#yes I know about Gamma World don't fucking start
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Acid Death Fantasy is basically Caves of Qud tabletop. Hell fucking yeah.
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FUCK ME DUDE I sent the ask off without the damn answer in XD I'm so sorry hahahaha @devoured-by-shadows here's the actual post holy fuck.
(Answers 19 and 25 are below the others under a read more cause there’s talks of sensitive topics in there, 19 light mention of the topic of death, and 25 especially be wary of if you’re sensitive to topics like addiction, overdose and someone withering away over years.)
12:A song from your preteen years
Ooh, interesting, what was big in my musical life between 9 and 12. Let's see. I got into metal at age 7 thanks to my dad showing me Iron Maiden, so needles to say Maiden was My Band in those years. While yes, there were other bands that managed to pique my interest then - things like Linkin Park, System of a Down, Nickleback (people need to chill with the Nickleback hate, yes they're commercial as fuck but dear god Silver Side Up and The Long Road fucked back in the day ok, and I will respect and appreciate those albums for what they were) and my first forray into power metal through Gamma Ray and Helloween and Blind Guardian - let's be real, Maiden was basically my whole life. When I discovered Maiden through their older albums, they were currently fronted by Blaze Bailey. Bless the guy, he tried his best and there are legit good songs on his two albums with Maiden, but you just can't fill Bruce Dickinson's shoes man, nobody can. All we were waiting for was Dickinson's return. So when he did come back in 2000 for the Brave New World album, that felt like the biggest event of my short life, and that album became my hyperfixation and favorite thing on the planet.
Iron Maiden - The Wicker Man
I could link the entire album here as my “song of my pre-teen years” but this is the first track off of the album, it’s the start of the obsession, it was one of my favs to drum to back in the day. Lots of good memories with this classic!
15:A song that is a cover by another artist
You know what's excellent music? 80s synth-pop / new wave like Tears for Fears.
Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
You know what's even better? When a silly-yet-actually-super-talented youtuber band does it over 30 years later and nails the atmosphere.
Ninja Sex Party - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Listen, the world can say that it wants about the whole Game Grumps / Ninja Sex Party / Danny Sexbang persona, I kinda don't care. Objective truth is, Dan Avidan has fucking pipes, his voice is a fucking treasure, and serious albums like that one cover album from 2016 really show off these guys' potential. I get what their shtick is and I respect the hustle. But dude, when they cover 80s tracks like this one or A-ha's Take on Me? This is where they shine in my opinion. There's something so comforting, so soft and smooth in this version, this song feels like a hug for my brain. I remember multiple occasions in 2016 when this song alone carried me through panic attacks.
18:A song from the year that you were born
So I was born in ‘91. Solid year in music, and in metal specifically. Metallica’s Black Album came out in ‘91. Ozzy Osbourne’s No More Tears, Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger, classics everyone knows. Over in Europe in the Nordic countries, the late 80s to early 90s with ‘91 smack dab in the middle was the creation and solidifying of black metal. And while of course I did not listen to black metal as a baby (tho I wish XD) the genre became my favorite genre of metal nowadays. ‘91 was the year when Darkthrone released their first record. When Samael released their first record. And when Bathory, already legends back then, released Twilight of the Gods.
Bathory - Prologue / Twilight of the Gods / Epilogue
Piece of fucking history this track is.
20:A song that has many meanings to you
Ha XD Come try to crack the code of Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway storyline hahaha. 23 songs of the most beautiful madness in the world. Listen, I have listened to this album countless times, pondered meanings, I read the story, my dad saw the original show, we saw the officially sanctioned replica of the show together multiple times, with the costumes, the original videos, everything. I understand The Lamb, and at the same time I understand absolutely nothing about The Lamb.
Genesis - In The Cage
Make your own meaning. The more you look at The Lamb, the more confused the creature will make you, and that’s the way I like it! Peter Gabriel era Genesis is the best music that humanity’s ever created. You can spend your whole life trying to get it and you won’t and you’ll still be on awe.
19:A song that makes you think about life
I tend to think about life through the lens of death most often. Idk how morbid of a person that means I am, or how much of a realist it makes me maybe? I don’t like to spend too much pondering life cause I know it can easily take me somewhere dark in the mind. But I do instinctually think about the value of life and artistic output, and the limited and fragile nature of life itself, when I listen to songs by people I’ve never known or met or seen while they were alive, and yet here they are, alive and well somehow in my hands and ears. How trippy.
Windir - Journey to the End
Raising a (non-alcoholic) glass to Valfar for his soul to share in whichever hall of the afterlife he’s at. The soul of the Sogndal scene, unbeatable creative who I firmly believe could have influenced black metal and changed the course of the scene if he hadn’t died walking home in a snowstorm in 2004. Life’s funny like that. Sometimes all it takes is a walk home that you never arrive from. That type of shit makes me ponder life and its weirdly thin meaning. You take a look at the lyrics, it’s almost like Valfar knew what was coming. Nevertheless, Valfar and Windir left us some of the absolute best black metal offerings in the history of the genre. You cannot tell me this guy wasn’t ahead of his time with that synthy / electro / dreamy second half.
25:A song by an artist no longer living
Aaah I unknowingly preemptively answered this one with the Windir answer before uh XD Alright, well, let’s talk about another artist that’s passed away then. An artist I actually got to see playing live multiple times before his passing. An artist that we, in the melodeath community, thought was so fucking cool. His self-destruction, which was very vividly broadcasted to the public mind you, was glorified, it was so epic and wild and awesome. The Wildchild, Alexi Laiho of Children of Bodom fame. We aspired to be half as cool as him. Because for some strange reason when you’re a teenager, a person showing off how much he can drink and do drugs is cool. A metal musician you admire showing himself blackout drunk and passed out and making himself sick day and day out, was cool.
That’s nuts to me now, as an adult, as someone who has mildly dealt with addiction and even that fucked me up, as someone who works with addicts and sees the damages of this disease day in and day out. We all watched Alexi killing himself slowly in front of us, at shows, on camera, on the tour buses, etc. and thought it was cool. We encouraged him, egged him on. Fucking madness. It claimed him, in the end. In 2020. I saw it coming for a few years so I was zero percent surprised. I know it caught some fans off guard, I don’t understand how.
I saw CoB in 2019, less than a year before the guy passed. I also saw CoB multiple times from 2011 to then, so I saw the decline of the frontman, and I feel you had to willingly be blind to it to not see it. In 2019 the guy was a living skeleton. No energy, barely able to play on stage, haggard unfocused eyes, caved in face, skin over bones. I read reviews of this 2019 show, people wrote about how he looked good and had energy and was “at his best”, like?! Was it denial about their favorite musician’s health status? Or pandering to the music industry, unable to review a show honestly? That performance was beyond difficult to watch. It hurt. Still hurts when I think back on it. I was physically uncomfortable. We left before the end. I couldn’t stand watching a literal wraith shredding guitar on stage knowing full well this night too would end with him passed out drunk at the bar after.
It was a whole story, Alexi’s antics. It caused tension and conflict within the band, and of course, how can it not be harmful to watch your frontman and friend do this to themselves. But metal was and unfortunately still is a culture of excess and substances, and nobody did it “better” than the Wildchild. We all thought it looked rad, but in the end we watched this guy die for two decades. When the news of his passing came out in 2020 (from an overdose of lots of different substances on top of liver disease and basically an organ breakdown) I cried a ton. For the reality behind this precious piece of my childhood and teenage years that was CoB; but mostly for how unhealthy the live music scene can be and how it can encourage artists down very dark paths. I don’t understand anymore how watching people get fucked up on substances is supposed to be cool. So I do my part when I can, to honor Alexi Laiho and other musicians like him whom addiction claimed, and to remind whoever reads me that alcoholism and drug abuse isn’t “cool”. Taking shit doesn’t make anyone more manly or more metal or impressive. Addiction shouldn’t be trendy. It cost us too many great musicians already.
Children of Bodom - Thrashed, Lost & Strungout
Man I miss this motherfucker.
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Can you list anything you unironically like in the games (and cartoons and comics) that you don't like?
I won't bother mentioning music, since that goes without saying and is to be expected for a Sonic game... unless you're Chronicles.
Sonic Adventure 2 (mixed gameplay-wise, annoying story-wise)
- While I prefer Sonic's SA1 levels for a number of reasons, I still think his and Shadow's gameplay in SA2 is fun on its own merit. I also don't mind the treasure hunting gameplay returning or how big the levels are this time around, since Knuckles and Rouge are still fast and not '06 levels of slow. It's mainly the gimped radar that creates the unfortunate domino effect of making them a problem.
- Introduced Rouge, one of my favourite characters for how playful she is and how she's a lot more nuanced and intelligent than you'd expect.
- Some genuinely good scenes, like Eggman's trap on the A.R.K and Sonic escaping from the G.U.N. helicopter.
- Had some good ideas going for it, like the Pyramid Base and the Biolizard as a scientific monster instead of an ancient one.
- Despite my thoughts on the backstory itself (or rather, its execution), Shadow has enough depth and subtle qualities and occasional unintended hilarity to stand out from the typical dark rival characters you see in media.
- The Last Scene's music in particular is one of my favourite cutscene tracks in the series.
Sonic Heroes (mixed gameplay-wise, loathed story-wise)
- The gameplay is fun when you're not being screwed over by repetitive combat, overly long levels and/or ice physics.
- Boasts some of the most consistently Genesis-worthy environments in the 3D games, up there with SA1's and Colours'.
- The in-game dialogue that isn't the same tutorial drivel repeated ad nauseam can be interesting, funny, etc.
- Reintroduced the Chaotix, which provided me with another character I quite like in the form of Vector.
- Bringing Metal Sonic back in full force and front and center in the plot after a long absence (not counting cameos and the like) is a perfectly fine idea. Just... not like this.
Sonic Battle (decent yet repetitive gameplay, mixed story-wise)
- Emerl's arc is compelling, and it earns the emotional weight of having to put him down at the end.
- While some characters are iffy (read: Amy), other characters are extremely well-handled. Shadow is probably the prime example.
- Gamma's belly dance healing animation is fucking hilarious.
- When I was young, and the game was first announced, I was really excited about being able to play as Chaos. This proved to be my downfall when it turned out he was arguably one of the worst characters in the game due to being slower than me during the writing process, but I still recall that excitement fondly.
Shadow the Hedgehog (comedy classic)
- The sheer amount of legendary stupidity this game has going for it makes it practically impossible to actually hate. It helps that it's not quite as white-knighted on the same level as '06... usually. You know you're in for a unique experience when you hear a gunshot every time you click something in the menu.
- By extension, Black Doom never gained an unironic fanbase like Mephiles/Scourge/Eggman Nega did, which means I'm a lot more willing to take Doom's dumbass brand of villainy in stride. He even has a unique design... a terrible one that rips off Wizeman granted, but alas, even that is a step-up from Fridge Shadow and Bumblebee Eggman.
- Despite being... well, Shadow the Hedgehog, some of the environments would fit right in with any other Sonic game, like with Circus Park, Lava Shelter, and Digital Circuit. Even the Black Comet levels look pretty cool.
- This game understands amnesia better than IDW does.
Sonic '06 (what do you think?)
- The obvious one: Shadow's character was handled pretty well, even if it came at the cost of everyone else being a dummy and being forced to interact with Mephiles.
- Like SA2, there are some good moments, like the Last Story ending sequence with Sonic and Elise.
- In the greatest form of irony ever, I like Solaris as a concept and design(s), and its backstory has potential to serve as a parallel with Chaos without being a complete ripoff. Iblis sucks, Mephiles sucks, but I'm fine with Solaris.
- Introduced legendary characters like Sonic Man, Pele the Beloved Dog, Hatsun the Pigeon, and Pacha from The Emperor's New Groove.
The Rivals duology (apathetic outside of Nega-related grumbling)
- There were some cool zone ideas in both games that were sadly let down by the restrictive and limiting gameplay. I particularly like Colosseum Highway for thus far being the only full-on Roman level in the series instead of merely having a couple minor hints of Roman, and Meteor Base for the unique scenario of the space station being built into an asteroid. These level concepts and others deserve a second chance IMO. (At least Frontier Canyon got a second chance in the form of Mirage Saloon, amirite?)
- Ifrit has a better design than Iblis. Not saying it's amazing, but the Firebird motif it has going on is a lot more interesting for a fire monster than the Not-Chaos schtick they had with Iblis.
Sonic and the Secret Rings (a very frustrating gaming experience)
- Erazor Djinn, A.K.A. Qui-Gon Djinn, A.K.A. Dr. N. Djinn, A.K.A. I'll Take It On The Djinn, A.K.A. Not From The Hairs On My Djinny Djinn Djinn, is one of the best villains not associated with Eggman in the series. He's a Mephiles-type character done right, and there's actual weight and reason to his actions, however sinister or petty.
- I don't have strong opinions either way on Shahra as a character, but the Sonic/Shahra friendship is sweet and well-handled.
- The ending is one of Sonic's greatest moments. The sheer contrast between how ruthlessly he deals with Erazor and how comforting he is towards Shahra speaks volumes... Still gonna make fun of the mountain of handkerchiefs though. (Before anyone lectures me, I understand the significance of it and can even appreciate it from that angle... doesn't mean I'm not allowed to poke fun at it. :P)
- Another game with some redeeming environments. I love the aesthetic of Night Palace, and Sand Oasis looks gorgeous too.
Sonic Chronicles (my personal least favourite game in the series)
- Uh...
- Um...
- Er...
- I like Shade's design?
Sonic Unleashed (overrated game and story IMO)
- The obvious two: the opening sequence and the Egg Dragoon fight deserve all the praise they get.
- Seeing Eggmanland come to life was an impressive moment to be sure. While part of me does feel it didn't quite measure up to what I had in mind (ironically, the Interstellar Amusement Park ended up being closer to what I had in mind), it still looks badass and works well for what it is. I also don't mind the idea of it being a one-level gauntlet... key word being idea.
- Obviously, the game looks great. Not a fan of the real world focus (real world inspiration is fine, but copy-pasting the real world and shoving loops in it is just unimaginative), but it can't be denied that the environments look good.
- This game pulled off dialogue options a lot better than Chronicles did, since they didn't rely on making Sonic OoC.
Sonic and the Black Knight (just kind of boring all around)
- Despite my gripes with the story (Merlina wasn't nearly as fleshed out as her unique anti-villain status deserved, which ends up severely undermining the ambition of the plot in more ways than one, and the other characters go from being useless yes men for King Arthur to being useless yes men for Sonic), I will admit it provides interesting insight into Sonic's character.
- Like '06 and Secret Rings, the ending is very nice... well, aside from Amy being an unreasonable bitch ala Sonic X at the very end.
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (apathetic)
- The admittedly few new concepts sprinkled within had promise. They may not have been as fleshed out as they could have been, but level concepts like Sylvania Castle and White Park, bosses like Egg Serpentleaf and the Egg Heart, and story beats like the Death Egg mk.II being powered by Little Planet, all could have been brilliant had they been better executed.
SatAM (apathetic outside of SatAM Robotnik-related grumbling)
- I'm not a fan of the environments on the whole due to them looking too bland or samey, but there are some exceptions that look pleasant or interesting, like the Void.
Sonic Underground (apathetic)
- The character designs make me feel better about myself.
- Does "large quantities of unintentional meme material" count as a positive?
Sonic X (mostly apathetic outside of Eggman's handling)
- Helen was a better human character and audience surrogate in her one focus episode than Chris was throughout his entire runtime.
- Actually, most of the human characters not named Chris were legitimately likable. Including everyone in Chris' own family not named Chris. Hilarious.
- Despite arguably having the most Chris in it, I actually don't mind the first season that much, partly due to slight nostalgia from seeing it on TV when it was new, but mostly because Eggman actually acted like a villain for the most part, and certain other characters weren't quite as flanderized yet. It's season 2 and onwards where things started going off the rails IMO. (Incidentally, Helen's episode was part of season 1...)
The Boom franchise (apathetic)
- Along with Chronicles, the games provide yet more proof that just because someone isn't SEGA/Sonic Team, that doesn't mean they're automatically more qualified to handle the series.
- The show had some good episodes here and there, and Tails' characterization was probably the most consistently on-point out of the cast.
- Despite not exactly being favourite portrayals for either character, even I'll admit that many of Knuckles and Eggman's lines in the show on their own were genuinely funny.
Archie Sonic (pre-reboot is mostly terrible, post-reboot is mostly... bland)
- Whenever I doubt myself as a writer, I think back to Ken Penders, and suddenly I'm filled with a lot more confidence.
Sonic the Comic (apathetic)
- Fleetway isn't a comic I tend to recall much of aside from how much of a loathesome cunt Sonic is, but IIRC, Robotnik's portrayal is pretty good. Different, but good.
IDW Sonic (stop pissing me off, comic)
- Putting their handling aside (and being too obviously "inspired" by MGS in the latter's case), Tangle and Whisper are good characters IMO.
- Same goes for Starline, before he was killed off-screen and replaced with Toothpaste Snively.
- Execution aside (noticing a pattern?), the zombot virus was a fine concept on its own and an interesting new scheme for Eggman.
- I get to remind myself that I've never drawn scat edits and posted them publicly on Twitter.
#Crusher's Asks#Opinion#Sonic the Hedgehog#Sonic Adventure 2#Sonic Battle#Shadow the Hedgehog#Sonic the Hedgehog 2006#Sonic Rivals#Sonic and the Secret Rings#Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood#Sonic Unleashed#Sonic and the Black Knight#Sonic the Hedgehog 4#Sonic SatAM#Sonic Underground#Sonic X#Sonic Boom#Archie Sonic#Sonic the Comic#IDW Sonic
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