. With everything that had been going on the last few weeks, it was going to be nice to have someone in the house with her. Even though she didn't know her well yet, she figured she wasn't a bad person and she was likely to make a good roommate. Or so she hoped. Unfortunately, the timing of the visit was a little off, what with Kendall's dogs being her current roommates for the foreseeable future. They were good dogs and listened to command without much fuss, so she knew it wouldn't be all bad, but that didn't mean they didn't accidentally make a mess of some things - especially with their tails swinging around constantly. She quickly tidied up the place and changed into something more presentable than her sweats.

Tina noticing, as she was getting to the neighbourhood, all the houses were extremely beautiful and big. Much like her parents house and sisters house, but ones she never thought she'd buy or live in, at least for a while. 'Oh wow' she thought as she pulled up to the driveway. The house was way better than the pictures could describe, large and it looks spacious. She stepped out of her car and waked up to the door, the ringing of the doorbell bringing the sound of dogs barking to her ears. The door opened and the first thing she could notice was..."Are those my sisters dogs?"

Sydney practically jumped up from her spot on the couch when she heard the doorbell ring, rushing her way over to it, all while trying to keep her new companions settled down. Just as her hand touched the handle, she stage-whispered a command to the dogs, getting them to stop barking before she finally pulled open the door. The greeting was definitely a little less informal than she had expected and Sydney turned her head slightly to look at the dogs who were wagging their tails excitedly at their guest before she looked back at Tina. "You're Kendall's sister?" This living situation might turn into something far more awkward than she was expecting. After a beat, Syd stepped to the side slightly, pulling the door open wider and gesturing for Tina to come in. "You found the place okay? I mean, the neighbourhood isn't crazy big, or anything, so I hope it wasn't too much of a hassle."

Tina was still kind of stuck on the fact that her sisters dogs were here, but managed to answer the question. "Yeah, she's my big sister. I'm Tina." She walked into the house, bending down to let the dogs say hi, even though she hasn't seen them for a while. They seemed to remember her, as evidence by the way they completely jumped on her. They brought a smile to her face always, and she knew her sister loved them dearly. "No, everything was fine. It's a nice neighborhood by the way. I don't think I knew it was over here." Standing back up she looked around the entry way, taking note of the decoration and how light and open everything seemed. It was a lot of white for her, but it was still really nice. "It's hard to believe that you don't already have a roommate. This place is really beautiful."

Sydney smiled warmly at the response, keeping the extreme awkwardness she felt about it repressed, for the time being. "Sydney," she said, closing the door once Tina had stepped in, allowing herself to be practically pounced on by the dogs. With how stressed out a depressed she had been - especially over the last few days - she had found great comfort in the dogs, even if they had only been around for less than 24 hours at that point. It was going to be hard to give them back to Kendall, when the time came. "Yeah, it's a little out of the way of everything, but it's quiet out here. It's nice," Sydney explained with a small smile before offering up another command for the dogs so they would give Tina a bit of space so she could take her on the grande tour. "I had one for about a year, but she eventually moved in with her boyfriend and kinda left me roommate-less. But I guess that's a good thing for you, right?" she teased. A moment later she leads them over to the main living space that is just off from the entry way. "That was like the sort of formal area. It doesn't get a whole lot of use, since I don't throw parties or anything like that, so it's mostly just this area that people hang out in...and by people I mostly mean me." She looked at Tina, trying to gauge her reaction to the place - trying to see if she was into it enough.

Tina chuckled a little, "Yeah I guess it is. Else I'd probably have to move in with my sister in a few weeks." Looking around the living space, she really liked the feel of it. "I'm not a big party thrower either, though I do have friends over from time to time." She ran her hand along the back of the couch, feeling the soft cushions. The fabric wasn't one of those stiff ones either, which Tina likes, as she loved to lounge around on the couch on her lazy days. "I hope you like some company then, cause I'm always on my couch at my place. Makes me feel like I'm being somewhat productive, even if I don't change out of my pjs."

Sydney breathed out a small chuckle. "Looks like you're already halfway there anyway, seeing as I have no idea how long these guys are staying with me," she said somewhat jokingly. Kendall's house was far more extravagant and - in Sydney's opinion - far bigger than necessary, so her own place definitely wouldn't have the same spacious feel to it as if Tina opted to live with her sister. Sydney was relieved to hear that Tina wasn't big on parties either. Of course she wouldn't have minded if she had been, but knowing that there would rarely, if ever, come a time when she had to clean up the aftermath of a college party, made her happier than she care to admit. Gesturing to just across the open space, Sydney pointed at the kitchen. "I'm not one of those sticklers for people not touching what groceries I buy that are around - you're more than welcome to anything and everything at any point...you know, if you decide to move in," she explained. "And I'd love the company, honestly. I mean, I could live here on my own, but the company is what I was really looking for when I posted those ads." She let Tina look around the open concept living space a bit more before moving to the patio door. "Pretty basic backyard. There's a pool and a patio. Nice big grill, if you're into barbecuing at all." She didn't bother giving much of a tour out there since it was pretty well all right there for her to see through the glass panes of the door. "If you don't mind me asking, why is it you're moving out of where ever it is you're moving out from?"

Tina nodded as she looked around the kitchen. The space wasn't terribly big, but it seemed to hold everything nicely and not seem crowded. "Thanks. I honestly don't cook as much as I probably should, as I definitely can't recreate my fave general tso's chicken recipe." Walking over to the patio doors she looked out, liking the outdoor furniture. She could already see herself siting out there writing songs and listening to demos. "I've never had the urge to use an outside grill. My father likes to, even if he's not great at it." Turning away from the doors, she faced Sydney again before answering her question. "My landlord has decided that he needs to raise rent for the entire building. And while it isn't that much, its enough to where I either need to move, or take up more shifts at my job, which I don't really want to do. I tried looking for my own roommate, but no one has responded to my ads either. And everyone has said that I should just go to my parents for the money, or just move in with Kendall since she lives in a giant place, but I don't always like going to my family for help, even if it is easier. But I like finding my own way first and making my own mistakes before running to my mom and dad for help, ya know?" Tina really didn't mean to spill all that out, but with everyone getting on her about it before, she was sort of sensitive about it.

Sydney smiled at the comment. “Well, feel free to attempt that recreation as many times as you want. Whatever doesn’t make the cut I’ll have,” she said, her words obviously teasing. She allowed Tina a bit of space, stepping back a few paces, as she took everything in. She busied herself with scratching Horus - who’d taken a quick liking to her - behind the ears all the while listening to Tina’s short anecdote about her father. Kendall hadn’t ever mentioned her parents much - all she knew was that he ran a pharmaceutical company and Kendall planned on taking over for him someday. Sydney was about to open her mouth to apologize for her landlord raising the rent on her, but was cut short as she went off on a tangent. She blinked a couple of times before smiling lopsidedly at Tina. “I totally understand. I mean...my parents pay for this place for me because I’m busy with school and stuff, but I completely get it. Your rent here won’t be too much, mostly just to cover half of the electricity and water bills. And then whatever food you want is all on you, obviously,” Sydney explained. Honestly, in her mind, it was a pretty sweet deal and the fact that no one had taken her up on it yet was a little baffling. “Hopefully that helps you not having to get more shifts at your job. Where is it you work anyway?”

Tina "That's nice. Mine pay for my tuition, and probably would pay for my place too if I hadn't asked them not to." Listening to what she would half to pay, Tina was grateful. It was dramatically less than what she paid for everything now, meaning she'd have more money in the bank to do what she wanted. "That's great. And it'll be no problem giving my half to everything." One of the dogs, the white and pink one, decided then to hop up on on her thighs and attempt to lick her face. Giggling a little while rubbing its back she answered, "The music department has a small record store that is open to the students and some of the public. I'm a cashier/stocker there, since I'm part of the music department."

Sydney could almost see the sense of relief Tina seemed to feel when she explained what she would have to be paying for, if she decided to move in. “Isis, let’s not scare off my new potential roommate by jumping all over her,” she teased the dog that was all over Tina. Obviously it was a joke, given that the woman knew the dogs long before Sydney even had. The answer took her by surprise a little, having not known there was even a record store on campus - she blamed it on the fact that her building was on the opposite end of it from the arts building. “That’s so cool. I honestly didn’t even know there was one on campus,” she admitted. After a beat, she realized she had an entire other level of the house to show off so she pat Horus’ head before starting their journey toward the staircase. “Your room is a bit smaller than mine - I hope that isn’t like some sort of weird deal breaker or anything. I know some people can be weird about that sort of stuff.”

Tina grinned, Isis was her favorite. She was the only one who basically ignored anyone who told her not to jump on people, unless it was the person she was jumping on. "Kendall has tried forever to get her to stop, yet she basically doesn't care." Following Sydney, they started going up to the second floor. "Yeah, most people don't really know we have it. Only the people in the music department really use it, and some other in the actual music industry will come and check stuff out, maybe look for some vinyls they don't have." Reaching the top, she shook her head. "Of course not. It's your house first, and you've been here longer."

Sydney offered up an interested hum in response to the newly shared knowledge of the record store on campus. “What is it you’re studying again? I’m going to kick myself for forgetting, cause it’s probably something pretty obvious...” her words trailed off, and she glanced at Tina for a moment as they moved down the hallway - pack of dogs in tow - until they got to the guest bedroom. “This is just the spare room. Y’know, if ever someone needs to crash the night and you don’t want them in your bed or whatever.” Sydney was certain that the room hadn’t even been used once since she moved into the house, however it looked immaculate thanks to the maid she had that came in every other week. “Oh and there is a maid that comes in every week. My stuff is usually pretty clean - she sorta deep cleans the bathroom and stuff, of course - but I’ll let her know there’ll be someone else here so she doesn’t scare you or anything,” she said, breathing out a small laugh before guiding them a few steps over to the master suite that was at the end of the hall. “This is my room. Totally not off-limits, you’re more than welcome to come and bug me or whatever.”

Tina looked into the guest bedroom, wondering if her room was anything like this. "I am a major in music, specifically song writing, with a minor in dance. I don't think it's terribly obvious, most people don't think to even ask me." Nodding at Sydneys comments, she took in the design of the room, and the white crisp look of it. "Hopefully she won't have much to clean in my room. I try not to be too messy, but I look forward to meeting her." The master bedroom made Tina a little jealous if she was honest. The room was spacious and light, with nice seating and what looked like a balcony. "Your room is really nice."

Sydney nodded when Tina answered the question, mentally kicking herself. they had definitely gone over this at some point and she felt bad for forgetting. “Telling me you’re in music should’ve kickstarted my brain, but it’s been a little jumbled as of late,” she says, a barely-there laugh brushing past her lips. “She usually comes in when I’m at school, so I’m not sure if you will meet her...maybe during the next break or something. But, yeah, she’s super nice and incredible at her job.” Over times such as Christmas break and even during the summer sometimes, Sydney had offered to cook the woman dinner as an added thank you for all she does, allowing them to get to know one another a bit better. “It is...it’s honestly way too nice and like...gigantic. So, like I said, you’re more than welcome in at any time. Even if you wanna hang out on the balcony and write or whatever.” As if having been struck by lightening, Sydney jumped slightly and looked at Tina. “Do you know Stevie?!”

Tina shrugged. "I don't think most people see me as being in music. I'm kind of a wallflower, so I don't think they see me putting myself out there and being in the industry." She figured that she'd probably meet her at some point, as she doubts that her and Sydney have the same schedule, but she didn't say anything. "I'll definitely take you up on that. It looks like you have a beautiful view." Tina was sort of startled by Sydney's outburst, but she answered back as calmly as she could. "I don't know her personally, but I've heard about her, especially since everyone and their mom is talking about her accident. But I haven't met her."

Sydney furrowed her eyebrows slightly, tilting her head to the side just a bit as she did as if trying to find the logic in the correlation between wallflower and music industry. “It would be a little more confusing, if you were performing, or something. But I can totally see you being a songwriter,” she said with a small grin. “I mean, I think the people who are more of people-watchers have a completely different and introspective outlook on things.” Stevie was very much the same way - not a very social person - and it worked out well for her, as far as songwriting went. She was sure it was the same for Tina, even if she didn’t want to admit it herself. “You should meet her! You two would have so much to talk about with songwriting and stuff. She comes over sometimes,” she said, trying to move her tone of voice back into calmer territory. The sudden outburst was unexpected, even to herself, so she could only imagine how Tina viewed it. “Sorry...anyway, yeah. So, that’s my room. Yours is right here - slightly bigger than the guest and you have your own bathroom and stuff,” she said, stepping to the side a little to show the room right across the hall from the guest room.

Tina had never thought that being a wallflower had ever helped her songwriting, but maybe it would now. "I can't say I ever thought of it that way, but maybe it has helped me." An eyebrow raised at the blondes still sort of excited tone of voice, but kept her thoughts to herself. "Maybe. I'm sure she's gonna be kind of busy getting better, but maybe you can let her know that I'd be glad to meet her if she wants to talk about song writing and stuff." Moving across the hall, she stepped into what could potentially be her new room. It was a little bigger than the guest room, with access to a balcony as well. Tina stepped fully into the room, and could see part of the view from the balcony, and she could say that she loved it. Again, the white was a little much for her, but she figured she could accent it with colors. Going into the bathroom, she fell in love with it as well. it was spacious enough for one without being too much. Coming out she turned back to Sydney and the dogs with a smile on her face. "I really like it."

Sydney gave the woman a brilliant smile when she agreed to the notion of her introversion being of some help to her songwriting. The smile didn’t falter when Tina agreed to the possibility of meeting Stevie. It was going to be a little harder to make happen now that Stevie was avoiding her like the plague thanks to the Valentine’s Day incident, but she was sure she could make it work. She gave Tina space as she moved into the room and over to the balcony. “I didn’t mention the balcony in here because it doesn’t have quite the same view, but surprise,” she said, the excited tone to the word ‘surprise’ causing the dogs to jumping all over her. Sydney laughed, giving each of the dogs some love as they settled down, before turning her attention back to her potential roommate. “Do you really?! That’s awesome! Do you have any questions for me, or anything?”

Tina didn't really care much how the balcony was compared to Sydneys. Being in Cali, the weather was almost always great, and sitting on her parents balcony feeling the cool breeze was one of the ways she calmed herself down whenever she was being bullied at school, or she'd go out there if she felt some inspirations. "Yeah, I really do. It's an awesome house, and it's in a pretty secluded neighborhood where paps can't get to us easily.” Moving back towards the door, she said "Do you want me moved in by a certain time? I think the longest it would take would be till the end of March, depending on when Spring Break is. And are there any house rules that you had with your past roommate that you want to start again?"

Sydney wasn't entirely sure why she felt a sense of relief when Tina assured her that the compliment she had questioned was true, but she let out a small sigh - a breath that she didn't even realize she was holding - and offered a smile up to the woman as she moved back over to the door, where she was standing. "No, not at all - you're completely free to move in whenever you'd like. I won't charge you rent for March, cause that would just be silly, if you don't move in for a couple weeks, or whatever," she answered with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders. She had to take a moment to contemplate the second question, tilting her head to the side slightly to indicate that she was thinking. "As of right now, I think the only thing I ask is that you let me know when you're having, like, more than a couple people over, if that were to ever be the case. And, of course, I'll do the same for you. Do you have any rules for me?"

Tina shook her head as she came to stand in front of Sydney at the door. "I guess just to ask me if you want to use or borrow my stuff. I can't really think of anything else, though maybe some thing will come up later? I haven't lived with someone in a while, so it'll take some getting used to. But that's the only thing right now." Tina didn't think that her and Sydney would have any problems, as she seemed like a nice person, so she was sure they could live together peacefully. "I'll definitely be moved in by April. I don't really have a lot of stuff, so it won't be a messy move in or anything. And I have a question about decorating. Do you mind if I paint a little bit? If not, I can just get like accent colors with bedding and stuff like that."

Sydney nodded, smiling warmly in response to Tina. She hadn’t really been expecting a whirlwind of questions because that usually came more when everything was finalized and everyone was settled into the new arrangement. The only thing that came to mind as being a potential issue was Kendall being over from time-to-time, but, even so, that wouldn’t be a problem that Tina would have to deal with. Not as much, anyway. “Oh, of course you can paint! I’ve been considering hiring an interior decorator to get that all sorted out and squared away - the white is a little bit much, to be honest - but by all means, you can decorate your room however you’d like.”

Tina smiled back, "Awesome. I can't wait to move in then." While Tina did love her own place, and being on her own, she did like the house style better, and she thought living with someone again would be fun. She waited for Sydney to lead the way back, as she had no remembered the way back to the front door. "So is there anything I need to do now before I start bringing anything in?

Sydney grinned, clapping her hands a little too excitedly before pulling Tina in for a hug. Maybe it was a bit much, but she was genuinely excited to have a roommate. She had spent a number of months alone, at this point, and they had been some of the worst months in the past few years. Whether that had anything to do with her living alone had yet to be proven, but having someone around was always nice. Just as quickly as she started the hug, she stepped back, letting go of the woman before leading the way back downstairs. “Nope, I don’t think so. Just shoot me a text beforehand so that I can make sure I’m here. And I’ll get a key made up for you right away,” she responded as she led them over to the door.

Tina: laughed a little, and hugged Sydney back, before following behind her. "Definitely. Here, put your number in my phone." She pulled it out as they got to the door and handed it to the blonde. "It will probably be a few weeks before I start moving anything, so I can give myself time to get boxes and pack everything."

Sydney took the woman's phone when it was handed to her, quickly punching in her number before handing it back with a smile. "Absolutely, no worries. Just let me know whenever and we'll get you all settled in. Hopefully there won't be dogs in the way, by then," she half-joked as she pulled open the door. "I'm so excited to have a roommate. I promise not to be too overbearing with my excitement, though."

Tina shrugged, "Even if there are, I don't mind. I love those little buggers." Giving one last hug and pat to the dogs, she gave Sydney another hug before walking out of the door. She was excited about this new chapter in her life, and was glad to have met someone new as well.

#privtina #tinanoelle #p:tinanoelle #p:potentialroomies

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kickdownthewalls · 7 years

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Top 20 Rock/Metal Albums of 2016

Looking at a lot of other 'TOP ALBUMS OF 2016' lists, I rarely see any albums that made my list. Now, I don't think this indicates that I'm out of touch with the current metal scene - I am, sure - but I think it is more a reflection of the incredible wealth and diversity of metal releases we saw this year. Plus, my tastes are more old-school than ever so I'm just more likely to gravitate towards bands like High Spirits and Spellcaster rather than critical darlings like Vektor and Khemmis (even though those bands are great, too). These are simply the 20 records that made the biggest impression and elicited the most repeat spins for me this past year.

20. HERMAN FRANK - The Devil Rides Out

Accept has long been one of my favorite bands and I was sad to see Herman Frank exit the fold a couple years ago. Still, it meant he was able to focus more on his solo work and this is his best album yet. It has a very classic, melodic heavy metal vibe without sounding dated or all that much like Accept, which is pretty impressive. Lots of great guitar-work and some really memorable songs are what led me to rank it in the top 20.

19. ARTILLERY - Penalty By Perception

These Danish thrashers have been releasing quality albums on and off for over 30 years and still remain criminally underrated. This is among their best albums, too, with a wide range of styles from melodic balladry to out-and-out thrashers, very much in the same style as their classic By Inheritance. Artillery deliver great riffs and leads but, first and foremost, great songs.

18. ALCEST - Kodama

Here is a great example of how many releases are coming out these days. Alcest is a band I have been following since the Écailles de lune came out and yet, until yesterday, I had no idea that they had released a new album last year. Not only that, it is one of their best and a real return to form, walking the perfect balance between post-black metal and shoegaze rock.

17. BLOOD CEREMONY - Lord Of Misrule

This band's previous opus made #1 on my list in 2014 and for good reason. Their unique mix of 60s occult rock and doom metal (with some well-placed flute) is still fully intact on the follow-up. The songs here didn't strike me initially quite as powerfully as the last one but they are growing on me and this would probably rank even higher a few months from now.

16. TESTAMENT - Brotherhood Of The Snake

One of the few here that seems to be making a lot of lists, it is really hard to fault this record at all. The last two albums have been quite good, too, but this one just feels like a new level of quality all around. The songs are more diverse, more memorable, better produced and feature some great performances from everyone, esp. Gene Hoglan. The Bay Area thrash scene is on fire this year.

15. DEATH ANGEL - The Evil Divide

With the exception of Killing Season, I have loved every Death Angel album (and even that one was okay by most band's standards). The Evil Divide is not their absolute best but it is really solid and has the usual superb combination of melody, speed, emotion, and clever songwriting. While it was sad to see them lose original members over the years, the current line-up is absolutely killer and they really deliver here.

14. OCCULT BURIAL - Hideous Obscure

Another great band emerges from Canada, this time playing raw and brutal first wave black metal with hints of Bathory, Venom and early Sodom. The production is lo-fi but absolutely works and you can actually hear all the instruments remarkably well. Cool, unexpected guitar solos and drum fills help fill out the wonderfully primitive songs. A lot of bands attempt this sound but few succeed this triumphantly.

13. DEATHSTORM - Blood Beneath The Crypts

This is one of those albums I almost overlooked, even though I am a fan of their previous work. This is pure, hi-energy thrash circa 1985, with elements of of Hell Awaits, Endless Pain and Morbid Visions mixed together quite nicely. Powerful, raw, and brutal, with enough variety in tempo and killer riffing to make it a standout.

12. MOONSORROW - Jumalten aika

Moonsorrow has long been my standard for epic pagan metal and their latest is yet another gem. Composed of four 12-16 minute tracks and one 'short' one (7 minutes), it is not a quick or easy listen but is highly rewarding. The balance of black, viking and folk metal elements is perfect and seems to come so naturally to Moonsorrow.

11. STRIKER - Stand In The Fire

This Canadian lot has been around for a few years now and, as far as I'm concerned, have never done a bad album. Lots of soaring vocals, memorable riffs and pummeling double-bass drums are served up with a top-notch, modern-sounding production job.

10. SPELLCASTER - Night Hides The World

Portland is home to many a hipster 'metal' band (some of which are actually quite good) but there are also some die-hard old-school metal acts calling it home these days. Spellcaster started off as a good if somewhat unorginal US power metal band but quickly took off on a journey all their own. Their third record has hints of speed metal, NWOBHM, 70s hard rock, 80s AOR, 90s power metal, and everything in between. There is a haunting quality to the band's sound that is rather intoxicating.

9. EXUMER - The Raging Tides

This is like the greatest Bay Area thrash album to ever come out of Germany. Seriously ripping material in the vein of early Testament, Exodus and Vio-lence. In thrash it is all about the riff and Exumer deliver some great ones that more than makes up for any lack of originality.

8. PRIMAL FEAR - Rulebreaker

After two decades pumping out quality metal, I kind of take Primal Fear for granted sometimes. Rulebreaker isn't their greatest album and it sounds very much like the last couple but, taken on its own merits, it kicks some serious ass. Ralf Scheepers is one of my all-time fave vocalists and Mat Sinner still comes up with great, super-heavy riffs and the combination is just magic.

7. LUCIFER'S HAMMER - Beyond The Omens

Despite a cover that puts one in the mind of black or doom metal, this Chilean outfit play a very old-school brand of metal that could have come out on Ebony or Neat Records back in 1982. Imagine a mix of Chateaux, Crucifixion, Tyton, and Warlord and you won't be far off. Lots of melody and upfront basslines mixed with judicious use of speed make for a refreshing sound that doesn't sound like anyone else out there right now.

6. BRAINSTORM - Scary Creatures

These Germans have always had their own mix of heavy riffs and melodic vocals that is powerful metal without really being power metal. They also seem to have been somewhat on autopilot after the awesome Downburst back in 2008. Happily, the fire has returned and Scary Creatures ranks up there with the band's finest work, combining top-notch musicianship, punchy production, and ten highly memorable tunes.

5. METALLICA - Hardwired...To Self-Destruct

I'm sure I will end up writing a much longer review of this long-awaited album (like I did with St. Anger and Death Magnetic), but I generally was quite pleased with it. Surprisingly so. There were only a couple tunes on the whole thing that I didn't care for (Halo on Fire, Am I Savage?), but even those had some moments that are worth the listen. Mainly, it sounds like a cross between Justice and the black album but there are also some bits of Kill 'em All and Load thrown in, too. The biggest improvement over Death Magnetic is in the arrangements, which sound much more like the finely-crafted and well-balanced songs that made Metallica famous than the somewhat haphazard DM songs. Best album since Justice, hands down. Also, worst album cover since like ever, sadly.

4. BABY WOODROSE - Freedom

One of my fave psych/garage bands ever since the Love Comes Down album hit me a decade ago. While I have enjoyed some albums more than others, they all have their moments and Freedom has some real classics like "Reality" and ultra-trippy "Termination" that capture the same magic that the 60s tunes that inspired them had.

3. DELAIN - Moonbathers

While much of my list is old-school metal, there are some more modern bands doing some cool stuff and Delain are one of my faves. Though clearly at the pop end of the symphonic metal scene, they deliver such good, memorable songs, I find myself returning time and again. Charlotte Wessels has one of those great voices that makes even the less memorable tracks highly listenable. Super psyched to finally see these guys with HammerFall this year.

2. FLOTSAM AND JETSAM - Flotsam And Jetsam

At one time, F&J were rising stars on a major label with two killer thrash albums under their belt. Then the 90s hit and the wheels came off. After several mediocre albums and a truly awful attempt to remake No Place For Disgrace, I had lost hope but then this album came out and DAMN! The intensity and quality songwriting of those first two records were back, along with a kick-ass production, great solos, and Eric A.K.'s best vocal performance in a couple of decades.

1. HIGH SPIRITS - Motivator

When I heard the Another Night album a few years back, I was blown away and hooked right away. Somehow, the magic didn't return on You Are Here in 2014 but holy hell it sure has on Motivator. All the classic hard rock and metal elements from the 70s and 80s are assembled in a very distinctive manner here on nine highly memorable songs. Right up there with The Night Flight Orchestra and The Dagger as one of my favorite no-frills, retro-minded bands.

As much as 2016 was a disaster in terms of losing great actors and musicians (not to mention that fucking election), it did produce quite a number of great albums. Beyond the twenty above, I also had much love for new releases from SAVAGE MASTER, SODOM, AXXION, SPELL, ATTACKER, ZODIAC, SUMERLANDS, PRETTY MAIDS, DARKNESS, ROTÖR, ABBATH, SPIRITUAL BEGGARS, CAUCHEMAR, BURNING POINT, BELLA D, TREES OF ETERNITY, KATATONIA, SERIOUS BLACK, and probably a bunch more that I’m forgetting or just haven’t heard yet. Plus, some great EPs and demos from SUBSTRATUM, SOURCE, CANDLEMASS, CROSS VAULT, TAARKUS and VOIVOD.

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attract-mode-collective · 6 years

Photo

Nothing Sez “Student Game” More Than The Dinosaur Evening News (that’s a good thing, btw)

The above is Mediazoic, which takes place in an alternate reality in which dinosaurs have come back to rule the earth and they've hired you, puny human, to make sure their televised broadcasts are dino family safe.

You moderate comments left on message boards, censor full frontal dino nudity, and so on. It's a student game alright, and one of my top picks from the NYU Game Center Student Showcase2018!

I was also fond of Dreams For Your Computer because CRTs, magnets, and cats...

... Here's what it looks like in action, btw.

Though the one game that I liked the most, and which would actually fare well on the marketplace, would have to be Static...

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And honorable mention goes to an updated take on Flight Simulator, which recreates a 6 hour long commercial flight as a passenger...

... The best part was the look on Stephen Totilo's face, who kinda didn't get it.

When was the NYU thing btw? Over two weeks ago, and it’s been even longer since the last update. Sorry about that. You know the deal: a million, billion things going on. As usual.

Hence why it’ll take not just one, but two bursting at the seams posts, to cover the second half of May! So onto part one…

Please, please, PLEASE let these Game Center CX Blu-rays have an English language option (via miki800.com)...

Not a day goes by in which I don’t wonder how that guy who appears in the instruction manual for Bomberman B-Daman is doing these days (via videogameartarchive & videogameartarchive)...

I really love the “are you for real?” vibe that Samus gives off in the instructions for the original Famicom Disk System release of Metroid (via nintendometro)...

If you’ve ever wondered what a pair of bosses from Mega Man 9 & 10 would look like with 8’s 32-bit sheen, well here ya go (via mendelpalace)...

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A print ad for the Famicom adaptation of Akira that wasn't all that hot (via videogameads)...

Though whenever anyone hears the words “Akira video game”, this is basically what immediately comes to mind. Anything else is a disappointment, no matter what (via aaronkraten)...

Welcome to the rabbit hole that is the Memorex VIS (via @ColinWilliamson)...

Is the soundtrack to some ultra-obscure home banking software for the Mega Drive worth a listen? You goddamn right it is (via mendelpalace)...

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… The accompanying article is also totally worth a read.

It’s the Battletoads X Blue Swede mashup that you can’t believe hasn’t been done yet (via SiIvaGunner)...

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Replace Link with myself & Navi with my iPhone, which I use as an alarm clock, and you have earlier this morning in a nutshell (via nintendometro)...

“So where you going?”

“Down a road. A low poly road…”

“Where you headed towards?”

“Whatever’s at the end of this street. This low poly street...”

“If you look up, what do you see?”

“Low poly buildings, under a low poly sky. Who knows, maybe there’s some low poly birds up there, behind those low poly clouds…” (via pmpkn)

From looking at low poly skies to soaring high above them, but what a difference an arcade board makes huh (via kazucrash)...

This is what Metal Max 2: ReLoaded on the DS looks like, at its normal resolution...

And this is what it looks with the resolution bumped up (via gaucheartist)...

Is this sprite of a BMX biker animated unusually well or am I just out of touch when it comes to 2600 software? Granted, it does come from a game made in 1989 (via segagenesisevangelion)…

According to the law: “NO JUMPING” (via vgadvisor)

“Hi guys.” (via beowulf-ultra)

Such a heartwarming scene (via @PicturesFoIder)...

This is what VR looked like many years ago, which is basically how it still looks today as well (via peazy86)...

It’s Yuji Horii, from way back in the day, presumably before he had created Dragon Quest (via videogamesdensetsu)...

Why yes, I have heard of the Ocelot Arcade System, by virtue of it being Quality Simon Carless content...

... BTW, “Quality content” is in reference to this. Moving on: yes, I've also heard of VecFever. It plays games that you might be familiar with, since it emulates old vector MAME titles...

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Meanwhile, am only just learning that Tiger released their handhelds in Japan under the Game Vision label (via segacity)...

The Sega Dreamcast: it's thinking... about you, cuz it cares about you (via posthumanwanderings)...

"Wait… was he always there?" asks the official Sonic the Hedgehog Tumblr (via sonicthehedgehog)...

And the final nail in the coffin for this gag came courtesy of the official Sonic Tumblr as well (via sonicthehedgehog)...

"Good news everyone skyrim has been ported to the Bethesda offices carpet"

"Who the fuck designed support pillars to obstruct a quarter of the hallway?"

"Bethesda" (via mysteriouslypeculiar)

Yet another "it's funny cuz it's true" (via highlandvalley)...

So annoyed that I only find out about this Games Glorious shirt on the very last day of kylefewell‘s Japanese extrusion (via miki800.com)...

Not a fan of the game (don’t hate, I just don’t find it very enthralling), yet for whatever reason, I REALLY want this vintage Mappy sweatshirt (via namcomuseum)...

When video game attire looks plausible IRL (via @cvxfreak)...

Much like with regular attire, with cosplay, sometimes it’s all about the accessories (via frankiebalboa)...

Don’t think I’ve ever seen this piece of Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter art before (via segacity)...

For those who dig POC, as well those who dig VF, and also those who dig FV... that last one's Fighting Vipers, BTW (via fightersmegamix)...

It’s a crying shame that Fighting Vipers is such an unknown commodity these days (via kazucrash)...

Virtua Fighter vs Virtua Fighter… Kid (via segacity)...

It’s a crying shame that Fighters Megamix is such an unknown commodity these days (via segacity)...

So hyped for RPG Time, based solely upon the headline image used for this 10 ten list of BitSummit games (via @indiegameweb)...

Please enjoy yet another thing that I originally posted on a Saturday late at night, whatever time it might on your end right this second (via contac)...

Been a while since I’ve seen the handiwork of Joe Bleeps, largely since it’s been a while since I’ve been collecting Game Culture Snapshots; the man has certainly stepped up his game (boy mods) since way back when (via kotaku.com)...

Am also very much impressed by the Game Boy Macro, though once again, am super irritated that GBA games do not rest flush with the DS Lite’s body...

An example of function over form I guess (@gamesyouloved)...

Familiar with Line Wobbler? Ever wished you could play it on the go? Are you into demakes? For the Game Boy Advance? (via @diskmem)

Today’s corrupted GBA boot up sequence is (via corruptionasart)...

Can anyone tell what Famicom game we’re seeing that’s all glitched out? (via mendelpalace)...

My fave part of this NES 2 print ad is how, in order to truly drive the message of “EVOLVE OR BECOME EXTINCT” home, whomever felt it necessary to include a little picture of a dinosaur (via nintendometro)...

Was this an ad for the SNES? I ask because it’s considerably more sophisticated when compared to what you usually encountered in gaming rags at the time (via nintendometro)...

This ad for the GoldStar version of the 3DO, hailing from Korea, makes me so proud to be (half) Korean, you have no idea (via notablegamebox)...

This Space Invaders tribute piece is like the cover art to some 80s heavy metal record (via shmups)...

Meanwhile, the album art for the Metal Black soundtrack feels more Pink Floyd-ish than anything else (via reportal)...

As amazing as it would have been to attend a ZUNTATA concert 20 years ago, I desperately wanted to see them perform various Darius cuts live just the other week (via miki800.com)...

This cover art for a tribute album celebrating 25 years of Mega Man is still quite good, 31 years after the fact (via rnn-draws)...

My recommended reading this time is a comparison of all the various Mega Man sprites that have been, including a few that you may not be familiar with (via retrovania-vgjunk.blogspot.com)...

Apparently there was a Mega Man boss that was part arcade machine, but he only appeared in some mobile game, for f's sake Capcom (via mendelpalace)...

Guess now’s a good time to share another random game canter pic (via gogopri)...

Pathos at the game center, even among Sailor Scouts (via funnysailorm00n)...

A pride & joy of my personal collection is both the original retail Japanese release of Jet Set Radio & the available via Sega Direct only edition: De La Jet Set Radio (via videogameartarchive & videogameartarchive)...

Here's an alternate take on it’s alternate cover star (via @Drooling_Demon)…

Putting together the necessary gear to properly grind the streets of Tokyo-to (via kiroziki-cosplay)...

JSR tales place in a fictionalized, idealized interpretation of Japan, whereas this gif is a very realistic take, yup (via dehtyar)...

Meanwhile and elsewhere, somewhere in the United States of America it would seem (via behexagusthegreat)...

There's still dinner time in the future (via kirokazepixel)...

My contribution to #WorldGothDay (via it8bit)…

From dark & dreary, to warm & fuzzy, yet still black & white (via this old post from a few years back)...

Old photos of a Japanese school kid obsessing over the Famicom are somewhat dime a dozen, but the PC Engine? A very rare treat (via gamingremembrance)...

From black & white photographs of Japanese 80s kids playing consoles, to a full color animated gif of US 80s kids at the arcade (via tvneon)...

Time to wrap things up by touching upon something that kept me awfully busy over the past few: Death By Audio Arcade X Dreamhouse II. Here's a rather mysterious image that appeared on the FB event page, and which was utilized in my promotional push...

... Did it work? You’ll have to find out in my part 2 of my Attract Mode X Tumblr: May 2018 recap! Due tomorrow. Maybe.

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