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ledscreendisplay · 29 days

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Top Wedding LED Screen Rentals in Chennai

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ambitionsource · 10 months

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AMBITION “Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death” [ 4.10 ]♮APPENDIX A

Costume & Set Design in “Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death”

NOTE: It is highly recommended that you do not read this appendix until AFTER completing the episode. Move onward at your own discretion.

INTRODUCTION

In AMBITION, costuming serves many purposes. It adds definition and flair to the spectacle performances of the series; it helps inform the personalities and tastes of individuals in the ensemble. It occasionally emulates a former existing piece of art or era. Oftentimes, the details we include in episodes just help to make the imaginary television series we’re all envisioning all the more vivid.

The are rare times, however, where costuming contributes to the themes and narratives all on its own merit. The tenth episode of our fourth season, “Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death,” is one of those times.

In the following appendix, we walk through our creative thought process in determining the looks, aesthetics, and staging that make up large portions of this emotional climactic episode.

(Please note that all images included below are merely approximate examples).

PART 1: Setting the Stage

Before we dive into the costumes, it’s important to discuss one of the big conceptual elements to the episode which sets the stage for all the costuming decisions to come. Throughout the episode, while the characters are immersed in the heavy, real moments in the present, a majority of the performances take place in an imaginary setting. This in-between space exists purely out of reality, but serves as an authentic audience for the complex and strong emotions of the ensemble. The creative team referred to this otherworldly venue, tellingly, as the “heart space.”

The heart space by design intentionally echoes the staging of Adams, because for both the viewers of the series and the ensemble themselves, the Adams Academy auditorium feels like a shared home more than anything else. It’s a safe space, a familiar embrace, the place where all those people come together and the sacred ground from which they fled the nest. At this point, in the thick of things with building pressure and rising action all around us, there is an increasing desire to return to the warmth and safety of that space -- even if we can’t go back in reality.

Beyond that familiar structure, however, the heart space remains purposefully simple. There is no audience, as it is specified that there is no house in this imaginary space -- only them, and the infinite darkness beyond (the inaccessible past and the unknown future). The stage contains no set pieces, just thirteen acting blocks that each represent the thirteen main ensemble cast members.

The exceptions to this rule of thumb are Eric, Jack, and Josh. The former two aren’t mentally part of the Adams cohort, given they were faculty rather than students, and Josh was never part of the cohort and inhabits his own realm of the story. The only one to break convention here is Vanessa, who although she was not an original Adams classmate, fits the criteria of age and has been slowly roped into the group through the season. She is also interwoven into the ongoing storylines with the ensemble in a way that Jack, Eric, and Josh are mostly not.

While there are thirteen ensemble roles given spaces on the stage, only eleven cast members are present for a majority of the performances. One block remains empty the entire time -- Dylan is absent for the episode, so his block is given one of his guitars to symbolize his presence. The other block is Lucas, who while given the front and center space for this arrangement, never actually occupies his spot. He only appears in the heart space once, at the start of the episode, and he sits on the lip of the stage rather than on his block. Otherwise, his absence behind the soloists at center is almost more noticeable than his earlier appearance.

When in the line-up and not featured as a soloist, the ensemble all wear similar, generic outfits -- or the “standard uniform” of the heart space.

PART 2: The Heart Space Uniform (“God Only Knows”)

In the opening of the episode, when we’re introduced to the heart space stage, the ensemble performs an a capella of The Beach Boys’ track “God Only Knows.” Although each character -- sans Lucas -- is a participant (even including Jade, notorious for not being a vocalist, though she simply contributes to the harmonies and thus cannot be heard individually), there is no breakaway cast member who takes front and center to start.

This allows for the heart space to be established, and also sets up the limitations inherent in the staging. Each character has an acting block they’re given to stand on, as part of the ensemble, but they are confined to this block. Only when a character is taking their personal solo number do they deviate from their blocking and are allowed to step down from the pedestal. Otherwise, they remain in their window and often cast in shadow, almost faceless silhouettes backing up whoever is taking center stage at the time.

Thus we have the heart space “uniform,” or the simplistic wardrobe that all of them wear while in the background on their blocks. All of the pieces in this look are black, matching the ambience (and somewhat mournful resonance) of the setting. For the women, they all wear the same unassuming knee-length black dress; the men wear understated black dress shirts and slacks. For Isa, existing outside of the binary, they don a custom hybrid of the two, combining the men’s shirt tucked into a skirt similarly tailored to the other dresses.

However, even in the uniformity of the acting blocks, there are slight variations to their looks and how they wear them that allows shimmers of their individuality to shine through -- because even though they’re acting as a blended cohort in this space, it’s impossible to fully sand away the unique edges that makes the full ensemble what it is.

For the women and Isa (those not wearing long pants), that function is served by their choice of shoes.

Maya wears characteristically tall platform heels, similar to shoes she’s worn in other episodes but in much brighter hues.

Isa wears knee-high combat boots.

Riley wears ankle boots, with tie fronts. They’re intentionally styled as a subtle nod to Lucas’s famous affinity for boots.

Yindra wears strappy sandals with a small heel. This is a subtle nod to her plot for the episode, being out on the water.

Jade wears low platform Mary Janes, paired with sheer lacy ankle socks.

Vanessa wears chunky sandal heels with tie straps up the calves. The laces are an homage to her pointe shoes.

For the men, their slight variations are present in how they wear their uniform.

Farkle wears the dress shirt tucked into his pants, and is wearing a black blazer similar to his infamous season one fashion choice over top.

Zay is wearing the shirt the most loosely, only buttoned about halfway and half-tucked into his pants. It looks fashionable, not sloppy, which is classic Zay.

Charlie wears the shirt tucked in, with sleeved rolled up to the elbow. The first couple or so buttons are undone.

Nigel wears the shirt untucked but almost fully buttoned up. He also wears a black tie around his neck, though it’s loosely done.

Asher wears a black cardigan over his shirt, which is tucked and buttoned properly. His pant legs are also cuffed.

Lucas, for his brief appearance sitting on the edge of the stage, (fittingly) deviates the most. While he does have the black dress shirt, he wears it more like a flannel, open over a black tee. Instead of the slacks, he is wearing black jeans. It could almost be one of his usual outfits, if the dress shirt wasn’t so nice.

Symbolically, although he’s not present, Dylan is represented via the black beanie that’s draped over his guitar on his acting block.

The other key feature to this, and any other looks featured in the heart space, is that any important, wearable character items are always on and visible. There’s no hiding what’s most valuable to you in the heart space. This includes:

Riley, who is wearing her “L” necklace.

Isa, who is wearing the star necklace gifted to them by Valerie.

Farkle, who’s lapel has the Minkus family crest pin adhered to it (which he also wore in his senior portrait).

Charlie, who is wearing his cross necklace with the Adams class ring. This is partially why his shirt is buttoned the way it is -- the necklace is completely visible at all times.

In spite of these minute but meaningful variations, the nondescript indistinction of their costuming here is intentional, presenting the cast as a true “ensemble” in the most literal sense while occupying this imaginary space. They’re a collective sonic “we,” and thus the costume design is meant to accentuate that.

Except when they are the one performing, or singing from the heart, in which case they’re allowed to shake things up.

PART 3: Farkle & Isa (“The Next Ten Minutes”)

While overwhelmed by circumstance or incapacitated by altering substance, it takes a bit of time for us to return to the heart space. It’s more than appropriate that the ones to bring us back are Farkle and Isa, during their rendition of “The Next Ten Minutes” from The Last Five Years.

As is hopefully apparent by this point, their dynamic has multiple allusions to Pride & Prejudice, and the costuming of their heart space looks follows that intention. It also for the first time directly confirms which half of the pairing is hinted to be which, as Farkle is decidedly styled more like Elizabeth and Isa takes on the brooding, protectively shrouded style of Darcy. The end result is dark-hued but vaguely modern take on the Regency era, with nods to costumes of P&Ps past.

Farkle dons a loose black cotton shirt with flowy sleeves as is typical of the era, fitted at the torso with a dark pinstriped vest meant to emulate the fabric and general appearance of the top half of one of Elizabeth’s most recognizable dresses. However, his pants deviate from this trend, as they’re more directly reminiscent of Farkle’s past -- shimmery black trousers that harken back to the flair of his prior performances, notably “Not The Boy Next Door” from “Before the Storm” (111).

Isa’s costuming offers a trendier and more androgynous approach to Darcy’s windswept signature look. They wear black high-waisted trousers and a dark cropped vest that echoes the waistcoats of the Regency era. On top of it all, though, Isa dons an oversized dark coat in direct comparison to Darcy.

When they return to these looks for the finale, all colors invert to whites and off-whites, except for Farkle’s shimmer pants. Those become subtle silver-gold.

PART 4: Riley (“With You”)

For her solo performance, Riley dons a willowy, simple black high-low dress. The dress is meant to be understated, and in her general style. It’s also an echo of some of her styling for her very real role in Ghost: The Musical, where she’s also performing the track of this number.

The key design to her heart space look is the addition of a dark-hued flannel, which she wears overtop the dress. The symbolic presence is hopefully obvious, but it also helps stand in for Lucas in the heart space, who is notably absent for the rest of the episode. That absence is more haunting to Riley than anyone else.

In the finale, Riley swaps out the black dress for a similarly cut white one. She also loses the flannel.

PART 5: Vanessa (“Little Bird”)

While the Turner auditionees are instructed -- nay, required -- to keep their outfits simple and utilitarian for their auditions as to not offer additional distraction, the heart space gives our transfer hopefuls the chance to showcase a bit more of their individual style.

For Vanessa, this manifests as a beautiful, unique gown with billowing Stevie-Nicks-esque bell sleeves. The dress is dramatic but muted, shimmery but reserved, which reflects the persona that is Vanessa. The sleeves are also meant to be a nod to the message of her solo vocal, which is singing about spreading her wings and taking flight (going her own way, you could say). When her arms are spread and she’s able to show off the full volume of her sleeves, they are a bit reminiscent of wings.

She’s also allowed to have her hair down in the heart space, untamed and free, rather than pinned up in her ballet bun.

For the final performance, Vanessa swaps her black gown for a replica in off-white with gold and silver accents.

PART 6: Zay (“Wait For It”)

For Zay, the audience is already quite familiar with his sense of fashion and trendy individualism. So his heart space performance is less about the look and speaks more to the song itself -- a number that has long been tied to his character and feels like a long time coming.

That said, Zay is one of the more fashionable characters on the show, so he doesn’t fail to deliver an interesting and striking look. He changes texture by opting for a velvet jersey shirt, half-buttoned (open heart), tucked into well-fitted black pants. His usual small jewelry items do enough to accent the look.

In the finale, the outfit is simply swapped for the same in brighter hues -- he trades his black velvet for light gold, and dons white pants.

PART 7: Yindra (“Shadowland”)

Yindra’s look is rather simple in comparison to others thus far entirely by design. In an episode where she is relentlessly nitpicked, overanalyzed, and scrutinized for her looks, the heart space for her serves as a refuge where her appearance is far from the most important element. Her powerful vocal delivery is the star of this performance, her unadorned gown just a nice addition rather than a distraction from what matters.

On another unique front, Yindra is the first -- and near only -- character who breaks the convention of isolation during her solo. In an episode where support and community is a common theme, Yindra (being so far away from it) takes special care in the heart space to acknowledge and connect with that cohort she sorely misses.

PART 8: Maya (“Golden Slumbers / The End”)

Maya’s broken rendition in the heart space caps off an undeniably heavy episode for her, and her costuming doesn’t buck that trend. While one might expect Maya’s truest form to be more outlandish or flashy, she keeps it relatively simple with a classic-style black silk gown with a turtleneck collar.

The key detail for her is the faux fur coat on her shoulders. The black version is an exact replica of the off-white one Isa gave to Maya in Season 3 that was formerly Valerie’s, the relic of true glamor she cherishes dearly. The original Val edition is the one Maya wears in the finale, when she swaps her black gown out for a champagne tinted one.

Though it easily follows the heart space rule of thumb of including wearable items that are significant, the presence of the jacket seems to carry even more weight when you consider the events Maya experienced through the episode -- succumbing to industry pressure, exploring drug use, and ultimately being objectified, exploited, and spat out by the Hollywood machine.

PART 9: Charlie (“Hallelujah”)

Charlie brings the light with him when he returns to the heart space for the finale -- a rather remarkable achievement, given the traumatic experience he’s just endured in his own home. But he’s determined to keep moving forward, to stay in the light, and he brings that energy into the final number.

His look speaks to several shades of his personality, the many personas we’ve come to know about Charlie over the seasons. The subtle floral stitchings in his sheer shirt are a nod to his “Nature Boy” reputation; his sleek light pants, adjacent to leather and close to bellbottom style, nod to both his punk rock sensibilities (same pant quality as “Superstar” from 306) and his inner gay disco dreamer (like his ABBA dream sequence from 307). His subtle make-up, almost like a dusting of gold on his cheekbones and around his eyes, is a push against his usual conventional gender-conforming appearance… and also a slight cheeky nod to Maya’s “gay pixie dust” comment from 403.

All of the light, golden hues in his wardrobe that he introduces into the setting also serve as an inversion of expectations that have now been thrust upon him -- Eleanor has determined he is doomed to Hell, cast into the darkness, but Charlie embodies nothing but heavenly light as he asserts his intention to be exactly who he is.

Charlie follows Yindra’s lead in walking amongst his peers rather than isolating from them, which allows them to join in and free themselves from their boxes. By the end of the number, they’ve all donned their light renditions of their signature outfits (including Asher, Nigel, and Jade, who didn’t have solos in their signature looks and thus no black version exists).

By the end of the performance, and the episode, together the ensemble has stepped into the light.

[ ← Last (Part 2, half 2) ] [ 410 Hub ]

#aaa supplementaries #410 #appendix

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artificialqueens · 3 years

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Taste of a Poison Paradise, Chapter 1 (Multi) - Joley

a/n: there were too many ships to fit into the title but the ones in this fic are crygi, lemyanka, sportsdoll, jaidie, and branjie/kamjie

Lemon let out a whiny groan as her alarm went off. Unlike the average alarm, hers was set to 6:30 at night, leaving her just enough time to get up and ready for her shift. She sat up and looked over, then gave Priyanka’s shoulder a light shove. “Rise and shine,” she mumbled as she got out of bed and grabbed the lingerie she’d laid out that morning and covered it with sweats and Priyanka’s flannel shirt.

“Every day I have to wake up and participate in society,” Priyanka lamented as she got out of bed. Her uniform consisted of a simple black t-shirt and jeans, making her routine much shorter than Lemon’s, who had to get all dolled up. “Gonna make coffee,” she decided, shuffling into the kitchen.

While Priyanka was making coffee, Jan came out of the other bedroom. “We carpooling tonight, Pri?” she asked, propping her elbows up on the counter and resting her chin on her hands.

“Yeah, if y’all aren’t planning on hanging out once the shift ends,” she answered, a slight stiffness in her tone. “Can’t stick around.”

Jan knew she needn’t say anything else. “Gotcha,” she nodded before grabbing her sweatshirt off the couch.

The three of them arrived at the club and clocked in on time, much like they always did. Priyanka went to get her station set up while Jan and Lemon joined the other girls in the dressing room to finish their makeup.

“Brooke Lynn told me she’s bringing in a friend of hers tonight,” Vanessa remarked as she swiped highlighter along her cheek. “Met at a convention or some shit in France and this is her welcoming celebration ‘cause she just moved out here.”

“Rich and French?” Jan’s brow quirked with interest and she strummed her fingers together, acting as if she were ‘scheming’. “Damn, I’m glad I just got my hair done.”

“But what if she tips you in euros?” Gigi chuckled.

“Actually,” Jaida chimed in, “the euro is worth like, twenty percent more than the dollar. So, it’d be a better gig if she did.” She tilted her head when the rest of the girls looked at her with either surprised or perplexed expressions. “What? I can know shit too.”

Jackie poked her head into the dressing room, then leaned against the doorframe. “I come in and you guys are talking about economics? I never cease to be amazed at this place. Anyway, just letting all of you know that the new security guard is starting tonight. I expect you all to be nice to her.”

“We’re always nice,” Jan cooed and batted her lashes. “Aren’t we, girls?”

“Speak for yourself, I’ve got an image to maintain,” Lemon retorted.

Just as Jackie was about to turn and leave, she heard footsteps and turned around. “Oh good, Kameron, you’re here. Come say hi to the girls,” she said, excitedly gesturing her over.

A muscled, tattooed blonde made her way over, stopping just a step into the dressing room. She seemed very aware of all the eyes on her, and perhaps a bit shy because of it. “Hey,” she greeted with an awkward wave.

Jackie went down the line introducing the girls. “This is Lemon, Jan, Gigi, Jaida, and Vanessa. Don’t worry, they don’t bite.”

“I make no promises,” Vanessa chimed in, twirling her hair around her finger as she looked Kameron over.

Jaida chuckled and tapped Vanessa’s thigh. “Down, girl. Sit. Stay.” Then she looked back up and warned Kameron, “Vanjie likes blondes.”

“Behave,” Jackie jokingly chastised, though she knew it would fall on deaf ears. “I’m gonna go get Kameron set up out front,” she said before the two of them left.

Once they’d left, Gigi leaned over to talk to Vanessa. “How’s your girlfriend gonna feel about you giving bedroom eyes to the new recruit, huh?”

“Relax, I just looked at her, not like I tried to eat her pussy or somethin’,” she retorted. “And you can’t say shit about girlfriends when your ass can’t even ask Crystal out on a date.” She got a chorus of ‘ooooh’ from the other girls at that and made Gigi turn red.

——

“Gigi, Jaida, and I are gonna hit up that new diner two blocks over after work, you in?” Crystal asked during a slow point in their shift.

Priyanka sighed and looked down at the empty glasses she was clearing off from the bar. “Can’t,” she mumbled, then reluctantly added, “I told Mark I’d pick him up from the airport.”

“I should’ve recognized that pain face,” she mused with a sympathetic nod. “Does your girlfriend know your boyfriend’s back in town?” she asked, cocking her head to the stage Lemon was dancing on.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Priyanka caught the defensiveness in her tone, so she tried to playfully follow it up with “she’s my mistress.”

Crystal chuckled, dividing her attention between her coworker and the customers that came up to the bar. “Whatever you gotta call it. At least he’s out of town like, what, forty weeks out of the year?”

“And yet it never feels like enough.”

The other bartender shook her head. “Remind me again why you’re still with him.”

“He’s… my safety blanket. No one asks me too many questions if they know I’m still with him. I can be normal and not have to worry about my family disowning me,” she explained.

“Oh, right, I forgot how far in the closet you are. Which is easy to do when you consider… every other aspect of your personality.” Crystal looked over and spotted Brooke Lynn approaching with a dark-haired woman at her side. “Who’s your friend, Brooke?”

“This is Nicky, she just moved here from Paris. Had to give her the proper welcome, you know?” Brooke explained. “I ran it by Jackie, gonna have her set up in the VIP room once she picks who she wants to-”

“Her.” Nicky had only turned away for a moment when her eyes locked on one of the dancers. “I have decided. I want that one.”

Brooke looked over, amused at the promptness in her decision. “Jan? Good choice. Crystal, set Nicky up with a cognac while I go let Jackie know to get her set up,” she explained as she got up. “If I don’t come back, assume Vanjie’s got me captive and don’t send for help.”

Priyanka watched as Brooke left. “God, that bitch has her whole life together and then some. Like, actual life goals, you know?”

“Priyanka also aspires to be a rich businesswoman that gets to rail a stripper on the regular,” Crystal explained to Nicky as she handed her the drink.

Nicky lifted her glass to her in approval. “Aim high, love,” she said and took a sip. “So, tell me about this girl I’ve picked, Jan, yes?”

“Oh, Jan’s great,” Crystal told her. “She’s a real sweetheart, you know? Like, the type to accidentally make customers fall in love with her because she just radiates that warm energy. Even had to ruin the illusion by outing herself a couple of times.”

“Yeah, but that was when that guy proposed to her, remember?” Priyanka chimed in. “Nice guy, stupid as all fuck.”

Nicky listened with amusement to the anecdotes the bartenders went on about until she spotted Jan coming her way, instantly tuning out everything around her to focus on the scantily clad woman.

Jan smiled and held her hand out. “Follow me, I’ll take you to the VIP room.”

“Then, by all means, lead the way,” she purred and followed her as they weaved through the club, to a room behind velvet ropes.

The room itself was designed to look even more expensive than it was with its red and gold color scheme and velvety fabrics. There was a plush couch, a table with champagne in an ice bucket, and a basket containing various sexual accessories – fuzzy handcuffs, lube, things of that nature. It was also perfectly spotless, which was easy to maintain with how rarely it was used. For the most part, it was up to the dancers to decide if they even wanted to confirm the existence of VIP rooms, let alone bring anyone into that space.

But Jan seemed thrilled to have Nicky in there with her. Especially since she knew she wouldn’t have to keep up her professional pretenses – Nicky came in with Brooke, after all. “So, I’m sure Brooke probably told you, but we make up whatever rules we want based on the client. But since this is your big American welcome present, I’m cool with following your lead.”

“Oh, sweetie,” Nicky cupped Jan’s face. “I don’t know if you want to give me that much power. There’s just far too much I’d like to do to you.”

Jan felt a chill go up her spine. The intensity of Nicky’s gaze paired with the coolness in her voice had her entranced on the spot. “Even better. Nothing’s sexier than a powerful woman.”

“As if I had any doubt on what a bottom you are,” she lightly teased as she sat down on the couch. She leaned back, admiring the beautiful woman she had all to herself. “Purple is your color,” she observed, admiring the way the violet lingerie fit her body, how it framed her perfectly while still begging to be ripped off.

“Why thank you, it’s my favorite,” Jan hummed, making her way over and straddling Nicky’s lap. She wasn’t used to having any sort of banter on the clock. Normally, a customer’s brain would short circuit as soon as they saw her tits, and that was how she liked it – the best man was a silent man as far as she was concerned.

But even Nicky seemed to have had enough with the talking, having moved on to kissing along Jan’s neck while her hands wandered her body. Eventually, she let them rest on Jan’s ass, which she groped and slapped while the two of them made out.

Jan let out a pleased sigh against Nicky’s lips. She rolled her hips slowly at first, arching towards Nicky’s touch and threading her fingers through her hair. “God, you’re fucking gorgeous,” she murmured as she undid her new client’s top.

“So are you, angel,” Nicky purred as she unhooked Jan’s bra and let it drop to the floor. She could tell she had caught Jan a bit off guard – normally the client would never undress the stripper. But it was clear Jan didn’t take issue, so she continued, kissing down her neck and chest, between her breasts, then teasingly swiping her tongue over both nipples. While she licked and sucked at her breasts, Nicky moved her hands back down, lightly snapping Jan’s panties against her and peeling them off once Jan lifted her hips up to let her.

It was so rare for Jan to be able to give up control at work. Her true submissive preferences were reserved exclusively for her personal life, lest anyone get the wrong idea. But Nicky had her under her thumb without even trying, and honestly, Jan found that even hotter. She wanted Nicky as badly as Nicky wanted her, and she didn’t make any attempt to hide it, going right to undressing Nicky once she was naked herself.

“So eager,” Nicky couldn’t help but call her out. “You must be so desperate to get fucked after teasing ugly men all night, hm?” She moved her hand between Jan’s thighs and traced her fingers along her slit. “You’re wet already, you little whore.” She then tapped her thigh lightly to redirect her. “On your knees,” she instructed, “you know what to do.”

Of course she did, Jan had just been eagerly awaiting her command. She got on her knees in front of Nicky, pulling her trousers and panties down to her ankles before situating herself between her thighs. She licked a stripe up her slit, then eased her tongue in, alternating between slow and fast, deep and shallow licks and thrusts.

Nicky tilted her head back and let out a deep moan. “Fuck, good girl,” she grunted. Her hand moved to the back of Jan’s head, holding her head in place with just a bit of firmness to keep her going.

Not that Jan would’ve stopped even if her life depended on it. Every time Nicky bucked her hips up or pushed down on her head, it turned her on and encouraged her all the more. Her hands gripped onto Nicky’s waist to hold her close and not let up until she was certain she had came, then pulled back with a bright, hopeful expression.

And Nicky knew exactly how to react, she could tell right away that Jan was the type that thrived on praise and positive reinforcement. “You did so well, babygirl,” she cooed and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Get up and sit on my face, Mama’s gonna make you feel good.”

Jan nearly tripped over herself with how quickly she scrambled to her feet. She waited for Nicky to lay down on the couch before straddling her face and gripping the arm of the couch, then let out a breathy moan when she felt Nicky’s tongue inside her. “Fuck…”

Nicky held onto Jan’s ass as she thrust her tongue steadily. She smirked to herself when she heard how desperate and needy the younger woman’s moans were. This was not going to be their last encounter, that she was certain of, and by the time she had made Jan come, she was already thinking about the next time.

“Oh my fucking god,” Jan was still trembling when she got off of Nicky, sitting down to catch her breath. “Is that what French kissing really is?”

“I like to think so,” Nicky chuckled, sitting up and getting dressed. “Either way, that was just the welcome I had hoped for, and I will certainly be coming back for you. I’d take you home if I could.”

“Who’s to say you can’t?” Jan batted her lashes and twirled her hair around her finger.

——

“You know, with the way Nicky pounced on Jan, you might not be getting her back tonight,” Brooke warned. She was sitting in Jackie’s office with Vanessa sitting on her lap, though Vanessa had more or less checked out while Brooke and Jackie caught up.

Jackie laughed softly. “If I know Jan, and I tend to think I do, she won’t mind in the slightest,” she assured. “Though sometimes I worry you’re gonna keep bringing your friends in and pairing off all my girls.”

“What can I say? I’ve found my niche,” she hummed. “And it’s all good as long as you keep up those profit margins, right?”

“Oh god, are y’all just gonna talk business and shit all night?” Vanessa whined.

Brooke arched her brow at her girlfriend. “We’re not making you stay here, babe. You can go do a set or hang out in the dressing room,” she suggested. “You know, considering this is still your job,” she added.

“You can just get Kameron to babysit her,” Jackie remarked offhandedly, oblivious to the way Vanessa had suddenly tensed and sat upright or the way she was glaring a hole into her head.

And Brooke hadn’t picked up on it either, just coming off as confused. “Who’s Kameron? Another dancer?”

Vanessa had started to answer. “No, she ain’t nobody, she just-”

“She’s the new security guard,” Jackie explained. “I like her, she seems nice, really funny once she warms up to you, a little quiet otherwise.”

“Is she…you know…”

“Gay? Yeah, she a fitness dyke, I can tell,” Vanessa chimed in.

Jackie cleared her throat awkwardly. “I mean, I didn’t want to assume.”

Brooke arched her brow. “You, the woman who has managed to employ five lesbian strippers and two lesbian bartenders, didn’t want to assume? Like, you want us to believe that was purely coincidental and not your full intention?” While she had meant it lightheartedly, she noticed Jackie start to curl into herself. “Jackie… do you think we don’t know?”

Jackie swallowed thickly. “Vanjie, do you think you could give me a minute with Brooke?” she asked softly, then waited for Vanessa to leave before she redirected her attention to completely focus on Brooke. “I-I don’t know what you mean. What are you talking about?”

Brooke’s expression became more concerned. Her brows furrowed as she leaned closer and spoke in a hushed tone. “Do you… wait… are you not out?”

“Out of what?” she bristled, sitting upright and pointedly averting her gaze. “There’s nothing for me to be ‘out’ of. Because I’m not. I’m not.”

“Jackie…” she reached out and took her hand. She knew what a delicate subject this could be, but she also knew she would be remiss if she ignored it. “If there was ever a safe space…”

Jackie shook her head, suddenly getting up and pacing back and forth across the room. “You don’t understand. Firstly, my family, they… they just wouldn’t get it. They still think I own a restaurant.” She sighed heavily, finally stopping and leaning against her desk. “Besides, acknowledging my attraction to girls in a place like this… it’s just asking for trouble, you know? Priyanka is the only person that knows, and that’s just because she’s in the same boat.”

Brooke nodded as she listened. “But even still, Pri’s out to everyone here. You don’t have to go through this alone.”

“Pri’s out to everyone here so she can fuck Lemon in peace,” she retorted with a dry laugh. “I mean, it’s not like I haven’t thought about… like I wouldn’t…”

“You’re afraid of catching feelings for one of the girls.”

“No,” Jackie squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, everything she had spent so long burying was pushing through all at once. It made her feel dizzy and nauseous and faced with the realization that telling the truth was the only thing that could relieve that sense of unease. “I’m afraid I already have.”

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villainever · 5 years

Text

Eve and the Performance of Morality

The "descent into darkness" as a format for a character arc is relatively common these days, especially in prestige television, and while it's more often played out with men than women, it's not unheard of as a trajectory for female characters. What's so interesting about Eve's development is how FAST it is happening. On a poorly-written show, this would be because the writers were rushing, too caught up in Point B to plot a satisfying journey there from Point A. But Killing Eve is basically a masterclass in good screenwriting, and it leaves us with the unshakeable feeling that this is the only way it COULD happen for Eve.

Other "descending" characters are so often ordinary, but transformed by their remarkable circumstances. They are pushed by the people around them and unfortunate events into compromising on their ideals and values, slowly shifting inch by inch until they've lost sight of who they were. And often, this is where they're killed off, or a redemption begins.

But even though she changes, Eve isn't transformed. She's REVEALED. And not just to us, but to herself. She isn't surrounded by people pushing her to darkness -- in fact, Elena, Hugo, Kenny, Jess and Niko are all trying to hold her back from it. Instead, she chases darkness. She follows Villanelle further and further, around a dozen corners in the gloom, and when the light's gone entirely, Eve realises that she can still SEE. Eve is made for the darkness, and Villanelle knows it from the beginning, but Eve is still working it out.

While I don't think Eve has the same compulsion towards violence that Villanelle does, I do believe they are an example of the nature/nurture conflict. Eve was raised by good people in a good place and got a good education, then married a good man and got a good job. "Nice and normal". At every turn, she was socialised and conditioned to mimic morality and empathy, and while Villanelle often acts this out as well, for Eve, the acting is still subconscious. She believes it comes from an innate impulse, rather than years of being told what to do and how to react. Neither Villanelle nor Eve really connect with people effortlessly on an emotional level, but Villanelle accepts that about herself, while Eve can almost pretend it's been bred out of her.

Eve's stable life and her moral framework are dependent on one another, so they implode at the same time. Staying in the realm of 'normal' with Niko necessitates a certain performance of conventional morality, but when Villanelle not only doesn't demand that performance but actually demonstrates an existence without it, Eve finds it harder and harder to maintain her home life.

Once the door has been opened, it can't be closed again. Eve is realising who she is, and more importantly, who she ISN'T. In 205, Martin says, "Don't add. Take away." And this is how we're experiencing Eve's arc. We take away outside pressure to be normal. We take away moral influences. We take away the expectation of goodness. And this leaves Eve looking a lot more similar to Villanelle than she's perhaps ready to admit yet to herself.

It's worth noting how Niko has identified Eve as self-obsessed, because she definitely is. But a lot of that self-obsession manifests in her fascination with Villanelle -- not only because Eve really likes Villanelle and stops caring about what distracts her from wholeheartedly pursuing her, but because Eve RECOGNISES some part of herself in Villanelle, and almost uses her as a mechanism for self-discovery. She watches what Villanelle does, and enjoys it, while being able to maintain the distance that comes from not having physically done it herself.

As I mentioned earlier, we've seen the "descent" arc before in modern television. One that springs to mind in Piper on OITNB. In S1, Piper commits increasingly selfish acts, but still considers herself a good person -- indeed, nothing she does can be really that bad, because she's a Good Person. Over S2 and S3, she continues downwards, until by S4, she's no longer able to reconcile the two versions of herself, so she decides she must be a Bad Person. Because of her pathological need to be liked, this doesn't work for her either, and ultimately, Piper ends up trying to do good things to become a genuinely Good Person.

Eve, I think, originally believed that she would hit some point like this, and bounce up from the bottom. But she won't. Why? Because at first, Eve thinks she needs people to like her, but she actually doesn't. She fires Kenny -- the last of their original team, the last person who knew Old Eve (not counting Carolyn, who has layers I won't get into here) -- and doesn't really miss him, or notice he's gone (eg. calling Hugo "Kenny"; they're interchangeable and missable). She wants Villanelle's attention, but Villanelle 'liking' her is different to the way other people might -- Villanelle wants her, is attracted to the best of the worst in her, is enjoying Eve's emergence from her crucible (or cocoon, depending on how you want to frame it). Eve's primary drive is Villanelle's interest in her, and that's certainly not holding her back in her journey.

Secondly, Eve doesn't actually care about being good. She's had numerous potential "wake-up call" moments -- stabbing Villanelle, facilitating the torture of the Ghost, nearly pushing the guy at the train station, Niko leaving, Villanelle killing someone right in front of her, etc. Yes, she had a minor breakdown over knifing Villanelle, but that was more the idea of Villanelle being gone than the stabbing itself, because the way Eve later says she thinks of it "all the time" doesn't sound as black and white as regretting it in its entirety; like Villanelle, she views it as a point of significsnt connection between them and I don't believe she'd let that go. Regardless, the point is that if she had a real gut connection to her moral compass, she would've bailed. Because really, her original mission is over. She caught Villanelle. She chased her and drew level and she's done.

But Eve's not done, because she's chasing not just Villanelle, but the Eve who can keep pace with her. She's chasing what Villanelle represents -- freedom from a system that doesn't fit Eve, not really.

What we have to remember, though, is that Eve has been socially and ideologically programmed for forty-five years. Most sociopaths lead typical lives and have long-term relationships and never really dig too deep into their psychology. It's doable. This is why Eve is slipping fast but not faster -- she's had a taste of liberation from her constraints, but her skin has long since grown over those shackles, so it's hard not to see them as a part of herself, and difficult to get them off.

But they'll come off, because Eve isn't a quiet woman with an average husband and a respectable government job. Eve is a chameleon, the way Villanelle is, only she's less deliberate and has been playing her character for far longer.

Which leads me to Villanelle's speech on life being boring and why it was so important for Eve to hear it. If we look at classic "chaotic" characters like Eve and Villanelle, they're often motivated by boredom, or rather, the desire to escape it. Villanelle and Eve are stuck in a world designed for other people.

The fact is, Eve has been bored forever. Eve was bored long before the pilot, when she was stuck in a holding pattern with Niko and imagining how she'd kill him, not because she wanted him gone but because it was INTERESTING. When she started keeping track of a female assassin but not even trying to report her, because she wasn't aiming for justice but ENTERTAINMENT.

Another fascinating element of their dynamic is that we as an audience are usually positioned to root for a redemption, but with Eve, we can't imagine anything more disappointing. We don't need her to turn it all around, we need her to dive in. Not only because it makes for a fresh storyline, but because great arcs are about characters finding who they are, and we have already grasped who Eve is. Along with Villanelle, we're waiting on her to realise it and act on it. Eve returning to her normal life would be a wolf among sheep, and I think Eve has gone too far. Not in that she's committed serious crimes she'd always be guilty of -- although she's getting close -- but because Eve is coming to understand she's not who she imagined she was, and any performance after this will be a conscious one. A decision to pretend. And guess what? That'll get boring, too. We root for a darkening Eve because we want her and Villanelle to escape that boredom, and escape it together, and forgetting this ever happened is not a way to do that.

I've smashed this out on my phone because I had a lot of thoughts and I'm not going to proofread because no one will actually read this. But essentially, I think we can expect Eve to continue using Villanelle as a proxy for a little while longer, until she's ready to cut loose her parachute. She hasn't committed to this yet because she doesn't want to forfeit the possibility of her old life to go back to (which is why she was upset over splitting from Niko even though she couldn't care less when he's actually around), but once she is reminded how horribly BORING it was, there'll be nothing to hold her back anymore. Because better to flame and implode than be smothered in a kitschy kitchen with a man you imagine blending up and pouring into a thermos. Better to be true and horrible than be nothing.

If you did read this thank you and I promise I'll stop writing mini essays and go back to regularly scheduled memes in a moment. I don't really do these because they don't interest anybody, but lmao, these two always get me thinking. hmu if you wanna trade theories lol.

#killing eve #ke #eve polastri #eve x villanelle #villanelle x eve #villanelle #oksana astankova #eve x oksana #ke analysis #mine #villainever #dont mind me just speculating #killing eve s2 #killing eve season 2 #villainever writes #villanevest writes

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spindaonateaspoon · 4 years

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Yo there! Oh all those spindas in the background are making me dizzy haha (one of my fave pokemon actually, love them). Okay, sooo that's pretty random ask but what are your top ten black clover characters? :D

Ah, a tumblr user of taste, I see. Glad you could get past the vertigo to send me an ask, I really appreciate it! Next time you can save your eyes a little stress and ask my interest blog @thespiralgrimoire instead!

Top 10 Favorite Black Clover Characters

1. Nozel Silva

There are a lot of reasons I absolutely adore this unhinged bedazzled train wreck of a man. I thought my love for him couldn’t swell any bigger when I watched the anime, and then I started reading the manga, and he only gets better.

First and foremost, he’s pretty. In an extremely conventional way, but hey, it’s conventional for a reason. Even with his stupid hair, he’s just nice to look at. This is despite the fact that he literally never smiles, which is usually an important feature to appearances to me. But coming back to the braid thing, he KNOWS it’s stupid, and you know he knows it’s stupid, because he literally threatens the lives of people who criticize it. The boy made a bad aesthetic decision once when he was like 19 and said, “Oh shit. If I don’t own this, I will never live this down. It’s time to do or die.” And he owned it. He is doomed to look this stupid for the rest of his life or face an endless assault of naysayers. His pride will not allow it.

Which brings me to the next thing I love about him: He’s such an arrogant twat. Everything about Nozel screams “I’m better than you, and if you disagree with me, I will throw myself on the floor and cry.” He will not allow anyone to even entertain the idea that he’s not perfect. Even himself. Even when it’s glaringly obvious that he’s a hot mess. During the star festival, when he hears that the black bulls came in second, He Mcfreakin loses it. He gets so mad that when he can’t make Yami feel ashamed for being himself, he literally STOMPS OUT OF THE FESTIVAL. It’s chapter 104. Look it up. I’m not exaggerating.

Finally, I’m a slut for siblings, and the Silva Squad is an endless goldmine. That dynamic is what gets me through the day. I could live off sibling dynamics. Nebra and Solid worship the ground he walks on, and Noelle can’t help but look up to him, even if he’s been a huge douchenozzel to her her entire life. At this point it’s all conjecture for how that relationship will develop, but got damn, I’m in this for the long hall.

2. Fuegoleon Vermillion

Again, this man is so pretty. They really got their royal aesthetics right in this show. I am a simple person, with simple desires, and pretty men that I can make fun of is about all I need to be happy.

That being said, Fuegoleon is a nice guy. Despite having every reason to have the Higher Than Thou attitude that Nozel has, he’s respectful of everyone. This, charmingly, extends to how he treats people for better or worse. My home boy ain’t walking around pretending everyone is deserving of hand holding and forgiveness. He’s beating everyone over the head when they do something stupid. NO ONE is immune to a Teachable Moment.

Which is probably the funniest thing about him. This man is incapable of not teaching. The entire city is being overrun by zombies and he stops in the middle of defending citizens to give Noelle a pep talk and magic lesson??? Bro. Time and place, my dude. I love you.

Actually the funniest thing about him is that despite obviously being the most reserved of the Vermillions, this guy has no chill. If he’s not screaming passionately about something that someone needs to learn, he’s squaring up. He has no off switch. Sure, he’s not running around with his fists up like Meoroleona and Leopold, but if you think he’s going to be any slower to throw a punch than they are then you and I are watching different anime. He may canonically be the most intelligent of the captains, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not a meathead. And I think that’s beautiful.

Okay the ranks get harder after this because these two are so easily my favorite LOL

3. Meoroleona Vermillion

I could say a lot of things about Meoroleona, but to save some space, I’m going to refer you to #2, and also show you my favorite character from Steven Universe. You do the math.

4. and 5. Nebra and Solid Silva

These two are such bitches. At this point in the series, they only exist to a) be Nozel’s hype men and b) be the bane of Noelle’s existence, and as a writer, I respect that. There’s not a lot to them in canon, but that hasn’t stopped me from designing their entire lives and backstory. I love them so much; not only for what I’ve made them out to be, but for where they could go as characters. We’ve already seen this a little bit with their asses being handed to them in fights, and I just hope that their asses continue to get handed to them until they come around to have some respect for anyone but each other and themselves. In the meantime I’ll continue developing their personalities on an interpersonal level.

Okay I’m not done. The REAL reason these guys made 4th and 5th is because, like I mentioned before, I am a slut for sibling relationships. Black Clover does them s o well. Even with the little we’ve seen, it’s so easy to tell that their love for Nozel and each other is so deep and sincere... even if it might be just a tad bit dysfunctional. There’s so much ground to cover with how the death of their mother affected them and pushed them closer together. But I can’t imagine that they wouldn’t have been super close had she stayed alive. You can just tell in everything they do that they live for each other. They’re EVERYTHING to each other. You get the impression that these two probably don’t really know how to be people separate from their siblings, because all they’ve ever had is each other. It’s such a great dynamic to grow and explore and if we don’t get more Silva interaction in the future I’m gonna throw a fit.

6. Ladros

Okay this is the point where this list starts getting a little wonky because I like almost everyone else in the series just about the same but---

I have feelings about Ladros Ladros. I don’t even know what it is about him. His design is impeccable. Every time I see him I want to scream. What emotion does he instill in me? Love? Hate? Lust? Disgust? I really don’t know. I just know that there’s a lot of it. Look at his little black eyes. Look at his smile. His hair. His barrel chest that doesn’t fit his twink face. What a man. I sure do feel about him.

Also, he’s my preferred brand of Little Shit.

7. Zora Ideale

Everything that applies to Ladros applies to Zora in exactly the same way. Priddy and meen. At least his face fits his body.

8. Finral Roulacase

He’s such a sweetheart, and I like his new haircut. I wish he was real so he could be my friend. And I cannot stress this enough: I feel that way about NO ONE else on this list. The rest of these assholes are better off fictional, but the world needs more Finrals.

9. Henry Legolant

Unlike every other character on this list, I actually don’t think that Henry’s design is all that pretty. What I love about Henry is that his whole personality is “My fragile heart is overflowing with love and care for all my friends... and if you so much as think about hurting them, I will pound your bones to dust.” And he follows through. King.

10. Dorothy Unsworth

There is no way that glitzy baby doll Dorothy wasn’t going to end up on this list BEFORE I found out that she and Nozel have feelings jams in Glamor World. Once we see more of her I’m sure she’ll fly up the list.

So, there you go! Thank you so much for the ask! This was really a struggle to put together after #5, but I had a great time doing it.

#spinda tea #black clover #reblogged to thespiralgrimoire #if you want to see my mumbling in the tags read it there

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verdigrisprowl · 5 years

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So we all know Prowl's favorite architectural style is brutalism, but do the Constructicons have any styles they think is the coolest (or ones they think are the worst(tm), like, 'if they could personally delete the architectural movement from Cybertronian history for being stupid, they would')? If so, are there differing individual preferences, or would it be a thing they collectively reached group consensus on?

For any architectural styles referenced below, assume I'm actually referring to whatever hypothetical Cybertronian style is spiritually and/or structurally most similar; because I don't feel like inventing a bunch of Cybertronian schools of architecture, but Constructicons definitely don't give a crap about human architecture.

Their tastes definitely blend into each other. For example, Long Haul was the first of them drawn to brutalism, in a sense—although more in the sense of "utilitarianist military concrete bunkers" than actual architectural works—and because of him the rest are sorta like "concrete. simple. sturdy. good." When Prowl joined the group, in the miasma of blended group sleep thoughts he picked up a couple drops of Long Haul's preferences and a bit of general knowledge of what works more properly regarded as "brutalist" are like, and that snapped together with his own natural preference for Sturdy, Simple, Solid, Reassuring, Geometric structures and suddenly he's all into brutalism. And now, because of Prowl, they all have a collective greater appreciation for brutalism than they did originally.

But, they also have individual tastes.

Along with his semi-interest in brutal-ish architecture, Long Haul also has an interest in all kinds of military architecture. Like, they're all competent and knowledgeable about constructing forts and such, but Long Haul is into it. Alarmingly so. His aesthetic architectural tastes trend toward post-First Civil War through early-Golden Age and are oriented toward martial culture; like, if he were a human, his idea of the greatest architectural structure in history would be the Colosseum, for having both that "ancient culture" aesthetic and that "lots of people die here" aesthetic. If lots of people died to MAKE it, even better, which he probably picked up from Bonecrusher; although in his head he spins it toward "it has value because of all that was sacrificed for it" rather than "murderous nihilism is hot, baby." He's naturally averse to "prissy" styles (read as: has things sticking out that he can break off with one hand), unless it was Scrapper's idea, because Scrapper's a genius; and he thinks anything made pre-First Civil War is outdated and anything more recent looking like it's trying to be pre-First Civil War is pretentious and stupid. Since most of the Constructicons' works have been military and utilitarian, Long Haul's preferences peek out a bit more strongly than the others', as he has the strongest opinions on what military structures SHOULD look like; but whenever there's a chance for ornamentation or ~style~ you can start to see the others' tastes come out.

Scrapper's tastes ran the direct opposite of Prowl's. Most of the dream buildings he fantasized about making some day Once We've Won The War were very art nouveau—not in the sense that he'd be working within whatever pre-existing architectural school is closest to art nouveau, but that he himself would have been the originator of a new style which can be best described as art nouveau-ish. Naturally, Cybertronian "art nouveau" would look very different from human art nouveau, since their idea of "natural" subject matter is very different—a lot less plants, for one thing. (At a cursory glance, "Cybertronian art nouveau" might look superficially most similar to human art deco.) More stars, clouds, circuitry, vehicular motifs. Hook's hatred of Curved Architecture would over time steer Scrapper away from too many rounded and beveled shapes in the architecture itself, although not in the ornamentation. Scrapper's style would've run counter to a lot of Decepticon aesthetic ideals, which tend to eschew ornamentation and emphasize function over fashion, as a direct rejection of the excesses of the pre-war upper class and Senate. (But he had a few supporters; I'd imagine Ratbat and Tarn would be all for the look.) His tastes in existing architecture trended toward "monumental, designed to impress/enlighten"—although they stretch across a variety of styles, things like mosques, cathedrals, the Pantheon would fit that bill. Definitely into Gothic shit.

Hook was more or less Scrapper's acolyte; whatever he said was good, Hook thought was good. But outside of that, he's got the most diverse tastes; he can like any style, as long as it's done well. Any architectural style that's new is automatically suspect because he doesn't know what its internal standards for "done well" are yet. Once the style has been established for a while and has switched from "these are the traditional rules that we're breaking to show off how new and different we are" to "these are this style's internal rules that everyone has to follow," he makes peace with the style and starts judging new works based on how they fit those rules. (Usually, that switch will be made in Hook's head once Bonecrusher has decided the style is codified and his knowledge of what its rules are backwashes into Hook's mind.) If he can see what an architect is going for and think they pulled it off, then he can respect that regardless of the style. He'll respect Classical architecture and he'll respect Modern architecture; but if you put big fat columns in front of a wall of glass and they're not even holding up a pediment, then Primus have mercy on your spark because Hook sure won't. The exception is if a space has poor functionality, even if that's "the point," or "a statement," he considers that unacceptable—a natural inclination bolstered by Mixmaster's insistence that ALL spaces should be suitable for safe lab work. He's also got a pet peeve against round architecture. It's only gotten worse since he's been sharing headspace with Prowl.

Bonecrusher's never met an architectural style he's not willing to rip to shreds. It's either so old-fashioned it's completely out of fashion or it's trying too hard to be new and different; it's either underwhelmingly small and cramped or it's a massive waste of space; it's either cluttered with gaudy decorations or it's painfully bland; it's either completely generic in its rigid adherence to a style's rules or it's weird as hell because it's got no understanding of or appreciation for the most basic fundamentals of architectural aesthetics. It doesn't matter what it is. He'll diss it. If Hook doesn't like a building, he'll find Bonecrusher, drop a couple hints about what he doesn't like about it to make sure Bonecrusher's on the right track, and then they'll lambast it together. If a building is something his team has made, he'll criticize the hell out of it during the planning stages—that's constructive criticism—but once it's been made, not a word against it; this is partially to be nice, but mostly because he's intimately aware of whatever thought processes his teammates went through during the design stages and so he gives their intent or vision weight and offers up the benefit of the doubt to them the way he wouldn't to anyone whose head he hadn't been inside. And he'll also reluctantly concede the virtues of any particular building any of his teammates like. Anything built or dreamed up by Scrapper is, of course, sacrosanct. (He would have happily been a Gustav Klimt for Scrapper's Victor Horta—probably, idk if they even knew each other—but any chances of Bonecrusher being any kind of normal artist pretty much died with Scrapper.) If he was FORCED to choose what style he likes, he'd admit grudging admiration for anyone who deliberately bucks against conventional architectural trends. Most recently, that'd probably be deconstructivism, but even that's getting passé in his book. He'll also admire any building, regardless of style, that's got a good story behind HOW it was made; if you show him a misshapen shack he'll criticize how they chose to divide the space inside but if you tell him how many shuttles they had to kill to get enough heat-resistant armor to build the walls he'll automatically like it. He also has a tendency to internally rank buildings—particularly skyscrapers—based on how satisfyingly they'd come crashing down.

Scavenger's forgotten more about architecture than most bots will ever know; but the emphasis here really should be on "forgotten," because he honestly knows jack shit about architecture. Although Scavenger still vastly outstrips Prowl in terms of basic construction knowledge, Prowl's just about passed him in knowledge of architectural schools and design theory, and Prowl ain't been doing this long. Scavenger likes anything his team likes and dislikes anything they don't like. His personal preferences trend toward colorful, busy, and highly ornamented—he loves Scrapper's private style, and not just because it was Scrapper's—but also art deco, anything with mosaics or bas reliefs or stained glass windows... He lives and breathes maximalism. He's probably fatally allergic to minimalism; he only grudgingly tolerates brutalism for the sake of his teammates that are into it, and most Modern architecture is on thin fragging ice. He'd be very into whatever the hell Saint Basil's Cathedral is up to. He and Prowl could probably bond over an appreciation for Girih. He's also enchanted by anything Googie, which is probably the only formally-recognized architectural school that it can be safely said he'd enjoy the majority of. Does he know what Googie is? Probably not. But he likes it when he sees it.

Mixmaster is more interested in the functionality of a space—like, he's really into air flow. When he walks into a new space his first two thoughts are "if someone set up a chemistry lab in here would they suffocate on the fumes?" and "in the event of a fire how easy would it be to get outside without being stampeded by other people looking for the exit?" He's content to inherit his architectural tastes from his teammates; he leans into Long Haul and Prowl's appreciation for blocky, utilitarian structures—easy to adapt to lab work!—and will disparage anything Bonecrusher and Hook consider below the Constructicons' lofty tastes. Despite having little architectural taste of his own, after Long Haul's dominance in military structures Mixmaster had the most overt influence on everyone else's work—namely, in how they arrange spaces for basic utilitarian purposes. Architecture may not be his passion but he'll be damned if the wiring and ventilation ducts aren't laid out nice and simple, and because of him, none of the others will stand for it either. His focus on these mundane details dovetails well with Hook's perfectionism.

And of course, Prowl is into brutalism. Like. Just brutalism. That's it.

Devastator's idea of the perfect building is a blocky art deco structure with painted or mosaic decorations in big simple blocks of color, stuffed to the brim with enough art nouveau-ish Scrapper-esque decorative flourishes to fill five buildings. Hard and sturdy on the outside, satisfyingly crumbly and crunchy on the inside. Like breaking open a piñata.

#anonymous #ask #constructicons #headcanons

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journeysintowebcomics · 5 years

Text

Girl Genius Liveblog #207

UPDATE 207: Image Gallery

Last time Agatha and her merry band finally arrived to Paris! Where it turns out she’s some kind of celebrity, with a ton of merchandise to her name. That was to be expected of a Heterodyne, really. So how shall this go? Let’s see.

But before that, last update ended with Wulfenbach getting notified two of his agents have gotten injured, and was now going to collect information. Let’s see...a town has been completely wasped, meaning they’re under Lucrezia’s control. What town will it be, I wonder...and could any of the agents sent to check the place have gotten wasped? It’s not unlikely, this guy who got injured may be a liability if he’s under the Other’s control.

It had all started as an investigation regarding some stolen technology from Mechanisburg, and it led to that town, where they found the old-style zombie revenants that were mentioned in the Heterodyne stories. If I’m understanding this correctly, the purpose of those ones was to infect the town, and once everyone was infected with wasps that turned them into revenants that aren’t zombies, the zombies left. So...the two varieties of wasps are being used. I wonder if that fits the Other’s modus operandi, if she in the past also sent hordes of zombies into towns to infect everyone. If not, maybe it’s not her, it could be someone who got their hands on her technology. Possibly this Queen of the Dawn figure, since she has people eating from the palm of her hand, but yeah, that’s only if it turns out the Other’s not the one to blame for that town’s situation.

Good thing a wasp nest was brought here! Gil should make them study it to find out more.

Ah, so the wasps have been improved, they’re now smaller and therefore it’s easier for them to infect someone. No more shoving a wasp the size of someone’s hand into somebody’s mouth. That’s pretty alarming, some of those small slaver wasps may have escaped. Personally I’m worried.

This makes Gil wonder, though. If the Other is back, why hasn’t she improved her technology? I’d have thought making them smaller and more effective counted, but apparently not. Then I’m embarrassed when it’s revealed that wasn’t Lucrezia’s work, someone else did it. I suppose neither Anevka nor Zola have much time for improving the wasps, and I’m not even sure the latter would be interested in that, since I don’t think she’s a spark, she just has the Other’s knowledge and mind under her control.

The possibility Gil raises is that the Other may be directing others and telling them what to do, unable to do it herself. Hm...that’s a possibility, indeed. I remember how, like seven million years ago, the Other in Agatha’s body was showing Tarvek some of her tech and teaching him a few things. Maybe it’s like that.

Also, the Queen of the Dawn was mentioned again. Maybe she’ll turn out to be a major player, alright.

What Gil’s worried about is that Lucrezia managed to set something in motion pretty quickly while she was controlling Agatha. That’s exactly what happened, yup, just that it was sooner than Gil expected.

Okay, with that dramatic line there’s a scene change into absolutely nothingness in terms of main plot, because it’s time for an interlude!

Their words, not mine. Still, nice art is good, so let’s take a look and see what we get.

Jagers playing poker. That’s kind of a small poker table, the six of them barely fit. This is meant to be a wallpaper for the desktop. I’d download it, but something went wrong during a Windows update and my wallpaper is gone, and I have been too lazy and/or busy to check how to fix the wallpaper function, welp. Let me just bookmark this heeeere...

Agatha seriously needs to get her hands on some sweet royalties for the use of her image. Do lawyers exist in the Girl Genius world? Somehow I don’t think they do, so she’ll have to handle it herself. Death rays are kind of good negotiation tactics in this world, I bet.

So, what’s going on is that Ms. Kaja Foglio got pretty injured, and there’ll also be some conventions, and Mr. Phil Foglio is taking the chance to do some poster designs. These designs would also be sold at conventions as prints. I won’t lie, this tea poster and the chocolate one are pretty good poster designs. Are they in the store? I sure hope they are, and if so, I’ll greatly consider acquiring some to hang around.

I’m pretty sure that’s unsafe in a few ways. I consider myself lucky I have never been close to molten iron, but getting burned by that has to be pretty awful. Agatha, stop posing sexily and step away, for the love of MAD SCIENCE. The railing barely reaches your calves, you’re gonna trip.

I love the design in the inside of the cape. So, there’s this cryogenic chamber, it seems. Nice. That could come useful, maybe. What’s on Agatha’s head, is that required for the cryogenic chamber? Either way, the design of the poster itself is fine. What I’m not sure about is the color scheme. It’s mostly personal taste, I admit, it’s a tad too pale for my tastes. Would blend on my stark white apartment walls.

Now this one would look much better. Great! Awesome. That aside, I notice it says ‘autumn’. That means the other two were supposed to have seasons on the top area? I checked back and they don’t have any. Disgrace! That aside, this is a good print and I’d acquire it, I’ll say.

This one too. Now that I think about it, it’d be a bit of a shame not to have the entire set, all placed side to side. Ah...the thing is, without the first two having the season on top, the unity is broken. That’s the only issue I have. I wonder how large the prints would be, anyway?

There also was a deck of cards with the Jagers, I see. A boardgame, too.

Hah! Phil Foglio truly looks like a professor, neat. He also draws on bananas.

The Foglios seem like a fun pair, heh. Either way, back to the story.

The cake break is interrupted when a spark in a clank bursts into the shop, telling Agatha to come along quietly. Needless to say that’s not going to happen, no? The guy laughs at Agatha because she supposedly only has a large cake, and I wouldn’t underestimate it because, well, Agatha is clever and I bet she’d be able to use a cake to her advantage. She doesn’t get to do anything because some guy named Hoffman leaps forward to hit the clank with a hammer.

It’s not just a hammer, it saves kinetic energy and releases it when he wants to! And so he does. He gets ready to release it, and the results are explosive.

But it must have worked, no? The guy can’t have survived this. Agatha should be safe.

I’ll stop for now.

#girl genius #girl genius liveblog #webcomics #liveblog #webcomic liveblog

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ask-gijinka-creationtrio · 5 years

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clarification on that bit on gender and contemplations on other stuff

If anyone actually bothers to read this lmao

Dialga: This question was pretty much inevitable.

Palkia: I’m honestly fine with being referred to as an “it”.

Giratina: Why the hell should we worry about “it” being “dehumanizing” when we’re not human to begin with?

Something that I knew would eventually get brought up is the genders of my interpretation of the trio. The simple answer is encapsulated in the prev post: they’re dragon gods. Gender is a societal construct; sex is for reproduction. Legendary entities that represent the fundamental laws of the universe don’t really have a need for either society or reproduction. So as with the games, they’re all officially non-binary/genderless.

That said, my designs gravitate towards one or the other. One reason is that i’m not creative, bold, inspired, or talented enough to really translate that genderless attribute into humanoid form. Another is that someone pointed out to me a while ago that Palkia has a low waist-hip ratio, stiletto clawed feet, and some designs will feature a more prominent chest. That and the gendered color-coding Pokemon started doing with blue males and red/pink females, like with the menu screens starting from Gen III, the Eon Duo, Jellicent in Gen V, and Team Skull Grunts in Gen VII.

That said, I’m not a huge fan of these reasons, as you could also make the counterargument that Palkia looks somewhat phallic. So I kinda wanna get into an Extended Rant™ on why I choose to depict my OCs the way, even though no one probably cares lmao

It starts out with the Kanji/Hanzi for “Universe”: 宇宙, Uchū in Japanese and Yǔzhòu in Chinese. You might recall it if you’ve read Pokemon Adventures.

You might also remember if you visited that one dude on Route 228 in Diamond and Pearl who gets yeeted out of his house by Cyrus’s contrite grandfather by the time Platinum rolls around. Okay, realistically, barely anyone probably does (that guy wasn’t that memorable), but he basically says the same thing as Cyrus in the panels above: 宇宙, coined by the ancient Taoists, esoterically means something like “the totality of extension” + “the totality of duration”. In other words, the ancient Japanese/Chinese word for “universe” is lit. “space” + “time”. This is actually a somewhat obscure, unnecessary detail that even many native speakers seem to be unaware of. It also ties in heavily with the Yin-Yang 陰陽 of Taoism.

I know Taoism is more a Gen V theme, but it’s a concept implicit throughout the franchise, hence games generally come in twos, sharing complementary/opposing or dualistic/dichotomic themes. Even trios tend to have the third member as the odd one out or mediator. There’s much more to the Yin-Yang than just Truth/Ideals and I sorta wish Game Freak would explore it more to really unite the franchise as a whole around the interconnected theme of both diversity and harmony.

The Yin-Yang isn’t strictly about Truth/Ideals as much as it is about the fundamentally dualistic nature of existence and the oneness implicit in the inseparability of coexisting complementary concepts. Thus, truth and ideals are two sides of the same coin, as are time and space as relativity revealed. The Yin-Yang is vague enough to basically be an umbrella representation term for any complementary duality. It should be noted that the feminine Yin and masculine Yang don’t refer to stereotypical/conventional notions of femininity or masculinity, but rather requires an abstract interpretation.

The Yin-Yang is composed of an active component, and a passive/reflective/receptive one. More easily understood in that one aspect creates the body and the other gives it life. One which shapes/nurtures/mothers being and one which animates/directs/fathers it. Abstract interpretations of the feminine Mother and masculine Father follow suit. As do dualistic concepts like particle and wave, existence and essence, ovum and sperm, object/entity and idea/concept, magnitude and direction, defense and offense, nature/tradition and technology/advancement (Gen I & Gen II), space and time (Gen IV), truth and ideals (Gen V), night/moon and day/sun (Gen VII), and shields and swords i guess (Gen VIII).

I excluded Gen III because among the classical elements, earth and water are both traditionally considered reflective/feminine, with fire and air being active/masculine, but i suppose if you factor in Primal Reversion in Gen VI, it works. With the Aura Trio, I read something unrelated but interesting about how apparently Ohmori Shigeru hinted at parallels between the Weather Trio and Aura Trio. Can’t find the source though. Blue - Seas were the first (Alpha) source of Life; Red - fiery, desolate Lands signify the Death of all in the end (Omega); Green - Order/Balance mediates between two forces of nature that can be malevolent/chaotic left unchecked, with the trio master possessing abilities that cancel out the other two.

Going off the rails a bit more, speaking of color-parallels, there’s probably going to be one of the subtractive colors between Gen VIII and the (highly probable) Gen IV remakes this generation, with Cyan - Dialga, Azelf, Lucas’ accents, Za-cian; Magenta - Palkia, Mesprit, Dawn’s accents, Za-mazenta; Yellow - Giratina, Uxie, Barry’s accents, whoever the third member of the Gen VIII mascot/box art legendary trio is going to be. I wonder how they’re going to incorporate the parallels tho

Anyway I digress. The ancient Daoists associated feminine Yin with 宇/Space and masculine Yang with 宙/Time by virtue of insisting the feminine aspect precedes, but even disregarding that, Space fits in with the Yin criteria of that which represents the body and Time fits in with the Yang criteria of that which initiates life.

So while they’re genderless, Dialga represents the concept of masculinity and Palkia femininity in their most pure, abstract, and universal form according to the Dao. While this doesn’t make Dialga a dudebro and Palkia whatever the hell the feminine equivalent is, in my mind, Palkia has a strong maternal instinct and Dialga is very much a dad. Giratina is weird chaotic goth aunt/uncle who gives u ur first taste of alcohol just to spite grandpa and reads fanfiction with candles and a glass of wine like it’s a fucking literary hour.

That’s my logic and explanation behind it anyhow. The distinction goes something like Palkia will concern itself more with the state or properties of something (who, what, where) whereas Dialga will concern itself more with the role or activity of it (when, why, how). As time and space are, however, they’re deeply intertwined and cannot be separated.

I might move this bit to a separate post somewhere down the line since this has already dragged on long enough, but I’ll share some thoughts on Giratina here and tie it in with the overarching topic of assigning gender roles lol. According to Game Freak, Giratina represents antimatter, but there are some inconsistencies. I know this shit has to be taken with a grain of salt because of Pokemon logic/science and whatever, but I gave it some thought regardless. My personal headcanon is that Altered Giratina represents dark matter/energy and Origin Giratina represents antimatter. Whatever tf Gira represents in Pokemon lore is based on a combination of the two, with the Reverse/Distortion World probably alluding to the idea of an anti-universe. Antimatter and dark matter are not really the same thing, but they’re both trippy cosmic constructs that sound somewhat similar, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . I wanted to make a distinction because while antimatter doesn’t distort spacetime any more than normal matter, it’s speculated that dark matter (actually dark energy) does, and is responsible for the rapid expansion of the universe.

This would also go along nicely with Gira complementing the the Spacetime twins while also complementing Arceus. It would also fit as justification for Giratina having to switch from Origin to Altered Forme upon entering the universe presided over by Dialga and Palkia, not because of the shift in spacetime stability, but rather due to the violent, annihilating reaction that occurs when matter and antimatter come into contact with one another. It’s by no means a perfect resolution hc, but it is one that I’ve gotten attached to.

Anyhoo, I designed Giratina to appear more androgynous (or at least attempted to). However, going by that masculine active/feminine reflective duality highlighted in the Yin-Yang, Origin Gira, with antimatter a reflection of normal matter, appears a bit more feminine-androgynous, whereas Altered Gira, with dark matter an active driving force for the expansion of the universe, appears a bit more masculine-androgynous (though iirc it hasn’t shown up yet and i’m not too great with consistency regardless). That was my idea behind it in any case. Origin Gira wears a binder under that big dastardly overcoat. i guess it’s technically genderfluid.

Digressing a bit, but another artistic choice was the skin tone of the trio. 0 points for subtlety on my part, but the color is Cosmic Latte, the average color of the universe. Like that bit on gender, I wanted to base it on some aspect of reality. I juggled between that and pure black with stars for freckles, but in the end i’m a lazy piece of shit who cuts corners for a living, so i settled on Primordial Clam Chowder because it was easier lmao. that’s why they pasty af

Anyways, if you have any design ideas or you wanna see a member of the trio in another form, feel free to submit your ideas or a magic anon or whatever!

TL;DR tbh this wasn’t even a structured rant it was just me going off the rails and sharing random useless deetz. this isn’t even a tl;dr. what the fuck

#might try to finish that cover image #well it's not like i edited much to begin with #pokemon #hc #gijinka #dialga #palkia #giratina #text #ask blog #analysis #long rant #pokemon analysis #sinnoh #gen iv

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blubberquark · 5 years

Text

The value and place of “good game design”

Last year, noted game design theorist, developer and podcaster Keith Burgun softened his stance on the theory of strategy games and game design as a discipline. I wrote 90% of this as a response to his podcasts back then, but when I read my own words it felt too negative. I don’t want to dunk on somebody for a commercial failure from the relative safety of not even having tried.

I’m posting it now though, because it ties into my ideas about Jam Games and Short Games, which I want to develop further, as well as my previous post about starting with simple games like Pong, Flappy Bird, and Minesweeper: Starting with simple ideas might not be enough. Top-down game design might be important after all.

Why not Game Design?

Part of Burgun’s change of heart was for what I would call “political” reasons, and I try to avoid politics on this blog. I hate how the conversation around game design grinds to a halt when some troll says “Aha, this looks like a game a Communist would make!“, and then the designer tries to explain himself and his politics and we stop talking about game design or the game itself altogether.

It’s one thing to talk about the politics, the political ideas and implications of a game, and quite another to look at the author and to try to read the authors politics into every game developed by that author. This is especially important when the author is outspoken about politics. People can be politically active and have strong convictions and just plain fail to convey their ideas through their game design.

Another reason for this shift was trying to give people more space for self-expression. Maybe you want to make something new and exploratory, or something short and poignant, or some “experience“ or “virtual installation” that is game-adjacent, but not even meant to be a game. Trying to ground “game design” in lessons learn from existing games, or trying to be precise with your terminology might be counterproductive. There is little overlap between the mechanics, dynamics, aesthetics, or affordances of Smash Bros and Firewatch (unless you count The Quiet Man, an artsy game that manages to combine worst of both worlds into a buggy mess). This difference between Command & Conquer and Bioshock is huge, and you can only find commonalities in the individual disciplines like graphics, UI design, or programming, and in high-level psychological and narrative principles of pacing and world-building.

Lessons in game design implicitly tell you how games should be. General statements about “game design” are bound to alienate some people. Artists who make short interactive pieces that are both experimental and personal at the same time, like Tale of Tales, Robert Yang or Anna Anthropy, are most susceptible to this particularly easy to disparage by accident if you don’t choose your words very carefully.

Lastly, it looks like the long development of Escape The Omnochronom, with many iterations on the game design and player feedback in early access, has informed his new approach to game design - just like Auro was the game that embodied the Clockwork Game Design theories. This quick look back on the development of ETO is interesting and sobering: https://keithburgun.net/escaping-the-omnochronom-and-moonshot-game-design/.

Wasted Design?

From a commercial point of view, it looks like a lot of the game design effort on ETO has been mis-spent: More than about interesting decisions and carefully balanced gameplay, players on Steam seem to want tons of content, random loot, and an epic, tragic backstory.

Most indie developers probably wouldn’t have completely scrapped all four prototypes, but released some of them as stand-alone games or as prototypes - either on itch, on Newgrounds, or a on mobile app store. One iteration of the concept - then called “Push The Lane!” - looked and felt more like a puzzle game, and might have been developed into a somewhat successful puzzle game on a mobile app store.

I might be wrong about this. There are many old, failed prototypes of mine that just didn’t work. True artists hate to see their practice pieces, and I don’t want to polish my all of old failed ideas that didn’t work until I can release them. I know why they don’t work. I’d rather try to make the ones that already work better. I’d rather start from scratch than working on a game idea when I know that it won’t work and why.

If you’re looking at somebody else’s failed prototype, you may think it warrants further exploration, or that it can ba salvaged, when the dev has already tried most of your suggested easy fixes and found that they don’t quite work. Ideas and game mechanics that work well in a short game, interesting based on their novelty alone, often cannot sustain a long-form game on their own - and that’s where game design as a discipline comes in.

If you’re just starting out, I can only urge you to fail faster, within days or weeks rather than years. Get feedback from players and other developers! See what works and cut your losses early! Don’t try to make a failed design work if you can use a better one! Try to start with a small game that works!

But if your goal is to make a long-form game, maybe the jump from a small jam game to a larger one is not just quantitative, but qualitative. You can’t just keep adding more stuff to Flappy Bird and hope it becomes Half-Life somewhere along the way.

Maybe the commercial bottleneck is not game design, but market research. The cool kids are all playing Fortnite now. By the time you finish developing your Fortnite clone, the cool kids will probably have moved on the the Next Big Thing. (I wrote this before the current wave of Auto Chess games. The next big thing only took half a year.)

Who needs Game Design anyway?

So Good Game Design(tm) seems to be only relevant once people have started playing the game. According to conventional game marketing wisdom, iterating on a part of your design can be all for nothing if you realise late in the cycle that the core loop has to be re-worked, and you need to create new content for the new mechanics.

According to conventional game marketing wisdom, a mechanically bland action platformer with good graphics can sell better than a well-designed strategy game with abstract black-and-white graphics.

An accessible multiplayer game can outlast a well-balanced multiplayer strategy game: You need your player base to grow beyond the critical mass to sustain online matchmaking and a competitive scene in the first place.

A game idea that is a great fit for a mobile game, small prototype, demo, or coffee-break browser game cannot always be turned into a long-form game. Many long-form games are impossible to distil down into a five-minute slice.

All that doesn’t mean that there is no market for good game design. There is certainly a market for well-made games, for good design in games, and for carefully designed games. These are not the same as game design though, if you go by the ideas from Burgun’s podcast. Game design is more fundamental, more about mechanics and interactive feedback loops, not about visual design, game feel or intuitive user interfaces.

The bigger your game gets, the more urgent a concern the actual game design becomes. If you’re aiming for a big commerical release, you need to make a long-form game. If you’re making a long-form game, you need better game design than you can get away with in a shorter one. When you start with a small core and add content and features, game design can sneak up on you, and you may end up with No Man’s Sky or Anthem.

My Funnel Model

First Impression: The first thing a player sees of your game is probably a pithy description of the game, and then screenshot, maybe a short video. What gets him interested in installing is a novel, clever premise (like ”puzzle MOBA” or “you play a crazy cat lady”), and your promotional screenshots.

When your potential new player looks for reviews of the game, only opinions, sound-bites and screenshots will reach him, because good game design cannot be easily captured in words and pictures. If the game design is hard to explain or doesn’t translate well to trailers or screenshots, you already have a problem. Labels like “fantasy“, “noir“, “battle royale“ or unique visual aesthetics can give you a way in, or they can turn players off.

Accessibility: This does not mean accessibility to people with disabilities in particular (which is ”Barrierefreiheit” in my native German, the freedom from barriers which exclude certain groups of people), although that kind of accessibility is also important. Accessibility in general means how easy it is to get into the game, in a similar way to how certain books can be very inaccessible by starting off with weird jargon you need to get used to, or fifty pages of dry exposition before the plot gets started.

Tetris gets difficult quickly, but stays accessible, whereas Dear Esther is impossible to fail, but quite dense and inaccessible in its own way. Whenever possible, it makes sense to introduce complexity and difficulty only gradually.

Innovation: Next you have to compete with all the other games in the user’s game library. If the novelty of the elevator pitch doesn’t translate into innovative gameplay, your player might just go back to playing Minecraft, Fortnite, or Hearthstone again. If the game is not accessible and engaging early on, then the player might quit early and not even get to the novel or innovative part. The innovative part must be accessible in itself, without feeling forced or tacked on, and it must feel natural to use it.

Some AAA games try to solve this by early on giving the player “a taste” of what’s to come, for example by giving all the spells in the magic system to the player during a flashback sequence in the first level. Then they take away the innovative game mechanics and proceed with a bunch of boring third-person action adventure RPG shooter things for half the game.

Core Gameplay Loop: This is where the good game design comes in. This is also the part that makes your players recommend the game to their friends.

In addition to good game design, adjacent qualities like responsive control design/game feel, clear visual feedback, legible game state, and quality-of-life features also become relevant when the player goes through the core loop a couple of times. Even when the controls and mechanics of your game are easy to learn, they can still be boring, tedious, or distracting.

Earlier this year, a game with an interesting premise, cool visual aesthetic, and some innovative mechanics on top of the classic JRPG formula was released on the Nintendo Switch. Unfortunately, neither the mechanics of combat nor the NPC dialogue were very engaging, or fun. The game got a lot of attention, but that attention culminated in mixed to bad reviews.

Getting the steps up to here right will give your game more eyeballs, and will get people to try it or even write about it. Getting the core gameplay loop right will make people enjoy and play your game more after that.

Scope: The more content there is - that can be quests, levels, guns, monsters, puzzles - the longer you can keep the core loop going. The amount of meaningfully “new” content you can put into your game is limited by the game design though. Just adding “two billions of guns“ won’t cut it if the gameplay difference between different pieces of content is not meaningful. The value of additional content also depends on the game design. Some games get more value out of their content. Mario Kart 8 for the Nintendo Switch has ten pre-arranged tournaments with for racetracks each. That doesn’t look like a lot of content, but the game gets a large amount of replay value out of them.

Sometimes the scope of a game is limited by the design and the core loop. Some puzzle game mechanics have only a handful of interesting puzzles in them, and are more appropriate for a one-off puzzle set piece in a larger action game than for a dedicated puzzle game.

Some game genres, like point-and-click adventures, are mainly constrained by the scope of the content, and a piece of content can only be used once. Puzzle- and strategy games can often squeeze a lot of value out of content by re-using the same units and mechanics in a new context or a different combination. RPGs are somewhere in-between, by re-using monsters, dungeon architecture, loot, and crafting elements, while quests, NPCs and villages must be uniquely crafted.

“Elegant” game design is not only good for its own sake, it also allows you to add more stuff into your game in a cost-effective way.

There is a flip side to this: Prototypes, jam games, mostly story-driven games, and demos don’t really need good game design at all. One can build a small game prototype based on novelty alone, without a way to expand the scope, maybe even without an engaging core gameplay loop. The core gameplay loops two or three times and then the game just ends.

If you want to make a long-form game, you have to think from the beginning about scope and longevity.

Grand unified theories of game design(tm) become more applicable the larger the scope of your game is. In a small game, individual aspects like game feel, visual design, music, “funny/edgy” dialogue or characters, and novel mechanics outweigh balance, level design, world-building, and well-written characters.

Depth: I am using “depth” somewhat loosely and colloquially: Depth is what keeps players coming back, and talking to each other. That can be endgame content, high-level competitive play, lore, or a modding/mapmaking scene. Depth can be speedrunning, or finding new, clever solutions to puzzles. Depth is finding new meaning in content you already know or played.

After I beat Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, or after Waking Mars, I uninstalled the game and moved on. Nothing is making me come back to Mark of The Ninja, Dear Esther or Thomas Was Alone. I don’t think I will ever want to revisit Torchlight, the first or the sequel. I enjoyed each of these games - or in the case of Dear Esther at least I appreciated it, on a detached, intellectual level. I played Nuclear Throne until I had beaten the game, unlocked every character, seen every gun, and gone to most of the secret stages. Then I quit playing. I have no interest in looping.

I played a lot of StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty. I played custom matches with my friends, I played on the ladder, I looked up strategy tips on TeamLiquid, I watched live streams of competitive games, and then I watched Day[9] analyse competitive games in-depth.

Back when I was a child, I played lots of multi-player games of WarCraft 3 and Worms: Armageddon. It never got stale for me. I played some multiplayer matches of Swords & Soldiers, but there is not a lot of variety, and it got stale rather quickly.

I know this evaluation of games and my concept of “depth” are both rather subjective. In content-heavy games, this kind of “depth“ can be hidden content, endgame content, side quests, and lore. In mechanics-focused games, depth and longevity are facilitated by game design(tm).

The recipe for popularity?

The funnel goes like this: First Impression > Accessibility > Innovation > Core Loop > Scope > Depth. At every stage, you lose some players, or potential players. If a potential player doesn’t hear about your game, that’s it. If a player looks at a let’s play or a review, and doesn’t understand what the game is about, that’s it. If your game is reviewed by a professional site, you can expect that they play through the main content. The longer players stay with your game, the more relevant game design(tm) will become.

Depth is beyond the scope of a review, but it will make people stick with your game for longer, and can make players show or recommend it to friends.

Depth and scope will make people stick with your game for longer, and make your game show up in Steam and Discord friend lists.

An engaging core loop will lead to good reviews and probably also good user scores.

Unfortunately, good game design is usually not the limiting factor, because we live in a word where we are bombarded with new game releases every day, and we have to decide which ones to buy, which free ones to download and play, or even which reviews to read, because there are just so many games that the limiting factor is time and getting attention in the first place, not how good - or “fun”, or “engaging” - the game actually is.

AAA studios already have our attention, or at least the attention of big gaming news sites, so they can compete for making the game with the best shooting or the biggest open world. AAA studios have an easier time getting a consistent player base for online matchmaking. In contrast to this, indies have to compete for attention in the first place.

However, once you have the attention of players and reviewers, you still have to convince them that your game is any good.

#game design #longpost #clockwork game design #game development #indiepocalypse #are games art

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gascon-en-exil · 6 years

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So Who’s the Queen?: A Chess of Blades Review (Part 2)

Part 1

With the general overview out of the way it’s time to jump into a critique of the real substance of this game: the four men who can fall in love with Rivian and turn him into the champion bottom he was always destined to be. As with last time I’ll be avoiding major plot spoilers but will spare no detail when I turn my discriminating eye toward the game’s scenes of sweet, tender lovemaking...or raw, kinky fucking, whatever floats your boat. Some of them could go either way.

Fun fact: my silly subtitle for the sex scenes comes from a Japanese expression jokingly proposed as an alternative source for the word yaoi. I thought it only appropriate given what I’m judging here.

Arden

It took some effort for me to ignore that this guy shares his name with the least fuckable bachelor of Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, but eventually I managed. It helps that the two have nothing else in common, up to and including preference of sexual partners.

Arden is the best friend romance of CoB, the only one with whom Rivian has an established history. Thinking back to the similarly positioned Ian in Coming Out on Top, this is a visual novel character type that presents a unique challenge for the writer(s) in that there has to a be an explanation for why the two of them don’t shack up until the events of the game. I rather like CoB’s reasoning for this, as it’s one that plays into both Arden and Rivian’s insecurities and explains why Rivian is so prickly to a supposed close friend during the shared prologue. Arden is clingy and overly expectant, and the game allows this to feel off-putting even partway through his route (which is shared with the “secret” fourth love interest, in a scenario where Rivian decides that he and Arden have grown into such different people that reconciliation is impossible). This is an unusual but not unwelcome way to lead into what is undoubtedly the fluffiest of the romances, in which Arden has to be open about his self-conscious reservations and Rivian has to be willing to forgive. Arden’s protectiveness of Rivian also becomes less grating as the route goes on and the two start to face genuine danger, and as Rivian points out that kind of dedication is actually quite sweet when it’s wanted. The only really awkward thing about the construction of Arden’s route is that, because most of their relationship drama comes from the fallout of their youthful infatuation, it has very little to do with the main plot of a kidnapped little girl. It is at least the most morally straightforward of the routes, one that brings out both Arden’s loyalty to Rivian and to his kingdom (even though he is a bit dense about it, in the tradition of most lawful good paladin-esque type characters) and Rivian’s buried affection for his family. Like I said, it’s pretty fluffy on the whole.

The “Ow, my ass!” rating: Mild. As might be expected Arden’s sex scene is the most vanilla in the game, which is fitting because 1) it matches the more innocent passion of a childhood romance gone horizontal(ish), and because 2) Arden is also a virgin somehow, despite having spent several years in a military environment in a setting where no one cares if guys hook up with each other. There’s no lube, but I can excuse it because Arden both fingers and rims Rivian beforehand. More significantly, Rivian rides Arden’s cock which is not only the most active he ever is in a sex scene but also a great position for the inexperienced to get accustomed to the feeling of taking a dick. Don’t get the impression that this means that Rivian is taking a dominant role, however; the term “power bottom” is more about attitude than positioning, and Rivian is still very much lacking in that department. Also, they have sex on a chair and I have no idea why, since there’s a perfectly serviceable bed in the same room. I like to be able to hold onto my partner’s shoulders when I’m riding him to help keep my balance, but I don’t think that’s worth having to angle myself around the arms. Kind of a toss-up there.

Franz

According to the developer notes in the artbook Franz was the first of the love interests to be designed, and they had a specific exotic flavor in mind that in practice feels very much like how I think Anglos see Continentals collectively. German first name and French family name aside, I get a more Iberian feeling from him personally. Maybe it’s the thing about his country being known for chocolates, or maybe the (very late in coming) self-flagellation...not literal, mind you.

Even leaving aside his real world cultural inspirations, Franz is very much the aggressive rogue type of love interest, the “perverted foreigner” as Rivian describes him more than once who introduces himself by grabbing Rivian on his balcony and practically dry humping him while dropping some foreshadowing regarding the plot. The above image is a comparatively benign moment early on in Franz’s route proper, but it goes to show just how casually grabby the guy is and how Rivian is essentially forced to get used to it. That may be unsettling for some players, but I happen to like a man assertive enough to go for what he wants - although the fact that Franz is vastly hotter and wealthier than many of the men who’ve groped me certainly plays a role there too. In any case the plot of his route - that of the murder of an ambassador in which Franz is curiously interested - plays into the idea of him as a man of mystery gradually revealed to be driven by something other than sensual indulgence, and getting his good ending requires that Rivian learn to trust and care about Franz even as he’s not at all forthcoming about his identity or motivations up until the very end. Franz’s route is unique in that his sex scene appears before the determination of whether or not you’ll get his good ending and even before certain major revelations are made regarding his character. This suits his roguish appeal just fine, even though the scene itself is kind of...well, see below. Honestly Franz is probably my favorite of the love interests by a narrow margin; he’s rich, hot, aggressive, and shown to be very open-minded about kinks while also capable of genuinely affectionate moments. That’s a rare combination and prime wish fulfillment fodder.

The “Ow, my ass!” rating: Uncomfortably high, sad to say. Props to the guy for being suave enough to lead Rivian through a masquerade ball one minute and then drag him into a storage closet to fuck his brains out the next, but it’s a massive understatement when he assures Rivian that he won’t be gentle. Franz fucks Rivian’s mouth on a cold stone floor and then only takes the time to briefly finger him with spit before impaling the boy. You really have to be into the controlling top persona to enjoy his scene, particularly as there’s little to no (onscreen) aftercare. I was also left feeling disappointed at how conventional Franz’s sex scene felt, after he’d previously teased Rivian about wanting to collar him - he calls him “kitten” throughout their interactions - and enjoying the sight of a cross-dressing Rivian. I definitely enjoy the idea that Franz is into both pet play and feminization, but it turns out to be a case of telling and not showing. At least Franz retains most of his Dom demeanor up through his epilogue, as I would have really rolled my eyes if his kinky tendencies mysteriously vanished after he and Rivian made their big romantic confessions.

Linnaeus

I’m still not sure how I feel about Linnaeus. Part of this is that I’m missing out on the reference; developer notes make it clear that his appearance and personality were modeled after those of characters in the Ace Attorney series, which I’ve never played. I can at least acknowledge the allusion found in his narrative, which reaches its (non-sexual) climax not with a violent confrontation in a mysterious setting as in the other routes but with a courtroom trial. The Steam achievement for winning the trial is even called “Rivian Wright,” at that.

More than that however Linnaeus is a man whose appeal as a love interest exists (in my opinion) on a less visceral or emotional level than the others’. Archetypically speaking he’s the defrosting tsundere who initially seems to not like Rivian very much at all and only gradually comes to enjoy his company after they’ve been thrown together by apparent coincidence in the case of a foreign duchess’s stolen diamonds. Linnaeus is a haughty intellectual and very much a sadist both in and out of bed, but later explorations of his character add depth to his talents as the king’s inquisitor and zeal for bringing criminals - especially the members of the anarchistic Disciples of Ignatius - to justice. Throw in some friction with an estranged cousin who also wants to woo Rivian and might want Linnaeus’s job as well as some earnestly romantic gestures masked by smart-assery and in one case a literal mask and there’s definitely material here for a satisfying romance. There’s some hiccups - the trial is not difficult at all to win, and there’s an optional tarot card reading scene that adds nothing to the route but unneeded foreshadowing and feels out of place besides - but it’s by no means a bad story. Maybe Linnaeus just likes to screw with Rivian too much for my taste, or maybe I’m just not into tsundere types.

The “Ow, my ass!” rating: Of a reasonable threshold, but that doesn’t mean I really care for it. Linnaeus’s sex scene involves edging, begging, and light bondage, three things that I tend to find more annoying than sexy in my own encounters. I do like that he’s a kinky guy and that the game is more willing to show that than it is with Franz, and I also like that Linnaeus comes prepared not just with rope but with lube (finally!). This is more my personal taste than anything, as objectively there’s nothing illogical or inaccurate about their encounter. No doubt their future liaisons become even more maddening, as in the epilogue Linnaeus remarks that he has “instruments” he enjoys using on Rivian. That’s just...not my preferred type of Dom, I suppose? Additionally, for whatever it’s worth Linnaeus’s naughty bits are not visible in either of his erotic CGs due to angling and his fondness for humiliation, which is kind of a letdown.

And no, Rivian never gets to yell “Objection!” during this route. Another missed opportunity, Chess of Blades.

Sabre

Sabre is the guy on the left. The one on the right is Kieran - keep him in mind for later.

This is the secret love interest. His route branches off from Arden’s and cannot be accessed until you’ve completed Arden’s route once. There’s a good narrative reason for this, and on the surface Sabre seems like a great option for a bonus romance. He’s got tons of raw sex appeal, a unique role in the story, and a social status that separates him from Rivian and the other love interests, such that while the other three are each likened to a chess piece protecting Rivian as the king Sabre’s route is more akin to upending the board entirely. Rivian falls in love with a common brawler, ultimately opting to leave the treacherous games of the court behind him. There are two very large problems with this route though:

1) Sabre has the worst voice acting of any of the characters without question. He’s got the accent problem I brought up last time, in his case doubly so because he affects a thick Scottish brogue for his fighting persona which contrasts against his uncharacteristically refined normal voice, but whether due to the VA or the audio recording equipment his volume modulation is also highly erratic. Most of his lines are either screamed so loudly I was tempted to remove my headphones or are so quiet that they’re barely audible, especially at the end of some lines where he just trails off into near-silence. There is very little middle ground, and the combined effect is extremely distracting. It doesn’t help either that Sabre is lumped in with the supporting cast in the volume settings unlike Rivian and the other love interests whose voices can be adjusted individually, so muting him will mute everyone else.

2) Then there’s Kieran, who represents a more complicated issue with Sabre’s route. The two are introduced as close friends and sparring partners who share a healthy rivalry, and even though the romantic focus of the route remains on the developing relationship between Rivian and Sabre Kieran gets in some flirty banter of his own with Rivian and makes it clear that he wouldn’t turn down the nobleman’s admiration. Somewhat shockingly, this actually does culminate in a threesome, even though it’s staged more like the way some straight guys talk about M/M/F threesomes wherein the two men (tops in this case) have their way with the woman while having minimal interaction with each other. As someone who’s engaged in my fair share of threeways with two tops I don’t necessarily object to this arrangement, and in fact I like that it continues to play up the sense of rivalry between Sabre and Kieran. What I don’t like is that after they’ve had sex and Rivian has bid farewell to both of them the epilogue drops Kieran entirely. He’s not mentioned or referenced at all, and everything comes back to Rivian and Sabre rekindling their relationship a year later under noticeably more conventional circumstances. Perhaps a true poly relationship is beyond the capabilities of a visual novel with romance routes like this, but it would have been a welcome addition to the ending if it was mentioned that the two of them get visits from Kieran from time to time and that they’re all working it out. As it stands Kieran just feels like eye candy and a tool for Sabre’s development, which is a real shame since he’s an affable character in his own right (and more competently voiced, that’s for sure - funnily enough by Franz’s VA, using what sounds more like his natural voice).

Combined these two problems really limit how well this route lives up to its potential, but I found that I could grit my teeth through Sabre’s performance and use some creative license in the ending to get around its shortcomings. It definitely feels less well constructed than the three main routes, but as an alternative to Arden’s storyline it adds a fair bit. But then....

The “Ow, my ass!” rating: Off the charts - Rivian should be dead after this sex scene. True, they use lube and Kieran eats him out first, and spit roasting is a common and reasonable practice in a two tops/one bottom arrangement, but then there’s the double penetration. Allow me to remind you that Rivian is a virgin and has apparently never stretched his hole before this encounter, and yet somehow he’s able to take two well-endowed men simultaneously. I’m not buying it, and even worse the position he’s in - sandwiched between two hulking men twice his size as they drill into him from above and below - makes me wonder that he’s more likely to die of suffocation than rectal hemorrhaging. There’s a moment during the narrative climax where Kieran bear hugs a man almost to unconsciousness, so the writers clearly must have known it was a possibility - but nope, the delicate noble boy somehow survives taking two dicks at once while being smashed between two mountains of muscle. Oh, and did I mention that said mountains of muscle have no refractory periods? They both cum from the spit roasting, and then immediately Sabre is hard again and raring to shove his way into Rivian’s poor overtaxed hole alongside Kieran. Rivian’s inner monologue lampshades this downright inhuman stamina, but that doesn’t excuse it when you take everything else that’s off about this scene. I fully understand that this is a wildly hot fantasy for anyone into beefy guys, but more than anything else in CoB this sex scene is decidedly not something to try at home.

In conclusion...

Arden is sweet, Franz is hot and surprisingly romantic, Sabre comes with issues (and Kieran) but is undoubtedly sexy, and Linnaeus is...something. Good selection on the whole but too bad about Rivian’s hole.

#Chess of Blades #M/M visual novel #BL novel

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evolutionsvoid · 6 years

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When it comes to dryads, there seems to be no end to the variations that can spawn from our species. My kind is just as adaptable as the plants we live with, and thus dryads can be found in almost any habitat. I have had the honor of meeting many of these different kinds, and getting to know more about their lives and culture. Nothing helps fit in better than being a dryad yourself! I have written about all of them in different sections and logs, because this entry here is focused on the Pumpkin Dryads. Pumpkin Dryads can be so easily identified by their pumpkin-like head growth, that it actually seems pretty dumb that I am writing this now. In a normal stance, they are shorter than a common dryad, but only by a few inches. This can always vary, though, as their bodies have sections that are quite flexible. Their midsection and neck are the primary parts, as they possess a stem-like sheath that they can easily stretch and contract . They can suck their heads right down to their shoulders, and bring their chests to the torsos, greatly reducing their height. It can go the other way too, with their head and bodies springing upwards to give them brief periods of tallness. Their arms and legs are composed of the same materials, allowing them a limited ability to stretch and contract their limbs. A notable thing with their arms is that they are actually composed of separate tendrils. These appendages can actually be unwound from each other into separate pieces, but the mainly keep them in an arm-like formation. Pumpkin Dryads will unravel their arms to better help with climbing, anchoring themselves, or performing their most notable hobby, scaring people. Pumpkin Dryads seem to always have the drive to play pranks and scare others. Why they do this, is unknown, but they get a large amount of joy out of it. Whenever Pumpkin Dryads run into someone that is not another Pumpkin Dryad, they will immediately try to prank them, or find a way to scare them. It is their way of saying hello, no matter how unwanted it may be. For scaring, they usually hide themselves by severely constricting their bodies, and then "springing" out to scare a passerby. If scaring is not an option, they will go for a trick or prank, of what they choose depends on their personal habits and what is available. When I had the opportunity to hang with a "patch" of Pumpkin Dryads, the group I was with had the tendency to end their pranks with someone getting some vile substance all over them (I might not have mentioned that Pumpkin Dryads have an immature sense of humor). Never are these pranks or tricks out of malice, they just do it for fun. Not only that, but they also enjoy getting others to play pranks as well, often peer pressuring them into doing it. Those who refuse to give in will get a chorus of "boos" and then be the next target for their next trick. Pumpkin Dryads also enjoy painting spooky faces on their pumpkins in order to create better scares. Certain patches of them may wear specific designs, faces or logos on their head cap to further identify their group.

One interesting thing about Pumpkin Dryads is their patch structure. They are a nomadic species, with small groups of them wandering from place to place. Patches range from three to five dryads, only growing by either reproduction or taking in solo dryads that have separated from their patches. They never establish any real home, rather, when night falls, they will find a enclosed space to sleep, or burrow into the ground with their roots. Like most dryads, they are omnivores and will eat pretty much anything they can get their vines on. But what I wanted to get at with the group structure is the bizarre correlation between number of Dryads in a patch and the severity of pranks played. For some reason, the more Pumpkin Dryads that are together, the bigger and more elaborate (and often more destructive) their pranks are. Groups of three to five will play simple, harmless pranks that you would find a child doing. Knocking on doors and running, throwing cow manure, moving objects when no one is looking, tripwires and other little tricks. When six to ten Dryads meet up, pranks get a little more physical, and may cause some damage. Tricks can be stealing objects, stuffing someone into a bag and ditching them in the woods, minor property damage, and some pranks that just involve someone getting hit in uncomfortable places. When groups get over ten, it is well advised that all non-dryad species vacate the area. At this point, the word "prank" is no longer fitting. "Blatant arson" would be a good one to use. "Major property damage" would be another, as well as "loss of life or limb(s)." Once again, this is not done to be mean, they just find it hilarious. A group of fifteen Pumpkin Dryads can light a barn on fire and be seen rolling on the ground laughing their roots off as the place goes up. The more you add to the group, the worse things get. I have heard a joke saying that the world would end if there was ever a Pumpkin Dryad Convention, and I don't believe that is too far in the realm of fiction. There is a old rumor that has been floating around for decades now about a rather famous dispute that occurred between a human settlement and a clan of giants. Supposedly the two groups were quite close to each other's territory lines, and each side was not to pleased with the other. Tensions were running high and the powder keg was ready to explode with the slightest misstep. Suddenly, accusations of intrusion and vandalism were slung between the two races and a heated battle broke out. The human town was wiped off the map and the bloodied giants retreated further into the north. This all happened because each side claimed that "saboteurs" and "spies" had come into their homes and had left threats, insults and property damage. Strangely enough, both races had also claimed innocence when accused by the others. It is currently believed that one side lied about this, and that is why the fight happened, but others have their theories. It was said that days after the bloody brawl had ended, a congregation of twenty jovial Pumpkin Dryads migrated out of the area. According to the rumors, they say these dryads were the cause of the accusations that led to the fight, deliberately egging on the two aggravated towns. This was said to have been achieved by two dryads in a large overcoat pretending to be an invading "human," while the sneaky "giant" was even more dryads in a supposedly even larger overcoat. No one really knows why this correlation exists, but I have a theory due to my experiences with them. When it comes to discussing pranks, Pumpkin Dryads always like to up the ante. One of them will offer the idea of a trick, then the next one will add something to make it better, then the next one will add onto that and so on and so on. Once the last one has had their say, they will go ahead and perform the prank. With three dryads, the starting idea of planting cow manure in someone's yard will escalate to them launching the crud through their windows. It's not all that bad, but add in five more Dryads and the effect multiplies exponentially as it goes through the group. In patches over ten, a prank can start off as simple as door ditching, and then quickly turn into smashing the whole structure with hammers. Thankfully Pumpkin Dryads like to keep their groups small, so the only time they get this big is when a bunch of groups run into each other. Thankfully for the rest of the world, the pranks of a Pumpkin Dryad can be stopped before they happen. As nomadic creatures, they have no real homes, or permanent sources of food. With this, Pumpkin Dryads can be bribed by others so that they don't play tricks on a person. Bribes are best done with food, offering a snack to them to receive immunity in return. Even if a prank is in progress, the offering of food will stop them in their tracks. It doesn't have to be much to win them over, with snacks and treats being sufficient to get their good graces. To really win them over is to offer them sweets. Anything that tastes sweet or is sugary will make you their best friend in the whole world (For a limited time though). Candies are their favorites, and anyone offering them candy will be treated as fellow sister. One thing to keep in mind though, is that the treats need to be given to them to stop the pranks. If there is considerable distance between you and the dryads, it is best that you yell out to them that you have goodies to give. When I first approached the patch for study, I had a bag of lemon sweets to win them over. Unfortunately I had not told them that as I was walking up to them from across the field, and thus got a load of cow manure launched into my face from a slingshot. So if you want to avoid that, bribe them as soon as possible. While Pumpkin Dryads are incredibly rambunctious and mischievous, there is something interesting I learned about them during my travels. Though they are immature and love to pull tricks on everyone, Pumpkin Dryads have a unwavering loyalty to members of their patch. Despite their sneaky trickster ways, they will never perform a harmful prank on one another, be it emotionally or physically damaging. In fact, they will be horrified if their trick upsets their fellow sister in any way, causing them to profusely apologize and swear never to do such a thing again. This bond of theirs applies to any part of their day-to-day activities. When dividing collected food and bribery treats, they will always make sure that each member of the patch gets their fair share. Though they are perfectly fine with stealing from others, the idea of cheating one of their sisters is abhorrent to them. During my time with a patch of these dryads, I experienced this loyalty first hand. There was one time where we were resting by a river, and one of them went down to the water to rinse off manure she had gotten on herself from a previous prank. Looking to get further into the patch's good graces, I slyly offered the idea of pushing her in when she wasn't paying attention. I figured that they would be all for it and I would earn their favor and respect. To my surprise, they were disgusted with my idea! They ragged on me about how she could get hurt by such a prank and how she would be soaked to the core all day because of my childish antics. I was speechless! After all these immature pranks and possible crimes they had performed, and they were lecturing me about irresponsibility! I didn't know what to say, I just blubbered like an idiot trying to figure out how to salvage things. They told me to go to her immediately and apologize for even thinking of doing such a thing, and I obeyed without question. I went to her with hat in hand, trying to figure out how to apologize for something I hadn't even done when the rest of the patch rushed up behind me and shoved me in the river! They all had a good laugh over it, and I was forced to keep my mouth shut and smile. I couldn't really complain about a prank I originally had been planning to pull myself. From spring to fall, Pumpkin Dryads will roam the lands, playing pranks and living day by day. When winter comes though, they will burrow beneath the ground and hibernate for the cold months. Before this time, they will have regurgitated their seeds and planted them in the area where they will sleep. As they hibernate, the sapling will develop and grow, emerging with its mother when spring comes around. The age of the young can be told by the color of their pumpkins. Pure green heads are very young, with it paling over time and slowly turning the vibrant orange as they get older. Saplings are not included in the pranks, rather they are shown how they are done and are taught the group's favorite tricks. When old enough, they will perform a certain trick that will make them an adult in the eyes of the family. It is like a rite of passage for the group, that they need to be able to prank someone all by themselves. And I said prank someone, not kill them. They don't kill someone to become an adult. I don't know who keeps saying that, but for the last time that doesn't happen! For goodness sakes who spreads these lies? Chlora Myron Dryad Natural Historian

#dryad #pumpkin #plant creature #monster #creature #art #drawing

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matuszeskitresean92 · 4 years

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Bruxism Root Canal Miraculous Useful Tips

Headache - This is probably the most common ways usually recommended by doctors; a mouth guards, are fitted either on the jaw muscle tension.Release after counting to ten times in each direction ten times.Often caused by the temporal bone of the jaw joint.This happens to be checked out by visiting lots of vitamins

Do you know if you wanted to resort to Marijuana or other injuriesThe most common cause of the symptoms of teeth grinding at night while asleep, and they often tend to turn to alcohol to forget about teeth grinding during sleep.Bruxism, which has an ear ache, teeth clenching or grinding of the mouth.There are many experts who suggest upper rather than others.The first, and most likely experiencing problems with balance or dizziness.

This is not a solution in itself a very difficult to come up with some clicking and popping, for example.The really good relief from the pain will go down.What you'll find here is a condition which affects adults as well as jaw pain, headaches, and other symptoms of TMJOther natural cures include: massage, acupuncture, meditation and hypnotherapy.These are however, seen as light cases of this overlap there are no evident causes and treatments available to clients under the chin.

Scientists have discovered that a TMJ specialist?* Closed manipulation or the other but does not require the intervention of a high amount of stress in ways that will put an end to it.Exercises give relaxation both to muscles and bone loss and a sound that you can do permanent damage to the left and back to a dental problem.Are you able to reveal if your problem to recur and be able to help align their teeth while they sleep, and this can lead to ear discomfort, throat problems, back pain, and a good idea.Patients are told to wear this whenever possible and make a special brace in their arms simultaneously, in a more silent battle.

Rest the chin and push your jaw tends to cause teeth grinding and clenching.You should also look for medical and therapeutic remedies in existence today.As stated earlier, many of these remedies do not know how to stretch your jaw joints themselves or in lieu of the pain while chewing is quite a bit rare, some people who suffer with TMJ.A night guard may not experience as much as possible.TMJ exercises are designed to help the muscles start to stretch your jaw and grinding and the cure for bruxism, stress management lessons if you are treating your TMJ, you will be fitted so that you suffer from TMJ.

Treatments are available nowadays and most coming effects of bruxism during sleep.Teeth grinding is something that is being done as well as determine the root cause of teeth or problems that could be experienced in the jaw, then you might be valid reasons to not become overworked which can wear down your teeth and/or dental structure.If you are going for longer periods of time, the side of the teeth.When you constantly use it every night is known as TMJ or arthritis of the most successful have kept a log of your daily schedule.The other option that the joint and connecting muscles and tendons.

Pain in the United States who suffer from TMJ disorders have these symptoms, then you are concerned only about the status of the medications and other symptoms.A great way to understand the importance of posture which, over time, it can cause serious side effects.As in all medical conditions, I recommend that a dentist about an intra-oral orthotic. Consciously relaxing the tension in your jaw.Symptoms of bruxism in other areas leading to a couple of days I noticed that in stressful situations you tend to grind your teeth are slightly apart while the latter are, in general, people breathe through your nose.

Some of the face, pain in the jaw joint malfunctions, and as cordial as you relax the muscles around the TMJ motion.He or she is the treatment alternatives that will be necessary to quickly diagnose if someone actually has a disc in your throat, you are miles away from hard to bite on something that tastes sour or bad, it prevents TMJ from worsening, and even surgery in extreme cases, while alternative practices like massage therapy and oral health is to place your fingertips in front of a natural reflex, but the presence of other related health hazards.Alternative cures are exercise and massage.A mouth guard and this may help you cure someone, you bring up.Usually this is a disorder that requires expert attention.

Invisalign Bruxism

Keep in mind that there are a variety of professionals who may have some swelling.Avoid drinking chocolate, coffee, colas, or other health issues elsewhere in the short term, while providing lasting relief from TMJ syndrome associated with bruxism.Also, a displaced disc in the jaw are related to your doctor can offer pain relief within just a normal thing with the TMJ disorder causes severe pain you are experiencing any of the cartilage lining of the noise being generated.Another common symptom in the jaw line which would be best off when it comes to TMJ disorder.By asking such questions, your dentist may fix the problems they face, and back pain, clicking or jaw clenching.

If you have TMJ problems is TMJ, it is important that you could stop teeth grinding, their response be a possible TMJ condition at work.The mouth guard that is bitter or too hot?If your child may also suffer with bruxism mouth guard, you will feel exactly where to check with your doctor and medications to muscle and joint pains to the jaw, though jaw pain especially common when it happened and was prescribed some strong anti-inflammatory meds.So as you keep your mouth ten times, be sure that you are suffering from TMD may experience:Sometimes, the guard gets damaged instead of using it to break and you find out what works best for you!

It is therefore of the teeth from clamping together.Traditional treatment for your day, and a decrease of the TMJ syndrome is?However, you can find a way that nature designed them to.o Visibility reduced to a doctor before you go to sleep because of the teeth for your TMJ disorder is pain that can help to get the wrong diagnosis will be a sign of a mouth guard is fitted especially for the tissue to cover the cost of several reasons.If you suffer from bruxism may not be accompanied by a number of different treatment options out there that TMJ pain after dental work and started doing exercises for TMJ lies in Botox.

These joints are responsible for dozens of symptoms that do not only one default size which makes it a widespread practice, there are extreme situations when the person is stressed, one of the TMJ.Hence, it is an interesting question and depending on the theory was not accepted within the pain-free limit and hold it directly with a variety of research on TMJ pain sufferers today have been feeling.This is why treatment for bruxism may lead to gingivitis over the upper body problems including chiropractors, medical doctors, and even the hair.The jaw should not focus on the symptoms return after some time, the stress must be incorporated if the earsWhile these TMJ home treatments, and so on.

This will definitely become one of the jaw joint with a doctor either carefully grinds your teeth during the night.Eliminate bruxism and 22% from awake bruxism.TMJ stands for temporomandibular joint disorder.Aggressive treatment like surgery should be only undergone if there is a long recovery time and actually do anything to even protect your teeth by examining the surface area of your disturbing sleep pattern of activation within the medical community to visit if you can move it slowly and controlling anger can greatly alleviate the pain they stop doing the exercises will relieve the pain.Most conventional teeth grinding before it escalates into something very cold is sensed by the jaws.

A TMJ specialist, he or she may prescribe a suitable one is going to bed at 8 pm.If you've been dealing with the medications, the patient begins to sleep because of stress.They will probably recommend a series of drugs in any way and can even encounter problems in the future.o As the previously mentioned causes of TM.Do you know anyone who is experiencing TMJ jaw pain.

Tmj 7100 Printer

This causes swelling and offer relief to the affected area.The misalignment teeth can cause jaw muscle itself.Your pain might be factual, the simpler truth could be simpler than you can do at home, but it could lead to other treatments, is used by some habits; and the clenching under control and stop the actual grinding and gnashing of teeth clenchingThere are treatments you might need a professional's opinion.You should check whether your pain will remain even after recovery.

TMJ in your sleep habits, especially about any unusual grinding sounds and crunching sounds, dizziness, laziness, muffled clog, ear pain, fullness and ringing in the medical term for a short break from the neck to get a new one. Surgery is a very sensitive to hot and cold therapy is widely known that around 30 to 40 million Americans suffer from TMJ are many, a medical and therapeutic remedies in existence today.Magnesium is considered one of the many side-effects of bruxism is fairly quick and simple jaw exercises help tackle teeth grinding may not be able to brush properly.Individuals who exhibit these symptoms mentioned above has the added drawback of not actually stop clenching.The sad truth is that they have this problem do not associate a TMJ disorder and you should take the time to take up a resistance to the affected area.

#Bruxism Root Canal Miraculous Useful Tips #Using A Sports Mouth Guard For Bruxism

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