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takaraphoenix · 6 months

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20 Questions Game for Fic Writers

Tagged by @blairwaldcrf ! Thank you, dear! <3

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

As of right now, 1214 works! Damn, I've been busy :D"

2. What’s your total ao3 word count?

Currently at 9,167,371 words, slowly inching toward the 10 million mark!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Oh gosh, the total list is so long at this point, with various one-off kind of deals, or fandoms I've moved on from.

I am currently considering myself an active writer in these fandoms though: Shadowhunters, Percy Jackson, Detective Conan/Magic Kaito, DC Comics.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Sorted by kudos, my top 5 fics are:

How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (Marvel, Loki/Tony), with 7,945

My College Boyfriend (PJO, Nico/Percy), with 6,353

The Lion's Pride (Voltron, Shiro/Keith/Lance), with 6,163

The Ghost King of Summers High (PJO, Nico/Percy), with 5,600

Percy Jackson, Ambassador of Hades (PJO, Nico/Percy), with 4,985

Which actually looked really fucked up because yeah sure there's four super popular multi-chapter fics of mine. And then there is My College Boyfriend, which isn't just a oneshot, it is a oneshot with under 3k words. What. What.

And the, quite frankly frustrating, part here is that this oneshot only has 24 comments. Not even every 100th reader felt the need to leave a comment. That's just... so sad. Like. Genuinely, I think the kudos system broke commenting because the convenience of pressing a button beat actually expressing yourself genuinely through words and from the bottom of my heart, I find that depressing as fuck.

5. Do you respond to comments?

Always. Every single one of them. Because comments mean something. Someone took the time to tell you, with words, that they liked your work and maybe even what they liked about it.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Ooof, multiple contestants from back in my day when I wrote German fics for the Beyblade fandom and wrote about... darker themes. Not all fics used to have happy endings. I wrote some fics that ended in a suicide, so I guess those.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Impossible to answer, because for as long as I've been active in English writing, all my fics have had happy endings. The guy gets the guy, the girl gets the girl, and they live happily ever after. The world is saved or the evil defeated, maybe there's even an epilogue of a next gen in there. That's my standard, it ends happily. So that makes it impossible to pick one that somehow ends happier than the rest. xD

8. Do you get hate on fics?

loool

Right. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah, of course. Funnily enough, never on the things you would assume attract hatred - the incest, the explicitly non-con stuff.

Nah, I got death threats and words that were somehow worse than death threats on my Oliver/Felicity fics in the DC fandom... a... straight canon ship... but not the canon ship from the multiverse that these vile assholes liked, so, ya know. Threaten the fans who love a ship you hate.

Also over the years, lotta nasty general homophobia for Nico/Percy in the PJO fandom - I have been writing in this fandom since 2010, and yes, there were really a lot of people especially in the earlier years who just hated the idea of making either Percy or Nico gay.

And the dumbasses who declare Jace/Alec incest and thus hate and threaten this ships fans in the Shadowhunters fandom. But still, inexplicably, like Alec. Even though, in canon, he's the one who was in love with Jace. I don't know, but if you claim the nasty, nasty incest is The Bad Thing, I think you should hate the character with the nasty, nasty incestuous feelings, instead of the fans who write perfectly tagged and filterable fics. But that's just me, I guess.

So yeah, top three of hatred I got over the years - but if you wanna read a highlight reel of bullshit hate mail I got, feel free to go and check out my Dear Anonymous Shitheads tag!

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

All kinds of smut? I don't know how to answer this question, to be honest. xD

I've written oral, anal, vaginal, mlm, wlw, m/m/f, rare m/f ships but usually either she pegs or it's ABOverse and she's an alpha, I generally pepper in some flavors of BDSM into it, I've written dub-con and non-con before, bestiality, double penetrations. I have written a lot.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve ever written?

Oh, that is absolutely going to my first ever crossover. Because my usual crossovers are, ya know, that Big Four animated movie crossover verse (Tangled/Brave/HTTYD/RotG), or "I like these two fandoms, how would A's characters fit into B's world/how would B's characters fit into A's world?" for... essentially all my fandoms, and I wouldn't call any of these crazy - because the Big Four crossover is a beast of an own fandom so it's not really "original" or far out there to write for it, and in all my other crossovers, I do pride myself on making it work, like, not just throwing characters together but fitting their backstories and special powers into how the other world works.

So the craziest one is absolutely A Hundred Times Over, which is a oneshot sequel to my first-ever English-written fic and was written as a celebration because it was my 100th fic back then.

The original fic was already a crossover between Detective Conan and PJO, so for the celebration I thought "okay so what if I throw in my current obsession - Doctor Who - and my first ever ship - Shere Khan/Bagheera?". So, yeah, this crossover between Detective Conan, Percy Jackson, Doctor Who and Jungle Book has to be my craziest so far.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

So often. So, so, so, so often.

If you see my fics on watpad or any other platform that isn't AO3 or Fanfiction.net - and if you see them on those two but posted by an author that ISN'T Takara Phoenix - then please, let me know. Drop me a link wherever you can, I always greatly appreciate being told that my fics have been stolen so I can report that person and have it taken down.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No. All of the stealing of my fics has made me incredibly uncomfortable with the idea of my fics flowing around on other people's accounts or other websites, especially since the first like four or so stolen fics I had were translated.

Someone took my fics, translated them into Spanish and Russian, and posted them on other platforms, without ever asking my permission.

I don't want thieves to more easily slip through the cracks in between authorized repostings of my stories, so I have the blanket policy to not allow translations.

If you see my fics in other languages, tell me.

(There is one story that has been translated, but I'm not sure how far it counts, because I did the translating myself, and that's Lass Uns Etwas Dummes Tun/Looking For Something Dumb to Do. It is a PJO fic about Nico/Percy that I wrote in celebration for Germany legalizing gay marriage in 2017; I wrote it in German first, due to that, and then decided to translate it into English since I know my core-audience are English-speakers and not German-speakers.)

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yeees!!! With my wonderful, amazing, lovely @kimmycup!!! ^-^

We've written a total of five fics together so far.

Three Shadowhunters fics: Hurting and Healing, a Magnus/Jace oneshot, Three Times the Boys Felt Left Out, a Jordan/Simon/Jace oneshot, A King By Any Other Name, a Alec/Jace oneshot.

A Vampire Academy oneshot about Mason/Christian: The Chance at a Happily Ever After.

And, our pride and joy, our 51k multichapter Shadowhunters/Vampire Academy crossover fic about Mason/Christian and Simon/Jace: Double Puppy Dare.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

That's such a hard question to answer for me as a multishipper.

But to be quite honest, I think I would have to go with Kaito/Shinichi from Detective Conan/Magic Kaito?

It's the ship I've been the most consistently been faithful to and that, whenever I see it, sparks joy. That has proven that even when the fandom's gone dormant for me for months or years, it can reignite into a wildfire, where other fandoms just fizzle out and disappear from my interests then.

These two get me, they've been getting me for one and a half decades now and I doubt they'll stop any time soon.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

All of my unfinished German fics over on Animexx. When the German Beyblade fandom started to die, I tried to cling on, but at one point... when all your favorite writers, all your friends, have moved on? And then I started reading fics in English and soon after, also writing them in English. I feel bad about it, but it's just been far too long now.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Personally, I'd say world building. That's also my passion. I love creating elaborate worlds for my stories to take place in - I mean, damn, for the book series I'm writing, I developed my own language, religion and drew a map of the city it takes place in, among other things. A well-developed world is so important.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Oh, fight scenes and action and other things that...

When a character is good at a thing that I am not good in or know a lot about?

Like, when a character is super quippy and funny, but I am not really a one-liners-person so now I have to come up with quippy one-liners to capture his personality?

Or fighting or science, when a character is an expert in a field that I know nothing about and would not understand jackshit about even if I tried because it's not my wheelhouse? Those things, I really struggle with.

Also, I hate action and fight scenes. Like. That's the parts when I check my phone usually to avoid that my eyes glaze over from boredom. So, naturally, writing these things? Not fun. Not good at it either, imo. But certain fics - or rather, certain characters too - require action and fight scenes.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Painful if you have to use Google Translate. If you know the language? Yeah, go for it! If you have to resort to Google Translate? Maybe just write it in italics and note that it's in x language. It spares both, the native speakers who will die from second hand embarrassment, and the non-speakers who... won't understand it anyway.

But in the cases that I use foreign languages (and usually when I do, it's just... pet-names. Things you can't really fuck up that much and things that people would say in another language even in English-main-dialogues), I always put the translation right behind the sentence, because it's a special brand of obnoxious when you have to scroll ALL the way to the end of a chapter or fic to see what tf you just read, and then scroll back up again.

Hate doing that, so I won't do that to my readers.

19. First fandom you ever wrote for?

Oh, that's Yu-Gi-Oh!, with a hurt/comfort Kaiba/Joey fic.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

Can't answer that, it always depends on my current mood which of my babies I love the most ;P

Tagging @kimmycup and @justonemorechapternicercy and @fallenqueen2 for this fun! And anyone else who wants to do it! <3

#Tumblr Tag Game #Writing #About Me

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nock-and-bolt · 3 years

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hi i’m new here and I was hoping you could recommend some blogs for me to follow 🥺👉👈 ive been looking in the tags but tumblr’s tagging system is so dysfunctional it’s hard to tell what blogs are still active.

Hiya “new here,” I’m nock-and-bolt! xD I’m going to assume that you’re looking for DBH-related blog recs, cause that is the primary fandom I’ve immersed myself (and this blog) in beyond all belief or logical reasoning. 😂

Fair warning, you’re gonna get way more than you bargained for with this lil ask.

*ahem* So I actually asked a similar question to @mollyinthewater earlier and she came up with this beautiful compilation of DBH blogs to follow:

artists: @jude-shotto, @16ruedelaverrerie, @sholtooxenstierna, @hs-gmac, @phckingusername, @chicago-reeed, @lukelemon-art, @thekaiserroll, @qvbit, @mspain, @sunsetagain, @kokoneakita, @caleb-crow, @olivia313, @lemonowl900, @opossum-with-a-pencil, @putriart, @lukasvdm, @marndraws, @epicqtefail, @disterra, @empyreanaxis808, @sacchi-hue, @queondamicronda, @pechagthlecha, @incaseyouart, @anataarts, @chuck-the-goon, @chloride, @detroitbecame-me, and @amarytha

writers: @pinkwebby, @emiliaf25, @sheyshocked, @allegedlyanandroid, @headfulloffantasy, @coffee-chaos, @monchikyun, @zemxem, @coffeeboy900, @quantic-crazed, @yayen-chan, @phcking-detective, and @six-video-game-peaches

gifs/humor/misc: @dbh-comics, @detroitbecomefandom, @phckin-succulent, @well-they-fucked-up, @dbh-incorrect-quotes, @dbh-fanfic-zone, @androidtrash800, @get-me-a-coffee-dipshit, @itsmemartinaleanza, @rumithe, @tokyoloveshotel, @markusandnorth, @rk-1800, @sicparvismyass, @cyberconnors, @thiriumcocktail, and @konami-code-ao3

blogs that aren't particularly focused on dbh but do produce/reblog content for it now and then: @chenpath-art, @n4c9s, @lomallama, @le-blanc-renard, @unusualmuffin-art, @odd-animations, @xxnounaxx, @shae-c-art, @artepotter, and @meorix.

AAAND, since then, I have thusly dived even deeper into the DBH fandom (if that’s even possible lmao) and would like to add these guys to the list:

art/screenshot-related: @mimorugk, @aurea-b-art, @julientel, @connor-the-deviant-rk800, @blue-blood-and-red, @pupmkincake2000, @queenofsimarkus, @karasmemory, @kyogo-nieve, @ninesvin, @ohnopoorconnor, @jerichogallery, @connorinabeanie, @that-android-from-cyberlife, @pacifistmarkus, @my-name-is-markus-with-a-k, @vapewraith, @markayla-rk200, @serotoninarts, and @pl600please

writing-related: @howtodisassembleyourdeviant, @rk1kheadcanons, @wasscared, @ao3feed-reed900, @rk1kinspiration, @fandom-necromancer, @artistic-revolutionist, @head-shot-60, @ao3feed-connor, @illratte, @jericholeader, @archadianskies, and @anomalous-appliances

gifs/humor/misc: @connorandersons-blog, @rk1k-hyperfixated, @androidtrashfire, @dbh-connorrk800, @synthetic-deviant, @echoesbeyondtherain, @justsomerk1000, @gaydeviants, @conn-tinuity, @awkwardrat-dbh, @detroit-become-human-analyze, @bumblee-bee, @adhd-gavin-reed, @connara-and-friends, @gavinisqueertbh, @rk1kincorrect, @detroit-becomenerd, @yanderedbh, @cyberlifeangel, @pixelcube24, @maincharactersumo, @redicereed, @putting-connor-in-rice, @deviant-sasshole, @ke1200-deviant, @ask-hank-anderson, @jimins-right-thigh, @ashthedeviant, @androidswholikedogs, @aurora-nerin, @ruok900, and @driftingdeviant

Some blogs are more active than others, but most of at least the ones I added have updated within at least the last 35-ish days? Some reblog a bunch of stuff, some produce original content, all of them are part of le lovely DBH community 😘

I’ve also definitely missed some blogs (very very sorry if I missed you), so anyone/everyone is free to add on. But on balance this comprises most of my masterlist of currently-active, specifically DBH-centric blogs (besides the less-specific ones molly mentioned).

I’m 90% sure you had no idea what you’d be getting by asking this question.

But there you go. 😂 Hope it helps!

(P.S. Okay also to everyone I @’ed—sincerest apologies, feel free to flay me alive and eviscerate my soul for bothering you, I truly deserve it for committing such a heinous act, but I did it so ppl can more easily click on your name to follow you and also I just couldn’t resist the chance to gather, like, such a large portion of the active DBH tumblr fandom all in one place to support and promote one another.)

DBH fandom...ASSEMBLE!

(Okay now I really do deserve to be flayed alive. 😂 It’s fine. I just come with the very special message that I love and appreciate you all for making this fandom such a wonderful place and by RA9 I had better shut up now, I’m taking up so much space it’s not even funny 😂😂😂)

#dbh #dbh fandom #dbh blogs #detroit become human #detroit become human blogs #my sincerest apologies #i really do love and appreciate every single one of you #including the ones i missed bc my eyes are burning from looking at so many usernames lmao #feel free to add yourself #you're all amazing #pls don't kill me for tagging you #❤️❤️❤️#d:bh #detroit: become human #detroit: bh

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nythroughthelens · 5 years

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I didn't know I was blind in one of my eyes until I was 24 years old My first eye exam was courtesy of the New York City public school system. I was 9 years old.

That year a dentist and eye doctor visited the school to give exams to children whose parents couldn't afford such vital health services. Falling squarely into that less than fortunate category, I was able to get my eyes examined for the first time.

The exam was rushed. I remember the eye doctor's crisp white coat and his gruff tone. I was asked to read a chart on a wall with my right eye.

I replied quietly that I couldn't read the letters.

The doctor appeared only slightly bothered, “Not even the top letter?”

I heard myself apologize automatically, “No, sorry sir.”

“Are you sure ?”, he asked sounding slightly perturbed.

I started to question reality, “yes?”

And that was the end of the exam.

I was diagnosed with a lazy eye and prescribed glasses with one comically thick pane of glass on the right side.

I wore glasses like that for years. I also had chronic headaches. At a subsequent visit with another eye doctor in my early teens, headache concerns and failure to read letters on the eye chart with my right eye were interpreted as a need for a stronger prescription.

When I was 18 years old, I moved out on my own and I stopped wearing glasses. I broke the one pair of glasses that I had and since I didn't have money for eye exams I concluded that it didn't matter anyway. My internal reasoning was that if I had a lazy eye, it wanted to be lazy. Why bother it further? Let it be lazy if it wants.

My headaches stopped.

Years passed.

When I was 24 years old, I finally got health insurance from one of my jobs. Feeling residual guilt over not wearing glasses for years, I booked an appointment with an ophthalmologist. The exam involved a lot of questions, lights, and intricate machinery.

At the end of the exam the doctor said: “I am about to ask you a strange question. What ear do you use when you use the phone?”

I answered without hesitation: “Oh! My left ear. That's my good ear.”

She then asked what no other eye doctor had ever asked me.

She asked me what I saw out of my right eye.

I felt seen for the first time.

I had never articulated a response to the question that she asked and I replied: “ I see scattered light only the light looks like it's being seen through broken glass like light through a crushed kaleidoscope.”

Hearing myself say those words out loud was revelatory.

The doctor told me that she suspected I had cortical blindness with blindsight (more on this below) and scheduled an MRI.

After a pretty intense brain MRI, I was diagnosed with cortical blindness in my right eye.

Here are a list of random facts that apply to my subjective experience with cortical blindness and blindsight:

1. I have had it since birth.

It could be genetic or it could have been due to my mother's health when she was younger. My mother experienced extreme trauma and malnutrition as a child when she was in concentration camps for four years (this is way too long to go into here, maybe one day I will write about that story). It's been shown that malnutrition and trauma can lead to future issues with reproduction.

However, no one knows for sure what caused my cortical blindness and it will always be a mystery. I am ok with that.

2. I see the world with my left eye.

I use my left eye when I use a camera. It's what I look out of when I make art, look at people, work, and do 99% of the things I do.

I don't think about my right eye at all usually. Some situations that have forced me to think consciously about my right eye: -When I was in pre-med, microbiology lab was a big issue for me due to the binocular microscopes.

-Escalators used to make me extremely anxious since my depth of field is limited.

- 3D films give me headaches and make me nauseous because my brain tries to process the visual output with both eyes.

-I absolutely love road trips but cannot drive because of my cortical blindness.

3. I have Type 1 blindsight.

Blindsight is a peculiar thing to attempt to explain.In fact, I have never even tried to write about it before so bear with me if this doesn't make a lot of sense.

Here is the explanation of blindsight on Wikipedia : “Blindsight is the ability of people who are cortically blind due to lesions in their striate cortex, also known as primary visual cortex or V1, to respond to visual stimuli that they do not consciously see.

The majority of studies on blindsight are conducted on patients who have the conscious blindness on only one side of their visual field. Following the destruction of the striate cortex, patients are asked to detect, localize, and discriminate amongst visual stimuli that are presented to their blind side, often in a forced-response or guessing situation, even though they do not consciously recognize the visual stimulus.

Research shows that blind patients achieve a higher accuracy than would be expected from chance alone.Type 1 blindsight is the term given to this ability to guess—at levels significantly above chance—aspects of a visual stimulus (such as location or type of movement) without any conscious awareness of any stimuli.

Blindsight challenges the common belief that perceptions must enter consciousness to affect our behavior; showing that our behavior can be guided by sensory information of which we have no conscious awareness ''

I seem to be able to sense people by their movements even without seeing them. I can sense when routine patterns are off by even a tiny amount. This feeling is amplified on my right side. I used to say I felt like I had a version of spidey-sense. When I was officially diagnosed with blindsight, my spidey-sense made totally sense.

If I am close with or around people for a while, I don't even need to look at them with my eyes to see them because I know with pretty good accuracy what is happening around me even if (or especially if) it is happening in my right eye field of 'vision'.

If I am really into / crushing on someone and around them for any length of time my blindsight is even more intense when it comes to sensing their presence and movements. Blindsight can't be switched on or off. The intensity seems to differ depending on circumstance, surroundings, and even connection to people. It isn't ideal all the time since it just makes me feel hyper-aware of people and myself which then makes me retreat super awkwardly since I also have social anxiety. Fun :/

3. I call my right eye vision: colored glass world.

I don't always see or visit colored glass world. In fact, most of the time, there is no conscious awareness of colored glass world.

This is the closest image I could find to show what it kind of looks like (however, I can see shapes and light):

Unlike blindsight, I can absolutely go into colored glass world at will or I slip into colored glass world when these circumstances occur:

-When I am really tired or when I daydream I tend to slip into right eye vision because it feels soothing to escape into colored glass world.

-When I am super happy.

-When I play piano I get into a flow state and colored glass world meshes well with this state. I have played classical piano since I was 3 years old and used to specifically memorize long pieces of music just to play the music while in colored glass world.

4. That ear question the ophthalmologist asked me wasn't totally out of left field.

It's not so odd to have a dominant side when it comes to sight and hearing when cortical blindness occurs in one eye. I can hear out of my right ear but it's just slightly different in a way that I can't quite explain. my left ear. I am hyper-sensitive to sound.

I also tilt my head to the right when speaking with people as if I am presenting my good eye and ear. Once people know this about me, they can't unsee it.

5.The irony of the fact that I ended up in careers that rely entirely on my vision is not lost on me.

I am currently a photo director and producer at Vox Media for Curbed. I am also a photographer who does commissioned art for games, film, books, and other media and have had two photography books published.

My second book, NY in the Snow, was the culmination of seven years of going out into every major snowstorm in New York City to translate into art all the feelings of isolation, nostalgia, and loneliness I felt while surrounded by the vast snow-filled cityscapes.

I never wrote about my vision in the book. In fact, it only occurred to me when the book released in stores and I was actively promoting it, that my snow photography was the closest way I ever came to showing everyone else how my right eye vision meshes with my left eye vision.

I spent hours waiting for the right combination of people and cars to enter the stormy backdrops.

Did I ever slip into colored glass world while shooting and editing the images during that time period?

All the time.

6. I finally got glasses this weekend.

After I was diagnosed with cortical blindness, I was told that all the years of headaches were due to constantly putting a thick prescription in front of my right eye. It was forcing my brain to try to adjust to the prescription. and just led to misery.

However, years later, my left eye definitely has deteriorated a tiny bit.

Having insurance again meant a visit to a new eye doctor and glasses with a prescription only in the left lens to eliminate any headache issues.

Here are my new glasses yesterday (this image was taken for Instagram stories which flips images, this is clearly flipped).

It's nice to have glasses with no prescription in my right eye.

My right eye is just fine as is.

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queenmorgawse · 5 years

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transmigration for dummies

chapter three. mdzs scum villain au. read on ao3 + end notes. credit to @lee-luca, esp as another bit of the comic is mentioned here. previous | first | next

One hour, thirty minutes and two hundred rules into his punishment, Jingyi is as bored as he’s ever been in this life. To top it all off, the System isn’t responding to any of his pleas for company, only responding with oops ): something went wrong when he tries to ping it. Back home, this is about when he would have given up on homework and started scrolling through his Twitter feed instead, but there’s not much he can do without his phone.

Ugh, he’d kill for one of these crappy McDonalds games. Even a Kinder toy would make him happy right now. Instead, he doodles on his torn-up first drafts, on which the ink made blots from his clumsy first attempts to imitate the original text’s elegant calligraphy.

He silently adds bic pens to the ever-increasing list of modern appliances he misses.

When badly-drawn stickmen get boring as well, he starts to think about the original Lan Jingyi in his life. Maybe that’s how it works, after all. Mom sure would love someone who’d actually go to bed early when she tells him to. On the other hand, once he got over the initial shock of modern Jingyi’s life, he’d probably find it pretty dull. High school isn’t about to compare to flying swords and cultivation, that’s for sure.

Opposite him, Sizhui is bent over his own stack of scrolls, poring over rows and rows of tiny characters and absent-mindedly running his fingers along the lines. From the way he hums to himself when he thinks Jingyi is too busy copying to care, he guesses they’re music sheets of some kind. Unlike Jingyi, he looks like he’s actually engrossed in what he’s doing.

Too bad. Jingyi’s reached that point of boredom at which he needs to talk to someone or else he’ll implode. ( Still, he promises himself he’ll stop if Sizhui shows even a hint of genuine annoyance. )

“Hey, Lan Sizhui ⎯ can I call you just Sizhui? Um, sorry I got you stuck here.”

To his relief, the other doesn’t look irritated, just surprised. “Sizhui is fine,” he ventures after a few seconds. A smile breaks out on his face. “That’s good. I was afraid you were still mad me, you’ve been so awkward all day...”

Wait, what? Who’s angry at you? Someone who kicks kittens for fun, probably.

Oh right, me. Maybe he’s the one whose brain needs a reboot. How does he explain that it’s not him who’s mad? Hell, he doesn’t even know what the original is supposed to be mad about. For some reason, it feels weird to ask, just because it seems important enough that admitting he forgot would be insulting.

“Anyway,” Sizhui continues after coughing into his sleeve, “it’s alright, you don’t have to apologize to me. I’ve got to go over these before tomorrow’s lesson anyway, I might as well do it here.”

“Inquiry?” Jingyi ventures, maybe-maybe-not because it’s the only title he clearly remembers from the ones canon mentioned.

“Oh, no. Asking very specific questions is still a bit out of my reach, but Fa...Hanguang-jun wrote down a list of phrases for me, so we’re going to try them tomorrow.” His face softens at the mention of Lan Wangji. If this was a fic, this would be when Jingyi keels over and presses his face into a pillow for a little while.

The chat devolves into musical cultivation. Jingyi muddles his way through it the best he can, feeling like he’s bullshitting an essay out loud, but Sizhui doesn’t seem to find his vague answers all that off-putting. He still pointedly glances down at the stack of unfinished notes on the table from time to time, but since Jingyi’s calligraphy has been getting worse and worse the less attention he pays to it, maybe it’s for the better.

When dinner time rolls around, they eat their bowls sitting on the steps leading up to the Library Pavilion, after Sizhui rightfully points out Lan Qiren would have their skins if they spilled even a drop of sauce on the sect’s precious texts. Gradually, Jingyi feels himself relax.

“So, are we chill?” he asks between two mouthfuls of rice.

Sizhui just stares at him.

Right. No slang. “...I mean, we’re doing good, right? We’re friends?”

Something complicated passes over Sizhui’s expression. It’s too fleeting for him to catch more than a glimpse of it, especially as it’s overridden by his usual calm smile before Jingyi can shove another rice ball into his mouth, but he could swear the other winced.

Well, ouch. It must show on his face, because Sizhui suddenly looks alarmed and adds : “Yes, yes, we are!” Another smile. This time, Jingyi can definitely see the strain. “We’re friends. You don’t have to doubt that.”

“Oh. Great!” Jingyi resists the urge to reach out and gently punch his shoulder. Who knows how it’d be perceived. “We’re gonna spend a lot of time together, if I’ve got to keep copying rules, so...I wanted to make sure.”

【OOC behavior detected : contradiction of backstory despite hints : -20 points. Current balance : 65 points. 】

Shut up! I want him to like me!

“We’re friends,” Sizhui repeats one last time, like he’s trying to convince himself. Then he reaches for Jingyi’s shoulder and gives his robes a tug. “We should get back in there. Two more hours before curfew, you can still get a few lines in. I won’t distract you.”

“Ugh.”

Jingyi makes a face. Sizhui laughs, and the tension from earlier dissolves. “Come on. The more you get done, the faster it’ll be over.”

It turns out they’re both severely underestimating the number of rules Jingyi can break without realizing, and therefore the amount of time they’ll be spending here.

Despite these setbacks, over the course of the next handful of weeks, Jingyi adapts to his new life the best he can. He finds out, with much relief, that even though he can’t access the original’s knowledge and memories, training since childhood pays off even after a body swap. He doesn’t have to think too hard about sparring, just keep a firm grip on his sword, and his muscles can apparently do the rest with minimal effort on his part.

It only works with the actual fighting, though. After going to bed feeling sore all over for a week straight, Jingyi gives up and gives the cold springs a shot. It freezes his limbs off, but the ache gets better after that. It even gets him about a dozen points, which he adds to the rest, gained through menial tasks across the Cloud Recesses and some well-timed mischief.

He also likes to think he gets some progress done with step one of his grand plan to survive this novel. There’s no undoing years of being a pain in everyone’s ass in a matter of weeks, but Jingyi still gives it his best shot - peppered with tasteful cursing at the System when it deducts points for actually following the rules or, you know, not being a dick to everyone he talks to. As a result, he goes from mostly being avoided by the other disciples to tolerated, even if no one but Sizhui goes out of their way to talk to him or invite him to join in on...whatever fun they have.

Jingyi doubts he’s missing out on much, at least where the Lans are concerned. But rumor has it some of the guest disciples snuck out into Caiyi to try some of the local wine, and he’s jealous of that, which is kind of irrational. He doesn’t even like the taste of wine that much, and besides, that may be too much of an infraction for a raised Lan, however prone to rule-breaking said Lan is supposed to be.

( He really can’t afford to slip up again. When he dared chop a solid forty centimeters off his hair after struggling to run a comb through it for the fifth time that week, the System’s alarm blared so loud he almost had an out of body experience. He’d felt the hundred points shaved off his score, though, even if he’d managed to negotiate half of them back. That was the spiritual equivalent of having a car zoom past right as you were about to cross the street, and Jingyi’s in no hurry to do it again...but with that said, it feels great not to have to deal with a bird’s nest every time he wakes up. )

Of course, he can’t just get comfortable with his new daily routine. Something has to happen. This time, said something takes the shape of a summon from Teacher Lan. Jingyi drags his feet over from the Library Pavilion and away from his sixth copy of Gusu Lan rules. His wrist is still complaining every time he bends it a little too far. Fuck corpse powder, it’s carpal tunnel that’s going to do him in.

Speaking of copies, maybe he shouldn’t slump this much. He’s fairly sure there’s a rule for that somewhere in the two thousand and nineties.

Given the circumstances, Jingyi fully expects another lecture from Lan Qiren the moment he sets foot in the communal hall, but quickly readjusts his expectations when he spots the small crowd of disciples gathered around their teacher. Most of them are familiar faces by now, except for the girls, who for some reason live in a completely different part of the Cloud Recesses. Still, he recognizes Lan Fan, the shimei who looks like she could bite your head off but actually gave him some pretty helpful tips on sword stances the other day, Tao Ming, the boy who’d seemed vaguely suspicious of him that first day, and of course, Sizhui in the forefront.

Lan Qiren narrows his eyes at him as he hastily joins the rest of the group. “Late again, Lan Jingyi.”

“Sorry, Teacher. This disciple was busy copying rules when he heard.”

A few of his companions snort, the noise quickly disguised as a sudden and collective bout of coughing. Jingyi can’t blame them ; if he’d heard the same words everyday for weeks on end, he’d be laughing too. Lan Qiren gives a long-suffering sigh, but whatever he’s about to tell them must take precedence, because Jingyi gets away with what might otherwise have been considered cheek.

“Madam Mo of Mo Village has sent us a request for assistance.” Given their teacher’s expression, he might as well said that she’d beaten down their door in the middle of the night and let a donkey loose in the courtyard. “From the servants’ description, it shouldn’t be anything more than a few walking corpses. Nothing a group of juniors cannot handle.”

Yeah, right. Despite knowing he’s supposed to let canon run its course, Jingyi still feels a twinge of apprehension. Why, you ask? He can answer that in two points.

Things Jingyi knows : mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.

Things Jingyi doesn’t know : how to kill zombies with swords.

In theory, he did spend the last few weeks training, and he didn’t slack off either, thank you very much. Doesn’t mean he’s ever gone up against a corpse before. He’s a coward, okay? Horror movie night was hell, back in his own world. He’s in no hurry to experience it in real (?) life.

“Lan Sizhui will lead the group,” Lan Qiren continues. “I expect all of you to keep your behaviors appropriate and not bring shame onto our sect.” To no one’s surprise, Jingyi thinks, and throws the interested party a small smile. To his surprise, Sizhui blushes and looks down at his boots, looking both embarrassed and pleased. It’s an unfairly cute look on him, but again, most of his looks are.

Right on cue, the System wheezes to life like it just crawled out of a computer from the nineties.【Beginning stage checkpoint mission assigned. Destination : Mo Village. Mission : ensure the protagonist, Wei Wuxian, makes it to Mount Dafan to meet love interest Lan Wangji. Please click to accept.】

Jingyi mentally slams the Accept button.

Ding! 【Mission successfully accepted. Please read the file carefully for mission details and make appropriate preparations. We wish you success. 】

OOC function, here he comes!

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #lan jingyi #zhuiyi #transmigrator!ljy #kim's fics

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attract-mode-collective · 6 years

Video

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Exactly 79 Photos & Videos Concerning The Game Boy (plus other handhelds)

So... hope you’ve all been following me on Twitter, which is more or less the unofficial new home for Attract Mode. Mostly cuz Tumblr’s days are, alas, numbers, plus I haven’t warmed up to Medium as much as I had hoped to. Though I’ve actually spent the past two months republishing every single post that contains mainline Game Culture Snapshots, so it has remained somewhat useful at least.

Now, for a while there, I had been compiling every single thing tweeted. But because I’m now so damn active on that end… plus I’m busier than ever with other projects… I’m way behind with those digest posts, and the very idea of playing catch up legit gives me anxiety. Yet I have been sharing lots of cool things, which all deserve to be in the blog proper… and because a lot of them are specific to the Game Boy, I figure, why not just focus on that?

Like the above, which is a technique for producing full color photographs via the Game Boy Camera, and yet another thing that I can’t believe hasn’t made the rounds!

Sticking with Game Boy photography, here have a pair of mods that will greatly enhance picture quality. The first involves mounting SLR lens onto a Game Boy Camera (via ekeler.com)...

And the second has one shoving a Game Boy Camera into a SLR itself (via @MaxKriegerVG)...

As someone who was into video games as a kid, and also interested in photography, the Game Boy Camera was the first camera I was able to call my own. Am pretty sure this was the case for others as well?

I also remember seeing this ad in Nickelodeon Magazine (which I would eventually writer for, not too long later) and being absolutely gob smacked (via nintendroid.org)…

Though as much I loved Nintendo brand of FUNtography, I would quickly discover… as did everyone else I also assume… that taking pictures is serious business (via @PolandNintendo)…

Not only did I have a Game Boy Color, but I also had the Game Boy Printer (I still own both, for the record). Unfortunately my snapshots from Link’s Awakening have long since faded, but as with many things, you can find copies online (via gameandgraphics.com)…

Speaking of the world of print, coming soon is a handy guide to Nintendo handy game machine (via miki800.com)…

That one magazine ad featuring Princess Peach catch your eye as well? Well here’s a much better look at it (via suppermariobroth)…

I love handheld gadgets of all kinds, yet some of the popular ones confuse me. Like Hudson’s Shooting Watch; it makes no sense to have a gadget that can detect button presses without a game attached. Guess I’m not alone (via instagram.com/kazzycom)…

A realization I made while sifting through Game Boy related content is how popular the color yellow is with many. Cuz Pokemon? Anyhow, the final post from a blog that specializes in gorgeous photographs of gorgeous hardware, which I just brought up again very recently (via hard-aware)…

How your parents used to trade Pokemans online (via melonjaywalk)…

And no, Game Boys weren't the only things that one could connect to keitais ya know. And yes, Game Boys aren’t the only portables I’ll be showcasing (via anthony10000000)…

I own quite a few VMUs and am always looking to expand my collection… but nothing yellow, sorry. Instead, I want the one covered with dolphins (via anthony10000000)…

So my new favorites artist is Eri Kitamura, and not just cuz she makes pretty looking Game Boys…

She also makes pretty looking girls playing Game Boys (well, this one is technically listening to music)…

Was originally going to post the first thing from Eri that caught my eye, which is a Game Boy with a girl on it, but instead here’s a Game Boy with a girl on it playing a Game Boy…

Time for two more videos from the same individual responsible with the process for producing color photographs at the very top. And it’s what everyone has been waiting… specifically the backlit Game Boy Color mod everyone has been waiting for.

The process is detailed in this two-part video, and here’s the first one (it’s about 50 minutes long cuz spoilers: this shit ain’t easy)…

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And here’s part two, which is ONLY 40-ish minutes long…

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The author of the videos actually has a store, so if the process seems a bit too daunting, you can purchase a pre-modded unit for $250. Actually, this one is $260, cuz of the dual shells. Quite the price tag, yet somehow totally worth it (via instagram.com/esotericmods)…

Now might be a good time to mention how… remember that GBA with the GameCube finish from eBay a few months back? Well, I decided to get the one that resembles a Super Famicom, something I’ve been lusting over for years.

Well, here’s what the aforementioned seller had in his listing…

And this is what I got instead…

Yeah, that green shoulder button is not the right shade. After some complaining, I got the seller to admit that the one in the picture was hand painted; he didn’t know where it get ones that it’s exact color as on a Super Fami controller.

He also had a no refund policy, yet I bitched & moaned enough to warrant an exchange, for another Cube-esque model, one sans the stick. Cuz it’s comparatively boring to look at, here’s a version with the stick…

Again, mine just has the standard d-pad. As for my replacement… the colors of the A & B buttons are not an exact match, once again. But it’s close enough (am mostly just sick of dealing with that guy, aka johnnys_merchandise, whom you should all avoid btw), plus I have started to scour AliExpress for replacements.

BTW, my failure to obtain a modded handheld that channels another form of hardware has me wondering if I should go for something completely different instead (via instagram.com/wakuwakuisland)…

Up in the mountains, flower bloom amongst Game Boys & Game Boy Colors, whereas deep in the forest, you’ll find mushrooms and Game Boy Advances (via pxchinko)…

Some say memories are fuzzy, though for others, they're leafy (via lyosphe)…

I’ve looked all over for tinycartridge's original post, but no luck, so you can all instead have my personal copy of the earthy wallpaper that was shared years ago (and which I still to this very day)...

The Game Boy Micro, DS, and DS Lite are like family, and like siblings, there can the occasional squabble (via benkyo-es)…

@frankcifaldi: When I met this guy in 2003 and he told me he was going to make an extensive fan site about the Supervision, a Taiwanese Game Boy knockoff, I was like "sure dude." 15 years later he actually launched the thing??

Meanwhile, the Game & Watch Perfect Catalogue just came out, with the full low down on all 59 models. BTW, had no idea there were 59 in total until @ionadisco mentioned it…

How Game & Watches were sold in America; I fondly recalls this ad in-between the pages of Amazing/Spectacular/Web of Spider-Man (via suppermariobroth)…

And how Game Boys were sold in Japan, one day one apparently, which would explain this salesperson’s rather perplexed demeanor (via flashbak.com)…

Silly as it sounds, and as silly as he looks, the US version of Firebrand is nonetheless a warm & welcoming face from my childhood (via nintendometro)...

Mario dropping a knowledge bomb (via suppermariobroth)…

Here’s Peach seemingly kicking Toad’s ass in Super Mario Bros Deluxe, which I’ve been meaning to tweet for a while now, but now seems like the right time & place for obvious reasons (via nintendometro)…

A cute comic about someone finally beating a game after ten years, or at least I believe that's the case (you know, language barrier and all; via @desune593)

Sailor Moon seems to enjoy handheld gaming more so than in the arcades (via uglygreenjacket)…

It saddens me that ravages of time is robbing me of my precious memories, including the names of 90s anime, hence why I had to ask on Twitter who exactly is this (answer was Tenchi Muyo; via shxtfased)...

It’s SethEverman, just playing some pokemon blue…

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Speaking of music, it again saddens me that I wasn’t about to make the trip to Japan to catch chiptunes at Square Sounds, and various associated venues. At least @bit_shifter_ took this great snapshot of Glomag at Cyberpunks Osaka…

Meanwhile, here in NYC, we actually still have record stores. And you can grab Josh’s latest release, his first in 12 years(!) at Rough Trade (via bit-shifter)…

Though back to Japan; attended Square Sounds would have also afforded me the chance to check out Tokyo Game Show, where I could have gotten that VMU shaped USB drive that was being sold at the Sega booth (via miki800)…

A few weeks before TGS, there was an earthquake in Japan, in northern island Hokkaido. Many were left without power, but one person was able to keep up with the news, thanks to an old DS peripheral that basically provides bunny ears (via kotaku.com)…

On a semi-related note, here’s someone watching old ECW VHS tapes on their Game Gear (via heavyelectricity)…

Sorry, but the only other thing I have that’s related to Sega’s Master System on the go is this gif from a pizza ranch salad dressing (yikes) commercial, which was cross-promoting Sonic Chaos (via sonicthehedgeblog)...

I have no idea why I'm so amused by this Getty Image of a Neo Geo Pocket that was confiscated at summer camp. Or perhaps no explanation is needed? (via hellomrkearns)…

Speaking of the Great Outdoors, here’s my buddy Steve enjoying some Mario Kart 8 in the middle of a forest (via instagram.com/vitaminsteve)…

And speaking of Mario Kart on the Switch, Bowser seems like a pretty cool dood to have a car trip (via suppermariobroth)…

The Switch is so beloved that people are doing fan art, not for any particular game but the simple the act of playing with it (via annazees)…

Granted, one of the best things about the Switch is all the different ways in which one can play (via kanekoshake)…

If you enjoy your Switch on the go and are looking for a way to store games… and are a diehard Breath of the Wild fan as well… plus if you have access to a 3D printer (via miki800.com)…

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It’s a tribute to Star Wars… games… all of them… featuring Princess Leia focused on her DMG (via deviantart.com/robduenas)...

BTW, do you still have your Game Boy? If not, here ya go (via anthony10000000)…

When the realization hits that your Game Boy Color library is incomplete (via @Bootleg_Stuff)…

Back to my buddy Steve, who visited the Primark at the Staten Island mall and took pics of the game related apparel that, sadly, were no longer in stock by the time I was able to swing by. With the one thing I really wanted being this shirt…

This pair of Super Mario Land X Air Jordans is only $1,350.00 (via miki800.com)…

I’m sure you’ve seen him already, but for the sake of completion, here’s that grandpa from who rigged this bike with 11 phones to become a Pokemon Go master (via bbc.com)…

Yet another sign of our times, literally (via fuckdragonballz)…

This image features a PSP and a MacBook, both of which are from the mid-2000s, yet feels very late 1990s/early 2000s. Why? Those USB cables (via jcgraphix)…

And last but not least, here’s Paris Hilton with her DS in 2005 (via @ParisHilton)…

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askaceattorney · 6 years

Text

Dear ellipis-ultima,

As much as I like the joke of Phoenix joining Smash, it’s the same thing of everybody in the PL fandom want’s Professor Layton to be in the game. They have the same possibility, but the majority of people either don’t know the characters, don’t know the capability of the characters, or don’t care about either. Now, about the game as it is...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Kumatora Kumatora Kumatora! Ku-ma-to-ra!! I’ve always been a Lucas main, but I’m DEFINITELY going to main Lucas, JUST so I can see Kumatora in his final smash. And the Inklings! I wanna play them so badly!! I’m SO hyped!

Dear ellipsis-ultima,

It’s funny you should ask -- I already made a comment about it using one of Gary Larson’s “The Far Side” comics on my other blog:

Needless to say, I’m quite excited at the prospects of a Smash Bros. game that includes every flippin’ fighter from previous games. It does make me wonder how much content we’ll get in terms of the music, stages, and storyline (if there is one), but it’s still an intriguing thought.

And if, by some miracle, Phoenix appeared on the roster, my reaction would probably be the same as the one I had when they announced the new Ace Attorney game for the Switch:

Dear Afool Ishdud,

Fixed it. Mind if I borrow your name for a little while?

Dear Inferno,

...Whelp, that’s a book to add to my reading list. If we’re giving out legal book recommendations, I recommend to everybody “Black Jack Justice” by Gregg Taylor. It’s based on the podcast of the same name, and it’s about an old-timey detective and his... perky girl detective partner, and how they first met.

Dear Inferno,

I’ve only read his first book, A Time to Kill (and seen the movie adaptation), and from what I remember, it was pretty great in terms of plot buildup and suspense. I’m admittedly not much of a book-reader, but if his other books are as good as that one, I’ll definitely check it out sometime soon.

(Referenced News Report)

Dear Tanlerst,

Unsurprising.

Dear Tanlerst,

Word.

(Previous Letter)

Yikes... Thank you very much for finding that for us, as well as finding a better link (and another link after that one). Considering how many other links are on this blog, it might be a good idea for us to hire a quality control person. Do you know anyone with a palindromic name?

(Previous Letter)

Dear Guquis,

Possibly, but I'd say it was worth it. It isn’t the first time Athena has made a generalization about men, plus, as a member of that group myself, I wouldn’t say she’s too far off.

Dear Laura,

I’m so sorry I missed your birthday! Happy Birthday anyways! Sorry, I was so caught up with my own things. My friends and I are working on numerous things IRL, plus I’m waiting for a job application to go through, and a lot of other IRL nonsense. :(

Dear askaccurateaceattorney,

Dear Fulbright,

I haven’t been following Pokemon very much lately, so let me just take a quick look at it...

Hmm. Gameplay-wise, it seems like it’s playing the nostalgia card for the sake of older Pokemon fans, but even so, I like how the music sounds, how the multiplayer system works, and how much more real they’re attempting to make raising Pokemon. If I had one of those real-life Pokeballs, I’d probably be petting it all day. As someone who isn’t a hardcore Pokefan, I’ll withhold judgment of it until I see more, but I’m guessing its popularity will mostly depend on which features the developers decide to focus on (hardware, gameplay, graphics, etc.). Who knows? It might end up being great.

I’m also waiting for the Switch’s price to go down a little before I buy one. It looks pretty entertaining from what I’ve seen, but I’ll probably keep clinging to my Wii U until the Switch is within my grasp budget-wise. I’ve also been a fan of the 3DS for a long time (true, I stopped using the 3D feature a while ago, but it’s still amazing), so I hope it retains its popularity for at least a little while longer. The funny thing is, I was lucky enough to find a used one pretty cheap, but I still think it was worth way more than I paid for it. Sorry for ripping you off there, Nintendo!

Dear Pinky the Artist,

I LOVE fan art! It’s, in my personal opinion, one of the best things about any fandom!

Dear Pinky the artist,

Do I? DO I!? I wouldn’t make fan art myself and not accept it from others. Send it on in! (Assuming it’s tasteful, of course.)

And while I’ve already explained this over on my blog, I might as well explain it here so everyone can see it:

This blog was created by someone who called herself Ace Admin (a very clever name, in my opinion). She later handed it off to a guy who called himself the Mod (short for “Moderator”), who ran it up until about a year ago. At that point, he held an audition to pick a new moderator, and the winner was my good friend, who goes by The Modthorne, and she later allowed me to join her as the Co-Mod. (We both picked those names for ourselves, by the way.) The Mod said he was planning to stop by every now and then to answer a few letters, but we haven’t seen him in quite a while, so the blog is now run by the two of us.

However, as I mentioned before, it’s really the writers who provide “fuel” for the blog. We’re just the pilots. We hope you’re enjoying the ride so far!

-Modthorne and Co-Mod

#ellipsis ultima #Afool Ishdud #ajanisapprentice #tanlerst #jnv11 #guquis #aceattorneyfanforever789 #askaccurateaceattorney #Fulbright #ItzmeartistRAE #Mod Post #Modthorne #Co Mod

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chellyfishing · 7 years

Text

ok i finished kona so as promised my lil* post on walking simulators i’ve played. (*it’s not lil.)

first things first: a lot of these give off a creepy vibe because it involves you investigating a deserted place piecing together What Happened. i don’t personally consider them scary, as such, but i guess some people might? with minimal spoilers, i can say that unless noted there are no jump scares or battles and you can’t get a game over at any point. none of these except flower and maybe gone home are exactly the cheeriest of games, they’re not total downers and you can take away a lot from each of them, but there’s almost always death involved. also these are all short games, many can easily be completed in a few hours, some you might want to spread out over a couple days.

i’m a little hesitant to put gone home on here bc i haven’t actually played it myself, but i did watch a full LP. i don’t think it’s a spoiler at this point to say that there was a bit of a bait-and-switch with advertising and it’s not a horror game. it is actually a very sweet, heartfelt coming-of-age story about a teenage girl who left behind notes for her visiting sister. while this might be a bit of a spoiler, i saw a review that called it “a lesbian scavenger hunt,” which i think is pm all anybody needs to know to decide to play it.

the vanishing of ethan carter is the first one i played and probably still my favorite. i played through it possibly half a dozen times that first week, and it’s not necessarily that sort of game. at the risk of overselling here, i can’t tell you how much this had an effect on me. you play a detective who’s come to a small seemingly deserted town at the behest of a young boy (ethan). what follows are a series of visions, stories, and light puzzle-solving to get to the bottom of what happened to ethan carter. as the story unfolds things get pretty disturbing and there is some blood (stain variety, not gushing). there’s nothing that would, i think, rate more than a PG-13 though. i could go in-depth but just play it okay.

dear esther is credited with being the first walking simulator. you can hear about its humble beginnings as a mod for some other game i forget by listening to the audio commentary, which you have to do for one of the trophies. dear esther is, the most out of these, not what it appears. it’s almost more of a poem than a story, and there is a lot left abstract and open-ended; death of the author is encouraged. it’s probably got the slowest start, but i like the peacefulness of it. it has a sequence that is the most beautiful and transformative thing which then leads up to the climax, and by then you are definitely in a different game than you started. no puzzle-solving, you don’t pick up or interact with any items, no keys or secret passages to suss out. you just walk and look and listen. definitely melancholy, but then, the whole thing is what you make of it. also apparently there are loads are little background details that can change randomly each time you play it, if you’re into that.

firewatch is another one that seems creepy, but (i’m sorry to spoil, i just want people to be okay when they play!!) i promise you, if you can handle some sadness and bittersweetness, you’ll be fine. this game is a little treasure. i saw someone complain about the graphics and i like??? couldn’t disagree more? i mean first of all what do you expect but second all it’s got more of a painted feel to it than a hundred laboriously-created computer models. there are some views and areas that are just beyond lovely. anyway you play as henry, who’s come to sit alone in a tower in the middle of the wilderness for summer 1989? to watch for fires. henry’s a bit snarky and sad and would probably be played by paul giamatti. the other man character is his boss, delilah. the rapport the two develop is probably the high point of the game tbh. their banter is topnotch. while firewatch seems a little overwhelming in scope but it’s actually not. there’s not much gained by extraneously exploring but you’re welcome to it if you want. it’s mostly just a lot of walking with very easily navigable roads and rappelling and such while around you all this weird shit starts happening. henry and delilah discuss what it all means and what to do about it. all questions are answered by the end, except for the ones any good story leaves open for you to decide.

beyond eyes... i don’t quite want to say that i wished i never paid for or touched this game, because my reasons for my violent rejection of it are very personal. so, here it is neutrally. it seems like a colorful, peaceful game about a blind girl, rae, looking for her lost cat, nani. the catch is that rae is blind, and so you have to sort of “fill out” the world by walking around (laboriously slowly, bring patience). it really is lovely, kind of painterly-feeling with so many vibrant colors, and i was very pleased with it for a long while. and again, i don’t want to spoil it, but the ending caught me so off-guard, threw me for such a loop, and triggered me so unexpectedly that i immediately turned it off and deleted it from my system. suffice it to say the tone is a bit different from the rest of the game. so, i won’t tell anyone not to check it out. it is pretty and simple and it seems like the kind of game people might want to support financially. just... not me. it made me disproportionately angry and upset and ruined my day. if someone has played or does end up doing so, my reaction might seem a little extreme, but it was one of those things that struck hard without any warning and it was just not what i needed at the time.

i tried to wait for what remains of edith finch to go on sale and i failed. while i’m not convinced it has $20 worth of content (it’s possibly even shorter than dear esther but i’d have to check), it’s also gorgeous, so i guess we all make sacrifices. anyway i’m still sort of processing my feelings for this game. most of it is completely genius. it’s about a girl, edith, who’s returning to her family home for the first time in years. she’s the last finch left alive; they have a habit of dying young, most not even making it to adulthood. you find out the story of each finch and each is interactive in a different way, one you’re different animals, another it’s in the format of a comic book, it’s all really neat how it’s done. anyway, obviously this game talks about death a lot but never shows it; in fact, some of the sequences are so abstract you have to interpret them yourselves to decide what even happened. my main continuing reservation is... i don’t know what it’s trying to say. i don’t know what it’s all supposed to mean. i mean maybe it’s some crap about the value of life no matter how short or idk, but for the most part at the end i was kinda like, “ok.” i keep thinking i must be missing something, but i’ve no idea what. it’s kind of just a collection of interesting stories whose only discernible thread is they all happened to the same unfortunate family for some reason. it’s the kind of “open to interpretation” that makes me feel like something is lacking. anyway i still loved it and do recommend.

kona. oh kona. let me start off by saying you can die in this one. they’re not that ubiquitous but there are creatures that can and will kill you, and sometimes they might startle you as well, and of course there’s the cold, which can also kill you. i kept getting pissed off at that fucking inventory because it was JUST BARELY too small and you never knew when you were going to need something. now that i actually do know it’ll probably be waaay less infuriating. there’s also a final boss, but the “fight” is basically you going “jesus christ it’s a lion get in the car.” it’s very intense, but i wouldn’t really call it scary. you don’t even have to do anything offensive at all to win, just run like hell. a couple more words about the gameplay: i mentioned the better coat. you actually can find the components you need for that early on and possibly go straight and get it? like i’m not sure if the game lets you but if it does, it makes exploration SO much easier. you still have to be careful but like. type b careful rather than type a. anyway it’s pretty much a must. um, you probably want to take your car for the sake of convenience, and also you can get a snowmobile later! there are a number of little achievements to earn, some of which make this game a lot more involved than any other on this list. like, it’s a very big area with poor visibility and you’re looking for very very small things WITH A CHEAP-ASS SWEATER CARL. anyway, as for what it’s actually about: you’re a detective again, come to québec in 1970 to find some seriously fucked up shit. this game isn’t really horror, it’s mostly just what the hell is going on this is so fucking bizarre. there narrative has a lot of stuff about colonialism and racism and a lot of Cree culture and lore driving it. it was funded by kickstarter btw. so yeah, a little too game-y, most intense and involved of the bunch, unsettled even me at times, but not meant to invoke terror or keep you up at night, only make you think about the circumstances that created this event.

flower is your friend. i’ve only played a little bit of it but honestly that’s all you need. you can just go back and do that bit as many times as you want cause this is a game that’s all about being a petal on the wind. it’s cute, it’s playful, both the score and visuals are charming and lovely. this is the game you play after running for your life in kona. recommended to have in your library if for no other reason than to know it’s always there when you need something simple and beautiful and andy dwyer is unavailable.

#deep thoughts

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trespasserswilliam · 7 years

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Would you post a list of all the podcasts you listen to?

Certainly!

Pre-P.S. This post ended up way longer than originally expected cause I felt the need to talk about them. So sorry for the length.

So I have a sort of system for listening. I used to do a lot of different playlists on my podcatcher, but I’ve narrowed it down to two major playlists and a third other playlist.

First playlist is just called New Stuff and it’s all the stuff that I’ve caught up to the present on and keep up with as new episodes come out. That’s all of these:

Welcome to Night Vale

duh

Alice Isn’t Dead

Fantastic. The combination of Joseph Fink’s words combined with Jasika Nicole’s performance is to die for.

My Brother, My Brother, and Me

My first introduction to the McElroys and hot damn

The Adventure Zone

My first real introduction to D&D and also hot damn

The Black Tapes

This is by Pacific Northwest Stories network. It’s a mystery/supernatural thriller/drama, lots of demony stuff.

Lime Town

Straight up sci-fi mystery. This one has been on hiatus for a while, but the story is really good and compelling.

Internet Box

Trash, but trash I’m attached to. Isn’t really going anymore. It was a bunch of Rooster Teeth people but the podcast isn’t associated with Rooster Teeth. I don’t recommend it for people who would be reading this.

Double Feature

The first podcast I ever listened to. Two dudes who watch two movies every week and then talk about it. Big fans of horror movies and I actually started watching horror movies because of them.

The Thrilling Adventure Hour

One of my favorite bits of entertainment over any medium. It used to update weekly because they used to do live shows monthly and split them into 4 parts, but they don’t any more. Similar to old timey radio shows, they had two segments (Sparks Nevada, Marshall on Mars, a western set on Mars and Beyond Belief, a supernatural detectivey sorta thing if the detectives were two socialites that loved each other and loved to drink) that always happened and then a bunch of other segments they would cycle through. Lots of stuff to listen back through, like 6 years worth maybe? and I recommend this to everyone.

Cool Games Inc

Griffin McElroy and Nick Robinson take suggestions and try to brainstorm video games. Hilarious and I love it.

Sawbones

Justin McElroy and his wife, Syndee. Syndee is a doctor, so they do histories of medical stuff, whether procedures, diseases, notable people, but they make it funny. Can get kinda gross if you gross out easy, but very chill.

‘Til Death Do Us Blart

The McElroys team up with the guys from Worst Idea of All Time and watch Paul Blart Mall Cop 2 every American Thanksgiving and then talk about it and the podcast will go on for eternity. When one of them die, they have named successors to take their place. They only started 2 years ago, so there’s only 2 episodes, but I look forward to listening to this for forever.

Interrobang

Travis McElroy and his friend Tybee Diskin talk about stuff they frustrates them. This is one of my favorite podcasts because they talk about things like social media issues and relationships and LGBTQ issues and just a whole bunch of things. It’s very frank and there’s no judgement going on and they’re both around my age by about +/- 2ish years and it’s helped me figure out what being an adult means to me? and what kind of adult I want to be/am?

The Worst Idea of All Time

Two dudes from New Zealand, Tim and Guy, decided one day they were going to watch Grown Ups 2 every week for a year and then talk about it. They slowly descended into madness over the next year and then when it was over they decided to do it with Sex and the City 2 and then they descended into madness again and then they decided to do it a third time with the movie We Are Your Friends and they are 36 weeks into that and then they’re gonna stop and do other things. Very funny but sometimes you do worry about them. Flagship podcast of The Little Empire Network

Off Topic

This is a Rooster Teeth podcast and a loose spiritual successor to Internet Box, only better cause they’re older and wiser and less ignorantly offensive.

Play Dead

I forget how I found this podcast, but it’s about death in video games and the roles it plays and why. Very interesting, but it can get pretty heavy sometimes.

Quality Control

Justin McElroy, as part of his job as an editor at Polygon, talks to the reviewers who review a video game for Polygon and asks them more stuff about the game. Usually I’m really good about listening to every episode of a podcast, but with this one I only really listen to the episodes about video games I have an interest in.

Beef and Dairy Network Podcast

Um. This one’s tough. Set on an alternate earth. Beef is very big there. Or at least beef is very important to the fictional people who do this podcast. Host talks to people about beef. It sounds very not interesting, but it is really very interesting and it’s very funny in a subdued british way. It can get pretty surreal sometimes.

Strange

Rarely updates. I started listening to it because Jeffrey Cranor was on the first episode telling a story from his life about something Strange that happened to him. It’s mostly a storytelling kind of podcast, but since last april there’s only been 3 episodes.

Tim Talks To

Tim from Worst Idea of All Time talks to people he finds interesting.

Trends Like These

Travis McElroy and his friend Brent Black talk about trending news.

Tanis

Another from Pacific Northwest Stories network. Similar to Black Tapes, only no demony stuff, just weird stuff.

Boners of the Heart

Another from the Little Empire Network. Two ladies from New Zealand talk about their actor crushes, to start out with. That framework is only very loosely adhered to, especially the further in you go, but man are they hilarious. Just the two of them talking is a delight and some of the funniest things I’ve ever heard.

Unexplained

This dude has a very calming voice. He just talks about unexplained things, phenomena, happenings, etc. Usually leaning towards myths, ghost stories, that kinda thing.

Within the Wires

From the Night Vale people. I love this one, and it has a very unique story telling format.

The Bright Sessions

A therapist for people with supernatural abilities. Psychic stuff, that kind of thing. It has a lot of LGBTQ representation that is presented in a way that normalizes it and it’s wonderful.

Archive 81

Season 1 was excellent. Supernatural thrilller style, good use of the medium, story within story framing, very good. Season 2 is... not at all like season 1. It’s almost like a completely different story and it’s unecessarily gory and tortureporny sometimes? Listen to season 1 for sure, but the vote’s still out on s2.

The Deep Vault

Done by the same people who did Archive 81. Also very tortureporny. It’s not terrible, but it’s not great either. Can be enjoyable.

Ars Paradoxica

Time travel sci-fi. Very sciencey but in an accessable kind of way usually. It has quietly become one of my favorites.

The Moth

Storytelling. The Moth is a radio show on actual radio I guess? They get regular people on stage and then the person tells a story. Very good.

Dead Pilots Society

Done by the people who did Thrilling Adventure Hour. A lot of those people work in TV, and this is table readings of pilot scripts that never made it to TV screens. Hit or miss for me.

Kakos Industries

Kind of like if Night Vale was evil and sexy? The premise is that you’re listening to the shareholder report for an Evil company that does Evil, but there’s also a lot of sex. Sex positive, and doesn’t usually feel super exploitative.

The Infinite Now

Little mini short stories, all sci-fi themed.

The Orbiting Human Circus (of the Air)

On the Night Vale network. Lots of big name people in this one. It’s enjoyable to listen to, and I love the framework they have for it, but I wasn’t as enamored with it and other parts of the internet seemed to be.

The Males Gayz

On the Little Empire network. Two gay dudes from New Zealand talk about gay stuff. Also very funny.

Always Open

Another Rooster Teeth podcast. This one’s really funny and mostly lady dominated. One of my favorites.

The Alton Brown Cast

Alton Brown has a podcast. He talks to people. It’s as interesting as you think it is.

Darkest Night

I forget how I found this one, too. Probably from one of those podcast recommendation lists? It’s recorded with one of those binarual mics, so headphones is strongly suggested for this one. It’s a horror podcast, and a pretty gory one, too. Very intense at times.

Rose Buddies

Griffin McElroy and his wife, Rachel, watch the Bachelor family of products and then talk about them. I’ve never watched the Bachelor or any of those. This is one of my favorite podcasts.

The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel

Young Adult podcast! Made for younger kids, like 8-13 range probably? Young kids do the voice acting as well. This is a high production affair. Sci-fi kind of story, and a good story.

Mystery Show

Surprisingly charming. Real life podcast, like Serial, only Starlee Kine, the narrator/creator, is good at solving small mysteries. Only 6 episodes. A season 2 was planned, but then Starlee was apparenly abruptly fired from whatever company was producing this or something? She said she’s working on s2, but it’s a lot harder now.

Small Town Horror

Another horror/mystery podcast. Oddly distressing at times, but intentionally so.

State of the Realm

Final Fantasy XIV podcast. They just talk about the game.

Jerk City

Audio readings of the comics. Sounds like people call in to a voicemail box and read them. It’s very avant garde.

Silent Key

Another podcast by the Jerk City people. I’m... not really sure what this is? It’s like that thing, modern art elicits an emotion out of you but you don’t know what that emotion is or why? That’s why I still listen to this one.

The Dark Tome

A story podcast. The framing device is pretty good, a book that transports you to the story itself, but this feels like one of those shows that used to be on Saturdays at like 11 to trick you into learning about classic literature. Definitely feels like it should be a TV show rather than a podcast.

Surprisingly Nice

Travis McElroy and Hal Lublin (of Thrilling Adventure Hour fame, Steve Carlsburg from Night Vale) talk to people and have a “Surprisingly Nice” chat with them.

Point Mystic

Another supernatural mystery show. Just started not that long ago and they just wrapped up their first story. Really enjoyable.

Hosting

Another Little Empire podcast. Guy from Worst Idea of All Time played host to a friend from Australia for 7 days and they recorded a podcast every day and it just gets more and more absurd.

Polidicks

American politics as told by an american journalist and a New Zealander, namely Tim from Worst Idea of All Time. Just started with this one.

Missing Richard Simmons

I was super interested in this when it started, but I’ve read a few articles decrying it and now I feel weird about it. It has one more episode to go, so I guess I’ll ride it out for one more week.

Rabbits

The last and newest one from Pacific Northwest Stories. Very similar to the other two, except this one is about a cryptic ARG thing.

The second playlist is New Pods, and it’s a newer playlist. In the last monthish I added a bunch of new podcasts, so in order to keep up with the above but also be able to work my way through the newer ones, I made a separate playlist. I put a date cap on it, so this playlist is all podcasts where the first episode is from 2014 on. I was up to Feb 2015, but then I added about 15 new podcasts yesterday? day before? from an ask a friend reblogged and I’m in Sept of 2014 now. 3rd playlist is podcasts that started before 2014. I didn’t want to back up so far that it would take me a year to get caught up, so that playlist is a lower priority.

Podcasts that I am currently working my way through, have listened to at least a couple episodes, all on playlist 2:

Plumbing the Death Star

From the Sans Pants Radio network. Some Australian dudes debate about nerdy stuff in the way nerdy people do, like What Hogwarts House would you be in? or How does Thor get a haircut? Currently In Feb 2014 on this one.

Shut Up a Second

Also from Sans Pants Radio. Kind of like Plumbing the Death Start except not exclusively nerdy stuff. They just talk about anything.

Wolf 359

Just started this one as part of the last round of additions. So far so good.

Pleasure Town

Also just started.

Ones I haven’t listened to yet, but are subscribed to, either on playlist 2 or 3:

D&D Is for Nerds

Dinosaur Park

Boone Shepherd

Movie Maintenance

Super Gym Friends

The Glass Canon

Ghostbusters Resurrection

Dungeons and Doritos

Pokeballs of Steelix

Nerdy Show Book Club

The Orphans

The Call of Cthulhu

Liberty

Mabel

King Falls AM

Alba Salix

The Penumbra Podcast

The Bridge

EOS 10

The Elysium

The Magnus Archives

Greater Boston

Return Home

Our Fair City

And that’s everything in my podcatcher.

#long post #very long post #man that is a long post #stfrancisofasses

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thatsnotcanonpodcasts · 4 years

Text

Pegg, Dungeon & Hanabi

Welcome back for another amazing episode from the triplets of mayhem, the Nerds Amalgamated crew. This week we have an excellent show for you to enjoy with everyone in fine form and having fun. The first topic of the week is from DJ looking into Simon Pegg claiming that cinema appears to be dying. Now does this relate to the comments about thin margins in movies? Well, that is a good question and if you want to know more you will have to listen in to find out. But we are you will laugh when you listen to this section.

Next up Professor unveils his darker side and lures us into a dungeon…. What, he doesn’t… oops sorry apparently that was supposed to be Professor tells us about a dungeon game made by an AI. My apologies, but it is a reasonably easy mistake to make, after all he is a bit of a mad scientist. But this is looking really cool and fun, some of the options in this are pretty outstanding. Once again this is not a warning about AI trying to take over the world…yet.

Last up we have an AI system that is learning how to work co-operatively with people, and possibly manipulating them. Buck brings us a story about some research from Facebook’s AI team that is pretty darn well ground breaking in regards to the results being achieved. We are talking about an attempt to formulate a near perfect response to an imperfect problem. What does that mean, well listen in and you can find out.

As usual we have the games being played, with Buck changing his at the last second which is kind of cool. Then this is followed by the regular variety of shout outs, remembrances, birthdays, and special events. We are offering a new service, if you are feeling a little pompous and wish to regain that sense of reality Buck is offering to develop a personal insult just for you. As always please remember to take care of yourselves, look out for each other and stay hydrated.

Simon Pegg: "Theatrical Cinema, Sadly, Appears to Be Dying"- https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/simon-pegg-theatrical-cinema-sadly-appears-be-dying-1258252

A.I. Dungeon: a game made by A.I. - https://www.aidungeon.io/

Facebook A.I. takes on the Hanabi - https://techxplore.com/news/2019-12-hanabi-facebook-ai-cooperative-gameplay.html

Games currently playing

Buck

– Jet Rush - https://www.crazygames.com/game/jet-rush

Rating : 3/5

Professor

– Mirror’s Edge - https://store.steampowered.com/app/17410/Mirrors_Edge/

Rating : 4.5/5

– You Have to Burn The Rope - https://www.crazygames.com/game/you-have-to-burn-the-rope

Rating : 3.5/5