#also i need more fan content for this game so calling all my fellow creatives . get into this and then GET INTO IT!!!!!!! ASKSKSKS

[u3pxx]

listen to me , PLAY POTIONOMICS

#potionomics #quinn potionomics #sunnysidedraws #sunnysidedoodles #been watching julia and jacob drawfee's streams of it the other day and GIRL IM HOOKED #this game has had such a grip on me ever since i played it its so fun DGHFJF #like did you expect potion making a card game and a relationship sim to work so well altogether??? BITCH IT DOES!!!! #very quick doodle of quinn bc i like them a lot <3 #no i did not latch onto them at first sight how dare you assume that /j #also i need more fan content for this game so calling all my fellow creatives . get into this and then GET INTO IT!!!!!!! ASKSKSKS #sunnysidepotions

[cutegirlmayra]

Hiiiiii, I rly like your writing X3 I was wondering if you’d answer this question: What is your interpretation of what SEGA is doing with SonAmy as of right now? Seems like it’s becoming more and more canon. I know you’ve done similar question before, but could you maybe just answer this for 2021? Thanks!💖💙

No problem! And thank you, lovely Anon~<3 I love writing for the feels~ But also for the accuracy to be as close as possible if I can manage it! First of all, they’ve always been canon? Maybe not ‘in-world dating’ canon but canon in the sense that they are a official SEGA advertised couple since the get-go.

Amy was created to literally be in the slot of ‘Sonic’s Girlfriend’ where she had feelings for Sonic and always a fun mystery as to decipher Sonic’s subtle ‘returned caring’ for her.

As for 2021 we are so FREAKIN’ HAPPY to hear that SEGA is FINALLY marketing the two and VISUALLY SEEING the sales of their ‘couple shirts’ and the like make some profit. Furthermore, we have long-time fans and professionals in the careers within SEGA also vocalizing that they don’t mind the couple and even support it. With less emphasis on the ‘fandom fanatics’ of the raging past and more so on the fantastic marketability and popularity the couple brings to SEGA’s exposing their main IP, it’s become almost common ground to expect more and more people liking romantic and suggested romantic couples in all ranging medias.

We need also mention the alarming rate of the worrisome numbers in Japan recently. Conducted studies have shown that most of Japan’s population is elderly, and in the very near future (About 5 years or so) a good chuck of Japan’s population will die. This means the Japanese Government is promoting more and more companies within both entertainment, advertising, etc. to be more ‘promoting family’ in their media. Japan needs more babies! And guess what?

Mario Odyssey comes out with a completely ‘Wedding themed’ video game.

Dramatic romantic underlying's in Zelda’s new game.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s focus on romantic underlying’s along with Cloud willingly saying (English version) “Do I have any say in this?” As though to fight the idea that romance can’t happen and-

Kingdom Hearts 3′s romantic underlying that literally has a song (Japanese) talking about rings and getting married called “Chikai” or also ‘Oath’ that in English is rewritten to a romantic song about going deeper into love called “Don’t Think Twice” but literally has the two ‘making their fates intertwined’ in a symbol of ‘romantic intentions’ such as marriage or even just fidelity in a relationship.

So? How does all this influence the latest Sonamy supersonic boom we’ve seen in the media recently?

Although Sonic is his own character, he’s also only 15 (But as many of you have seen in Anime, Japanese ages of appropriateness are different then our own cultures and societies) we see faint glimpses. In the mostly American-made Sonic Boom t.v series, the comedic moments of Sonic and Amy are very much to a genre of American audiences and how we view ‘funny love’ should normally be marketed as. (I don’t always agree with what they say, but that’s how they’re trained and believe the ‘trends’ go... so ... can’t argue with professionals? Eh? -I personally think they’re outdated *cough cough*)

Sonic is not one to express feelings in overly dramatic ways which is common place in American television and media, but he’s also got a ‘boy’s heart’ which means we won’t see a lot of things from him BESIDES ‘romantic underlyings’ that are probably going to be initiated and themed mostly and primarily in Amy Rose’s character (If at all shown or expressed.)

For these reasons, I believe SEGA is just hopping on the bandwagon and doing what they’re told, while also following the latest trends that the other big fellow companies are making a significant profit on. I know we wish and want SEGA to be ‘special’ in how they think, but they really are just a company that is trying to survive and outlast the competition.

It’s sad to think that way, especially when SEGA used to be so creative and always influencing the next best thing but that was YEARS ago and they’ve learned to tread water since then...

(Goku being a grandfather emphasizes family in this particular scene where they take his granddaughter before a big tournament fight to a fair/festival. We see Goku with his family too, or at least, a successful son with his wife and daughter, spending time with his Father-In-Law, and the like.)

We see it in Dragon Ball emphasizing family, we see it in more romance-themed animes (and those that have only recently done romance, when they--for the longest part--never indulged in such things before or previously) and we now see more japanese games and media centralized around that.

What does that mean for Sonamy? Hopefully good things! Because if you buy the merch, they’ll produce more content. It’s a basic ‘supply and demand’ formula. If the demand (meaning how much you spend and want Sonic and Amy couple merch) goes up, then they have to supply to keep their business afloat. If they don’t they sink, but that DOES NOT MEAN TO BE AGRESSIVE. It means just support when they do something you like, and positively, kindly mention what you liked and wish to see more of if the future allows. No one reads aggressive writing unless, they too--wish to be aggressive back.

SEGA’s had issues with aggressiveness before, please let them see that couples in the sonic world won’t have a negative impact on their branding with irrational and bad-media frenzies. (Now, after saying this, I know people will start to do just that, don’t feed fire with fire, just let the fire burn till it has nothing left to consume, and carry on happily posting fanart or fanstories of what you love. Ignore to extinguish, which is what SEGA will do to Sonic shipping fans if we don’t act somewhat reasonably, okay?)

My predictions are such: 1. Amy’s crush will sadly lessen in impact and become more of a novelty, something that is treasured when moments arise to reveal her crush on Sonic, which in my opinion, is not her personality, but due to the heavy influence of women’s portrayal (Especially in America) being overemphasized and not done well, this is how they will try and combat it... (No one does this right and you shouldn’t base a characters solely on political reasonings...) 2. Sonic will have moments of caring for Amy or doing something sweet that can and probably will be interpreted as ‘a couple moment’ but he’ll remain mostly about other things, and the ‘underlying romance’ will have to come through Amy Rose’s character. 3. SEGA will loosen some rules after seeing more and more of the productivity and trend associated with marketing romance, and to keep up with demand and growing times, will finally let small moments emerge between the two, but the fandom will not be satisficed since we will now be desensitized to overly avert demure and oblivious stereotropes that will date their characters. and won’t allow them to proceed smoothly into the new area of customers and audiences.

Children are becoming extremely observant and aware. They are clever, and they always have been. It’s time to market to Children and Young Adults, not babies.

My ways to avoid this, predictions 1: New employees will surface that will start to get a name and reputation in the Sonic Fandom, along with youtube and internet stars who will influence certain marketing schemes (as is starting to appear now, and I feel will be just like ‘star marketing’ or ‘influencers’ that will be popularized in fandoms that companies will slightly make use of.) that will encourage new ideas and bring about a sudden ‘boom’ not expected. (Especially after the lull of the pandemic, I feel there will be an abundance of things happening in the upcoming years... but nothing right now, unfortunately, but at least they’re forced to focus on working on things instead of just releasing to keep up with other companies.)--In other words, they will incorporate new blood with the old, and they will lead Sonic’s IP into a ton of nostalgia and new beginnings that will actually stick and become Sonic’s new brand identity. (This will resonate with fans old and new, but still be a fresh leap into the future for the franchise and fandom.) 2. Sonic’s negative popularity will start to decrease, leading and paving the way for fame and possible adjustments such as more romantic themes to keep up with trends and Japanese Government demands (especially when the population starts to wither and it becomes an emergency situation to start encouraging family ties). Other than sonamy or romantic things, I believe new characters will pop up to ‘test the waters’ and see if we like romance intertwined adventures. 3. Villains will become more sentimental and caring, less comedically, they will be redeemable entities so that the company can market them more. This can also lead into funny romances that help other romances develop and have more meaning. (In other words, they’ll dig into their vault of familiar and new faces, go off the trend of ‘redeeming the villain’ and have more heart-to-heart moments that may inspire more canonical couples... especially if a newer villain were to have a crush that ended up helping two canon characters get together and leave the audience sympathizing more with the villain. This is an actual trend starting where Villains have more character and roles other than just being evil and staying that way till death. I suspect this will be popularized in American and possibly foreign media as time goes on.)

(I actually have a lot of the sonamy shirts lol But here’s an example of the villain actually helping the canon couple have more ‘romantic underlying’ moments together <3)

Those are my current predictions, though I admit that some don’t sound all that hopeful. But hey! All my hopeful and positive predictions have already come true XD Sonamy is being marketed, the new media (Sonic Boom at the time) had subtle but more forward comedic hinting (that I don’t feel went all that well? But eh, that’s just me!), and SEGA continues to try and reface Sonic which his brand doesn’t need. I believe they will still try and rebrand Sonic continually until something sticks for them that they like. Sonamy may go through many iterations, as they are still hesitant with it, and we see that by only marketing their ‘younger selves’ as in Classic Sonamy, and are too ‘shy and uncertain’ if backlash would happen if they advertised a more mature-looking Sonic and Amy marketing. Again, I don’t know if they’ll fully grow out of this, so I predict they won’t.

(I have this one but in black <3 <3 <3)

That’s it for now! My positive last comments would be the more we buy/purchase Sonamy merch, the more we’ll start seeing it in their media and entertainment products. Until then, do your best and write, draw, and review -kindly- to keep those articles of enchantment alive with the sweet sound of--”When will Sonic and Amy finally have a love song AMV moment for us?” lol

#cutegirlmayra ask #ask cutegirlmayra #sonamy #sonic the hedgehog #sega #amy rose #cutegirlmayra #sonic ask #ask sonic #sonamy ask #ask sonamy #sonicxamy #sega marketing #anime #video games #japan #sonamy predictions

[crusherthedoctor]

Sonic Heroes: Sweet or Shite? - Part 1: SILVER

There are some heroes I like. And there are some heroes I don’t like. But why do I feel about them the way I do? That’s where this comes in.

This is a series in which I go into slightly more detail about my thoughts on the heroes in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, and why I think they either work well, or fall flat (or somewhere in-between). I’ll be giving my stance on their designs, their personalities, and what they had to show for themselves over the course of time. Two things to keep in mind:

1. These reviews will be focusing mainly on game portrayals. Though alternate media will occasionally be mentioned, it'll be for the sake of adding onto a point if a portrayal is similar enough, or to compare and contrast if a portrayal is different enough.

2. These are just my own personal thoughts. Whether you agree or disagree, feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions! I don’t bite. :>

Anyhow, for today’s installment, I decided to challenge myself by starting off with a complicated one. Born from the future, and never content to stay put in said future, it's the saviour whose debut came from the most unfortunate game... Silver the Hedgehog.

The Gist: Once upon a time, in the distant future, there was an idealistic young hedgehog named Silver, gifted with the power of telekinesis for reasons unknown. With his amazing potential, he was truly destined for a wonderful, prosperous li-just kidding, it was shit.

“All two of us.”

For as long as he knew, the world was forever plagued by Iblis, the terrible Flames of Disaster. Cities stood in ruin, flames stood high, the floor was lava... it was a bitter life to be certain, all thanks to Iblis. Not even defeating the titular creature did much good, since it would simply come back to be a shitty boss fight another day. What was he - and his friend, Blaze, a character we definitely never saw before and definitely didn't have a completely different backstory before - to do?

Trust the first person he sees, of course. Even if they look like they might be related to the same Flames of Disaster that he fights so constantly.

If he had eyelids, he'd be winking at the camera.

This mysterious fellow, Mephiles the Dark, informed Silver that if he were to wipe out Iblis for real, he would need to take a trip into the past, and eliminate the root of the problem... Sonic the Hedgehog? That was what Mephiles claimed, yes. What was his proof? There was no proof.

That was good enough for Silver.

Oh look, it's Fleetway Sonic.

After an elaborate series of events, which should sound exciting but really isn't because it was just Silver going “Iblis Trigger grrr” in varying tones of voice, he was finally able to corner the blue hedgehog... twice! And despite having less fighting know-how than the hero who saved the world plenty of times, he effortlessly came close to killing the blue hedgehog... twice!

This looks like a jobbing for...

Why twice? The first time was halted by Sonic's friend Amy Rose, who Silver had met beforehand after she mistook him for Sonic, an understandable mistake that even the keenest of eyes would be forgiven for making.

The second time was also interrupted, this time by Shadow the Hedgehog. There's only room for one controversial non-blue male hedgehog in this franchise, sonny boy. Actually, his reasons were more benevolent than that: he wanted to show Silver the truth about what was going on, by time travelling to the incident that gave birth to Iblis. Why was one able to to this, so long as more than one Chaos Emerald was present? No one knew.

That was good enough for Silver.

“I challenge you to a dumb-off.”

As it turned out, Iblis was one half of a sun god called Solaris, the other half being the aforementioned Mephiles. The Duke of Soleanna wanted to reunite with his late wife by harnessing Solaris' power, which succeeded from a certain point of view since he's dead now too. The resulting blunder split Solaris into two halves. One half was all brawn, with little capacity for intelligence. The other half was Iblis.

Understanding the error of his ways, and after making peace with Sonic, Silver went back to the future to try something different, which consisted of doing the same thing he always did. Luckily for him, the script decided it would work this time, albeit at the cost of Blaze sacrificing herself... Maybe? Sort of? It’s not entirely clear what happened to her, and it’s not like this was the last we ever saw of her.

~La laaaaaa, la laaaaaa, la laaaaaa, heading to a better game, la laaaaaa~

But ohhhhh nooooo, turns out THAT didn't solve anything either! In the present, Sonic was killed by Mephiles, after the latter realised he should probably do that already if he wanted to make any progress at all with his plan. This incident led to Iblis being brought into the present, and they fused to become the omnipotent Solaris once more. Such power... such divinity... such devastation...

Actually, he was really easy. The antlion from Underground Zone was harder.

Manchild robots - 1, god of time - 0.

With their super forms in tow, Silver, Shadow, and the revived Sonic joined forces to defeat Solaris, with Sonic in particular going the extra step in retconning Solaris out of existence entirely. Since time itself reset, meaning Iblis was no longer a memory, Silver's timeline was given a second chance. What was he to look forward to in this new, promising future?

Shit.

The Design: Let's take a closer look at Silver's appearance, shall we?

Or rather, a certain thing that's wrong with it.

He's holding up fifteen fingers.

Yes, you all know what I'm pointing to: the hairstyle. Let it be known that I'm very aware of the intention behind this design choice. It's supposed to be based on the Japanese Red Maple Leaf, which holds a lot of relevant symbolism for Silver's character. This is a fine idea in theory, and I can respect the intent and the creativity.

But here's the thing: If it looks like a ganja leaf, people are going to say it looks like a ganja leaf. I know some fans will gnash their teeth at me saying this, but the fact of the matter is that intentions and ideas, no matter how good they may be on paper, don't always translate well into the final product. Unleashed Secret Rings Black Knight Sonic '06 in general is certainly no stranger to showcasing examples of that, and Silver's hairstyle is no exception. There are ways to incorporate symbolism in a character’s design without making them look like meme bait in the process, and no amount of “umm ackshually” will change that, I'm afraid.

That said, there's another reason why I'm staying clean of Silver marijuana: it doesn't work for a hedgehog character. With the other hedgehogs, their hairstyles are simple and get the point across: Sonic's goes without saying, Shadow's is more angular to befit a slightly rougher hero, and Amy's is a cute bob cut of sorts. But Silver? Even without the ganja, you've still got the two tentacles making up the back of his head.

I'd rather not be reminded of hentai quills, thanks.

“I thought Crusher-san would like it :’(”

I do find it hilarious that they went through numerous designs for Silver, and this was what they chose to go with. Some of his prototype designs may have fared better had any of them been used instead... but we didn't end up with any of those ones. We ended up with this one, therefore I'm judging this one.

But don’t worry, it’s not all bad with Silver...

The Personality: As far as actual character goes, Silver's personality is as straightfoward as most characters in the series, yet it's no less interesting, because it took a while for it to fully evolve to what it currently is. The seeds of his character - a good-natured yet awkward and rather insecure kind of guy, who doesn't fully understand how the present time works - have always been there, but it was often downplayed in earlier titles due to him being hungry for Iblis Trigger blood... or being an arsehole for no reason.

Although to be fair, everyone in Rivals is an arsehole for no reason.

Eventually though, after the writers gave him a Snickers, these traits got more opportunity to shine. Mostly in side media admittedly, but it's been noted in the games as well. With no Iblis to angst over, he's proven to be a surprisingly bubbly chap, who just wants to know how you're all doing, fellow anthro kids. And whereas his naivety was previously used for intended tragedy to benefit the evil plan of a guy who thought taking the -istoph- out of Mephistopheles would make him inconspicuous, now it's been used for a bunch of low-key contexts that do a much better job at endearing him to the player.

Finally, something I can relate to.

Hell, he even seems to have learned from the Mephiles incident, as he was quick to make it clear to the next shadowy deep-voiced anthro with demonic eyes he met that he wasn't gonna fall for any of them fibs no more, ya hear?

“YouTube and Twitter don’t count.”

All in all, it works well enough, in my opinion. His personality does pave the way for some funny and wholesome moments, and since they’re no longer trying to build him up like he’s Shadow 2.0, he's nowhere near as much of a tool as he was before. So I guess you could say... I like it?

Does this mean I can say that I like the character as a whole then, design and '06-induced idiocy aside?

Well, not quite...

The Execution: This is where the complication part comes into play. We know now that I like his personality, not so much his design, but that's only the half of it. It would be more accurate to say that I like his personality... and dislike everything else.

Aside from that, obviously.

For starters, the creation process for his character and story was summed up with, in their own words, “Think Trunks from Dragon Ball Z”. So he comes off as rather lazy and uninspired. Now I'm not expecting my Sonic characters to be 100% unique, there's always going to be similarities to other franchises no matter what you do, even if subconsciously or by complete coincidence. Taking inspiration in itself is no big deal at all.

But... was that it? Copying a DBZ character to such a blatant extent? Was there no other thought put into it?

Naturally, this ties into an overarching problem: the franchise's mid-00's habit of trying way too hard to be the anthro Dragon Ball Z. Sonic has had DBZ influences since the early days, with the Chaos Emeralds and Super Sonic, but it didn't assimilate itself into every waking aspect of his universe. It was merely an additional flavor that added to the complete package, in the same way that a Death Star with a moustache didn't mean the franchise was suddenly Star Wars the Hedgehog.

But come the turn of the millenium, nearly every main title in the series ended with Super Sonic and/or Super Shadow saving the day, while everyone else either stood around being useless, or only helping in ways that no one actually cares about. Including the in-universe President apparently, since only Sonic and Shadow were featured in the photo on his desk.

Amy smiled. “I guess the rest of us can go fuck ourselves, huh?”

This reached its peak with - of course - Sonic '06, with Silver in particular being an obvious result of this then-ongoing trend. And yes, it would be unfair to use him as a scapegoat, considering it was already a problem long before he turned up. But moreso than even Shadow, it's an era that Silver is forever a relic of, for better or for worse.

But it doesn't stop there. Since Silver is considered a mainstay character, his gimmick of being from the future also creates problems of its own, because in order for him to make further appearances, he keeps turning up for little explained reason, and thus he suffers the Deadly Six problem of being shoved into places where he doesn't belong, for fanservice's own sake. Take Sonic Colours DS for example, where he went back in time JUST to check out Eggman's theme park... Okay...?

On one hand, I’d visit it too, since it's made by Eggman. On the other hand, I’d stay clear of it, since it's made by Eggman.

And when there IS a justification with more weight to it? It's just recycling the '06 routine of trying to avert his ruined future, which isn't much better. The cause may differ depending on the story, but if his future is a permanent shitehole for one reason or another, he might as well cut out the middle man and stay in the present altogether, since that's where his friends are anyway. But they seem intent on not doing that, despite the future schtick being a noose around his neck at this point.

In hindsight, maybe this was a hint to how the rest of the arc would turn out.

And then there's his dynamic with a certain purple cat... No, not Big. The other one.

“I’m here, by the way.”

Simply put: I don't like this dynamic. At all. Or rather, I don't like how they keep milking it. Blaze's backstory was radically changed to justify her presence in Silver's future, and it really shows, since she barely even shows up half the time, as if the developers themselves forgot she was in the game. But her backstory has since been restored to her original alternate dimension interpretation, so hanging around with the grey hedgehog is all good now, right?

To be brutally honest, I probably wouldn't care for this dynamic regardless. But I would be more willing to tolerate it, and I'd refrain from groaning every time they're seen together... if they weren't intent on playing it up so much in spite of '06 being wiped out, sometimes with a bit of commentary involving their thoughts and memories, which only succeeds at making things more confusing. If Blaze is around, Silver will be nearby, and if he's not at first, he will be soon enough. This franchise does have a problem in general with restricting who's allowed to interact with who (I personally believe Sonic Heroes may have led to this, or at least it accelerated it), but I'd argue it's at its most insufferable here, with Blaze's potential and her entire world taking a backseat to being the sidekick of Ganja Man.

And you might say “Well, it's part of the franchise now, so you'll just have to accept it”. To which I ask: Have you accepted Two Worlds? Have you accepted Solo Sonica? Have you accepted Sonic's friends not doing much as of late?

Yeah. That's what I thought. “It’s just how it is” doesn’t mean you can’t criticise it.

Meanwhile, Marine is lucky enough to get so much as a shout out.

So yeah, I have quite an extensive list of grievances involving poor Silver. But... very little of it has to do with him, right? They're all indirect problems that he just so happens to be linked to, as opposed to someone like Chris Thorndyke, who is genuinely a shit character through and through. This is more comparable to Tails being bitchy in Lost World, or Amy being manipulative in Chronicles, or Sonic being a smug dumbass in IDW, or Shadow not wearing a Hawaiian shirt in Boom. Frustrating, regrettable, but not really the character's own fault.

Yet even after all that, there's one last kick in the teeth... How do you fix all this? And how do you fix it when he's since gained a sizable fandom, many of whom like him for these very attributes? If you leave it as it is, you're stuck with this big, awkward mess that everyone pretends to ignore. If you try to do something about it, you'll get complaints about disrespecting the True Silver Spirit, and you’ll get questions about why you didn't create a new character instead... And if you did use a new character for the sake of a clean slate, THEN you'd get complaints about not using Silver.

It's a tough call to be sure, and it's such a shame because like I said, I do appreciate his personality, so I can't say he's bad outright. But with all this... clutter, I can only put him in the average category. So, in he goes.

Crusher Gives Silver a: Thumbs Sideways!

Well, I'm glad this one's out of the way. Putting my thoughts into words with Silver was harder than it should have been. I do slightly regret starting this series off on a rather downer note, but rest assured, it's a lot more positive from this point onwards, since while I have higher praise for some heroes more than others, the hero characters as a whole fare a lot better than the majority of villains not named Eggman.

I guess you could say that I hope to show why Sonic's friends aren't as shitty as the haters would suggest. ;)

#Sonic Heroes: Sweet or Shite? #Opinion #Sonic the Hedgehog #Silver the Hedgehog

[yourfuckingmuse]

There is something that’s been wildly bugging me about fandom and I think I can finally put it into words, so here goes:

A lot of people understand and appreciate how important representation in media is today. They value seeing a variety of races/sexualities/genders/body types/etc represented well, especially when they themselves belong to a group that is often represented poorly, rarely, or not at all. Representation matters. That is not a point I consider up for debate.

But.

What concerns me is the way fans respond - particularly how they deal with other fans - when the representation they are looking for is either lacking completely, open for interpretation, or kept guarded on a meta level. I’m talking about things like queerbaiting, creators’ commentaries, or any and every instance where some form of representation was left without any solid description or display in the canon body itself to the point where it really couldn’t or at least shouldn’t be considered canonical representation.

So what happens in those instances? Sometimes, nothing. Sometimes you get some fanwork about everything that could have been and everyone’s having a good time with it. And sometimes a headcanon gains so much traction and/or fervour that any fan who isn’t on board, has a different interpretation, or simply didn’t get the memo gets absolutely mowed down by fans, accused of every -ism under the sun, and villainised to a degree that is just not fucking okay.

Now, I want to be clear that what I’m about to say isn’t meant to endorse the idea that STRAIGHTWHITECISMALE (TM) is The Official Default and any Deviations must be registered signed and sealed and submitted in triple copy or they are Not Valid, but the thing I’ve seen far too many times now is that fans put the burden of representation on other fans and that is not okay.

Joe and Jim are close friends who have canonically only ever been with multiple women but they exchange at least one soulful glance every five episodes and Joe once called Jim’s sweater handsome in the season finale so obviously they are canonically gay/bi and if you don’t see that you are a homophobic trash bag and your family deserves to choke on rice crackers. // Lisa’s skin colour isn’t explicitly stated in the books but in volume three on page 348 an ice troll sneezes on her and she notices the “thick white glob of snot” on her arm which is obviously meant to contrast against her black skin and if you don’t understand how that makes her a canonical POC then you’re a racist whitewashing dick factory. // I’m a trans person and I love cream cheese bagels I have at least three trans friends who love cream cheese bagels, my favourite video game character Blake loves cream cheese bagels which makes them canonically trans it’s obviously a trans thing get with the program or die in a fire.

I’m guessing many of you know at least something like the first example from one, if not multiple, canons. I’m also exaggerating the other two for comical effect, although sadly not by as much as I’d like. And yes, I’m aware that X is [REPRESENTATION] is also a pretty popular meme and something many people do say (more or less) ironically, knowing that canon does not actually give any explicit confirmation to their preference. Still, many others just flat-out twist their wishes into something they’re not, which I mean is alright and your business if it stays your business or you just share it with like-minded people, after all what’s fanwork for, but DON’T PUT THE BURDEN OF REPRESENTATION ON OTHER FANS, don’t give people shit for seeing a canon as lacking in proper representation as it really is and don’t give them shit for choosing a different representation or no representation at all when none of you have a canonical leg to stand on in near equal measure.

There is a place for concerns like that, but the people who actually need to know how important good representation is to you are creative platforms (such as networks) and creators themselves. They are the ones you need to (civilly) voice your needs to, they are the ones you can show by wildly supporting any media that DOES cater to good representation and acknowledges it. In short, the people you want to hold accountable for tangible representation (and lack thereof) are producers and distributors of media content, not fellow consumers.

#yourfuckingrants #I know there are exceptions #and a whole lot of nuance I didn't touch on #when it comes to stuff like coding and what we assume defaults to be #but it's good enough for my bottom line #which is leave fellow fans the fuck alone when creators or distributors mess up the representation you want #free to reblog

[splendidcas]

My Supernatural Fandom Research Paper

A/N: this is the draft of my 17 page research paper on the fandom that I am doing for my communications college class! I still have work to do on my results section but it’s almost done! once the final draft is complete, I will be presenting my research at my college’s student symposium! I want to thank all of you who helped me with my research, it means so much!! <33

ALSO feel free to skip the Literature Review; it’s not about SPN, just scholarly literature! 

I also included some screenshots of tweets and posts from the cast that are in my actual paper. tada :) hope yall like it! 

Finally, THIS PAPER IS 17 PAGES LONG SO FAR (in my Pages application). so yeah, feel free to skim or read as much or as little as you like. I just wanted to thank you all again for your help. Love you all <3

the rest is under the cut!

Abstract

This research paper explores the uniqueness of the hit television show Supernatural on The CW, which has been ongoing since 2005, and its fandom. Fans of the show have been labeled as “die-hard” and the cast has engaged in an ongoing relationship with the fandom for the past fourteen years and counting. This paper investigates what about the show and the fandom makes it so unique, as well as what the impact of such a relationship is.

Introduction

Five years ago my mother introduced me to the hit television show Supernatural, and I was instantly hooked. Since then I have participated in fan-created content, made many friends in the fandom, and have been to three Supernatural conventions so far. Through being such an active member of the fandom, I gained extensive knowledge on the show, its cast, and fellow fans. I realized what a unique show and fandom this was, and I began to question what the impact of that would be.

According to dictionary.com, a fandom is “the fans of a particular person, team, fictional series, etc., regarded collectively as a community or subculture.”  Fandoms can also form around TV shows, movies, books, video games, and more. Although many of them share similarities, every fandom is different, and the Supernatural fandom in particular very much stands out from the rest. In fact, they’re not just a fandom; the cast and fans call themselves the “Supernatural Family” due to their close relationship. “Both aca-fans and mainstream media have recognized the increasingly reciprocal relationship between fans and producers, facilitated by internet technologies and social media” (Fandom at the Crossroads, 2). This relationship is certainly unique; for the past 14 years and counting it has led to episodes dedicated to the fans, fan conventions where the fans and cast meet and interact, charity campaigns, scavenger hunts, and more. Needless to say, the cast and fans have been engaged in a constant conversation that has greatly impacted the lives of all who are involved.

Since social media took off, fandom culture has grown significantly and has become an important part of the individual’s lives. For example, fandoms are an example of participatory culture, which “involves fans acting not only as consumers but also as producers and creators of some form of creative media” (Grinnell College). Fans creating art and fiction, also simply known as fan art and fan fiction, are examples of such creative media. Fans are not just fans anymore. They’re no longer simply reading or watching their favorite media; they are becoming a part of the fictional worlds themselves, adding to them by creating their own versions of canons in the worlds. The Supernatural fans are no exception to this; there are currently 328,391 works of Supernatural fan fiction on the fan fiction website Archive of Our Own alone (archiveofourown.org). There are countless works of fan fiction on Tumblr and Wattpad as well. Many fans even bring their fan art to the cast at Supernatural conventions where they can get cast members to sign them.

The relationship between Supernatural fans and cast members is important to note because not only are the fans immersing themselves into the fictional world, engaging with the cast, and dedicating a good chunk of their lives to the show, but also because it has been ongoing since 2005. Jensen Ackles, one of the main actors on the show since the beginning, has even hinted that the show will “keep going for several more years” (TV Guide). This begs the question: What is it about the show that has created such die-hard fans? In addition, what is the impact of such a reciprocal relationship? To conduct such research I plan to use the Uses & Gratifications theory create a survey for Supernatural fans. By using the Uses & Grats theory and conducting a survey I hope to discover what the impact of the relationship between Supernatural fans and the cast members has been, as well as why Supernatural acts as a breeding ground for die-hard fans.

Uses and Gratifications in Fandoms

Elihu Katz provided the foundation for the Uses and Gratifications theory with his work, “Uses and Gratifications Research.” He explains that the theory “begins by specifying needs and then attempts to trace the extent to which they are gratified by the media or other sources” (Katz). In other words, people have needs that need to be met, and they seek to meet and gratify those needs in different medias.  In his work he also provides five basic assumptions of the theory. First, audience members are active, and second, “much initiative in linking need gratification and media choice lies with the audience member” (Katz). In other words, people choose what media to consume; they do not passively wait around for media to find and affect them. Third, different media compete with one another to provide gratification and satisfaction. Fourth, people are self-aware and recognize the needs they seek to be met and can report on them. Fifth, “value judgements about the cultural significance of mass communication should be suspended while audience orientation are explored on their own terms” (Katz). In other words, different medias affect people differently, and judgements toward that concept should not be made.

In the McGraw-Hill textbook A First Look at Communication Theory, Emory A. Griffin does a great job at explaining Katz’ work in simpler terms. He goes on to explain the typology of Uses and Gratifications, or the categories of reasons one might consume a particular type of media. Such categories include: passing time, companionship, escape, enjoyment, social interaction, relaxation, information, and excitement.

Other scholars have chosen to take Uses & Gratifications even further by combining it with other factors and theories. By doing this, it becomes easier to get more specific in terms of why audience members choose the media they do. For example, Roger Cooper and Tang Tang in their article “Predicting Audience Exposure to Television in Today’s Media Environment” combined seven structural variables with Uses & Grats and turned it into a model of audience exposure. Such variables include internet, audience availability, the cost of multi-channel service, age, instrumental motivations, and gender (Cooper, Tang). In other words, these variables influence and affect what a person is going to choose to watch, read and engage with. A woman who is 25 years old might not be watching the same thing as a 75-year-old man because of the age difference, gender difference, or because perhaps they cannot afford a multi-channel service while the elder can. Scholars Gildasio Dos Santos, Michael Kotowski and Jake Hardwood expand on the gender variable in their article “Television and Gratification: The Role of Sex in Predicting Media Uses and Gratifications and Television Programs.” Gender plays more of an important role in the uses and gratifications of a media than one might think. The article cites research that found that women have a “greater tendency than men to have an empathetic and accommodating attitude towards situations in which characters struggle with an issue” (Dos Santos, Kotowski, Harwood, 9). Therefore one can draw the conclusion that women are more drawn to certain genres of television and certain television shows than men. Given that the Supernatural fandom is mostly women, this is an interesting aspect to note in my research.

Another possible variable in why someone chooses a certain media is race. Jessica R. Abrams discusses in her article “African Americans’ Television Activity” the reasons why African Americans select certain television programs and what they may get out of it in contrast to caucasians. Results found that caucasians and African Americans had different gratifications for selecting television.

Uses & Grats is deeply psychological, and it is important to note research about the psychological aspects of the theory. Alan M. Rubin argues in his article “The Uses-and-Gratifications Perspective of Media Effects” that dependency on media is a big factor in  consuming certain medias. He says, “Dependency on a particular medium results from the motives we have to communicate, the strategies we use to obtain gratifications, and the restricted availability of functional alternatives.” Any of these factors may result in a dependency on media. If someone doesn’t have any other alternative to communicate or receive a certain gratification, they resort to depending on a media to get it (Rubin). Continuing with the psychological perspective of Uses & Grats, authors Mark Galauner, Michael Beatty, Jill Red and David Atkin did a study combining the personality traits of extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism to see if there were any connections between them. The article discusses research conducted that found that “ extraversion and psychotics both appear to reject most of the ‘traditionally identified’ television viewing motivations” and that neuroticism “represents the strongest predictor of media use” (Atkin, Beatty, Galauner, Red). In other words, those who showed extraversion and/or psychoticism were less likely to engage in television use than those who showed neuroticism.

One model that has been combined with the Uses & Grats theory is the MAIN model, which stands for modality, agency, interactivity, and navigability. Scholars Chamil Rathnayake and Jenifer Winter used the MAIN model to conduct research on 383 college students and social media use. They explain that the MAIN model argues that “distinctive gratifications can emerge from new media affordances.” Modality is the way the media is presented, agency recognizes the ability of users to be able to contribute to media, interactivity relates to the interaction with and on a medium, and navigability is “the affordance that allows user movement through the medium” (Rathnayake and Winter, 374). Shyam Sundar and Anthony Limperos also use the MAIN model to find out if new technologies bring out new gratifications in consumers. Technology itself is a gratification, and the article found that more and newer technologies bring about more gratifications.

An extremely important aspect of the Uses & Grats theory is parasocial relationships, or an “ongoing, one-sided bond with a media figure” (ThoughtCo). Parasocial relationships are important because they are a driving force of why many engage with a certain media over and over again. Scholars Sarah Erickson, Kristen Harrison and Sonya Dal Cin wrote a journal article which explores romantic parasocial relationships that adolescents in particular have, called ARPA. Although APRA is largely ignored by scholars, the authors argue that they have a great impact on the lives of adolescents. To discover just what the impact of those relationships might be, scholars Riva Tukachinsky and Sybilla M. Dorros did a research study and found that APRAs created an idealized relationship that led to disappointment in real-life relationships. A journal article by Bradley J. Bond argues that parasocial relationships are even more important among adolescents who are members of the LGBTQ+ community. Such members may experience trouble forming real-life bond as well as expressing themselves to others. This is perhaps why they form such strong and continuous parasocial bonds with certain characters. One study by Jhih-Syuan Lin, Kuan-Ju Chen and Yongjun Sung in “Understanding the Nature, Uses and Gratifications of Social Television” found that when an audience is attached to a character, they become attached and loyal to the program. When audiences are loyal to a program, they then inadvertently become loyal to the television network.

One example of using a Uses & Grats approach to parasocial relationships is Alan M. Rubin discussing the parasocial relationships between talk radio hosts and listeners. He also discusses the impact of the relationship, as well as what the attraction and motivation of the listeners are. Rubin found that parasocial interaction with a talk radio host “should lead to greater talk radio exposure, should lead to increased information acquisition, [and] should positively predict perceptions of attitudinal and behavioral effects in line with a host’s expressed opinions” (Rubin, 640).

Scholars Darrin Brown, Sharon Lauricella, Aziz Douai, and Arshia Zaidi used a Uses & Grats approach to discover what it is about crime dramas that attract so many viewers, similar to what I would like to do with the Supernatural fandom. They fond that “frequency of viewing crime dramas was a statistically significant predictor for only full gratification and curiosity/information” (Brown, Douai, Lauricella, Zaidi, 1). Using this theory can reveal just how impactful media is; it affects the way we perceive real-life events as well as real-life relationships.

Method

In order to conduct my research with the Uses & Gratifications theory, I will be conducting a survey to gather the data necessary to discover the impact, uniqueness and perseverance of the Supernatural fandom. To discover this, many questions must be asked and answers must be sorted into categories, thus a survey makes for the easiest and most sensible method. I will be using SurveyMonkey to conduct my survey and will post it to Tumblr for several reasons. First, a very large portion of the Supernatural fandom engages with each other and with Supernatural content on the blogging website. Second, Supernatural fans on Tumblr are very willing to participate in surveys that have to do with the show, as I have discovered in the past with previous surveys. Third, as I have experienced in my 8+ years on Tumblr, it seems to have an extremely diverse group of users, and by posting my survey there I hope to gain more diversity in my sample.

My survey will first begin with a series of closed-ended questions, including age, gender (male, female, non-binary, or other), ethnicity, and sexuality. I want to include such questions because they give me reassurance that I am getting a diverse sample, and also because the answers to these questions could have an impact on the reasons they watch Supernatural and engage with the fandom. My survey will then move to open-ended questions. I realize open-ended questions may cause participants to stray, however I feel comfortable asking open-ended questions because the fans are generally very willing to participate in anything Supernatural-related, even surveys. I also feel I will get the most helpful responses through open-ended questions. I will begin with asking perhaps the most important question: “Why do you watch Supernatural?” After gathering answers to this question specifically, I will categorize them based on the answers I receive. The next open-ended questions include: “Why did you get involved in the SPN fandom?”, “Do you participate in any fan-created content (fan art, fan fiction, etc.)?”, “Have you ever been to a convention? If yes, briefly describe why and what your experience was like”, “Has Supernatural and the fandom impacted your life? If yes, briefly explain how”, and “What do you think makes Supernatural and its fandom so unique from the rest?”.

Results

After posting my survey to Tumblr and letting it run for the course of about 24 hours, I received a total of 515 respondents, though that number varies slightly among the survey questions.

My survey found that out of 508 respondents, 39.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24. 25.8% of respondents were between 25 and 35, 22.2% were under 18, 8.3% were between 35 and 45, 3.0% were between 44 and 55, and 0.98% were 55 or older. These results show that, while the majority of fans are younger, Supernatural attracts fans of all ages.

Next, out of 513 respondents, 92.4% answered that they identified as female. 2.34% identified as male, 4.5% identified as non-binary, and 0.8% identified as other. This clearly shows that the vast majority of the fandom identifies as female. This is interesting to note and can lead to many suppositions as to why this might be.

513 respondents answered the question about their ethnicity. 81.3% of respondents were white or caucasian. 13.1% were Hispanic or Latino, 4.5% were Asian or Asian American, 3.3% answered that they were another race, 1.2% were Black or African American, 1.8% were American Indian or Alaska Native, and 1% were Native Hawaiian or another Pacific Islander. 

Out of 513 respondents, 39.8% identified as heterosexual. 37.4% identified as bisexual, 8.6% identified as other, 7.8% identified as asexual. 2.9% identified as gay or lesbian, and 3.7% said they preferred not to say. These results show that the majority of fans were either heterosexual or bisexual, but there were also many fans who varied among the spectrum of sexuality.

The next question I asked respondents was the first open-ended question of the survey, asking “Why do you watch Supernatural?” and it received 514 responses. Based on the answers I received, I created eight categories of Uses and Gratifications that most respondents said got from the show. The categories were: Actors, Characters, Community, Escapism, Hope. Attractiveness of Actors, Humor, Mythology, Storyline About Family. The most popular answer for as to why they watch Supernatural, which was given by 45.5% of respondents, fell under the Characters category. Many said that over the years they had grown attached to the characters. One respondent said, “I love the characters like my own kids.” Many also responded that they loved the relationships between the characters on the show and watching them interact.

The second most popular response fell under the Mythology category, with 27% of respondents. The show involves stories about monsters, lore, angels, demons, God himself, Satan himself, and more. Many respondents seemed to find that concept extremely intriguing because not many other shows go into depth with mythology like Supernatural does.

The third most popular response, with 22% of respondents, fell under the Storyline About Family category. Several respondents said that they enjoyed that the main storyline of the show was about family because there weren’t many other shows like that. One respondent said they felt like the characters were their family now, too. Another respondent answered, “It [Supernatural] taught me more about love, friendship, and family more than anything or anyone else in my life.” Someone else also said, “It [the show] just feels like home.” Based on these answers, I have concluded that the familial storyline is one major reason as to why the show has grown so popular; it seems to have provided a family to viewers as well.

9.5% of respondents answered that the show gave them hope, falling under the Hope category. Here are some quotes from several respondents to show this and give insight as to why this is: “It [the show] makes me believe in myself again,” “These two brothers fighting against everything makes me know I can fight whatever I’m going through and overcome it,” and “I watch Supernatural because it is, in almost a way, perfect. It’s people learning to live with their demons. It’s people trying to make the world a better place. It’s finding family and love and acceptance, and a place to belong. It’s about never giving up. It’s about carrying on.” For the remaining categories, 16.9% said they watched for the actors, falling under the Actors category. 12.7% said they watched the show as a form of Escapism, 7.8% fell under the Community category, meaning they watch because they have found a community within the show and its fandom, 7.4% fell under the Humor category, and finally, 6.2% fell under the Attractiveness of Actors category, meaning they watched the show because they found the actors good-looking. Based on these results, there are many reasons as to why people watch Supernatural. However it it seems that it is mostly because it is about a family who battles demons, both literal and metaphorical, and the show has provided fantastic, lovable characters played by equally lovable actors through that storyline.

The next open-ended question I asked was “Why did you decide to get involved with the Supernatural fandom?” This question received 514 respondents, and I broke the responses down into 10 categories: More Content,  Actors/Charity, Boredom, Community, Fanfiction/Fanart, Inclusion/Acceptance, Frequent Postings, Enjoyment of Show, Recommendation, Support, and Same Interests. The More Content category means that fans joined the fandom as a way to get more content for the show, whether that be through fan-created content, discussion of the show, gifs, and more. The Actors/Charity category means that respondents got involved with the fandom because of the actors and/or the charities they created. The Boredom category is for those fans who got involved with the fandom simply because they had nothing else to do. The Community category was for those who joined because they wanted to be a part of a new community and to make new friends. The Fanfiction/Fanart category means that respondents saw the fan-created content and decided to join in themselves. The Inclusion/Acceptance category, as well as the Support category, were for the fans who joined based off of the reputation that the fandom has for being accepting, welcoming, and supportive. The category of Frequent Postings means that respondents said they got involved because Supernatural and the fandom’s posts “kept popping up everywhere on Instagram and Tumblr,” as many respondents said, so they decided to give it a try themselves. Enjoyment of Show was for respondents who got involved with the fandom simply because they liked the show. The Recommendation category means that respondents got involved based off of a recommendation to do so from a family member or friend. Finally, the Same Interests category was for respondents who said that they joined the fandom in order to discuss the show with people who had the same interests as them.

The most popular response, with 18.9% of respondents, was Same Interests. As one respondent put it, “I loved the idea of being part of a community of people who are so passionate about a show.” Next, the categories of Frequent Postings and Community tied with 14.4%. For Frequent Postings, one respondent said, “I just wanted to understand all the references on Tumblr.” It seems that, based on the responses, the fandom took over a large part of Tumblr, leaving little room for non-fans to escape. For the Community category, many joined because they had heard about the fandom and wanted to be a part of a community of people with a “reputation for being a brilliant fandom to be a part of,” as one respondent put it. Another respondent said they had “never felt a part of anything in [their] life until the show and the fandom came along.” The next most popular category was Fanfiction/Fanart, with 14.2% of respondents. The remaining categories were Recommendation with 10.9%, 9.9% with Enjoyment of Show, 8.8% with Inclusion/Acceptance, 7.4% with Actors/Charity, 6% with More Content, 5.5% with Support, and 2.3% with Boredom. Based on these results, it can be concluded that fans got involved with the fandom for a wide variety of reasons, but mostly because they wanted to meet and talk to people who shared similar interests.

The following question I asked was, “Do you participate in any fan-created content (fan art, fan fiction, etc.)? If so, please describe your participation.” The fandom is so widespread, and I wanted to know how many were participating in fan-created content because that shows what an impact Supernatural has had on its fans’ lives. As said before, they are not simply watching the television show and moving on with their lives. Instead, they create their own canons within the Supernatural world. This question had 505 respondents and answers were divided into 4 categories: Creator, meaning they themselves create content, Consumer, meaning they do not create themselves but consume the content created by others, Both Create and Enjoy, and No, for those who did not participate in any fan-created content. The majority of respondents were Creators, with 30.3%. 28.9% were Consumers, 17% fell under Both Create and Enjoy, and 16.4% said No. Based on these results, one can conclude that the vast majority of the fandom is participating in some way, shape or form in fan-created content. What this means is that they are letting the show take up a larger portion of their lives than they would if they only simply watched the show and then left it alone. It also means that the majority of fans are creating for/because of/based off of the show, which is significant because they may be enhancing their own creativity and skills just because of a television show.

I also asked participants if they had ever been to a Supernatural convention. These conventions are expensive and the price goes up every year, so I assumed many people would answer No. However I wanted to ask anyway for the fans that had been to a convention in order to get a sense of what the experience was like for them. 85% of respondents said they had never been to a Supernatural convention, and the vast majority of them said they wanted to if they could afford it. 15.5% said they had, and almost every single one of those respondents answered that it was a very positive experience. Many of these respondents also said they had been to multiple conventions. One respondent said, “I have been to MinnCon and it was AMAZING!! Meeting them [the cast], listening to stories, taking pictures with them [the cast]…it was heaven.” Another respondent said, “I met a lot of great people from all around the world.” Another respondent also said, “Rich and Rob [cast members] put on an amazing show for us, Louden Swain [the cast band] rocked the concert, and all of the actors are just so fun and funny you can’t help but have an amazing time.” One respondent even said it was the best experience they’ve ever had. These answers are important to note because, based off of them, it can be concluded that Supernatural is greatly impacting and changing lives. Fans are saving up money to go to expensive conventions in order to be able to interact with the cast in a more intimate way that not many other fandoms do. For example, one person said they went to a meet and greet with Jensen Ackles, and they said they “got to tell him how much [they] appreciate him to his face.”

The following question I asked respondents was, “Has Supernatural and the fandom impacted your life? If so, briefly explain how.” Out of 510 respondents, only 37 of them said that they had not been impacted, meaning that 92% of respondents had been impacted and in a positive way. Many mentioned Jared Padalecki, another main character of the show, and his charity campaign Always Keep Fighting that he ran in 2015 in an effort to bring awareness to mental health, as he suffers from depression himself. 

Above is a screenshot of a Facebook post Jared made back in 2015 when the campaign was still running. Those who mentioned Jared and the campaign said that the campaign improved their mental health and has given them hope on a daily basis. Some said that it, the show, and the fandom saved their lives. One respondent said, “Someone that I hold very near and dear to my heart is Jared. I 100% believe that if it weren’t for him, his character Sam, and the Always Keep Fighting campaign, I wouldn’t be here today.” Below are several more quotes from other respondents that show what an amazing impact the show, its actors, and the fandom have made on the lives of fans:

“It’s made me feel welcome when I’ve felt like an outcast. It’s given me focus when I felt untethered. It’s given me a family when I’ve felt alone. For those reasons and so many more, I owe Supernatural and its fandom so much. More than I can say.”

“The actors have impacted me a lot with what they’ve done for the world and that they talk about things not everyone else does. It makes me feel accepted, and I don’t get that often.”

“The characters have flaws and the series shows the it’s okay to be different or not alright, but it’s always important to get help…this show makes me want to keep fighting.”

In addition, below is a tweet made in 2018 by Misha Collins, the third main character of the show.

The final question I asked respondents was the open-ended question, “What do you think makes the Supernatural fandom so unique?” Although I did not categorize these answers or look at all of them because there were 510 long responses, many respondents said similar things. One answer many provided was the fact that the show has been around for so long and yet still has such active, passionate members. As one respondent put it, “It has survived for over ten years and still has a following. Most other fandoms lose steam or just die in that amount of time. But even during weaker seasons, the fandom lives on…” Another popular answer for this question was the fact that it is more than a fandom, it is more like a family composed of not only fans but cast members as well. A respondent said, “What makes Supernatural and its fandom so unique from others is that we are a tightly-knitted family that was started by people who just wanted to do some good in the world. Supernatural is so unique because the characters we see on screen…are real, kind, selfless people…We see that the actors who play those characters we look up to possess those same virtues and qualities. What makes people so dedicated to Supernatural and its fandom is the fact that nothing is fake, even if you take away the movie magic. The fandom has built itself into something more: a family.” Below are several more quotes from different respondents discussing the Supernatural Family phenomenon:

“I think that it’s a fandom for people who find themselves lost, and together we’ve made a home for ourselves. We help each other learn and grow into better people. Other fandoms don’t seem to be as much of a family as we do and I think that’s what makes us special.”

“This show is special because of how much interaction we have with all the actors; they are constantly saying how much they love the fandom and family.”

“The fandom feels more like a family than a group of strangers fawning over the same thing (a very, VERY huge family, of course) and we’ve all bonded deeply over the years while seeing these characters we love suffer time and time again and yet always emerge more or less intact and ready to keep fighting.”

“When we are at our best, we operate like a family. The actors will ask fans one on one how they’re doing and if they’re okay. Friends who were strangers before the show have saved each other’s lives. We keep hope alive for each other when we don’t have any.”

“We accept everyone as is. We are voca, about mental health. We are supportive of each other. We are a family. Not a fandom.”

All of these quotes by respondents and the cast members show how significant and positive the impact of the show and the relationship between the fans and actors have been on so many, especially in terms of mental health. All of these are proof that the Supernatural fandom is not just a fandom: it’s the Supernatural Family, and it will continue for years to come.

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tagging those who were interested: @mrscasnovak @dammitsammy @unisaursarethebest @ezilyamuzed @tardis-impala-bakerst-221 @supernatural-bellawinchester @iammsamy

#supernatural #spn #spn family #supernatural family #spn fandom #shannons college adventures

[roxydrawskhstuffs]

CHAPTER 2

“Shoutout to KingOfGamesYohgiMotto. Thank you for the donation, man. This means a lot to me and to my channel.” Riku says at the his microphone, punching buttons on his PS4 after seeing a notification that one of his subscriber just donated $10 in his Paypal account. Making sure he pronounced the the username properly or as much as possible got it right.

He also sneered a grin, remembering the name of the protagonist in that same card game he and Vanitas had played when they were playing “Strip and Drunk Duel” on Saturday dubbed as “Drunkterday”, This was their only leisure time aside from streaming their gameplays or casting official ESports games tournament.

They sometimes stream their drunk games where they only open an invitation link on  their private Discord channel for the first 200 people who wants to watch them lose their dignities. The last time they did stream their drunkard gameplay, half of their subscribers dared them that whoever loses should kiss the winner. The match was intense but in the end, Vanitas won making Riku lose his virgin lips as he kissed Vanitas for the first time.

His raven roommate laughed, his cheeks red from all the martini he dranked (both have different tastes. Their subscribers even asked if where do they buy their alcohol. The two said in unison that it was “classified information” and would never tell where they got it), he joked the camera asking their subscribers if he should wear lipstick so that the evidence of them kissing will be visible and fans would have proof that Riku whacked the raven’s for suggesting such embarrassing thought.  

“Come on, Reeks, hun, we homos. We’ve already seen each others dicks since high school.”

Another whack in the head, but this time, Vanitas was actually whimpering in his drunkard state telling that it hurts. “Fuck you, Vani. Don’t even give them more fanservices we’ve already doing.”  Riku grabbed a glass of homemade margarita. Drinking all of its contents as liquid courage for he was about to be doing. “You fuckers better not be recording this or so help me God I’ll delete my channel. Goodluck finding me on the internet!” Warning at the camera.

The kissed came and lots of the people in their discord channel died from their fanservice.

In behalf of the 200 subscribers who died after seeing VanReeks doing a torrid “Kissing Booth” kiss scene.

You will forever be in the hearts of the  VanReeks Pornsite Discord channel.

Riku’s phone pinged notifying him about that his pay from the gaming company have finally been transferred from his PayPal. Thank God, he can finally pay Vanitas for the rent of his room. He didn’t question why he was the last of the two of them who receives his pay from the XIII Organization Gaming Authority. Riku has two hunches: 1) The gaming company likes Vanitas or 2) The gaming company just hates Riku. The raven assured his silver-haired friend that they get the same amount from the company. Why Riku was always late, he had no idea.

Onwards to his gaming stream, he was so focused on the game he almost missed the stream’s chat.

daisu777: omg bruh the verum rex was totally awesomesauce! If it wasn’t for u, i never would encounter this beautiful gem of a game! More power to your channel

gamergurlhoe2k19: Reeks! You are so beautiful! I became a gamer bc of your channel. Pls notice me senpai ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

zoeeeeeV9: luv ur channel bruh, just wanna ask if what other games you going to stream? Would like you to see horror games like Fatal Frame and Silent Hill. TIA

delicsnakekuu: how’s it goin bro? Thanks again for the recommendation about Verum Rex. Game was overkill! If you want, I can get you a copy of Devil May Cry series. Just send your PSN account deets so I can prep ‘em.

More power to your channel, bro! Peace out.

GayForMastahTenebrae1234: Riku! OH my god finally caught up and joined one of your livestreams. You are such an adorable and cool streamer. I always watch your contents and your stream casting together with Vanitas.

I live for VanReeks so much I ship you with each other. Ajksdhasjkhdjaks plssforgivdisfujohoe

I got a source from one of your fellow followers that Verum Rex will be having its own anime adaptation and there was a fan gathering for it. Will u and Vani be coming in the event?

bitchachosnachoZ: WHAT?!

DAFUQC?!

AXEwithanL: STFU!!!

S T A  H P

natsuckiss: bitch where did u get that info?!

dAth0EGAMING:  qsgywcsknwnshs fam.

LINKKKKKK!!!!

LINK!!!

AXEwithanL: LINK!

bitchachosnachoZ: for the love of Riku my King, give me the link!!!

The entire chatbox was in chaos, spamming chats about sauce, link, and some info that it was real that Riku almost totally forgot about the said event.

“Oh crap. I forgot about the event,” he mumbled in his mic but his voice was heard and his fans speed-typing chats like “omfg”, “Riku did you mean…”, “omg shut up”. Riku really do loved his circle of fans and their creative language that sometimes, he adopt the words and expressions into his everyday life. Looking at the camera, he grabbed a white envelope showing it to his fans. A wax seal was present with a sigil of the The XIII Organization Gaming Authority visible. “Yeap, me and Vani are definitely invited in the press conference of the game.

It’s going to be hold on tomorrow at Radiant Garden Hotels & Casinos,” his channel’s chatbox went wild. Incoherent fangirling, fanboying chats spam him. Congratulating the game streamer how successful and worth playing Verum Rex. They even praised him for not giving up in playing the game that half of the gaming community went wild, quickly buying the game. Every gamers was hooked into the storyline spreading it like a virus.

He also added that no additional information was enclosed in his invitation aside from the trailer reveal, casts, animation studio, etc. “But hey guys, they might dropped the second installment of Verum Rex pretty soon seeing after that cliffhanger ending. I’ll inform you guys about it. I wouldn’t put that in my channel but you can follow me on Twitter @tenebraeriku for anything. I also have an upcoming giveaway raffle if I reached 300k followers. The prize would be a Platinum Edition of Verum Rex. Me and Vani will be signing the CD case itself so goodluck. Mechanics will be posted soon.” Riku gazed at his wall clock, it was almost dinner time and he hadn’t cooked anything yet. Hovering his character, Riku moved his game persona towards the nearest save point, calling it a night and rest. He also assumed that Vanitas is almost done with his cram school. Riku had no idea what he was studying but he supported Vanitas in whatever plans he does.

Saying goodbye to his followers, Riku shut down his desktop, camera and PS4. Stretching his arms, the silver-haired walked towards the kitchen to make dinner. Vanitas would likely want something that will make him be awake since he streams at midnight.

“Fried rice and chicken curry then.” Riku says, gathering the ingredients needed in the fridge. All necessary ingredients gathered, the silver-haired started chopping everything.

A few minutes passed by, the entrance door flew open announcing Vanitas’ presence. “God, I’m beat. What’s for dinner, Mom?” Vanitas jokingly says flopping his body on the couch, face buried in the throw pillows. Riku laughed at the Mom joke saying that it was fried rice and curry. With a speed like lightning, Vanitas was already at the table, utensils in his hand waiting for Riku to put his food on the table. Clasping his hands likes a prayer, Vanitas uttered a Japanese word “itadakimasu” before digging into his food. Vanitas was a pureblood Japanese while Riku was half-Italian, the two of them just clicked when they were put together as roommates when they were still in college and now successful and professional adults, the two still share the same rent space as they did, saying that it was their memento to each other but they were still plan to find a penthouse that the two of them will share, hence their shared bank accounts.

“Speaking of events,” Says Vanitas stopping his eating. A sauce dripping in the corner of his mouth. “Reeks, do you have anything to wear for the upcoming gathering?” Shaking his head, still have no idea on what to wear. There was nothing fancy in his fashion wardrobe aside from the suit and tie he wore on graduation and it was the remembered that fit the fancy category.

It was so outdated, Riku would never wear the same clothes for a gathering full of rich people. “No.” He replied, digging on his own plate of food. Confessing that he needs to buy clothes for the event. His raven roommate propositioned that to come with with him to go shopping along with Vanitas’s “Venty Wenty”.

“Ah. The mysterious boyfriend I presume?” said Riku with one eyebrow raised. Vanitas pointed the stabbed chicken skin in the fork at Riku, defending the accusation. “He’s real alright. The idiot’s already pestering me to meet you. God,” remembering the way Ventus (‘that was his full, I just gave him a dumb nickname which in turn he actually liked it and the name got stuck’ the raven explained) had asked him so many times about Riku and when will he met him. “I’m his boyfriend and he’s more interested in meeting you. Talk about a stab in heart.” Riku laughed assuring him that there was no way he will take Venty Wenty away from him.

“But if he is, what you call, adorable, then I can’t promise anything.” jokingly retorted and the raven scowled. The raven gasped saying “Bitch, that idiot is mine.” to Riku but knew that it was only a joke. After dinner, Vanitas offered to wash the dishes ushering to go to sleep already. It was almost time for the raven to do his livestream gameplays and his followers requested NieR: Automata. Riku hadn’t played the game but will definitely add into his list to play/stream.

The giveaway!

“Oh.” Riku exclaimed, he told Vanitas that he was going to give away about the signed copy of the platinum copy of Verum Rex. Vanitas nodded. “Just give it to me a week before prior.” and Riku went towards his room. Scratching the back of his head, the silver-haired yawned, he grabbed first his phone to check onto his twitter page and turns out the followers he’d received just went tripled!

From five hundred followers to four thousands making him smile. “Seriously, these fans.” Riku then messaged Axel, the company’s Marketing head.

Friday morning came and Riku got up. Preparing for his daily routine: wash up, bathe, do a run around the neighborhood, make breakfast and stream. Since it was the day of the gathering Riku announced to all his social media accounts that he could not go online and stream games. Leaving his room, he heard noises coming from Vanitas room, probably still streaming.

Creeping up inside, his raven roommate was in his pjs, D.Va headset and controller on hand. His room was almost as neat as Riku’s but more chaotic when it comes to designs: there were a lot of rock band posters pin up in his wall, a glass case full of saberfaces servants figurines from that series called Fate, his video-game console cabinet was also present on the view, there was also a corkboard beside his bed where a photo of two children with different hair color. He couldn’t make out due to its small size. On view, Vanitas looked up to Riku and nodded focusing on his game. Riku crossed his arms waiting for the raven to scold him to leave his room. “‘Vani, any thoughts if you’re going to put a tattoo on your shoulder blades like Eve does in NieR:Automata?’ Yeah no. I do think the tatts are rad but that is not my style, either I’ll choose something more tribal-ish or vintage.”

A chat question?, he presume. Riku mimed about the clothes shopping and Vanitas nodded. “Alright, this concludes today’s stream because,” ushering his silver-haired friend to come closer towards the camera. Riku obliged and could see his and Vanitas face on the monitor. The chat started going wild again. “Me and Reeks have a date with the mall for buying fancy clothes. Say hi to my followers Reeks,”

Annoyed, Riku decided to humour Vanitas and did what was told. “Yeah, so hello and good morning everyone. Sorry I had to take Vani away from you guys. We actually going to have a date.” and kissed the cheeks of Vanitas. The chatbox, went wild. Again. “Gross! Do not do fanservice stuff outside the porn discord channel”

3m0_k1d: wat?!

roxie31: reeeeeeeeeeeee

internal screaming

HokageSasukinks: Σ(||ﾟДﾟ)ﾋｨｨｨｨ

g a y

Korabendings: dude

//drips holy water to screen and eyes

awsawadsd: jwbsohjdhskndooh

sum1 hold me  

VANREEKSIZHREAL: I SHIP!!!

VANREEKS IS CANON YOU ASS

GamingGeekarooo: jesus my eyes.

Stop this im gonna unsubscribe you if you do that

VANREEKSIZHREAL: OMG YOU SAID NO FANSERVICE OUTSIDE OF THE DISCORD CHANNEL.

MAY I KNOW THE LINK?

“You are so so so dead, Tenebrae.” Vanitas says with death reflecting in his golden orbs. His silver-haired friend just grinned, amused at whatever he did that triggered Vanitas to show his other side.

“Bring it on, Vani.”

Vanitas was the first one who spotted place where they would meet Ventus. Riku just shrugged following him towards the center when a loud “Vaniiii!!!” screeched and looked for the owner of the voice. Vanitas wasn’t kidding about Ventus being adorable. The person in questioned had a very brunette-blonde hair with spikes with spikes much more ridiculous to Vanitas, he wore faded green tank top combined with a dirty-white trench coat, ripped jeans and black converse. The only accessory he had was a heart-shaped with four points on the lower part in his left ear.

Vanitas waved his hand as the boyfriend wrapped his hands on Vanitas’s waist and kissed his cheek. Riku’s inner thoughts were already laughing or maybe screaming for how cheesy the two were. The brunette boyfriend apologized for being late (not really but Vanitas likes to make Ventus feel bad about himself) saying that there was an old lady that needed help into getting to the bus station when she was carrying a large paper bag full of groceries.

The raven just rolled his eyes. “You never do say no to a help, aren’t you?” Ventus laughed  saying it was in his nature to help those in need. Ventus just realized Riku’s presence. “Oh! Sorry for leaving you out. I presume your Riku Tenebrae?”

Riku nodded. “And you must the famous Ventus Wayward aka ‘Venty Wenty’.” At the pronounced of the nickname, Ventus face reddened covering his face with his hands. Too cute. Embarrassed that Vanitas told him about the nickname. Vanitas raised his hands innocently. “Hey, don’t look at me like that. We don’t keep secrets from each other tho.” He put his hand on Ventus bottom lip, pleasing and cooing him the brunette that he shouldn’t make it a big deal.

Seeing the two of them being lovey-dovey was too much annoying the hell out of Riku. “Hey, if you two lovebirds done with your public display of affection. Can we go to the actual task at hand? You know, shopping? For clothes?”

Guilty at hand, Ventus apologized nudging his boyfriend to do the same thing. “Sorry for having a lovelife, Reeks. Never knew you were such a jealous type.”

“For once, Vanitas. Just shut up.”

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#fanfics #soriku #rikuso #kh #kingdom hearts #vanven

[isaidnotostatusquo]

******** VERY IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ ************

So ... I think this is the first original post I’ve written in four whole years of having this Tumblr, but I legitimately can’t think of a better reason to break my internet silence! For those of you who have been living under a rock/have an actual life outside of social media, the Tin Can Brothers (Corey Lubowich, Joey Richter and Brian Rosenthal) are currently in the midst of Kickstarting their latest project: a 10 episode webseries/podcast called ‘The Wayward Guide for the Untrained Eye’! This project is sure to be incredible and you can find out more specific details by following the link below!! 

The Tin Can Brothers are the same guys behind the smash-hit musical: ‘Spies Are Forever’, which has amassed hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube (if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s pretty dang good, and you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd3aJl930YE&list=PLlF0gFzOX4tD1KJ5ZEnvhD55Qhnz-K0X2)! 

This year, they also released their first ever short film, ‘Flopstoppers’ (again, you can watch it for free here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lipp_4fco3w). 

On top of Kickstarter campaigning, they’re currently uploading weekly episodes of their hilarious one-act play, ‘The Solve-It Squad Returns’. You can watch the first six scenes here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEA0hNs0M98&list=PLlF0gFzOX4tDiqbhfmx5036ZFKD6LAoQN and/or you can purchase the show in its entirety (along with Behind the Scenes content) here: https://www.tincanbros.com/stage-productions! 

Marketing aside, these guys are wholeheartedly committed to producing consistent, quality content that their fans can access easily and cheaply. Their work is witty, original and extremely engaging! Additionally, their projects always include badass female characters with distinctive personalities and independent motivations, who are allowed to be vulnerable AS WELL AS strong; just like real human beings! As a long-term fan of the TCB, I’m 100% positive that ‘Wayward Guide’ will live up to these standards!

However, at the rate that the Kickstarter is moving, ‘Wayward Guide’ is NOT currently projected to be fully funded by its final day (24/09). If it doesn’t reach its $100,000 goal, it ain’t happening! No cards will be charged, no rewards will be given out, and it’ll be like the whole concept never existed! But YOU can change that! By donating just $1 (approx 70p for my fellow Brits), you’ll be helping this project come to life! If you donate $5 (approx £3.80) you’ll not only play a key part in the creation of ‘Wayward Guide’ but you’ll also receive exclusive updates on its progress, right up until its release; all for the price of a Starbucks! There are additional rewards available at increasing price tiers, so the more you donate, the more you will receive! At the moment, the Kickstarter needs to be making around $4000 per day in order to reach its goal! It’s a lot of money, but I’m confident we can do it! As Tescos say - Every little helps!

And if this hasn’t got you convinced, here’s a list of the people who we currently know to be involved in the project, and some things you may know them from! (Additional cast members are constantly being announced as various Kickstarter goals are met, so this list is by no means definitive):

- Benji Dell is Director of Photography! 

If you’ve watched ‘Flopstoppers’ or the ‘Spies Are Forever’ Kickstarter video, he was also DP for both of those! His work is BEAUTIFUL and based on what I’ve seen of him in the ‘Flopstoppers’ BTS featurette, he seems like a really chill guy!

- Chuck Criss is Composing! 

He’s in the band ‘Computer Games’, along with his brother, Darren, who you mayyyy have heard of before! He’s also in indie rock band ‘Freelance Whales’. His musical style is EXTREMELY cool, and if you watch the Kickstarter vid for this project, you can hear some of his tunes first-hand!

- Corey, Brian and Joey! 

In addition to writing and producing ‘Wayward Guide’, the Tin Can Brothers are taking an even more active role! Corey is also going to be directing the project, whilst Brian and Joey will both be acting in it!

- Mary Kate Wiles! 

You may know her as Tatiana from the TCB’s previous project, ‘Spies are Forever’, or from her prolific work with fellow internet comedy group, ‘Shipwrecked Comedy’! (’Kissing in the Rain’, ‘Poe Party’ and the upcoming ‘Case of the Gilded Lily’) She also appeared as Lydia Bennet in Pemberley Digital’s Emmy Award winning webseries ‘The Lizzie Bennet Diaries’, and has enjoyed starring roles in the short film ‘I Ship It’, and in the webseries ‘Muzzled the Musical’ amongst many others! (Basically she’s done almost everything there is to do and I’d be here all day listing her credentials!) She also has a YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcw3_LYw-SuTdOaWjEJSvHQ, which you should definitely check out because she’s great and posts weekly! She’ll be taking a lead role in this project as podcast host, Artemis Schue-Horyn, and I for one, can’t wait!

- Steve Zaragoza!

Steve was an original member of the popular YouTube channels,‘SourceFed’ and ‘SourceFedNerd’, which have amassed over 2 million subscribers in total! He’s also starred as Iggy DeLacey in Pemberley Digital’s ‘Frankenstein, M.D’ and has recently appeared in some Disney Channel and Disney XD shows. He’s a new addition to the TCB universe, and is sure to be wonderful! 

- Dylan Saunders!

You’re sure to know Dylan from his work with Team StarKid! He’s appeared in the ‘Very Potter’ trilogy, ‘Starship’, ‘Holy Musical B@man’ and, most recently, ‘Twisted’! I think we can all agree that he has one of the best voices on the planet, and he’s also one of the most laid-back and friendly guys I’ve ever had the privilege to meet! I’m so excited to see him working with these guys again!

- Joanna Sotomura!

Another Pemberley Digital star, Joanna appeared as the title character, Emma Woodhouse, in the series ‘Emma Approved’! She’s also a new addition to the TCB world, and I can’t wait to see more of her!

- Jon Cozart!

Yep, that’s right - ‘Paint’ himself is going to be involved in this project! Jon is probably best known as the creator of ‘Harry Potter in 99 Seconds’, a.k.a one of my FAVOURITE videos of all time! He’s amazing and extremely creative and you should definitely subscribe to his YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/Paint

- Nick Lang!

One of the founding faces of Team StarKid, Nick has been involved in some way in pretty much every creation of theirs to date! Also, he once taught my Dad a magic trick, which my Dad has never managed to accurately recreate. Further proof that Nick is the best!

- Clayton Snyder!

You’ll probably remember Clayton from his wonderfully intense portrayal of Fyodor Dostoyevsky in Shipwrecked Comedy’s ‘Poe Party’ (as members of Shipwrecked have said, he was basically in his own movie). Also, he’s Ethan Craft from ‘Lizzie McGuire’ so that’s pretty dang cool!

- Sinead Persaud!

A founding member of Shipwrecked Comedy, Sinead has co-written, produced and starred in every single one of their projects to date! Last year, she appeared as sassy ghost, Lenore, in ‘Poe Party’, which was a perfect role for her! In this, she’ll be appearing as a ‘Macabre Mortician/Taxidermist’, which is an EVEN MORE PERFECT role for her! 

- Titus Makin Jr!

Titus has done a looottttttt of TV work over the years, (like seriously, so much!) but you’ll probably remember him best as David the Warbler from ‘Glee’! He’s also got a budding music career going, so he’s very talented! Another TCB newbie!

- Tara Perry!

Perhaps you’ll remember Tara from when she coughed a lot and was reallllly into trees on Shipwrecked Comedy’s ‘Poe Party’. If not, she also played boss lady, Vivian DeMarco, in the Tin Can Brothers’ short film ‘Flopstoppers’! I’m also pretty sure that I saw her once in an art gallery in Glasgow, but was 100% too scared to approach her, so who knows?

- Gabe Greenspan!

If you’ve been keeping up with the Tin Can Brothers recently, then you’ll for sure know Gabe from their most recent show, ‘The Solve-It Squad Returns’! He plays a complete a*sehole called Keith, but somehow manages to still make him loveable! Also, he’ll be appearing in Shipwrecked Comedy’s upcoming ‘The Case of the Gilded Lily’, so keep your eye out for that!

 - Ashley Clements!

Ashley is probably best known for her titular role as Lizzie Bennet in Pemberley Digital’s, ‘The Lizzie Bennet Diaries’. Other webseries she’s appeared in include ‘Poe Party’ and ‘Muzzled the Musical’ (as a well-dressed villain both times)! Most recently, you might have seen her in the Tin Can Brothers’ ‘The Solve-It Squad Returns’ where she acted opposite Gabe Greenspan. She’ll be doing that again and it’s sure to be hilarious!

- Corey Dorris

You’ll probably best remember Corey as Big Tallywacker in ‘MAMD’, Yaxley in ‘AVPS’, Kingsley Shacklebolt in ‘AVPSY’ and the Grandpa in ‘The Trail to Oregon’! When I saw the show in New York, his character was called ‘Ol’ Man River’, which is, in my opinion, the BEST NAME HE COULD EVER HAVE HAD! He’s also Juilliard trained which is prettttyyy cool!

- Sean Persaud

Another founding member of Shipwrecked Comedy, Sean has also co-written, produced and starred in each of their projects, along with his sister, Sinead. He played the titular role of Edgar Allan Poe in ‘Poe Party’ last year, where he exhibited his uncanny ability for deadpan hilarity! He’ll be playing a ‘Desperate Pastor’ in this project and I can’t wait! 

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD AND DONATE IF YOU CAN SO THAT THIS PROJECT CAN HAPPEN!!!

#tin can brothers #tin can bros #starkid #team starkid #shipwrecked comedy #spies are forever #flopstoppers #shipwrecked #solve it squad #poe party #gilded lily #joey richter #brian rosenthal #corey lubowich #mary kate wiles #chuck criss #glee #pemberley digital #lizzie bennet diaries #ashley clements #tcb #firebringer #lauren lopez

[meridianrose]

This is a multiday post, under the cut are my entries for Day 1 - 8

Day 1 Why you're participating in Snowflake

Day 2 Favourite memory about fandom (Legend of the Seeker, People's Palace, landcomms)

Day 3 Rec fanworks you did not create (5 x au fics in 5 fandoms)

Day 4 Create a fannish wishlist (more comments for everyone, be nicer, create more, I can haz art pls)

Day 5 Rec a fannish or creative resource (scripts, screencaps and promo pics, image hosting)

Day 6 Leave feedback (I'm always doing the thing)

Day 7 Create a love meme (please leave comments/gifs)

Day 8 Share a piece of canon (Starz shows and how I fell truly in love during S2 moments, Da vinci's Demons, Black Sails)

  Day 1 In your own space, talk about why you're participating in Snowflake and, if you’ve participated in the past, how the challenge has affected you. What drew you to it? What did you take away from it? I'm assisting with mod duties this year and this is what I wrote for my introduction there: I've been in fandom a long time. I've seen some good changes and some not so good. Lately in some places there's been a lot of negativity in fandom and overall it seems there's been a steady decline in interaction. For me fandom is about the joy of connecting with other fans, discussing, creating, consuming - and also commenting on fanworks of all kinds. I'm hoping Snowflake Challenge will give us all a positive boost and encourage us to focus on the good and to rediscover the community side of fandom. And because I'm assisting with mod duties I'm seeing a lot more of the content being produced and its amazing and heartwarming to see people sharing their personal stories and how fandom has helped them, talking about their passions, sharing their favourite fandoms and resources and fanworks. It's wonderful to see so many journal entries and activity! Day 2 In your own space, share a favorite memory about fandom: the first time you got into fandom, the last time a fanwork touched your heart, crazy times with fellow fans (whether on-line or off-line), a lovely comment you’ve received or have left for someone. Legend of the Seeker. This is one of my longer and more active fandoms. The peoplespalace was where I felt very welcomed and encouraged and I wrote a lot of fanworks and participated in a lot of the activities there. I miss the Darken/Cara/Rahl family side of the fandom a lot. There was also legendland a landcomm which ran for many years – we even had a reunion battle last year which was nice! I wrote so much fic, made icons and other graphics, even fanvids. I tried to do every challenge where possible. I was on Team Cara for the longest time. Cara, Darken, Zedd were always my favourites ;) Before legendland there was whedonland and again I felt part of something there. It pretty much saved my life a couple of times. These days there's gameofcards and it's fun and I encourage everyone to check it out, but the more specific fandom landcomms seemed to make for more tight-knit teams and I miss them. Day 3 In your own space, post recs for at least three fanworks that you did not create. There are so many things I could rec! But I'll pick 5 AU fics from 5 different fandoms to spread the love a little Side by Side – Cormoran Strike http://archiveofourown.org/works/12036537 Fantasy au that ends in Strike/Robin, highly recommended. Murder – Dark Matter http://archiveofourown.org/works/12000579 College au based around an actual tradition of a game called "murder". As Glory Turns to Dust – Hamilton http://archiveofourown.org/works/11359656 Modern au with magic. Hamilton is cursed to be forgotten, leaving him alone in the world except, briefly, for Jefferson. Warning this is a fantastic fic but a sad ending. There is however a linked sequel by another author to put things right :) Skin Full of Lies – Black Sails http://archiveofourown.org/works/7570540 Soulmate au Silverflint "Every lie your soulmate tells you appears on your skin. Between outward lies, manipulations and stories told the crew John Silver's ink quite quickly takes over most of James' body." a gift fic for me, The Princess' Bodyguard – The Shannara Chronicles http://archiveofourown.org/works/13113129 pre-canon au in which Eretria is Amberle's bodyguard. One-shot but with potential for more, strong hints of Eretria/Amberle Day 4 In your own space, create a fannish wishlist. No limits on size or type of fanwork; just tell us what you’d like to see. Can we please do as most people asked on their fannish wishlist for day 4 and leave more comments? Can we journal more and create more? Can we rediscover the joy of fandom and stop with the "anti" behaviour? Please. More specifically for me, art for fics is always welcome. (I have a transformative work statement at LJ/DW and AO3 and have had translations of my work and podfic which are lovely!) In particular for my sfbb fic Bad Case of Loving You. I've got beautiful artwork for most of my sfbb fics, the DvD fics in particular. For sfbb I provide pinterest boards to help with resources and generally try to help artists out, as I did here. This is a Black Sails modern au medical drama with Silver/Flint/Miranda and Silver&Max and it was a labour of love and I'm still amazed I managed to write the thing. However it seemed to be cursed. My first beta dropped out. My first artist dropped out. My second artist swore they were ready to go then didn't post, then after the fest posted a basic stock photo+text "cover". *sigh* I made my own art in the end, banner and mini picspam for the tumblr promo post but I'm an amateur artist. Day 5 Recommend a fannish or creative resource. Springfield!Springfield! has movie and tv episode scripts. kiss them goodbye has a huge amount of screencap galleries. farfarawaysite has a smaller amount of pictures but tends to have high quality promotional pictures. Cloudinary is the site I'm using for image hosting since the photobucket debacle. Day 6 Leave feedback for a fanwork. Or multiple fanworks. It can be as simple as I liked this to a detailed list of all the things you loved about the fanwork. The key is to leave some sort of feedback. If you've already left feedback in the course of a previous challenge, it totally counts. But you're free to leave more feedback. My new year's resolution last year was to leave a comment on every fanfic, hosted on AO3, over 100 words, that I finished reading. (I needed some parameters; this doesn't mean I didn't leave comments at LJ/DW or on drabbles because I did, on occasion). I did the thing. I read a little less than usual. I noped out of more fics. But the fics I read and finished got a comment. I'm going to try and keep doing that. I've already left comments on some fics this year. My additional resolution for this year is to write down more of my ideas. Having plot ideas or dialogues while showering or in bed is one thing, but if I don't write/type at least the basics up, I forget them partially or entirely when I try to write the thing weeks or months later. Day 7: In your own space, create a love meme for yourself. Let people tell you how amazing and awesome and loveable you really are Come and tell me how amazing I am ;) Seriously though, I'm working on being more positive and telling myself I'm worthwhile, I deserve more, I am achieving more. But it always helps when other people are backing that up. Drop me a gif in the comments if that's easier, gifs are like greeting cards for saying the things we don't know how to otherwise express. Day 8 In your own space, share a favourite piece of original canon (a TV episode, a song, a favourite interview, a book, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much. My love of Starz shows seems to kick off in second seasons. For Da Vinci's Demons in S2e04 – starts around here: https://youtu.be/cQi4xjrBmgI?t=11m27s This is the moment I fell in love with younger!hotter!Riario, aka Blake Ritson in a wig, because hair kink. But also the moment I finally liked Lucrezia too, seeing her devotion to her sister. If you want me to like a character, have them adore and protect their little sister, if you want me to hate them, have them throw little sis under the bus. Riario tries to spare both girls, succeeds in saving only one, and his grief is evident as he speaks with a heartbroken Lucrezia. This scene changed how I felt about both Riario and Lucrezia and thus about the show and my fannish involvement. Similarly this humorous moment changed my feelings about Silver and SilverFlint in the opening episode of S2 Black Sails : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIt9u7CkBf0 when Silver completely misunderstands the plan and volunteers for a risky mission. This tumblr post shows what happens next: http://alightabovethearbys.tumblr.com/post/168194826519 It's even better later when they get on board, leading to Flint's exasperated "Well what the fuck did you think was going to happen?" You can see some gifs from all those Silverflint moments in S2 here: http://jolinarofmalkshur.tumblr.com/post/168381696381/john-silver-appreciation-week-day-6-favorite

#snowflakechallenge2018 #black sails #da vinci's demons #fandom #the shannara chronicles #hamilton #strike #legendland #whedonland #peoplespalace #nostalgia #younger hotter riario #silverflint #starz

[sandybrow2]

Henry’s

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Complete Listings Overview Learn More

Henry’s stores offer free classes on topics like vlogging and freezing motion (Photograph by Christie Vuong)

Gillian Stein started her journey to becoming CEO of Henry’s, her family business, when she was just six years old.

“One of my earliest memories of working in the store was spending Saturdays on the fourth floor of our building,” she says. “It was just a giant warehouse. I remember one time there was a misprint in a flyer, and I spent all day with my sister pulling flyers from the papers. We were covered head to toe in ink. When you grow up in a family business, you’re in it from birth!”

Henry’s—which was started in Toronto in 1909 by Stein’s great-grandfather—now has 30 locations and 400 employees across the country, but its continued success in a crowded market is due, in no small part, to an almost religious commitment to maintaining that local-store feel. Its employees may not be wandering around covered in ink, but they’re all passionate about the products they sell. That’s because there’s no one on the floor at any Henry’s who isn’t also a content creator themselves.

“They’re photographers, cinematographers, vloggers, YouTubers, Instagrammers . . . they’re part of the community they serve,” says Jeff Tate, Henry’s vice-president of marketing and e-commerce. “When you come into a [Henry’s] store, you’re going to talk to someone who’s probably going out to do their own shoot that weekend. They don’t want to just sell you gear—they want to help solve your particular creative problem.” Fostering personal, long-term connections with shoppers who share common interests is a point of pride.

“The way Henry’s looks at their customers is very different,” says Ryan Courson, store manager at Henry’s in Kitchener, Ont., and an equine photographer. “It’s not an environment where customers are numbers—[we don’t] just sell them whatever we can and move on to the next customer. It’s more about building relationships. The staff are all fellow photography and videography enthusiasts. There isn’t a staff member in the store who doesn’t have people come in and ask for them by name.”

One name every employee knows is Gillian’s. Stein meets regularly with staff from coast to coast in a program called Coffee with Company. Henry’s isn’t a one-store operation anymore—the company started expanding beyond its Toronto location in 1992—but Stein still wants to learn from the front-line workers, as if it were.

“It’s important to have a close relationship with employees,” she says. “I’ll ask them questions and tell them about things we’re thinking about. We’re always trying to get a better sense of what they see.”

Those eyes and ears on the ground have played a large part in Henry’s recent innovations. For one thing, “Canada’s greatest camera store” doesn’t actually think of itself as just a camera store—it’s a place for creators, especially digital ones who are making content for online consumption on an ever-expanding list of platforms, all of which come with their own particular gear challenges.

“That entry-level of the market where everybody needed a camera to take pictures on their vacation is gone,” says Tate, “but because of the internet, there are more content creators than ever before. Some people like watching gamers play video games on Twitch . . . well, great! Those gamers need a camera pointed at their face, and audio and lighting. If you’re a vlogger, you need something portable that picks up audio. We adapt to what people are making—this is the growth part of this industry.”

Henry’s product offerings have expanded to feed this booming customer base. Need a drone so you can film yourself from above skipping through a vineyard for your travel website? Done. Want a pretty backdrop for the picture of that lipstick you’re featuring on your blog this week? No problem. The company has sponsored several indie and influencer events and festivals, and is even catering to podcasters with a healthy selection of microphones and other audio tools. In some stores the area that used to feature printers is soon going to be devoted to this kind of equipment. The company is also working on a digital platform (details are hush-hush) that will help connect content creators with all the various services and people they need to help grow those side-hustle hobbies into main-hustle brands.

With this in mind, of course Henry’s has its own official in-house content creator, Gajan Tharmabalan, who spins the plates on all of the brand’s social media platforms. He makes content, of course, including how-to and product-review videos, but he also uses the channels to engage with Henry’s growing network of fans, and to promote the work of other photographers, filmmakers, You-Tubers and Instagrammers. This added focus on serving influencers means that Henry’s is not only nurturing customers who are much younger than the middle-aged male who, historically, is the camera-store client, but it is also attracting more women than ever. After all, female You-Tubers, vloggers and podcasters need gear, too.

“These new customers really didn’t have a home in terms of where to shop and get advice,” says Stein. “They all require unique solutions, and that’s really exciting for us.”

True to its roots, though, Henry’s is still a camera store, and it’s a place where you can actually touch and try the most expensive models on the market. At some key locations, including the Toronto store, there’s even a “shooting gallery,” where top-of-the-line equipment is rigged up for people to test. All stores offer free courses every week (Camera 101 is the most popular, but you can also sign up for bite-sized workshops on things like night photography or how to use freezing motion techniques).

The design of the stores has been changing, too, with an eye to becoming more welcoming to every type of customer. Gone are the intimidating, old-school L-shaped counters at the back of the store where a customer essentially had to walk the gauntlet of the entire shop before they could ask a question, and where all the product was under lock and key. The new Henry’s experience is airy and open, with an interactive wall playing videos or showing photography (something Tate calls “retail-tainment”), and the staff are roaming around, meeting their community, making sales and developing important career-long relationships with the content creators of the future.

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Even more of Canada’s Best Managed Companies » // API calls for recent posts to the 'best-managed-companies' tag. Grabs five of the given posts at random. NOTE: Post IDs are hard-coded below in `eligiblePosts` 'use strict'; var bodyClass = document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0].getAttribute('class'); var container = document.querySelector('#dynamicPosts'); // tag id for 'best-managed-companies' // var tagID = 351657; var postCount = 5; var exclude = parseInt(( bodyClass.indexOf('postid') >= 0 ? isolateID(bodyClass)[1] : 0)); var eligiblePosts = [1079843,1079845,1079849,1079851,1079853,1079855,1079857,1079859,1079861,1079863,1079865,1079867,1079869,1079873,1079875,1079877,1079879,1079881,1079885,1079887,1079889,1079891,1079893,1079895,1079897,1079899,1079901,1079903,1079905,1079907,1079909,1079911,1079913,1079915,1079917,1079919,1079921,1079925,1079923,1079927,1079929,1079931,1079933,1079935]; var chosenPosts = arrayRandomSubset(eligiblePosts, postCount, exclude); // subset of eligiblePosts, see function below var endpoint = 'http://www.canadianbusiness.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts?'; endpoint += 'include=' + chosenPosts.join(','); endpoint += '&_embed'; fetch ( endpoint ) .then(function(response){ return response.json(); }) .then( function(data){ postsRender(data); }) .catch(function( err ){ console.log(err); }); function postsRender(data){ data.forEach(function(post){ // Define Post Elements // post container var thePost = document.createElement('div'); thePost.classList.add('row'); thePost.classList.add('bmc18-latest-post'); // visual holder var theVisual = document.createElement('div'); theVisual.classList.add('col-xs-12'); theVisual.classList.add('col-md-4'); // visual link var theImgLink = document.createElement('a'); theImgLink.setAttribute('href', post.link); theVisual.appendChild(theImgLink); // text holder var theText = document.createElement('div'); theText.classList.add('col-xs-12'); theText.classList.add('col-md-8'); theVisual.setAttribute('href', post.link); // the image var theImage = document.createElement('img'); theImage.setAttribute('src', post._embedded['wp:featuredmedia'][0].source_url); theImage.setAttribute('alt', post._embedded['wp:featuredmedia'][0].alt_text); theImgLink.appendChild(theImage); // the headline var theHed = document.createElement('h1'); theHed.innerHTML = '' + post.title.rendered + ''; theText.appendChild(theHed); // the dek var theDek = document.createElement('div'); theDek.innerHTML = post.excerpt.rendered; theText.appendChild(theDek); // the spacer var theDivider = document.createElement('hr'); //tack it all together thePost.appendChild(theVisual); thePost.appendChild(theText); container.appendChild(thePost); container.appendChild(theDivider); }); } // return the wordpress postID from the body class function isolateID( string ){ var pattern = /postid\-(\d+)?/; return string.match(pattern); } /** * From a given array, provide a subset * @param arr — the array from which to read the values * @param n — the number of results required * @param excl — a value to exclude from the results */ function arrayRandomSubset(arr, n, excl){ let out = []; // for the specified count, loop over the given array, select values randomly, and add them to the output array, but only if they aren’t already included. // NOTE: we temporarily increase the length of the loop to output an array of length n + 1. This is so that if there is an `excl` value provided for ( var i = 0; i < n + 1; i++ ){ // select a random position in the array let r = parseInt( Math.random() * arr.length ); // if the value at position `r` isn’t already in the output, add it if ( out.indexOf(arr[r]) < 0 ) { out.push(arr[r]); // if the value IS already in the output, decrement the loop to try again. } else { i--; } } // if the excluded value is not in the output, just trim to `n` results if ( out.indexOf(excl) < 0 ) { return out.splice(0, n); // if it IS in the output, remove it. } else { let e = out.splice(out.indexOf(excl), 1); return out; } }

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[jrgarcia]

What’s the Gambler 500? It’s a Road Trip Rally

“It’s not a race, it’s a challenge.” A quote taken from 1976 film the Gumball Rally. Let me set the record straight that the Gambler 500 is NOT, I repeat, not a race or a timed event. This is a navigation rally designed to show you the Oregon landscape while having road trip fun in a wacky car with friends. The gamble comes from showing up to the start line in whatever, road legal, vehicle you can piece together that can survive 500 miles over a two day event. The Gambler 500 is Wacky Racers meets Family Vacation at the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mons. A motoring event unlike anything you’ve seen.

Team Rabid Beaver aka Red Beaver

How I ended up in Portland, Oregon on the eve of the Gambler 500 is a story that took a year in the making. It all started when I randomly came across a Facebook video clip of last year’s Gambler 500. It showed a bunch of wild cars and trucks being taken off road with big smiles all around. It looked fun. I shared it saying I would add it to my bucket list. One friend agreed, and meant it. Jeremy Mahovlich, a friend, fellow auto writer, mini truck aficionado, and general car nut from Vancouver, Canada. He was actually one of the first people I asked for advice on how to get into the automotive media racket in 2014.

At the start of 2017 he tagged me on another Gambler video asking if we should actually do this rally. I said yes, but in the same way friends agree that they should open a bar together. Sincere but with no real plan to actually go through with it. Wishful thinking. I didn’t think I would actually be at this event until he showed me the photos of the car he and Ron Kertesz, Rabid Beaver Co-driver, had bought at the auction. Soon as I saw the car in Jeremy’s driveway I started looking for flights.

The Red Beaver is a 2002 Ford Focus ZX3 hatchback with a 5-speed manual and that Jeremy picked up for $600 bucks. After a mild tune up of new spark plugs, fluids, and an air filter the car was given spacers to add ground clearance. The wheels were painted white and an Amazon Prime ordered light bar was dressed on the grille. Jeremy and Ron created a spoof livery on the Red Bull rally car of the same era. (Points for creativity!) I had no idea how the car was going to look until I saw at 11 pm the night before the race. Seeing my name on a professional looking rally car was a really good feeling.

A Symphony of Misfires

The start of the rally was a symphony of sputtering exhausts pipes, squeaky fan belts, and rough idling engines. Hood slams echoed as gamblers pushed their heaps to the start line. This was the 4th running of the Gambler. In previous years attendance was small. Around 40 teams entered last year, but thanks to social media a record setting 300 was expected to show up at the Portland Meadows horse track to start gambling. We arrived at 8 am and saw that over 700 teams had showed up! Unpresented and unplanned.

Teams ranged from chump cars and junkers to full builds and customs. Everything on wheels was represented at the event. AMC Eagles, lifted Crown Vics, a JDM Firetruck, 70s land yachts and wagons, limos, Pontiac Fieros, a white hearse, smokey motorcycles, ex-food trucks, vans, muscle cars, Jeeps and Subarus, and a $600 Toyota Prius! Our unofficial celebrity guest was Fred Williams, editor-at large for Peterson’s 4-Wheel & Off-road and host of Dirt Everyday, who showed up in a wicked 4×4 Dodge Tradesman.

Fred William’s Far Out 4×4 Dodge Tradesman

When Team Rabid Beaver set off it was 11 am and we were the 721th car to leave the starting point. We were given a paper with a list of GPS coordinates to different way points along the way towards the overnight checkpoint. Each waypoint ranged in road difficulty. Easy ones were just off the highway. Median way points involved dirt roads and pot holes. The most hardcore off road waypoints were appropriately named “Satan’s B***hole” in terms of difficulty. These required ATV permits. Vehicles that could handle rock climbing.

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There were only two rules in the rally, “If you aren’t having fun, go find some!” And “Always be Gamblin!” Enjoy the fun of being the weirdest convoy on the road. Driving through small towns like a herd of renegades in vehicular cosplay. Playing on the CB to live out your Cannonball Run day dreams while following the unwritten rule of stopping if you see a fellow Gambler on the side of the road. Big feeling of comradery among us as Gamblers. We were all here to have fun and nearly everyone was a first timer so we all shared the experience.

The Gambler 500 was sponsored by NAPA auto parts which gave Gamblers a 10% discount during the race. Also, the Gambler is not a race so you don’t need to wear crash helmets or invest in a 5 point safety harness. Only things required on gambler vehicles is for it to be road legal and a CB radio for emergencies since cellphone signal can be dicey in the Oregon country side.

Woodstock for Oil Burners

The overnight checkpoint for the rally was a ski lodge near the city of Sister, Oregon, named Hoodoo (Who-doo). By the time the Red Beaver arrived the ski lodge was completely full and we had to park in the street along with several dozen other Gambler teams.

Hoodoo entrance gate

The scene was wild. Crazy cars littered the parking lot with tents and camps set up around them. Alcohol vendors were on the scene handing out samples and by 10 pm everyone was holding at least one sudsy beverage in their hand. Live music echoed as we walked the grounds checking out the cars and observing the crowd. Guns, cars, and music was the only topics of conversation. No politics, no current events. Nothing annoying. There was even a city bus that had been converted into a mobile Tattoo parlor that was opened for business.

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What amazed me was that we had over 800 vehicles, with 3 or more people per vehicle. At least 90% of us were new to the event with drinks flowing freely. I didn’t sleep at all that night, mostly because I didn’t prepare for winter conditions in July. Spending the night freezing allowed me to listen and observe the campgrounds. Were we loud? Of course! But all you could hear was talking and laughter. No fighting, no shouting, no foul language echoing in the distance, no dangerous burnouts, and no cops. It was surreal seeing such a diverse group of people spending the night together and getting along. No drama, just civil fun with beer breathe.

Naturally the restrooms were a mess but what do you expect? A few wild cards started setting off fireworks but were quickly shut down (Smokey the Bear didn’t approve). Others who brought bikes were riding up and down the ski slopes in the darkness. A few college kids dancing on the hoods of cars. The point is that all these people showed up and nobody got hurt, nobody was offended, and nobody’s car caught on fire. The planets were aligned in the Gambler’s favor that night.

By 2am most had gone to sleep except for a few dozen huddled around the bonfire. The band had called it a night and allowed anyone to grab an instrument and jam. I couldn’t sleep so I stood listening to the group of strangers play together. They played tunes that reminded me of Link Wray and Dick Dale. Surfer music, exhaustion, and the few beers I had made for some essential thinking while looking up at the stars in the moonless Oregon sky.

Junkers for a Good Cause

The end of the rally was back at Portland Meadows were it began. All cars were able to cross the finish line and park in the horse track infield to create the most outrageous looking parking lot. Once we were all here the awards were given out. This year’s winner was given to a man who visited all the waypoints in a $500 Honda 500cc motorcycle that he put together days before the rally started.

The cherry on top of the Gambler 500 sundae is the auction held after the awards. At the end of the rally anyone who wants to sell their ride can do so at the auction and 100% of the money goes towards the Children’s Cancer Association. How awesome is that? Anyone who buys a gambler car will have an automatic entry for next year’s rally.

Sold for $500

Ramblin for Next Year’s Gamblin

I was able to talk briefly to T. Cole, founder and organizer for the Gambler 500. My main question for him was how they planned to control the number of Gamblers for next year. A large attendance was a great surprise but things could have quickly gotten out of hand. No secret that we were lucky this year. Cole couldn’t give me a definitive answer but I assume that ticket sales to partake in the rally will be in order next year. Money will be the factor that separates the real Gamblers from the trouble makers. The Gambler 500 is not a Gumball 3000 or Cannonball Run. They want this to be a family friendly event that focuses on fun and not speed.

I was able to talk to Fred Williams and ask him for a quote on this event. His answer was as accurate as it was funny.

“The Gambler 500 is all the people waiting to be extras in the next Mad Max movie.”

After spending 2 days looking at some of these creative rides I can certainly agree with him. Everyone was friendly and everyone I talked to was excited to do this again next year. Jeremy, Ron, and I spent most of the time on the road thinking of theme ideas for next year. What kind of car? Livery and costume ideas? How will one decision impact the other? Best road game ever. Check out the Gambler 500’s FB page to see more content and vides of this year’s gamble.

Below is a gallery of some of the Rides from the Gambler 500.

The Battleship Lincoln

Original drivetrain and chassis, slightly modified of course

Used to be a 1999 Crown Vic

Used to be a 1970 Cadillac

$600, owner just removed all fuses and added a skid plate

Miniature Dog Van

1941 Dodge Power Wagon Weapon’s Carrier. All original!

Beastie Boys Cosplay

Mighty MG

“If you ain’t first….”

Fancia, Get it?

It’s a Pontiac Fiero dressed up like a Lancia Stratos

Mary Kay Special

“Make Mexico Great Again”

My favorite decal of the entire event.

Gambler 500 is officially an international event.

These guys used the Gambler 500 as a company retreat. Are they hiring?

Not your typical hair dresser’s car

No idea, but I want one.

A mail truck Jeep!

Discount Roadkill Muscle Truck

Good Old Truck

Only Suzuki represented

Long live the Crown Vic

Reminded me of 80’s NASCAR

This Cheby was wraped in printed Duct Tape

Looked as if the internet had vomited on this thing.

A Pontiac Bonneville dressed to look like the T/A Trans Am

Get It?

Great name for a Crown Vic

Breakdown lane to the Danger Zone

Team Suburbia

Moon Buggy Scoobie

“This is a van”

An International Pickup, these are getting rare.

Crown Vics were a favorite vehicle of choice at the G500

AMC Eagles!

A Brown 70’s Olds, love it.

a JDM fire truck

Left hand drive

Canadian Mopar

Wizard Van

The OJ Special

An Olds Cutlass

Imagine seeing this heard in your rear view

Mad Max Mustang

Mark 5 Mercury Wagon

I called it the Mercury 5

A hearse, because of course

I want one

Honda hatchback

Mods

These 2 Camaros drove all the way from the East Coast to be here

Costumes are encouraged

Strongly encouraged

AMC Eagles, may they live on

This Dodge looked ready for the Baja 500

Push

This food truck reject was sold at the auction for $400

Read more stories and articles here.

A road trip rally, a two day party, and a charity car auction. This is the Gambler 500. What’s the Gambler 500? It’s a Road Trip Rally “It’s not a race, it’s a challenge.” A quote taken from 1976 film the Gumball Rally.

#4x4 #adventure #chump cars #driving #entertainment #gambler 500 #lemons #lifestyle #news #off roading #oregon #road rally #travel #wacky cars #writing

[prixmiumarchive]

Do you ever wish for a place to talk to other fanfiction writers? Do you get frustrated with the lack of commentary and text in a commentary-and-text-based medium of expression? Do your plot bunnies look like this fellow in the above, not-so-great banner? Do you miss the days when we called them plot bunnies? Has disenchantment with the state of the discussion of transformative works made you long for the days of dial-up, yahoo groups, and tiny fic archives run on GeoCities? Then this Discord server may be the solution for you!

Now, you might have questions. What is Discord? Isn’t it full of hentai? Do I have to install another application on my duct-taped-together computer? Can I do this on mobile? What, exactly, would make this have the potential for being anything better than the oft-abandoned, crickets-chirping concept of tumblr networks from a couple of years ago?

Those answers and more will be below the read-more. This is a living document which can be reblogged but whose content under the read-more may change. You can find this information and any other important updates to it in a static location at http://metamorprose.dreamwidth.org

Contents

Who this server is for.

How is it set up? 

What is Discord? 

What are Roles?

How do I set a Role or Roles for myself? 

What/why Metamorprose?

Rules for Metamorprose.

Punishments on Metamorprose. 

Disclaimers.

Who this server is for.

This server is intended for those who write fanfiction. If you have written 1,000 words or more of fanfiction, then you can assume this includes you, if you want it to. This is an all ages server with a few important exceptions. At present, there are three text-channels that are marked NSFW, meaning you will need to verify that you are of age to view them. Those text-channels are: nsfw-warren, nsfw-celebritiesrpf, and nsfw-musicbands. They are marked that way for these reasons: #nsfw-warren is a place to talk about writing fic that is rated M or E, #nsfw-celebritiesrpf and #nsfw-musicbands are marked that way because they are under increased moderation and discretion because they may deal with real persons who are living.

This server is open to individuals 13+ with the nsfw channels being restricted to those 18+. Any user found to enter an nsfw channel under the age of 18 will be subject to disciplinary action. Your curiosity and maturity is not wroth getting someone else in trouble.

Metamorprose is intended as a place for people who have a current or frequent interest in writing fanfiction. This does not mean that you must be writing at a certain pace or publishing a specific amount. Writer’s Block happens and so does real life. What this does mean is that if you are just a casual fanfiction reader who rarely writes that this might not be the most fun place for you. If you are an avid reader who has a lot of recs, even if you don’t write, you are welcome to join and see what happens. Any specific entry requirements or rules will be implemented and updated on an as-needed basis. For now, it is up to your discretion whether or not you would be a good fit.

How is it set up?

Metamorprose is vaguely rabbit themed in honor of ‘plot bunnies’ and their legacy. You do not have to care about or like rabbits. It was just the first naming scheme that came to mind.

At the time of invitation launch, the following are the text-channels on the Metamorprose Discord server:

#foxden - off-topic and social chat #rabbithole - where you go to role yourself #thewarren - fanfiction writing/process discussion #nsfw-warren - same as above for M/E-rated material #recs - rec fics by others #selfpromo - rec/promote fics by yourself #beta - seek/offer beta services #ficexchanges - yuletide? uh... anything else? promote and discuss here #catnip - PG13 very off-topic thread, stuff you just had to share that isn’t conducive to regular conversation #inspiration - aesthetics, music, etc. you want to share and chat about what it makes you feel or reminds you of #groupwatching - a place to set up sharing your favorite shows and movies and whatever else, through rabb.it or another service (not affiliated with this vague bunny theme) And text-channels for which you must have the appropriate role assigned to enter where you can discuss fanfiction writing and ideas and related topics for a given genre/medium. These subdivisions are based on Archive Of Our Own’s division of the same with some alteration.

#animemanga #booksliterature #cartoonscomicsgn #nsfw-celebritiesrpf #movies #nsfw-musicbands #theatre #tvshows #videogames #webseries These may change an the adminabun (me) is always looking for constructive suggestions on just about any aspect of my life.

What is Discord?

Discord advertises itself as “Free Voice and Text Chat for Gamers.” In addition to self-proclaimed gamers, it is also a place where one might find those who are interested in “memes” as a way of life and anime/manga fans with some overlap with tech-savviness. These are all generalizations, though.

Discord, in my personal experience, is very similar to Skype but with many more options. It is also, at present, ad-free, and to my knowledge plans to stay that way. If you are interested, the Discord team has provided a comparison chart of their features: https://discordapp.com/features

If you do game, do voice chat, or anything else, then it is my understanding that it really is a great application to use for that. For simple, text-based creatures like myself who rarely play games, however, it is a perfectly serviceable place to keep organized chats and PMs, all under one roof.

Another great thing about Discord is that you have several options to use it. You can use it in your browser simply by pressing “Open Discord” on the app’s homepage. You can use it in a desktop program/application, available for download on the app’s homepage. You may also use their mobile app, which to my knowledge is available for both iOS and Android. (I use Android, so if you have iOS issues with it, not my area.)

The application’s website is here: https://discordapp.com/

What are Roles?

A “Role” is a discord feature and term that determines aspects of a user’s status, permissions, and abilities within a server and its individual channels. For the purposes of Metamorprose, you should choose the one or two most-relevant genre/media roles and the posting medium (where you put your fic most-often) for yourself. The genre/media role will determine your username color, and if anyone hates their genre’s color I would be open to putting it to a poll. If you have more than one genre, you will inherit the color of the genre that comes first in the alphabet. AO3/Fanfiction.net/tumblr roles do not impact your name color.

The currently-available self-assignable roles are:

genre/media: - Anime & Manga - Books & Literature - Cartoons & Comics & Graphic Novels - Celebrities & Real People - Movies - Music & Bands - Theatre - TV Shows - Video Games - Web Series

posting medium: - AO3 - Fanfiction.Net - tumblr

How do I set a Role or Roles for myself? 

First, you need to be in the text-channel #rabbithole. I am just learning about bot usage for this venture, but at present I use a bot called Nadeko. She is a bot who sits there on the channel at all times and will, unless she is having server downtime, respond to your commands. The commands you need to know for self-assigning roles are:

you: .lsar

Sending the message ‘.lsar’ will show you a list of self-assignable roles.

you: .iam ROLE

Sending the message ‘.iam ROLE’ will assign the role typed in place of ROLE to you. For example, if I want to assign myself the Anime & Manga role, I type this exactly: ‘.iam Anime & Manga’. Nadeko will message you back when the deed is done. If It doesn’t work immediately, try again in a few minutes.

you: .iamnot ROLE

Sending the message ‘.iamnot ROLE’ will unassign the role typed in place of ROLE to you. For example, let’s say I am finished with my current Anime & Manga fic project or am moving on to another fic for now. I can type exactly this: ‘.iamnot Anime & Manga’ and Nadeko will tell me when she has unassigned the role from me.

Please note that using these roles most effectively is not assigning yourself every single one of the genre/media roles that you sort of like. Having one or two genre/media roles active at once will make it easy for people to see what you are currently interested in writing, are writing, etc. There are plenty of places you can ping-pong from liked-topic to liked-topic at the speed of your fingertips, tumblr included. This server will be the greatest resource to you if you use roles and the genre-specific text-channels judiciously. You can alter your roles as much as you want, within reason, so you are not stuck just because you have an interest shift. (Trust me, I am the queen of multifandom lack of focus.) Just don’t abuse Nadeko. She is a free service who does not belong to me.

What/why Metamorprose? 

I just wanted a name for the server that was kind-of unique and meant something.

“Metamorphose” is a verb meaning to change the form or nature of;  transform.

“Prose” is what most of us write in, striving for the middle ground between purple and beige.

In the age-old fandom tradition, therefore, it is a portmanteau for the process of creative transformative works: metamorprose.

Rules for Metamorprose. 

1. Treat others with courtesy and respect. Do not insult a person, disagree respectfully, and only offer constructive criticism.

2. Do not bait or otherwise goad another user into misbehavior. This will be considered misbehavior as well. If you are having an issue with a user, please come to the adminabun or any assigned mods to deal with it.

3. Do not post NSFW material in non nsfw channels. This does NOT include posting clearly marked M/E-rated fics in fic rec channels.

4. Keep on-topic within reason in the text channels that are not the #foxden. Reasonable and brief rabbit trails are fine, but don't turn them into niche off-topic channels.

5. Use good sense. Use discord's features appropriately. If you don't know how to or if you can do something, Google it first. If you can't figure it out from the first page of Google results, ask someone you trust. The adminabun is willing to take your questions about discord operation, within reason, after you have tried googling it yourself.

6. Non NSFW-channels should be kept at a PG-13 tone. There are no nsfw or profanity filters set up on the non-nsfw channels, so this is based on the honor system and abuse of this WILL get you warned.

7. Theft or plagiarism will merit a warning or an immediate ban, depending on context and severity, at admin/mod discretion. 8. Do not direct people directly to your patreon or ko-fi page. What you do in PMs with friends is up to you but do not otherwise promote monetary gain for yourself on this channel.

9. Do not offer financially-compensated commissions on this channel for fic or for art.

10. More rules may be added and will be announced, but ignorance of a rule is not an excuse to not follow it.

On Dreamwidth: http://metamorprose.dreamwidth.org/334.html

Punishments on Metamorprose. 

Egregious and flagrant violation of any of the above rules or other abusive behavior may be cause for immediate ban. However, the general rule is that 3 warnings result in a softban. This will ban you but will allow you to rejoin the channel again after you’ve had a cool-down. 5 warnings will result in a permanent ban.

Disclaimers. 

This Discord server is not affiliate with any of the following: Archive Of Our Own, the Organization for Transformative Works, Fanfiction.net, tumblr, rabb.it, dreamwidth, yuletide, or any other unnoted, official organization. It is a project by the fan and fanfiction writer whose Discord tag is Prix#9110.

By clicking the following link, you agree to be subject to the aforementioned rules and policies, whether you read them or not: https://discord.gg/z3FHEYQ

#fanfiction #fanfic #fanfiction writing network #fanfiction discord #fic #writing fic #fic writing #discord #discordapp #metamorprose #open discord server #discord server

[foxgloves-fox-love]

Self-shipping AU

Just wanted to do these questions hehe ;w;

1. What kind of blog does your f/o have? Do they selfship on main? Do they look like a regular fan? Quiet reblogs or lots of gushing? Lots of analyses of your character and your source or incoherent blabbering? Do they have a headcanon blog? Do they try to roleplay as you?

Ren is shameless and only has like one sideblog that he reserves for creative stuff. He posts everything else onto his main blog. He also gushes a lot just lots of keysmashing and talking about how cute I am, and not a lot of analyses just tons of blabbering. He posts all his headcanons on his main blog and frequently tags pictures with our ship name if they remind him of us.

2. Do they prefer selfshipping by inserting themselves into your source, or by daydreaming about you in their own little / personal world, or by imagining you by their side during their daily life?

He definitely daydreams about me in his own little world especially before bed and also imagines me by his side during his daily life. He would probably insert himself into my source as well bc he's not satisfied with where he is in his life. He just wants to do everything.

3. What’s their self insert like? Is their s/i literally them? Is it basically them but with just a few changes - to be more like the person they’d like to be, or to “fit in” your source better? Is their s/i totally OP or extra or more realistic? Is it an OC that’s totally different from them?

His s/i is literally him. He doesn't change parts of himself to fit into my source or to be more like he wants to be because he uses self-shipping as coping and wants me to love him for him.

4. Do they spend more time on wikipedia, on your fandom wiki, on your TV tropes page? Looking for official content they might’ve missed, like fun trivia? Looking for fanart, for fics? Looking for information and details and references for fics or art or other fancontent they’re making because they want to make sure they get everything right?

He's definitely a fandom wiki kind of guy and scours the internet for content. He doesn't need to look at references that much because he has me memorized pretty easily. There are multiple looks I've gone through in "canon" and while he loves all of them and it's hard to remember all of them, he tends to stick with the one that's most currently out in canon because it makes him feel like he's living beside me.

5. Do they create anything inspired by you and/or their ship with you? Fanart? Fanfics? Gifsets? Moodboards? Edits? Songs? Dances? Crafts? Playlists? Cosplays? Do they post them (or pictures of them) online? Do they sell any merch (online, at cons, etc)? Do they make pics of their selfship in dollmakers? Do they spend hours on otp prompt generators? Do they commission art of their selfship?

He creates fanart but doesn't draw much anymore and is kind of sad about it because he misses how much he used to draw. Instead he tends to write fic and create songs and playlists. He posts his music and stuff online on his sideblog for creative stuff and doesn't sell merch when he goes to cons. Because he doesn't draw as much anymore he LOVES making us in dollmakers and picrews. He also commissions a shit ton of art for his selfship and is completely shameless about it.

6. Does your f/o have a selfship wedding with you? Do they celebrate it on their blog or more privately, with their fellow selfshipper friends? Do they make any content (like art, fics, etc) to celebrate?

He wrote a song to propose with and is waiting for anime canon to catch up to his favorite part from the manga before posting it and making a huge deal about it. When he does have the wedding he commissions a really extravagant wedding picture and has it framed and put in his room.

7. Does your f/o have fankids with you? If not, maybe pets?

We own a dog and he wants to have kids when we get married so he can cope with his anxieties of being a bad father.

8. Do your f/o and your friend’s f/o plan for double dates since their f/os (you and your friend) are from the same source? How would that go?

lmao :') idk? >w> Maybe Farz and Ren would do that...

9. If you have multiple f/os (romantic, platonic, anything), imagine them making or joining a Discord server or a group chat about you or your source. Who gushes, who shares art and fics, who analyses everything, who sends memes?

Oh god lmao. So like I was doing this for Ren, but imagining everyone in a discord server is killing me!!! Vincent would do nothing but post porn gifs and be an absolute butt and laugh at people all the time and Jack would like never talk in it except to post the occasional psychological profile of me and talk about how interesting I am every once in a blue moon. Gengar would just cry type all the time. Craig would shitpost with memes and laugh at people because he’s a dick and not actually into self-shipping and Shino would analyze EVERYTHING from the show. The people who would gush and talk the most would be Ren and Omen ;w; Ren would share his music and Omen would think it's all very interesting. Omen might even develop a crush because Ren is so interesting and Ren would be completely oblivious bc he’s guzzling that self-ship juice lmao.

10. Does your f/o have very creative ship names, or are they bad with finding tags / ship names, or do they just use regular fandom tags?

Ren likes the ship name Rae and uses that irl, but he likes to do the fun creative ones in order to tag stuff. He uses "Little Star" for it.

11. What’s your f/o like when they read / watch / play your source? Do they reread / rewatch / replay their favorite parts over and over? Do they make comments aloud? Which parts of your story made them laugh? Made them cry?

Ren gets really happy when he watches the anime because it's very relaxing. He watches his favorite parts over and over and over again until he can say the dialogue by heart. He doesn't make comments aloud but he gets super emotionally invested. His favorite parts that make him laugh are when I say goofy or dumb things and then comment on the irony and break the 4th wall. The parts that make him cry the most are any time I get hurt and start crying. When I got bullied or felt bad with my classmates or was hurt when I was very young. All of those hurt him a lot and he cried about it.

12. Do they post any videos related to your source? Like AMVs? Or reaction vids (with them reacting to your source as they read / watch / play / etc)? If your source is a game, do they make a walkthrough? Is it a perfect walkthrough, a more casual one?

He would like to make AMVs but doesn't really have editing software for it, but wants to learn! He wants to post reaction vids but is nervous about posting his face online for...reasons. lmao

13. Which of your f/os has “y/n’s husband / wife / partner” as a username online?

Ren would definitely call himself my biggest fan. He wouldn't use husband but he'd definitely use fanboy.

14. Do they have merch of you? What kind of merch? Posters? Keychains? Stickers? Stuffed toys? (And if they have a plush of you, do they kiss it and sleep with it?)

He has a plush that he cuddles and sleeps with and sometimes makes out with lmao. He also has so much merch!!! He is the type to make ita content. On Christmas he decorates the tree with stuff and has posters all over the walls. His favorites tho are figures. He looooooooves figures the most. He's constantly shelling out the big bucks for the biggest and most detailed ones because he can look at them and feel like I exist in a 3d space.

15. What kind of content do they like / make the most? Is it fluff? Angst? Hurt / comfort? (btw: imagine your f/os going to you when they need comfort, because they love you and you’re comforting to them.) Do they respect canon or do they make lots of AUs? What kind of AUs do they like?

-rubs hands together- His favorite content is hurt/comfort both with me being hurt and me hurting the other party, depending on his mood. When he gets unstable and lonely he plays out angsty situations to further his spirals. He knows it's unhealthy, but it comforts him at the same time. His favorite when he's feeling like being healthier is making irl AUs where he can play out his trauma with me as a caretaker figure or alongside him and comforting me.

16. Which of your f/os has 1341 pics of you saved on their phone / laptop? What kind of pic did they choose as their phone / laptop background? Is it a canon pic of you, or fanart, or art of their selfship with you?

Ren definitely hoards a lot of shit on his phone, he has so much content of me on it it's ridiculous. Omen kind of does the same but not nearly as much because he has multiple f/os and has to share space with them lmao. Vincent's phone is just filled with porn ok just lots of rule 34 shit but he also like doesn't have a lot of content on it because like he's just a horndog and only really gives a shit about the dirty content. Jack has pictures but not a lot because he prefers to fantasize.

#fo: ren #fo: vincent #fo: omen #fo: jack #fo: shino #fo: craig #fo: gengar

[operationrainfall]

Title Luigi’s Mansion 3 Developer Next Level Games Publisher Nintendo Release Date October 31st, 2019 Genre Ghost Hunting Platform Nintendo Switch Age Rating E for Everyone – Comic Mischief, Mild Cartoon Violence Official Website

Although Luigi’s Mansion 3 isn’t my first outing with the constantly terrified brother of Mario, it’s the first time I reviewed this series for the oprainfall site. Add on top of that the fact this is the first of Luigi’s ghost hunting adventures on Switch, then the bar for this review was set pretty high. However, as someone who enjoyed the first Luigi’s Mansion way back on Gamecube, as well as the updated spookiness in Dark Moon, I wasn’t too worried about enjoying the game. So long as it brought with it tight controls and substantial content, I was pretty certain I would have a good time. And while that ended up being true, there were a few annoying quibbles that kept this one from a perfect score.

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Luigi’s Mansion 3 starts with Luigi, Mario, Peach and the Toads heading to relax at a new luxury hotel, the Last Resort. They were invited by the proprietor, Hellen Gravely, and after spending most of their time stopping Bowser related crimes, I’m sure it seemed like a nice offer. Our Mushroom Kingdom residents get pleasantly settled, Luigi and Polterpup head to their room, and quickly fall into a calm sleep. Suddenly, that sleep is broken by Peach’s terror stricken scream. Luigi goes to investigate, and can’t find her, Mario or the Toads. Suddenly the golden hued hotel reveals its hidden murky nature. Confused and alarmed, it all clicks into place for Luigi when the elevator dings and reveals Hellen. Turns out, she’s not the proprietor of the hotel at all. In fact, she’s not even alive, she’s a mischievous ghost in disguise! Worse yet, fan girl that she is, Hellen already helped free King Boo, and he managed to quickly capture everyone in magical paintings, and Luigi’s next. The only thing these villains didn’t count on (somehow) was Luigi’s spinelessness, as he runs screaming into the laundry chute, barely avoiding being turned into a piece of art himself.

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It all seems dire, especially since Luigi isn’t initially equipped with his trusty Poltergust. Luckily, thanks to the keen nose of his Polterpup, Luigi quickly comes upon an upgraded model in the basement, and soon finds the Dark-Light attachment. Led by his canine champion, Luigi manages to discover and free a trapped E. Gadd, who instantly wants to flee the hotel. Somehow Luigi manages to fight his own fear, and they instead head back downstairs where the mad professor activates his portable lab, your safe haven and operating base. Turns out, Hellen went after E. Gadd first, and lured him in with the offer of rare ghosts (of course). E. Gadd may be brilliant, but he’s also more than a bit twisted and strange, and rarely sees past his own self interest. And while Luigi may well be a coward, he’s still imbued with the heroic spark to want to save his friends. Together, these two very different men work out a strategy to recover those companions and defeat King Boo again in the process.

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The first step is finding all the elevator’s missing buttons. Those sneaky ghosts have stolen all but one of them, and you have to find and beat ghosts to recover each one. Considering there’s a total of 15 floors, plus two basement areas, that’s a lot of ground to cover. Thankfully, the game is structured in such a way that you’re constantly being led towards the next goal, and you really can’t get lost. Worst case scenario, the path forward may not always be clear, but E. Gadd will generally yell the solution at you if you’re stuck long enough. But if you’re not ready to progress, E. Gadd will instead direct you towards a handy upgrade first, such as the Suction Shot, the Gooigi module and Super Suction. Each item does a good job of opening up exploration possibilities, and I felt they all had their proper place. My main complaint was with Luigi’s Burst move, which has him jump upwards with a gust of air which can occasionally destroy items or open barriers. I never felt using this Burst was intuitive at all, and constantly forgot about it. In a game involving ethereal ghosts you can’t physically touch, it just didn’t seem that relevant to give him an awkward jumping move that could never let you surmount vertical distances. Also, I kind of wish there were a couple more upgrades for your Poltergust G-00. You get most of them relatively early on, and then very late you get the Super Suction, and I only ended up using it once, which felt like a missed opportunity. To be fair though, it’s quite possible there’s other hidden areas where you can also use it, because I didn’t even get close to finding all the optional items in the game during my time reviewing it.

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While each floor doesn’t have a boss, there’s a bunch of them spread throughout the hotel. Each and every one is a delight, looking entirely unique from the others and armed with distinct attack patterns. These were easily a highlight of Luigi’s Mansion 3, and even when I was irritated by some, I still enjoyed fighting them. Though I will suggest you purchase a Gold Bone before each boss fight, since that will let Polterpup revive you if you’re defeated, which happened to me plenty. A few examples of my favorite boss fights were Captain Fishook, a pirate shark that possesses a galleon to try and devour you; King MacFrights, who rushes about a stadium forcing you to stun him and rip his armor away; and Dr. Potter, a twisted gardener who fights you with a ghostly Venus flytrap. Even some of the more annoying fights, such as Clem, a hillbilly water maintenance ghost who fights you atop rubber duckies in a spike lined pool, was worth my time, despite how difficult that battle was. There’s just a ton of personality and creativity on display here, and I’m very happy the usual action was punctuated by these challenging battles.

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When you aren’t fighting bosses in Luigi’s Mansion 3, you’ll spend a lot of time wandering, sucking up ghosts and solving several puzzles. I liked the general flow of things, except when I got totally flummoxed by the occasional head scratcher. Most aren’t that tough, but the first truly difficult one takes place on a movie set. Solving it requires using a bunch of TVs that teleport you to different sets and grabbing items from each. What wasn’t clear to me was that I could hold onto items while teleporting, which was key to getting past the puzzle. Thankfully, I found a solution thanks to the fine folks at Gamers Heroes, but sadly that wasn’t the only time I got stuck. I also got very stuck in the trap-filled pyramid, as well as in a dance hall filled with a ghostly dance troupe. Each of these areas were doubly frustrating since the hints from E. Gadd I received didn’t do enough to dispel my confusion. Thankfully, I wouldn’t say this sort of roadblock was the norm, and generally I got through the Last Resort at a pretty quick clip. My favorite puzzles generally involved clever uses of Gooigi to explore in areas Luigi couldn’t reach, traveling via grates to hidden areas and squishing through spikes. And there’s even a series of cool puzzles in the boiler room that involves water pipes, Luigi, Gooigi and a rubber ducky float.

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More Haunting Fun on Page 2 ->

If you’ve played any previous games in the series, you’re probably wondering about how the controls fare. I would say they work pretty well, with some provisos. It’s easy enough to use one Joy-Con to move my flashlight around and move Luigi with the other. It’s also easy to use the shoulder buttons to suck things up or blow them out. The problems come with how many moves are mapped to a single Joy-Con. To use the Dark-Light, you have to hold X while also using that stick to move it around. If that sounds difficult, that’s because it really was. The same problem happens when I needed to hold the Strobulb with A to unleash a massive flash of light. Neither of these would be as problematic if it didn’t require holding a button and then moving the stick on the same Joy-Con simultaneously. This is also exacerbated by accidentally summoning Gooigi, which is done with a single press of the right stick, and often happened when I was just trying to aim. While I did eventually find a Dark-Light workaround, which was moving Luigi side to side while training the Dark-Light in front of me in a crab-like manner, it was far from comfortable. Only much later did I discover there’s an alternate setup, which is holding L and R and then moving the right stick around to maneuver the beam. Problem was, the game never told me this, and I only found out due to a fellow gamer informing me. I really, really think Luigi’s Mansion 3 should have allowed the remapping of buttons to the other Joy-Con, which would have easily solved many of these problems. Cause while these weren’t enough to make me hate the game, it did turn what could have been a perfect experience into a one that was less enthralling.

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Though I managed to beat the game in a little over 12 hours, there’s a ton of replay value here if you want it. Each floor of the Last Resort has 6 deviously well-hidden Gems, and there’s also tons of vindictive Boos hidden in dark corners. The latter are always tricky to find, though I liked how the vibration feature of the Switch was cleverly used to indicate how close you are to them. There’s also something called Rare Ghosts, which can only be found in the multiplayer mode, though I was unable to find a single one. Because the game kept pushing me forward, I didn’t focus on many of these optional searches, which is probably why I got rewarded with a measly C when I beat the game. I’m glad optional items are there to offer incentive to play longer, though I don’t believe they gate anything truly important behind them. I was under the misconception that after beating the game you couldn’t return to that file and keep hunting, since when you go up to fight King Boo, the game indicated I had reached the point of no return. Considering the game only autosaves, I worried that meant I had to start a new file first, which I did. Thankfully, my friend pointed out that even though Luigi’s Mansion 3 autosaves, it uses multiple autosaves, so you’ll always have the option to go back and play from a different slot, even after you’ve beaten the game. Having said that, I’m still confused by E. Gadd’s Gallery having an empty spot where a boss ghost should be somewhere in the middle.

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I rarely cover multiplayer when I review a game, but given how much Nintendo pushed it for Luigi’s Mansion 3, I felt obligated. Me and a friend tackled the Scare Scraper, since it allowed us to play without both using the same system, unlike Scream Park. Quite frankly, I was very disappointed by the multiplayer. In theory, it sounded fun to wander about, teaming up with a buddy and hunting ghosts. In execution, it was a garbled mess. For one thing, multiplayer doesn’t actually encourage you to play cooperatively. Every time I wandered into a room, the door instantly shut on my partner, forcing me to stop the ghosts solo. You’re also encouraged to split up so you can solve each floor’s mission in the small amount of time allotted. Even though you can grab some more time, you’ll never have enough to lounge around for more than a few seconds, and even with my partner constantly grabbing clocks, we ran out the timer more than once. Each floor seems to have a different mission. The first one was a simple clear all the ghosts in time, whereas the second involved finding and bringing a group of Toads to a safe haven. That mission was royally screwed up because I didn’t realize where to take the Toad, and thought I had safely deposited him, only to have him follow me into another room and get captured by those bastard purple ghosts. When you throw in other features like carpet traps that wrap you up and prevent you from leaving for up to half a minute, and which can oddly only be freed by your partner, you start to see why we didn’t much enjoy Scare Scraper. Thankfully, I almost never play a game focused on the multiplayer, so while I didn’t enjoy it, the experience also didn’t lower my final score any.

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Besides the multiplayer, there were other aspects of the game I didn’t feel were as polished as they could have been. One is that sometimes, the controls are more than a bit finicky. I would occasionally try and suck up a drape, and try getting far enough to rip it off, and not have the right angle to do so. Other times, aiming and firing either plungers or grabbed items with precision was a serious hurdle, especially during tense battles. I also didn’t like how the camera would go farther away from you whenever you summoned Gooigi, making it harder to make out precise details on screen. And while this last one isn’t a serious problem per se, it is worth noting. Despite how much larger the Last Resort is than previous locales in the series, it felt both too short and too long simultaneously. Maybe that was due to the linear focus of the game, but even Dark Moon somehow felt more substantial to me. Perhaps I was just hoping for more freedom to explore like in the original Luigi’s Mansion, but I feel fellow fans should be aware of the issue.

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Visually, I have zero complaints with the game. Luigi’s Mansion 3 is beautiful, haunting and bursting at the seams with goofy humor. Luigi makes the absolute best faces of terror, and even the ghosts show a wide range of personality. I liked how most every floor had a different style and flavor from any other, even when they made absolutely zero sense, such as a pirate ship or pyramid inside a hotel. There’s some really cool environments on display, though one of my all time favorites is the Garden Suites, which involves a giant stalk growing out of control at the hands of a demented gardener. The game also uses color really well, despite the general dark hues the game utilizes, and I never was bored stylistically. And as I stated earlier, the bosses are all great, and have wonderful designs that distinguish them all. Musically, the game is also top notch. There’s not a lot of music tracks, but they all do a good job of keeping you invested and setting the sinister and playful mood. Special shout out to Luigi’s many yells of terror, the startled shrieks of captured ghosts as well as the indescribable noise that Gooigi makes every time he’s summoned, including his trademark “bye bye” when you retrieve him into your tank. And perhaps best of all is the gibberish sounds each character makes while talking, from the chipmunk ramblings of E. Gadd to the screeching metal laughter of King Boo. As far as design goes, Luigi’s Mansion 3 is of the highest caliber.

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In the end, I did still have a great time with Luigi’s Mansion 3, despite the quirks I ran into. Sure it’s not perfect, but fans of the series should be happy, and you still get a lot of game for $59.99. I’m happy this is a Switch exclusive, since it has that trademark Nintendo magic. While I would like it if the overall experience was a bit more polished, I still had a lot of fun exploring the Last Resort. Also, Polterpup and E. Gadd are now some of my favorite Nintendo characters. The puppy is easily the MVP of the entire game, an adorable rescue animal to help the constantly flustered plumber. And E. Gadd is delightfully strange and just twisted enough that I kind of want him to become a villain in the next game. Overall, I’d say this one is worth the price of admission. Here’s hoping it’s not the last haunted adventure of Luigi and company.

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[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″]

Review Copy Purchased by Author

REVIEW: Luigi’s Mansion 3 Title Luigi's Mansion 3

#E. Gadd #ghosts #haunted #Luigi&039;s Mansion 3 #Luigi&039;s Mansion series #Nintendo #nintendo switch #oprainfall #Polterpup

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 14 - WSH - Season’s First Rant

6-1 Washington Capitals over Buffalo Sabres

I’ve thought the Capitals are a soft team for about seven years now. The President’s Trophy years and even the year they won the Stanley Cup: they’ve been a beatable good team for a while. I know that’s some high alcohol content coming from a Sabres fan but they’re not a beast of a team, not since maybe before Eichel was drafted. Don’t get me wrong, they’re lethal with the likes of Backstrom, Kuzy, Oshie, Carlson and of course the greatest pure goal scorer of his generation Alexander Ovechkin. They have what this young Sabres squad are still very much learning: killer instinct. Having your moment and converting on them even when you got a lead. They also got a powerplay that just fires cannon after cannon after cannon. They’ve got all the makings of Champions and most of them do have at least one title to their name. But even the Caps on a hot streak aren’t unbeatable. I predicted the Sabres would stay with the Caps for a little bit before getting run out of town. I was half right. The Caps got the first goal and never really looked back. This one ended 6-1 for the home team. Grab your leftover Halloween candy because you’re going to need em! This one was the first honest to god roast. We got a little taste of the roast we know so well against the Rangers last week, this time we got full open flame! The most well-done parts of this roast? The defense: that cut is charred real good. But before we eat the main course how about we have some appetizers. This won’t be the fun bread and butter appetizer. No, it’s time for the salad! And no, you don’t get dressing! No, not cheese! I think we need to have a little talk as fans. This is a fan blog after all, and the team didn’t exactly give us a lot to talk about tonight.

Did they have a bad game? Yes they did. The first period the defense was absolutely rocked. For the playing connected Sabres it was the most distinct chasm between quality of play between the offense and the defense. Ask Conor Sheary, he almost drew first blood before the post denied him! That’s my segway: fellow Sabre fan let me ask you this. Do you feel denied? I started watching this team in 2009. For five years the nicest thing this team gave me was a cute little Winter Classic game. Would it have been nice for them to let Edmonton take Tomas Vanek and keep those draft picks, so they could’ve built a winner for when I was in High School and my dad and me were watching games all hunky dory? Yeah. Somedays when I’m really bored I feel denied a Lindy Ruff Stanley Cup. Bah, let’s talk about this team. Jack Eichel played his 300th game tonight. Wow isn’t that crazy. I’d say I feel old but I’m young enough that he could be my brother. He’s been a Sabre for all 300 of those games. 108 goals, 276 points and a big zero goose egg playoff games in four seasons. Does Jack Eichel feel denied the postseason competition that big olde ginger heart beats fast for? He did… in 2017. Then he became a leader and decided this club was the only way he was going to get that sweet sweet postseason play and got over it. He’s still on pace for a career year by the way. We’ve put up with a lot of garbage, many of us longer than Jack has, but let’s be real here: is this a club you don’t want to bother with on a Friday night? In 2017-2018 I was going to painting classes with my in-laws instead of watching Sabres games. That team was accidentally the worst in the league. This version? I cleared my afternoon for that Dallas game a couple weeks back and was richly rewarded! I think we’re afraid. I think we’re afraid of how to handle a team that is actually good. When we’re bitching about them losing to a good team saying same old Sabres typing SpongeBob font “cAn I bE nEgAtIvE aBoUt ThEm NoW?” That’s a loser’s mentality. We’ve wanted them to be good so long that we can’t handle them when they’re good, get our hopes up and then have a stinker. They’re not as good as the Caps right now, is that remotely shocking? Should that be something that makes us check the draft rankings? Are we really cowards like that? Jack Eichel took the shit and dealt with it and so should we. Captain Jack is not one to sit in the shit and mope about it. Maybe we shouldn’t either. And if some curly haired New Englander is the right messenger how about the other team’s C. Ovechkin gave the Leafs a decent white board quote when they shellacked our northern neighbors over the weekend: “Will they play for themselves or for a Cup?” He knows struggling for a long time to eventually breakthrough. I think we’ll breakthrough as a fanbase to not panic at the slightest sign of difficulty soon. We just got to be smart when we got a bad night.

Alright, Pep talk’s over. Let’s rant together. They’ve lost back to back for the first time this season and it wasn’t until November; but they’ve finally failed enough to shake off my first rant! And it starts with our favorite jock-voice jet setter Coach Krueger! This new coach is marching out my sweet baby boy Linus Ullmark against one of the most potent offenses in the Eastern Conference! AAAHHHHH!! If master motivator Ralph Krueger isn’t going to turn it around after a rough patch in the most stacked Atlantic Division in twenty years then I am not going to defend incompetence this time! I finally get to write a blog for money (southtownstickets.com, check it out) after years of writing about this god forsaken team for therapy and now you’re going to drive me into insanity right as opportunities like a 9-2-2 start to crop up!? GIVE ME A BREAK! There has to be some 70-year-old dude looking at me like a real amateur. Imagine that: imagine remembering every single disappointing year of this franchise and being made to get excited about a team everyone who knows any insight at all about the sport thinks are likely 10-15 points out of a playoff spot again. Imagine that! That guy must feel really denied, eh?! I feel insulted for him! You know who I don’t feel insulted for? YOU DUMB ASS TONAWANDA/CHEEKTOWAGA/ORCHARD PARK BOOT KISSING GAS LIGHTING TROLLS WHO ARE JUST DYING TO ROAST ANY USAGE OF ADVANCED STATS! WHAT DO YOU DO? I’m not talking to you old guys, no you just grew up with a league that encouraged assault with a deadly weapon, and you miss it. I’m talking to you: yeah you, you under 30 Trump voting fucks who think math is out to ruin your hockey! WHO HURT YOU? WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS? DOES CHAD’S FACE JUST MAKE YOU IRRATIONALLY VIOLENT BECAUSE YOU WANT TO PUNCH IT? GET THERAPY, don’t take it out on the someone who just happens to enjoy hockey with a few extra numbers! UNFOLLOW YOU IGNORANT PRICK! DAHLIN DOESN’T NEED TO BE BENCHED BECAUSE YOU REWARD CREATIVITY YOU SELF-DEFEATING SHITHEAD! Ugh, you stupid fucks…*deep breath*… okay you probably want some real content now… okay per Darren Dreger Sabres GM Jason Botterill is looking to make a trade for forward depth …*takes another deep breath*… okay let’s talk about this game for real now.

Henri Jokiharju scored his first goal as a Sabre. It was a weird one. It bounced off a Caps’ back and over Brendan Holtby. That’s nice anyway for a guy whose been fantastic so far. He deserves it more than most even deserved to be on the ice in this game. Every defensive pairing except maybe John Gilmour and Colin Miller was roasted on an open fire. It’s like a Bills tailgate with less liquor and no broken tables. It’s hard to compliment forwards here since none of them scored but Conor Sheary and his line with Casey Mittelstadt looked sharp. Maybe it’s time to get Victor Olofsson off Eichel’s wing? We’ve been thinking about it for a while, but this is the first official skid so maybe Krueger actually does it now. Hell, maybe the Isles have to face Skinner-Eichel tomorrow. Now that I think about it, please do that, I’ll be in attendance. I also feel the need to bring up Evan Rodrigues. Dude: what’s going on? I want you to get your mojo back but you’re not looking good. I saw a trade scenario with you as an add on and I didn’t hate it. You maybe running out of time. If you’re going to turn it around you probably have to do it… like now-ish.

Like and share this blog. While you’re at it rant with me in the comments. We haven’t had good grounds for a rant yet. Let’s be thankful it didn’t get here until the Christmas music started playing. The Isles are hot right now and I want to call em soft since I’m seeing them live tomorrow I just can’t. Look, there’s no cakewalks this month. If they suck ass tomorrow at home they’re going to get booed. I’m not in booing mood after a 9-3-2 start but lord knows if they trail at all tomorrow at home some Tonawanda fucks are going to do it! Well enough bad words for tonight. I’m tired and I’m heading to Toronto in the morning tomorrow before the game. Drop me any recommendations that come to mind. I’m already doing the Hockey Hall of Fame so be more creative. Nothing makes me cheer for the Sabres harder than going to Toronto! Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for Reading.

P.S. If you are from Tonawanda, Cheektowaga or Orchard Park those insults are not aimed at you for simply being from there. They are aimed at the high number of gas-lighting trolls who originate from your town. Please don’t make this disclaimer relevant, don’t be a dumbass.

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