#hilda just has the Steven Field

[lovegabe1999]

Trivia and reference Cuphead Comics season 1:

Against Elder Kettle's warnings, the brothers enter the Devil's Casino and begin playing craps. 

• It is possible to refer to The Cuphead Show season 3 episode 11,, The Devil and Ms. Chalice" when Cuphead mindlessly ran to the casino like it tempted him and Chalice and Mugman chase after him to stop him.

Cuphead seems to be based on Mickey Mouse and Mugman seems to be based on Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

Elder Kettle may based on the character Mr. Coffeepot from the 1935 Van Beuren cartoon Picnic Panic. Both characters even have cup-like children that they care for.

King Dice is heavily based on Cab Calloway, a famous American jazz singer who notably appeared Betty Boop cartoons with his songs.

• he was the Devil's right-hand man in the game, while in The Cuphead Show he was the Devil's number one

The Devil's design is based on the devil from "Hell's Bells", a short from Silly Symphonies.

•  He bears similarities to is Ursula from The Little Mermaid. He strikes deals with people just as Ursula strikes deals with merfolks. (Why do they keep contracts? They probably kicked his ass) Also, he said "Poor unfortunately soul" is referencing to Ursula's song "Poor Unfortunate Souls"

• He is inspired by Hades from Hercules. That's explain his quote "Going once... Going twice.".

• When the Devil is defeated by Cuphead and Mugman, he said "I hate cups" It's referencing to The Cuphead Show.

• In the finale fight, Devil call Henchman is referencing to the Cuphead Show, where starring Henchman, the Devil's assistant.

Legendary Chalice has a habit of being captured by the ghosts in mausoleums everytime. Shan Lee, Werner Werman and Goopy Le Grande telling their about mausoleums and powers named Super Arts.

• Why did they know? Because Goopy has hallucinations when he saw her. Shan Lee was curious about her. And Werner intends to kill her, but misses.

While many believe the names of the Root Pack are "Moe Tato", "Weepy", and "Psycarrot", these are unofficial names created by fans. But now they named their "Sal Spudder", "Ollie Bulb" and "Chauncey Chantenay".

The Root Pack may have been inspired by other anthropomorphic vegetables from cartoons such as The Tears of an Onion (1938) and The Fresh Vegetable Mystery (1939).

• In The Cuphead Show season 1 episode 7 "Root Pack", they are the main antagonists, because they sneak into Elder Kettle's shack, while Cuphead and Mugman have to look after his garden and then they eaten the shack's soil when the two cups catch them.

His name, Goopy Le Grande, means Goopy The Great in Italian.

• "Le Grande" is also a pun on "El Grande" (Spanish for "The Big") and "Le Grand" (French for "The Big").

Goopy Le Grande's design are homages to the Slime, a common enemy and the mascot of Dragon Quest, and cartoons such as Ub Iwer's Balloon Land. 

• Cuphead call him Rocky Balboa is referencing to Rocky Balboa, the main character from Rocky starring Sylvester Stallone.

Hilda Berg is connected to Betty Boop and Pearl from Steven Universe.

Her name is a pun on the Hindenburg, an infamous German zeppelin known for its destruction at New Jersey field in 1937.

• Hilda Berg makes an appearance in The Cuphead show season 2  epidoes 2 , "Charmed & Dangerous", where she as cameo. Whereas in Cuphead (my version), she knows them. Plus she knows astrology.

Cagney Carnation is tribute to famous animated flora from the 1932 Disney Silly Symphony cartoon Flowers and Trees through the 1930s and beyond. His first name came from the famous 1930s film star James Cagney.

• Cagney reminds of Flowey the Flower from game Undertale.

Cagney's idle animation in his first phase is a direct reference to the dancing style of a ghost in the 1930 Talkartoon "Swing You Sinner!"

Ribby and Croaks are based on Ryu and Ken from the Street Fighter series

Their color schemes may also have been inspired by the Frog and Toad children's stories by Arnold Lobel.

Ribby and Croaks may have been inspired by the Battletoads.

• Ribby and Croaks are supporting  and recurring characters in The Cuphead Show!. They were originally boxing champions, but their mother disapproved of it, since she hate to see her sons boxing each other. So that's why they wearing suits.

• They are the main antagonists in The Cuphead Show episode 3 " Ribby and Croaks". The funny thing is that they fight each other.

Djimmi is based off the Genie from the 1992 Disney film, Aladdin. Actually, some scenes (in my version) refer to Aladdin. For example, "I can't believe it. I'm losing to a cups". Also, Cuphead call him Robbie Williams, who voiced Gienie ( RIP Robbie Williams)

• Many also compare Djimmi to Patrick Star from SpongeBob SquarePants due to his facial expressions and shape.

The pipe in Djimmi's mouth is a mixture of the Calabash pipe (used by Sherlock Holmes portrayed by Basil Rathbone) and the Corncob pipe (commonly used by Popeye the Sailor in all of his cartoons).

Djimmi falls in love with Shan Lee. At first they're friends, but later they're couples.

Shan Lee is daughter of sun goddess. That means she is demigoddess. She prayed to the gods in a Chinese words.

She is inspired by fighting woman in fighter games such as Chun Li from Street Fighter or Li Mei from Mortal Kombat

• Her appearance resembles female Monk from Diablo 3.

Cuphead call her " Tigress". It doesn't bother her because:

• It symbolises bravery and strength, the tiger is known as the king of the beasts throughout Chinese culture.

• It's referencing to Tigress from Kung Fu Panda.

Her phase 2 with pose references to disney movie 1998  Mulan, where Mulan fighting Shan Yu.

Beppi's name is a reference to Tito Beppi, a clown portrayed by Lon Chaney in the 1928 film Laugh, Clown, Laugh.

• He reminds of Pennywise, the main antagonists of Stephen King's novel and Horror movie ,,It"

He said ,,Why so serious? " is refence to Dark Knight, when Joker say same.

Beppi is a homage to Fleischer's iconic character Koko the Clown of the Betty Boop cartoons and 1930s animation

Baroness Von Bon Bon seems to be inspired by the French queen Marie Antoinette. This is indicated by her utilization of her cake castle in her final phase, referencing the phrase "Let them eat cake".

Her name, Bon Bon, is used in various languages (like French or many Balkan countries) for candy.

She throws her head at Cuphead and Mugman could be a reference to The Queen Of Hearts in Alice In Wonderland. The Queen's popular quote is "Off with his/her head!"

• In The Cuphead Show season 2 episode 5 "Sweet Temptation" Baroness is main antagonist. Why? Because she is an evil, psychol and murderous individual that turns children who break her rules into candy so she can eat them. But in Cuphead ( my version) she is an sweet, beautiful, loving and a little aggressive and dramatic, who she is Ruler of Sugarland and Cuphead falls in love with her.

Baroness is inspired by Princess Bubblegum from Adventure Time.

• In The Cuphead Show, She very coincidentally resembles Mommy Long Legs from Poppy Playtime, as they both initially claim to help the protagonists but end up trying to kill them in the end.

Grim Matchstick was named after Grim Natwick, a legendary animator notable for his designing of Fleischer's Betty Boop and Disney's Snow White, with his stutter also being a direct reference to Natwick.

Grim's personality matches that of the Dragon from The Reluctant Dragon, as both characters are wanting to prove that they are friendly and yearn to gain acceptance into society among their peers.

• He also bears a resemblance to Taro from The 7th Voyage of Sinbad which is one of the creatures animated via stop-motion by Ray Harryhausen.

• Grim's facial structure, complete with a pointed muzzle, bears a small resemblance to that of Maleficent's dragon form the 1959 Disney film, Sleeping Beauty.

• He also bears a physical resemblance to Grimm from Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders.

His final, three-headed form is presumably based off of King Ghidorah from the Godzilla or the Hydra, a three-headed dragon from Greek mythology

Cuphead call him "Wawel Dragon". It's a famous dragon in Polish legend.

Grim have son.

• In The Cuphead Show Grim Matchstick is shown to have a child, implying that he might have a wife. Season 1 Episode 10 " Dangerous Mugman" Grim save his child from Porkrind ( How cute!)

Wally Warbles is inspired by the giant roc in Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor 

• Wally's name may be a reference to Walter Lantz, founder of Walter Lantz Productions and creator of Woody Woodpecker.

• Wally looks similar to the buzzards from the 1931 Silly Symphony cartoon The Cat's Out.

The vehicle that his son, Willy, uses has a similar appearance and model to Bowser Junior's clown car.

Penelope Peaowl's song " I don't want to miss a thing " is refence to Aerosmith, rock band who they singing that song.

Final phase her showtime, she resembles Harpy, a half-woman and half-bird from Greek mythology.

In knockout, her boa choking her is similar boa constrictor - a species of snake from the constrictor family, one of the representatives of the boa subfamily.

Cuphead jokingly says that she and Rumor are lesbians.They really aren't.

Werner Werman is inspired Mortimer Mouse from the 1936 Disney short Mickey's Rival.

Due to the nature of the battle and inclusion of Katzenwagen, Werner's boss fight is a reference to the iconic Tom and Jerry cartoons.

• Werner's screaming similar to the iconic screams of Tom

• In The Cuphead Show Season 2 Episode 10 " Rats All Folks!" is most likely a parody of Tom & Jerry. ( Wener Werman is the main antagonist in the episode . Also he is small)

Werner's colour scheme, the shape of his muzzle, and his habit of constructing machines make him similar to Wile E. Coyote from Looney Tunes.

He also seems to be very similar to Vladimir from Nickelodeon's My Life as Teenage Robot, as they're both villainous rats with heavy accents (German for Werner, and Russian for Vladimir), and they attack their foes by using various weapons and automatons (Werner using his own soup-can tank, and Vladimir using Jenny, albeit only in his debut episode).

Werner speaks German accent.

Captain Brineybeard is a direct reference to Bluto from Popeye.

Brineybeard lost his legs by Cala Maria ( Sea Gorgon) to save his daughter ( in my version)

• In The Cuphead Show season 2 episode 3 "A High Seas Adventure! " he as stone by Cala Maria lost his legs by Mugman ( by accident)

• He is madly in love with her ( Yup. He is simp)

Brineybeard's song ,"Yo, Ho, Ho (And a Bottle of Rum)" is refence to Treasure Island, where pirates singing that song.

Cala Maria was human, and she have job as archaeologist ( reference to Lara Croft from Tomb Raider), and then she was possessed by spirit and transformed to giant monster aka Sea Gorgon ( or Sea Beast in The Cuphead Show) referencing to Enchatress (June Moone), super villain from DC Comics.

• Luckey, she was back to normal by Dr Kahl.

Her have last name "Neptune", that reference to Neptune ( Poseidon), god of sea.

Her level name is incredibly similar to that of a level in the game Crash Bandicoot: Twinsanity, named High Sea Hi-Jinks.

She is most likely inspired by Ariel from Disney's The Little Mermaid, as evident to being both mermaids

• Her skin color is similar to that of Ursula from The Little Mermaid.

• Her electrocution is similar to the former's death, as when she is killed, her skeleton is also seen. Additionally, the eels helping her may be referencing Flotsam and Jetsam, two eels who act as Ursula's henchmen.

Cala Maria's second form is based on the infamous Gorgon Medusa from Greek mythology.

• The fact that this is an air battle against might be inspired by the battle with Medusa in chapter 9 of Kid Icarus: Uprising.

• Her floating head form in the final phase is a reference to Medusa being decapitated by Perseus in Greek mythology, which has also been referenced in other video games featuring Medusa, such as the Medusa Head, a recurring enemy and boss in the Castlevania series.

When transforming into her third phase, her body turns to stone and her arms fall off, making it resemble the famous statue, Venus de Milo.

She has a similar name and color pallete to Celia Mae from the Disney Pixar film Monsters Inc., another gorgon-based character who has snakes for hair.

Mugman falls in love with her.

• Cala Maria and Mugman being love interests in the latter's book in “The I Scream Man“ in The Cuphead Show Season 2 ep 6 "The I Scream Man"

Dr. Kahl was inspiration from other mad scientists in other platforming game franchises, such as Dr. Wily from Mega Man, Dr. Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog, or Dr. Neo Cortex from Crash Bandicoot.

His robot similar to the Iron Giant from The Iron Giant ( He haved GIANT, but now gave FRANK)

• Dr Kahl's phase of the fight seems to bear a strong resemblance to the battle with N. Gin from Crash Bandicoot: Warped.

The Robot's presentation is ancillary to Rayman 2 The Great Escape, where the Seller visits Razorbeard and introduces Grolgoth as the Pirate's solution to Rayman's problem.

The invention of the "Beauty Machine" refers to the video game Banjo Kazooie, this machine works and managed to make Cala beaty and normal.

Robot say "BITE MY SHINE METAL ASS" is refence to Futurama, when Bender say same.

Rumor Honeybottoms was inspired to Honey Woman, an unused boss character from Capcom's Mega Man 9.

Security Bee seems to be inspired by a policeman ant from the 1940 cartoon Ants in the Plants, as both have similar designs.

• His design may have been inspired by Buzz the Bee, the Honey Nut Cheerios mascot.

• Also inn The Cuphead Show!, there are multiple security bees, but these security bees come in both genders and their colour schemes appear more green-ish. Their presence may suggest that Rumor Honeybottoms may be present in some way.

Sally Stageplay may have been inspired by Sally Swing, a blonde character from Betty Boop. 

• She has a similar color scheme to Sally Brown from Peanuts, who also (albeit coincidentally) has her given name.

In Cuphead Show season  3 episode 3 "Cupstaged", Sally Stageplay enters the theater pretending to have rabies to demonstrate what acting is. ( I love Marcia Gay Harden, who she voiced Sally ! 💖)

The Phantom Express is an homage to the Ghost Train from Final Fantasy VI. A musical nod to this train is included in Railroad Wrath

• The background for this fight is inspired by the 1929 Disney cartoon The Skeleton Dance.

Cuphead said to the Devil ''We'll never turn to the dark side" is reference to Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

in the end Cuphead and Mugman married Baroness Von Bon Bon and Cala Maria ( In my version) this refers to the fanatic CupheadxBaroness and MugmanxCalaMaria ( I mean others prefer another relationship romantic, but for me...whatever. ) .

​

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#cuphead #cuphead game #cuphead comics #cuphead season 1

[crystalelemental]

PokeFair Select Scouts (January 2024)

If you have 5k paid gems to burn, you may be looking at these PokeFair Select Scouts like hey, this seems pretty worth it. A selection of anything in the Strike, Tech, or Support roles? Crazy. Some who don't spend routinely may be considered. But with only one pick, who is best to get?

Striker Pool Is it just me, or have we not gotten many Strikers lately? I feel like that's going to change with the introduction of High Score and all that, but it still feels Tech dominated.

SS Red - At this point, SS Red is kinda garbage. He can still get a general on-type job done but he's a shadow of his former self.

SS Hilda - Legitimately fantastic. If you somehow don't have Fire under control, this is how you get it under control. Hilda has brutal power, would definitely recommend.

Classic Blue - If you need Rock, just Tech for SS Diantha.

N - Not as good as he used to be.

Steven - Pretty sad overall.

Cynthia - Ground is a rare type, but she's only worth talking about at 3/5, and even then is a rare "wants 5/5 for the utility."

SS Cynthia - Having a 3-person run with Lucas and SS Leon. She's in the same boat as base Cynthia, too.

Emmet - See C!Blue.

Lance - Similar to Cynthia, but hard wants 5/5 to do like anything of value.

Alder - Bug is so hard to shop for. If you got Winter Viola, this is her best partner, otherwise he's tame Hyper Beam spam.

Palmer - Funny Numbers Man. I don't know how he holds up in 3k meta, but think about how much you like off-type, because his life is 100% off type.

SS Giovanni - None of his types are needed anymore. He's slow as dirt and I hate him.

Diantha - Not all that exceptional for Fairy damage anymore.

SS Lana - Honestly the most skippable Tapu. She doesn't mesh well with SS Lusamine at all, and I don't respect her damage output because she relies too heavily on SS Acerola for the impressive showcases.

Lysandre - Needs 5/5. No listen to me. It's that bad.

SS Lysandre - Powerhouse Water Striker with a nuke of a B Move. Very, very good, so long as he can burn.

Eusine - Pretty good! Get SS Lys instead.

Emma - Arguably the best pick. Even 1/5 holds tremendous DPS, Poison is a crazy rare offensive type, and Emma's still one of the best. Team Speed control is also fantastic.

Victor - AoE Max Move. Arguably good for High Score.

Gloria - Only good 4/5 or higher.

SS Leon - Rerunning with SS Cynthia and Lucas, who are better pairs.

SS Piers - Primary electric, so unnecessary with rats, secondary Poison isn't worth talking about. Has field effects but isn't too consistent with either.

Rose - See SS Giovanni.

Personal opinion, Emma's far and away the best one here. Rare offensive typing, excellent DPS pressure at 1/5, great tools for a team like +4 team speed in one move. Emma's excellent. SS Hilda's really good too, for those who care about needing a Fire type, and SS Lys or Eusine are good for Water. There's a case to be made for SS Piers, but I'm not going to make it. Palmer was hilariously broken in 2.5k Master Mode meta, but I don't know if he's holding up in the transition. Pretty much everything else needs high investment. So many are old, and so many needed 5/5 expansions to become more relevant.

My pull will be Palmer. I've either got or don't care about everything else. But I skipped Normal Zone because I couldn't justify it, and now I can.

Tech Pool Tech has a billion options, and feels like it has the most that have never rerun. Anni Skyla, SS Cyrus, Classic Elesa; these are super rare acquisitions.

SS Roxie - Arguably the best pair on this list. Rare Poison type, solid secondary electric DPS, field effects for both, and the coveted Tech/Strike role combo. Also the outfit's really good.

SS Korrina - Hilarious boost from the "Five Stats +3" parameter in CS, and good at stealing buffs/nuking. I'm not her biggest fan.

Anni Skyla - Absolutely excellent at 3/5, but terrible before then.

SS Leaf - It's 5/5 or 1/5, take your pick. She has some good survival tools but is very, very dated at 1/5.

SS Hilbert - Excellent Bug damage that can also DPS for Fire, Ice, Water, and Electric. Solid Sp Def debuffs which are rare, too.

Lear - Big nuke man back when this mattered, currently kinda whatever. Ramps fast, though.

SS N - I like running SS N because I think he shouldn't work, but his damage output on Freeze Shock is impressive.

SS Steven - One of the most versatile pairs ever. Excellent offenses, wonderful dodge tank fast-ramping with Speed, never really used the other two but I hear Normal can do some stuff in Gauntlet with the 60% flinch rate.

C!Iris - Excellent nuke, really wants 4/5 for Aggravation in the modern meta. Not really worth it over BT Leon.

SS Hau - I think Hau kinda sucks. He has fun tools but I'm constantly unimpressed by him.

Classic Elesa - Astounding 1/5 value. Spectrum debuff on a paralyzed opponent with every hit.

SS May - Individual fast-ramp, great sync potential if set up, CS tends to be a lot harder to manage for her than you'd want.

Anni May - Similar to the above, but trade ramp for Psychic Terrain. Bianca tends to do as much.

SS Wally - Fairy Zone, which was significant before Sylveon eggmon. Good nuke that's hard to set up, crap DPS, horrid Buddy move conditional.

SS Silver - Fun, but similar to SS May, his myriad conditions make teambuilding stressful.

SS Diantha - Obscene. Even 1/5, she's providing every Rock damage dealer with everything they need, and contributing excellent DPS of her own.

Lucas - Still our only source of manual Dragon Zone. I don't think he's that great but some swear by him.

SS Cyrus - AoE sleep man. I think he's slightly overhyped. Sleep is hard to maintain, and getting Zone up for his sync is a pain.

Dojo Gloria - See SS May, but easier to set up and has Max Move.

Challenger Gloria - Cinderace is butt ugly, don't do it. I don't care if it's a Gauntlet Solo machine, or if its DPS pressure is sufficient to handle sides.

Marnie - SS C!Iris.

Bede - Hyper underrated utility pair with excellent bursts, but always runs next to a trio of Master Fairs so is often neglected. But trust me man, he's stupid good.

BT Leon - Piercing Blows with good Atk/Def debuffing. I think his kit is a bit wonky at times, but the man puts in good work.

Anni Raihan - Fast Ramp with stacking moves up next on Sandstorm, the sync pair. Needs 3/5 to really matter, since Sand is garbage without his Propulsion.

Oleana - Another excellent Poison nuke, with a great Max Move and phenomenal debuffing utility. A little slow on gauge though.

Tech is extremely good. There are a lot of solid choices here. For those who seem to do well across the board, BT Leon, Bede, SS Diantha are all excellent, even with 1/5 non-EX investment. Diantha is the current only source of Rock Zone too, so big props there. The rest tend to need higher investment, though there's a good argument for pairs like Oleana and SS Roxie for a rare offensive typing and their still-useful 1/5 traits.

My personal pick will be SS Roxie. While I am incredibly tempted by SS Hilbert, due to my lack of good Bug types, I just invested in Alder and got Winter Viola, so I'm hesitant to make that trade no matter how good he'll be in Bug High Score. Meanwhile, Roxie is just...easier. 1/5 she has status application and -2 AoE Sp Def debuffs. Hilbert doesn't compete with that until 3/5.

Support Pool In general, I think Supports are your best options to get. A good support carries, while a good Striker often still wants for something.

Classic Red - HMM, I wonder why the Red alts are all listed first! Weird how that happens even if Snorlax is ASS GARBAGE

SS Acerola - You've heard the stories. They're all true. You want to stack PMUN to the moon in very few turns for quick clears, Acerola is your girl. Mind the frailty.

SS Brendan - I disparage Brendan more than I should for a pair who is very, very good. Excellent bulk, Potion support, fast-acting buffs, harsh debuffs on a move that's mostly free when he takes hits, paralysis options, gauge management options, he does a ton.

SS Blue - Was never good, stop deluding yourselves.

SS Mina - Good for bulk, but little else. If you're a big fan of SS Leon (Kuri), Mina is a godsend. Her Buddy move will block sync damage enough to survive, and let Leon tear loose. Otherwise, her buffing kit is fairly poor.

Ingo - Languished in time, didn't get a good 5/5 grid. Sandstorm is butt chunks.

SS Dawn - I love her but she's dying for a grid expansion. There's not a thing she can do that a dozen other defensive supports since can do, except the Crisis Countdown and self-sacrifice set, which I don't like no matter how effective it is.

SS Morty - Excellent utility with Sun, defenses, and speed. Really good so long as you don't need to buff offensive stats.

Anabel - Worse than she should be, and I'm sorry.

Argenta - See SS Acerola. Their kits are very similar, but Argenta takes a slower pace of stacking in exchange for persistent application and accuracy buffs. I like Argenta better because she can drop field effects for CS.

Elaine - If she's 3/5, she's honestly insane. If she's any less than that, she's kinda garbage.

Penny - Very useful Fairy support, with AoE debuffs on Sp Def. Slightly frail, hard for her to maintain HP given the vampire Buddy move condition, but she does well enough.

Rachel, Sawyer, and Tina - They're 4*s, bro.

For support, "best pick" is defined by your needs. If you have NC Blue, you probably don't need SS Brendan no matter how good he is, while NC Leaf may mean SS Morty isn't as essential, especially if you gave her the Support role. SS Acerola or Argenta are excellent for PMUN stacking, if that's your speed. Penny is good for SMUN, in that she's the only option. Elaine is a great generalist but only at 3/5 or above.

I favor supports, so I have everything I need. I will still be taking SS Dawn for 5/5. One day, she'll get a grid expansion, and I'll want in on it. Better to do it for 5k now than wait for a potential Sinnoh cluster rerun where I have to worry about Lucas and SS Cyrus being around, you know?

Overall Best If I were like...brand new, right? And I had no resources, and no significant tools, and was asked hey. Who do you think offers the most out of everyone in any of these brackets? SS Diantha. Rock Zone is exclusive to her right now, Rock is a terrible offensive type to shop for, she elevates literally every Rock type to relevance with her hilarious combination of traits, and all of it is achievable at 1/5. I think by type, power, and low-cost impact, SS Diantha is the best bang for your buck. I'd consider SS Roxie or Oleana second. Poison is even rarer, with all its good options being limited availability, and the decision largely comes down to how bad you need more Electric support. Oleana's Rebuff is more valuable than a Zone, since DeNA is still trying to push those, while her offensive debuffs are really handy for a lot of content.

"But don't you favor support?" Yes I do, and I stand by that. However I think the supports are largely...conditional? It's hard to explain. SS Acerola is very good, yes, but only in a context where you have physical damage dealers with DPS worth talking about. ie, other limited pairs. You can make due with the 3-bar spams in the common pool, but I've personally never been too enamored with SS Acerola. She is excellent, as is Argenta if she's more your speed, but I think for newer players, and people who focus primarily on-type anyway? Covering Rock is harder to do, and more valuable. Same with Poison.

#pokemon masters #poma select scouts

[pikablob]

Headcanons for Erik, Victoria and the Bellkeeper?

Send me a character and i’ll give an example of each:

Headcanon A: what I think realistically Headcanon B: what I think is fucking hilarious Headcanon C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends Headcanon D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway

Erik:

A: Erik absolutely got his position as a result of nepotism. The Safety Patrol has been lead by an Ahlberg many times since it was founded (their patrol uniforms are even based off Edmund’s outfit), and Erik’s father was the previous Chief Ranger. Erik’s spent his whole life believing this is what he was born for, and he remains convinced he’s a born troll-slayer despite the reality of the situation.

B: Erik straight-up doesn’t know he was turned into a bug. As part of the spell, he didn’t even realise he had been changed, and his story of saving children from a raging troll is what he actually believes. Gerda doesn’t have the heart to completely shatter his delusion, even if she shuts down his attempts to milk it.

C: There is a small part of Erik that’s insecure; under all that bravado, there’s a small voice in his head that says he’ll never be as good as Edmund or the rest of his family. That’s why he’s put so much misguided effort into modernising the Patrol (with new cars, the autobell system, etc), even though he’s so confident in his own abilities.

D: Erik is weirdly good at singing; he likes to invent ballads about his own great deeds, and tries to get Gerda and the patrol officers to sing along with him. He tends to break into song on a whim while working, much to everyone else’s annoyance.

Victoria:

A: Victoria is genuinely fond of Hilda; she sees Hilda as a kindred spirit, even if Hilda doesn’t agree, and part of her genuinely thought she would approve of the Nowhere Space plan. The thought of upsetting Hilda in particular does make her feel bad, but she tries to do her best to ignore that.

B: Victoria used to get in arguments with the weather spirits over Trolberg, using her weather control equipment to join in their arguments. One of the reasons why she has so much control over the city before The Storm is because most of the local spirits knew and avoided “the city with that crazy woman who’ll fight you.”

C: Victoria, as much as she hates to admit it, is very lonely and desperate for validation. She’s convinced herself she likes solitude, but the truth is she misses the friends she parted ways with (or lost) years ago, and that’s one of the reasons why she’s so fond of her Nisse. By the end of The Windmill, she refuses to return because she feels like she has nothing left to lose; that’s why she stays in the portal, sure that whatever’s on the other side must be better than the awful solitude.

D: Mind if I go full Forests of Oregon here? I absolutely love the idea that she was old friends with Stanford Pines and McGucket as a young adult, and that their disappearances were one of the things that hit her hardest and drove her into solitude.

The Bellkeeper:

A: The Bellkeeper doesn’t think much of Ahlberg as head of the Safety Patrol. As someone who sees trolls and other creatures a lot, he knows that they can be dangerous, but only if you’re not careful around them. He thinks the Patrol could do well to remember some of the old ways, like how the bells used to be manned, but that they should also learn to coexist with creatures rather than confronting them. He is, however, fairly close friends with Gerda and appreciates what she’s trying to do.

B: The Bellkeeper has a Jorts addiction. He loves cucumber sandwiches and proper meals, but he will absolutely inhale an entire multibag of Jorts if given half a chance. He has bags of them all over his cabin in drawers and cupboards, cause he likes to snack while he’s working.

C: The Bellkeeper always wanted to have children, but he was never able to; it’s a big regret of his. Part of him sees Hilda as a substitute, and he can’t help caring for her, but he tries to ignore that feeling.

D: His name is Argus Mitchell - no idea why, I just think it fits.

#ask pika #hilda the series #hilda netflix #erik ahlberg #victoria van gale #bellkeeper hilda #hilda just has the Steven Field #everyone wants to adopt her #todpolle

[thesinglesjukebox]

APINK - %% (EUNG EUNG)

[7.00]

Is the Pink Factory open for field trips? Asking for a friend.

Joshua Minsoo Kim: Well, we can thank Black Eyed Pilseung and Jeon Goon for the two best K-pop singles of the year thus far, but could we expect anything less from the people behind some of the best K-pop songs of the past ten years? "%% (Eung Eung)" finds Apink doubling down on their new sound, as established by the success of "I'm So Sick," and the result is such expertly-crafted synthpop that Apink feel like a new force to be reckoned with. Part of that comes with how little pussyfooting happens here -- the girls are lonely, but they don't linger on that feeling for long. Instead, they put an offer on the table for suitors to approach, but they never let you believe that they'll settle for anyone beneath their standards. The beat drop in the pre-chorus bolsters their assertive tone, but it's the lighter chorus that sounds more intimidating. The vocal melody has an underlying sadness, but the teeth-baring grin and poise of "If you're not confident, goodbye" make clear their no-bullshit attitude. Synths dance around the track as if to elucidate the girls' hypnotizing charm, but they're also there to tease your incompetence. [8]

Thomas Inskeep: Linn drums and "pew! pew!"ing synths ping off each other, while the ladies of Apink do their thing and keep up with the tempo, elevated like my heartbeat when I hear pop music this expertly crafted. If the Spice Girls had appeared a decade earlier, they'd have tried to make a record as sublime as "%%." [9]

Iris Xie: My impression of this song is that if an international heist group managed to kidnap Grimes in order to train an AI machine on her composition style and inspirations, but then the heist group suddenly decided they wanted very loudly sung choruses...the result would be this song. The start is promising. Some tricky xylophone-sounding synths that riff off the common trope of a ticking clock White Rabbit-style are combined with cooing whisper vocals, and it starts off like a promising season 2 opener (Steven Universe and Hilda mashup, maybe?). But then it immediately drops off into several melody lines that don't meld with the intriguing synth backdrops, and it ends up sounding more like an auditory stutter that is trying to match the frantic kick drums in the background. Combined with the refrain being cute and cheerleader-y with some sorrowful-sounding verses... it's a bit confusing. It's not a boring song, but this sounds more like a mash-up than anything that brings out the qualities of the vocal track or the instrumentals, or even fully takes advantage of the potentially intriguing dissonances that could occur. Due to this, I can't wait to see what APINK will cook up next, honestly. Sometimes confusing songs are worth playing on repeat. [6]

Juana Giaimo: Apink keeps the energy high throughout the whole song. Their delicate voices are the stars, but they are enhanced by details that make "%%" sound unique like the keyboards which echo the vocal melody in the prechorus, and the instruments going silent for just an instant, followed by a drum that comes just before the "Eung eung" so that this part has an explosive effect. [7]

Anjy Ou: My grandma tells me to smile sweetly whenever declining to give my number to an admirer -- ostensibly to be polite but more likely because it throws them off. This song kind of feels like the k-pop version of that. It makes you tilt your head to the side a bit: buttery synths run over stuttering, insistent drums, snaps and handclaps; blink and you're in a different place musically and wondering how you got there. Bomi's "real recognize real, truly" and Namjoo's "thank you, but sorry" are dismissals delivered sweetly but somehow more devastating for it. "I won't settle for less than amazing so nod your head if you think you're worthy of me" is not a message that goes down well with the general public when coming from women, but it's packaged enticingly so that it won't make too many waves -- and it gets an emphatic "%%" from me. [7]

Jessica Doyle: The backing, smooth and lush, and the vocals, high enough to risk sounding shrill, absolutely do not go together. (Further complicating things: Namjoo doesn't sound shrill, and the result is that for the second straight single I can barely hear her.) Fortunately this is all in service of a song about standoffish ambivalence, so the flip from smooth synthpop to abrasive vocals makes sense. From Apink in particular it makes even more sense: this being the group who has been known for years for the contrast between the cutesy concepts and the barely-concealed (normal-natural-human-adult-woman) tensions for various members and the group as a whole. From a brand-new group I might find those distorted eung eung grunts off-putting, but from this one it feels challenging. [6]

Alfred Soto: The tectonics of "%%" fascinate me: synths that flicker, vanish, loom large, servicing a song whose lyrics on first glance address erotic hesitation. The faint drums 'n' bass lilt of the percussion serves that ambivalence. Giving it a pulse is Apink, who don't confuse the projection of ambivalence with non-alignment. [7]

Ramzi Awn: "%% (Eung Eung)" features the kind of songwriting that is hyperfocused on the melodic arch to a fault. Melody has always been one of the most important elements of a pop song, but when it leaves little room for drama as a result, the output suffers no matter how tight the tune is. A "less is more" approach to stringing notes together would relieve Apink of the pressure of finding new vocal twists and turns in ever bar and allow for more surprises for the listener. A little open space wouldn't hurt either. [6]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

#Apink #pop #kpop #music #music review #writing

[dnd-vigilante]

Vigilante Game Five: "We Were Wrong! They Can Fight!"

The hope of being joined by the same party from last week was a lost cause. Tonight our party consisted of June, our nature loving monk, Martin, our fearless leader, Hilda, who returned after going to GenCon (Paladin), Oranoak the half-elven cleric, Ereden the quick speaking bard, and two new people: Rosdove, another bard who said she was a wizard and Sora, a Dragonborn Barbarian.

We set up camp outside of the forge building. Sora and Rosdove set up for the first watch while the rest of us got some sleep following our eventful encounter with the dog Automatons. Time passed, Sora slowly walking the perimeter of our camp thought she heard something. She walked over to Rosdove and asked if she heard anything odd. Sora continued to listen and tells Rosdove she was clearly imagining things (Rolled a 3 on perception). Rosdove listened, subtle whispering seemed to be coming from the passageway. She launched dancing lights down the passage and she heard someone say, “Hey they are still alive! Be quiet!”

Sora rushed over to the rest of us, tripping and falling on top of Hilda making all sorts of unnecessary noise. This does get everyone else’s attention, we jumped to our feet and grabbed our weapons. Six figures illuminated by the dancing lights carried heavy crossbows. They all fired, most going wide, Oranoak received one directly in his chest and one pierced June’s arm. June ran towards them jumping into the air with a kick, she completely missed them… one of the bandits said, “uh, they don’t look like fighters to me.” Ereden cast bane on two of them, and since it didn’t hurt them they continued to believe we were not fighters… Oranoak let out a blast of holy energy healing the party from our fight earlier in the day. Sora wanting to redeem herself ran forward and cleaved one of them open. He yelled as blood streamed down his chest, “We were wrong! They can fight!” Martin blurry eyed and annoyed he had been woken after such a short period walked forward cutting one man in half, and decapitating the next. “No, Steve and Steven!!” The other bandits looked at Martin and decided it was best to attack the others first. Apparently, Martin is just too scary. A crossbow bolt caught Martin in the shoulder but he shrugged it off. A second bolt caught June on the side of her head and she fell to the ground. A sudden pressure appeared around Martin as a robed figure emerged from the passage who looked kind of like a bard but was clearly a wizard. With an iron force of will, Martin shook the feeling off, “Nah man, that ain’t me.” Clearly annoying the Wizard that was not a bard. Rosdove pointed at the Wizard and yelled: “Don’t fuck with me, I’m a wizard!” (She was not. She was a bard.)

Oranoak let out a battle cry, “Screw Steve!” And blasted the robed figure with holy fire. The robed figure looked displeased but mostly unphased by what just happened. Ereden rushed over to June and stabilized her.

June: “I get knocked down! But I get up again!” (If only she knew how true that statement was about to be.)

June was then shot with another crossbow bolt and instantly passed out. Sora let out a sudden draconic roar and blasted three of the bandits with lightning. Quickly following the surprise of this, Martin ran two more of the men through on his glaive. “Couldn’t have let us sleep just a little bit?” Their names were Joe and Steve, wow another Steve… someone's parents weren't very inventive. The last few again yelled, “They can fight!” Another man fell, apparently named Roy. The last man ran for his life. Yelling, “this is not what we thought we were getting into! Get away from me!” The robed figure was out the door faster than the bandit. Clearly, things were not going as planned at all. As they retreated up the passageway Rosdove ran forward and yelled again, “See! Don’t fuck with the Wizard!”

We revived June once again... and walked back to our camp. Being even more exhausted, we decided to attempt to camp again knowing that they could easily come back.

Martin: “June, my kill count is now eleven. What are your kills to getting knocked out ratio now?”

June: “I’m dead even at three and three.”

Ereden: “Why does a kill count matter?”

Martin and June just looked at him… “Bragging rights.” As if this was the most obvious thing in the world. The party managed to take a full rest and felt a hell of a lot better for doing so. It was now day three of being inside this ruined tower and it was getting old. We gathered up our supplies and began our trek out of the tower, hoping we wouldn’t have any issues getting out.

Going through the passageways and caverns under the tower weren’t any issue, we appeared to have cleared out anything bad which could cause us any harm. We reached winding staircase which lead from the spider web covered eye room back to the entrance where we had struggled with the “OPEN TRAPDOOR” puzzle. Before reaching the top, June told us to stop. She heard something above us, she advanced slowly peeking out over the edge of the trapdoor. She looked around the room and saw the remaining bandit, the Wizard and the two Ogre we had tricked into running away from the tower. Her eyes locked with the Wizards. They stared at one another for less than a second before June was out of the trapdoor rushing towards the wizard, snapping his neck before anyone else could move.

This clearly alerted the guard and Ogres. The last of the bandits looked at June and ran out the door. The first Ogre raised his club above his head and swung at June, smashing her to the floor. Once again, June was knocked out… The second Ogre shuffled towards June’s body and clubbed her… apparently making sure she was down. Finally, the rest of the party acted! Ereden jumped out and used Tasha's hideous laughter on the first Ogre, it fell to the ground rolling over June laughing hysterically. The second Ogre turned to the first, “What funny? You laugh but no fun.” Ereden ran passed the Ogres and out the door, clearly, self-preservation was on his mind. Rosdove succeeded in distracting the second Ogre by scaring it, also running passed June and the Ogres out the door. The plan it seemed, was to run and fight another day. Sora and Hilda ran for the door completely ignoring the Ogres. Oranoak ran for June lifting her body over his shoulder and running for the door. Martin stood there for a second and thought about what to do… “I suppose I won’t be Ogre slaying today…” He headed for the door then hesitated and grabbed the body of the deceased wizard. You never know, maybe he has something important concerning these damn cultists we keep encountering.

The party sprinted across the field heading towards the nearby woods. Ahead of the group ran the last of the bandits, clearly terrified. Oranoak quickly revived June once again, supplying a theme song to June in the future, ‘I get knocked down… and I get up again!’ realizing the situation we were now in, June sprinted after the last bandit. She managed to pin the man a lot more quickly than we thought. Seeing as she had probably lost a lot of blood in the past day from collapsing three times. We tied him up and headed for the trees, those Ogre were not going to let us get away that easy. With our combined efforts we managed to hide, remove the parties tracks and set up several spike traps with caltrops and alchemist fire in the surrounding area. Martin switched from his plate armor to leather to reduce noise and we waited. After some time we heard the Ogres near us, they seemed to be confused and lost. They passed us by without any encounter.

Oranoak carried our captive. We asked him who he was and why he had attacked us. He told us his name was Stu of the Stevenson Brothers gang.

Oranoak: “Oh, I’ve heard of you. You’re from Bastion as well. Why are you working for that robed guy? Also, I have a crossbow bolt with your name on it.” Oranoak pulled out the crossbow bolt that had been stuck in his chest from our previous fight and twirled it in his fingers. Ereden asked Stu how on earth did he have Ogres helping him and his friends. Stu said the robed guy, he never got his name, threatened the Ogres with the wrath of the Sharpfeather Clan. Because of this, the Ogres went along with whatever the robe guy wanted. Oranoak then got a little too comfortable with Stu for the rest of the evening, the rest of us attempted to ignore it rather unsuccessfully.

Martin looked over the body of the robed figure, finding some gold, rations and other things. He also found a folded up piece of cloth, opening it Martin discovered the sketches of two keys. Pulling out the Key from the wizard tower he compared the three. He showed Ereden what he had found, Ereden pulled out his notes he had taken on the book. They determined the two other keys might have other properties concerning the anvil, just like the one they found. Clearly, this robed figure was after the book and key we had found. Rosdove walked over and looked at the body of the Wizard, “Shame someone else killed you, I wanted to show you that I was the better wizard.” She noticed something shiny on his finger, she pulled off a ring. Holding it she felt it have some kind of magic within it. It wasn’t clear what it did but she happily pocketed it. (Once we got back to the town she found a fellow adventurer in another group and had it identified. This was the first instance I had seen of the parties interacting apart from the Dream Council and I’ll get into that later.)

We slept without any disturbances and made it back to Bastion after two days of slow walking. We headed directly to the Guard House to report our findings to the Captain. He greeted us in his moody way, we finally found out his name! Roger the Guard Captain was pleased we made it back and very pleased that we had found a lead. The news that the Sharpfeather Clan and the Cultists were possibly working together worried him. The Sharpfeather Clan had been one of the leading forces that attacked Bastion during the battle for Bastion a few months ago. Several pockets of the destroyed city were still inhabited by the Goblins. If they are allied with the cultists then something needs to be done sooner rather than later. That is your next mission, search out the Sharpfeather Clan and continue to investigate the goings on of the cult. Bring any information you gain back to me and we will continue from there. For now, you will need to head to Lord Aethern’s guild office. There you will finalize your guild and receive an official adventuring charter.

So we found ourselves at the Guild office, we officially became the Multiplying Electrified Direbears. Martin was elected Guild Leader after a small discussion and some small insults towards Ereden from Rosdove. The office presented a Dream Stone to Martin, explaining that as long as he was within the range of an active dream tower he would be able to access the Council of dreams where all of Bastion’s Guild Masters meet and report to one another the findings and happenings of the region.

Dream Council Meeting: Martin arrived at his first Dream Council a little concerned since he had never experienced anything like this before. Looking around he was sitting at a long wooden table, every chair was filled by another guild leader. We went around the table filling each other in on what had been happening in the world. After Martin finished telling the tale of the Wizard Tower, two of the Members a brother and Sister named Jean-Ralphio and Mona-Lisa suddenly attacked each other. Apparently, it wasn’t normal and other members of the council stepped in and knocked them out, making them fade from the dream. The rest of the council looked around becoming aware of a dark aura permeating through the dream. A dark figure was at a distance, we approached carefully. Before us stood a humanoid body with an octopus-like head.

Martin: “That is an Illithid… I am way out of my element…”

The rest of the Council attacked and after a few strikes, the creature vanished from the dream. The Council seemed distressed. They believed that their meetings here were safe from prying eyes. Defenses would need to be set up in the future in case of further interference. We continued our updates. The most significant thing to happen was the discovery of a thieves guild called The Whisperers. They are apparently active in all three major cities in the area: Bastion, Aehra Hakesh (The Radiant Oasis), and Adorak (The City of Shadows). We also learned that Lord Aethern in Bastion was under investigation for the murder of the old Sultan of Aehra Hakesh… So these were things to consider going forward.

End of Game Five.

Thoughts on the game: We finally made it back from our quest to the wizard tower. Great, it’s always nice to finish a small adventure. It did only leave us with more questions that desperately need answers. Quests leading to bigger quests! Finalizing our guild contract opens us up to finally interacting with the other guilds. I don’t have all of their names yet but I know two of them are called Bardaritaville and Adventures AF. I’ll get the rest of them in time. The highlight of the night was the Dream Council. Getting insight into the larger story of Vigilante is awesome and really makes me want to keep at it. Oh! I’m level three now! Huzzah!

Again I’ll explain the game, the games at Vigilante are a combination of several D&D groups all active in the same world and all of them influence the events of the town of Bastion and surrounding area. I have a better idea of where this will lead but there are still a ton of things to do and uncover. The guilds allow everyone to exchange items and it also allows players to switch parties to pursue different quests and be part of events. Overall, I think it will continue to work out and I’ll keep posting updates of my weekly games!

#Dungeons and Dragons #dungeons #dragons #DND #D&D #D&D5E #d&d 5e #player characters #Fighter #adventuresontheswordcoast #forgottenrealmsadventures #Martin the fighter #June the Monk #players #DMING #Player character #PCS #DM #swordcoastadventures #player adventures #vigilante gaming #vigilante #Game night #tabletop #table top games #roleplay #dnd character

[intersectingparadigms]

her auntie hilda liked to wear plaid dresses a lot that she would only take in for alterations if they ripped or tore

they had a basement through a door in the living room

the house was originally quite rural. it had a field across from it and later more houses were built alongside it and they saw their first trucker this way while loungingnin the dead strawlike grass and talking across the street from the five houses. they were second from the left. there were power lines on the field side of the road. the road bent to their right on that day at a sort of stop intersection and then continued on in a weird way to either side of a big green field of trees and marshes but it dried out and got chopped down to just the trees and fenced in with chainlink by 1971-3

the house was a craftsman style but not really. it uad siding everywhere and was a bluegrey lead paint colour mixed with white.

her name was??? lillian roberta wardner or gardner??? or something. hilda was actually a harriett but death became you if you said that to her!!! she was a smart, shrewd woman.

lillian's mother was elizabeth roberta. her grandma was gramma roberta day. her dad was arthur brockshaw steven wardner???

lilli has two cousins, dean who was a round-faced young man of 14 and maryanne who was adorable and had long black curls and was 7

god i hope i see them again

their basement had a table of things dating back to thr 1840s and shelves and so much more of dress boxes and shirt boxes and old cameras and jewellery and don't forget that old radio with the masking tape on where CBC was

and how uncle roy who is hilda's step brother but brother really had an experimental colour tv in the 1940s he was tinkering with and it really astonished us all but stopped working soon enough later and we never had one again until 1971 or 72 or so but the shops with all the dresses and tailors and stuff had some by the late 1960s. roy smoked cigars and had his pants up to his natural waise which made mathilde his daughter ROAR with laughter. she was born 2 days before mary

[theconservativebrief]

On Tuesday at 6:14 am, Wikipedia contributors created the very first entry for Donna Strickland, the University of Waterloo laser physicist who, just minutes earlier, was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics. With that announcement, she became just the third woman in history to have won the physics award. It honors work that appeared in her very first published scientific paper, from 1985 — the academic version of a hole-in-one.

Strickland and her colleague Gérard Mourou were awarded half the $1 million prize for their discovery of a novel way to amplify the power of laser beams in short bursts. This technology, for instance, is used in laser eye surgery. It’s a major contribution to science that helped move laser technology from its infancy to its myriad applications (cutting, drilling, manufacturing, data storage, surgical work, you name it) today. Mourou and Strickland were co-authors on the work and are co-credited with the discovery.

Mourou has had a Wikipedia page since at least 2005. But there was no entry on Strickland’s accomplishments until today.

A Twitter user pointed out to me that articles on Strickland had been drafted on the online encyclopedia before in May 2018 — but the draft was rejected by moderators. “This submission’s references do not show that the subject qualifies for a Wikipedia article,” the moderators wrote, despite the fact that the original author linked to a page that showed Strickland was once president of the Optical Society, a major physics professional organization and publisher of some of the field’s top journals.

Why does it matter that an obscure laser physicist didn’t have a Wikipedia entry until she won science’s greatest prize?

It matters because women’s visibility in science matters. It matters because far too many women aren’t encouraged to, or don’t feel welcome to, pursue careers in science.

One thing that would help is a better understanding that women have made important, inspiring contributions to science. “When you think about what a scientist means, you probably think of an Einstein figure — a man in a lab or at a chalkboard with fuzzy, unkempt hair,” my colleague Julia Belluz has written. “When you think of a scientist’s voice, you might conjure Neil deGrasse Tyson or Carl Sagan. With these voices and images so pervasive in our culture, it’s easier to associate ‘scientist’ with ‘man’ — and in particular, ‘white man.’”

Women scientists like Vera Rubin, Nettie Stevens, Henrietta Leavitt, Rosalind Franklin, and so many others ought to be just as famous.

And Wikipedia, for all its faults, is the most prominent place where current human history is being told, searched for, and shared. That’s why the new Strickland Wikipedia entry is still important — if belated. A Nobel Prize winner ought to be visible to the young girls and aspiring scientists who may be Googling her name today.

Historically, science and engineering has been a white men’s club. And it shows in the workforce to this day.

In January, the Pew Research Center published a report that found 50 percent of women working in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) have experienced gender discrimination on the job, and 36 percent say sexual harassment is a problem in their workplace.

Pew Research Center

Women represent only 30 percent of the STEM workforce, and see a significant pay gap compared with men’s salaries. Women are often underrepresented at the top levels of academic hierarchies. And problems with discrimination appear to be worse when women work in male-dominated offices, according to Pew.

Pew Research Center

There are so many ways women scientists — and minority scientists — have been erased from history or not written into it. It’s often hard to find photographs of historic female scientists (particularly nonwhite female scientists), and many more Wikipedia pages of women scientists still need to be written.

“It’s pretty easy to find inspiring stories and role models who look like you, whose lives mirror parts of your own, if you’re a white man,” Hilda Bastian, a scientist who has worked to raise the visibility of women scientists online, told Belluz. “But it’s hard to find people you identify with if you’re not.”

Of course, there’s also a long history of men taking credit for women’s accomplishments. And the Nobel Committee has skipped plenty of opportunities to award important discoveries made by women scientists.

Sexism lingers in science. Just this week, a CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) scientist made headlines when he declared that “physics was invented and built by men, it’s not by invitation” at a scientific conference.

Strickland expressed surprise this morning when a journalist reminded her that she is just the third woman to win the Nobel Prize in physics. “Is that all, really?” she said.

More women need to be recognized for their contributions to science, both by the Nobel Committee and in the pages of Wikipedia.

Original Source -> Donna Strickland had no Wikipedia page before her Nobel. Her male collaborator did.

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

[crystalelemental]

Pokemon Masters - Character Teams

With the upcoming update in December, you’ll be able to use multiple alts of the same character in a team.  This is...fine.  Honestly.  I have minimal opinions about it.  I never really cared that you couldn’t combine your options, but apparently some consider it a big deal.  The only question on my mind is, for characters with 3+ alts...can any of them make an actually good team?

New Dynamics Let’s start with a general change.  Some units who previously suffered from lack of their own support have access to their support now.  The big winners here are Volkner and Skyla, who previously couldn’t get their damage dealing seasonal alts to access the field multiplier they provided in their other forms.  This was...less than ideal.  So now that they have access, is it good?

Well, sorta.  NY!Volkner having access to Volkner means that it’s finally able to have permanent access.  Unfortunately, both of them are not self-sufficient at all when it comes to buffing, resulting in the need for a third supporter who desperately, desperately needs to bring their A-game.  Mixed offense buffers are rare and usually slow, so you’re kinda working with Falkner.  You could, however, go with special attack boosting support instead, and let NY!Volkner handle the speed/crit buffing.  This is a bit more sane, but still runs into my main issue with the guy: his sync isn’t very good.  So I feel you’d want an EX Support capable of handling special attack, like Sabrina or someone.  SS Kris bears special mention, thanks to Rain making Thunder perfect accuracy, and effectively removing all his buffing needs.

Skyla...has her own issues as well. She’s in an identical situation to Volkner, where the Flying Zone helps, but you really want a support to be ready to go.  However, unlike Volkner, both Tornadus and Togekiss are specially offensive, meaning any special attack buffer gets the job done.  So Skyla’s in a great position, really just needing that special attack, but can ideally gel with any special attack/crit buffer.  Thanks to Tornadus, she doesn’t even encounter gauge issues, so this is a pretty significant win for Togekiss.

To my recollection, no one else has been hit with the issue of not having access to their field multiplier.  Everyone else is in a good spot.  So with that, let’s talk the big question.

Perfect Teambuilding Let’s start by listing out characters with three or more alts: Misty, Erika, Kris, Rosa, Skyla, Iris, Blue, Lyra, Hilbert, Hilda, Elesa, Grimsley, Giovanni, Cynthia, Steven, Red, Dawn, Serena, Morty, Lillie, Gloria, N, May, Leon, Marnie, and Raihan.  I’ll take a look at each, what options they have, and whether a good team of three can be produced.

Misty No.  Starmie and Psyduck are decent supports, but they do nothing to salvage Vaporeon’s lack of offensive buffing.  Misty has to work with others.

Erika I’d say it’s possible, but not necessarily good.  NY!Erika can tank and heal, although not particularly well.  SS Erika is self-sufficient, setting her own sun and being able to buff reliably, while BP Erika can supply supplemental damage in trap.  She probably works out, though if NY!Erika ever gets a grid expansion, this will be a lot more solid.

Kris I’m going to say yes, but it’s not pretty.  SS Kris hard carries.  Base Kris has the option to sync a stage under Rain for like...a billion damage once set up, but her setup is notably slow.  Jolteon benefits tremendously from SS Kris’ buffing, and has electric terrain built-in to handle stages.  I feel like Kris does a good job covering Water and Electric, although how well she does it remains to be seen.  Because we know I’m testing this.

Rosa Honestly, it’s not pretty, but you can probably make it work.  SC Rosa is just that good.  I’d say the play is to go Serperior, Shaymin, and non-Hail Delibird.  Gauges shouldn’t be an issue, Serperior can top off Shaymin, and provided a stage is special, Shaymin should be able to handle it well enough.  But Serperior is 100% the weak link.  Rosa needs a grid expansion and by god I hope she gets it.  Then again, given Glacia...it won’t be pretty.

Skyla As alluded to above, Tornadus/Togekiss is a solid combo.  Swanna, however, does not help.  It can’t facilitate the needed offensive buffs of its partners, so this is a situation where the team doesn’t want to be all Skyla.

Iris Not a chance.  No tanks, poor synergy, bad all around.

Blue Blue’s in a good spot, but solely due to Aerodactyl.  SS Blue’s tanking abilities are all well and good, but Aerodactyl is the only one whose offensive buffing is reasonable.  Pidgeot needs accuracy that only it can provide, Arcanine is slow, and Exeggutor has trouble because none of Blue’s team skews physical (No Aerodactyl does not, hush).  I’d say it’s possible, but realistically only for Rock damage.  Maybe Fire.  Maybe.  It’s just a big question of who the third is, and it’s probably Pidgeot for Air Slash.

Lyra Look, this is kind of unfair, because Celebi’s here to flinch lock every stage to death.  Like, just try losing with that.  Her base form being able to buff all offensive stats means you really don’t want for anything at all.  And now Vaporeon is coming in with debuffs to facilitate Power Play sync on SS Lyra?  I feel like Lyra’s like...grand champion of this.  Could probably make a good case for Summer Lyra doing alright with these comps too, just given how hard they disrupt.

Hilbert Hilbert’s...not in a bad position, actually.  Samurott is just such a good support.  H!Hilbert gets Dark under control, while SS Hilbert covers five types for super-effective damage.  I feel like Hilbert’s in a fantastic position as well, having rapid boosting, speed control, and good damage against six types.

Hilda Summer Hilda and SS Hilda alone are enough to win, but honestly the fact that the other two have speed buffs as part of their kit to help ease gauge control?  Emboar in particular kicks off theme skills for Victini, so this is a pretty strong one.  And Victini’s strong enough to handle off-type, so Hilda’s another reasonable grand champion.

Elesa With the inclusion of Lodge Elesa, there is at least some mild possibility of success via Emolga’s sync nuke.  SS Elesa’s fast-ramping could be the difference between success and failure.  The main trouble is that Lodge Elesa is frail, and Emolga is slow to work, so while the potential is there, I expect practical application will not be kind.

Grimsley No support, dead in the water.  Though he could legitimately maybe handle Steel-weak stages with enough luck on evasion, using Liepard as the support.

Giovanni While Mewtwo is strong and Persian is a good buff bot, Persian is super RNG reliant to cap Mewtwo out, and there is nowhere near the gauge control needed to make Nidoking work.  And much like Lodge Elesa, Classic Giovanni is frail.  Meaning you’re unlikely to survive to sync in the first place.  But if he does, Psychic and Ground-weak stages are handled.

Cynthia Astonishingly...Cynthia’s not in the best position.  She can’t reasonably cap any of her offensive units’ stats, she can’t get Sandstorm going for Garchomp; it’s a problem.  What may carry Cynthia is Ghost-type, where Renegade Cynthia can nuke like crazy with defensive support from Aura Cynthia.  I feel like she can probably handle Ground, Dragon, and Ghost, just based on the defensive power of Lucario, but it’s not exactly clean.

Steven I go back and forth on this one.  On the one hand, Deoxys-Defense does serve as a support, and can get his allies going.  But only Anni Steven can cap crit rate reliably.  So I guess he’s got Flying and maybe Dragon?  Ice and Steel are highly unlikely without some very specific shenanigans.  Metagross is probably the better third, just because of the high flinch rate.

Red Hate this guy.  Hate him so much.  SST Red already solos the game, this is a moot point, but sure let’s slap Supereffective Up Next applications repeatedly into the mix.  Why not?  God forbid the game doesn’t cater to Red.

Dawn Hilariously, this is the opposite problem of most: her team’s too passive.  Torterra can probably clear Grass-weak stages, with Alcremie debuffing attack and Cresselia buffing crit.  But Torterra’s also the one taking hits so Power Siphon can buff its attack stat.  It’s slow going and none too pretty, but honestly they can probably make it work, entirely based on Cresselia not taking direct hits and being able to heal up Torterra on sync as needed.

Serena No tank, unlikely, but can probably handle Dragon stages just by using Hypnosis to set up Zygarde’s sync nuke clear.

Morty Morty has Ho-oh, I feel like he can’t possibly lose.  His offensive alts can handle their offensive needs, while Ho-oh keeps the team alive fantastically.  I don’t think he can reasonably fail against Ghost-weak stages, but off-type...I’m not as convinced, given his alts don’t get the best damage.

Lillie Actually, I feel like this one’s a hard no.  Ghost-type stages can go down to Anni Lillie, and Lodge Lillie might, MIGHT, be able to handle Fairy.  But beyond that?  I’m just not convinced.  Anni Lillie’s damage output is otherwise just sad, and Lodge Lillie isn’t exactly winning awards either, to say nothing of her slow setup no one else can help with.  Lillie’s not atrocious, but she’s not exactly great either.

Gloria No support, no chance.  Urshifu can clear some Gauntlet stages solo just based on how fast it operates, but beyond that it’s a mess.

N No support, no chance.  While he has Hypnosis, this is insufficient without Go Viral.  While Reshiram can debuff offenses, none of his team can heal.  They need something more than what they have.  And no, SS N does not help.

May How do you have five alts and no supports?  How has this happened twice?  In any case, the usual problems endure.  Worse, May’s alts are all tech, so they really can’t explode a CS stage either.

Leon All Strikers, none of them have a history of solo-ing content, it’s a bad team.

Marnie Palentine’s Marnie is glue.  The debuff potential means she has at least a shot against physical stages, thanks to Growl, and the fact that Morpeko and Grimmsnarl are physical.  Lodge Marnie is the third to whatever team exists, based on Mud Slap Ripple Effect to hopefully cheese a bit with Mawile.

Raihan Legitimately great synergy that just barely misses the mark.  The main problem is lack of capped crit on either Duraludon or Flygon.  Now, that said, you can try without the crit.  Steel in particular feels possible with the grid expansion.  The good news is he sets Sandstorm two different ways, and caps offenses with Gigalith, but in general I feel like his team is strong but not quite at the ideal.

Final Verdict There are a few units who can make a full team work.  I’d say Hilda, Lyra, and Red are the top three.  Victini’s actually that ridiculous, and Celebi’s lockdown makes almost any team invincible to begin with, while Red’s hard-carried by Pikachu.  Hilbert and Kris are really close too, though, with Hilbert having a lot of good super-effective matchups in his arsenal, and Kris having great synergy for either Feraligatr’s CS explosion sync, or Jolteon’s offensive potential.  Though admittedly, Kris feels a bit further behind because of gauge issues, while Hilbert’s held back by frailty.  I’ll be interesting to play around with the possibilities, and I, for one, hope we see Jasmine and Caitlin enter the three-alt club for these shenanigans.

#pokemon masters

[crystalelemental]

Alright, second run of Master Mode for Kalos, this time with rematches. Let's get to it.

Vs. Drasna This was...actually not bad at all. Candice's sync nuke is really strong, and the parameter to increase secondary move effects means Steven's flinch rate is pretty respectable. Of course, it didn't stop Rosa from being Poisoned turn 1, but her MPRs kept her alive. The only significant hiccup was Endure, but that was pretty easily taken care of by Candice's Ice Punch following up the Icicle Crash.

Vs. Siebold JoltKris supremacy. I really enjoy this team. There's undoubtedly better out there, but Dual Rats seem so boring. Jolteon has fantastic AoE damage in Discharge, with the 2/5 grid offering frankly hilarious levels of multipliers for pretty free conditions. And her sync nuke isn't bad at all, despite the needless lack of EX. C!Elesa's debuffs are just hilarious too. Even with the speed drops, the 1-bar spam alongside Jasmine needing nothing from gauges really sold this team.

Vs. Wikstrom SS Lysandre has proven himself in the Water arena, but now it's time to see what Fire-weak meta does. I've already proven he can explode Cobalion, but how's he do in CS? Apparently really well. I didn't even time the Buddy move right. I expected it and Lucas' Heat Wave to finish the job. It didn't. So I wasted the SEUN and +3 Special Move Up Next on an AoE attack...that still dealt like 14k. SS Lysandre's hilarious.

Vs. Malva "So you're gonna use Classic Blue here, right?" Do I look like a Kantonian user? Double Diancie or nothing. Even brought Halloween Caitlin for comedy purposes. "But the double defense?" Irrelevant. SS Diantha blasts that to nothing, and Hilda trucks even harder. "But the weather?" H!Caitlin fears nothing. I mean...okay, she did die. Flare Blitz. But still.

Vs. Diantha It's amazing to think a week ago this would've been absolutely terrifying. Instead, this really was the easiest of the fights. Emma is ridiculous on type. The fact she was hitting as hard as she was off-type should've told me in advance how this would go, but I still can barely believe how hard Crobat hits. It's outrageous. I did a different test with SS Leaf and H!Iris. She almost one-shot the side on Turn 2. I've never seen anything like it. And because permanent field effects are a thing here, Anabel is H!Caitlin levels of insane. Pure damage shield, with no ability to ever be crit or statused. It's beautiful. Looker, sadly, mostly exists to inflict Poison on the foe. He can hit up to around a 90% poison rate, and Poison Jab is pretty good secondary DPS. You know. When Emma's not one-shotting the opponent.

Final Thoughts That wasn't too bad. Like okay, yes, I'm being a little facetious, I know what Malva and Siebold can do and they do spook me. But I'm kinda thrilled to know JoltKris absolutely blows that stage apart. So many Electric types are Inertia or need good gauge control, and Kris is just here like nah. I got this. I love her. I'm also a huge fan of SS Lysandre's Fire-type damage. And of knowing that Double Diancie still wrecks every ounce of Malva's shit. Sentry Entry x2 ain't nothing compared to the Gem Brigade. Even Drasna's Ice-weak stage wasn't too bad, despite the Endure and Toxic shenanigans. But I imagine without the flinch rate, it would've...actually no, it would've been fine. After Candice exploded the center to near-death, it was pretty easy to have the sides in range for one more Icicle Crash and clean up. So even that wasn't too bad.

But absolute MVP is Emma. That damage is something else. Huge fan of her shenanigans, 10/10 would bat again. But I feel like I didn't get a great idea of what Diantha...does. Like her stage just kinda dropped. Wikstrom was much the same; SS Morty is impervious to damage, and Lysandre just vaporized them. I might do another run with weaker tools, just to get a sense of what they do. I kinda feel bad. Like I just skipped their gimmicks.

#champion stadium #kalos cs