#it's mostly about saving time for battles I didn't think would be particularly fun

[zanmor]

playing Pontus in Total War: Rome Remastered has surprisingly been the most enjoyable experience I've had in the game.

the early game is the hardest I've had. after failing in the short campaign twice, my third run found using diplomats to sell map info for every sestertius I could get gave me the funding necessary to power out of the early game with armies that could actually do something. that and securing trade deals and alliances with as many neighbors as I could manage set me up to build a small empire before exterminating city after city on the march to 15 provinces with Thrace and Armenia crushed

enraptured, I jumped straight into the long campaign

same opening strat, raising armies with my map money, sending diplomats far and wide. but a major hiccup in this run, everyone refused an alliance save for Egypt, and they didn't even bother to fight anyone else aside from, best as I can tell, taking one Numidian and one Seleucid town

and all those folks refused to ally with me, instead allying with each other and almost simultaneously all declaring war. at one point I was actively at war with Greece, Seleucia, Macedonia, Armenia, and Thrace. I managed to knock Thrace out only for Dacia and Scythia to jump me shortly thereafter

but one by one I managed to fend off my attackers in some truly desperate defenses as my offensive armies took an eternity to consign them each to oblivion in turn. one of my favorite defenses saw me sally forth with 400 light cavalry, knocking out 4 of 6 Scythian battering rams but losing all my horse in trade. but it was exactly what I needed as then the walls were breeched in only two places and my 4 phalanxes massacred the assaulting forces. even just one more successful ram would have turned that into a defeat

I've also had to do similar but without the cavalry: just a small horde of eastern spearmen rushing from my gates to take out a ram so that my single phalanx can post up at one opening and repel the invaders

overall it's just made every battle, every settlement, and every unit feel immensely more important. I've since pushed through to the mid/late game and it's a little bit more like a more typical game of Rome now, but there are still some intensely close battles because overall my troops still have a lot of weak units. also with the early diplomat rush I now have more diplomats spread more widely than ever before with bribe money to spare. I've "gone to war" with my Egyptian ally by bribing Memphis and Thebes without gaining their ire yet

also have encountered some errors I haven't seen before. once defended against a siege force only for them to turn around and attack again the next turn, without taking a turn to build any equipment in between. the game loaded the battle map and the enemy army just turned and ran, lifting the siege, because they didn't actually have any means to break my walls

also at one point my bank account had nearly $70k in it and I took a look at the graphs and saw something odd. the Scipii were down to 3 provinces, one of which I had under siege--at their height I believe they had 6 or 7 provinces, so still not a lot--and yet the finances graph showed them with nearly $160k in the bank. definitely more than double my own position on the graph. had they just been stockpiling gold since the start of the game? why not spend more of that on war?

just a surprisingly enjoyable campaign that's made me approach the game in some new ways I never would have considered before. doing more with less, especially in the early game, aware that everything matters then

#did do a bit of save scumming #mostly just to try to auto resolve a battle #then go back and fight it manually if the autoresolve didn't work out for me #would take the result of the manual battle #it's mostly about saving time for battles I didn't think would be particularly fun #there are enough work battles in this and it takes long enough as is

[not-vriska-serket21]

One of my schizosymbols

TW: delusions and psychosis

A symbol I made during one of my psychotic episodes. I know it is basically the Scorpio and Capricorn symbols mixed together but it is still important to me. During this specific episode, I deleted, damaged or destroyed a lot of the things I had gathered or made, which makes me sad but it makes what I have left more precious.

I didn't make many things during that episode, most of what I was doing was magical thinking driven action, which was actually pretty fun but very distressing for those around me. My condition is primarily grandiose delusional but I do hallucinate, although I hallucinate imaginary meaning and context from what I see and then I try to piece everything together. Everything becomes a big magical puzzle that I am the main person cracking the code that will save everyone.

Homestuck became a major feeder of my delusional thinking, it is perfect schizo-fuel for someone like me. I do not resent it in any way, I loved some of the experiences I had during my episodes (one funny experience was basically me and Gamzee having a "rap battle" that was creating the world, paradoxically after it had been created, in perfect weird Homestuck style). It was fun to have imaginary friends that felt just as real as any living person. I basically had Vriska, Karkat and Terezi (my sun, moon and ascendant) as personal advisors, guiding me with "signs" in my environment and through the randomness of algorithms on Spotify and YouTube. My playlists I made during those times are cherished.

I don't want to glamorize things because it is hellish for many on schizospec. I am lucky to have things be the way they are. Grandiose delusions combined with extremely high mood can be very dangerous as it basically turns off all anxiety and fear and makes you incredibly reckless, I got very lucky that I didn't get into serious trouble with the shenanigans I got up to. The strain I put on others around me is something I am regretful over but in the end, when you are in a psychotic state you lose control and fail to notice the effect you have on others (at least in my case, it is a spectrum after all, and every case is different).

Outside of episodes with my meds I am mostly "normal" but I do struggle with the schizophrenic negative symptoms, avolition and anhedonia etc.

Those on the schizospec, let me know what your experiences are like. I would like to talk to people on the spectrum (particularly about grandiose delusions, but I want to hear from everyone!)

Thanks for reading my post! ::::)

#actually schizospec #actually schizoaffective #actually schizoid #mental illness #actually mentally ill #schizoaffective #schizo spectrum

[bahamutgames]

AFTERTHOUGHTS - ROUNDUP ROUND 5

July 2023

Here we go again! I did NOT expect to play so much this month but I... yknow... kinda... got back into gaming in a special little way. I gave it up for a bit cause I was using a hand me down laptop that couldn't run games well, and I was having some phobias about data loss. Then I got a new laptop and while I did do a little bit, I mostly starting focusing on finally playing actual PC games and more indie games that were always out of my grasp as a dedicated console gamer.

Anyway I played a SHIT TON of games and hopefully I'll be able to play more and more. I have a gaming laptop, I have a big ass hard drive, and I have NO MONEY! SO LET'S PARTY!!!

Pikmin (October 26, 2001) - Gamecube

Ah, Pikmin. I've actually had a huge soft spot for this series for a long time. I always loved the world and characters. I remember writing an essay on Pikmin 2 in elementary school, and my mom convinced me to start journaling by telling me Olimar kept a journal lol. But you'll probably be shocked to learn that I NEVER beat this game! I've always been really bad at it and would get sad when my Pikmin died so I gave up on it. But with the power of save scumming, I was able to get the confidence needed to clear through it.

For positives this game is GORGEOUS. Even for gamecube trying to look hyper realistic (in the environments at least lol) I'm actually blown away by how good it looks! Playing on Dolphin may have helped but damn this game's graphics have ages AMAZINGLY. The whole game is also just so charming. Everyone's designs are really cute and delightful. From the Grubdogs to the SS Dolphin itself, their designs are lovely and everything is filled with such personality and charm. I love how goofy and squash-and-stretchy the Pikmin are. It's all so adorable even when facing themes on the cruelty of nature lol. Music is also FANTASTIC, gameplay is fun, I love the story and ending (the part with all the onions was SO cute.) I loved figuring out ways to get parts quicker and trickier, like one part is being guarded by 3 Burrowing Snagrets but you only need to kill the farthest to get it. So I had a bunch of Pikmin grab it and carry it out of the arena while I distracted the other two with a smaller army. It was very neat.

But I will say for all that praise this game is fucking ANNOYING! The Pikmin are so determined to die! I'll be doing everything in my power to keep them safe and they just gloriously run into any body of water or explosion they can. It's so frustrating and is a big reason I decided to emulate it despite owning the game physically. This could get especially frustrating when trying to precise things to get certain ship parts and having to deal with Pikmin stupidity combined with annoying hyper aggressive enemies. But despite that, every day since beating it all I can think is "damn I wish I was still playing Pikmin." So you can expect me to try Pikmin 2 very soon!

Sonic the Fighters (June 1996) - Gamecube

Sonic the Hedgehog? Check. Fighting Game? Double Check. Somehow I've gone my whole life and NEVER played this game!! I've had friends talk about how good it was for ages and it's literally two of my favorite things combined. So I'm very happy that I finally gave it a whirl. I played through Arcade on the easiest difficulty as Sonic!

And may I just say, I only played a little bit. So maybe I didn't get the full experience, but the gameplay in this SUCKS. In general I'm not a huge fan of 3D fighting games over 2D ones. But the enemies are so ruthlessly brutal for NO reason and it genuinely made some fights IMPOSSIBLE to get past. Particularly Tails and Metal Sonic. I am not proud of the swears I shouted at this game just trying my hardest to clear the Arcade mode. And it's endlessly frustrating to me that this game seems to get so much more love and be more popular than Sonic Battle which is LEAGUES better! WHY ARE SO MANY OF SONIC'S SMASH BROS. MOVES FROM THIS AND NOT BATTLE!?

But, I will say. I totally get why people like it. Pretty much everything outside of the combat totally fucking rules. The character models are cute, charming, and full of personality. The menus are nice, the music is GREAT. The plot is cute and works. The level backgrounds are AMAZING, seriously they look WONDERFUL! And I particularly really loved the final boss. Where the Death Egg is exploding and Eggman comes out with a self destruct timer, and then that timer turns into the match timer. SUPER cool touch. This game is really cool in spite of being kinda annoying to play.

Anyway, new Sonic 2D Fighter made by Arc System Works next please!!

Soul Calibur 2 (July 5th, 2002) - Gamecube

Oh boy, another 3D Fighting Game. Here we go. Soul Calibur is a series I've only played once before with SC6. And while the whole aesthetic and concept of this series absolutely RULES, it just doesn't really click with me. I love the weapons, Nightmare is SUCH a bad ass and so is the Soul Edge, I love the over the top narrator who says so much, the edgy fantasy aesthetic rules, and I love the weird guest characters. But it just never fully clicked sadly. BUT, I've heard LOTS of people say it's one of the best fighting games ever so I figured I'm overdue to check it out.

Just like SC6, this game looks great and has great character designs. I'm particularly a big sucker for these gorgeous Gamecube graphics. Lizardman was my main even though I played the arcade as Nightmare (since you can't do arcade as Lizardman which fucking blows.) But yeah I'm just not super into the gameplay. Neat game though. This and Tekken are both neat games I may sit down and try to play all of some day.

Super Monkey Ball (June 23, 2001) - Gamecube

You may be shocked to learn that I've barely touched this series in the past. I've played a Monkey Ball Arcade Machine at a Chuck E. Cheese once... I played the phone version one time... And that's about it! I know it's a really loved series but for whatever reason it just never came into my life before. But I've had a friend tell me I should play it for a while now so I decided, what the heck? Since I'm here I might as well give it a shot.

And yeah it's neat! I totally get why people like it! It's tricky, but honestly a ton of fun. Love the graphics and level aesthetics. Music is nice (I LOVED the final area's music with the rock soundtrack in that edgy colosseum). The characters are all super cute (my favorite Monkey Ball character is that one with pigtails and a raccoon tail but she wasn't in this one sadly.) I love the random Dole cross promotion stuff that was genuinely funny. And I like that you actually control the stage that was neat. My only major issues aside from it being, generally frustrating is that the camera can actually REALLY fuck you over, it tries to kinda hang towards your back. But this can really influence your delicate control over the stage. I had some levels where the camera swinging it around genuinely made it impossible to get over some hills.

Frustrating as it was, I actually remembered that my sister bought a Monkey Ball game on Switch recently, so I can absolutely see myself playing more of this series later.

Guilty Gear X (July 13, 2000) - Playstation 2

Ah, one of the last few Guilty Gear games I haven't played. I'm not sure why, but this one just never seems to get ported anywhere. If I had to guess it's cause it's very similar to XX, but it does have a very unique look to the menus, exclusive stages, and it's own story. So I really think they're overdue to put it on Steam. But oh well, that didn't stop me, I finally sat down and gave it a shot! I of course played through the Arcade as Sol and had a pretty good time with it!

It's GG so of course you already know the music and graphics are AMAZING, it feels great to play and is overall a fantastic package. I actually thought the menu aesthetics this time around were CRAZY good. Everything looks really cool and good and I know the character select is a bit notorious for being kinda difficult to see everything. And yeah that's true but I thought it looked awesome! Overall this game rules and I think it's worth checking out even with XX being a thing. It's interesting to see just how far the quality in sprites and backgrounds improved from Missing Link to X in not even that long of a time (though ML will still be one of my all time favs aha)

My only major complaint is that I thought the Arcade Mode was relentlessly brutal this time around. Once I reached the second half I was massively struggling to get through and I could not beat Dizzy to save my life, it was nuts. I never had this trouble with Missing Link or XX! Maybe it was just the version I was playing or my controller. But this game seriously whipped my ass. Oh well. Still cool.

User Unknwn (July 17, 2023) - PC

It's okay for me to write about games made by friends of mine right? That's cool? It's my tumblr I'll shout out whoever I want. A friend of mine recently released a visual novel and I think you should give it a read! User Unknwn is an interesting and in my opinion, unsettling little visual novel about a strange homebrew app for PSP that causes... Problems let's say.

It talks about dysphoria and struggling with presenting and how people treat you when you're trans. I think it's best you read it yourself to see how you interpret it, but I found it to be very relatable with how it handles these topics and also makes it very creepy and bizarre in a good way. It's got nice visuals, I liked the use of real world photos and scribbles, it's a nice combination. It's got an interesting story and it's actually got an original soundtrack! Which is very good but also cool that they made the effort to include that! Most small indie games will just forgo music altogether or use free music, I'll admit I'm guilty of most of my games being silent. But no, here you get a full soundtrack! Which is honestly awesome! My favorite might be, and I'm sorry I have to type this... "Music That Will Make You Cum Your Pants"

Seeing as how it's a visual novel there's really nothing to complain about. My only complaint is that I'm also an original trilogy Paper Mario guy and I would NOT act like gabe, I'm better than that.

Super Mario 64 Star Road (December 24, 2011) - N64 Mod

Hey! Would you believe that this is probably the first Mario Romhack I've ever beaten? I've played TONS of Mario Fangames in my time. But never any Rockhacks oddly enough. But I recently played Super Mario 64 CO-OP with some friends, and I LOVED IT. You can set it to not boot you out when getting a star, let Mario access moves added to later games, and improve his swimming which makes the game feel SO good and new. It also natively runs fullscreen and has modern controller controls, it feels SO good to play this way (and you can customize Mario's color scheme.) So I did a quick 30 star run in the base game, and wanted more. It came with Star Road so I decided to play through that, and here we are!

STAR ROAD RULES!! It's a brand new game with a fully original hub world, all new stages, 120 brand new stars. Nothing is copied from Mario 64 except for the characters and the base engine and what not, of course. It's literally a whole new experience, and I loved it! I loved the new worlds, my favorites were probably Bob-Omb Island and Fatal Flame Falls! There's tons of areas to see and I don't think I even found them all! The game also has original boss battles like a bunch of big piranha plants which was very cool to see! And I was blown away by just how big the game is. I rushed the to beat the first boss, and then was shocked to see a second hub world! Then the same thing happened and there's a third hub world! This game is crazy massive! It's also got some new enemies, some visuals and stuff from other Mario games, and it was super cute hearing different video game tracks put in the SM64 soundfont for the OST!

The game isn't perfect though. In my opinion it's too long. You need 80 stars to beat it which is already 10 more than the original. And I feel like there's less stars in each world than the original game so you REALLY have to 100% a lot of worlds in order to get everything you need. I 100% cleared almost every main level to get 80 stars which is just a bit too much. I also felt like there were too many instadeath locations. The big bully in the snow world, the piranha plant boss, ect ect. Gloomy Garden was especially guilty for having SO many places to fall off and feeling SO big while also being so empty. That was easily my least favorite stage. BUT aside from that, this was an amazing romhack! I may even come back and 100% it some day!

Pac-Man World 2 (February 24, 2002) - Gamecube

And last but not least, Pac-Man World 2! I played the first one last year I believe, so of course it's only natural we jump into the sequel this year! This one I basically knew nothing about, never watched any videos of it or nothing. I just remember seeing the cover a lot at my local video rental store... I'm not old shut up. (I miss you so much, Screenplay Video...) But I finally gave it a go and I'm glad I did! It's a neat little game!

The game looks very nice, controls nice, I thought the music was good. And I love the story honestly. Spooky is cool and the whole concept with collecting the gold fruit, while simple, is cute and works perfectly. The game also isn't too long, it's shorter than even the first one. Speaking of which, I was really shocked to see how similar it was to the first one. The Rev Roll is still there and it has a lot of the same mechanics with finding fruit and what not. Idk why I just wasn't expect it to be so similar to the first! I do think I might prefer this one though? And the final boss was cool and the first boss was FANTASTIC!!

Speaking of bosses though, this ties in perfectly with what WASN'T that good about it. Dude. The middle 3 bosses are the EXACT same bosses and this boss fight fucking SUCKS. IT'S AWFUL, so I have no idea why they recycled it 3 TIMES but the cool frog boss just got left in the dust. It's so stupid. In addition whole the game itself is short that's only the case cause there's so few levels. Which they had to do cause the levels are SO LONG!! They drag on FOREVER and especially some of the on rails ones can just go and go and go. It's not too hard so it's not that bad but it can noticeable when you're playing a single level for what feels like forever. I also felt like there were a lot of jumps that were just slightly too far to make, I kept ALWAYS grabbing the ledge and rarely landing on platforms, and if you do that on the tons of platforms that fall, it's an instadeath every time. And then the final level felt completely broken. I had no idea what was happening in that stage I would constantly make progress, and then my reward would be being sent back earlier into the level. Wormwood fucking rules though so that's okay.

Regardless! Now that that's over there's only one more game left! Pac-Man World 3! THAT'S the one I've been looking forward to! It's the only one I played as a kid, it's edgy, and Pacman PUNCHES PEOPLE! I can't wait to play it!

---

I also played 2 other games, but really didn't have much of anything to say on them. WarioWare, Inc. Mega Party Game$! which was, neat but really boring without friends. Cutscenes were particularly goofy though. And Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 which was a very cool fighting game I've heard people rave about for ages! But I only briefly played it so I'd like to learn how to play it better and give it another go later, particularly after I play more KoF. But hey, look at my funny custom Morrigan color scheme:

#2023 #thoughts #roundup

[acacia-may]

Hi again! I was checking your fanchildren post (that's an amazing list of kiddos) and I'm very interested in the post-apocalypse / dark triad wins AU, please tell us more about it! :D

Hi there! Thank you for the ask and for checking out my fanchildren chart. It's kind of a mess, honestly, so I just hope it made sense. 😅

That AU is honestly a little out there (my sister and I made it up for (angsty) kicks & giggles a long time ago), so I doubt it'll ever come to be anything concrete, but I will try my best to explain. (Since it breaks off from the canon after the Spade Arc, I'll put my explanation below the cut to avoid spoilers and also because it's kind of dark. Just warning you there's a lot of things that are wrong with this one...but it’s really not meant to be taken too seriously...)

Alright so the premise of the AU is that the magic knights succeed in rescuing Yami and William in Spade; however, they don't manage to close the gate. The demons (in league with the Dark Triade) run amok in the world and kill off most of the population. The Heart Kingdom is completely destroyed, and the Diamond Kingdom is completely taken over and given over to Morris who runs human experiments there. The few surviving Clover Kingdom magic knights manage to hold a portion of the Clover Kingdom safely and end up pushing back the Dark Triade and the demons back into Spade. What's remaining of Clover is a completely fortified and walled in area, but the survivors attempt to rebuild there and a select few of the magic knights (more often than not led by Yuno) will occasionally go out into the world to try to figure out what in the world they're going to do about the Spade problem.

Asta and Noelle survived in the post-apocalyptic world for a while. They were a big part of the efforts to rebuild, but, unfortunately, eventually both perished [Asta in a mission and Noelle by being assassinated] shortly after their daughter was born. Nozel named her after Noelle, but he didn't think he was equipped to raise her so he gave her to Yami and Charlotte who aren't in a romantic relationship but have merged what was left of their squads. Little Noelle (Elle) wants to be a magic knight, but Charlotte and Yami have mostly forbidden it because it's too dangerous (under normal circumstances they probably wouldn't be so protective but almost everyone has died here so they're naturally pretty concerned), so they get her a job as a secretary to William Vangeance instead.

William Vangeance has left what's left of the Magic Knights to work in the government (in what I suppose is a "Wizard King"-esque position). He has an adopted son named Langris (Ris) who he rescued from a lab in the Diamond Kingdom as an infant. Langris Vangeance has extremely powerful spatial magic that allows him to travel through time, and his "Uncle Yuno" is particularly insistent that if he'd only train harder and apply himself, they could use his power to go back in time and close the gate thereby stopping the apocalypse. To Yuno's annoyance, however, Ris would much rather use his power to slack off, have fun, and get snacks (like churros which are his favourite food).

Langris Vangeance doesn't know his origin story, and he's not the brightest so he mistakes Rill and the since-deceased Charmy as his parents, thus the "Pappitson" part of his name. [Lisa is a defective but sentient clone Gauche made of Vanessa, and Ris bonded with her because she is "warm and motherly," so he has added "Lisa" to the end of his name as well in her honor]. Langris Vangeance [Pappitson Lisa]'s parents are actually Vanessa and Finral, though everyone thinks that they're long dead. At the end of the Spade Battle in this AU, there was an earthquake that separated Finral, Vanessa, Secre Swallowtail, and Langris Vaude from the rest of the group (and everyone just kind of assumed they all died). Langris died saving Finral's life, and Secre sacrificed herself for her friends (it didn't actually end up killing her though but rather turned her into a bird permanently again, but no one knows that. Bird Secre watches over Elle and Ris, however).

Thinking they were the only survivors and feeling she had no other options, Vanessa brought a badly wounded/half-dead Finral back to the Forest of Witches where she bargained with Her Majesty to save his life. Recognizing the potential of combining Vanessa's fate magic with spatial magic, the Witch Queen saved Finral on the condition that he and Vanessa stay in the Forest of Witches and have a child with the power to travel through time (and therefore prevent the apocalypse). As it's a post-apocalyptic wasteland out there, they didn't really have much of a choice but to stay. They weren't planning to give in to Her Majesty's demands, however, but as time passed, they actually came to love each other and accidentally had twins they named after Langris and Secre.

When the twins were still infants, the Dark Triade and their demon army attacked the Forest of Witches. Her Majesty perished, and they brainwashed Vanessa who took over as Queen in her place and allied with the corrupt Spade. During the chaos, Vanessa pushed Finral and baby Langris through a portal, and they managed to escape before Finral was knocked unconscious and Ris was stolen by the Diamond Kingdom. Finral was rendered permanently comatose due to head trauma but was, luckily, found and taken in by Henry, Grey, and Luck who are living in the woods (and also thought they were the only survivors post-Spade). Little Secre (Re) has been raised in the Forest of Witches with her brainwashed mother, who is a surprisingly good parent for being a villain. The brainwashing modified and sealed away a lot of Vanessa's memories so Re doesn't know anything about her father or twin brother. Eventually, a particularly jaded Gauche finds his way to the Forest and becomes Queen Vanessa's right-hand man and Secre's uncle.

Were this story ever to be written, the bulk of this AU would take place when Elle, Ris, and Re are all teenagers and would mainly consist of them trying to save the world. It would likely start with Elle and Ris running away from home to journey to the Forest of Witches to try to make an alliance with the Queen (who they don't know is brainwashed or actually Langris Vangeance's mom). However, it's such a convoluted mess of a plot and an idea that I doubt it'll get written. It's kind of fun to think about sometimes though, and I've also made a couple of doodles I can share below...

The first image is William with a little bitty Langris Vangeance and their bird feeder. The second image is an older "Little Noelle" and Langris Vangeance (with churros and Rouge who ends up saving his life at one point).

#thanks for the ask! #i never really thought i’d ever tell anyone about this au 😅 #it’s dark but it’s not really supposed to be taken that seriously… #answered asks #the-black-bulls

[chaoticrebels]

NAME : Jackson Overland Frost NICKNAME : Jack Frost AGE : Immortal {Forever 18} BIRTH DATE : Unknown GENDER : Male ORIENTATION : Demisexual, Demiromantic. {Bi} LOCATION : Constantly Traveling, Burgess PROFESSION : Spirit of Winter, Guardian of Fun, King of Childhood, King of Wild Thing SPECIES : Winter Spirit SPOKEN LANGUAGES : English HEIGHT : 6'2" WEIGHT : 143 lbs HAIR : White EYES : Ice Blue TATTOOS : None PIERCINGS : None SCARS : None FACE CLAIM : Lucky Blue Smith

Powers and Abilities

Winter Magic

Flight

Immortality

Eternal Youth

Magic of Fun

Free running

Magic Staff

Battle Style

Physical Age Manipulation

Leaf Manipulation

Personality

Jack Frost is a mischievous teenage hellion who has no interest in being bound by rules or obligations, and rather instead favors spreading his winter magic for the sake of the personal amusement of himself and children. Despite these traits, Jack is also gentle and generous. The source of Jack's anti-social behavior towards the Guardians and refusal to adhere to rules was mostly because of his frustration with the Man in the Moon not answering his questions about who he was or why he was created, and also because no human, child or adult, was able to see and hear him for centuries for no one had believed in him.

As Jack spends time in the Guardians' company, however, each individual would have an effect on him that would change him from a mischief-making winter spirit to a full-fledged Guardian in his own right, as well a hero. It was his refusal to give up in the face of overwhelming odds that enabled him to help one child, Jamie Bennett, who keeps his belief in all of the Guardians as well as finally being able to see and believe in Jack Frost. Jack's desire to protect Jamie, as he once did his sister, helped him realize his center; Fun. Jack proudly accepted the duties and responsibilities as the Guardian of Fun. His purpose, is to spread the feelings of fun, joy, and happiness to bolster the faith that children around the world had in the Guardians.

Even before he officially became a Guardian, Jack displayed some pride in what he does, particularly the Snow Days he makes for children to have fun. Jack was shown to have a somewhat low self-confidence at times, particularly in his status as a Guardian. His failure to save Sandy bothered him greatly before North told him Sandy would be proud of him for what he did and that no matter who Jack was in his previous life, he was a Guardian in this one. Jack worried about his human past, asking "how can I know who I am, until I found out who I was?" When Pitch was taunting him with his fears, he said that Jack was worried about his acceptance among the Guardians and didn't think they'd ever accept him, showing that he cared about their opinions of him. This was confirmed when the Guardians turned their backs on him and Jack was left heartbroken by it.

Even so, upon learning of his sacrifice to save his sister as a human, Jack's self-confidence was restored and he fully accepted his role as a Guardian, realizing he'd been one all along. Despite his deep desire to be seen, Jack is unwilling to stoop to the levels Pitch is willing to go in order to make kids see him. When Pitch offers to work with him to make kids see both of them, with being seen as Jack's greatest desire, Jack refuses when he realizes Pitch's way will make kids fear them and states that's not what he wants. This shows that despite however bitter Jack may have grown about his inability to be seen or heard, he doesn't want to be feared, even if it would lead to belief. Rather, he prefers the kids loving him. This shows that he deeply cares for children even though they may never see or hear him and highlights why he is a Guardian. Jack is also selfless, as it was a selfless act of helping Jamie keep his belief in Bunny that finally got him a believer, which let the guardian almost cry in tears when Jamie finally acknowledged him.

Due to his years of isolation, Jack seems to be taken off-guard by shows of affection. An example of this was when Jamie hugged him. Jack was so caught off-guard that he didn't even respond for a moment, but then he warmly returned Jamie's hug. He was also surprised by Tooth hugging him before he officially became a Guardian, which he didn't seem to mind.

#☯ 。゜ ⠀ ☆ ⠀ 。゜ ⠀ ★ 𝙁𝙄𝙇𝙀𝘿 𝙐𝙉𝘿𝙀𝙍 ﹕Frost

[loulougoingsolo]

DIYing a Bold Hair Choice

So, as we all know, we live in troubling times. I've personally been living in quarantine-like arrangements for about a month now, and although I've been mostly doing alright, some things have proven to be hard. I was supposed to have my hair professionally cut and dyed this week, but I had to cancel the appointment, and at the moment, I don't know when I'll get to visit the salon for the next time. So, I had to take matters (or scissors) to my own hands.

I'm a DIYer, but I've never cut my own hair. I've also had it professionally dyed since I was 15 or so. For a short period, I only had it bleached and cut by a pro, but then dyed it myself with a pretty intense cool shade of red - but other than that, and a few toner touch ups, I've always relied on professionals. So I was in a bit of a pickle, when I realized that I'd have to either DIY or have my grey roots grow wild for months. And because my hair is short, the roots way too grey for my age, and I had all this time ln my hands, there was really only one way this could go.

When I go about a DIY project, my first step, always, is thorough research. I had an idea for what I'd attempt to achieve, so I went on Youtube and searched for diy haircuts. I got some good tutorials, but most of them were for long hair - and I also got suggested GMM episode #989, in which Rhett and Link battle in cutting their own hair (wigs). Can I just say, they predicted the Tiger King craze long before Netflix:

So, I immediately figured I would not be able to follow yhe hair styling tutorials of this GMM episode. First of all, I could only find one pair of scissors even remotely sharp enough to cut hair. They were not sharp enough. Secondly, the longest part of my hair barely reaches my chin. I would need to really commit to every snip I make, or I'd end up with a bald hair style, instead of bold. As attractive and gorgeous some people are with a fully shaved head, with my head shape, that was something to avoid at all costs.

Another thing I was worried about was that I'd probably end up cutting my own finger, like Link. I've always found it extra difficult to see my own reflection in a mirror and try to do accurate motions according to the reflection. Simply put, my brain gets confused. Also, I don't really have a way to see the back of my head through the mirror at all. How the crap am I supposed to cut anything?

At this point, I understood that the actual haircut was going to be the tough part, so I decided to focus on the dye. Since I cojldn't just go to a big supermarket to buy the equipment, I had to order the dyes online. At this point my plan was simply to buy a multitude of wild colours to mix and match according to my mood, so I ordered a tub of Midnight Blue, Daffodil Yellow, Flamingo Pink and Cerise dyes, all by the brand La Riche Directions. These dyes are semi-permanent, sonI knew they wouldn't cause permanent damage to my hair, and at this point, that was kind of my goal - whatever I do, I don'g want to ruin things too badly. But, because I'm familiar with semi-permanent dyes, and I've had pretty much every shade on the spectrum on my hair at one point, I knew I might require an extra step to see results. Which is why, "just in case", I added a hair lightening kit to my order. I figured, I'd make some lighter strands on top, to have some colours show properly.

By the time the dyes arrived, I was already pretty fed up with my grey roots. I watched the GMMore which followed the hair cut episode. Rhett, who won the haircut challenge, got to decide what colours would go in Alex's hair. Alex had done the smart thing and bleached his hair professionally to be dyed in this episode, but he somehow agreed to letting Rhett and Link add the colours.

When Rhett explains everyone how he and Link used to dye eachother's hair back in the day, I realize that even though I'm technically watching a DIY hair tutorial, they aren't actually doing it themselves. It's quite different to put dye on someone else's head than your own. (Also, something I didn't notice back when I first saw this episode: Link says it would be crazy for him to have his hair dyed, but looking back, he most certainly had his hair dyed at this time.)

It was slightly alarming to see that Alex was worried about how things would go. I could hardly expect to achieve anything much better than the guys, since at least they had the studio lighting and a full team to help rhem not screw up. I had a mirror in my dark toilet, which is barely big enough to stand in.

I also forgot to buy vaselkne, which was a big mistake - although I don't think it's even possible to buy a container that big here. Why would they have that at Mythical in the first place? But something about seeing how much trouble the guys were having controlling the unmixed streaks of dye and all that vaseline made me worried.

At this point, I need to tell you that seeing the blank canvas which was Alex's hair, I, now the proud owner of a 40 % bleack kit (which apparently is the strong stuff), decided I was not going to waste energy by trying to dye my hair without bleaching, only to find out that the colours didn't show. So, I mixed the bleach, put on a worn-out t-shirt, used hand lotion to vas up my forehead, neck and ears, and then just went for it.

I did watch quite a few proper tutorials. They taught me, firstly, that 40% was a no-no. Secondly, never bleach something that has already been bleached, especially, if your hair has multiple colours. Forth, never start from the roots, as they get bleached faster (this ended up being the only rule I followed). And, above all, go to a professional.

So, I added the bleach to my hair. First I tried sticking to just a few strands, but then a blop of the bleach fell on the wrong spot, and I figured, why not just go full head. I did. I left the stuff on for maybe 20 minutes, and after that I got scared and rinsed it off. Then, I used a silver toner, and was left with a fascinating mix of orange, yellow and white hair - and a strand of persistent green from my previous dye. But it was blond enough for my plans.

Alex had a beautiful mix of blue, pink and purple in his hair - and that accidental splash of green - and after considering thoroughly, I decided to go for these colours, too. I mean, pink, purple and blue are my jam. Also, as much as I wanted to go full rainbow, I figured it would be an impossible task to keep the different colours from mixing, and that might result in brown, which is the colour of defeat. So, I went with midnight blue, flamingo pink and cerise, and wasn't too concerned aboit getting the colours mixed together.

This is how Alex's hair looked on the episode, before he rinsed the extra dye off:

I couldn't find any good photos of his hair after it was rinsed, but tgere was one which suggested only a faint shade of blue stuck.

And finally, here's what happened with my hair. Now, I'm not posting my face here, just the hair. Imagine a white blop with green eyes below the hair, and you'll get the idea. In the first two pictures is my hair during normal times, and just before I diyed it. It looks particularly nasty in the just before hack job pic, because it was adviced not to wash your hair before bleachkng to save the scalp - but as you can see, this was not a fun thing to see in the mirror each morning:

After I had dyed my hair, I did some snips here and there, and also, because I was able to borrow a hair clipper from my dad, some clipping - which in my books, saved the day. The haircut is pretty botched, but I actually absolutely love the colour. And the criss-cross shave despite it being pretty bad - it also looks badass in real life. The picture taken outside shows the pink colours more accurately, but the cut shows better in the other pic. There are a couple of ways I can style this later on, but I kept styling to minimum for starters, because I didn't want to cause extra damage to my hair:

So, this has been the story of how I diyed my hair during quarantine. My mom loves the whole thing (I showed it to her yesterday while taking them groceries), and although there are some spots in the back which could have more colour in them, I'm pretty satisfied. I know my hairdresser is going to weep when she sees me, but she'll get over it.

So, in conclusion: Would I do this again? Yes, but I'd definately leave the cutting and bleaching to the pros. Also, now I can't really bleach again for a while. But I'm actually thinking about taking the dyes I have to my hairdresser so she can dye my hair properly with them, in a healthier way, once all this chaos settles and it's safe again. I'd probably need a slightly darker, permanent colour to the roots, but I absolutely love these insanely bright colours. And I'm so going to try the full rainbow this summer, too.

Would I recommend this to others? Yes, but with caution. The direct semi-permanent colours are safe and won't damage the hair, but bleach does. My hair is naturally a tad too dark to show bright colours properly, so I took the risk. I was also mentally prepared to shave the whole thing off and wear my mythical hat for the summer - but I'm happy that wasn't necessary. If you aren't willing to risk damaging your hair, stick to semi-permanents.

To end this post, here's a selfie I took yesterday on my grocery store trip in full safety gear (I have a paper mask under the scarf):

Stay safe! Do things that make you happy! BYMB! 💗💗💗

#diy hair #bold hair choice #inspired by #gmm 989 #diy hair cut #diy hair dye #quarantine glam #pink purple and blue hair #bymb