#dev: oh. are you going to continue with the job then?

[nebulouswinds]

YouTube video entitled "why I stopped teaching Gen Z" that goes on to complain about disruption in the classroom and disrespect and refusal to do classwork

Ma'am the reason you stopped teaching Gen Z is because you teach middle grades and Gen Z is in high school at the earliest

The reason you quit teaching at all is because you don't like kids. You wanted compliant little machines to teach but got 10-12 year olds who are going thru a mass trauma event

#birch speaks #jesus fuck but why is it people who dont understand xhild dev/trauma/neurodivergency what go into teaching #and then complain like hell about...having children in their classrooms #(i know its the ableism) #additional complaints (that are stupid) included: continuing education days and in service days #there were some good complaints too but like. oh ho ho i dont want to have disruptive behaviours and just scream at them #and i. dont want to have to ever learn anything new about how to best do my job #are such bullshit complaints #and then the part that pissed me first: using gen z for a buzzword qhen its not correct #loved the comments that were like<babe you just needed more supports in the classroom. not your fault and not theirs> #i love gen alpha kids. theyre bright and shiny and so many of them reallydo want to learn but they need accommodations

[butterscotchpiesandguys]

Bad Boys Get More

I had been working my office job for years now, at least 3. I talked my way up and had been happily ready to be promoted. But last time someone got it over me, no big deal. I wasn't concerned. I mean he was here longer than even I was! So of course he did! And then this month I had applied and interviewed again for a manager spot. Even higher than I got before. Unfortunately... I had been passed up again.

This time was different though. This time was much much worse. It was some guy with tats all over his body. That wasn't the only problem either. Devin, the new "manager" and guy in question, just didn't show up to work some days. So I decided enough was enough and I tried to confront my boss about it. It was his decision ultimately.

"Hey." I said a bit annoyed, but trying to conceal it. "Mind if I have a piece of your time, Henry."

My boss looked at me, he was also a bit younger... not as young as me but not old old? Probably just about 40. "Yeah sure, what's it about." He said a bit plainly as he walked back into his office, me following.

"It's about Devin." He nodded, knowing what I was going to say. "Why was he chosen over me? I mean... he has such shit attendance! He barely even did his job!"

By now Henry was a bit upset, I had been talking about this for the past week to other co-workers and he had overheard it. This was his decision and now he'd let me know why. "You wanna know why Devin got the job instead of you? One simple reason. He's chill."

"What?"

He continued as if I hadn't said a word. "Devin's a cool guy, he's been here a little less than you, sure, but he won't complain when someone else gets the job instead of him." He looked at me and nodded, as if knowing something.

"But he hardly looks professional!" I blurted out.

"Neither do you, Colt." Colt? Who's Colt? "But don't worry, we don't discriminate here against what's on someone's body. Which by the way, what are all of yours about?" He pointed to my arm... what was happening to it?! Black writing was going down it and ink filled it up. Making images, Henry came over and looked at my arm.

"Oh that? That's a meaning between someone and... wait... no..." I tried to resist.

"No need... dang, what gym do you go to? I would ask the next question on our interview but you've worked here for a while and I do know you can lift more than 50 pounds now." I looked at my bulking up physique. I tried to stop it but it just looked like I was flexing more. I held back a chuckle.

"Well... I think the interview might be done. You have the job, unless you have questions for me."

"I-I... What did you do to me?!" I stood up and looked at my body. My clothes clung to every bit of me, an outline in my pants and pecs obvious.

"Why Colt, I just made you able to get the job you wanted. Trust me. We were going to give it to you anyways but with how you were acting? Devin put in a good word at least. Said all you needed to do was be more like him. So... there ya go." He stood up and shook my hand.

"You'll get used to your new life during your shift with Dev tonight, shouldn't take long. Tons of changes... hopefully you find them all for the better." Henry smirked as he walked out. Devin came into the room.

"Glad to see you finally got 'your' Position dude. We're gonna have fun tonight..."

#bulky #alpha jock #jock #jock bulge #jock tf #muscle #handsome #alpha male tf #alpha muscle #alpha man #alpha #mtm tf #male tf #muscle tf #male body swap #male body possession #male transformation #male to male #bad boy tf #bad boy #mental transformation #transformation #transform

[nihilnovisubsole]

i wasn't going to keep cluttering people's dashes up with my ffxiv stream-of-consciousness posts. but after a chance run-in with @arcanistvysoren in the dusk vigil one night, i was encouraged to make more. so, hey! heavensward! that was a lot!

one thing you can always count on final fantasy to do is give you leitmotifs. sad scene? leitmotif. climactic battle? leitmotif. quest accepted? leitmotif. hey, dragonsong is nice. why not?

it's difficult to overstate how habitually this game throws beautiful atmosphere at you and makes it look effortless. i know i keep repeating myself, but it keeps being true. the quiet desolation of riding through the coerthas western highlands at night with a blizzard battering you and fog obscuring the horizon. ough

i was looking forward to royce's role as a self-exiled ishgardian in this part of the story, and i was very much not let down. heavensward spends a lot of time emphasizing what an irreplaceable asset the warrior of light becomes to ishgard, so the bitter taste that she would have experienced during the early coerthas ARR quests rises to a nauseating pitch. oh, now the ishgardian authorities care. now they want her around. now they want to heap praise on her for pulling them out of the fire. when they did nothing to help save her squad five years ago and went damnatio memoriae on her when she vanished. they're lucky she's too heroic to let them burn.

i'm not exactly sure how she works through her feelings by the end. i'll have to think about it. write about it, maybe. we'll see.

the dragon plot is fine. it works! it's cool! it's all very mythic in scale and appropriately tragic. i'm just more drawn to the expansion's mundane side. it's easy for final fantasy to get carried away with itself when it's got aether and primals and multiverses flying around, so we need the periods where we deal with interpersonal conflict to keep it grounded and speak to lived human experience.

i mean, the windows into how ignorant ishgardian citizens are and how deep their religious indoctrination actually goes? that's meaty. a church covering up everything from their archbishop's love child to the history their core theology was founded on? that's the good stuff

god, it's hilarious how much estinien and aymeric were engineered in a lab for fans to fall in love with them. they're elves, they're tall, they have deep voices and piercing eyes and swooshy hair, they're brooding, they're burdened with great and terrible responsibility. estinien is beat-for-beat the "character 1" archetype of otome games: mysterious and mean, but defrosts over his story arc. you have dinner at aymeric's house! the dev team had to know that these fellows were going to have a following and leaned into it.

actually, wait, does aymeric fall into the "responsible authority figure" otome archetype? is haurchefant the "flirty, excitable younger guy" archetype? am i onto something here? pepesilvia.jpg

poor haurchefant ):

speaking of characters, cid is growing on me. i didn't pay much attention to him in ARR, but i like that he continues to play a major role. he's a fun guy to have around. royce draws heavily from cyan garamonde, who's a notorious technophobe, and i wonder whether she inherited some of that character DNA too. you are a good man and i trust you but do not dare augment my lance. more power means more parts to break. cold steel will never fail you

the vault and baelsar's wall are awesome as dungeons, but lol, lmao. there is something to be said for bark trigger volume. filthy rats! [crackling fireball noise] sickness must be purged! [explosion] filthy rats! [griffin sword swing] sloppyyy!! [another explosion] sickness must be purged!

i have finally found a part of the game i dislike: leap of faith. UGHHH. why am i good at every GATE except that one. UGHHH

oh i have THOUGHTS about that duel with raubahn

emmanellain's job is just beach

#ffxiv

[weaselandfriends]

So you are going to make a fanfic about Pokemon, huh.

Are you a pokemon fan? Or you known about the franchise enough? or is a case of you, waking up one day and thinking:" I'm going to make a Pokemon Fan-Fic!" And started to consume media from it in order to make a story?

I was a child in 1998.

During that initial invasion of Pokemon into the West, when Pokemon was far more than simply the "most profitable media property in the world" that it is today, when it was a tidal wave phenomenon that swept away an entire continent, I was something of a Pokemaniac. I had Blue Version, Red Version, Yellow Version, Pokemon Pinball, Pokemon Stadium, Pokemon Puzzle League, Hey You Pikachu. I had (and still have) every single card from the first three TGC sets, included the oh-so-vaunted holographic Charizard card. I had Pokemon figurines, I had toy Poke Balls, I had Pokemon stickers, I had Pokemon stamps, I had Pokemon clothes, I had Pokemon strategy guides, I had Pokemon choose your own adventure novels. I had the then-complete runs of both Pokemon Adventures and Electric Tale of Pikachu (I vastly preferred the latter). I would wake up early every day to watch the Pokemon anime on TV. I went to Pokemon The First Movie opening day and remember walking into a theater packed to the brim only to hear a man scream—to my delight and assuredly my mother's horror—"SEATS IN THE FRONT ROW!"

Of course, it's been 25 years since 1998. I've played most of the mainline games since then (GSC, RSE, DPP, SuMo, and recently SV). I've seen a few of the endless array of movies. For some reason I watched the entire SuMo anime. So yeah, I still like Pokemon.

Is it my favorite thing ever? No. The unfortunate reality is the games are pretty formulaic and often have questionable design choices. It's not like Mario or Zelda, other nostalgic Nintendo series, where the devs put their heart and soul into each new mainline installment.

But the fundamentally fascinating elements of its world continue to interest me. I've always seen the Pokemon world as a near-future nigh-utopia, clean and neat and orderly, with large swaths of the population free to pursue their hobbies rather than slave away at some useless job. I've always wanted to delve into such a world narratively, as opposed to the endless dystopias that seem to clog contemporary fiction.

Chicago was written as a kind of critical response to To the Stars, which is a utopian story that glosses over the steps taken to reach utopia. I wanted to peer more deeply at how a world akin to that in To the Stars might actually be created, the kind of political turmoil and upheaval required to eventually integrate the panacea to mankind's ill—magic—into functional society. A Pokemon story would instead be about the utopia itself. What does it mean for society that children are not simply allowed but encouraged to leave home at 10 to pursue a vague, unstructured path to become what is basically a competitive sports athlete? What has had to happen to society for such a thing to be not simply okay, but preferred? And what does it mean for that society's future development, especially considering a world where rapid evolution of generally symbiotic non-human creatures is possible? And why, in this peaceful and low-scarcity world, are there so many insane doomsday death cults essentially seeking to usher in the apocalypse?

There are two works of literature that particularly influenced the direction of my idea for a Pokemon fanfic. The first is Eyeless in Gaza (unfortunately topical title) by Aldous Huxley of Brave New World fame. Gaza is a mostly autobiographical story touching on a variety of topics, and one chapter near its end involves the main character traveling to Central America, where he meets a strange, idealistic man named Dr. Miller. Dr. Miller espouses many ideas about anthropology, especially ones critical of or antithetical to British imperialist pseudo-scientific anthropology: "An anthropologist is a person who studies men," he says, "but you prefer to deal with bugs. I'd call you an entomologist [...] the only remedy is for the bug-hunter to throw his bayonets away and treat the bugs as though they were human beings." But the most interesting thing he talks about, the thing that has stuck with me more than anything else in the otherwise mediocre novel, is soccer.

"But [football is] the greatest English contribution to civilization," said the doctor. "Much more important than parliamentary government, or steam engines, or Newton's Principia. More important even than English poetry. Poetry can never be a substitute for war and murder. Whereas games can be. A complete and genuine substitute."

Dr. Miller envisions a world where competitive sports replace the destructive and combative elements of humanity; he teaches soccer to small Mexican tribes as a way to settle their differences instead of war. What does a utopian society look like that has replaced conflict with competitive sport at a grand, worldwide scale? In our world, the Olympics are often spoken of in similar terms, but Pokemon appears to have actually accomplished this lofty goal, to the point that becoming a trainer at 10 is more important than standard education. By setting my fanfic at a prestigious, global tournament, I become perfectly posed to explore this question...

The other point of inspiration comes from Underground, Haruki Murakami's nonfiction account of the 1995 Tokyo sarin gas attacks committed by the cult Aum Shinrikyo. The book contains numerous interviews with both survivors of the attacks themselves and former members of the cult, and ends with Murakami's essay on how the Japanese social psyche allowed this event to occur. Describing the cult members he interviewed, he says:

To all of them I posed the same question, that is, whether they regretted having joined Aum. Almost everyone answered: "No, I have no regrets. I don't think those years were wasted." Why is that? The answer is simple—because in Aum they found a purity of purpose they could not find in ordinary society.

This idea of "purity of purpose unfound in ordinary society," what does that mean in a society like Pokemon's? In a utopian society, where nearly all needs are met? Where sports replaces conflict?

Anyway, I've started to veer off topic, so I'll cut it short there. I'm incredibly excited for this project, so I hope all of you decide to give it a read when I finish!

#writing #bavitz #pokemon #eyeless in gaza #underground

[penvisions]

dev celebrates 1 year of writing!

oh gosh, okay, queue emotional barrage of sappy words:

i returned to writing fic this time last year when the stress of moving back to tn and the trials of a new job position began to overwhelm me. tlou aired and i waited until episode four aired when i finally said to myself 'you loved the game, what are you waiting for?' and binged it one day in bed. then each week, i returned to watch the new episode.

then the writing started. as a way to cope, as a way to comfort myself, as a way to escape the weirdness that had seeped into my every waking moment. i was so scared to publish anything because there are so many countless talented and amazing people in this fandom and i was worried i wouldn't be able to find a place. i'm still struggling with that, but i'm here.

i'm here and i'm proud of the fics i've created, the worlds i've developed to explore parts of myself with the various character portrayed by pedrito. and i am so beyond thankful that the space is here for me to do that. even despite the recurring discourse and the errant hateful / diminishing anons. i'm here and i'm going to continue to be here and share the things i create. they bring me joy and a way to escape reality in a healthy way.

i am so thankful for every single person who has made me feel welcome, who has followed me back, who has commented / liked / shared anything i've put out. it means so much to me and i just have a lot of love for this space and the people in it ♡

#dev talks #personal #dev writes #pedro pascal #pedrito #fandom #pedro pascal fandom #tlou #the last of us #the last of us fandom #joel miller #triple frontier #frankie morales #narcos #javier peña #the mandalorian #din djarin #lovely moots 💕

[superthatguy62]

top 5 ffs?

Oh, hello.

Just as a warning, I have yet to go through the post 5 FF games to a significant degree, so I'll be including some spinoffs:

5: Final Fantasy Explorers

I haven't played... well, any Monster Hunter-type games, so FFE was my first taste of it, and you know what? I enjoyed it. I played it on single-player, so it was essentially "Beastmaster: The Game" and the bosses were still fun enough. Also it probably has one of my top 5 favorite Big Bridge remixes and some of the music (particularly the general boss theme and Odin's theme) are highlights for me.

4: Final Fantasy Tactics

It clears the 'higher-than-you'd-expect' hurdle of me being able to actually play a decent amount of a strategy game and is generally fun to boot. I got up to Chapter 3 before the random encounters started kicking my ass enough to discourage me from continuing (though the fights towards the end of chapter 2 really tested my patience), though said encounters didn't help by me playing the PSP version with its magic/animation slowdown. By all accounts, I should probably go for the GBA/DS games since those lack permadeath (albeit with a very different tone plotwise), but I still intend to try out the PS1 version of the first game and hopefully not grind myself into a corner.

3: Final Fantasy 2

Yes, this. FF2's 'quirky' and 'complicated', but I dig the story, the gameplay once your characters actually get built up and just general setting. It's also to read the supplementry material and other notes on what could have been: It really shows that the devs were putting some thought into the story and its a shame how some elements didn't translate properly. It's the type of game where it gets better the more you know of how it works. That said the dungeon design alone holds this back fiercely, especially in the PSP's Arcane Labyrinth (Darkness floor, my beloathed). Speaking of which, the bonus content for this game is probably some of the better such content of these re-releases.

2: Final Fantasy 3

Wow, what a surprise.

FF3 is basically the video game equivalent of "it could be that deep" in my eyes. Because you don't have any of those fancy "Materias", "GFs", Magicites" or even abilities to carry over like in FFV and FFT, you need to team build your way through whatever the game throws at you. Again, FF3 is one of those games that gets better when you have more an idea of what to expect: Getting thrown into a mini-dungeon early on is annoying, but its less so when you have mages prepared ahead of time to either magic their way through or play "pass the Fire Rod that the devs conveniently added". The world isn't fully developed, but the nuggets you can find are interesting, especially the whole duality concept and the existence of the World of Darkness.

But this is also the same guy who has spent however many years obsessing over this game, so you know. Feel free to add some salt to this opinion.

As for why this isn't higher, it's because my image of this game has been ruined by my obsession, and there I feel there is no "definitive" version. All three versions are playable (yes, even the remake) and enjoyable (yes, even the remake), but all have enough pros and cons that I can't fully say one is better than the others. It's the kind of game that feels like it has yet to reach its full potential and I unfortunately don't think there are many people, at least in the west, who would care even if it did. 3's always been the overshadowed game. After all, FF5 is right there. And, oh hey, speaking of...

1: Final Fantasy 5:

Not quite a basic answer, but still a not-uncommon one, I feel. I was very late to the FF5 party, only playing it when the PR came out and not even experiencing it through osmosis like I did with FF6, and while my obsession with 3 means that it will never overcome that bias, I can easily see why people consider it to be the gameplay peak of the Nintendo-era, if not 6. It builds on what 1 and 3 started and the job combos can be fun to play with. That said, I'll admit that part of my ranking it so high is a particularly impressive mod known as "Custom Classes", which allows you to swap out basically all of the commands, meaning that you can carry over more than one skill between jobs. I haven't finished a full playthrough of CC yet, but between that and the reasons I gave for FF3, I'll be willing to give the edge to 5 over it.

Also, 5 gave us Gilgamesh and ExDeath (and indirectly eScape, and therefore The Twinning).

Honorable Mentions:

Dissidia (012): I don't know how to feel about this game. Settingwise: I love the ways it expands the FF1 mythos, but I hate how WoL is a manikin and what that implies for the rest of the FF1 party. It gave me my favorite portrayal of Garland, but it also gave me Onion Knight, whom I resent for sidelining Luneth's party in later crossovers. Even gameplaywise, I like the general gameplay, at least on paper, but I think I get far frustrated with it more than I would with a normal fighting game. Yet, I keep playing or get the urge to keep playing. Maybe it deserves to be on the list? Maybe it doesn't?

Final Fantasy VIII: I haven't gotten far in FFVIII (I finished the Dollet mission) but what I've played so far feels promising as far as my first PS1-era FF goes (some perfectionism on my part aside). Junctioning is an 'interesting' mechanic, but I think I like it. I need to get the hang of Triple Triad, but I can understand how people get hooked on it.

Final Fantasy Dimensions: Albeit with the mother of all asterisks: This is here mostly for the 'idea' than the execution right now. Like the other FFT games, I do have it ready for play, I just haven't gotten around to it, because when I play games on my phone, it's usually the gatchas that I'm stockholm syndrome'd to playing right now and it's rare for me to not be playing at least 2 at a time. At some point I do want to get around to actually playing it, but until it gets like a steam release or something, it'll be one of those "get to it eventually" type games.

Final Fantasy: Admittedly, it has been ages since I played through FF1 (relatively speaking) compared to every other game on this list aside from FFE, so I don't know how much mention it merits. But I'll put it here anyway.

#asks #Final Fantasy #opinions

[giggly-squiggily]

HELLO friendo, how have you beeeen? i hope you're doing amazing!! 💛

noww i saw your requests were open? 👀 unfortunately i'm completely unfamiliar with all of the new fandoms so uhm hi it's me and my endless haikyuu lee kuroo requests again ^^'

i'm not sure if i requested it from you before but. matsukuro. light of my life. there's not enough for my insatiable rare pair heart so i thought maybe a little thing with them?

i feel like kuroo is that kind of person who comments on movies while watching yknow and let's be honest mattsun is probably into weird mindfucker-ish low quality movies. ofc kuroo watches them with him from time to time (the things we do for love lol) but every time every now and then he can't help but try to solve the age old mystery: "is this a mindfuck on purpose or does it just straight up not make sense?" let's just say mattsun ist not too amused (all in good fun ofc)

as always: if you don't want to write it or don't feel comfortable, no worries at all!!

have a lovely day 💛💛

KJEKJRLEKJRJKEJK YES! Oh my goodness, hi friend! :D I hope you're doing well! My goodness, I'm obsessed with this prompt aljerjkajkrjk Kuroo is living his Movie Reviewer life to Mattsun's annoyance ajrejarjaekr I've gotcha covered!

Cloud 9 (Taglist Peeps)

@thatbigbisexual29 @duckymcdoorknob,

“I don’t get it. Am I supposed to get it?” Kuroo’s brows furrowed as he watched the screen before turning to his boyfriend. “How do you watch these things anyway- are you some sort of secret genius?”

“Kuroo.” Mattsun suppressed a sigh, leaning into his fist as he tried to focus on the movie. “We’re not even halfway through.”

“That’s my point; it’s already confusing just 20 minutes in, and I still don’t know what’s going on.” The brunette pouted as he settled back, leaning into Mattsun for maximum comfort. “Are we supposed to root for the main character? She’s giving big Karen energy.”

“She’s the only one left on earth- who’s she gonna be a Karen to? The AI?” Mattsun snorted, pulling Kuroo closer and running his hand along his arm. “It’ll make sense eventually- just hang in there.”

“Fine…” Kuroo pouted, melting beneath the gentle touch. They sat in silent bliss.

For two minutes.

“Okay- now I’m really confused. What’s her endgame? If she’s trying to survive, she isn’t doing that great of a job. Who just walks into a cave without any sort of weapon or light source?”

“Kuroo.”

“She’s gonna die. I can feel it in my bones.”

“Please.”

“Watch- there’ll be a whole freaking bear in there- a bear in space-”

Mattsun shifted quickly. Suddenly Kuroo found himself with his back against the couch cushions, staring up at Mattsun’s raised brow. “Oo, is this the part where we ditch the movie and start making out?” He blew a few kisses up at him.

“No- well, not yet. This is the part where I tell you to shut that pretty mouth of yours up so we can watch the movie.” Mattsun leaned in so they were nose to nose, eyes glittering. “Before I shut it for you.”

A shiver of anticipation raced down Kuroo’s spine. “Do it then.” He smirked, grinning when Mattsun’s eyes flashed. “Shut me up, Mattsun~”

~~~

“Not what I meant, NOT WHAT I MEHAHHAHAN’T!” Kuroo all but shrieked, thrashing beneath Mattsun’s dancing fingers as they played against his ribs. In the background, the movie carried on, completely abandoned as Mattsun continued his playful assault.

“Oh no? That’s not what you meant? You said shut you up- so I am!” Mattsun teased softly, making Kuroo’s face flush an endearing shade of red as he worked the spot just beneath his ribcage. “You need to be more clear on what you mean next time, babe.”

“Sahahhahahahys the guy who dihihihihidn’t thehhehehell mehehehe he was gohoohohohnna tihihihickle- AHhahahhaha not thehehehehhere!” Kuroo’s hands shot down to his boyfriend’s wrists as the other gently massaged his hip, not quite pushing at the joint but simply holding it. “Coohohhohohme ohoohohohon!”

“What? I’m being nice- this isn’t even your worst spot.” Mattsun smirked a small devious little smile, leaning in so he was nose to nose with the other. “If I really wanted to, I’d go right for that pretty neck of yours. I do love how much you sound like a hyena when I tickle you there- it’s rather cute.”

“Shuhuhuhuhuhuht your mohohohohohohuth, you frehehehehehehaking vahhahhahahaampihihihihire! Ahehahahahahhaha!” Kuroo cackled, pushing at Mattsun’s face as he scrunched up, cheeks red and eyes misty. “Oohohohoho my gohohoohohd, whehehehen’d you gehhehehehet so tehehehehehahhahahasy?”

“Learned from the best.” Mattsun told him simply, leaning in to kiss his cheek. Then the side of his chin.

Then…

“AHEHAHHAHAHA! NOHOOOHHO, NOHOHOHOOHO WAHHAHAHAIT STAHAHHAHAHAHAP!” Kuroo all but screamed, torn between arching away and scrunching up as Mattsun’s lips found his neck, kissing and nuzzling. He grabbed the back of Mattsun’s hair- his shirt- he tried kicking him in the ass with his socked foot. Nothing worked; his boyfriend was a tickling monster! At this moment, he put Kuroo’s work to shame.

A difficult thing to do, he’d argue. Kuroo couldn’t help but be a little proud.

“Are you gonna stay quiet for the rest of the movie?” Mattsun asked between kisses, his hands slowing to a gentle trace as Kuroo wheezed beneath him.

“Yehehehhehs! Yehehehehhes, pleahahahhase now stahhahahap tihiihhiihckling mehehehehe!” Kuroo cried out, gasping for air when Mattsun did just that. Running a shaky hand through his bangs, he reached out and swatted the other boy’s shoulder. “Yohohohohu’re tehehehrrible!”

“I did warn you, didn’t I?” Mattsun reminded, remaining in his position lying across Kuroo’s supine form. He ran a hand along Kuroo’s flushed face, smiling when the other leaned into the touch. “I told you I’d shut you up.”

“I thoohohught you were gonna kiihihiss me.” Kuroo pouted, trying and failing to glare. It was impossible to stay mad at him when Mattsun was giving him those freaking eyes!

“Hm.” Was all he got. Before long, soft lips captured his own. Warmth spread down Kuroo’s body like a wave, making his toes curl and his heart beat rapidly against his ribs. “Better?”

“No. You stopped too early.” Kuroo raised his chin, his trademark grin cutting across his face despite how breathless he sounded. “Keep doing that and I’ll be as quiet as a mouse.”

“We’ll see.” Mattsun laughed against his mouth, kissing him again and again.

Thanks for reading!

#haikyuu!! #mattsukawa issei #kuroo tetsurou #mattsukuroo #mattsukawa x kuroo #fluff #tickle #tickle fic #movie nights #tickle fights #Kuroo's being extra #Mattsun's got strange taste #together they make the perfect couple akjreajkrkjaerkja #I love them ahhhhh~

[zorlok-if]

Dev Log — Sept 2nd

Hello everyone! 😊

It's been (checks notes) awhile, but I hope that you're all doing well. Quite a lot has happened since my last dev log, much of which really took a toll on my mental health and exacerbated some preexisting stuff. That sent me into a bad, lonely place for a bit but I finally got things back under control and felt like I was setting myself up for success, and then I got Covid. So, for the past five days I've mostly just been napping and sniffling, trying to get through isolation. I don't have a good transition, so... Update!

Zorlok Progress

Current word count for Chapter 1 is over 30,000 words. I wrote maybe 4,000 of those in the past two weeks (that is 100% an educated guess, but I think it's pretty accurate)

Wrote and began coding Dev's introduction along with planning for the second combat sequence in Chapter 1

Got first drafts done for what I'm calling "the chaotic break-in scene"—both variations of it, the "attic" path and the "turtle kid" path

Wrote several codex entries

Got the two new music tracks integrated perfectly. Check them out here: Schoolyard Spy and This Thing Crawling Inside both by Darren Curtis who created all of the music featured in Zorlok (now I just need to choose a combat track)

Figured out how to combine the game files with Tweego thanks to this tutorial

Finished implementing the prologue skip function (just skips the first two scenes, brings you to the summoning scene)

Added a "Limit graphic descriptions" switch to the Settings which (when enabled) makes descriptions of violence, body horror, gore, etc. shorter/less vivid; but that's something I'm considering "in testing" at this point

Next Goals

Finish rewriting the contract scene

Continue working on Chapter 1

Main Posts

This amazing art of EJ and Dev by @enspey

First choice of Chapter 1

Another Dev excerpt (kinda spicy)

This fun post about the Zorlok playlists

A recommended tag and another short story if you've been missing my content

A question about a possible feature

A vague update on my mental health

Other Stuff

Nothing. I'm just trying to do my homework and get over this illness

Oh, I did go a bit feral with the most recent D20 episode over on my main account. If you want to check that out, head over to @gamesbyalbie

That's all I can think of. Thanks as always for reading this and supporting this project (it means the world to me). Hope you have a good weekend!

- Albie 😊

PLAY ZORLOK | CAST | FAQ | NAV | ASK | LOGS

As a side note, I've had a number of people reach out to me to ask about updates/my timeline. To answer most of those questions, there is no timeline for when the next chapter will be released. I appreciate people wanting more Zorlok content (trust me, I do too) but I already write as much as I can and communicate as best as I'm able to (which I've kind of spoken about here). As a reminder, this is a hobby that I do in my free time, the amount of time I can invest is dependent on how much free time I have. Right now, between school and my job, that's very limited; plus, if the last month has taught me anything, it's that shit can happen at anytime and wildly interrupt your plans. My primary goal is always to make something I'm proud of and feel confident releasing. So, I won't be setting timelines or a release date until I know for sure that the chapter will be fully ready by then. As soon as I know when that is, I'll let you know. Again, thank you for your interest, but there's nothing else I can offer you on that topic.

#game development #dev log #interactive fiction #twine #twine game #update

[illegiblehandwriting1]

I feel the need to mention this, cuz I was thinking about it and I found it absolutely hilarious. (Skyward Sword spoilers but, c'mon, it's like 12 years old now.)

Time travel breaks a lot of things in the Zelda universe. The Hero of the Skies, miraculously, managed to keep an immense amount of continuity going. SkSw Link managed to not break time, but I can't help but notice that he broke something else.

He just so happened to break the fucking law of conservation of mass.

(putting a read more cuz this gets LONG)

How, you ask? It's pretty simple.

This fucking thing.

You can go back from the beginning of the game and see Zelda's crystal, Impa's bracelet, etc. That's perfect! I love it! It's amazing! Genius attention to detail from the devs. But this fucking pedestal does not exist until the end cutscene. It just shows up in the modern-day Sealed Temple - along with the Master Sword, which should be there as well - like "ayup, homies, how ya doing".

And Link doesn't bat an EYE.

Okay, fine. I'm fine with his reaction. That's his friend, and he's a bit busy. Besides, you cannot convince me that he actually paid attention in any science class ever.

But still. THAT'S NOT HOW PHYSICS WORKS.

However, fear not! I am not solely here to complain. I may have a solution.

You could say that there's not allowed to be two copies of the sacred sword in a time at the same time, but that's boring, right? That's just not any fun. I don't like that. So here's my solution.

The pedestal is movable. HEAR ME OUT, IT GETS BETTER.

So. here's my timeline of events.

After Demise is defeated/Link finally puts Fi to rest/Zelda tries to bring Impa with them/etc. the Gate of Time is broken, right? And it was probably young Impa that did that, right? She's already proven she can break a Gate in Lanayru, so she just waits for Link, Zelda, and Groose to go through and then she blows it up. Great. Awesome. Glad we can all agree on that.

So. Young Impa breaks the Gate of Time. She's probably already seen the Sealed Temple in modern times, right? She was there in that time anyway, might as well see how decrepit her house becomes. It can be a road trip.

Anyway.

So, she probably knows that the pedestal isn't there in modern times. So after she breaks the Gate, Impa just picks up the sword and the stone (you probably couldn't take them apart, after Link slammed Fi in there) and shoves it into her one (1) non-canonical broom cupboard. I'm sure the Sealed Temple has at LEAST one of those, right? And then it sits there. For thousands of years or however long it takes.

Anyway, when Zelda's taken by Ghirahim (In the present day, after Sky Keep) and Link and Groose run through the Gate to save her and stop Ghirahim and all that jazz (no, that's not really important, I'm sure they'll do fine and all. Kinda boring, though, in comparison to what IMPA's doing), the old lady, being her wonderful old lady self, just calmly walks over to the non-canonical closet and carefully puts the Master Sword and the rock pedestal back in its place like it's made of styrofoam. She's IMPA, after all, we stan buff old ladies here. She probably has, like, lines she drew on the floor, too, with a nice little outline where it should go. I feel like that's something she would do. Y'know, for continuity.

I firmly believe that was her last act as the Keeper of Time or whatever she was (I can't remember lmao, too lazy to go find it rn). She made sure all was right in the world of physics. And I love her for it.

Long story short, Link's lovable but oblivious, and Impa was the real unsung hero of the story. Thank her for all of your questions when you first noticed that the pedestal just spontaneously appeared.

Damn, she was so humble that she didn't even mention it when she died lmao. Just doing her job.

Consensus? Rip Impa. But I bet Hylia adores her for keeping the law of conservation of mass intact.

Oh wait, so THAT'S why she keeps coming back. She proved herself as smart. Hylia needs her to guide these dumbasses, and given that she used her entire life to serve, Impa was happy to oblige.

OHHHHHH. See, that makes a lot more sense.

Now, here's the real question. The original Beedle gave Link a sidequest and dropped him out of an airship.

So why does HE keep reappearing?

Anyway, thanks for reading my essay about a pointless subject lol.

#skyward sword #loz sksw #loz skyward sword #loz impa #specifically the sksw one #bro i love her so much #she's awesome #skyward sword spoilers #chicken scratch #law of conservation of mass

[rraaaarrl]

Design for a Marketing Agency is a Hellscape

I am once again, about to lose my goddamn mind. I just spent two hours double-checking some QA, because my junior designer is confused by the feedback he got on this web project. Basically some BS involving missing images, should not actually be that big a fucking deal, it is not at the client review phase yet, but it is a stupid large site. Both the dev and the PM were giving him conflicting requests & tagging me in every stupid interaction. I finally sorted it out, and created an exact numbers and list of images to keep and images to fucking yeet and replace. Because nobody wants to take the time and responsibility to make these decisions, guess what. Apparently this is now my job on top of everything else.

It 's just an unfortunate mix of the designer being super green, and an ESL dev. I have mentioned "please be direct and leave no room for ambiguity when communicating with her". She's a great dev actually, but flounders on large, content-heavy sites (we are talking 90+ pages with longform content). I have mentioned in the past, that maybe we should not hand off these large scale projects to her.

What really fukcing set me off is that the PM said our boss was concerned about the length of time the initial design and content collateral collection phase (one of my tasks where I basically hand hold the client to assess their needs to get a fucking website built, for the love of all that is holy just send me pics that were not shot with a potato and a decent logo file), he is always always wanting to trim time estimates, yet at the same time, preaches about QUALITY.

Like, bitch, do I need to whip out that venn diagram which illustrates: you can get it fast and cheap and shitty, or you can get it at a realistic timeline at a reasonable cost and have it be quality? It is always DESIGN TIME and QA TIME that they want to cut FIRST. Oh sure, give the PMs all the time in the world to have meetings and dick around with spreadsheets and decks, as they do fuck all, but eliminate time where it really matters (design, and dev).

So they need to stop tooting their horns about what a goddamn unicorn I am, if we are going to continue down this path, fuck you, pay me (more).

#im going to have a lil chat with my actual boss #that bitch pm is not my boss we are in lateral positions #oh man do I have petty grievances #txt post #tbd probably #long text post #my unhinged rantings #work strugglebus

[thevindicativevordan]

Comics this week ?

Superman ‘78: The Metal Curtain #2 - Was hoping the first issue was just a slow start, but the second issue suffers from all the same problems. Venditti continues to have a great handle on all the characters' voices, but everything is so decompressed. I breezed through this issue in under 5 minutes, there just isn't much actually here. Metallo is a one note Cold War era "bad Soviet" with no fleshing out whatsoever. Thus far it's a pretty straightforward story of the Soviets wanting to take Superman out because they hate America. Superman's only plot is that he wants to reveal himself to Lois (again) and he took her to meet his Kryptonian parents. It's retreading Superman II but I don't think it's fitting for this incarnation of Clark and Lois to get together. The All-Star route where they really want to, but they ran out of time because of Supes' bad decisions feels more fitting an ending for the Donnerverse characters.

Batman #140 - Was wondering when Failsafe would come back, so Zur uploaded himself into the robot that can beat the entire JL huh? Bruce just keeps fucking up these preptime plans. Zur breaks the Joker's back but doesn't kill him? Or is Zdarsky actually killing one of them off because he intends to address there being three? Art is great as always, Jimenez does a fantastic job mimicking the other art styles of the Zurs. That's one way to bring an end to the Commissioner Montaya plotline. Nobody seems to have liked her in that role so I don't think anyone will care when Savage takes the reigns. Feels like that's setting up Gordon to return as Commissioner in order to oust Savage.

Blue Beetle #4 - Are they actually going to pair Jaime with the Horizon alien? Wasn't expecting that, but she definitely seems to be getting in his head and pushing him towards the edge. Oh Jaime, going and asking someone with major supervillain vibes to help you kill someone like you is merely setting yourself up to get stabbed in the back. Starfire playing the mentor role may be an unorthodox choice, but I like Kory playing the big sister, and it's refreshing that while she doesn't endorse killing, she also won't jump to condemn Jaime for considering it either.

Beast World: Metropolis - The only issue of this event I plan to get and I only got it for the Williamson story which I enjoyed. Man I hope he can deliver a satisfying payoff to Brainiac because I’ve enjoyed all the teases.

Fantastic Four #14 - Alright I’m a little annoyed that we got blue balled with the return of the kids. Still was a good issue about the F4 dunking on evil Dev Patel.

#weekly reviews

[eirist]

Little Bits and Pieces of Heaven

TAKE ME TO HELL

One-shot #: 34

Disclaimer: One Piece (and its characters) belongs to Eiichiro Oda-sensei.

Reminder: I have no beta-reader. Any grammatical and spelling errors are solely mine.

Warning: OOC possible. One shot.

Rating: T

Note: Happy Halloween! Yes of course there will be a ZoNa Halloween-themed one-shot, Hurriedly written while watching Stardust. Take You to Hell is by Ava Max. Because seriously these two is a match made there. I hope you enjoy it.

Summary: Oh he had seen the devil alright. 

"It's just a story."

Usopp haughtily declared after a few minutes of silence (and after clearing his throat, for like a dozen times). “The-There’s probably no truth in it,” he continued stammering a little before catching himself lest his crewmates realized that he is trying so very hard to be brave.

“If that’s the case then why are your knees trembling?” Nami teased him, her grin catty as ever. She gave him a side-glance and snickered when she saw his legs shaking.

“They aren’t!” Usopp all but screeched at her and she just laughed at him.

They were exiting the Sunny’s galley… after lingering there after dinner to enjoy some additional after dinner dessert of cakes and drinks and some of Robin’s creepy island tales.

“You’re such a scaredy-cat,” Nami commented as she sized him up.

“Oh,” Usopp gasped at that. “And you’re not?”

“Nope.”

He was looking at her incredulously now. “How in the world did that happen? Can someone explain this miracle to me?!”

“Because Robin’s story is not true!” Nami exclaimed making him flinch.

“And how did you even know that it’s not?!”

The tinkling sound of a coffee cup being placed on its saucer caught their attention. Robin smiled amusedly at them from inside the galley before speaking up. “Like I said, it’s just a local folklore.” She gave the cowardly sniper an almost creepy smile and Usopp shuddered.

Nami rolled her eyes at the two. “See? It’s just a story. There is no devil lurking on this island or even anywhere, prancing about, visiting you while you sleep!”

“Probably because no one lived to tell the tale!” Usopp hissed at her.

Chopper who remained silent all-throughout Usopp’s outburst finally spoke up. “Ne, Nami. How sure are you that there is no devil, like Robin told us?”

Nami looked pityingly at the small reindeer beside her. She glanced at Robin, who smiled at her. “Because Chopper it’s just impossible. If there is, then this town’s island would be in a constant state of terror and panic instead of holding a costumed party in the town’s square later at midnight.”

“Oh.”

“And if there really is one, do you think he’ll survive the monsters of our crew? We’ve got our very own demon on board.”

“You’ve got a point,” Usopp puckered his face.

“Still such tales doesn’t come out of thin air,” Robin stirred her coffee with a small, intricately-engraved silver spoon. There was a mysterious smile on her lips that send shivers down Usopp spine all over again.

“Eh?” Chopper froze.

“Robin!” Nami groaned.

“I’m just stating facts. And I don’t mean to scare you Chopper.”

“Gosh I hate this kind of tales,” the sniper complained. “They give me nightmares.” He glared at Robin.

“Just don’t wet your bed later,” Sanji suddenly interjected from somewhere behind the kitchen counter, definitely making fun of him.  

“Excuse me!?” Usopp screeched as everyone burst into laughter. “You know I don’t do that!”

“Well…” the blond cook shrugged. “You seemed shaken up from Robin-chwan’s story.”

“Still I don’t wet the bed!” Usopp growled at him, peeking inside the galley to glare at chef. “Don’t go around spinning lies like that. That’s my job!”

“Oops. Sorry!”

“It’s just what the townsfolk here believe,” Robin spoke again, opening the book resting on the table near her. It was a bound collection of the island’s folklore. “Every island has their stories after all.”

“Plus, tonight is what they call Hallow’s eve,” she continued on, eyes crinkling with subdued mirth when Usopp started trembling again. “The one night they say the devil is freer to linger about.”

“Kyaaaaaah!” Usopp and Chopper hugged each other.

“Robin!” Nami shook her head.

Usopp suddenly pointed a finger at her.

“Why aren’t you scared Nami?!” He questioned her indignantly. “Why aren’t you cowering like us, like the coward that you really are!”

The orange-haired woman glowered at him. “Because the story’s obviously not true! I mean come on! How gullible can you get Usopp?”

“Hey I’m not gullible!” Usopp retorted, slumping back against the railing. “After everything we have encountered while sailing, the possibility is there! I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight.”

“Zoro! Zoro!” Chopper suddenly cried out, calling for the swordsman who just came out of the boys’ room. He jumped from the railing and immediately bounded towards the tall lad. “Can I sleep beside you tonight?” He asked the green-haired man with pleading eyes.

“Huh?” Was Zoro’s only reply as he stared at him.

Usopp followed suit, even tripping at his own feet as he approached Zoro. He clung onto him once he was near.  “Me too Zoro! Please?”

“Tch, what is this about? I’m on watch tonight.” Zoro grunted, shooting Usopp a displeased glance. He looked at the reindeer doctor before shifting his gaze at Nami.

“Did Robin tell them another of those creepy stories of her again?” He directed the question at the map-maker.

Nami nodded with a cheeky grin. “I guess Usopp and Chopper will be accompanying you on your watch.” She rested her arms on the railing and leaned forward to peer at him.

Usopp looked at her. “This is the best choice! In case the devil decides to visit us. We can sic our very own demon at him!”

“Good choice actually,” Sanji’s loud and laughing voice can be hear from the galley. “His ugly mug will scare the shit out of the devil himself.”

Zoro scowled at that. “Shut your trap ero-cook and just do the dishe!.” He shouted back and turned to glare at Usopp, who instantly murmured an apology at him. Then he scratched his head looking a bit irritated. “What the hell are you going on about Usopp?”

“Robin told us that the devil walks about at midnight to steal the souls of the innocents especially at a Hallow’s eve night like tonight!” Chopper explained.

“Devil?”

“Yeah!” Both Chopper and Usopp nodded.

Zoro went silent for a moment. His gaze darted from Usopp to Chopper who were both still clinging to him. Then Nami.

“Fine,” he finally relented with an annoyed sigh, not taking his eyes off the navigator. “You can join me in the nest.”

“Really?” The two younger lads squealed delightedly, surprised that Zoro agreed so easily. “Yes!!!” They both shouted in glee.

"Ok! It's time to hit the sack!" Usopp announced. He all but drag Zoro towards the ropes leading to the crow’s nest much to the katana wielder’s protest. “Have a good night Nami, Robin, Sanji!” He yelled as he pulled at the large man.

“Good night you guys!” Chopper echoed, pushing at Zoro’s legs to get him to move.

“Oi stop it you two!”

“Have a good sleep you guys!” Nami waved at them, watching with keen amusement as the two pushed and pulled Zoro with them.

“I know it’s just a legend and it’s not really true,” Usopp stated in a confident voice as they made their way across the lawn deck. He gave a nervous laugh as he scanned the island on the starboard side of the ship. “But still it’s better to be safe—”

"No you're wrong." Zoro grunted.

Usopp froze in his tracks and Chopper bumped into his leg.

“Huh? Usopp asked in a hushed tone, eyes widening as he and Chopper exchanged glances. 

"You mean Robin’s story is true?" Chopper inquired in a shaky voice. 

“Hnn…”

Usopp stared at him. Stared really hard. Zoro doesn’t believe in that kind of things, right? He is one of the most rational and practical person on their ship.

So why?

"You mean you believe it? And you've seen it?" Usopp voice was the softest of whispers. “The devil?”

Zoro looked at him straight in the eye.

“Yeah.”

“Maybe you’re just… drunk?”

“I’m not.”

The swordsman didn’t bother to elaborate anymore. Instead, he just continued making his way to the rope ladder leading to the crow’s nest, climbing it and leaving Usopp and Chopper in a frenzy of excited and nervous chatter. 

Oh he had seen it—the devil from Robin’s story—in all its wickedness, in all its fiendishness. 

Its sole purpose is to wrap its vicious claws around you… grasping your mind, body and soul into its vile clutches.

He had seen the devil.

With its long hair, the color reminiscent of the fires of hell where it had come from. Its eyes, an endless pool of evil that would get you under its control.

Its smile—beguiling, captivating... 

He looked towards the galley and his gaze met that of Nami’s—who was still leaning at the railing; a smirk gracing her lips, watching them… watching him intently.

Oh he had seen the devil alright. 

It comes for him at night.  

#zoro x nami #ZoNa #zonami #zonalove #zona halloween fic #zona one-shot #zona fanfiction #zoro nami fanfiction #roronoa zoro #nami

[stealthnoodle]

We're Fucking That Fish Again: Let's Play Tears of the Kingdom

It's getting hot in here (by which I mean I cleared the Fire Temple and found the Zoras.)

Well, it's happened. I've caved. I'm doing the goddamn Fire Temple. I hope you're happy, big son.

…And now I've DOUBLE caved. I'm wearing fireproof pants instead of my cute puffy pink ones. Don't look below my waist. Avert your eyes from my leggy shame:

(I will never cave on my fancy hat and bare chest.)

I get the sense that I'm subverting some puzzles in the Fire Temples with my sheer determination to scale every wall and swim up through every ceiling, but it's my prerogative to work harder, not smarter, okay

At this point Yunobo's unshakeable belief that the thing-in-Zelda's-body is in peril and requires rescuing is extremely funny to me. My boy could see her holding up a bank and be like, "Oh no! We have to save Princess Zelda from that gun in her hand!"

Marbled Gohma is giving me a taste of my own carpet-bombing medicine and I DO NOT CARE FOR IT

Oh fuck when I try to load a bomb arrow it IMMEDIATELY blows up in my face

This boss is a trap set for me, specifically

UGH I had to beat it by WHACKING it with a MELEE weapon like an ANIMAL

Damn, ancestor Goron has a cool mask, too! Like a big ol' toothy fish. I really hope this ends with my ass getting Majora'd. Or a big Good Masks vs. Evil Masks showdown where I get to be a jumbo-sized Fierce Deity. Fly me to the moon, please and thank you

Zelda continues to be the busiest and least temporally deferential time traveler since Lucca Ashtear

I got a fist bump and a gay little thumb ring, which is great, but the latest magatama is on Yunobo's belt instead of in my mouth, and that continues to be bullshit

I'm sorry, this quest is about me convincing people NOT to do their job in their underpants? No one has ever been more poorly suited to a task.

Every time I see Link's natural hair I am briefly disoriented

CAN'T RELATE:

My post-temple wanderings have brought me to the first Zora I've seen all game! I threw some wet fruit at him and learned how to clean up sludge. I'm gonna Captain Planet my way through that shit from now on

EXCUSE ME WHAT AM I LOOKING AT

DID YOU LITERALLY BUILD A STATUE OF LINK RIDING SIDON AND TUGGING ON THE EQUIVALENT OF HIS HAIR

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Holy shit holy shit and the Zora showing it off to me is his fiancée???

Am I being invited to a very wet threeway

Link just spurted all over a statue of himself barebacking her betrothed and she's like, oh, you should go talk to him and then come find me, wink! What is happening

Lol I just found Sidon and apparently the dynamic at play here is more Yona attempting to drum up interest from Sidon by inviting Link into their sex life. I am scarcely exaggerating when I paraphrase Sidon's dialogue as, "Greetings, my beloved friend! My most cherished bosom companion! I have longed after you and rejoice in gazing upon you at last! …Oh, my fiancée? Yes, I suppose I am to be wed. Nice girl, we grew up together, drifted apart, you know how it goes. Anyway, is there literally anything I can do for you, light of my life?"

I am NOT KIDDING:

Bless the devs who chose to carry on Link's fine fish-fucking tradition, they are the horny heroes we need

I have a hit a wall of untranslatable slab so I am zipping off elsewhere

Let the record show that just as I will fall for every assassin disguised as a researcher underground, so will I pick up a suspicious bunch of bananas in a field where bananas can't grow and be shocked when they are an assassin's trap

#stealthnoodle plays loz: tears of the kingdom #tears of the kingdom #totk spoilers #yes... ha ha ha... yes! #i am swiftly descending into sex jokes #in my defense i am absolutely being baited #(sorry not sorry for that fish pun) #dammit i just realized i forget to change back into my good pants

[risu5waffles]

Ope. Another (ten) Shrimps on Barbie

Did you know the flamebreathing bartender Cenobite from Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth was also named Barbie? Probably not, 'cause that guy suuuucked. Not as bad as that goof-ass camerahead guy, but still.

Anyhoot.

Oh my gods. The tile card says LBP3, and this is totally an LBP2 level. Now i need to crawl in my hole of shame. This one was pretty fine, and i had a good enough time wiv it. i kind of feel like the environment looks a bit better the less of the background is shown. It's a touch too empty to be used as more than an accent point, at least the area of it that this level uses. Those winchy grab pads were pretty cool though. They get a little wonky at times, but, if i'm being honest, i never got them to work quite right myself either, so i feel bad docking points. All in all, not exactly a standout level, but a nice one to go through all the same.

This one was a lot of fun, and it picked up a team pick pretty shortly after publish, which it deserved, but, like, Sumo could have waited a day or so so my video would have come out first, you know? i really like the Seaside Surprise pack, it's got a whole chunk of good materials and decorations, even if i'm not the biggest fan of the music. Also it's a totally original (as in unlicensed) thing, so no worries about it getting delisted as long as the game itself is still up. Would i be happier if we didn't have to buy building materials? Sure would; but i recognize even wiv an unrushed game, there's no way a dev could get everything in there, and at least the kits have been robust, largely sparing (as opposed to the costumes. Too damned many of those), and fairly cheap. i want to give a special shoutout to AlphabetGoo for trying to implement the old Super Mario World flip to the backside of the fencing. That was actually kind of nostalgic. They didn't pull it off perfect, since it'd be really difficult to get the fence itself to rotate (you could do it wiv a decoration rotator, having the actual climbable material invisible, but i'm not sure if there's any decoration that approximates the look here. Certainly not one that would blend seamlessly wiv the rest of the set up). This whole level was a good time, and the race was actually fun and pretty well paced.

This one's just super charming. rainrainrain did a great job getting the feel of the tavern sections, and there are a lot of little, neat interactable elements. The circus show at the end comes a bit out of left field, but i'm more than willing to forgive it, because it was (a) fun, and (b) a good continuation of the charming atmosphere of the earlier sections. The tightrope bit was really keen, too! i wish i had cottoned earlier to what the meter meant, tho'; i probably could have gotten an ace on this level otherwise.

We talked about Winterland a few days back. If you missed it, i kindly ask you to get thee to the archives. Typing up ten of these spot reviews takes a little brainpower, and i'll skimp where i can.

A bit of a bittersweet gallery here, the creator saying goodbye to their Japanese friends when the Jside servers got shut down. i saw a fair number of goodbye levels and messages from the Japanese side of the LBP community, but it feels a bit rare to see one to the Jside players, so this was touching. i will never not be salty over how we just got tossed under the bus like that. i had the means (and for a brief window the money) to rebuild on a US account but i don't think that was particularly common among players here, and most of them are just gone from community. i know LBP was never a big seller here (might have helped if you fucking promoted it a little, Sony, you fucking jags), but the community was as dedicated as you'd find outside Japan, and some of the talent was just top notch. i've seldom run into such consistently good music and paint work. Saaa... it's always a good time to say fuck capitalism, but fuck capitalism.

This is a really cool, intricate level wiv lots of mechanical movement, which (doubly so since it's LBP2 played in LBP3) makes for a bit of a wonky experience. i think this play was actually my third or fourth, because mechanisms kept not engaging and it was softlocking the level. i really should have put together an outtakes video to show some of the breaks, but i was running around headless-chicken that weekend, so no dice. Sorry about that.

i wanted to like this one more than i did. It's quite ambitious for an LBP1 level, and a lot of work has gone into environmental shaping and gameplay, but... it just feels so draggy. Part of that, i think is the lighting. The level was just a touch too dark in general, and then you have lights just not working, which is not uncommon in LBP1 levels played in LBP3. But it adds up to taking a more plodding, searching pace when originally it was probably a bit zippier. Also there's that break at the end, and i feel like from the level progress that it was right at the end, where the doors just wouldn't open up. i tell you i was a little steamed after all the effort it took to get there.

i really liked this one. It's a pretty straight-forward race, but aside from one bit, it's fair and it manages to keep its pace throughout. Also it's nice, and bright, and visually easy to parse, even wiv all the bits of decoration in it. Also also, it uses the Blackboard material, and that is honestly one of the best in the game; it just has such a nice look and texture to it.

i was so disappointed by this one. It's not the level or creator's fault; Intangir85 tells us right off the chump that the level needs to be played natively in LBP2, but i figured i'd roll the dice and came up snake eyes. What we got to see, tho', is really really cool. The extra abilities are quite well-implemented considering how much of a pain in the butt it was to get that to work wiv LBP2 tech, and i am always going to be a sucker for clockwork. Do i not have the Clockwork Child tattooed on my shoulder? Yes, yes i do. i probably could have gotten the puzzle at the end if i were a little quicker thinking, but i got there in the end, which is my favourite kind of puzzle. Shame that that's where it chose to break on us. Ah well, that's how it shakes out sometimes.

i really liked this one, even if i was expecting a very different visual style based on the level badge. The look is pretty kludgy, but it's more than made up for by the whole Rube Goldbergian style gameplay. There are a couple of parts that are actually a little tricky, and i felt pretty good getting to the end, even if it does go on for maybe a section longer than it really needed to. Still, this one might be my favourite of the set.

And that's that. Ten more down and another i think eighteen in the pipe i think before my archives backlog runs out? Something like that. i've got my notes, but the lights are off, and the sun's gone down, and it's too dark in my room to check.

Y'all take care of yourselves wherever you are. i know things are rough for a lot of us, and they don't look to be easing up anytime soon, but we just go on, 'cause, i mean, what's the alternative? Don't know about you, but even as depressed as i get (and that's pretty damned depressed), i'm still heavily invested in being alive, and i hope you are too. Love ya. Stay safe.

#littlebigplanet #little big planet #lbp #lbp1 #lbp2 #lbp3 #just a tired little trans lass #Youtube

[silverdrive92]

I blame Jerry, again. F!Billy's default looks like a mess. Maybe his fashion choices for his children are bad considering his numerous mistakes with debt and jobs back in Fodlan. At least the GBA!Mage look is alive thanks to Soren.

LMAO.

Jeralt: Kid, I'm gonna need you to put on the Mage Shorts to pay my debt.

M!Byleth: Fuck my life...

I'm glad the Soren fans are getting more alts, but if they really want a groundbreaking alt for him, they'll continue to vote for him in CYL. It's the same for M!Byleth too. This fandom has a dumb habit of ruining whatever chances they have for Brave alts by going "Oh, they got an alt now, we should vote for someone else" and then regretting it.

Nobody should settle for mediocrity, yet this fandom is always setting themselves up for failure. They fail to realize that IntSys is watching and that their choices are what impact the Devs and their choices for the game.

#fire emblem heroes

[thelemmallama]

An exchange in the comment section of this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d9EuKdpA1U) video that got swallowed by youtube. I hate putting all that effort into a conversation only for it to all vanish into the void, so I'm logging it here:

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A 1 year ago (edited) To be honest this game has really interesting mechanics and art but I can't stand the yandere trope & I feel like this is building up to it. I think this game is just going to end up being demonizing or romanticizing of mental illness and neither of those are really good -_-

Edit: Reply on this comment gave me some more details and I am still a bit cautious, but open to seeing more of this game!

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B 1 year ago That's fair in my opinion, it also puts me off a bit, but at the same time I feel like properly handling those topics might be asking a but much from a game of this format.

Like, again, I completely understand where you are coming from, but from my perspective the devs where just trying to represent how things aren't all positive in that kind of scenario. I try to watch it under the assumption that people won't use it as a reference on how to handle that kind of struggle in real life, but it's also perfectly reasonable to not stand for that kind of oversimplification.

A 1 year ago If you can't properly handle sensitive issues like mental health in your game, then don't put it in there. They could've made a normal game about a girl living a double life as a streamer, or an emotionally complex game with serious ups and downs. But the in-between is extremely dangerous because kids see stuff like this and grow to romanticize it. Regardless of the dev's intentions, it's irresponsible at the least.

B 1 year ago fair

B 1 year ago Hey I don't know if you still care about this conversation but I looked a bit more into this game and there's some things I want to talk about but they involve spoilers so read it if you wish to.

Spoilers below: . . .

After watching all of the endings I don't feel like this game romanticized or demonizes mental illnesses. It's a cautionary tale about just how unhealthy the "streamer" mindset can be where what at first glance seemed like an "in between" is actually the game luring in people that are interested in that kind of thing and show them just how bad it can be.

Sure, the game never really teaches how to actually deal with her mental health issues, but what it does show is that using a search for popularity and higher numbers as a coping mechanism really isn't the solution.

As for the endings themselves, they vary a lot, from her overworking herself, getting addicted and even committing suicide to more basic/joke ones like her living a normal life in a job she hates or her simply dumping you for a streamer with a horse head, the consistent theme is that she is either very unhappy or pretty much went insane. None of the endings act like she doesn't have mental issues, and none of the endings present anything she does as a solution, as again, even in the ones where she is supposedly happy it is clear that she is far from okay. The "true ending" doesn't really focus much on her mental health as she simply decides to try to make her own decisions and once she realizes she doesn't need to depend on you she removes all options in the game except turning it off and you can't play again, similar to how Doki Doki Literature Club corrupts itself at completion.

So yeah, it's a cautionary tale, doesn't teach how to deal with psychological issues, just that the "streamer mindset" can cause and intensify many of them. Probably could have executed some aspects better, then again it is kind of trying to appear simple at the start.

A 1 year ago Oh ok, thank you for this info! This does sound a lot better than I was expecting, if CMC decides to continue this playthrough I might give it more of a chance :]

@crapshoot 17 hours ago Ehhhh … I mean, a lot of people have mental health issues and want to write/make stuff about it, but have impostor syndrome ("am I actually struggling or am I just romanticizing it/using it as an aesthetic?"), exp. with all the accusations floating around about ppl faking mental illness for attention.

Plus it's hard to be vulnerable and take yourself seriously; people do this kind of in-between stuff as a coping mechanism, kind of like how people make "jokes" about serious stuff that aren't really jokes.

That's not to say media is beyond criticism and we can totally point out demonizing/romanticizing narratives and explain why a particular work handles a sensitive issue poorly, but "if you can't, then don't" is harmful imo. Even if you don't see it as problematic censorship, it often ends up silencing all the wrong people.

A 17 hours ago @crapshoot @crapshoot Hi! This comment is a bit old & I do agree with a lot of the things you mentioned. I also struggle w/mental health & seeing it poorly portrayed frustrates me, which was ultimately what led me to making this comment. I see how my phrasing was harsh, I am personally of the belief that writing from experience can pretty much never be "incorrect", and I do not know if this game was created based out of personal experience. I dislike this game for personal reasons at this point, some of which relate to the portrayal of mental health, and some do not.

A 16 hours ago @crapshoot Like my problem with this game isn't that it shows the "gritty reality" of mental health issues or is like a unique perspective on a girl's declining mental state that's unsavory to the general public. It's a tropey yandere game w/semi-unique mechanics that's draped in a cutesy style. Yandere as a genre is based on stigmatized depictions of personality disorders. To me, that sort of thing is much different than someone creating a piece of media from lived experience.

@crapshoot 16 hours ago I guess my point was not every actually knows they're writing from personal experience. Like people legitimately think "do I actually want to die or do I just want to be edgy?"/"am I actually struggling to do things because I lack energy or have executive dysfunction, or am I just lazy?". Even very basic seeming things like "I'm feeling happy/sad/angry right now", are things some people question.

And again, some people lean into tropes because they're afraid of being vulnerable, because it makes them open to accusations of "taking themselves too seriously". Being a tropey yandere game is not in itself proof that something is not written from lived experience.

(Of course, tropey yandere games do often portray things in a harmful way; I'm not disputing that. And I haven't gotten very far into the LP yet, so I'm certainly not defending this particular game that I don't know much about. I'm just criticizing the reasoning of your comment; you can be right about this game for the wrong reasons. I never thought your problem with this game is that it shows the "gritty reality" of mental health issues or is like a unique perspective on a girl's declining mental state that's unsavory to the general public.)

I hope I'm not coming across as invalidating your frustration with your experiences of mental health struggles being portrayed poorly; again, I'm in favour of criticizing media depictions. I just think certain styles of reasoning are harmful to other people with other mental health struggles that are perhaps different from your own. (But yeah, not everyone can confidently say "I struggle with mental health". I'm not sure if you're picking up on the vagueing here; I feel like I'm being pretty heavy-handed but idk -- it's not about you anyway so maybe it's better if you didn't pick up on it :'D)

A 9 hours ago @crapshoot Okay well I get a lot about what you're saying but the fact that you had to end that w/invalidating my mental health issues is.. shitty & doesn't rlly make me wanna engage with this conversation anymore. You do not know anything about me nor my lived experiences, don't speak like you do. Just because I can confidently say in this moment that I have struggles doesn't mean I always do.

@crapshoot 8 minutes ago (edited) I didn't mean to imply I knew anything about you or your lived experiences, and I'm sorry I came across that way:

When I said "other people with other mental health struggles that are perhaps different from your own", I did actually mean perhaps different, not definitely different; it was not meant to preclude you having the same issues.

Even if you can always confidently say you have struggles, that doesn't invalidate the struggles themselves.

And I did say I wasn't vaguing about you.

Your mental health issues are valid.

You don't have to continue this conversation further ofc; in case you're still reading though, if you sometimes struggle to say you have struggles, then you can understand why some people may feel the need to portray mental health issues in "jokey"/"tropey"/less straightforwardly serious ways, right?

#needy streamer overload #mental illness representation