#i could've just. gone on and on with references and examples
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for the top 5/top 10 thing you reblogged earlier: top 5 Damianos Moments™️ from the books (or top 10 if you wanna) 😍
Oh my god Irene ily 🖤🖤🖤
I was actually thinking about this because I keep getting notes from my beta reader that are just bits highlighted with "Damianos!" in the comment, and I feel like there's a difference between a Damen Moment™ and a Damianos Moment™
Like what brings out that "Damianos!" from even staunch lesbians? What makes even dykes be like "I'd ruin my life for that man"? Speaking purely from personal experience, a Damianos Moment™ is when he does something that makes the reader go, "that's a King." When the fantasy of him truly jumps out, the tenderness and goodness of his character, his honourable nature and sense of justice, his righteousness and honesty. I think the most important aspect of it is that a Damianos Moment™ shows his character growth and how he has earned everything which rests upon him.
So my Top 5 Damianos Moments™:
Cheating straight off the bat and lumping together every instance of him giving Laurent strategic advice in Prince's Gambit, such as when he insists on riding with Laurent to Nesson-Eloy and says "You're too used to doing everything on your own." These moments build and build in this really fantastic way which show the reader Damen's humility, his experience and instinct, his leadership qualities--but also his keen ability to assess the strengths and weaknesses of others, and (the best leadership quality of all) his skill at nurturing those strengths. Although it's shown in his interactions with many characters, with Laurent in particular, it's made clear that he never tries to change Laurent or the way he does things; he instead, as a good leader does, guides Laurent to focus his approach for the best outcome.
Arguing for the well-being of the Akielon slaves in Captive Prince, especially when he says, "To abuse someone who cannot resist--isn't that monstrous?" It's the reader's clearest introduction to Damen's views on consent, and also marks some foreshadowing of what Damen's character arc and ongoing development encompasses: it is a point which he comes to evaluate in regards to his own behaviour toward slaves--from truly believing that there is such a thing as benevolent slave ownership, toward understanding that a choice removed is not a choice made. We love an introspective, self-aware king of character development <3
Throwing the sword in Prince's Gambit, absolute madlad. Insane behaviour in light of him declaring earlier in the book that "Laurent didn't need to be protected from anything." He's so driven by his need to protect, again and again, but I love this moment because of the way he explains it to Laurent. He says, "you are the only person I have seen working to stop [the war]. I couldn’t let him hurt you." It's so great because Damen has been raised to be a King; he has been raised to put his duty before everything else. He is so worried about not measuring up, about failing to live up to his father's legacy, that he at that moment cannot allow himself to compromise that for what he would see as selfish reasons. He does something which he finds horrendous--killing his countryman, compromising his strident belief in the value of human life--to save Laurent, yet must justify it as being for 'the greater good' so that he can continue to live with himself.
"Not for me. I'll tell you how it was when I'm done." Peak Damianos moment. It's cocky, it's dryly funny, but it's also about consent. It's Damen trying, as usual, to give Laurent ease and comfort when they're together. It's him telling Laurent, you get to control how you participate in sex. It's Damen checking in and creating a safe space for Laurent, but in a way that won't take him out of the moment or make him self-conscious. Sex positivity champion!
"I am Damianos of Akielos, and I surrender to my brother." NOBLE SACRIFICE IN THE NAME OF LOVE. But also, it will forever and always be about protecting those who need it, and seeing justice prevail. It's about the most Kingly act of all, which is laying yourself down in defence of those who need it. Thinking about the thread of 'loneliness' as a theme which runs through the books, for both Damen and Laurent--like when Damen says, "I'm glad you weren't alone" to Laurent on their 'morning after'; when the Regent horrendously imitates Laurent, saying "Uncle, don't leave me alone"; when Damen realises, "He thinks he's alone," before surrendering at Ios to defend Laurent. It's the ultimate sacrifice in acknowledgement of what his own actions resulted in--the completion of the narrative cycle, where the one who removed the shield becomes the shield. I could scream about it constantly, the absolute poignancy.
I got carried away lmao I love him so much 😭😭😭 the way he grows across the books is just so special to me ❤️🔥 who is doing it like Damianos (absolutely no one)
Anywayyyy hope you enjoyed these Damianos moments tysm mate you're the greatest xoxo
#damianos of akielos#captive prince#asks#i haven't proofread this so sorry about typos#i could've just. gone on and on with references and examples#it's already so long though lol
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The Curse of the Sun and the Moon
Klaus Mikaelson x Reader
Masterlist - Join My Taglist!
Written for Fictober 2023!
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries/The Originals
Day 7 Prompt: "Do you recognize this?"
Summary: Klaus' SO is writing their doctoral dissertation on cross-culture myths. Much to their irritation, Klaus knows a thing or two about those.
Word Count: 1,877
Category: Humor, Fluff, maybe a tiny bit of angst?
Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.
"Love? Hello, can you hear me?"
Slowly, I turned my head away from the paper in front of me, still not taking my eyes off the drawings. A hand waved in front of my face too, but I ignored it.
"What do you want, Nik?" I muttered, only half paying attention to him.
"I want to know you haven't gone into a coma," he whined, flopping down into the chair next to me. I cracked the tiniest smile, but didn't let my train of thought wander from the work in front of me.
"I haven't gone into a coma," I repeated. I didn't say anything else after that and neither did Nik for a moment, until he sighed.
"You must understand why I'm concerned when you respond to my questions like you're in a trance."
I sighed, making a last note before finally looking up at Nik with a tired smile.
"I'm sorry, babe. I know I've been pretty wrapped up in all this lately, but I'm writing a doctoral dissertation in folklore and mythology. I've kinda got my hands full, and if I don't put in the hours to get this done right, it's all going to be for nothing."
Nik rolled his eyes dramatically before fixing me with a look.
"You know, if you just became a vampire with me, you wouldn't have to worry about things like school and work anymore."
I narrowed my eyes. "If I ever make the decision to become a vampire with you, all I'm going to do is go back to college for more degrees and studying. I love doing this, even if it makes me want to walk into the ocean sometimes. All eternity is going to do is enable me to throw any kind of practical job application for my studies out the window."
Nik sighed heavily, but he had a smile on his face all the same.
"I probably could've guessed that answer, couldn't I?"
"Probably."
We shared a smile, and then my attention drifted back to the paper in front of me. I stared at it for a few moments, still half-aware of Nik watching me fondly, when an idea struck like lightning.
"Wait, Nik... I just thought of something." I rushed to turn the paper around on my desk so it faced Nik instead of me. "Do you recognize this? I mean, you've been around for a thousand years. Chances are probably decent that you know something about this, right?"
Nik stared at the paper for a minute, then slowly looked up at me, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"What did you say you're doing your dissertation on again?"
"I'm focusing on myths that appear to transcend cultures throughout history. There's a couple examples of stories and legends that exist in basically the same form in cultures that had no contact. This one, usually referred to as something along the lines of 'the curse of and the sun and the moon', is the main one I've decided to focus on. So... any chance you can tell me anything about it?"
Nik's tiny smile turned into a full on grin, a twinkle in his eyes as he looked at me. My heart leapt.
"Oh my gosh, you totally know something! Tell me, I can't wait. I'm gonna have to find some sources other than you if I want to put it in my paper, but-"
"This is mine, love," he said. I stared at him, trying to process what his words meant, but I came up empty-handed.
"What do you mean? Is this copy of the myth yours?"
"In a way."
Nik looked back down at the illustration depicting the curse, this one of Aztec origin. It was my favorite of the versions I'd found, although the same curse had also appeared in Roman scrolls and a half-dozen other cultures from around the world. He ran his finger over the lines of the drawing fondly.
"I drew this."
My mouth dropped open, and I looked quickly between Nik, the drawing, and back again.
"What... what do you mean you drew this? This is an Aztec myth from the 13th century-" I stopped short as my mind finally caught up. "...which I guess you were alive for..."
Nik smiled and kicked back in his chair, ankles crossed and a proud expression on his face. I just stared at him in shock.
"There is no such thing as the Curse of the Sun and the Moon, love," he said. "The real thing is the Hybrid curse, placed on me. A long time ago, Elijah and I planted this myth in cultures all over the world to get every single werewolf and vampire in the world looking for the components I needed to break my own curse. And it worked."
Nik finished his explanation with a smirk, but I didn't react. I just kept staring at him, my brain going through the equivalent of a computer's blue screen of death. This could not be possible.
"Hold on a second," I said, holding up a hand to stop my own swirling thoughts before looking at Nik again. "Let me get this straight. You drew this ancient Aztec drawing I have on my desk right now?"
"Yes."
"And you created the Roman scrolls I found that kick-started this project?"
"I did."
"And you completely made up the myth of the Curse and the Sun of the Moon, then did the ancient equivalent of editing it into a bunch of wikipedia articles to make everyone believe it was real, all so other werewolves and vampires would do the work of finding things you needed for you?"
"That's right."
"So this curse, this myth that permeates a dozen different, separate cultures, the cornerstone of my dissertation... is just a lie you made up a long time ago, that nobody ever disproved because you're just so fucking old you could create mythology at the same time that these ancient cultures actually existed?"
"Exactly."
I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose, taking a deep breath in and letting it out slowly. Then, my eyes snapped open, and I snatched up a scroll from the top of my desk and hucked it at my boyfriend.
"Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME NIK?" I cried, shooting out of my seat. Nik looked a little shocked, partly because the scroll had hit him smack in the face and then partly because I never got this kind of mad at him. "You can't just fake historical documents to serve your own purposes!"
"Technically, I didn't fake any historical documents. I made them at the same time in history that they're supposed to be from."
"DOESN'T COUNT! My whole dissertation is about examining the phenomena of cultures that had no interactions somehow telling the same stories. There's all kind of examples of it, but this was going to be my ace in the hole, and now I can't use it!"
"Sure you can," Nik said, at last standing from the chair. He was smart enough not to walk towards me, but I hurled a pillow from my chair at him anyway.
"No, I can't! What am I gonna say? Oh, well you see, all these different cultures had the same mythology without talking to each other because my boyfriend is a motherfucker who lied through his teeth to manipulate people, and he's old enough that he completely got away with it!"
Nik shrugged. "Sounds good to me."
"ARGH! I can't believe you- Oh my God."
"What?"
"The stupid fucking vampire myth was going to be another example supporting my dissertation. But that's gone now too. 'Oh, why do all these cultures have the same mythology about a curse and blood-drinking creatures who stalk the night?' Well that's simple, professors! It's because my boyfriend, one of those blood-drinkers, just kept showing up to plant a bullshit story and got other myths written about him in the process!"
"I'm still not seeing the problem, love, that sounds like an excellent presentation."
"NIKLAUS MIKAELSON! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"
I rushed to close the distance between us, smacking him in the chest and then continuing to whack him in the shoulders, arms, and chest again.
"You. Can't. Just. Make. Up. Mythology. That. Influences. History. Forever. For KICKS!" I shouted, punctuating each word with a hit. Nik just watched me, not moving even half an inch from the force of my shoves, watching me rage with a small smile on his face.
"I've never seen you like this before, love," he said, his voice silky and low. It only made me want to hit him more. "I quite like it."
"UGH!" I shouted, turning away from Nik all the same. I stared at the desk, my mind finally getting into the later stages of processing. I'd have to completely ditch all this work. "Nik, this is the worst thing you've ever done. And I've dated you long enough to know about the bad things you've done. Holy shit, I'm going to have to ditch so much of this work. I'm going to have to completely change my topic, all because you're fucking ancient and a good artist and a better liar."
After a second, I felt Nik's arms slowly, gently wrap around me from behind. He rested his chin on my shoulder, nuzzling into my hair. Part of me still wanted to hit him, but not enough of me to actually do it.
"I'm sorry, love," he said, voice low and sweet. "Tell me what I can do to make it better."
I huffed a sigh through my nose. "You can tell me where Elijah is. He's a part of this too, I need to kill him next."
Nik chuckled, pulling me tighter to him. I relaxed a little bit into him.
"How about we start with a movie marathon of your choice, all of your favorite junk food, and I dagger any of my siblings who try to disturb you while you're working next week?"
I paused, thinking, dragging out the moment with a little hum. Nik kissed my cheek, slowly moving further along and down towards my neck, and after another minute I sighed.
"Fine. I guess we can start with relaxation and peace. But I am not getting over this any time soon. And I'm still going to attack Elijah the next time I see him."
"It's a deal."
"Of all the things I thought might be a challenge about dating a vampire, I never could've predicted 'destroys my doctoral dissertation by secretly being the subject of my dissertation'."
Nik snorted a little laugh in my ear. "And I never would've thought this would be the closest we came to a deal-braker for you, what with all the murdering I've done."
"I might not be able to claim the high ground on that front much longer."
I twisted around to look pointedly at Nik, but he just smiled right back at me. Wisely, he used his vampire speed to whisk me out of the room before I could look at my ruined dissertation again. This situation was absolutely, completely ridiculous, and I knew I'd probably still be processing for the next few decades. But I loved Nik and the rest of these stupid, lying, ridiculous, ancient vampires, and I'd keep loving them no matter what. Even if I wanted to kill them, sometimes, too.
****************
TVD/TO Taglist: @elenavampire21
#fictober23#the vampire diaries#the originals#klaus mikaelson#klaus mikaelson x reader#the vampire diaries fanfiction#the vampire diaries oneshot#the vampire diaries imagine#the originals fanfiction#the originals imagine#the originals oneshot#klaus mikaelson fanfiction#klaus mikaelson imagine#klaus mikaelson oneshot#elijah mikaelson#the mikaelsons#vampires#the sun and moon curse#the curse of the sun and the moon#the mikaelson family
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Short analysis: Absalom and his namesake
After seeing Oda revealing Kuma's past, I felt inspired to dig deeper into one biblical reference that many people take for granted...
Back in Thriller Bark, we're introduced to one of Gecko Moria's henchmen: Absalom
Due to the other biblical references found in the story, the name chosen for this character is pretty unlikely to be a coincidence. But, who was Absalom?
He was the third son of King David. He was a pretty cunning guy who tried to overthrown the King to take the throne for himself. During his rebellion, what was his point of no return?
He forced himself on his father's concubines. To put it in other words, Absalom forced himself on the King's partner(s), which earned himself a death sentence going by the law of that time.
During his final battle against David's forces, Absalom meets his demise at the hands of the angriest general of the King's army
How is Absalom's life and death relevant to his One Piece's namesake?
Well, during the Thriller Bark arc, we have Absalom kidnapping and trying to force Nami into marrying him. Fighting and losing a battle against Sanji. And even using his dream of becoming the "Graveyard King" to convince her to stop resisting
So, we have a wannabe king trying to force himself on a companion of the future Pirate King, and suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands (or feet) of one of the angriest fighters at the "service" of a "true king"
Of course, it's not a one to one comparison, for example, Israel's Absalom didn't survive his battle, while One Piece's Absalom survived and escaped Thriller Bark.
However, if we take into consideration how Oda uses or references other literary works, the parallels found here might be all intentional. But, what does mean for LuNa? I can't tell...
However, what I can say is what we know so far: Oda could've gone a different way and have Absalom focusing on Robin. Instead, the author chose the woman that, by his own admission, has a "natural queen-ly-ness" to her
A 'Queen' that not only commands authority in the strawhat ship, but also acknowledged only one man as a future king...
Absalom tried to force himself on a 'queen' just to get a beating from a fighter of her "king." It feels poetic, if you ask me
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AN ANALYS OF WOULD'VE COULD'VE SHOULD'VE THROUGH THE LENS OF RELIGIOUS FAITH
Taylor has written a lot of songs (State of Grace, Holy Ground and False God for example) that reference and/or talk about relationships and love through the lens of religion. Would've Could've Should've is one of them too and we can actually say that the whole song is an extended metaphor.
Let's start with these lyrics:
If I was a child did it matter, if you got to wash your hands?
Here, John Mayer washing his hands can signify two things:
He's refusing to take responsibility. This concept comes from Pontius Pilate symbolically washing his hands of the responsibility of Jesus' crucifixion even though he believed that Jesus was innocent.
He's washing away guilt, like Lady Macbeth washing her hands of Duncan’s blood to try to get rid of the guilt for his murder.
All I used to do was pray / You’re a crisis of my faith
We know that Taylor grew up Christian and still considers herself one, as we know from Miss Americana. She had a Bible on her nightstand, according to a photoshoot she did for People in 2007, and now she's not so sure anymore. She must've been taken comfort in praying, but now she's referring to it using a past tense, meaning she has lost her faith. it was an integral part of her identity and now it's in the past.
The chorus continues the metaphor:
I would've stayed on my knees - this is both a reference to praying and to the universal victory and worship of God: "every knee will bow, and every tongue will swear allegiance” (Isa. 45:23)
And I damn sure never would've danced with the devil at nineteen - mention of the devil, the ultimate enemy of salvation. she danced with the devil, meaning that she feels like she voluntarily engaged in "immoral" behaviour.
And the God's honest truth is that the pain was heaven - here she mentions of God and Heaven, the ultimate goal for a Christian, but she's actually swearing on God that dancing with the devil felt like Heaven, which is quite the contradiction. In fact, the whole chorus is a chiasmus that reinforces the anthesis: knees/heaven and God/devil.
If you never touched me, I would've gone along with the righteous / If you never saved me from boredom, I could've gone on as I was / But, Lord, you made me feel important and then you tried to erase us
Touch is an important part of humanity and in the Christian religion Jesus heals others through the touch of his hands. In this case, Taylor is regretting the touch of the devil and the fact that he woke her up from boredom, leading her astray. We also have an interjection (Lord), which mentions God through a metonymy.
God rest my soul / I miss who I used to be / The tomb won't close / Stained glass windows in my mind / I regret you all the time / I can't let this go / I fight with you in my sleep / The wound won't close / I keep on waiting for a sign / I regret you all the time
In what could be the best bridge of her career, Taylor is praying God to let her soul rest in peace, which is a way to say that who she was before John is dead, but the tomb still won’t close cause she can't find closure. Taylor sees love as her religion but her old self who believed in love with the innocence of a child died because of her relationship with John Mayer.
The stained glass windows is probably the most interesting lyric of the track and it ties to the other religious themes in the song. She says that the tomb is in her mind, meaning that she feels trapped with and because of her memories. Stained glass windows can also represent the ones in Catholic Churches that depict an important scenes from the Bible, as if this relationship was reflected as a stained-glass image in her mind. The glass distorts the light that passes through it, just as her life experiences after that relationship were distorted by it. She went from seeing life through rose-colored glasses to stained glass windows, meaning that her view on love and relationships is being looked at through memories that “stain” any optimism and faith in new relationships.
They also represent an actual memory of hers… because at the time John Mayer lived in a parish converted into an apartment, which had stained glass windows.
The last subject I want to touch is “I regret you all the time”, because I feel like if you look at some of the songs written shortly after Dear John and/or her relationship with John Mayer, for example, Back To December: it is quite mind-blowing to consider how the tumultuous relationship with John Mayer influenced her regretting Taylor Lautner… but that's for another post.
#taylor swift#would've could've should've#taylor swift song analysis#john mayer#midnights#3am tracks
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Honestly, at first I was a bit mad/sad that my piracy platform of choice* only had my local dubbed version of TOS. I wanted to watch it in English because I wanted the original experience and also because some iconic moments did literally get lost in translation, which I suspected would be the case. For example, "it gives me emotional security" just isn't in here. I recognized the moment but the phraskng is not nearly that intimate or playful, it's fairly bland. Wouldn't have stuck out to me in this version if I didn't know about it.
However, I have since decided that the extra moments I get are honestly worth it. My favorites so far:
1) In the episode when Kirk gets cloned and they send his android clone to the Enterprise but he manages to make it so his android version is rude to Spock as a coded message? Jim's clone calls him "Spitzohr" (a comment about his ears, predictably), which Spock later refers to with the word "Kosename", despite also calling it insulting. Not "Spitzname", which I feel like is the more common translation for nickname (though it might not have been in the 60s, I'm not super sure). Wanna know what other words are related to that? The verbs "kosen" and "liebkosen": to touch very lovingly/treat someone very lovingly and gently. The dictionary (Duden, in this case) literally defines "Kosename" with "Name, der eine liebevolle, vertrauliche Beziehung zu jemandem ausdrücken soll", which I would translate to mean "a name which expresses a loving, intimate relationship with someone". They could've just gone with Spitzname to translate nickname and made it a bit of a pun as well, but no.
2) In the episode with Khan, they have a talk about how some of them have/had a bit of an admiration for him despite him being a dictator. Scotty is one of the people expressing this sentiment. This is followed by the quote "Scotty hat eben einen Faible für harte Männer." which is already interesting when you translate it as they meant it, meaning Scotty has an appreciation for tough men. Notably, however, "hart" literally translates to "hard" as well, which means about the same in both languages when applied to men. So yeah. Scotty likes his men hard.
*(I am planning to buy it at some point btw but I don't have 50€ for TOS + 120€ for the movies + god knows what for Discovery and the spin offs and stuff right now and I refuse to subscribe to a streaming service.)
#star trek tos#star trek#k/s#spirk#tos spirk#mr scott#spock#spock/kirk#james t kirk#jim kirk#kirk/spock#star trek scotty#it's all gay#so gay#the dub might have made it gayer#also linguistics interpretation by unprofessional bilingual person
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Do you have any advice for approaching the topic of the economy with young lefty types who feel like they and all their peers are going to be poor forever, and therefore either the economy must be bad, or else whatever "the economy" represents is actually meaningless?
I feel like there's a strain of thought among a lot of my peers that I guess is along the lines of what you refer to as doomer shit, which is actively hostile to evidence that contradicts their lived experience. (See also: fury about "bailouts" to the banks that failed earlier this year, heedless to the fact that no such bailouts existed.)
i don't know what the answer is. on the political side, i think more energetic, ambitious policy goals and communication of those goals would help, but i also think there are symbolic aspects that are difficult to overcome with the current crop of political leaders--nobody is going to look at joe biden and say "ah yes, this man will lead us to greatness," no matter what his actual policy proposals are, because he is eighty years old, and has been a central example of an ISO Standard Democrat for most of his political career. similar problem in much of congress.
anxiety about the future and the possibility of unexpected disaster is hard to alleviate when we just had a big pandemic that was, well, a disaster in a lot of ways. lots of people died, the government was super unprepared, and a lot of people experienced serious economic hardship. could've been worse, of course. but it also could've gone a lot better. there's no fix for that except making visible preparations for future disasters (which afaict nobody has done really), shoring up safety nets (also quite lackluster progress in this regard), and time.
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As one of the most Rose Wilson blogs (excellent taste) what r ur thoughts on the first issue of her Knight Terrors ?
my biggest thoughts on it are just that its not very interesting </3 there are a few things i dont like about it (the lack of lili 😔 but ill circle back to that in a sec) but overall ?? it just didnt really do a lot. theres not a lot to dislike but theres also not a lot to like
but i can excuse the fact that theres not a lot in it given that this is the first time rose is getting the spotlight in like 15 years so not a lot of people are gonna know anything about her backstory so they had to make it accessible to people that dont know her. and i get that
like batman's knight terrors tie-in could delve a lot deeper into his backstory and feelings bc. its batman. everyone knows batman. he has arguably the most famous backstory in western media. but not everyone knows ravager so they had to make it very new reader friendly and i understand that, especially since her biggest trauma (getting drugged by slade) isnt even canon right now (😔) and her other big trauma (her mom dying) is a little more complicated than the story they wanted to tell (mostly because. wade.)
but i wish they had gone a little deeper into like. her feelings. being trapped in a nightmare that you have to escape from is one of my favorite tropes ever so i was soooooooo excited when this book was announced, but it just,, didnt really do anything. there was so much that could've been done with rose protecting and subsequently being betrayed by her younger self, not to mention the whole idea of slade hunting her down. but they didnt really use it? i was hoping for more like,,,, character exploration. but it didnt really deliver
on the other hand though. this one was def trying to do more of a plot than some of the others. like for example the jason & tim one has the basic plot of "theyre in a nightmare" but other than that its really just being used as a way to make them go through their fears n give them some character exploration (side note i wish they had been given two separate ones but thats a whole other post) whereas the ravager one is talking about murder man using rose as a conduit and trying to get into the waking world and making it like. a story instead of just introspection. so it definitely felt like the first issue was setting a lot up for more that will (hopefully) happen in issue two.
anyways back to her mom. again part of the reason that it would be so hard to incorporate lili into the story is that the circumstances surrounding her death would mean reintroducing the story from 30 years ago where she died, which slade wasnt there for so they couldnt wring out her daddy issues, and the fact that its only brought up like. 3 times ever again after that make it hard to reference her. not to mention deathstroke 2016 sort of retconned it that slade murdered her ????? then that was also never brought up again. so once again i understand that it would be very complicated to bring her into the story, not to mention if she showed up she would show up just to die 3 seconds later so i cant be.. too mad.
HOWEVER. they taunted me by mentioning her one (1) time then bringing up the foster parents instead. it seems like it's sort of working toward bringing her pre-52 origin back. but the foster parents were the worst part of her pre 52 origin. and also as my roommate (who hasnt read a lot of rose) pointed out, the foster parents are a deep cut. they showed up for like 3 pages 20 years ago then died and were literally never brought up again (not even a passing mention) until now. and while the story doesnt hinge on knowing who they are, i feel like theres definitely a feeling that youre missing something when you dont know the parents. so the fact that they were there at all seems really weird to me given the fact that im trying to excuse the fact that lili wasnt there. idk. its just hard to understand why brisson chose to put them there instead of lili, who had a major impact on rose's life and her death is the whole reason rose even joined slade at all. at least to me, the fact that lili wasnt there was extremely noticeable and felt wrong (not to mention the "i grew up in a brothel not a foster home" line is kinda iffy to me but maybe im reading too much into it). im still hoping she'll show up in the second issue, especially since they did specifically mention her in the first issue so maybe thats setting her up to show up in nightmare form later (<-delusional)
ok i think thats all my thoughts for now. tldr: its fine, it doesnt have a lot necessarily with it given the fact that rose isnt a well known character so they couldnt dive too deep into her character, but i felt like it wasnt really trying to do anything and it wasnt interesting. the only real problem was the fact that her mom wasnt there. but mostly im willing to wait until the second half before im too harsh on the book
#also im sorry this took me a sec to answer#last night i read this ask then spent 30 minutes pacing around my room talking to myself about it#then fell asleep without writing any of my thoughts down fhdskjfhsdjaf#rose wilson#dc#but idk. it doesnt feel like as nightmare as much as its just. shes in a situation#i did like a lot of her conversation with little rose though#i thought her protecting her younger self was a nice idea i just think they should've gone further with it
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Thoughts on Brute Bonnet and Iron Hands?
On a scale of "bland, boring Violet paradox" (Virizion, Hydreigon, etc.) to "actually creative Violet paradox" (Iron Valiant, Miraidon, etc.), I'd say Iron Hands is right in the middle. It's different enough from Hariyama to have some flair to it, but ultimately is still somewhat underwhelming.
Visually, I like the detached hands a lot. It makes sense for Hariyama's design and adds a cool bit of functionality that, unlike some other future paradoxes, is actually visible in the design itself and not just the animations. Adding the LED "pads" on the underside helps draw attention to them with the bright color, and the connecting spots are a nice touch.
In addition, it has a few other changes from Hariyama. The colors have been reduced down from orange, yellow, cream, and blue to just grey, yellow, and blue, which simplifies the palette a bit. The marking on the stomach goes down onto the legs, and the blue on the head is now a solid diamond shape instead a V shape like the original. The ears are also now a tube shape.
None of these changes are bad, but I do think many of them are arbitrary: the grey extending onto the legs is too low-contrast and makes the middle bar mostly pointless, and the blue on the head causes it to lose Hariyama's chonmage (sumo) hairstyle. I'd rather have arbitrary changes than it being too similar, granted, but I do wonder if there was more room to explore here beyond just the hands.
For example, sumo is an ancient form of wrestling—things like Hariyama's belt reference the sumo tradition of wearing traditional Japanese clothing, for example. Rather than just making elements like the belt robotic, I feel like the traditional sumo elements could have been lost (similar to how the topknot is now gone) to reflect more modern forms of wrestling. As is, the hands and design changes make it different enough; it just could've been pushed a little more.
Brute Bonnet is described as a "dinosaur crossed with a mushroom", though honestly, I barely see any dinosaur elements in it save for the four legs and tail. Regardless, it does have one main thematic element; the addition of prehistoric plant matter around its cap to reflect its grass typing. This doesn't have a lot to do with Amoonguss' original Pokeball theme, but it does at least give it something that immediately differentiates it from the original.
It also has a few other changes; the cap on the head is flatter and has spikes, the "beak" is now jagged, and it has colored rings under its eyes. All of this serves to further distance it from Amoonguss, and works to give it a more feral look.
Visually, I don't have any real issues with it; only that I feel like two legs might've made more sense than four, given that the extra pair doesn't add much to the design.
However, similar to Iron Hands, I do wonder if the concept could've been pushed more. Foongus' Scarlet 'dex entry implies pokeballs were based on it instead of the other way around, but I still wonder if the mimicry idea could've been pushed more. Patterns and colors that are appealing to other Pokemon could take hundreds of thousands of years to evolve; maybe you could see the start of the pattern on Brute Bonnet, but it's not as perfect as it is in the modern day. Or perhaps it resembles an older kind of Pokeball, like how the Hisuian Voltorb line works. Not a big deal as the design we got is still perfectly good; just something to think about.
Overall, both of these Pokemon are decent, though I wouldn't call either of them top of their class. Iron Hands is different enough from Hariyama, but could've been pushed even further; Brute Bonnet is serviceable but could've explored its theme more. Between the two, Brute Bonnet is better, but both are perfectly fine.
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I had a few gripes about some episodes/things that I felt could've been done better. Can I ask for your critiques?
Welcome to Otto's Critique corner. Here are my guidelines for discussing critique with me for everyone's reference.
Repeat after me.
It's okay if we disagree on the flaws of Earthspark. Other people will have different opinions and preferences. Just because someone disagrees with me doesn't make them a bad person. (This is something I spent some time learning and understanding when I was younger, so I always like to add it as one of my rules.)
We will not use this critique space as a platform to be rude to others. We may point out flaws in others' arguments and note where we disagree, but this is a space of discussion and not harassment.
If we feel too worked up by the topics, we will step back. We are responsible for our mental health and emotions. We are capable of stopping ourselves from lashing out at others, so we will be mindful of our emotions.
Onto the main critiques under the cut. Feel free to ask me to expand on certain things as you like.
More of a technical writing issue, but I think the action scenes are written ineffectively. They all feel very slow paced. It comes across as when characters are not in frame, they aren't doing anything. It takes way too long to accomplish things for this reason that would resolve the conflict faster. The characters also actively choose to not do the obvious solution for plot reasons. So for people who write action scenes and such, this is stuff to watch out for. Your characters can do things when they're not in frame, you just have to imply it well enough. Writing conflict is more believable when you write in reasons why they can't do an easier solution. Like the terrans and Bumblebee literally could have gone to get Optimus and Megatron before going back to get Grimlock. If I remember right, one of the characters even suggested it. But they just didn't do it. The obvious plot patch is to have their radios be broken or Optimus and Megatron don't answer and they don't want to leave Grimlock alone too long. But that isn't addressed, and that can read very frustrating to the viewer that the characters ignore the obvious solutions.
Onto the thematic critiques. Now to be fair, this story is incomplete as of now. I try to avoid fully critiquing something that lacks it's full context, but here are my thoughts on what I see so far. To begin, I am a fan of nuanced writing. I love villain redemptions done well and hero corruptions written well. It's important to show that people can change for the better and that good intentions don't justify certain actions. These are pretty easy to mess up writing though, and since I think it's such an important thing to write well, I tend to be harsher critiquing it. Again, it is okay if you disagree with my analysis or agree but want to add a point or agree with most but want to point out a detail I missed or even my own bias. Discussion is good.
Thematically, I think Earthspark shies away from confronting it's own major themes too much. Earthspark has heavy themes around oppression, alienation, trauma of the past haunting the present, and discovering that many people treat others they don't understand cruelly and choose not to understand them. These are very heavy themes, and (assuming the best intentions) I think the writers aren't bold enough about them. As a smaller in world example, Robby encounters his old friend who has biases against Transformers and repeats harmful talking points. Robby doesn't really say all that much about it, choosing to just take his terran siblings and leave. Now, this writing choice I don't have a huge issue with. It's not one person's responsibility to do the educating to someone about their bias. I would have personally liked to see the writers let Robby get angrier, but I don't mind the "I don't have the energy to explain this to you and it's not my job" approach in this instance. Later Robby's friend fixes the graffiti on the bridge to not be a hateful message. Now, it is nice of that character to do that, but I'm frustrated that we saw no substantial confrontation and education. We as the viewers were not shown that this character was more directly confronted with their own biases, and that's somewhat of a pattern that is frustrating. Megatron at the memorial park after the terrans reenact his war memories in front of him doesn't get mad at them or explain to them that war and trauma isn't a laughing matter. At least he doesn't explain it explicitly which I would like to see. But this happens a lot. Megatron expresses to Optimus he doesn't like the devices GHOST is building that control Transformers' mode they're allowed to be in. Optimus sort of vaguely says they have to do this for the greater good, and the topic is dropped. Robby walks away from his friend without explaining why it's cruel to buy into anti Transformers rhetoric. The topic is dropped and suddenly the other kid has a change of heart. Nightshade and a nonbinary person have a discussion about gender that I personally really hoped would go deeper. The topic is dropped as the scene changes after a few sentences.
I feel like the way the writers aren't diving into their themes more is frustrating. It comes off kind of insulting to me. And I am sure that isn't the writers' intentions. And again, I don't think Earthspark is an all bad series or that others shouldn't enjoy it. I know good representation is a huge struggle, and I'm actually really happy to see Nightshade as nonbinary rep even though I also wish they explored more with them. It's just frustrating to see the writing shy away from getting into the representation they're boasting so much that I can't even tell what they're trying to say about their own themes.
(Please no huge spelling and grammar errors fingers crossed.)
#ask#otto thoughts#transformers#transformers earthspark#tf earthspark#earthspark#earthspark spoilers
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i will be interested to see your expanse upon the semi feral upbringing and how it impacted rika in social as well as intellectual development. will you be referencing any studies on (fully) feral children or reported cases?
// (holy shit anon i am so sorry i typed like a maniac but I HAD TOO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS)
tbh, as much as i talk about my made-up clodsire ecology n stuff, this is a part of rika i'm due on writing on- rika's different from someone like my N for example, since N was raised mostly ferally until he was ~7 years old (although due to the nature of pokemon as well as the fact that it's a fictionalized account, it isn't as tragic as a real life feral child case... for one, this didn't impend his speech, though i have my HCs for why that's the case, but this isn't the blog to discuss it LOL), whereas my rika is more a mixture (hence why i keep using the word semi-feral to refer to her), since she was (poorly) raised by her human parents until she decided on her own to live mostly with the clodsire pond she frequented, rather than growing up with them from birth.
now, when i use semi feral it's because, while yes, she did grow up more socially in connection with wild pokemon, she never really stopped attending elementary school (even when skipping class here and there). she could've just gone and stop attending altogether, but what makes her semi-feral is that she had a taste of human interaction from the beginning and she, even unconsciously, still craved it in some form.
she lived in a contradiction of ''the people who should've cared for me don't and it makes me not want to establish strong human connections with others out of fear of getting hurt and abandoned'' and ''i still have a glimmer of hope within me that someone -human-, someday, will give a shit about me the same way these clodsire and wooper do'' (which is why i describe her childhood and teenage years as 'liminal', a threshold between rejecting and embracing the humane part of herself, which geeta helped her cross).
socially, she's always been about putting up fronts for convenience's or survival's sake (which is, in part, why she has a front during league tests - in that case, it's a conscious decision on her behalf, because she cares about her job and about the league and she wants people to take it seriously, and if she's her usual laid-back haha funni self, they won't).
she's always been cool and laid-back, don't get me wrong. matter of fact, during elementary, the equally rowdy kids in her class admired her, and she never suffered bullying during that time simply cause she was just 'so cool', showing off a very lone wolf 'i don't need anybody' persona while around people that even carried on to her teenage years. she enjoyed the positive attention, but she also only considered people acquaintances, and no one got truly close to her during that time. she was always a little popular because of her looks and the way she carried herself even as a kid and teen, though difference here is that she's much more open to letting people get close to her as an adult.
intellectually, she changed A LOT after she started attending naranjuva. a lot of shit she had to unlearn. a lot of therapy to go through. her more dramatic change definitely was her reckless attitude. as a kid and teen, she'd provoke wild pokemon to challenge them to races, she'd dodge slow pokemon that wanted to bite her, and when she wasn't doing that, she'd protect papá clod's pond from predators which, as efficient as she was, was equally dangerous. she had mad luck cause she never got a single hit landed on her until the espathra incident, and that made her overconfident and reckless and very cocky. (and this ties well with her reaction to knowing that the MC went to area zero - only someone who was equally reckless in the past and learned shit the hard way would have such a strong angry and concerned reaction, imo LOL)
for better or for worse, the trauma of being put in a near-death situation and getting a deep wound on herself for the first time coupled with the fact that geeta saved her REALLY made her consider things. not only the path her life was heading towards, but the fact that for the first time in her life, someone of her own ''species'' gave an actual fuck about her well-being and safety. geeta was the first human person she opened up to and was vulnerable with, which is a huge achievement. and upon following her to naranjuva and joining her, she also helped her unlearn a lot of rude behavior. 'feet off the table, use these serving utensils to eat and not your bare hands, don't throw crumbled up paper at others, don't start physical fights even if it is to protect me, etc etc'
her animalistic behavior is considerably toned down nowadays, and it's not something she shows to people she barely knows at all. but the more relaxed and close she is with someone, the more these little behaviors will start showing, as well as more neurodivergent behaviors of her own. things like growls of delight, mouthing the other person's arm, stimming (using a chewelry toy near them, letting herself show off raptor hands, kneading etc), moving in a more 'feral' way (be it on her fours, laying on the floor, making lil grunts and growls, etc)...
as for your last question, i've read up a lot of real cases on feral children cause i've always found the topic fascinating, and there's one case that really inspired me as a i was working on this - the case of marcos rodríguez pantoja, one of the few documented cases of feral children in spain. years before i made this blog, i watched the spanish film entrelobos, which was based on his case. there's very few similarities between his case and my rika's, but the fact that it happened in spain, the fact that both endured abuse in their childhoods (though in my rika's case it was more neglect than physical/verbal abuse, but hey, still abuse), and that they spent from late childhood to mid-late adolescence living in the wild...
yeah, idk, even when it's not a 1:1 at ALL, it was slightly in the back of my mind as i started to give my rika's backstory shape.
#( ooc );#( ask );#( anonymous );#( headcanons );#( long post );#( holy fucking shit i started typing this at like 3PM and it's now 4:30PM. what the heck )#( SORRY I WENT OFF CAUSE I JUST LOVE BOTH THE TOPIC AND JUST. MY RIKA'S CHARACTER ARC )
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Obviously Taylor has dated her fair share of people (which there should be no shame in), but based on her lyrics these are the relationships that seemed to be the most meaningful to her:
1. Drew Dunlap AKA 1st Boyfriend AKA Mr. Tim McGraw/Our Song/Fifteen (kinda)/Midnight Rain (probably) and a bunch of others
Was (in her mind) her first boyfriend!
Had her first kiss, first date, and first.. whatever else with
Mentions in multiple songs that she thought she was gonna/wanted to marry him
Based on Midnight Rain he seems to represent the idea of what could've been if she hadn't pursued a music career (or I guess succeeded in having a music career, since if she hadn't wanted to be a musician she wouldn't have moved to Nashville)
Has always described him as being super nice
Dated him for like a year
2. Joe Jonas AKA Disney's Resident Virginal Fuckboi AKA Mr. Perfectly Fine (and like SO many others)
In all her songs about him she says that she thought they were gonna be together forever because he... told her that they were gonna be together forever
Was clearly VERY hurt by the whole Joe thing. Back in the day she said it was her first true heartbreak (though it obviously paled in comparison to what was to come)
Did not get over it for a WHILE (6 months gone and I'm still reaching... Etc)
She also referred to him as her first love in the original Speak Now album booklet which I don't think was entirely accurate but girlie was trying to tell a story
"he will try to take away my pain, and he just might make me smile but the whole time I'm wishing he was you instead"
3. John Mayer AKA Sleazy Douchebag AKA Mr. Dear John (and co)
She has SO many lyrics about how she just loved. Him. So. Damn. Much (also this is outside of a musical context but she also said she loved him in interviews so..)
For better or for worse (definitely worse) it had a VERY big impact on her
Threw all logic out the window in the relationship and chose to actively ignore every red flag, or better yet turn them into little quirks (for example: the 2nd verse of Superman)
"don't forget where I'll be. Right here wishing the flowers were from you, wishing the card was from you, wishing the call was from you" (poor TL)
Wrote "I'd tell you I miss you but I don't know how/I'd lay my armour down if you'd say you'd rather love than fight" AFTER writing dear john
"I used to think one day we'd tell the story of us, how we met and the Sparks flew instantly"
4. Jake Gyllenhaal AKA Indie Douchebag AKA Mr. All Too Well (and basically all of Red, and honestly also probably elements of 1989)
Fell HARD and FAST
Was like *romantic?
Kept crawling his way back
Kept letting him crawl his way back
Wrote (in her own words) an entire album about it
"I never saw you coming and I'll never be the same"
"you're my Achilles heel"
Literally redefined her perception of love
Taylor at TIFF when talking about All Too Well "I don't see myself continuing to make stuff about extreme guttural heartbreak at your most formative age, that debilitates you emotionally for years, and you have to develop a scar tissue to move on with your life, and write a novel about, cause you're still..." (also it is things like this that make me mildly concerned about the fact that she's never gone to therapy)
We're meeting each other's families within less than 3 months (which I know is a Jake staple but still, Jesus)
"I used to think that we were forever and I used to say never say never"
5. Harry Styles AKA Teenage Boy who can't keep it in his pants (who would've thought???) AKA Mr. Out Of The Woods (and like others but DEFINITELY that one)
Knew it wasn't going to last but still seemed to enjoy it while it lasted
Put up with all that fangirl shit
Seemed to find it inspirational, if only aesthetically
Only person on this list that she seemingly didn't think she would end up with (though she apparently thought he may interrupt her wedding???)
We're apparently on-and-off for ages
Was a key player in sending her into one of many Identity Crisis'
6. Joe Alwyn AKA Golden Boy AKA Mr. 50-something songs (or something like that)
Was with him for 6 years
Very clearly thought he was the love of her life
Once again redefined her perception of love ("I once believed love would be burning red but it's golden" which I know is like a general concept but she applies red to Jake and gold to Joe for the most part)
I really don't think I should have to explain this one. She literally did it herself
Obviously we can't know for sure, but let me know if you agree or disagree. (Also sorry this is so long. I have a lot of thoughts and I don't know where else to put them xx)
I think you’re missing Calvin. I don’t like Calvin erasure lol. I know she didn’t write much about it and I think that’s where the idea that it wasn’t significant stems from but like I think that was a far more defining relationship than like Haylor tbh. He was the first boyfriend she lived with. I think there were very serious plans in place for them. It just started to suck at the end. But I think if he sucked just slightly less and if that time period sucked slightly less, she’d have married him tbh. She’s referring to him as the “good husband” in songs so like… she did think that was very serious. I also think that’s sorta why there weren’t that many songs. It was all just fine and then it sucked and none of it was crazy inspiring but it was also obviously super deep.
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Ok, Sly Cooper.
Well, let me give you some expectations for this game and then see if they lived up.
One of the big three of the PS2 era; Sly Cooper, Ratchet & Clank and Jak & Daxter. Jak & Daxter I've obviously held the highest but as time has gone on, my opinions have changed on Ratchet and Clank but what about Sly?
Back then, I looked up what was considered best of the series, hoping that it would make the strongest impression on me. So for Easter one year, I asked for Sly 2 and played through a little bit of it. I got to Dmitri for the first time and honestly every time that I've tried to go back to it, I get lost with what I'm trying to do, like I don't remember how to play and can't be bothered to restart it, there's just too many places to go.
While Bentley gives you his visual aid, it only lasts a second and you aren't directly looking at it so it can be difficult to navigate. That mixed with my amateur stealth game knowledge, I sat it out.
I saw a YouTube video of someone explaining why Sly is so important to them and why it was still worth checking out. I lodged it in the back of my brain and thought it best to visit the first of the series, maybe I was being too rash starting with the sequel, I mean it being more linear would be a good thing for me so I put it on the backlog.
Then one day, I got a real hankering for it, like down bad for it. I started making OCs, looking for it on eBay (which I logged) and really can't say that I've wanted a game that bad since my KH:BBS rom stopped working and I bought 1.5, 2.5 remix where I just wasn't satisfied playing anything else until then but that's besides the point. I eventually broke down and got it. So is it worth all that trouble?
Let's start with age. It has a remaster collection on PS3 but like the other big three of the PS2 era, they didn't port those over to PS4 or the PS store so you're kind of stuck with this one unless you buy a PS3. This is a game that was defining controls, you can tell what was a breakthrough by how they sell it in game too.
So the controls from time to time can seem a bit finnicky since it's PS2 era, but I imagine the remaster probably ironed out those issues since it runs on a different controller. Let me give you an example. Sly's tail has a blue sheen to it to indicate that he's following a track set up in game so that you can balance yourself better. You can break this track but it's easier to stay straight. It's not your masterful controlling doing this, it's the game. Press circle to latch onto stuff (small beams, ropes, etc.) The platforms can shake with momentum as you move on them, in water they start to sink but only where you're stepping. There were a lot of points where I was surprised to see the modern era take reference like Uncharted and Assassin's Creed, this game impressed me 21 years down the road.
I was thinking it was baby's first Splinter Cell but I was dead wrong, it's got variety. I like Splinter Cell, I'm not putting it down, I'm just stating the fact that some of these levels are quite different from the last, not just stealth. From environments like libraries and pirates ships to controlling a submarine to fight off crabs taking treasure chests and all that's within the first 'area'. Yeah, I said 'area'. I also said that this game was more linear. What I'm getting at is that there's a semi 'hub' or sorts where it's portals to levels inside of a level, you play those levels to grab whatever you may need to progress, it's cool and simple enough to keep track of when it's in bites but it's understandable how I could've gotten lost as a kid.
These areas are split between the five different villains or bosses of the game (which are all great btw), starting with the "missions" back at HQ, just like I remember. But if you don't finish that current mission right away and save and exit then you may need a refresher. How many levels can there be? Who's to say, I mean like I said, variety. I think there are seven levels to the first mission but that crab level was the shortest one of the bunch. What do you value in a level? Do you get everything there is to collect?
There are these bottles with little messages inside that collecting enough throughout the level will net you a code from Bentley which can be used for a vault found in that same level. You can go, get them on your first run. Or get some and come back later. It's up to you but the rewards are actually quite beneficial. You see jump is X, and latching is Circle and attack is Square but what's Triangle? Well, you want a fast attack? A roll? You want abilities? Sure, you get new abilities and none of these hidden ones are mandatory but it's a good incentive to thoroughly explore the level. You use the shoulder buttons to scroll through your favorites.
So length can be varying but let's put it this way, it's set up with lives, you run out and you have to restart the level as there are checkpoints otherwise. It's not a bad compromise though because for one, it gives you excuse to get those missed collectibles and two, it saves the collectibles you've already gotten pretty much no matter what so it's not that bad. You can even finish the level and come back and still have the same progress on collecting, I've collected them all before but had to restart because I did them out of order and I did a speedrun of the level in what? A minute? First run was maybe ten. But you really only get a one hit allowance and die if you land in water. You can also pick up level ups and horseshoes which gain you an extra hit or collect a hundred coins for a horseshoe.
So is it worth it? Let me put it this way. I mentioned how I went through a lot to get this game and when it came, it was packaged really good but it was already scratched and the case was dented before they even put it in there and during the cutscene after the first boss, it got stuck and start skipping. I wasn't positive that I could get it to work again so I asked this question. "Now that I've had a taste, (a demo if you will) would I be willing to buy it again in order to play the rest?" And the answer was yes.
It just felt so good to jump with X and press circle to step onto something. With a little elbow grease and improved controls, this game is pretty golden. 4/5.
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Day 18: Van Buren State Park to Ann Arbor
Distance Covered: ~88 miles
Total Time (including rests): ~8:11 (7:44am-3:55pm)
Time spent riding: ~7:31 (Approx. 40 minutes of rest)
Average Speed: 11.7 mph
Apples Eaten: 2 (fuji - 5.5/10, fuji - 6/10)
First of all, you might notice that I did not give exact values for today's ride. This is because my phone had a malfunction on the ride, and I had to disable the app I use to record my ride, and as such, I don't have complete accuracy in what I did. The approximations given above are estimated from Google Maps, as well as personal guesses about start/end times + break lengths. I rounded down, assuming that I took shorter breaks, and the entire ride took longer.
With that out of the way, today's ride was another pretty bland one. Similar to how yesterday's ride was a straight shot West, today's was a straight shot North to Ann Arbor. It was slightly more interesting than yesterday's ride, though, due to a few unusual parts of the ride. Almost all the ride was on state/side roads again, but there was a 15 mile or so stretch on bike trails, which was rather nice. In addition, the worst part of the ride was a side road which was a rocky gravel path I had to ride on for about 5 miles. I probably could've found a way to go around it, but as I was in rural Ohio at the time, it probably would've meant having to bike off to the side 1 or 2 miles to find a better road, so I just went through with it. I was worried about getting another flat, but my worries were for naught. This makes it so that I have now gone the entire set of rides from Pittsburgh to Ann Arbor (the Ohio rides as I'll probably call them) without getting a single flat. Here's to hoping the pattern continues! (Knock on wood)
I went through quite a few road work zones on today's ride, but the cars around me were usually polite, so it wasn't too bad. The most fun one was when I was able to ignore a 2-mile detour, because I could just take the pedestrian pathway over some train tracks that was still available.
Weather was also pretty nice today. When I woke up and got started on my ride, it was in the low 50s, and even as the ride went on, the heat never really got to be too much. I did end up drinking more water than I expected, but yet again I was saved by the new small water bottle I've been carrying in my handlebar bag.
On the topic of my handlebar bag, I think I might be carrying too much in it. It uses velcro straps to stay on the front of my bike, but some of the velcro keeps slipping, and I'll sometimes have to take a stop for 30 seconds or so just to readjust it. It's never enough to be a huge problem, but it is something I always have to be aware of.
Design Notes
Going straight into design notes today, I have just one topic on hand. It might be a long one, or it might be short, in which case I'll probably have more to say about it later.
Overpowered (OP) Items
To start of, let's define what I'm referring to by "OP Items." These do not actually have to be items in games, but rather can be any game object which can belong/be assigned to a player (whether that be skills, abilities, items, or something else). With that, I have three categories of OP items in mind. Before describing them, I'll note that these three categories have a lot of overlap between them, especially categories 2 and 3:
Items that are just really strong. These are items that tend to break the balance of a game in favor of one player, or in favor of THE players in the case of a cooperative game. An example of this would be any high-level D&D equipment when given at too low a level. I will be not really discussing this type of OP item specifically much in today's notes.
Items that warp the rules. These are items that introduce new rules or reject existing ones, changing the way the game is played. They are often just situationally powerful, or give small increments of power over time. They may need you to be more strategic than those of category 1. Some examples of this include the "Fleet Logistics" and "Lightwave Deflector" Technologies in Twilight Imperium, which both allow you to take actions otherwise impossible, or the "Dead Branch" relic in Slay the Spire, which warps which cards are beneficial for you to play/have in your deck.
Build-around Items. These are items that are powerful, but only in situations were conditions are properly met. They require players to think deeply about how to maximize their potential, or they end up being rather weak. A lot of Magic: the Gathering combo/synergy cards fall into this categories, as do certain D&D spells.
Why am I suddenly discussing OP Items? I think it's partially due to my thoughts from the last couple of days, but I'm not sure exactly what lead to this train of thought. It may have been the games I've been thinking about, it may have been what I've been reading, I really don't know.
I wanted to give my design thoughts on OP Items. I tend to greatly enjoy them in games I play, especially those of category 2 & 3, as they provide great moments in gameplay when you first get them, or when you figure out the right way to use them. When they appear or are first used, it usually marks an important turning point in the game.
With that being said, I have a much harder time designing with OP Items. One of my first games, Atropos, which I designed with my brother and a friend, was focused around "Treasures," which were mostly OP items. But since then, I haven't designed many games, if any, that have OP items in the same sort of way.
I think it largely boils down to being a result of my approach to design of game mechanics, which I like to call "Spreadsheet Design." When designing, I try to organize and classify things using spreadsheets, quantifying attributes, and balancing things out as I work. OP items are harder to quantify, especially those of category 2 & 3, because how strong they are can ebb and flow. Depending on the game, you might have an upper and lower limit of what you want such items to be able to do, requiring even more restrictions that increase the tightly-wound-ness of the game.
In a competitive game, you have make sure that one player does not just win the game because they received/have a certain OP item. With that, one of the most dangerous types of OP items are those that spiral into more OP items as the game progresses. There's also the case of OP items which either are stronger the longer you have them, or have a set strength. For example, an item that gives +1 to all your attack rolls is much stronger and gets much more use if received earlier in the game, while an item that gives a one-time-use +20 to an attack roll is good any point in the game, but may not end up having the same strength if received early in the game, because you probably don't want to waste it then. This is why build-around OP items are often some of the best in a competitive game, because that means it's up to the players' strategies to determine whether an OP item actually breaks the game in their favor. At the same time, this could backfire, because if a player is going for a certain strategy, and they just happen to receive an OP item that slots into that strategy, they may run away with the game.
OP items may be easier to manager in Cooperative or solitaire games, but those still have the issue of possibly breaking the game tension that exists between the players and the game. Even those types of games are typically less fun if they become way too easy, to the point of not really needing to strategize.
In my games, I tend to not include OP items, because I'm not very adept at managing the flow of a game correctly, and adding OP items would just throw an additional wrench in that flow. And then, by the time I think I have the flow figured out, the game is too set in its design to really add OP items at that point.
I do have some ideas for games that want/should have OP items. For one, I think Characters, Inc. would do well with OP items, especially ones which warp the rules of the game, because while it's one of the games I'm most proud of, that's more from a coding perspective than a design perspective. At the moment, it's much too straightforward, so it actually kinda needs a wrench thrown in. Moreover, I have an idea for a game that kinda takes the "OP Item" idea to the extreme, being focused completely around getting items/abilities with game-breaking effects, and combining/making use of them to their optimal situation. In fact, that's something that might be able to exist in Time Loop, with the offset of OP items resulting in a higher chance of temporal instability or temporal paradoxes. But that's an idea for another day.
This is all for today. Little late posting tonight, didn't have too much to say about the ride today. I'm now resting in Ann Arbor, and on Wednesday I'll be starting my final stretch back to Chicago. Today's design notes ended up getting a little carried away from me, but I'm not gonna bother editing them, so they may be a little jumbled and I don't know how much sense they'll make. Til next time!
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A lot of people still recommend Scott Cunningham's Encyclopedias today for good reason; compared to many modern books, Cunningham actually sourced much of his work & provided references. And anyone who reads modern materials knows how rare it is to get a quarter of the information he provided now- even if he made mistakes, had his problems, & could've always gone much further than he did.
Personally, however, I find they pale in comparison to two works of his that're no longer recommended — 'Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner' + 'Living Wicca: A Further Guide For The Solitary Practitioner' are arguably the two most quintessential manuals that finally formally codified NeoWicca: The non-initiatory, often solitary (and, contrary to popular belief, not automatically eclectic) denomination of Wicca that developed out of a combination of Traditional Wicca's Outer Court system, the Festival Movement, and other developments of the 70's - 90's Pagan Space; including the formalization of what it meant to actually be Wiccan at the time.
In the last few years I've re-read these two gems, plus many others, in an effort to re-explore my "original roots" after leaving a Pagan religious community whose Gods I loved with all my heart, but whose membership itself was incredibly toxic. And it saddens me, actually, how much genuinely good advice and methodology is in these older books, but is being ignored because modern Pagans seem to think they're "too good" for the Elders of the Revival; who seek to distance themselves so thoroughly from their own history and truth instead of just acknowledging and accepting it.
These are just some examples that've stuck with me as I've progressed since then in finding my own space with my Spirits + Ancestors ... But there are hundreds more quotes on my Tumblr from many other Elders of the revival, and many other books; agree with them as people or not: So many things could be fixed if we just learned to pay attention to them again ... Not to keep their information wholesale. But simply to listen to their lessons and remember our history.
📸 Photography © Me, Anna Katherina
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#Living Wicca: A Further Guide For The Solitary Practitioner#Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner#Scott Cunningham#Original Content#Original Witchy Content#2023#NeoWicca#Teaching Religion#Religion and Magic#Oklahoma Pagans#Oklahoma
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thank you, and to cut to the chase, i am never not confused by the attempts to expand the hs fifty air quotes franchise. and thats less due to any inherent quality or content or the like. its more just seeing this constant cycle of "we're going to do something big", "we're going to try and weave this grand narrative into this thing", and then said thing stopping and being buried.
oh yeah the franchising (or attempts to do so) of homestuck is really interesting to look into, especially when you factor in Dantae Basco
My favorite example being the now deleted "Homestuck 2.0" video
youtube
Huge plans for community outreach, possibility of side projects and announcements, "celebrity" endorsement, and just by this being a reupload clearly something went wrong pretty quickly, and nothing came out of it.
Then you have everything involving Viz Media
A big name publisher taking a web comic and redistribution it into a physical media for even more people to read, especially considering the huge popularity of homestuck, it leaves a lot of room for growth, and it almost makes me think of how One Punch Man/Mob PSycho 100 became as huge as it is now.
Then despite that, it gets fucked over by Viz repeatedly letting the site break, the absolute failure that was letting the mspaforums go down, and they currently have no plans on actually finishing adapting the comic into a physical medium.
Like, this is the webcomic that broke records with kickstarter: if cultivated correctly it should've led to easy growth, but as anyone who's seen anything about the development of hiveswap, a lot of factors came into why the "franchise" didn't grow outside of its niche.
I like to imagine that in some world where hiveswap's development wasn't fubar'd, or at least was slightly less fucked over, it could've been baby's first gateway drug into homestuck.
First part being played by big name youtubers (markiplier and jacksepticeye at the least
Music by the (at that point) well known Toby Fox
relatively normie safe compared to homestuck "more colorful" language and references
nostalgia bait with being set in the 90's
Overall, from a business standpoint, Hiveswap had the ability to learn from Homestuck's mistakes and lean into what worked. But as mentioned, it just didn't work out.
None of these youtubers ever went back to play part 2.
Toby Fox didn't even make a tweet about it coming out depsite a track he worked on being in it, but he did tweet about sales about part 1
all the nostalgia bait is gone because they fucked off to an alien planet
all of the concepts on said alien planet are only going to be familiar with established homestuck fans
And that's not even getting into the more recent developments, where even trying to pick things up, they just end up dropping the ball again.
Remember when they made a twitter to answer questions sent to them and then they stopped almost immediately?
Or how they made that "Homestuck is rated M" post and then deleted just about every other post they've ever made?
Around the activity of Pesterquest, they had a couple of decent publicity moments where they'd make "funny" replies to random big names/brands and it's pretty standard online engagement stuff but it still got the word out.
But unfortunately, everything was just poisoned either by HS^2 being a main focus that wasn't being received well, or the team behind what pumpkin either being targeted for drama or driving it themselves.
I think the core issue is that Andrew Hussie and the people they surrounded themselves with just didn't know what they were doing, knew what they were doing but didn't understand that what they were doing wasn't good, or even when they were doing something right then something outside their control screws it up.
Speaking of Toby Fox, I'm reminded of a post I made like two years ago about the huge contrast between the success of Toby versus everything that happened with Homestuck.
It could just be the nature of selling video games versus selling a multimedia webcomic, but there's something to be said about the vast difference in success, from Andrew Hussie's basement to Smash Bros and Pokemon.
#dashingposts#asks#Anonymous#homestuck#long post#andrew hussie#dashingthoughts#dashingreplies#dashingedits#undertale
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Super Mario Bros Movie, full review
Spoilers of course
Let's start out with the positives:
+The 3D models and effects in general were top notch, they were very good
+There were a lot of fun references that i personally enjoyed, but fanservice doesn't nessecarily make it good of course
+Bowser in general, and Jack Black did a great job
+The music was good and i loved recognising the leitmotifs (we'll get into the uncredited composers controversy later)
Now for the negatives;
- There are A LOT of lore incosistencies, let's start;
1. Mario should've already know who Cranky Kong is, because Cranky Kong is the original Donkey Kong, and Donkey Kong is Donkey Kong Jr. , so this means that the timeline is totally jumbled here
2. In the movie, Peach says she is not sure where she is from, and that the Toad's "made her a princess", and calls Mario "a human", yet in Yoshi's Island DS, Peach was already a princess as a baby
3. Pauline is the major of New York City, yet in the games, she is the major of New Donk City and is in the "Mario world", but in this movie, she is a real world character
4. Multiple other lore incosistencies
- There are A LOT of plotholes, let's start;
1. In the beginning, New York City is being flooded with water, yet Mario fails to fix it before he goes to the "Mario world", this is never elaborated on later when they return to the real world at the end, and all the water is just gone
2. Multiple other plotholes
- The fact that they acted like their accents were "fake" is stupid, the voices of Charles Martinet are classic and iconic and should be respected, i think it's very stupid that they acted like these iconic voices were an "act", even though this is the only piece of Mario media ever where they claim such a thing
- Most of the voice actors except for Jack Black did a bad job capturing the spirit of the characters, they felt more like Hollywood celeberties being used to gain attention for mainstream audiences, rather than real voice actors, this is very noticeable in their quality, they sound very generic (again, except for Jack Black), the Luigi voice actor did slightly okay though
- The end of the movie was rather vague, did the "Mario world" merge with the real world? (because of all the mushrooms)
- They didn't credit MULTIPLE composers! As a composer myself, i find this to be incredibly insulting and dissrespectful, the credits merely say that all the original Mario songs were composed by Koji Kondo, this is not true! There are many songs in this movie that were arranged from the compositions of David Wise, Grant Kirkhope, and many others (such as the Mario Galaxy composers)
- The amount of licensed mainstream music really annoyed me, it had nothing to do with Mario, the Mario series has a super big catalogue of amazing music, and yet they frequently use licensed mainstream music instead of the iconic Mario songs (for example they use licensed music TWO times during Mario Kart segments alone), a typical Hollywoodisation to appeal to mainstream audiences and boomers with "80's nostalgia", yet Mario himself is from the 80's too, they could've easily just used more of the classic and iconic Mario compositions instead
- A lot of other things i forgot about
I choose to interpret this movie as non-canon to the Mario lore because of its many lore incosistencies (and stupid decisions like saying the accents are "fake")
So there you have it, overall, i'd say it was a fun movie with very obvious flaws, a typical Hollywoodisation of a beloved property, a "turn your brain off" movie that is merely for 90 minutes of fun but nothing worth remembering (7.5/10)
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