some hermit lineups! good character design practice :D

Ranking Precure seasons purely on design and concept because I'm up early anyways (least favourite to most) Part 1.

18. Happiness Charge Precure

They're magical girl outfits have the least distinctive personalities with only minor differences from each other. I understand they were going for a Sailor Moon idea with a uniform style but the appearance of the outfits are very underwhelming to me. They're plain even for just overall magical girls, tbh.

17. Doki Doki Precure

It's mostly the hair that throws me off. It's a mixture of normal strands to big blobs. I wish they committed to the stylized hair and got rid of the fringes or else I'm stuck trying to understand how Cure Rosetta's pigtails work that would still make her bangs possible.

I like the overall drop-down dresses but its mismatched appearance feels like a bombardment of layers and shapes that don't mix harmoniously. I wouldn't be against an asymmetrical style if this Precure was heavily alternative but it ends up clashing with the cutesy atmosphere instead.

16. Precure Splash Star

This one is victim to being the first new precures after the original where they barely changed it up. It just ends up being the lesser version of the classic that made itself impossible to not make comparisons.

I do like the idea of Cure Egret's first outfit that lost its uniqueness in the new one just to match with Cure Bright. Cure Bright's outfit does upgrade as the greens in her old outfit didn't match her but it's nice they maintained green as an accent for her new one!

15. Healin' Good Precure

The designs are lovely and elegant, theres nothing inherently wrong with it but it's visually weak compared to its predecessors and descendants. I don't have much to say because there's just not much to say about it, to be honest. It's just kind of generic.

14. Smile Precure

I love the wild and creative hairstyles and the hair wings but that is really the only unique visual aspect to Smile. Also questionable transformation tool that markets wearing makeup to young girls which I know isn't new but still feels patriarchal and groomy. 😅

13. Soaring Sky! Precure

I have mixed feelings. I really dig Cure Sky's design and it's cool for the protagonist to be blue this time! I'm not into the puffy arm bands but the cape adds so much flare! Cure Prisms' softer design bounces off Cure Sky nicely and she looks great!

The other too... I despise honestly lol. It's cool we finally get a boy Precure as a part of the pack and that he isn't stereotypically masculine but his hair and outfit feels so unflattering. Cure Butterfly's outfit has the same issue with Doki Doki Precure and the merged arm sleeves are unsettling to me.

12. Delicious Party Precure

The style is meant to have festival vibes with traditional design elements which is a cool idea! It's a fun burst of colours with a cohesive theme but it doesn't stick in my mind. I wish all the girls leaned more into the cultural aesthetics but besides Cure Yum Yum (who I think is one of the best Precure Designs overall), they're mostly Victorian-esque which should've been unique to Cure Finale. Speaking of her, although I like her design, I also have a gripe with the blonde hair and blue eyes because it feels Eurocentric. And when her normal appearance is dark haired, she honestly feels white washed to me...

11. Tropical Rouge Precure

I love the designs and they gave such a unique concept, I just don't end up feeling strongly about this series. The designs feel a bit busy to me although I do love that Cure Summer isn't predominantly pink. She has a very unique look but other than her, everyone just feels like another iteration of past precures.

10. Suite Precure

Cure Melody and Cure Rythm slay, their designs are perfect! I love the music concept and their appearance bounce off each other just as well as Cure Black and Cure White did. The other girls ruin the cohesion for me, tbh and I don't really like their outfits. 🫤

Thoughts on Ben 10

I've seen that some people started doing reactions series of the original Ben 10 show on Youtube, and seeing their reactions got me kinda nostalgic and in the mood to talk about it a little since I honestly really, really like this show.

So I figured, why not just make a post about my feelings towards the franchise, characters, aliens, storylines, and overall just sharing what I liked about it?

Guess I should start with the obligatory "For those who never watched the show or know nothing about Ben 10..."

Basically, this series is about this one kid who has a watch that allows him to turn into a bunch of different aliens for a short period of time, and uses it to help people and fight bad guys while going on travels around the country with his grandpa and cousin.

At first he starts with only ten aliens (thus giving the show its name) but as time goes on he keeps adding more and more to his list trough different ways (thus completely invalidating the show's name). Sometimes he will unlock a new alien at random, sometimes he will meet someone that will use a code on the watch that will unlock it for him, and other times he will collect the DNA of other aliens he fights.

The aliens the kid turns into are the highlight of the show.

Each one has its own unique design, ability, voice, body behavior, way of moving and other little things that make all of them feel distinct and unique. (You can check out one of the official artist's DeviantArt page to see some of his comments on many of the designs and how hard they were to animate.)

What was cool about the show is that you never knew what alien Ben was going to use to save the day so it made the experience feel fresh and exciting as you kept wondering what was going to happen, kinda like when you play a gacha game and you don't know what you're gonna pull out.

It's like having an entire Justice League or Avengers team inside one person. You had all these great characters that you knew little to nothing about and you would just watch and wait to see what was cool about each of them, and the show always did the best it could to make each alien feel as cool as possible... Except for Ripjaws, it was clear that after a while they had no idea what to do with him.

Everyone had their favorite aliens who they hoped would get used in the episode, but it was also nice to see other aliens you might not think you would like also getting the spotlight and making you realize everyone can be useful if given the chance and used in the right way.

It promoted the idea of experimenting with new things and exploring untapped potential.

Aside from the alien roster, the show also had fun playing around with its premise. Usually Ben would do something that affected his normal human form and that would have some effect on his alien forms as well.

For example, one episode Ben got showered by the fountain of youth and turned into a kid, so all his aliens de-aged as well, other time he went inside a videogame so his aliens started to wear gaming clothes like Sora in Kingdom Hearts 2. Another episode had Ben get a cold so his fire alien turned into an ice alien, another had him be stuck for one alien form for the entire episode, another one had him break the watch and anytime he transformed it would randomly combine two aliens.

It felt like the writers were trying to do anything they could with the idea of a watch that turns you into different creatures, like they were trying to have fun with its own premise.

Like, you would see the episode where the aliens get younger or older and you would go "well, now I want to see what all of them younger or older look like!" and that would just make your imagination go crazy.

Same thing for the episode where they mix two aliens together, imagine the massive amount of fanart that this episode inspired!

There were also episodes where Ben would turn into Halloween creatures like a werewolf, a mummy, or a ghost, but each of them still had the "that's an alien not a monster" theme around them, so again you would go "What would a vampire alien look like? What would a demon alien look like? What would a dragon alien look like?"

It just kept building and building on top of different possibilities.

Ben 10 was so good because it made you feel rewarded for being a kid, rewarded for being curious, for having creativity, for enjoying weird and out-of-the-box ideas.

It rewarded you for wanting to have fun and wanting to play around with different ideas.

Even the villain. You could teel that the creators were trying to have fun with what they could come up for Ben to fight with.

They had a guy that was some sort of abomination that combined all of Ben's aliens, a dude with the head of a squid that could turn off Ben's powers with the touch of his finger, a mad scientist that always kept trying to steal the DNA from Ben's aliens and fusing it with animals, and even one of Ben's own aliens who managed to come to life and escape from the watch.

Watching this show was basically a game of "Okay, what idea are the writers gonna explore this time? What crazy thing will they do now?" Like, they later make it so his cousin can use magic spells, and they also later reveal his grandpa was a secret agent who happens to have a lot of high-tech, and they would mix all this stuff while fighting crime and saving the day.

It was just fun. This was just a really fun show.

But... It wasn't perfect...

The biggest problem of the series was that the sense of character development was non-existent.

This series had three main characters, Ben, his cousin, and his grandpa, and the relationship and chemistry between then is pretty much the same throughout the whole thing.

Ben is always immature and jumping into things without thinking, his cousin is always nagging and butting heads with him, and his grandpa always has a pretty good lesson to teach that everyone is just going to forget in the next episode.

There are so many times that I'm watching this and going "Ben should know better than this" because he keeps making the same mistakes over and over again and it gets really tiresome after a while.

Same thing with his cousin, they keep writing scenes where her and Ben just keep bickering and arguing for no reason and it just makes them feel so annoying to watch.

I never got why animated shows think watching people bickering is fun, to me it's just obnoxious. My least favorite part of any Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle show is when Raph and Leo just start fighting because the plot says so. I guess you could say it's realistic that teens would argue but... Just because it's realistic doesn't make it enjoyable.

There is also the fact that I never felt the show truly dived into why we should root for Ben or why he wants to be a hero.

For instance, there is a scene where Ben sees a city getting attacked and he just starts smiling as if he's glad he gets a chance to be the hero and fight bad guys.

I never felt Ben wanted to help people because he cared about people, honestly it felt like he just wanted to feel the joy of being a superhero. Which, again, he's a kid, so probably it's realistic, but realistic doesn't instantly means good.

For a show about a kid that could turn into ten heroes, they never really sold why Ben had what it takes to be a hero.

That's not to say they didn't had episodes about Ben being humble, noble, or heroic, they actually had a lot of them. They had episodes about him facing his fears to save his cousin, learning the value of teamwork, learning to put others' needs before his, learning to let go of personal desires for the greater good... But these things just never stacked on.

I never got a sense that Ben was growing from his experiences, it felt like he was just learning some random lesson to get through the episode, which is a shame because a lot of those were some really good lessons, and good lessons for kids no less, but they would just be forgotten by the time the next episode started because... I don't know, I guess they just liked Ben being very flawed and immature.

But honestly, even with this tiny problem, it's still a really good show. It has a lot of creative action, some really inventive designs, and like I said, It just does a great job promoting the idea of having fun.

I particularly love the scene where they show Ben inventing "diamond surfing", like, how can anyone look at that and not think this is gonna be a fun show?

So yeah, small lack of character development aside, I still recommend this series.

I also want to talk about the other pieces of media that also take place in this series' timeline.

"Protector of Earth" is a licensed game that came out around the Ps2/Ps3 era and I remember being honestly a lot of fun. It was a beat-em-up where you could play as five aliens while having access to some honestly really creative attack combos. It was also how I, a non-English speaker, finally found out why the alien "XLR8" was named like that.

"Secret of the Omnitrix" was a movie that had a premise of the watch accidentally going into self-destruct mode and had Ben travel through space in order to find the inventor of the watch so he could ask him to turn it off. Really good movie overall, just wish they had tried to be a tiny bit more creative with the action scenes. There are way too many "laser shooting" fights and the final battle is basically Ben getting an "I win" button. It was kinda anticlimactic tbh.

"Destroy all Aliens" is another movie but this time done in 3D. I actually liked this one a lot. They had Ben be stuck with some sort of randomizer feature so he keeps shifting from alien to alien every couple of minutes while fighting a guy that can teleport, so we get some really creative action scenes with all the aliens as they keep going from one part of the globe to the other.

There is also a live-action movie called "Race against time" that... Surely is a movie that exists...

Honestly, the most I can say about it is that I'll never understand why they didn't give the title "Race Against Time" to the movie about the watch going into self-destruct mode, kinda feels like a no-brainer to me.

Then we have the sequels, Alien Force and Ultimate Alien...

And I'm going to sincerely apologize to all of its fans right now but I really don't like either of these shows.

I don't want to talk about them too much since my feelings towards them are mostly negative and I don't want to dunk on what could possibly be someone's favorite show... But they just did so little for me.

Now, I'm not saying they're bad, just saying that I myself didn't like either of them very much... But while I don't like these shows, I do like certain things in them.

Alien Force is about Ben, who's now five years older, teaming up with his cousin again, as well as one of his former enemies now turned ally, and getting a new set of ten aliens.

The idea of ten new aliens seemed cool at first. Honestly, when I first heard about the show I thought the new aliens were like fusions of the old aliens, like one looked like a fusion of an ice alien and a ghost alien, one looked like a fusion of a cloning alien and a small alien, and another looked like a plant and fire alien. They looked really cool and they had some really creative designs.

The plant/fire one and the ghost/ice one actually became some personal favorites of mine. They had some really fun and creative powers.

The ice one in particular apparently got really popular with fans due to the idea of being a moth that rested its wings in the shape of a cloak, kinda like they used to do in Gargoyles, and because they gave it an interesting episode where it gives birth to a ton of babies... That, as far as I know, we never see again. 🤔

As for the others aliens... They were there... I'm sure they all have their fans, I'm just not one of them.

Ultimate Alien was basically more Alien Force, except now some of the aliens could "Mega Evolve."

And again, a lot of the evolved forms didn't really do much for me, except for the ultimate form of the clone alien, which legit felt both really cool and really creative. I just loved that design.

Aside from that though, not really much positive I can say about these two shows. It just wasn't for me.

And finally, there was Ben 10 Omniverse, by far the most ambitious Ben 10 show.

They ditched the whole evolution thing but Ben now had access to basically every alien he ever had in the entire franchise, as well as every villain he ever had before, and they were a lot more open about the idea of exploring other planets and seeing different alien worlds. The world-building (universe-building?) took a major focus in here.

They also kept trying to push this odd gimmick of going back to the original 10-year-old Ben.

Sometimes Ben would travel back in time, or flashback to when he was a kid, sometimes he would switch brains with his body from the past, sometimes he would shrink into a kid, and other times he would visit another dimension from when he was still young and see how he would have turned out if he had no grandpa.

Basically, the name of the game changed from "how can we explore the idea of a person with access to ten aliens in a creative way?" to "how can we tie back to the original show?"

It seemed like they were trying to go back to its original focus of exploring the potential of its premise, but this time going a lot more out-of-the-box than ever before.

Getting to see every single past alien again was really cool but many of the new aliens added kinda felt like filler.

There is like one or two that I really liked, like this one alien that's like a living planet with its own gravity, but most of them just looked lame to me.

But, again, every alien from the past is here, so even if had an episode where you don't like one or two of the aliens used, you would still have five or six of the classic ones to enjoy, which was always refreshing.

The writing still didn't have that big of a sense of progression but I liked this Ben a lot more than the old Ben from the first show. I actually think this series had the best character writing out of all of them. Everyone here has great chemistry and is a lot more charming than before.

Sometimes the tone was also hit-and-miss. It would often try too hard to be humorous and end up losing a sense of stakes, making you feel like you were watching a cartoon instead of an animated show, but still had plenty of things to like.

They tried a lot of new things (sometimes way too many), most of them I liked, some of them I didn't, but I still appreciate them taking the risk to try.

Ben 10 is overall a very interesting franchise and I'm always curious to see what they try to do next with it.

Review: Kaiju No. 8 vol. 1

By Dustin Cabeal

The quick and straightforward way to describe this is a Kaiju take on Marvel’s Damage Control. Damage Control asked the question of “who fixes the city after a superhero battle” and has varying degrees of seriousness and success of the years. Kaiju no. 8 begins by asking the question, who cleans up after a giant Kaiju is defeated? Certainly not the people that put the monster down, that is for damn sure.

The story follows Kafka Hibino who works for a cleanup crew that hacks up and gets rid of defeated Kaiju. He is assigned a new part-timer to train, and they share an awkward exchange when it comes out that Kafka wanted to join the defense corps before setting into his role as a cleaner. The new kid, Reno Ichikawa, is interested in why Kafka gave up and at first, they do not particularly like each other. Eventually, they find themselves a ground zero for a new Kaiju appearance and Kafka saves Reno and vice versa. The two men end up in a hospital and talk about joining the Defense Corps together as Reno and reignited Kafka’s interest. Which is all great until a bug looking Kaiju flies into Kafka’s gaping mouth and turns him into a Kaiju.

The two men end up fleeing together as Kafka discovers his newfound powers and eventually turns back into a human. They story then flashes forward several months as the two men get ready to take the practical test of joining the Defense Corps. They meet a prodigy girl that’s only sixteen years old that wipes the floor with all the Kaiju, which is until another humanoid Kaiju shows up and revives all of them making them more powerful.

Having the second volume of this series already it was incredibly difficult to stop myself from reading it. Manga reviews tend to get messy when you have too much story material to pull from and I really wanted this first volume to get its fair shake before I dove into the second volume. While I want you to read this review, I also want you to stop reading it and go check out the story as it has the makings of the next big thing from Viz. There are only a handful of stories that I have had this same desire with, One Punch Man, Black Clover and Twin Star Exorcists. Those are all heavy hitters in the manga and anime world.

What is nice about the story is that for once it is not about a high school kid. It is a dude in his thirties deciding not to give up on his dreams and getting a second lease on life. He is not trying to be the best; he is trying to be a part of a team that he feels makes a difference in the world. During the practical test he plays a support role knowing that without his Kaiju powers he can only do so much. Yes, there is the childhood friend storyline in which he is trying to catch up to her, but at least right now he is not trying to be best or the top dog. He is just trying to get a role on the team.

While the writing and characters are nothing particularly new, they are masterfully written. Well written character types will succeed every time because it is good enough to hook you and that is what happens with Kaiju No. 8. Frankly, I would have been happy with the story sticking with Kafka cleaning and gutting monsters, but where it went was enjoyable and relatable.

The artwork is well-balanced. It does comedy well, but then it also stays serious when needed as well. The two share a style rather than one breaking from the style like it often does when comedic elements are added to a story. Kafka’s Kaiju form is detailed and very cool looking. There is definitely some recent manga and movie influences on the design which gave the Kaiju a distinctive look. Overall, the action and designs are wonderful.

Simply put this has the makings of being the next big manga. It is not a perfect first volume as there are several wasted pages introducing a character in the least interesting way possible, but overall, it is an addictive read. I cannot wait to see what happens in the second volume and I will likely return with a review when I do. For now, it scores extremely high, but falls just short of a perfect score.

Naoya Matsumoto Viz Media

Score: 4/5

“How do I love thee, Lords of the Fallen 2? Let me count the ways…”

Having somewhat recently finished my first playthrough of the 2023 Lords of the Fallen, and after immediately starting a second playthrough, I wanted to put together some thoughts on the game; however, I also wanted to avoid writing another Mortal Shell - sized epic, so I am going with an internet staple: a clearly delineated list, with five entries just because. There are issues I could talk about at great length—like the enemy variety or how the “rune” system of passive bonuses equipable on weapons feels kind of boring or limited—but I want to focus on the things that I feel led to me ultimately loving Lords of the Fallen 2 overall since that feels more fun and better suited to this intentionally limiting frame than trying to say something comprehensive.

I LOVE THE LEVEL/WORLD DESIGN…

“I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight”

While I enjoyed Elden Ring and Lies of P for the most part, one area where both of those games kind of disappointed me was in their individual approaches to the recursive and generally labyrinthine level and world design people associate with the Souls­-like sub-genre of ARPGs. I thought Elden Ring was too much of an open world game on the whole, with too much empty space and checklist-style design, while Lies of P was pushing in the opposite direction, with conventional linear levels so focused that they lacked a strong element of exploration. Both of those games do have some brilliant bits, but Lords of the Fallen 2023 was just a lot more satisfying to me in this regard.

It doesn’t reach the level of flexibility that the first half of the original Dark Souls has, but it often surprised me with just how consistently good it was at sending me out from a checkpoint, spinning me around five or so times, and then leading me back to that checkpoint again (to my surprise). It’s obviously more focused than Elden Ring since it has the more traditional Souls-y structure, but it’s also frequently willing to indulge in nonessential loops or significant dead-ends, in contrast with Lies of P. Furthermore, if you don’t engage with its system of optional checkpoint creation, that requires a consumable item, then some of these loops feel especially brutal, at least on a first playthrough, given the maze-like levels and the enemy numbers and aggression being quite intense.

“World design” factors in here because A) levels do loop back to one another at times in ways that I did not initially anticipate and B) the total space you explore is so dense. It’s not all incredibly interconnected via traversable paths, but as you explore and gain an appreciation for where each area is in relation to the others, you start to notice just how layered everything is. It’s possible to look up from the bottom of the world and place things at the top (or vice versa) in a really satisfying manner. In the end, you make your way all over, down, around, and under this particular mass of land that the game’s explorable world is situated upon. The effect reminded me most of Dark Souls 3, maybe especially because that is another game of this type where there isn’t an abundance of interconnectivity but where you can see the whole world from very early on and then get to spend the rest of the game traveling through it and visiting all the locations you were shown, while also looking back (often up) at the places you already traveled through.

I LOVE UMBRAL…

“. . . [I]f God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.”

In still images, Lords of the Fallen 2 can look quite impressive visually, albeit in a sometimes “default” Unreal Engine sort of (Maximum Polygons) way, but there is a certain amount of crustiness to it when you dig in and get up close and personal. I’m not some kind of graphics obsessive or someone who really cares about console power and whatnot, but the most distinctive “current gen” aspect of Lords of the Fallen 2023 is probably the element of “Umbral,” which represents both a technical showcase and an intensification of an idea that’s been developing across other, similar games.

In Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, you can die (at least) twice thanks to the resurrection mechanic that lets you revive on the spot where you were killed to continue fighting. In Mortal Shell, losing all of your health causes the “Foundling” to be ejected from whatever “shell” it’s inhabiting, where you could keep fighting in that extremely fragile state or could scramble to get back into your body before a single hit kills you. Lords of the Fallen 2 intensifies and expands on this concept by instantly (without a loading screen) sending you to what amounts to the realm of the dead when you’re killed initially, with true death coming only if you also die in this Umbral zone. It’s actually possible to technically die again and again without resetting an area as long as you can escape from Umbral at one of the designated exit points, which crumble upon use.

Probably the most succinct way to explain Umbral is that it’s the Otherworld from the Silent Hill franchise, but entering and exiting it is completely seamless and freeform. Being in Umbral changes the game world into something more Fucked Up. Some of the changes are just visual, but Umbral does also come with new landmasses, interactable objects, and enemies as well that sit naturally beside, around, and amidst what you could see before, effectively creating the impression of a ghostly land that’s always just out of sight all around you.

One cool concept here is the Umbral Lamp, which has various active functions (like yanking the soul out of your enemies temporarily) but which will passively let you see into Umbral if you just hold it up. Doing this reveals the hidden environment and also allows a limited interaction between the planes. I tested this very early in my first playthrough when I noticed that a wall in Umbral had this grotesque protrusion that I assumed would have collision tied to it. Walking along that wall without the lamp raised was perfectly smooth, but if I held the lamp up, I’d collide with the obstacle. Keep in mind that you can pull out the lamp whenever you want and swing it over whatever part of the environment you like. I’m not technically in the know enough to evaluate exactly how impressive this is, but it’s a neat trick that feels like it might show off the hardware.

Umbral adds so much to the exploration of the game because of how any given area is essentially doubled, though not all spaces have anything meaningful to see or find in the other realm. It’s often used as a puzzle-solving mechanic, where you have to willingly enter Umbral (risking true death) to bypass an obstacle, possibly via a path that only exists in the world of the dead. A fun horror visual you encounter a few times in the game is moving, in Umbral, along the bottom of a body of water, with plant life waving and debris and corpses floating around you like the water was still present. Even when Umbral isn’t used for anything meaningful, looking into it still reveals these extra macabre environmental details, like saintly statues that appear demonic if you shine your lamp on them. I accidentally jump-scared myself at times because I’d hold up the lamp, only to find an enemy from Umbral staring me in the face, or shrieking and taking a swipe at me as I yelped and dropped the lantern, narrowly avoiding being dragged into Umbral from the ghostly contact.

I LOVE THE “DREAD” METER (AND OTHER DISPLAY STUFF)…

“I love thee to the level of everyday’s

Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.”

I’m cheating a bit with this item, but, at least initially, this is an extension of what I was talking about before. When you are in Umbral, you have a limited amount of time to explore, as the number and type of enemies that continuously spawn around you from these little statues/frozen figures intensifies with time, ultimately culminating in the appearance of a very powerful reaper-like creature that starts hunting you down. I had some narrow escapes during my first playthrough of Lords of the Fallen 2, where I entered Umbral (willingly or not) and then only just managed to reach an exit point or checkpoint to escape before triggering the reaper’s appearance, or sometimes even as it was actively chasing me.

The meter that tells you how close you are to doom is a wonderful visual, though: It’s primarily this giant eye icon in the upper right part of the screen that periodically blinks (and that shuts when you’re in a safe zone). This was honestly a huge contributing factor to me getting the game after I saw it in pre-release coverage. Rather than go with some innocuous meter or minimalist bit of design, you have this very lively, large eyeball. It’s both goofy and kind of genuinely unsettling.

Other elements of the UI/HUD have a similar level of stylization, most notably the displays associated with the Umbral Lamp and ranged weapon/magic actions. Every character has the lamp, but then the other depends on whether you’re casting magic or are using a bow or various thrown objects. You toggle between these two options with the up and down directional buttons, and holding the left trigger “opens” the selected one, surrounding the larger icon with a bunch of smaller ones indicating actions and button inputs. These are all very colorful, and the arrangement (where the smaller icons sort of ring and overlap with the larger ones) just struck me as some level of idiosyncratic. Initially, the icons are even kind of mysterious or “confusing” in a way that I liked. When you hold up the lamp, for example, you see all these little options, one of which is a skull and another of which looks like a weird fetus.

Also kind of idiosyncratic is the choice to pull the camera into an over-the-shoulder position when the player holds the left trigger to either ready their aim or raise the lamp. I like this flourish because it seems kind of unnecessarily awkward. It helps with manually aiming, I guess, but the shift also makes transitioning from melee to ranged (or lamp) options a little disorienting. In combat, it obscures your view of the battlefield, for example, and while you can still evade, it feels like exposing yourself to take on this perspective. And maybe vulnerability was one consideration here, as this is the perspective from which you use your lamp, so holding it up and peering into the dark, in a sense, is meant to create this appropriate feeling of tension or horror, which is further enhanced by your slowed movement and more limited view.

Or maybe it’s just willfully different to avoid mirroring FromSoftware’s work too directly? There’s part of me that likes that option just as much (if not more) than the marginally more profound one I described above. In either case, seeing this awkward view change in the pre-release footage also charmed me.

I LOVE THAT IT IS LORDS OF THE FALLEN 2…

“I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints. . . .”

While I was initially intrigued at the prospect of a sequel to the 2014 Lords of the Fallen, I kind of… fell out of interest with it when I started thinking about what the massive time jump and the title (“THE Lords of the Fallen,” at the time of announcement) suggested about the relationship between the sequel and its predecessor. I did finish that first game and did continue playing it afterward, and probably would have stuck with it even longer if I hadn’t been constantly stressing about backing up my save to a USB flash drive to avoid losing my data to frequent crashes, so this framing of the sequel felt kind of like a snub to me.

What got me back on board and did push me to get it was watching a little of someone’s stream around the release date. When they spoke to a particular character at the hub and he directly referenced the events of the first game, including outright using the name “Antanas,” that was the point I decided to buy Lords of the Fallen 2023. To someone who hasn’t played the first game, I don’t think any of this stuff is too obviously being carried over and will just feel like the usual Souls-like vagueness around names and events and such being dropped casually, sans context. There is part of me that wishes it was more prominent, but I’m fairly content with what I got: Aside from the antagonist Adyr technically “returning” from Lords of the Fallen 1, there are two other characters carried over and one who has a connection via his ancestry.

Having these little footholds of pre-existing investment is ultimately what helped me get interested in the new stuff, I feel. I started out not really connecting with the new characters in a hard-to-describe sort of way. The writing and characterization were fine, I thought, but there was just something “off,” like they were a touch too generic maybe (but maybe that feeling only comes from having played so many of these games now that I recognize the archetypes). Eventually, though, those feelings changed and I did care when characters started meeting their, predictably, tragic ends. Some of these “quests” were more underwhelming than others, but I started caring at some point I can’t exactly identify. I think I also missed the more conventionally RPG-like dialogue system of the first Lords of the Fallen, which is replaced here with the more distant-feeling Soulsian approach of just having other characters as good as monologue at you.

This sequel’s aesthetic ended up being more consistent with the first title than I originally thought. Some shift in the visuals that I find hard to pin down had me thinking, pre-release, that the game was going in a more grounded direction, where the 2014 Lords of the Fallen had this colorful, kind of goofy, comic-book-like look to it. Having now examined the enemy models in particular up close, I think the perceived shift is just a result of more subtle changes that I’m again not qualified to identify specifically; however, the “Rhogar” (read: demon) designs here definitely look like they belong in the same universe from the first game, so it was just some change in… lighting(?) that threw me at first. The one thing I was hoping for that never happened was for the old enemies or areas to somehow return as well as a surprise finale or something. That would have really delighted me. 

I LOVE THAT PARRYING (AND THE GAME) IS A BIT EASY…

“I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.”

Don’t get it twisted—I died a lot in this game, sometimes in ways that felt fair and other times in ways that seemed like BS, though that’s an element of even the “official,” FromSoftware-made, Souls games. I felt tension while exploring in a way that I believe enhances that exploration, and I certainly didn’t go into any fights just assuming I’d win. The threat was there. And yet, I’d say this game is probably easier than any of the other titles I’ve mentioned above, and even that the exploration and moment-to-moment fights might feel tougher than the big bosses in a way that seems awkward or even unintentional. And yet, the game still feels like a true sequel to Lords of the Fallen 2014 in this way, as my impression of some of the post-release discussion around that game was how it was in some ways a more approachable take on this style of RPG. I think Lords of the Fallen 2 carries on that tradition.

One way it does this is through making grinding an incredibly accessible process. Since enemies spawn infinitely in Umbral, it’s easy to do a little grinding without even necessarily meaning to as you simply cut down the weaker demons because they’re either in your way or just on your way (somewhere). You don’t have to constantly visit a checkpoint and reset the level to get more sources of EXP to appear and can instead just go into Umbral and let the EXP come to you.

Bosses and enemies also have simpler move sets than in the more recent other big-name Souls-ish titles, and since enemies repeat so much throughout the game, you can get pretty comfortable with them individually. Parrying, as previously noted, also feels easier. That’s partly to do with the enemy repetition giving you so many opportunities to learn their attack patterns and timings, but they also tend to attack in simple and more easily readable ways. Most of them are humanoids, so how they hold and swing their weapons (or limbs) just makes a lot of sense even the first time you encounter them. Parrying is a matter of timing a block with the enemy’s attack, rather than performing any additional inputs, which means that you can also accidentally get parries even as you simply raise your shield or weapon to defend yourself.

I thought I’d try parrying out against the first proper boss—a heavy metal angel with her feet out—just to see how it went and found it so satisfying and reasonable to pull off that it became a staple of my first playthrough. I even went with a lighter, very small shield to maximize the risk of mistiming a parry since I felt so confident doing it (and since it’s possible to regain health in this game through certain mechanics I won’t get into here). The sounds and visuals associated with parrying just felt rewarding, as were the effects associated with breaking an enemy’s stance and delivering a “Grievous Strike,” up to and including the perhaps overly chunky wind-up and splattery noises that are meant to sell the power of the attack.

I reached a point years ago, when I still hadn’t played that many Souls-esque games, where I was no longer interested in punishing duels and was more invested in novelty and mechanics (“gimmick fights,” even). I can still buckle down and learn fights if I have to—and I certainly had to when I played Lies of P—but getting to bypass that process of dying over and over and having to come to terms with the fact that you might have an hour or more of learning ahead of you before you make meaningful progress in the game again seems just fine to me. Re-playing some Elden Ring in preparation for its upcoming expansion, I just found myself kind of tired of the Margits of the gaming world. Lords of the Fallen 2 was arguably too easy at points, even for me with this mindset, but I generally just found it fun. The exploration was the thing that really drew me in—that and sometimes feeling like I was trundling through the cover art of a heavy metal album—and the fights were more so the seasoning than the meal itself.

IN CONCLUSION…

“I love thee freely, as men might strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.”

This game was essentially a gift when I bought it, and if dollars and hours are equivalent, I nearly got my money’s worth with my first playthrough alone. However, I think Lords of the Fallen 2023 had the misfortune of being priced into the same associative tier as titles like God of War: Ragnarök or The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom when it lacks a lot of that polish, scale, and detail and would probably feel more at home at 50 dollars instead. It carries on a bit of its predecessor’s jank, and however massive of an undertaking it actually was to create, it has this scrappy quality to it at times when the seams really show. It was very unfortunate for it to release a month after Lies of P as well—a similar game that was both cheaper and more polished and that also had the more audacious and novel premise.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Lords of the Fallen 2 will receive a critical/popular reappraisal in the future. That’s probably just a safe bet at this point for literally any piece of media, but I genuinely think that the stuff with Umbral and the level and world layouts are going to catch people’s attention in a wider sort of way in time, probably after a price drop or steep sale.

(Title based on and quotes above taken from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 43, “How Do I Love Thee?”)

Minty Marvels: Elegant Decoration A few ideas for Natural Manicures

In the kingdom of nail art, the color green has appeared as a robust mark of vigor, taste, and organic beauty. Furnished natural nails are becoming a canvas for artistic term, letting people to display their creativity and accept the stimulating attraction with this functional hue. In this informative article, we will search into the planet of decorated green fingernails, discovering the different developments, practices, and inspirations that have produced this model a favorite among fingernail enthusiasts.

Nature's Palette: Green, often related to nature, starts up many possibilities for fingernail artists. From rich woods to tranquil meadows, nature provides being an abundant supply of creativity for furnished green nails. Flowered designs, leafy motifs, and also miniature landscapes could be skillfully constructed on nails, getting a touch of the outdoors to fingertips.

Tones of Green: The spectral range of natural provides a substantial selection of hues, each evoking a unique mood. Whether it's the calmness of mint, the abundance of emerald, or the playfulness of calcium, choosing the right tone can significantly impact the overall design. Nail artists experiment with gradients, ombre consequences, and color-blocking to produce visually spectacular compositions.

Geometric Charisma: For people who prefer a modern and edgy look, geometric habits on green fingernails can be quite a interesting choice. Triangles, lines, and irregular designs in diverse colors may add a modern sparkle to your manicure. The combination of precision and boldness makes geometric nail art a standout option.

Elaborate Wilderness: Have a walk on the crazy side with dog prints and jungle-inspired designs. Decorated green fingernails can be changed into a material for showcasing the sweetness of wildlife. Believe leopard places, zebra stripes, or even tiny palm trees – these whimsical details add some adventure to your manicure. esmaltes Azul da Risqué

Metallic Accents: Elevate your natural nail artwork with metallic accents. Silver, silver, or copper explaining may bring a little style and class to your manicure. Metallic foil, men, or even opera completes could be logically integrated to spotlight specific aspects of your nail design.

Periodic Sounds: Observe the adjusting times by integrating periodic elements into your natural nail art. Consider autumn leaves for drop, snowflakes for cold weather, or blooming flowers for spring. Establishing your fingernail artwork to fit the conditions allows for a powerful and ever-changing highlight of creativity.

Social Influences: Examine the rich tapestry of social influences that could motivate your furnished green nails. From standard patterns and representations to contemporary interpretations, there's a success of style things which can be incorporated. Henna-inspired motifs, Celtic knots, or Japanese cherry flowers are just a couple examples.

Ombré Elegance: Ombré, the slow mixing of just one color into another, adds a touch of style to green nails. Try with different hues of green or mix natural with complementary shades for an easy transition. The delicate and water character of ombré generates a subtle yet captivating effect.

Eco-Friendly Glam: In the nature of environmental mind, natural fingernails can also be a statement of eco-friendly glamour. Consider applying fingernail shines which can be cruelty-free, vegetarian, and environmentally sustainable. Coupling elegant fingernail artwork with moral choices provides a coating of function to your manicure.

Conclusion: Furnished green claws have transcended the limits of old-fashioned nail art, learning to be a symbol of creativity, uniqueness, and a connection to nature. Whether you go for elaborate floral types, geometric patterns, or social motifs, the appeal of natural claws lies in their capacity to tell a distinctive and personal story. So, embrace the verdant verve and allow your fingertips become a fabric for self-expression and style.

Techniques For Achieving A Lovely Decor Look

Are you currently searching for artistic ways to liven up your own home but are lacking in home design expertise? Chill out, there is no need to worry since generating one's property seem updated is just not that complicated and relatively easy. With just sofa gỗ óc chó nguyên khối and style ideas, you are able to transform a dull house into one that dazzles. Carry on for a few fantastic home design ideas! thiết bị nhà vệ sinh decorating is manufactured easier by using a software application. There are many courses that will enable you to go on a picture of your own present area and produce your look inside of that photo. This is certainly a great way to picture the changes in the room before making them happen. One of many simplest steps in decor entails artwork an area. Painting gives a place a new appearance, also it can totally modify the experiencing within the place. Painting allows you to put a dash of your own person design in the place, and it is an economical approach to begin redesigning your property. Utilize your individual photos as graphics. As a cheaper plus more personal approach to embellish your wall surfaces, use pictures that you've undertaken. Both have printing produced and body them or use one of the many photo-to-fabric suppliers to have your image produced right into a art gallery material. In case you are far more technician-experienced, it is possible to alter your photographs in computer software to make them look even more like graphics. Make creative utilization of pillows and mats. These are low-cost and can modify the attitude of a space quickly. Play with distinct designs, shades, and designs to discover what fits you very best. The beauty of bedroom pillows and rugs is that you can shift those to yet another room when you need another appearance. Integrate artwork into spaces in your home, whether or not they are paintings, photographs or images. This could go along with the theme of your home that you select and will help you to boost the overall look. In case you are a young house owner, you are able to frame traditional artwork to add to the classiness of your property. It is essential that any place has adequate lighting. The entire frame of mind of a area changes with ample illumination. Kitchen and bathrooms need sufficient illumination to be able to functionality appropriately. However, https://chauruadep.com could flaunt an excessive amount of electricity in rooms where by you wish to have a subtler feeling. Rooms call for a dimmer lighting effects construction. Are you wondering how you can make the gourmet coffee kitchen table easier to check out and much less jumbled? Think about putting a few key items about the espresso kitchen table like some sizeable books along with a tiny vase with some cut plants, this really is a nice contact for just about any area. When hanging photographs, make an effort to team like subjects and support frames with each other. The series ought to be the centerpiece from the room and arranged inside the bounds of your imaginary larger sized body adding every piece inside using the intention of matching the other and all of them employed in artistic equilibrium. Rather than shelling out lots of money on re-creating your living room, try and rearrange your household furniture. Not only is changing the furnishings all around less costly, nevertheless it can improve the complete truly feel from the area. It is important to measure your couch along with other furniture well before shifting them close to this will stop you from seeking to match your home furniture into spots that they can not easily fit into. As mentioned in the article above, not everyone is a artistic brilliance however it is not really that complex to make excellent ways to give your own home an entirely new and up-to-date seem. By incorporating easy ideas you learned right here, it is possible to include this data and use it to the own liveable space to present that great fresh seem you have been seeking.

Produce A Elegant Abode By Using These Home Design Tips

Handful of home improvement tasks may have the particular main effect a solid, properly-organized decor plan can. thiết kế chung cư of establishing such a plan has the type of in-dept understanding of this issue essential to create your total eyesight possible. Go ahead and take methods and direction inside the report under to cardiovascular system, and you will definitely quickly be designing internal places that are the envy from the community. A wonderful way to liven up an or else boring or complex room is to produce a point of concentration in the room. This center of attention may become the emphasize of the place, and everything that's inside the room will work to support the point of interest. Central factors to think about doing work all around consist of fireplaces, home windows, artworks and stately pieces of furniture. Anybody who is planning an area in their house would be a good idea to integrate dangle artwork about the walls. Graphics does a great job of making your living area seem comprehensive. Just make sure you select a item or two that meshes with all the current furnishings of your room you might be planning. Make innovative usage of cushions and carpets. They are inexpensive and may alter the mindset of the place rapidly. Enjoy distinct composition, colors, and prints to view what fits you very best. The best thing about bedroom pillows and rugs is that you could shift them to yet another space if you want a different appear. Ensure you have all the storage area you need. You'll never ever obtain a area that appears want it became available of your newspaper if there's mess all over the place. Try to find eye-catching storage units protected inside a material that matches the other space. Whenever you make storage space an integral part of your design and style, it's easy to produce a place look wonderful. Use slipcovers. When you have older couches and settees that you are currently getting tired of, take into consideration basically getting a slipcover to pay for them. Slipcovers are available in all styles and colors, so you are sure to find one that fits the decor at your residence. Ensure that you clean the slipcover frequently. Sometimes, improving your home requires basically altering out some units. You may use window entry doors vs traditional solid wood doorways so you can create your home brighter and open up your home. You are able to highlight your cupboards with some aesthetically appealing sections. Incorporate craft into bedrooms in your home, whether they are paintings, photos or images. This can go along with the style of the property that you just pick and will assist you to increase the overall appearance. Should you be a youthful homeowner, you are able to framework traditional art work to enhance the elegance of your residence. As an alternative to replacing your bed room and cooking area drawers and cupboards, get new knobs and handles. Just a tip of sterling silver on a handle, or possibly a brilliant new knob, will bring aged sections returning to lifestyle. Think about the atmosphere you would like, and select small sections properly. You won't ought to commit a lot of money, and you will probably continue to see development. As opposed to paying a fortune on re-planning your family room, try to rearrange your household furniture. Not simply is evolving the furniture close to less costly, however it can improve the whole feel of the place. It is important to measure your couch and other home furniture well before moving them close to this will likely stop you from striving to suit your furnishings into locations that they can not easily fit into. Interior design has the ability to absolutely change the mundane and transform it into an issue that is visually stunning and eminently functional. To be https://thietkenoithat.com/tin-tuc/articleid/17956/thiet-ke-noi-that-mien-phi-tai-sao-khong to make this happen accomplishment, each and every flourishing designer have to make time to inform their selves appropriately on the subject. With any luck, the minds and recommendations within the bit over have given just the kind of foundation you should get began.

Willing to Check Your Luck on Free Online Slot Machines?

Lots of people appreciate playing casino slots, but hate the crowds, travel, lines, and price that can come from enjoying slot devices inside a genuine casino. Others enjoy playing slots, but are incapable of do this because of gaming laws inside their region or their bodily range from a casino is restrictive. If you are some of those individuals who loves gaming, but does not wish to endure the hassles of going to one, or gaming is not in your town, join the tens of thousands of players who've found on the web slots.

There are always a enormous selection of slots accessible on line through gambling sites and on the web casinos for you really to appreciate, and there's a massive array of the finest slots in the world on line. The range of slot machines is one of many principal advantages, but there are lots of other benefits to on the web slots too.

One gain to online gambling is as you are able to exercise for free, so there's number risk. You can try a number of online slots, decide which activities you want, and build techniques and tastes without risking any money.

Once you've practiced, decided which slots you want best, and developed a technique, if you are enjoying via an online casino, it is fairly simple to get in and start actually gambling with actual money. Many people fear that with enjoying on line, there's less possibility of winning such a thing at all. It's already been recommended that even if you do win, payouts are significantly smaller with on the web gaming. This really is not the case. If you choose to play slot products through an real casino, you're just like prone to win - and get major - on line when you are playing in an actual casino.

Yet another benefit to on line slots gambling may be the quick access. If you visit a casino, you may well be limited to what games you are able to play. Many real-world casinos do not have space for countless slot gacor gampang menang , because they are restricted by space on the floor, but online casino sites offer you usage of as much as 400 various casino games. And can add as much as they desire to create. All they would have to do is have sufficient computer power to power the servers, that's all.

Even if your real life casino includes a great variety of games, you may have to attend to perform, and if the casino is active, you might not have the opportunity to play your preferred slots as others may be occupying them. But, if you select to enjoy on line, you are able to obtain a software that enables you immediate use of as much slots as you wants, and never having to wait in any lines. You can generally perform the best slots and your favorite slots on the web without interruptions.

Still another popular on the web slots sport is Tomb Raider, that will be among the first-ever printed activities to be released in the online world. Designed by Microgaming, the game is on the basis of the console gaming featuring Lara Croft, using players along on her dangerous adventures. The overall game features artwork taken straight from the video game and offers up a distinctive advantage round for players to get portion in. That slots title became therefore popular so it spawned a few sequels and inspired different developers to produce video-based activities such as for instance Call of Duty Slots and Hitman Slots.

Recently, printed online slot products took off tremendously. Wonder slot activities are some of the most successful in this category, attracting a wide selection of participants - from on the web slots players to movie devotees to witty guide fans. The number of activities, produced by Playtech include The Amazing Hulk, Iron Man and X-Men slots. Each game presents people the opportunity to become immersed in a imaginary world, possibly basing their style on recent Wonder films or the original comic books. The games also provide participants the initial possiblity to play skill-based bonus rounds.

Active slots are making a splash in the online slots industry. These activities immerse the players in the gambling knowledge by showing a tale or permitting them to believe the position of characters. Rival's I-Slots are noted for that and, as a result, are becoming very popular. Celebration Gambling has also produced an involved role-playing slot game named Circus, which requires active slots games to new heights. While relatively new, these kind of activities are become significantly popular among slots players.

If you are perhaps not thinking about getting the applying, there are a number of on the web slots internet sites that can be performed via your web browser. On line, slots can open your gaming earth up with ease, range, and ease. Plus, you can start risk free with outstanding free income offers. What exactly have you been looking forward to, join in the enjoyment !.

Exactly how To Earn In Position Machine? Rewarding A Huge Position Machine Agreed payment

If you want to find out how to earn inside slot machine, then go through through this. Here, you can get an immense amount of guidelines upon how decide on the kinds most abundant in considerable slot device payout that will help to make you enhance your revenue. Knowing how to acquire in slots is definitely satisfying. What helps help make taking part in the sport a great deal more entertaining is the experience and the particular anticipation of each and every and every player to hit the jackpot feature. Numerous slot gamers might have distinct methods and methods throughout buy for these people to earn. Methods could vary from one particular player for an additional. Even so, the ultimate way to obtain an increased talk about and odds involving profitable in slot games is in order to pick slots inside a good place. Just before playing, the particular greatest as well as the most severe spending equipment need to be discovered. Specifically when you are playing in gambling dens, you can eliminate a slot equipment by locating typically the place the excellent spending slot gadget is positioned. Normally, the equipment that offers the worst payment must be averted. It is determined to every good slot machines gamblers or perhaps gamers the perfect way to increase bankrolls and earnings is to choose a? sizzling slot machine? or a gadget which is extremely good to interact inside. Casinos or complement halls often times designate which equipment pay out the ideal prizes. When an individual have previously identified which machine is actually a? very hot slot?, the next thing to do is to exam it. Remain in the slot products if this offers the profitable streak of far more as compared to your bankroll. Once http://107.189.29.224/ think that the device is producing you lose about 20 to thirty percent of your 1st bankroll, it might then be smart to swap to be able to yet another gear. Listed here is an idea with regard to you to get in slot unit: if you choose a bank roll search for a certain device and it truly is regular at providing you above 50% or even far more salary when compared to your primary funds you spent in your nets, depart the products and stop taking component in with it. The main reason for this is the fact that is most possibly to turn out there to become a? frosty slot?? this means this will give you lesser income inside your foreseeable potential spins. If you strike wherever from the very identical amount of funds to be able to forty nine% profit, then you can certainly perform when more get back specific same equipment. Your probabilities of receiving the jackpot are greatly substantial as it might be a? hot position?. For case throughout point, if you commenced spinning intended for $a hundred and you have concerning $a hundred-$149 because earnings, this is an sign that will the slot you happen to be enjoying is something which gives the finest payout. As the slot participant, an individual need to also know when in order to alter equipment so that you could effectively enhance your winnings. It is always advisable to change equipment in case your present machine is resulting in a person to shed a quantity of instances. Issue takes place, you can transfer to the adjacent slot machines. It is frequent for casinos to be able to prepare two very good slots next to every single some other. Observing the overall performance from the tools is a need to for each and every slot equipment player. During the time period of your video clip games, when you noticed that you include been making use of a? cold slot?, there is definitely a large probability that the tools following to this is actually a? hot slot machine?. To be able to improve your successful nicely since the fun that you're going through when trying to play slots, carry out not follow a new single equipment. You must investigate and discover out which associated with the equipment presented gives the ideal payout. Upon analyzing a device, begin with a smaller volume level of first bank roll. You can simply by no means obtain in slot gear by acquiring linked to one particular.

Really Make A Difference With These Internet Affiliate Marketing Ideas!

If you are looking for each of the fundamentals regarding internet affiliate marketing, in addition another suggestions which you may not have heard of, this post is to suit your needs. This can be a complicated subject matter with all the distinct views and knowledge that may be readily available - specially when a variety of it is contradictory If a person affiliate program is not proceeding nicely to suit your needs, maybe you should try finding one more affiliate program that suits you greater. Not every affiliate products work correctly. You can even examine from the preferred distributors to find out if they already have an affiliate software that one could experiment with. Be wary of affiliate marketers which do not supply real-time customer tracking solutions. An affiliate that are unable to demonstrate a website owner the traffic flowing from her or his internet site to the affiliate's site is perhaps an affiliate looking to cheat the webmaster. Affiliates that rely solely on recommendations on past overall performance are far worse - how an online affiliate accustomed to conduct business has nothing at all to do with how they conduct business now! Internet affiliate marketing agreements are best when they confer with your own private pursuits. Find associates and advertisers in whose services and products interest you personally. A salesman who sincerely feels in his product is always by far the most persuasive salesperson. By associating with partners that offer services you want, you can make certain that you are passionate and reliable to advertise them. To boost the success of your affiliate marketing, be sure you examination goods prior to market them. In case you are displeased with all the product, chances are that your clients or clients is going to be at the same time. Promoting an unsatisfying item will lower your believability and trustworthiness, whilst advertising and marketing a quality item can do the exact opposite. Objective keywords in testimonials that you just compose to the marquee products you may encourage on the site. Make inbound links to the assessment you may have composed, and will also improve the major search engines ranking. This tactic will target the people who are in fact thinking about purchasing stuff. An incredible affiliate marketing online suggestion is to placed Search engines Google adsense on the internet site. AdSense is definitely an ad which is positioned on your web site, and once the advertising is clicked on on by way of a guest in your internet site, you will be paid for by Yahoo for the click on. For those who have an internet site that has many site visitors on a regular basis, it is possible to generate additional money using AdSense. When you find yourself very first discovering the field of affiliate internet marketing, restrict yourself to offering no more than a half-a-dozens affiliate merchandise. This filter collection will allow you to learn the ropes and get acquainted with your back finish of your affiliate procedure. Thorough competence of the fundamentals will make it easier to deal with the new difficulties that bigger item portfolios provide.

Market more than one product when dealing with your affiliate internet marketing site. Individuals want selections, and when you advocate an over-all product and enable the consumer make choosing which brand name or design they wish to opt for, it is more successful than endorsing just one single product. If you'd prefer to promote people to purchase from your online marketers, conduct a free gift! Giving out a cheap but premium quality product or service from an affiliate won't just bring in men and women to your web site. It will persuade them that you just have confidence in the strength of the affiliate's items. Try publicizing your free gift by way of social websites plans like Facebook and twitter. Prior to buying a product or service, you should choose what type of audience it is simple to get in touch with, or what type of target audience you might have previously recognized ties with. Regardless how wonderful this product is, you will not sell it - should you not marketplace it on the right class. You do not simply have to investigate the demand of something as being an affiliate. You also have to investigate the offer. If you choose a company as their items are limited in the face of popular, you're in the end gonna lose out on funds. You can find yet another internet affiliate business with additional of that certain merchandise. The most effective affiliate marketers on the market are innovative online marketers. Depending only in the tricks and tips you go through all through numerous online content articles is only going to get you up to now. And that's since everyone's performing exactly the same thing. You should soak up the details and employ sound guidance to build your own special strategy. Use prize draws in order to sign up subscribers to your e mail notifications. One of the most tough stuff nowadays gets customers to willingly offer an e-mail address. By offering SEO Blog for enrolling it is possible to increase your probability of acquiring new view on your own email promotions. An excellent tip for anybody beginning with internet affiliate marketing is to ensure that you have a technique. It is important that you prepare a sound marketing and advertising prepare where you make a decision what type of goods you are likely to market and what sorts of merchandise your website visitors will be ready to purchase. Don't forget for taking your affiliate marketing attempts off-line. Try publishing advertisements on bulletin panels or maybe in your local local newspaper directing men and women aimed at your website or to a telephone amount where by they could have more information and facts. Other off the internet marketing locations you really should think about incorporate stereo, tv, flyers and advertisements. Utilize your creativity to brainstorm creative approaches to connect to potential clients in your neighborhood or regional group. When working an online affiliate marketing and advertising business it is very important lay out work hours and away hrs. It is possible to pick-up your e-mail every now and then, or check into one thing critical, but lay out some time on your own or even to spend with the family. Getting supper every night with each other helps keep your interactions powerful. Mentioned previously in the beginning, there may be a considerable amount of info accessible regarding affiliate marketing online. With a little luck, you can find these tips valuable. You ought to now discover youself to be ahead of the game should you be trying to come to be an expert, or perhaps looking to get a bit of history.

A Supergirl Big Hero 6 AU inspired by this comment on Twitter

Closeups and overall concept below the cut

Lena and Kara were building Baymax together. He was their project. Their brainchild. They were supposed to finish him together. So of course Kara, the asshole, got herself stuck in the Phantom Zone.

Okay. That was unfair. It wasn’t her fault. And she’s not an asshole (well, not entirely).

It’s Lex’s fault. He opened that stupid portal. He wanted to get Kara - get Supergirl - out of the way. And he wanted to hurt Lena. The prick succeeded on both accounts.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that Kara was gone, Lena lost Luthor Corp, too. Lex wasn’t satisfied with simply removing the single most important person in her life. No, he had to go and take her company from her. The one thing she knew she’d be able to rely on when she inevitably spiraled after Kara’s departure. Just... gone. All in one fell swoop, everything Lena cared about was gone.

Well... almost everything.

There was still her friends. Or rather Kara’s friends. The Superfriends. They were still out there, fighting the good fight. A few of them reached out since Kara (Alex, mostly). But they only wanted to talk. And Lena didn’t want to talk.

There were a few personal projects she could work on, sure. But so much of that research was tied up with Luthor Corp. It wasn’t proprietary, so she could go and collect it any time she wanted. But that means seeing her brother again. And she will not give him the satisfaction of seeing her like this.

That really just leaves Baymax. And Lena just... She just can’t. Not without Kara.

But that’s not going to get her down. Or as down as it could. Because when the world is at its most bleak, and you’re down on your knees, and every time you try and stand someone always forces you back down, there’s always alcohol.

And that’s how Lena finds herself here. In her darkened kitchen, drinking some random bottle of scotch. Not the Glenfiddich 18 year, though. She won’t touch that one. Kara got her that one.

No, instead she’s drinking the twelve year Glenlivet that... someone got her. She can’t remember who. And sitting in a half dark kitchen because she didn’t care to turn on more lights as the sun set a few hours back. And she is most certainly not thinking about a certain blond asshole that left her far too soon.

Tonight is truly shaping up to be another shitty evening spent alone. One for the history books, to be sure.

It’s as Lena’s getting up to get some more ice that it happens. She smacks her knee right into the corner of the island. Right in that sweet spot, sending pain shooting up her thigh.

“Ow!” She exclaims, recoiling away from her assailant. She glares down at the island as she grinds out “You motherfucker,” carefully enunciating each syllable so that they’re all dripping in venom.

The island doesn’t respond.

But there is still a response. From farther in her apartment. In a selectively forgotten corner comes three beeps in rapid succession, followed by the distinct sound of air inflating. Rapidly. A sound all too familiar to Lena.

She whips around on the island chair, nearly knocking herself to the floor in the process. And her eyes land on him. Fully inflated and awkwardly standing in his charging pod. He blinks at her, the telltale signs of his software finishing its startup. And then waddles out of the charging pad a few steps.

“Hello. I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion.”

So, if you couldn’t tell, this AU would take place in season 6. Or some variation of it (I dunno, I haven’t watched past season 2). It would follow Lena - and eventually the rest of the Superfriends - as they do everything they can to bring Kara back from the Phantom Zone.

But at first Lena just doesn’t want to help. She kind of implodes a little with Kara gone. And then Baymax shows up and he doesn’t really give her a choice in the matter.

As for how Baymax came to be, he started as Lena’s passion project. Something that would be undeniably good. Something even her worst critics could agree was a force for good. And then Kara met him, and things changed.

Lena still did the majority of the creative work. She wrote the code. She did the assembly. She designed him. But Kara got to test him out. With a carbon fiber skeleton and the ability to lift 1,000 pounds, not just anyone could be on the receiving end of a malfunction. And in typical Kara fashion, she had suggestions:

“He doesn’t look all that friendly... maybe a rounder shape. You know, friend-shaped!”

“Oh! Maybe he could give lollipops if the patients are good! What? No, of course not just the kids.”

“Would it be possible to teach him how to do a fist bump?”

And it all added up to make Baymax Baymax.

So now whenever Lena sees Baymax, all she can really see is Kara. And somehow, just like Kara herself, Baymax is enough to give her hope.

7 Anti LO Asks

1. Do you know what really gets my blood boiling about this comic? Persephone and Demeter's relationship.

In the myths, Demeter and Persephone loved each other more than anything. Their reunion is so important - it marked the coming of spring and growth. A whole cult was dedicated to this for crying out loud. Yes, the myths were far from perfect, but the Persephone and Demeter myth showed the strength of a loving mother-daughter relationship with Demeter searching endlessly to find her child that was ripped away and had her innocence forcibly taken.

Now, RS is not the only author to make Demeter this over-bearing mother type in order to put more positivity onto the Hades-Persephone relationship. However, RS takes this trend to a whole new level - to the point where I would even consider it misogyny.

How is it, she takes this beautiful mother-daughter relationship and makes it out to be an abusive and controlling one, and then takes the Hades-Persephone relationship from a forceful one to a loving, perfect relationship with no problems? How is it ok to ruin one relationship to elevate another?

I understand that many versions of the myth try to downplay Hades' actions, and even make it so Persephone actually falls in love with him and there is no rape. But it doesn't change that this relationship was problematic, and meant to represent the loss of innocence.

Then fans have the gall to claim this comic is feminist and then claim on top of that that Demeter and Persephone's relationship was the same in the myth? These fans clearly don't know the myths, and neither does RS.

Making Hades a good person is fine. Changing it up a bit to make Persephone's loss of innocence something else is also fine. But ruining Demeter and Persephone's relationship? Especially when Persephone has to spend half the year with her? So horrible. 

2. im sorry, but rachel cant introduce KRONOS coming back and then dropping it for several episodes to focus on a stake-less trail and persephone not knowing what lingerie to seduce hades in. like thats too much of an earth shaking development and huge stake plot point to just ignore for months to focus instead on something as minor as hxp's relationship, which only points out a huge flaw: why is hxp's relationship so minor in this? isnt the whole point supposed to be about them?

3. I think LO completely dropped the ball over Hades’ characterization. 

From the first ep I thought ok, this is good, we have some bones to see he’s not that lucky in love and is just tired and lonely, and while ignoring the creepy actions towards Persephone, I thought ok, Artemis hates him, Hestia hates, even Ares hates him, maybe once Persephone finally sees the underworld and probably gets to know him it’ll be a clever twist and they’ll be proven wrong. The underworld will turn out to be fair and just, the citizens will love Hades, he’ll be revealed to be a good leader and king and not like his brothers, it’ll be like everyone saying Hades of myth isn’t actually that bad, and it’ll help reinforce why this sweet and bubbly Persephone wants him, she sees the real him, not the mean rumors and assumptions, this is perfect.

And then it just didn’t happen. The exact opposite happened, actually.

We’re shown the LO underworld is cruel and unjust, where the poor dead are forced into slavery and Hades created a harsh class divide with him and him only on top, the citizens hate him, the underworld gods don’t trust him and openly seem ok if he’s taken out of power, he’s not a good leader and king and doesn’t even want the job yet keeps it for his own ego and grip of power m, and on top of it all he is just like his brothers, if not worse. He loves to get violent over any little slight against him, he hoards wealth and resources to enrich himself while his citizens starve and struggle to survive, he’s corrupt, he controls all the media and laws to bend to his will, sleeps with his brothers wife for centuries behind his back while claiming to be holier than thou, he has sex with his secretaries who are made dependent on him for any way to survive, and now he lusts after his barely legal intern who is also now dependent on him for her way to survive, and that’s only what I remember off the top of my head.

LO perfectly set up to prove Hades isn’t the devil or the false pop culture assumption that he’s evil and to show some actual facts from myth, and yet Rachel only ended up reinforcing exactly that and even making him even worse with her made up ideas, all while thinking having Persephone ignore or excuse it somehow makes it not bad or even a good thing. It’s honestly kind of impressive just how bad of writing that actually is. 

4. Chapter 172 is not that interesting. It’s setup had me excited to see Hephaestus and Hera and learning more about echo, but it’s cut so short. Because again the story can’t leave HXP out for 2 seconds.

I can also see why Zeus is gonna go insane. 

5. i agree w/ other anon. LO should have pulled a PJO or a BoZ and just made up OCs and have them interact with the gods than whatever Rachel thinks shes doing, which is lying she's being accurate and faithful while completely changing all of it, removing what is needed, and adding what isnt so that it lines up with no actual myth besides like, various 50 shades fanfic she read in 2015 and some popular tumblr text posts.

6 . the animation studio behind blood of zeus literally can only draw one face for the men and one face for the women and they were still able to make the gods all look distinct and hot while LO can't even bother to use more than 6 colors and can only have the women look as tiny as possible with the biggest boobs while the men are all just lego men.

7. ////FP SPOILERS////

Okay so like I stopped reading LO way back before season 1 ended, and a majority of my knowledge of the series comes from what I read here on your blog which is enough for me lol and I decided to read the latest 5 chapters just to see what's up (on zahard. I refuse to give the actual series any views)

And I just. Could not take the whole scene with Daphne running from Apollo seriously? The anatomy and art inconsistency was so distracting that i genuinely could not find it serious. Even when Thanatos discovers her hibernated body I couldn't take it seriously because of how she looked?

And when Hades had that call (??? Was it a call? Or his inner dialogue? I couldn't really tell ngl) with Zeus and said he's causing Persephone unnecessary distress, and that she didn't pose any threat. B!tch??? She killed a ton of mortals??? She has no control over her powers???? She's literally a fugitive for the aforementioned things??? She apparently woke Kronos up? (Idk if anyone knows about that, again my knowledge only spans to whatever I read here) Hello????

And I have a lot to say about the chapters starting the trial but I'll only mention one thing; Hades saying "I don't think blindly supporting my little brother would be doing him any favours (as a ruler)" had me cackling. This is coming from a guy blindly supporting a girl he's literally only known for a few weeks, who's like what, only recently turned 20? Sit tf down Hades you're not cool, you creepy ass overgrown smurf.

Overall I still hate this series lmao. Regarding art though I feel like I wouldn't be so miffed about the anatomy much if the character designs were consistent and the story was compelling. They literally change hairstyles and body types frame by frame, and it's distracting.

The timeline from what I read here is laughable. 4 years in publication with almost 200 chapters and you're telling me only like a month has passed canonically. That's wild and such poor writing.

And as someone who literally will sympathise with any lead character pretty quickly, the story makes me hate them. It makes me want to root against them. I also hate the fact this trash is somehow top ranked on webtoons when so many other stories are far better then it.

Anyway, many thanks to this blog for existing and allowing me to dump so much text here to vent out my hate for this series lmao. You the mvp fam, hope you're having a good day 🥂🥂🥂

masculaxi character analysis/appreciation

it's been over a year since gala masculaxi's release and i'm still not over it

(heavy dragalia lost spoilers ahead)

(gala mascula does not exist btw) i just love how mascula and laxi are designed as two parts of a whole, basically one half of the same ideal/same person. you can't have one without the other. if you heavily favor one over the other i dont trust you... only half joking. when laxi went berserk and mascula had to save her by giving her his heart in their debut ch11, that was just... such a moment... it shows them at their most "separate" (laxi in berserk/annihilation mode, and mascula stopping at nothing to disengage combat.) which sets us up for their development as two hearts in one body. in masculaxi (flame blade)'s story, they're still at odds but they begin to learn to cooperate in the same body, and this is the beginning of their "convergence." in ch14 of the main story is when we see the beginnings of eden mode. when all the androids sacrifice themselves for euden and co to advance, mascula realizes it his empathetic heart that influenced them and led them to their painful deaths. he then shuts down his ego circuit out of guilt. when the team is in a tight spot, and only masculaxi can save the day (since their body is unaffected due to the miasma only affecting organic lifeforms,) laxi goes into their heart to search for mascula and plead him to help her. all this time, laxi had envied mascula's heart for being "more human," but realized that maestro had written the fear of death in all of the android's hearts, and as such, laxi understood the weight of their yearning for peace, with the act of their self-sacrifice for euden. (later we do learn with gala masculaxi that mascula had been influencing laxi more. here we see laxi's influence on mascula to urge him to fight.) laxi gets mascula out of the gay baby jail zone, releases her limiters, and activates annihilation mode hastily. mascula then guides her attacks to the correct targets, which is the first instance we see of mascula engaging in any sort of fighting. in this state of laxi's annihilation mode combined with mascula's guided assault, a new mode beyond annihilation mode becomes available to them: eden mode, when their hearts become one. this mode concentrates all the mana around them inside their body's mana kiln, and gives them even more power. mascula still dislikes fighting and does not want to do it as much, but has a newfound conviction and will not run away when he is needed. an interesting line here is mascula saying this: ▷It's as if he knew our hearts would one day become one. But how...?◁ indicating that from the start, they were truly two halves of a whole ideal. shortly after the release of ch14, we get the release of the flame dagger gala masculaxi unit, which contains eden mode in their gameplay, and expands upon the "two hearts acting as one" deal they have going on. laxi, mascula, and luca head to the ruins of maestro's lab in order to gain more clues on how eden mode works. laxi equips a new armament meant to accommodate eden mode (and demands praise of how good she looks, lol. also laxi is much more snarky in this story which is a treat. she's so funny. but also this shows mascula's emotional influence on her!!!!!) laxi learns of how eden mode works, and essentially it's a release of all limiters and rerouting all circuits to their internal mana kiln, but elimination protocol is activated automatically as well which does not make any distinction between friend and foe. it enhances laxi's combat ability, but mascula has to take care of elimination protocol since he has access and control of it. hence, in eden mode, laxi goes all out in attacking, while mascula controls the body's movements and targets. however this is only possible if their hearts act as one. the two are attacked by dyrenell forces and activate eden mode against them, but mascula temporarily loses the will to fight in the middle of the battle, destabilizing and deactivating eden mode. luca is captured and a villager shields them from an oncoming attack, believing in mascula's peaceful ideals. laxi engages tactical retreat and they escape. they engage in a plan to save luca but are attacked by imperials again. they try to go into eden mode but mascula once again disengages eden mode. mascula tells laxi of his regrets and frustrations that he keeps holding her back, but laxi tells him that she found herself synchronizing with him. with the villager (that mascula had saved before and in turn protected masculaxi earlier,) laxi found the value in mercy for enemies. by having laxi bend towards mascula's will, they're able to take on the imperials who chased after them with a truly synchronized eden mode. ▷Laxi, give me the strength to fight!◁ Granted. Now give me the kindness required to temper my actions. ▷Heh. Take all you need!◁ their system strain falls, and they're able to defeat the imperials. laxi, mascula, luca, and euden talk together after all is done. laxi takes interest in a cat, while mascula teaches her how to interact with it. Euden: Laxi and Mascula say the maestro who made them was a peace-loving man, but... Luca: No, I getcha. Why would some peacenik give something THIS much power? ch14 and their gala story really shows how the two embodied different sides of the same ideal -- "fighting for peace," and how they begin to converge upon that ideal. initially laxi only focused on "fighting" and mascula only focused on "peace," but A compassionate heart. ▷The courage to fight.◁ -Eden Mode, activate!- their character development after this is a bit wonky at times because it sets up for gala mascula who is really poorly written and doesn't necessarily align with the ideals established within ch14 and gala masculaxi, or even the development directly before it either. with ageless artifice and ch18 (when the team first enters the faerie kingdom and gets lost,) we get teasers of mascula with his own body. in ageless artifice, eirene steals mascula's body and intends to use it against masculaxi, but mascula takes control of his body and proclaims that his body isn't necessarily him, but what IS him is his resolve to fight for peace alongside his friends. (stays in line with gala masculaxi, right?) in ch18 we also see mascula having a "nightmare/illusion" in which he gains his body back but at the cost of laxi going berserk once more, showing that they truly cannot function at their "fullest ideal" without each other in the same body. laxi asks mascula if he wants his own body back, and mascula says he sometimes misses it but overall he wants to continue fighting with her the way they are. this is echoed in ch19, take this exchange for example: Mascula, I know you were thinking of your own body while lost in the mountain's illusions. You gave up your body to save me, and I owe you an apology for that. ▷Don't apologize—I wanted to do it. Plus, being with you makes me happy.◁ I want to see a peaceful world just as we are in this body now—together. ▷I feel the exact same way.◁ ▷No more hesitation. You and I are going to fight with Maestro as a team.◁ And together... ▷...we will bring peace.◁ reaffirming their ideals together and keeping in line with their development, right? mascula doesn't WANT his own body back. he wants to keep fighting with laxi, that's THE WHOLE POINT OF THEIR CHARACTERS. which does not make sense when we get the remote control BS IN THE SAME CHAPTER??? (teased from the ending of ageless artifice with chelle) and mascula has his own body again as a remote control system. now the portrayal in the main story wasn't AS bad but... the real problem comes to gala mascula as an adventurer with his stories and voice lines. this "mascula" proclaims of how much he loves/misses his body and how he "doesn't need laxi dragging him around anymore." like sure he sometimes feels being in laxi's body with her is bothersome but overall, at his heart, he wouldn't really say something like that??? mascula your voice lines are so contradictory to what just happened in the main story and what you said in ageless artifice what happened!!!!!!! his adventurer story lacks the cooperative laxi-mascula dynamic we knew and loved, and instead pushes mascula front and center to try to push him to do things himself. we didn't really need mascula getting his own body back anyways, but you COULD'VE AT LEAST written it so that they have more emphasis on cooperation with each other?? god im sorry i just. AUGH he's so OBVIOUSLY hastily pushed into their development arc and he loses his characterization. it's obvious gala mascula wasn't intended to be a thing in the initial plan for masculaxi... i am not forgiving every single one of you who sent in feedback for playable mascula. once again only half joking... maybe only a quarter joking. 1/8ths joking. radioactive decay graph joking. (also just a tiny nitpick: you can apparently run gala mascula and laxi/gala laxi on the same team. lore compliancy who? eden mode can't be activated while the remote control unit is active. but whatever) though another interesting plot point is brought up in his story though? maestro's origins, the writing of "seek peace" on mascula and laxi's bodies being in a language that only the sky city ark people would know.. with such an elaborate plan for such a complex android duo, and everything else mysterious about this man, just who is he? his master plan of masculaxi was really amazing to see come to fruition... maestro fought on the side of dyrenell, against dragons -- against elysium you could say. although ex machina seeks the destruction of terrestrial life because they "allied with the dragons" (a misconception,) on the contrary maybe maestro aimed to create an ultimate weapon for terrestrials to defend themselves against the dragons. however this weapon had to also understand the value of what it was fighting for -- learning for itself how to go about "fighting for peace." thus, the creation of the twins mascula and laxi; two halves of a whole. by having a compassionate and adaptable heart, they can change with the times, understand the people around them, and decide on their own what the best course of action is in various situations. i love love LOVE masculaxi and how they're written!! (for the most part.) two of my faves in the game and i love them and their characterization so much, i just wish more people could see the intricacies of their relationship and how they're literally like. 1/2 of the same thing. it's such a beautifully written dynamic and development, and i want others to appreciate it too.

a little bonus, in this character art, you can see the "star tetrahedron" shapes. in sacred geometry symbolism, the "star tetrahedron" is the sixth shape enclosed within "metatron's cube." these shapes, and this cube, are said to maintain the balance of the world itself and its flows/processes. as for the "star tetrahedron" itself, it represents duality: physical body and spiritual self; male and female; and heaven and earth. this ties into mascula and laxi's characters: mascula controlling the "mind" in eden mode while laxi focuses on the attacking "body;" and mascula and laxi being of different genders. as for "heaven" and "earth," this could represent maestro coming from the sky city ark, and masculaxi being technology intended to aid humans. alternatively for "heaven" and "earth," the fact that the star tetrahedron is enclosed within "metatron's cube" may be a pointer to metatron in-universe. the archangels all have white hair, a trait shared by masculaxi. additionally, sandalphon is somewhat mechanical/technological herself. masculaxi being man-made (of the earth,) versus their potential connection to the angels (of the heavens.)

Ads vs. Gameplay (Merge County Review)

(Ads on the left, gameplay on the right.)

This is a three-item merge game that follows the same format of another game I’ve played called EverMerge. As far as I can tell they’re not made by the same companies and EverMerge came first so I suppose Merge County is kind of a ripoff of EverMerge so far as you can call two games that follow the same basic genre format ripoffs of one another. I’m guessing things like match-3 and merge aren’t patented or anything though so I guess it’s debatable.

Anyway, the difference in format from something like Merge Dragons for example is that instead of collecting characters to harvest from resources who eventually run out of stamina, you have a set number of workers who can work at a time and each resource has a set amount of energy it costs to harvest and time it takes to harvest. Larger items that you merge up to also need to be “built” by the workers to “complete” them, which also takes a set amount of time. So there are two ways to hit a wall where you have to wait to keep playing - running out of energy or having all your workers tied up with long harvest/build times. I’ve found this requires you to kind of strategize to get the most playtime possible by trying to use up your stamina first before having all workers stuck in 30 minutes plus tasks (and you only get two workers to start with).

I won’t go over all the differences between these two distinct flavors of 3-item merge games (that might have to be its own separate post if you’re interested) but basically if you’ve played Merge Dragons or Merge Magic, Merge County is not quite the same, and if you’ve played EverMerge, this game is basically the same thing in a different skin. As far as which type I prefer, I’m personally more of a Merge Dragons gal, but anyway, let’s get more into the quality of this game (and the ads) below.

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As far as free casual mobile games go, this one is pretty well made, has decent art, no issues with mechanics (other than their lack of originality) and no pop up ads which is a big plus in my book. To review the gameplay would basically be reviewing an entire genre since there are just so many games following the exact same concept with different art and storylines, but one thing I do like more about this kind of game vs something like Merge Dragons is that when you have 3 (or 5) items next to each other they don’t merge unless you actually place them on top of each other - I find this makes it easier to avoid accidental merges of items that end up next to each other and easier to make the 5-item merges where you get a bonus item. Also this game (and EverMerge) have a kind of clicky sound that plays when you move around items like you’re clicking the item into place on the board. That feels more satisfying to me for whatever reason and overall it feels easier to keep the board organized in this game vs Merge Dragons etc.

The storyline of this game is based around this postal worker main character basically fixing up the town/county or whatever and the characters you meet are people with roles in the town like firefighter, teacher etc. Can’t say I’m super invested in the storyline and there’s nothing really exciting or interesting about it but the character designs and art are pretty good. However, this boring plotline goes to show just how fake the ads are, there’s no infidelity, no mom trying to fix up a cold cabin for her kids, none of that. You basically harvest things like mailboxes and merge them up to build a post office etc. It’s cute that the items are themed around the different characters and you’re merging toward a goal of building something specific related to the plot but again this is no different than what’s in EverMerge.

There are also separate event boards that have their own items and side storylines which is cute (the one I mostly played was about the zookeeper working with the teacher to teach kids about animals so the items were school supplies and penguins). With the main board and event board (which has its own separate energy storage) together you can get a decent amount of playtime in one sitting, but when you’re merging up to bigger items that need workers to finish building them the time can be up to an hour or more, so there can be some significant waiting involved depending on where you are in the game and how many workers you are using at a time. For final buildings you also have to wait at 24 hours for them to finish but there’s only one of each building so you can still do things with the other worker(s).

Overall this is a decent game as far as games in this genre go, just with especially egregiously bad ads and a pretty boring plot.

Ad Honesty Rating: 1/5 (there are ads for this game that really have nothing to do with the game, not even the same characters or type of gameplay, the only honest thing is some of the ads show merging)

Overall Rating: 4/5

Thanks so much for reading! 🥳

Star Wars: Visions - Episode 6: T0-B1

The third one of the night (well, early morning now), and the final one of today’s (well, early tomorrow’s) set. This has been a really enjoyable trio, and I hope the last three are just as engaging as these three. But without further ado:

Episode 6: T0-B1 Developed By: Science SARU Directed By: Abel Góngora Let’s start with an important philosophical question: What if Astro Boy... but Star Wars? And there you have our premise. Let’s get into it. In an indeterminate time after the Original Trilogy, possibly also after the Sequel Trilogy, T0-B1 (or Toby, a riff on Tobio, a name Astro Boy fans should immediately recognize, but hey - it’s also a pun on “to be one.” I like my references to be double layered) is a highly advance and humanlike droid in the shape of a stylized child, the creation of a kindly, armless (not a typo) old scientist named Prof. Mitaka, who looks a hell of a lot like Dr. Light (Megaman being another property with clear Astro Boy reference, this feels like a double-reference). Mitaka is a traveling researcher dedicated to seeding life on barren planets, but T0-B1 only dreams of the stories he hears from his “father” about the Jedi, and the battles they’ve had across the years.

He wants to be a Jedi, and seemingly in an attempt to occupy his endless attentions, Mitaka suggests that he - like the padawans of old - search the planet for a kyber crystal before he even thinks about becoming a Jedi. T0-B1 combs the planet, eventually finding his way into Mitaka’s secret, forbidden basement - where he’s sure a kyber crystal must be. In doing so, he finds a ship and accidentally sends a transmission... which ends up reaching the wrong ears, eventually bringing tragedy... and destiny... down upon T0-B1 and Mikaba’s heads. Let me preface this by saying that, unlike some other fans and writers, I don’t really have a problem with a droid becoming force sensitive, per se - at least, as long as its done right. Partly because Star Wars has always been kind of weird and half-measure about droids. Droids are clearly sapient, some (like R2) outright proactive in the destinies of others, and many clearly have emotion, resolve, and a yearning for more than what they have. But droids in Star Wars are explicitly limited in what they can be, often by the story itself, and are often treated as non-human (in the sense of being non-anthropomorphized) even though they are increasingly written with a degree of humanity. Canonically, droids cannot be force sensitive because they aren’t alive, but the force exists within everything and guides the universe as a whole, and as droids become more mentally alive int he writing it becomes a sticking point that this rule is somewhat limiting. It frankly wouldn’t surprise me if, one day, they decide to say that someone like R2 was force sensitive all along.

Onto T0-B1 himself. Toby, as the Astro Boy equivalent, is very obviously going to be force sensitive. He’s extremely human, fluid and highly contrasting to the design of the other droids in the series - or even in the short itself - for reasons the short chooses not to get into because it’s just trying to tell an Astro Boy without worrying about the lore. As an Astro Boy reference, he also gets a straight up fusion super mode at one point, which is pretty rad but a bit jarring for the setting. But the short invites you not to care about that sort of thing, because it knows what it wants to do and is going to commit to it, by thunder. So this one was interesting, folks. It more than any of the others is a straight up merger of two franchises, one step below a crossover: it’s very blatantly Astro Boy, Star Wars Style, which gives it a very different concept and overall feel from any of the other shorts. But that said, there’s a lot of attention to the fact that both concepts are conducive to the same themes. The familiar Yoda speech of excitement and adventure not being what a Jedi pursues are paramount to the story, in T0-B1 learning that what he chooses to do with his life is more important than his immature idea of what makes a Jedi cool. But at the same time, the Astro Boy theme of someone not part of the world finding their purpose as someone, something great and beyond their beginnings is absolutely something that slots into Star Wars no problem. Visually, it’s fantastic. It has a distinctive visual style that emphasizes the cuteness and fluidity of the main characters while also maintaining strong landscape and epic scale of action which... again... is understandable, given that its a throwback to Astro Boy. Most of the comments one could make about this short eventually cycle back to that comparison, because of what the short is doing. But that doesn’t diminish how well the mix of environment and character can come off in the moment, and the fight scene towards the end of the episode is all the better for it - though it does end somewhat abruptly.

As for the secondary focus of these reactions - the canon potential part... as you might know by now, each Visions short film is non-canon, but we can still look at each to see how well they fit into the universe - as, with enough support, there’s always a chance that things that fit in well might get the incorporation treatment should the company believe there’s potential there. And does T0-B1 fit well into the setting of Star Wars. Oh My, No. We can start with the fact that, my own opinions about whether droids could work as force sensitive aside (and again, I personally think it could work), the company‘s official stance on that is currently “no, absolutely not.” Then we can go into the fact that T0-B1 is way different conceptually than any other droid in the series, on an entirely different level. He feels like a character from another franchise, because he is a character from another franchise. And that’s okay. This feels like another one that isn’t trying to fit within the setting as much as do the thing it sets out to do, and do it well.

And as always, the canon potential bit is an entirely separate question from “does it do the thing it wants to do well?” And I’d say it does. It wasn’t necessarily my favorite thus far, but only because everything in this series has been dynamite thus far. This short fuses two classic narratives from the 20th Century - one from the East, one from the West - into a single story, enhancing the themes and characteristics of both, and it does so with a lot of heart.