Thoughts on The Antlers? If youve heard any of their stuff

i havent listened to much but i get depression porn vibes from them like i should only listen if im trying to be sad. which sometimes i am but in general it isnt really my thing

And when riverdale challenges comphet better than St

tbf comphet is a term that refers to how women are expected to center men in their lives and in their sexuality and about how that affects lesbians and leads them to dating men even though they're not attracted to them. so unless vickie turns out to be a lesbian which she most likely won't since amybeth said she was bi they don't have a character who's struggling with comphet lol

Was on Reddit in the Stranger Things subreddit and someone asked who the most intelligent member of the party is. Here was my answer.

I think Mike is the smartest of the kids, Dustin has an overall knowledge base of nerdy stuff but I feel like Mike, also has that but tends to think quick on his feet, is creative, brave, observant(sometimes) and strategic. A lot of big plans have happened because of him spearheading them.

S1- everything he did for El and being able to explain to everyone about the upside down after learning about parallel worlds from his teacher

S2- causing a diversion for El and Hopper to get in and close the gate. True sight and that Will was a spy.

S3- being the only one really who was trying to keep El from over doing it and also immediately coming to El’s aid in the sauna sequence. Plus that was also his plan.

S4- figuring out the pen and thinking to go see Suzie.

I also might be biased as he’s my fave and I think people are way too hard on him but I think my examples help lol.

I’ve always felt like they all had their specialties anyway or what I think they’d be good in and a lot of it overlaps obviously.

AND THEN, I talked about how he is also extremely self-sacrificing and some extra stuff because as always, I feel like people are way too hard on him.

Exactly! He’s also so self sacrificing! People say he hasn’t been the same since S1 and I agree in a sense but not about his character but that’s really on the writers.

S1- telling Brenner that he’d have to kill him (us) to get El. Willing to throw himself off the cliff for Dustin, trying to stand up to the bullies for Will.

S2- running to the soldiers to tell them it’s a trap when he could have easily died. The plan to go into the tunnels which led to him getting attacked lol.

S3- trying to fight Mind Flayed possessed Billy TWICE. Because Billy on his own is scary but a possessed one?? Come on now lol. People really say they hate S3 Mike and I will never understand why lol. My boy was so brave. The other stuff is because of Hopper and I’ll forever die on that hill.

S4- he didn’t get as much to do in terms of forward action but immediately running out to El in the desert when there’s no way he could have known that it was safe for him to do so.

He very much clearly is the leader and the heart of the group. I feel like people say otherwise just because they don’t like him and outside of “oh he’s just a boring character” I don’t personally think he’s done anything to be unlikable, I feel like there are reasons for a lot of his moody (outside of teenager) behavior. He doesn’t get any slack from the fandom and at times his own friends (Max and Will at times and even Lucas). He’s the only one who didn’t get the chance to really talk about his feelings UNTIL S4.

And then someone responded that he was being a jackass in S3, which is why a lot of fans seemed to dislike him and I'm like no, sorry that doesn't make sense to me. Hopper is literally an adult and threatened Mike at least 3 times in their conversation. Like you don't *have* to like anyone but I feel like the reasons that are given for Mike specifically don't make sense to me. As I said in the post, everyone has their moments of being assholes but Mike is the ONLY one who doesn't get a pass. I feel like Lucas was treated pretty badly in S1 but that's gone down thank goodness but Mike still gets shit and to me it's unfounded.

Like don't piss me off lol

There's this weird thing going on Reddit right now where people are claiming that legally, Rhaenyra children are not bastards. And I was wondering if you agree or disagree. I think that people are just making up their own canon lore at this point.

Sorry for the late reply anon, Ramadan’s come and it’s hard to think on an empty stomach lol.

It’s complicated as technically they’re right, on paper Rhaenyra’s kids are legitimate: House Velaryon acknowledges them and Laenor never rejected them. It’s not about reinventing canon but more understanding the intricacies of legitimacy and social practice. It’s not a black and white issue because there is no definitive way to prove Rhaenyra’s sons aren’t Laenor’s.

Dark hair? It’s a recessive gene from Rhaenys Targaryen (she has dark hair in the books) and Aemma Arryn.

Brown eyes? Plenty of Targaryens don’t have Valyrian purple eyes: Alysanne’s were blue and Alyssa had one green eye.

Pug nose? The boys are 6, 5 and 3 of course they’ll have baby noses, they’re children. Besides, we don’t get a description of Rhaenyra’s features only Laenor’s, so there’s nothing to suggest they didn’t simply inherit their mother’s nose.

people are just making up their own canon lore

Not entirely true, the Greens themselves were willing to acknowledge Jace, Luke and Joffrey as Laenor’s sons as part of their peace terms. Aegon II was ready to give Dragonstone to Rhaenyra with Jace, not Aegon the Younger, as her heir apparent, plus they agreed to acknowledge Luke as the rightful heir to Driftmark also. Legitimacy is subjective, despite calling them bastards for 14 years Team Green was ready to recognise them as true Velaryons if it meant keeping the throne. By making this offer they reaffirmed the legitimacy of Rhaenyra’s sons.

(Important to note also in the original draft Rhaenyra was married to Harwin but there was still a civil war because at the end of the day she’s a woman and Aegon’s a man.)

The only way JL&J could be made bastards is if Rhaenyra comes out and admits to it.

Same way how Ned only knew for certainty about JM&T’s paternity because Cersei openly admitted to it. We all know her kids are illegitimate but you can’t actually prove this in canon because there’s no such thing as DNA testing. Robert fathering a dozen black haired bastards means nothing, besides it sets a dangerous precedent; what if men across Westeros decide to abandon children using Robert’s ruling as justification? Catelyn gave Ned four auburn haired kids who look nothing like him, what if somewhere down the line people start claiming Robb can’t be Ned’s using the same logic as Ned had used to prove Joffrey’s illegitimacy.

I have talked about how Jace’s questionable paternity will have long term repercussions once he’s King, think Daeron II vs. Daemon Blackfyre or Joffrey I vs. Stannis I but that’s a discussion for another time.

Sorry if my rambling doesn’t make a lot of sense, I wrote this at 4 am when I woke up for Sehri 😅

hi sweethearts 🖤 i'm bea (she/her), a 29 year old bisexual cis woman from the USA. DMs and asks are accepted -- creeps and unsolicited pics are not.

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now that all that is out of the way, here's a bit more about me!

disabled with chronic illness & chronic pain. cat & plant mom. writer. music lover. vinyl collector. mid-century modern decor enthusiast.

various kinks include but are not limited to:

bellies, daddy kink, belly inflation, fisting, breeding kink, pregnancy, light bdsm, edging, bondage, pumping, praise kink, squirting, somnophilia, dirty talk, knotting, terms of endearment/petnames (sweetheart, baby, baby girl, love, etc.), cockwarming, free use

no-gos for me include:

scat, cnc, humiliation/degradation, impact play (this includes spanking, slapping, etc.), dr*g use, spit/saliva, age play, dd/lg, heavy/intense bdsm, any kind of painplay, butt stuff, and don't call me a MILF

**i am not a feeder/feedee/gainer, i just really like bellies, i'm sorry lol**

important tags:

#my txt, #my pics, #my vids, #my audio

random infodump about the various pokemon related shit i do online and beyond (this is about fandom/community stuff and not my actual in-game accomplishments):

i'm a moderator for the ribbon master discord, which is a community dedicated to getting as many ribbons as possible on individual pokemon (i have many ribbon masters myself!) technically i'm also a mod on the community reddit but uh i just let the other mods handle the reddit lol. i've been in the rm community for 4 years now

not me specifically but ayano who i share a brain with runs the pokemon fansite blue moon falls which has a lot of comprehensive articles and custom coded tools pertaining to RBY/GSC and the rest of gens 1 and 2 (she's the reason that the internet has all those nice gifs of stadium 2's idle animations now btw)

in speaking of ayano, she's also a full odds shiny hunter and is a decently well known name in that community due to her resources and general friendliness lmao

i'm not as active /w it atm because my art focus has been more on human characters but for the majority of my life i was what people would call a "pokefurry" and i have a metric fuckton of pokemon artwork under my belt

on that note i've written pokemon fanfiction on occasion too though nothing major

i'm a casual VGC competitor - i ladder in-game relatively often, keep up to date with the meta, and i attended my first regionals this year and met up with a lot of pokemon folk in the process! i hope to attend more events in the future

i'm planning on getting involved with a local pokemon convention near me to distribute mystery gifts for old pokemon games the same way a toys r us would in the early-mid 2000s

i have been a part of and donated money to a few indie pokemon sites and projects, including pokemmo, gpx plus, and pokemon eclipse (previously known as pokemon the moon rpg when i was a kid and played it for the first time!). in speaking of eclipse even though i don't play it anymore i'm the reason that a 3d model for shadowobliveon exists lol

i know a tiny bit about romhacking and made a romhack of firered that lets me play the entire game as kafu once, with kaf as my rival. i also have a bunch of personal lost media of "story" videos i made as a young child by stitching together recordings of fake cutscenes i romhacked into pokemon ruby

i made all these really shitty pokemon fangames when i was around 10 years old and i'm kind of obsessed with them

apparently i'm a pokemon horizons fan now and people keep acting like im the second coming of christ in terms of likodot on twitter so maybe that means something (LIGHTHEARTED I AM JUST SHOCKED BY THE POSITIVE ATTENTION)

i own more pokemon plushies than what's healthy and i wish i could show them here but a lot of them are in a storage bag rn

my pokemon game collection is also fucking ridiculous but i'm too lazy to put all that together for a photo. for what it's worth i own at least one copy of every single mainline pokemon game before the 3ds era including all alternate versions (diamond pearl AND platinum instead of just one for example) and almost all spinoffs aside from like, 3 of them

i'm probably forgetting shit tbh the 2010s are like a blackout void to me sorry

i've been a pokemon fan since 2004 though when i was 4 years old i am in hell

Ghost Games

(Disclaimer: This is a reworking of an old Twitter thread of mine)

What are your favourite games that only exist as a set of tweets or a screenshot of the notes app?

Or just a PDF download of a Google Doc in your "rpgs" folder with no identifying information that you have no idea how you got in the first place?

Or two long messages in Discord and you have no idea what the designer is up to now since they left all social media?

Or a friend showed you in their notebook once but they said it wasn't ready even though it seemed amazing and now they don't play games much anymore and just give an embarrassed chuckle when you tentatively inquire about the game they were working on?

What's your favourite deleted itch game?

Favourite dead blogs that you still have some pages of rules and game bits saved to your bookmarks?

I've been thinking about the ephemeral nature of games and game texts. Back in August 2021, I was asking around about a game PDF I had saved of a Google Doc I probably found on Reddit or some other forum (I still haven't found out where I got it from!). More than I year ago now, I went to share a link to an itch game page and discovered it was gone.

I think about how a bunch of lyric games that hit me aren't on any kind of "stable" platform like itch.io and are kinda hard to find now. I think about threads of "old treasures" from the early days of tabletop RPG zines, games that weren't digitized, one-off convention games, games that were put online but not in any way that's captured by our current platforms. I think of all the games from early eras that didn't get preserved because they weren't "notable" or made by "notable" people or quoted as inspirations by other "notable" games. I think of how archaeology can only see that which was "valued" to preserve.

I think of how many games that I and my current cohort of designers have made, entries for numerous game jams, that will be thought of in 1, 2, 5, 10 years time.

I was also thinking about game design and the act of playing games as necromancy. Since you can't get other people to re-play or re-experience a game session you had exactly, all you can do is give them some tools to maybe try and re-conjure, resurrect, a similar game.

Games die all the time.

I don't think my answer to this ephemeral nature of games and art productions is just to push for more archiving and permanence (lol sorry archivists and historians), though yeah let's try to do that too. I'm kinda okay that some things get to die and be lost. Their body gone, but their memory and mark on us persevering.

One thing that I keep coming back to is (I think) Brendan Keogh's thoughts on if we want to treat games as art rather than just products, we have to allow for games to be the equivalent of a drawing stuck on a fridge, or a poem written in a greeting card. That feels true to me. That some games can just be for a certain person, time, place.

I want more people to see gamemaking as a practice and art that they can engage with on whatever terms they choose, not just whatever terms "the market dictates". To make games with no thought whether they would be "notable" or remembered. To make games for the sake of having this thing exist, bursting and fading like a firework.

If that comes with the cost of ghosts of games littering our spaces, then so be it.

i feel like i'd have a better time understanding some anti-tulpa arguments if they understood what western tulpamancy experiences were.

a few examples are

amalahora on reddit not quite understanding that (western) tulpas/thoughtforms are "as real as you and me", and can have unique/personal likes and dislikes, etc

blueflamemagick thinking tulpas never front (its not a requirement but tulpas/thoughtforms absolutely do front, although it's something more learned than innate)

also the carrd from amanitasys saying that people cannot even use the word thoughtform, even though it literally means "a form of a thought", which i would consider it to be a way more vague and general term than referring only to headmates/alters/tulpas but i will use it personally as an alternative to tulpa especially because in the plural community people will understand it better innately, and it describes the experience better anyway.

im not bothering to check if the tumblr links have this mistaken understanding right now (because most seem to understand the claims western tulpamancers are making in regards to what they are experiencing, as far as i remember from which usernames i recognize), but i do hope there are more non-tumblr links added soon with people who actually understand what they're arguing against

regardless of the above criticism, i do appreciate the google doc with links to people's opinions about the appropriation and i thank you for putting it together.

wait, so are you saying that the asian and tibetan buddhists we’ve included in the doc… don’t understand the language that was appropriated from them and how language appropriation is directly harmful to those marginalized groups who are impacted? are we reading that right?

we choose to believe those who have more of a claim to tulpa terminology, those who are actually affected by appropriation, over those who push back because the practice itself is misunderstood. imo those who are having their culture and language stolen from them shouldn’t have to put in effort to understand those who stole from them.

our hope is for tulpamancy language to change to something else in order to respect those affected who have spoken out about the harm it’s caused. it’s the terminology we and many of those listed in the doc take issue with, not the practice itself.

we’re glad that you’re changing to thoughtform language, though! and if you or anyone else finds other links, we’d be quite happy to add them.

(also sorry if this response doesn’t make much sense, we’re tired and in a lot of pain rn lol. we basically think that tibetan/asian buddhists are allowed to be upset that their language has been appropriated. and outsiders, especially white people, need to listen to poc and just pick a new word, even if the buddhists in question misunderstand what western tulpamancy means.)

Okay so here is my draft I saved once but I was scared to publish before and my elaboration to my previous post that no, I don't headcanon Demi Fiend as violent without a reason person who just kill everyone left and right, sorry if it might be a little harsh, I was kinda pissed when I wrote this because I saw bad (in my opinion) reddit take on him haha

(and Nocturne fandom please don't slaughter me for this 😭 it's only my opinon!)

Warning: Extremely unpopular and controversial opinion down below, read on your own risk - you have been warned

Okay idk if it's something wrong with me and my autistic brain didn't fully understand the concept of SMT Nocturne the first time I played it or is Demi-Fiend actually the most misunderstood by fandom megaten protagonist?

Like I read the reddit thread today (edit: at the time I was written that draft for the 1st time) about what do you think would happen if SMT and Persona protags had a chance to meet (like not fight, just meet and be able to talk) and almost everyone were like "oh Demi Fiend would kill everyone on first sight for breathing the same air as him" and also in other fan media like in fan fiction or some fan comics I often see him, both in his Demi Fiend form but even sometimes in his human Naoki Kashima form, being described as an extremely violent or aggresive guy?

And I genuinely think I'm insane because I feel like I'm the only person in megaten fandom who doesn't perceive him that way at all?

Like for me Demi Fiend is actually more like this large dog - yes, he looks scary, yes if provoked he can and will harm you but actually he would most likely to leave you alone if you had no intention to fight him?

Like unpopular opinion but I think V-kun/Nahobino has actually more potential to be a violent or dangerous rather than Naoki himself

Like in the game we can see that Naoki seems to be very guillible boy, highly intelligent in logic and math things but having a complete lack of awarness in social situations (I actually headcanon him as autistic because he shown a lot of characteristics of person in the spectrum imo and maybe that's why I can relate to him so much lmao) . But not really violent in nature. Like imo he is shown in the game many times he had a soft side - like the way he treated Pixie or Manikins (like for example, if he really was as violent as fandom describes him, he would probably kill the Mainikin kid on the spot for magatama instead of actually complying to his terms and taking an effort to solve that damn puzzle boy game)

And also I feel like many people forget that actually almost everything that happened in Nocturne (maybe besides the ending stuff) wasn't Demi Fiend's choice at all? Like he wasn't given a choice when Lucifer showed the bug down his throat, he was manipulated by Hiriji to work for him, got used by Isamu and Chiaki as well, then he was also tricked into Lucifer's little Menorah Fight Club as well and only was told a truth when Lucifer already taken the last bit of humanity he had (although I have a theory he might have been not 100% succesful since even after being locked in TDE I noticed some dialogue choices implying that perhaps something "humane" still stayed in him even after technically getting rid of human's soul)? Like literally almost everything wasn't his concious choice, in contrary to V-kun/Nahobino for example where almost every choice in SMT V was his own, concious decisions he had made - so yeah, that's why I think V-kun might have more violent tendencies in himself than Naoki, even if that seems surprising.

I'm not saying he's 100% the saint, but also I think his character is really flattened to only being this "violent, punching everyone around him demon boy" and misunderstood by fandom imo (or it's just me, maybe I didn't understand SMT Nocturne's message or something or maybe I just have a blorbo bias idk🤷‍♀️)

So yeah TLDR: Maybe I'm insane but I'm gonna defend this boy until the day I die, give him a break lol

what do you think of this post??

especially point number 3 makes sense to me.

i’m sorry i really wanna believe in void and i haven’t been able to go:( and i’m desperate to changee my life it’s too shitty:( that’s why i ask

bestie, politely, that is the biggest load of bullshit i have ever read in my entire life. literally what the hell.

in my pinned post, i have a hashtag that brings you to tons of void success stories. and she's trying to say every single one of them are lying??? she goes on this whole rant about how she thinks the void does not even exist, and then she goes on to say she wants to go to the void and she thinks that she can get in? LOL

the void state literally came from neville goddard himself. she mentions he has a method called the "i am state" method but it's different from the void. not the fuck it's not. the void state was brought to tumblr's attention by a user who read neville goddard and read what he said about the i am state and made a post about it where she coined the term "the void." it's the same exact thing. it's literally neville goddard's own teaching with a different name to it. that's it.

the void got it's name because when you are pure consciousness, you see total blackness and it looks like a void. you're not actually teleporting to a void lmfao. when you enter the void state, you are pure consciousness and that's why you are able to manifest instantly. because you are accessing your subconscious mind directly.

and she says only people on tumblr talk about it. that's simply not fucking true? there's tons of void subliminals on youtube with success stories underneath them. theres success stories on reddit. theres success stories on instagram. theres success stories on tiktok. the shifting community on tiktok mentions the void state all the time bc they use it to shift. like do ur fucking research before shooting off ur mouth jesus christ.

also, its the law of assumption. if you believe the void state exists, then it fucking exists!! can you imagine yourself entering the void state and then waking up with all of your desires? yes? then IT EXISTS!! anything u can imagine, u can manifest. point blank.

please please please do not listen to her. she is simply rattling off her own limiting beliefs and you dont have to sink to her level or listen to any thing she says. i promise you the void is real. don't let ONE PERSON (1) who is clearly bitter she hasn't reached the void yet cause you to spiral or doubt yourself. read the tons of success stories on my pinned post instead. i promise you those people are not lying. even if ONE of them are, that doesn't discredit everyone else who has gotten into the void.

YOU ARE GOD. THE VOID IS REAL IF YOU SAY IT'S REAL! you got this baby!!!!

this is a genuine question and i honestly dont mean this in bad faith at all >< but what constitutes a chubby girl ? im chronically offline except for like tumblr and i stay away from body stuff like the plague because it will make my brain explode and die with how some people talk about bodies 😵‍💫 im assuming its like a specific body type since weight can be so varied ? Im so sorry if this is like uncomfortable 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

cw// i yap a lot lol

hey bb!! honestly i’m the same way with socmed lol i really only use discord pinterest reddit and tumblr lmao (and i post on instagram once every like ten years but my entire feed and following is just people i went to high school with who i don’t talk to anymore)

it’s completely understandable and honestly for the best that you stay away from body discourse online 😖 the one thing that kpop has ruined for me is my body image and i work very hard to have a positive outlook on the way my body is built, my weight fluctuates a lot due to my health and job etc. but i have ALWAYS been chubby and i don’t think i could be like lobotomy chic skinny if i even tried it’s my genetics (and the pasta. but getting rid of carbs would make my ancestors roll in their graves)

honestly terms for body types have been thrown around everywhere like “chubby”, “curvy” “midsize” “plus size” etc .. to me personally (and i’m sure to a lot of other people) chubby is really up to your own personal interpretation? i PERSONALLY identify as chubby and midsize (i’m a size 16-18 in jeans) but i’m sure other people my size view themselves in tons of different ways. when i talk about chubby girls on my blog i’m really just referring to a girlie who views themselves as chubby. who’ve got thick thighs and a belly :3 i don’t discriminate or gatekeep chubbiness when we need each others support so badly

this is your opportunity to infodump about sb. also I'm a glados and chell are vacillating quadrants truther but that's unrelated

ok first of all nice job sneaking that in there lol. i was definitely gonna keep forgetting to answer that one im sorry. anyways heres the smash infodump

So the other day while scrolling through Reddit I saw a post in which someone had designed hypothetical card designs for ssbu characters, which got me thinking about what a hypothetical Smash Bros card game would be like. Now to clarify, I never really knew fighting card games. I'm "designing" this mostly from scratch and guesses on how things work. (I learned recently that apparently the guy on Reddit was actually designing a game from this idea. Also apparently there's a game called Yomi that's like this exact idea too. But im gonna keep designing this bc like it's fine.)

The game would be based around the fundamentals of strategy in competitive play. It would be played with turn-based combat between two people. There would be a card for each of the about 86 fighters in the game (maybe there'd be color variants for skins or something I don't know). When two players decide to start a game, first they choose their fighters. The fighter card is placed directly in front of the player, or in the middle or something. The fighter you play as affects many things, such as your mobility, your recovery, and, most importantly, your moves! Your moves are, essentially, your main options at any given point in the game. Each character comes with a base set of 26 moves [this number is subject to change depending on the definition of "move"], but some characters have extra (e.g Samus and Luigi's z-air, Kazuya's back tilt, Donkey Kong's cargo throw, etc). These moves come as cards in packs for each character, with cool-looking designs that look really cool.

Now, I said the game would be based around competitive strategy. What does that mean, exactly? Well, when discussing games, most people look at it through a lens of states: neutral state, disadvantage state, and advantage state. They were not hardcoded into the game, however: they simply arise from the properties of the game itself: namely that it is a platform fighter that rewards air-play and punishes being closer to the edges of the screen. The states are used to look at the game in terms of stage positioning. The states' meanings are as such:

"Neutral" refers to the state in which neither player has a significant positioning advantage over the other, such as when the game starts, or in most cases of someone coming back after a death. This state is notoriously hard to master in a competitive environment, as unlike the other two there isn't a clear goal. "Disadvantage" refers to the state where the opponent has a positioning advantage over you, such as when you're getting combo'd, or when you're off-stage and the opponent is not, or when you're above your opponent. In these cases, your goal is to get out of disadvantage and into neutral or even advantage (e.g. DI-ing out of the combo, getting back on stage successfully, getting back on the ground). "Advantage" refers to the state where you have a positioning advantage over the opponent, such as all the disadvantage examples but you and the opponent are swapped. In advantage, your goal is to keep your opponent in disadvantage, deal damage, and kill if you can.

In the SSBACG (Super Smash Bros Awesome Card Game. Just came up with it), the concept of states are codified into the gameplay itself. Some examples of states include ledge, pure neutral, corner, and off-stage (low). Let's take ledge as an example for how the states form gameplay. Let's say you're playing Samus, and you're hanging on the ledge against ROB.

Now in SSBU, it would probably go something like this: you're hanging on ledge at about 65% damage. Because of your knowledge of basic ROB ledgetrapping, you understand that they're going to want to side-b, so you wait for them to use the move to capitalize on its end lag. You subconsciously consider your options, and since you want something aggressive, you decide to go for a jump and fair. Unfortunately, they manage to dodge before your hit connects, but since they dodged towards ledge (so as to avoid the following hits), you have taken center stage: that means stage control for you!

Now in the SSBACG, that sequence of events would go something like this: the state is Ledge, to the opponent's advantage. You have a good prediction of the move your opponent is planning to make on this turn, and with this knowledge, you decide to wait at ledge for this turn. Upon seeing your choice, they start putting the pieces together on what you're planning, and decide to dodge towards ledge on the next turn, so as to avoid the jump + fair he predicts of you completely. You, meanwhile, are looking at your ledge options (physical items) and deciding which you want (consciously). Since your hope is to capitalize on their side-b endlag, you can ignore any non-aggressive options, so stall, neutral getup, roll, neutral jump, and drop are off the table. That leaves you with getup attack and jump+aerial (This would be using two cards: the jump card and the card of the aerial attack you use with it. You don't lose cards when you use them by the way.), which would probably end up being a bread-and-butter jump+fair. You opt for that, as its longer-lasting hit box will have a higher likelihood of hitting them, and its best-case damage output is much better than the alternative's. Now that you have both selected your moves, the turn takes place. Their dodge successfully bypasses your jump+fair, but it's okay, because now the state changed and you are out of disadvantage. The state is now Corner, to your advantage. Now I just realized that's long as hell actually.

Let's make a slimmed-down, bare-bones version of that, without the thought processes, so you can see the structure of the game more clearly.

The state is Ledge, your disadvantage. Your move for the next turn is stall, and theirs is side-b. The turn passes, and no one takes any damage. The state remains Ledge. Your move for the next turn is jump+fair, and theirs is dodge towards corner. The turn passes, and no one takes any damage. The state is now Corner, your advantage.

As you can see, the game takes place in a system that incentivizes and prioritizes "reading": predicting your opponent's next move. A successful read can take you out of disadvantage, like in the example. A failed read, however, can knock you right into it.

Now let's talk about killing.

Killing is the goal, on the big scale. Your goal is to level up the opponent's damage, and kill them. Damage in the SSBACG is a simplified version of its SSBU counterpart. While in SSBU damage is measured in "percentage" (basically just numbers rounded to the nearest tenth), in the SSBACG damage is measured in larger chunks, or "Damage Levels" (often abbreviated as DL). Each move's damage depends on which move it is, and of which fighter. For example, Mario's nair does 8, while Luigi's does 12. The Damage Levels are used for determining knockback and death, not for attack damage output.

DL0 (White) is 0-20 DL1 (Yellow) is 20-40 DL2 (Orange) is 40-60 DL3 (Vermilion) is 60-80 DL4 (Red) is 80-100 DL5 (Crimson) is 100-120 DL6 (Maroon) is 140-160 DL7 (Danger Zone) is 160 and onwards.

Death happens when you are killed. It's easier to kill you the more damage you have, and the closer to the blast zone that you were launched (this is determined by your state: for example, being launched when you're at center stage is less likely to kill than being launched when you're offstage). When you die, you lose a stock and recover. Games are usually played with 3 stocks apiece. When you come back to the stage after dying, you come from the top, are placed directly into Neutral state, and are invulnerable for one turn.

Now that's all I have time for today. I didn't get into shielding and shield damage, grabbing, mashing and luck, combos, or even what the types of attacks are! Rest assured though, I will talk about this again someday later. For now, thank you for sending this ask. It turns out i had a lot more to say about it than i thought i would about. anything.

Lizard Reads Ward

Arc 1: Daybreak

Lizard’s Cry Counter: 2

TL;DR: A Victoria-focused arc that dragged a bit in places but ultimately felt like everything we needed to know about her (and more). I wished it’d started closer to the fight but having the fight, the trauma, and the family drama laid out felt like the groundwork that was missing from the prologue, especially with the shifted role of Amy. Wish that we had a little more about the other characters introduced in the prologue tho. 8/10 Aight! Let’s get wormin’!

So in my brain I’ve split the arc in to 3 parts, pre-fight, fight, and post-fight, so I’ll talk about the arc in terms of those mini-arcs. Mini-Arc 1: Pre-Fight (Victoria, not Glory Girl)

Ok the fact that the city is Gold colored is hilarious to me. This is Children’s Hospital Red™ levels of awful design choices, somebody really just said color theory in context is fake. I also appreciate the later indications that most of The City is in fact shittily built but hey shitty shelter is better than no shelter I guess (also relatable as someone looking at apartments). Other worldbuilding things I was thinking about since Wildbow really wants us to see the cool world he built (but it’s not really about the world tbh)- the technology of post-GM is so weird. Like you have dial-up internet but it also works perfectly fine and technology works when you need it to. Like I’m sorry but Reddit-AOL would be so much buggier. But all that being said, it’s really funny to see the irl jump in technology from when WB was writing Worm to when he was writing Ward, because Taylor’s flip phone vs smartphone drama was so real and relatable, and now dial-up internet just works on smartphones...I’m baffled. anywho! Onto Victoria lol. So Victoria is working with the new kiddie PRT- awesome, very cool. I appreciate the focus on her wanting to still feel heroic even if she gets that massive body dysmorphic/dysphoric (yes, both) feeling from actually using her powers. Though I also appreciate the small touches we see when she’s on her way to work with a much better mirror scene than the opening of Worm, her interactions with the one hero during the obelisk incident show that she still gets heroes and feels bad for the shit being thrown their way (idk, it gave me big closeted queer energy, queer-to-queer communication in a queerphobic environment one might say). “Nice response time” really is the dorkiest shit to say tho and I appreciate it. Victoria is a dork.  I also appreciate the setup with her parents, laying the groundwork for what’s to come later. Also that she enjoys working with the disillusioned and directionless kids/teens, cause that really is a thing that is the kind of selfless-selfish pull that I think Victoria is shown to be struggling with (finding the balance in the healing process is difficult!). While I felt like this part really did drag the most in the arc, I think there were some really good parts that make it worth it. And it leads into the first Wildbow fight of the story! Woohoo!  Mini Arc 2: The Fight (The Trauma Hammer)

Oh boy I do love me some Wildbow fights. I felt my little storyboarder brain light up because there were some God-tier moments in here that I wanted to draw sooooo bad. But alas, too many, not enough time. 

Crystalclear is cool as hell and I think he may be one of my faves of the new powers so far, he’s a very Wildbow-concept hero and I do really appreciate the man’s flare for the complex and flashy. Tempera is also cool, and Fume Hood is a snarky bitch and I love her. What a queen. She did not deserve to get shot (maybe a little tho).  

But overall there was some great tension in the ticking clock leading up to the fight, and seeing how shit played out was super fun as always, I was not expecting the 18-wheeler to come out of nowhere but it was a very fun time. I gotta say tho, I know Lord of Loss and Snag are important, but I for the life of me could not keep them straight in my brain since Snag made Victoria feel Loss, but like, that’s LoL’s name lmao. 

And on the topic of loss: oof. I did not call this the Trauma Hammer for nothing lol. This is where things went from meh to great for me in this arc, because since Victoria’s story was so ancillary to Worm, I had 1) forgotten how she triggered, and 2) didn’t really remember too much about the specifics of her story outside of the hospital interlude. But god, just sitting in her shoes through falling in love with Dean, losing him, losing her family, feeling inadequate to the rest of her family, and the ever-present looming threat of Her (that we will get to, don’t worry lol), it was just so helpful in really honing in on Victoria’s entire ish that is rattling around in the background. As someone who does characters like this, esp in TTRPGs, having that context of someone’s thought process really is helpful to have in understanding how you’re supposed to interpret the character, even if you’re already in their head (since characters and people lie to themselves, see: Taylor). But yeah, since Victoria avoids those thoughts anyway, it was clever to give them to us up front. And the fact that it happened while she was being a hero again? Kickass. Loved it. 

Mini Arc 3: Post- Fight (Her)

Oh my god this family is messy. I have essays I could write on Carol Dallon and just the Dallons in general but I think I’ll get the chance to eventually cause this is already too long lol. But oh my GOD I truly was thinking “yeah this is gonna go poorly, maybe some passive-aggressive family stuff, getting overwhelmed, getting pie and then leaving”, but holy SHIT the fact that Carol really just ambushed Victoria with lawyer speak and finessed the entire narrative of what was going on- jesus. Manipulative ass snake, but in such a relatable way. 

Once again, have been in that situation before and the way that Victoria goes from like a 2 to 1000 in 0.2 seconds when all the pieces come together- holy shit if that is not the exact feeling of trauma. I know the “#triggered” discourse is old hat at this point, but man I could feel myself get short of breath and panicky when Vicky got trauma triggered in this chapter (this is the spiritual Cry Point). It was so convincingly written that I wanna hold Wildbow in my hands to make sure he’s good.

But I’m proud of how Victoria handled herself, definitely snaps for that therapy working its magic, but man. The Amy Ambush (an Am(y)bush if you will, yes haha joke away), was so something I did not see coming this early, but I’m glad that it did because holy fuck. Victoria talking about moving on and then her family (mom) “moving on” but in a “forgive with an emphasis on forget” kinda way really does leave Victoria in a place that proves all that feeling of inadequacy right, and it’s crushing. But it provides that big stumbling block for her to overcome esp when she finds her new group. 

And seeing how many times she was forced to confront her worst moments and she still actively avoided Amy... oh baby. As an Amy Enjoyer (less “condoning her actions” more “study her like a bug”) I am highly intrigued in how this is gonna go. This is 7 levels of Fucked Up. 

I screamed with joy when Dr. Yamada showed up, I am in love with her and think she is wonderful, and also a great addition to the central cast of this story (esp in a story about healing from trauma? YES get the therapist in there). Also Crystal is wonderful and a good ally for Victoria, and I appreciate Victoria’s need to scrutinize both public and private Aesthetic (shoutout to me and Crystal vibing as 2 fun ADHD individuals). 

Also a shoutout for Gilpatrick because he’s cool and funky and a good boss. Get u someone like Gilpatrick. 

Bonus: The Interlude!

I would give my left kidney for Moose. I’m kicking Prancer’s ass, and I hope Velvet keeps her truck forever and ever. A better love story than her and Prancer tbfh. Also Nursery is so cool guys, she’s so neat. I love the weird shit being done with powers so far in Ward. 

AND A MARQUIS CAMEO HELLO???? HUSBAND?????? Sorry I really like Marquis lol. 

Final Thoughts

The only things I would criticize this arc for that lowered it a bit in my eyes is that the prologue really didn’t do a fantastic job of prepping us to only focus on Victoria. I wished we had sped things along a bit with getting to the others from PHO, even with little PHO interludes interspersed in to let us know what these guys were up to. Bc like, this really did feel like 3 arcs so I feel like we could have used another interlude or 2, just for spice and to break things up a little. Like a commercial break!

The other thing is Wildbow’s uh... underlying ish breaking through. I know Ward was written in the shadow of Worm for him, but there are some parts of these chapters that just feel very mean-spirited and pointed towards people who enjoyed certain parts of Worm. Mainly stuff that could be construed as “fandom” things, or things that fandom would like, that Wildbow seems to be very overt in saying “hey, fuck you for liking/engaging with this.” I dunno, it may just be me, but that kinda attitude cropping up often enough for me to notice the pissed-off hand of the author was off-putting and distracting from I think the greatest parts of this arc. Because it is a good story, it just feels like the occasional potshots WB takes are more coming from his own bitterness than Victoria’s, and are ultimately detrimental to the story as a whole. Idk, I will try not to bring it up so often, but it’s definitely something that’s running in the back of my head and I hope that it subsides soon-ish. 

But all of that to say, I enjoyed the arc! It was a solid opening that’s got me really excited to read more (which by this point, I have, and I will be writing up my arc 2 thoughts shortly lol), and the Trauma Hammer really hit home in a way that felt earnest and really earned. 

That’s all for now tho! As always, I’m happy to discuss stuff wherever, so let me know what you thought of the arc if you’ve read Ward! 

Until next time: Ward out ✨

To the person who sent this ask:

https://at.tumblr.com/mycptsdrecovery/hi-im-sorry-to-ask-this-really-because-it-feels/fepccd6vfm9e

So first off I want to apologize because this message is probably gonna fuck your shit up a little bit. But for me at least, clarity brought peace. I hope this helps you put the pieces together and can bring you some comfort to know that you are not alone, what happened to you was very real and incredibly traumatic, and that you are incredibly strong for living through that. You’re obviously very smart and you’re asking the right questions- keep it up.

I read your post and I know exactly what happened to you. You had a VCUG. I had it done too, multiple times when I was 3. It took me literally 20 fucking years to figure out what that was and what happened to me. When I read the Wikipedia page, it was like I got hit in the head with a brick so brace yourself before you look it up. The procedure has literally every characteristic of a sexual assault, and I have lifelong sexual trauma from it. It’s used as a tool in research for studying memory related to CSA, because ofc you can’t abuse children to get data- but the VCUG is “medically necessary.” I think it’s almost worse in a way because it’s more like a gang rape WHILE YOUR PARENT IS WATCHING, and you’re not even seen has an object of attraction- it’s dehumanizing, and the denial of autonomy over your own body has serious, long term effects. It set me up for a lifetime of other sexual trauma- by the time I was 6 I was already showing hypersexual behavior. I never learned how to set any boundaries. Period. If you learn as a child that you don’t even have privacy *in the bathroom by yourself*, layered with the confusion and embarrassment of the experience (I was being potty trained, and then all of a sudden I’m in a radiology room and my mom is telling me I have to pee on this table in front of all these people??) seriously fucked me up, at least.

I spent literally my entire life not knowing why I was so fucked up, not knowing why I was so deeply traumatized when nothing (that I knew of) happened to me. It’s agony, and I blamed myself and lost myself in addiction and anorexia. Funnily enough, Ive always gravitated towards people who had serious childhood trauma. I’d hear their stories, and understand the feelings, but I never had a “story” of my own. It made me feel like an imposter, because it wasn’t like I got raped by a family member or something more “textbook”. Nobody talks about VCUG trauma even though thousands of kids go through this every year. It’s a faceless trauma, there’s nobody to blame (which makes it even more difficult to cope with imo)

There’s like one (1) support group on Reddit with 70 members, which is the largest to my knowledge. I was thinking of maybe starting a blog because there’s a lot of older people on reddit (like 5-10 yrs older than me at least) and I think that growing up Online with that trauma and 24/7 access to violent adult content is a totally different experience. But all of the emotions they talk about are the same, I’ve always kinda felt like nobody could understand what it’s like to be in my head, but reading that subreddit made me realize that I’m not The Most Fucked Up Person Who Has Ever Lived. And I learned how the trauma has formed every facet of my personality. Like I’m an anxious control freak who feels no sense of ownership over my body- surely that has nothing to do with this foundational traumatic memory of being denied control over my most basic bodily functions, right? Much to think about lol

You’re not crazy, and what you went through is unfortunately very real. I’m assuming that you’re still a teenager or a very young adult so you may not have gotten a yeast infection since you were a kid, but I think that the white stuff/medicine you were describing was monistat for a yeast infection. It’s a suppository, so there’s a like plastic plunger you put this white egg on, and then you put it in your vagina and push it up to your cervix, and the medicine leaks out over the course of a couple days. So it doesn’t surprise me at all that you would remember that, someone put a foreign object inside of you that was itchy and gross.

And for the record, your parents are *Very* Bad At Boundaries!!! If they can’t be the adults and set healthy boundaries, you have to. Its perfectly okay to say “I don’t want to talk about that” or “you’re making me uncomfortable, please stop touching me”. You didn’t have a voice when you were a kid, but you have one now. Trust me, I know it’s fucking scary and feels impossible- but do it once, and you’ll be hooked on the feeling forever.

I figured everything out last year (I’m about to turn 24), and I’ve been in therapy which has been super helpful. For me at least, EMDR has really been great for reprocessing those memories, and so has hypnotherapy exercises for being able to get into my subconscious. If you’re gonna look for one, you need a trauma specialist. Don’t fuck around with like a school counselor who mainly does “I’m depressed sometimes” therapy. If you’re anything like me, you need Serious Help.

I love you internet stranger- everything’s gonna be okay. You’re not alone, and it is possible to heal ❤️ I hope this brings you some peace

.

EM!!!! THIS CHAPTER WAS INSANE!!! First of all I love love love the babies names, Aelys is gonna be an absolute little terror and I’m so here for it and daemon already being jealous of Rhaenar had me screaming like mr man you’re gonna have to get used to sharing babey 🫣🫣🫣 ALSO can I ask how did you decide on the babies name, is there some like ~deeper~ meaning behind babey and daemon choosing them? Crying I can literally see the two of them debating over names 🥹

ALSO ALSO I really super appreciate how much dedication you put into not just this chapter but all of your writing. The level of detail and research for the birth is so welcomed it just adds a whole new depth to your writing and it’s so incredible! Like I had no idea you can freaking turn the baby around while it’s still inside??? Props to babey for not passing out from the pain cause wtf OH AND DAEMONS INTERNAL STRUGGLE LIKE I KNOW SHE NEEDS TO DO THIS SO SHE DOESN’T DIE BUT ALSO SHE MIGHT DIE EVERYONE FUCK OFF OUT OF HERE — I feel you my man, but all this tension finally forcing him to say ‘I love you’ had me tearing up for real it was so beautifully written and him being all strict like we’re not fucking around now this is serious and encouraging babey in high valyrian thank you supportive king cause I feel without it she taken a rest for a little too long ☹️ my poor heart when they’re finally all sitting in the bed in their little family I know they’re going to be the best parentssss

Omg I’d love to hear the dragonkeepers like reporting that athfiezar went on like a rampage of dragonstone, squaring up to caraxes 💀 ooooo I cant wait for both dragons to meet the babies 😩

AND ALSOOO RHAENYRA STORMING IN HALFWAY THROUGH LIKE WTF GUYS IM LAUGHING like her and ulla would be a child birthing dream team all the maesters would be unemployed she’s gonna be the best auntie and I hope nobody tells Vizzy T like sorry pal you lost grandparent privileges when you brushed off babeys assassination attempt 😚

Anyways!!! Thank you so much for a brilliant chapter it feels like such a good way to round up this ~segment~ of babey and daemons story and I cannot wait to see what you write next!! Take care and have lots of rest you deserve it!! 💓

AAAAAAH, thank you so much!

I'm so glad you like the babies' names, I've had them picked out since September last year lol! Aelys is the personification of that picture of the kid smirking at the camera while the house burns in the background. She's gon' make them ALL SUFFER (not always, just, you know - Daddy Daemon gon' be yelling, his poor old peepaw heart). And Daemon can't help but be completely irrational when it comes to his Babey!

I found a Reddit post that compiles all the possible combinations of Valyrian names based on existing characters' names. In terms of behind-the-scenes, I wanted to make sure that the kids have names that no other characters have had or will have in the universe; save me the headache of having to clarify which damn person I'm referring to each time (like, there are 3 Aegons to refer to already by the time of the Dance, aaaaah). In the actual fic - and I think I'm planning to explain this in the next (and final) chapter of this instalment - Babey wanted her children to have names that are their own, free of the weight of whomever had the name first. For example, Aegon II is continually mocked by Daemon as falling short of his namesake, and I wonder if the disdain would be as prevalent if not for this. And if the kid is named Baelon or Alyssa, they'd always be carrying around the ghost of their grandparents/great-grandparents (ew) and, in the name Baelon's case, the ghost of Viserys's day-old son. The kids have new names that don't bear the burden of destiny or some past calling. (I mentioned 'Aelys' back in Chapter 4, I think? So I headcanon that they each had a boy and girl name picked out and agreed that they'd get to name a kid each, so Daemon named Aelys and Babey named Rhaenar [which in itself is kinda an homage to her sister]).

I'm sighing with relief that the research seems to have paid off! I swear I put more effort into this thing than I did with any of my uni assignments, but I had to give myself a crash course in breech births and labour with multiples so that I wasn't blurting utter shit onto the screen, haha. Daemon freaking out is just constant - he's one of them nervous little yappy angry dogs that's just CONSTANTLY shaking with anxiety, but is also a huge, huge asshole. Picture teeth bared, trembling, always ready to nip on some heels. Daemon. Tho for real, I guess he was a good hubby this chapter lol; who knew he could be encouraging? AND THE LOVE WORD WAS SAAAAAID! This was also my plan from the beginning, so it's nice to finally see it come to fruition.

I miiiiight have something dragon-related in the last chapter of this instalment? Lol, not started even planning it yet, because this one was a fucking slog and a half and I want a couple days to just stare blankly and tell myself the nerve-wracking part is done. But yeh, it's in the plan. Rhaenyra made it unintentionally hilarious, but I feel like I needed it to cut some of the angst and make the shift to the second birth a little less fraught. Rhaenyra for Queen, Ūlla for Hand (or vice-versa, they can take shifts)!

Thank you so, so much for reading and leaving such a damn nice ask for me! I teared up a little cuz I'm on my period and also am very very cry-ey as a general rule. I have PLANS for this universe, so I'm so excited to hear you'll be coming along for the ride, haha! I love ya, I'm going out tomorrow and buying myself something nice as a reward for yeeting 9500 words out lololololol (also because I just got paaaaaid)!

Okay, I'm back with a couple more questions. I tried to make sure I wasn't asking any repeat questions, but feel free to ignore them if they've already been answered.

2. Go to your AO3 “Works” page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for “Additional Tags.” What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?

5. What do you wish someone would ask you about any of your fics? Answer it now! (...please😶)

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

Hey! Welcome back. I appreciate the questions.

2. Go to your AO3 “Works” page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for “Additional Tags.” What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?

Families of Choice (7)

Family Feels (4)

Slice of Life (3)

Hurt/Comfort (3)

Angst (2)

I would say this is pretty spot on. However, the numbers are low, and I realized a few stories are not tagged fully. lol

5. What do you wish someone would ask you about any of your fics? Answer it now! (...please😶)

That's an easy one!

Why did you develop Jon's backstory the way you did?

I will avoid spoilers because his full story hasn't been revealed yet.

I always had the question when watching the show "why was Jon the best adult for Shawn?"

If you think about it, it doesn't make sense. Out of all the adults we see on the show, Jon has the least amount of experience with kids and no support to take on a troubled teen and his needs.

It was implied on the show that despite his wealthy upbringing, Jon had a personal understanding of the road Shawn was heading down. Then based on what Eli told Shawn about Jon and his family, there is a long-term estrangement between him and his parents. At the very least, Jon would understand to an extent the feeling of parental abandonment Shawn struggles with.

But still what was it that made Jon the right one for Shawn?

My answer: because he lived a parallel life to Shawn when he was a teen and got into much worse trouble that Shawn ever did. Had Jon not had an adult in his life who saw his struggle and intervened, his life would have been gone down a very dark path.

The last thing he wants is for Shawn to go through that. Not when he can intervene and stop that downward slide before it happens by following the example his mentor set.

Thanks to Vanessa for the video. She is my BMW encyclopedia!

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

Maybe? lol Honestly, before I joined Reddit, I never paid much attention to trope names other than reading TVTropes for fun every so often. I struggle to name ones I do like. I'm totally blanking on one's I don't but have grown on me. Sorry about that!