#this is the third time ive made this post and the third account ive made it on

[rudescape]

hell o

just gonna vent in the tags real quick

#sometimes i miss this place #ive had this account since i was like...13? 14? #im 27 now which is hard to believe #i remember venting on here constantly as a teenager about how i didnt see myself living past like 19/20 #now im just a random adult person floating around in obscurity #ive been debating on permanently leaving the internet for all reasons other than pure and deliberate research #and i honestly just might do that #but i logged on here yesterday again #which makes this like....the second or third time ive logged on within the last couple of years probably #i dont keep an eye on these numbers but i can tell you how easy it is to scroll down to posts i reblogged in 2018 #which says enough about how little i check in on here #anyways...it got me thinking about this site and all the memories i made on it #you may be thinking it isnt that deep and thats being generous considering the strong doubt in me that anyone is even reading this at all #but yeah you'd be right #it isnt deep #all it comes down to is nostalgia in its purest form #and a part of me knows that i wont just suddenly start posting regularly on here again #but in this moment i can only hope to feel a connection with something that used to bring me relief from my real world pain #its time to shut up! its time to shut up!! #goodbye

[totheblood]

as a black writer i want to say some things…

one, inclusivity is absolutely needed. not only in this community but nearly all communities. oftentimes we are seen as a non-factor or have our experiences just be disregarded. i made a post on this a while ago and got a weird amount of hate for it.

two, i really dislike the way in which this conversation was brought up. because while a lot of it is true, (we need more inclusivity in works and more black writers) people ended up bringing up specific writers and sort of blaming them for the lack of inclusivity? or saying that they writer their readers white? this is so frustrating because one it’s not true, as someone who has read a lot of their work, it has been raceless except for the fact that their readers are hyperfeminine. again being hyperfem is also a lesbian experience so please remember that, and thats how they are! that’s who they are in their daily life and thats how they write. some of you dont realize how incredibly difficult it is to write outside of who you are. but overall i havent seen them say anything that would make their readers explicitly white. on top of that it’s just so counterintuitive to the point to bring up white writers when discussing the lack of inclusivity. there are a lot of black writers!!! how about instead of bringing others down, we work to bring others up. it takes away from what we are saying and is not only unfair to those writers who had nothing to do with it, but also black writers.

third, if you are making an entire account to spread hate, you don’t have the moral highground you think you do. i know this may sound shocking but how about you block the things you don’t like, and dont talk about it anymore. there are things ive seen on here that i haven’t liked but i keep my mouth shut, don’t follow or interact, and keep it moving. that existing will not cause me to spend my time writing hate to that person or even focusing on it. i’ll focus on my work and what i like to write/read. you are obsessed at the end of the day. it’s not a good look and it’s mass bullying.

fourth, i saw a lot of discourse about minors. again, a lot of the minors who read my work don’t realize it’s mostly for your sake. unrealistic expectations of sex and relationships are so detrimental when you are so young. but at the end of the day i can’t control what minors read/don’t read. my work is public and i understand that. once again, however, i ask that you don’t interact with me. as someome who is 22 and already in a position of power it would be not only weird but wrong for us to have interactions. please remember that.

all in all, i do love this community and the people who are just here to read and mind their own. stop ruining the collective experience for everyone please.

#ellie williams x reader #ellie williams #tlou 2

[babyraccy]

you cannot separate the abdl and little aspects of me from myself. without them then i am still somebody, but there will be a huge chunk missing from me. i probably make it sound super serious but that's bc it is to me. this year will be the third year anniversary of me coming out as an abdl (before you get upset at me using coming out here: you try telling your close friends who know you as just some vanilla-ish guy or in one case your literal mother that you like diapers. go ahead.)

i am so happy. i know so many amazing wonderful people in all sorts of places, even irl!!, who share the same interests i do. i love to look at art, read stories (there's some amazing abdl original fiction out there), talk with people!! i love to talk with people!!!!

being an abdl and a little literally made me come out of my shell and open up! im no better at talking than i was before but i dont feel so pressured or nervous because i know everyone around me is just as weird as i am!!! and i know it was this specifically because i feel like i still struggle in other spaces im in relating to other "weird" things about me

i feel like i was always kind of meant to be this way, too. when i remember things about being a kid relating to diapers obviously there were swaths of tv shows with regression episodes, but i would get physically nauseous with embarrassment if someone saw me watching them. i always thought they could read my mind and knew i was watching it because i really liked when characters were babies/got turned into babies/etc. and wished it would happen to me. it sounds cliche but i still get embarrassed like that because NOW i know people know

ive always been kind of obsessed with babies and baby-related things. i would sneak into my sister's room when she was a baby/toddler to play with her toys; a couple times i climbed into her crib while she wasn't in it (and a couple times i got in trouble). i loved looking at baby clothes, baby toys, etc.

diapers i think was a slow-build that suddenly exploded into real desire when i was... probably fifteen, i can't remember exactly but i think fifteen. and from fifteen to nineteen i denied being into ANY of that so hard im sure it definitely tipped some people off. i forgot it was on my f-list as a teen when i showed it to my best friend. at the time she was like loool what the fuck but um. jokes on her. i can't wait to hang out next weekend and go look at baby things and pet things (ageplay4petplay friendship ftw)

at twenty i made an agere account, and in june of 2021 i abandoned that account and joined some diaper forums, which is when my anniversary is! its actually june 3rd!!

anyways, that's about it for this mountain of a post. im gonna go lay down before bed

i love being an abdl and an ageplayer and a little and a babyfur. peace and love on planet earth and beyond

[samijami]

Re-redoing my pinned post

Disclaimer:

If you reblog my art (or any of my posts), please have third party sharing off in your settings!

And,

(There is currently no restrictions to my ask box)

As long as asks are on, they can be turned off. As long as anon is on, it can be turned off. As long as reblogs/replies are on, they can be turned off. I won't hesitate to take precautions to prevent any further harassment from happening to me in my personal corner (nor will I back down from defending myself and others).

I AM A MINOR (16)

Support the campaign against Matt Mullenweg (get his ass fired)!

It is important to note that the link has been permanently changed to be https://www.change.org/fire-matt-mullenweg incase you're interested in sharing it around!

Check out my playlist of Hazbin Hotel song parodies on YouTube!

Art requests: Closed

Basic info on me/my blog:

Hi! I'm Samuil Jane. I go by many different names however (as I am a name hoarder..), you can call me about anything you want; the names I've hoarded are: Samuil/Sami/Sam, Arco, Hans, Chez, Chris, SJ/AJ, CC, Julian, Sarco, Bunny.

I'm a nonbinary trans guy! (Intersex cafab who commonly refers to himself as afab or simply intersex). He/him, they/them, vi/vir.

Asexual demiromantic and pan :)

I have auDHD, DID, anxiety (+ anxiety tics), depression and ants in my pants that threaten to breach at any given moment.

^-- So that may explain some of my posting habits and behaviours.

I have alters so if an alter wants to link a seperate account, they can below.

@the-unknown-system9

My blog may include occasional venting, or triggering imagery. It will be tagged accordingly (and if it's bad, there'll be post cuts). Although if I don't tag, it's usually in the middle of some shitty shitty time where I am too demotivated to even type in the tags so sorry.

Just keep that in mind.

This blog has accidentally became a reblog and personal post haven when it was meant for my OCs, so I have a sideblog for my comics to keep that stuff organised.

Sideblogs/parodies:

COMIC BLOG!: @samijami-comics

Harassment archive blog: @samijamis-harassment-archive

Abuse archive blog: @samijamis-abuse-archive

Parodies: @the-official-jk-rowling @steve-bannon-official @official-lorie-smith

Sideblogs: @things-i-tell-my-cats @out-of-context-shit-ive-said

Yes, I'm the JK Rowling account -_- lol

Extra:

I made the Dr. D. Light AI on Character.AI. (Thanks for 105k+ chats!)

I have uninstalled C.AI because the buzzing when the AI is typing is too annoying for me. So I can't keep track of how many chats he has.

YouTube: Sami Jane

I quit Instagram

Zepeto: Samuil

Reality: Samuil

Character.AI: Samuil

Chai: Samuil (Friend code: FrozenTeemingBunny)

Discord: samuil0978

Roblox: RespectMeMortal

RecRoom: ArcosALilFunGuy

TikTok: samuilthenonbinarygoon (not active until I get the motivation to go back on)

Snapchat: not sharing <3

List of OCs! (For roleplays, asks, and etc. Please check the contents of roleplays with me first if you're someone I don't roleplay with often).

If I don't wanna roleplay with a specific character, that either means the character is not fully developed (in personality, etc) or I don't think that character fits the roleplay type.

I have too many characters lmfao

This blog will have cussing and shit on it (whoospie)

Anyways, have fun, don't harass me and don't cry to me if you forget to block a tag that may trigger you (for the love of God, please block triggering tags when on my blog).

#introduction post #introduction #introducing myself #introductory post #introducing post #pinned post #pinned intro #pinned info #new pinned #info post

[shirkers2018dirsanditan]

honeslty i really dont think the rape thing is entirely false especially based on how we know all men act in war, and i think the posts were needed because the amount of rape apologism as a whole that was going on was disturbing- people acting like its justified has become a thing. ive seen posts people made about "all rape is bad" have like multiple entirely different situations mentioned in the tags and that makes it seem super necessary to be said given that people arent even all talking about the same situation. apparently it literally is just controversial at this point to say "all rape is always wrong"

when claims of hamas atrocities are used to encourage a no holds barred assault on the entirety of the gaza strip, it does matter whether something is actually true or just “is probably” true. you are being ridiculous and disingenuous, and i have another, more inflammatory ask in this vein so i will post for the record. nbc news and the la times have issued corrections on claims about rape saying that they have been unable to substantiate them. forward magazine just published this piece, revealing that the claims of rape have been second and third hand allegations propagated by hard right israeli columnists or videos of dubious origin and veracity online. of all the accounts of rape, none are firsthand and most claims are unsourced. just because you are talking about palestinians and hamas does not mean anything goes. if these were unsourced and highly sensationalist claims about american soldiers from taliban officials or iranian state media or chinese state media, the same people accepting this as hard truth would be reasonably skeptical. the tone and the context of these claims are racial and colonial in nature. and given that all palestinians, including children, will be punished by israel and its allies (among them the most powerful countries in the world), if you are going to engage in a narrative that portrays hamas as ruthless barbarians that lack humanity, it should be based on verifiable claims or firsthand accounts. it’s also worth noting that allegations about the brutal murder of literal babies is the most common form of atrocity propaganda

#anon

[incorrectzutaraquotes]

since i’m reviving my account i would like to make some things clear:

so first, i was 15 when i started this account and i will certainly never claim to be perfect. if you see any of my past posts that were insensitive or made you uncomfortable and would like me to take it down, just message me. i absolutely never intended to post anything harmful, but i know that it is possible that i did unknowingly, and i may also have had internal biases i needed to unlearn that i may not have be aware of at the time. i will never fault anyone for educating me, i am always open to learning and unlearning things so don’t be afraid to message me. some of these quotes are nearly 7 years old, like i said i was 15 when i started posted them, and ive been inactive for years so i dont remember most of what i’ve posted.

secondly, i am avidly and actively pro palestine. i will not take any bullshit from zionists. if you are anything BUT pro palestine this is not the page for you. i do not want zionists interacting with me and if you are zionist and you comment on my page or message me you will be blocked immediately. there’s a lot of resources going around to help educate yourselves, to help palestinian families in gaza, and just overall to spread awareness about the genocide israel is committing in palestine. if you’d like me to post some here just let me know, but im mostly active on twitter and i repost and share a lot of info and sources on there.

third, this is for fun !! so if you don’t ship zutara, that’s fine, just don’t bring any ship war bullshit here. i’ve been around this fandom for a long time, and trust me, been there, done that with the petty shipping wars. i’m 22 now. i’m in college, i graduate in may, and i just don’t have time to get into all that. it’s very much a non issue so, just keep it chill, that’s all i ask.

and lastly, i did ship zutara in the cartoon. that being said, i haven’t finished the live action show and i’m also very much aware of the age gap between the actors who play the characters in the live action. when i post these, i am only posting about the characters, mostly with the animated version that i grew up with in mind. i will absolutely never ship the actors together or support people who do that. it’s sad that it has to be said, but i don’t want anything misconstrued and after seeing the way people treated walker scobell and leah sava jeffries, i feel the need to make that very adamantly clear.

love you all very much, to new followers and to the ones who’ve stuck around for the past 7 years. just have fun with this account, don’t take it too seriously i’m just here to have a good time and i hope you are too!

#zutara #zuko #katara #avatar the last airbender #incorrect zutara quotes

[lightlycareless]

IM BACK i got so busy right around when the last chapter was posted but im HERE NOW. and ive been reading so much,, all the lore from chapter 36 was SO GOOD im so sad im late to it but ohhhhhmygod. so much going on there and setting up REALLY good parallels between y/n and naoya when it comes to their relationships w their parents. the way both of them had their mother slowly get more and more distant due to circumstances outside of their control/caused by some fucked up third party... ough... this also reveals so much DRAMA like WHO CURSED Y/N'S MOTHER?? im throwing hands. and thats such a fucked up TYPE of curse too the way it fucks with the personality/behavior-- someone REALLY hated her huh

but ohmygodmyGOD chapter 37 has SO MUCH going on. like just starting off with matsuo being. insufferable. man. can a woman not get a drink in this house.

the entirety of this chapter is SO rich with so much emotion... like the way they're finally feeling like a couple is so sweet?? i KNEW naoya had it in him to be nice, even if it does take being on his death-bed for it to happen..

THE WEDDING RING HE CARRIES THE RING ON A NECKLACE W HIM AUAHUGHEHGH,,, i cant even begin to describe how emotional that made me the last section of the chapter where they're just talking to each other for once means SO much after having read the last 36 chapters of animosity and standoffishness like they're FINALLY talking and like. seeing each other? as people? its SUCH a pivotal moment and at the same time so small and domestic its amazing

AND HES GOING TO TRY TO LET HER SEE HER FAMILY AGAIN?? that opens up SO much drama and so many questions like-- is he going to stick to that when he recovers? CAN he stick to that or like he said is he not in a position to negotiate that much? (would he help her sneak out or sneak in a way for her to see them somehow if it came to that?) what kind of interaction would that even BE for her to see them again after so long-- would it lead to them not wanting to let her leave/go back to the zenin estate? theyd for sure know somethings up.. my favorite couple is finally coupling. 12/10. still obsessed w them

Hello!!!

Awww, don't worry about it!! Ngl I was a bit like, I wonder if they liked it, maybe I finally scared them away lol, my perfectionism slowly killing me inside 😭 But really, the most important thing here is that you're ok, and that you liked the chapters!! ❤️❤️❤️

I'm telling you, I didn't mean to make it that way but how Naoya and Y/N ended up being similar to one another is... wow, perfection. And ironic haha Y/N hates Naoya so, so much, that she literally can't see him as anything else but like complete opposites I mean, if you were to tell her "Hey, the two of you have similar backgrounds" she'd be like "ew no wtf!!!"

Which is why she was so baffled to learn that it's true 😭 they share the pain of having loss a mother, and in some ways, being disliked by their own family.

Also, for Minako's curse... I don't intend to explore more about it, so I'll just say it was someone very, very jealous of her and her children. Someone that just wanted to see the family burn, you know? (LOL, it makes it seem like Eiichi had some secret admirer or something. Or maybe her?! Like the yandere type "If I can't have you, no one can!!" Oof, I hope not on either accounts)

Now onto chapter 37 :>

The way Matsuo's behavior did a 180 was... I don't know what I was expecting, for it to not happen?? Let's be real, that man as soon as he got a bit of power decided to abuse it. Probably some resentment towards Y/N and her staff, how happy they are and the good relationship they have with her or whatever. Honestly, I do not care about that man. (I wonder what Naoya's reaction will be once he figures out how he's been treating her... HMMM)

I'm so glad you liked the fluffy parts with Naoya hahahahah even though as you said, it's when he's sick... oh, I just hope it doesn't all go away when he's not sick anymore, you know? GOD this whole thing hurts me so much for Y/N hahahah like she's trying so desperately to hold onto the fact that maybe this is the change she was unwittingly hoping for, that Naoya finally woke up from his stupidity and decided to act like a proper husband.

Because more than leaving the house, I think she, very, very deep inside, wants this whole thing to work. I mean, who wouldn't... she grew up in a loving family where her mom and dad loved each other very, very much. It's only natural that she wants something like that too if it ever happened! And Naoya... oof, he's handsome, rich, and she doesn't have to put herself in danger in order to make a living. At that point it was a win-win... until his personality came out 💀💀💀 Anyways, it's difficult, but I WILL MAKE IT WORK. I PROMISE.

Also, if you liked their interactions on this chapter, I think you're going to like the next one 😏 (Idk if it's worth anything, but I always thought Naoya would be like Kang Dooshik from Pearl Boy when he's not being a raging misogynist)

As for the promise... that is something we'll see next chapter as well. What's going to happen with it and whatnot. I'm like Y/N right now, a bit shocked that it happened, but on edge to see if it's true 😭 after all, it's a pretty heavy promise to make ... but that is something only Naoya can choose.

I just hope all the pieces are falling in place (correctly, I mean HAHAH) for that one chapter!!! I can't wait to write it, I think we're like... 2/3 chapters away from it. I swear, everything that will happen next is leading to that moment.

And I gotta say, thank you for being patient with me 🥺❤️ I swear, everything that is happening leads to that. EVERYTHING!!!! I just hope it pays off!!!! If not, I'll disappear from the internet. The shame of it all.... hahaha.

Anyways, thank you so so much for coming back for another update! And don't worry about reading the chapters later! My story is intended to be entertaining, relaxing (yeah sure, look at all that angst) so read it whenever you can ❤️❤️❤️

Once again, thank you so much for your support 🥺❤️ I hope you continue to like the rest of the story!! Take care, and see you soon!!

#ask #ask series: first it hurts— #naoya zenin #naoya zen'in #naoya x reader #naoya zenin x reader #naoya zenin x your #jjk naoya #naoya zen'in x reader

[rontra]

Okay, your ideas are just so fascinating.

First Raven x Willow, and now Summer x Salem.

They're curious ideas, and I would really love to know what inspired you to create fanworks based around these two AU crackpairs?

BHSDFHBJD i'm glad you think it's interesting 😌

i think it comes naturally with the territory of having my particular media interests. OR maybe my brain is just wired in a special way and it's not as natural as i think. i dont knowHBDSFMJ

I MEAN OKAY the most barebones, un-entertaining logistical answer is: as someone who is a big fan of the rwby milfs i necessarily end up with a lot of rarepairs on my hands because the pool of characters i choose from is already chock-full of rares who have minimal or no interactions w each other. but that mostly accounts for my one-off "huh that's neat" posts that i don't really pursue further (certainly not to the point of. umm. how many words is TCaBS now)

the second tier is of course that i just think it's fun. right. it's fun to come up with ways to execute something like that and it's fun to see what other people think of it. it's not always very deep sometimes it's just a fun prompt challenge or experiment. it doesn't take a lot of effort to think of these ideas because this play is very intuitive to me, so a lot of the time i'm just in my little playpen and it produces fanworks that you can also see

the third layer of the answer is the storyteller instinct (lol) and where it really starts burrowing into my brain. that's when there's character to dig into. bc i LOVE doing character stuff and figuring out how 2 weirdos would interact and what would ripple out from that…

Raven/Willow and Summer/Salem are great examples of this to be sure. definitely rarepairs that have STUCK with me and ive gotten INVESTED in making fanworks for. this is because i find their characters complement each other very well and create interesting stories just by simply pairing them together… i've already talked At Great Length (and could easily talk for Another Great Length) about summer and salem's relationship specifically in the context of my art of them, and there's something like it going on with blackswan too--

the type of narrative relationship that they have… raven and willow are sort of mirror characters to each other too. both are absent mothers to the primary characters, who vanished from their positions after being knifed in the back by someone they loved (raven was let down by team strq when she needed them most; willow's husband finally tells her that her entire life is a stageplay farce) - both of them are totally checked out from their family and reclusive - both of them are inclined to drink (overt with willow obviously drinking on screen, more subtle with raven strewing bottles all around her tent) - neither is recognizable to their daughters as the same person they were before breaking, and reuniting with the woman who vanished is still a resolution hanging over us - a great deal of emotional real estate is vested in them despite having relatively scarce screentime, right? they're both very interesting characters in their own right and it made me hop around like a little goblin that RT gave me a pair of mirrors who Do Not Know Each Other's Existence (well, that's not necessarily entirely true; raven might know willow EXISTS on account of roughly knowing the schnee family roster since theyre . kinda famous. but even that would be one way and sort of Conceptual rather than personal lol)

the way they handle their problems is different, as is their overall strategy for engaging with the world. but those differences ultimately highlight their similarities too, and the end product is that its only more interesting to try and imagine how they would function as a pair, sharing so many of the same wounds but coping with them differently. could they condemn each other? are they used to not being condemned? TCaBS is at least partially about willow being the only bitch in the world who looks at raven and goes "no i get it", you know? i'm into that kind of thing--this is ALL OVER the summer/salem fanworks too--and any type of interesting dynamic like that is what really gets me into making works to explore it…

i'm using raven/willow as an example here just to demonstrate the line of thinking i had particular to that ship of course. there's a lot of various dynamics in the world that you can easily spin up by picking two or more rwby milfs and pushing them together. it's just one example but that's sort of how my brain works with this stuff in general. i don't really ever think about if the characters have a defined relationship in canon or not. i just think about what would be interesting or complementary… i'm following my heart!!!!!! playing in my playpen!!

this is a long post just to say pretty much it's largely that i operate without thinking about things like "rarepair" or "crackship". i just go "look at my ships boy" and post something ludicrous that still somehow sells people on it. amen

[thebentleyao3]

Genuinely need to know how the pro soccer Daniel/pro karateka Johnny storyline escalates.

What’s their reaction to the shipping? Do their publicity people try to capitalize on it? Do they show up at each other’s games? Does the knee injury come back? Is there a World Cup/what ever karate guys do?

Sorry if these are two many questions—never sent one of these before so I figured i’d just ‘ask’ lol.

Tell me about this!

PLEASE NEVER APOLOGIZE FOR ASKING TOO MANY QUESTIONS you have no clue how long ive wanted someone to ask me about this au In this AU, Johnny joined Cobra Kai at the same age he did in the series, and Daniel also learned karate from Mr Miyagi in his senior year. He ended up joining the soccer team at West Valley though, instead of getting kicked out like in the movie. Johnny and Daniel had a stupid, petty rivalry that never got as serious as it did in TKK. Even though Daniel still loves karate, he ended up pursuing soccer as a career after highschool. Since Johnny never fought Daniel in the All Valley, he won first place for the third year in a row and eventually started fighting internationally. The whole story starts because during an interview, Daniel gets asked about how he got into soccer specifically, yaknow, why not any other sport? And Daniel talks about how he used to play with his cousins all the time back in Jersey, and it reminds him of his dad because he taught him how to play when he was little. Then he starts talking about how he does karate too, ever since he was in highschool. The interviewer jokes a little, asks him if he's a fan of any specific people, and Daniel, little shit that he is, responds with "Oh yeah, sure I am. Ever heard of Johnny Lawrence? Big fan of his! I never miss a single match. Can't get enough of the guy :)" The somewhat niche soccer rpf fandom loses it over this. CONSTANT posts joking about Daniel's celebrity crush and how he was basically twirling his hair giggling kicking his feet over johnny in the interview. Johnny was already losing his mind when people started making jokes about shipping them but things are only made worse by the fact that during an interview before a pretty big match, they just won't stop asking him what he thinks of the memes about him and Daniel Larusso. He's so fed up he eventually just says that he and Daniel go "way back" and that they had a classic highschool rivalry, Larusso was just messing around in the interview! Somehow this only makes people more serious about shipping them?? People start talking about how they just give off the biggest bitter ex energy Daniel finds this all hilarious, even more so because he knows Johnny absolutely does not. He starts making jokes about it on his official twitter account, which obviously pisses Johnny off MORE. Meanwhile, Johnny's PR team (mainly Shannon and Bobby, obviously. don't ask me how.) start begging Johnny to let them start teasingly responding to speculation on social media for "publicity". As for whether they show up to eachother's games...ohohoho. I already had them hatewatching all of eachother's matches in mind but with the shipping only getting more popular, Johnny decides to actually buy tickets and go to one of Daniel's games. To tell him to quit making people think they liked eachother, obviously. Only, he gets...really really into watching Daniel play? There's something about seeing him move, so focused as he evades his opponents without any problem. Johnny gets so into it that he kind of forgets why he even came. the second Daniel spots him in the stands though? he stumbles, distracted, and trips over his own feet. he feels red in the face for the rest of the game. once almost everyone has left the stadium, and Daniel's on his way out, johnny stops him. they get into an argument in a secluded area, somewhere behind the seats, and that should be that right? except for the fact that the minute they both get home they see the most mortifying fancams of "johnny's face watching his bf play SCREAMS in love" and blurry pictures of them having an "intimate" conversation after the match.

that's about all I've got on this au, so sorry i didn't answer all your questions. im also SO sorry this got so long oops that was my bad...THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SENDING AN ASK!!

#asks #lawrusso #tkk #aint love a kick in the head #ring my bell

[basicbeigecapybara]

My entire account and everything I have written so far.

just downloaded GTA four. hope it is any good.

#gta iv

basicbeigecapybara

I think I'm addicted to this app

I feel that making long posts like mine is necessary and I have no idea why.

basicbeigecapybara

Analyzation of the Interior of a 2018 Toyota Highlander

Now, today we will be talking about the Interior 2018 Toyota Highlander. Let's begin.

Now first I want to take a look at the splendid window covers. These sun-blocking nets are built with the car. results may vary considering which type you have. however, they can be used as privacy protections, or just simply blocking the sun from your eyes. you simply pull up the little notch at the bottom of your window and hook it onto the top. the window shades are very hard to see through guaranteeing privacy for the user.

second, I would like to take a look at the AC system. This AC setting is life-changing. from seat warmers to cold air. there is a seat-warming option, but sadly only in the front but we will explain why it's like that later. The seat warmers heat up fast and get very comfy on a cold day. not to mention the AC unit. The AC is available and adjustable in the 2nd and 1st rows. you can also change how fast the air blows, and you can even change which direction it goes. this is very useful for cold or hot days.

Now like I said, here is why there aren't seat warmers on the second row. the seats can move around, so if you want to lie down just pull the lever next to the seat and you can fall asleep. there is also a THIRD row, you can have the third-row seats folded down if you want more trunk space, or you can have them up. this car can hold a maximum of 8 people if you're taking a long trip with your friends.

Now let's talk more about the design. which is one of the best parts of the car. The seats are made of fine long-lasting leather that is in a beige color. the doors are black leather with a wood design for the handles. the wood design is very smooth and definitely very well made. most highlanders contain a bar at the roof where you can strap in your bike if your thinking about having an adventure.

This car is a personal favorite starting at around $50,000 and it is worth the price, I hope you enjoyed another one of my summaries that I make when I get bored, and thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this nonsense.

#toyota#highlander#cars#carreview

basicbeigecapybara

My Opinion Regarding Red Dead Redemption 2 [SPOILER]

Today, I will be summarizing the well-known game "RDR2" Also known as "Red Dead Redemption" including its features and so on. now I must say that I am very fond of the graphics in this game, far better than most Rockstar games which already gives it a bonus. Plus, the nature is very catching and realistic as it has caves, mountains, rivers, canyons, deserts, Etc. There is so much more to explore and that is why I love it most. The plot of the whole story mode is complex, but as you progress, it gets more understandable, especially during the middle stages. Near the end of the game, you start to figure out more secrets behind the characters, which finishes most of the plot however, you will start to notice the downfall of the characters and how they worsen over time. once the game is completed, you can find their graves hidden throughout the map which gives a nostalgia effect as well, you can also even find some of the characters who had managed to survive through the story, as well as side characters. The NPCs are very interactive, and you can even talk to them, antagonize them, or rob them. and also throughout the game, you can treat the NPCs nicely and it will give you good effects in the later stages of the story. It shows a nice feeling of vengeance, for example: when you help the native Americans with rivalries and whatnot. you are in big battles defending them which gives off a sense of retaliation. this motivates the user to fight harder in the missions because most likely the user knows about the fact that the US beats the natives during colonization. so the user wants to kill as much of the enemy as they can, wishing the natives had won. this can hype up the user and motivate them. the game introduces you to different side characters, such as the "Neanderthal" "Feral Human" and many others. this game also has an eerie side. as it introduces the "Strange Man" who is known for his black top hat and mystical ways, and I am only getting started. there is the Aberdeen Pig Farm where you are introduced to a very overweight man and his sister. you will walk into their house and be offered food. once you accept the food you will then be told about how it used to be a pig farm and how their parents died and shortly after you will then be poisoned and greeted in the middle of nowhere, and all of your stuff is stolen. you can come back to the house later and get it back. there will also be strange dead bodies throughout the map including serial killers. the game can get very gruesome as proven. You can find clues about the serial killers and eventually find out where they're hiding out. once you walk in, very terrible things will appear and he will try to make you a victim, however, luckily enough you can escape and you can then report him to the "law" and get money for it. plus, there are other bounty missions you can do for a good price such as a man who claims to be a healer and actually gives out poison, or a psychotic woman who lures men in and kills them. and there are even different gangs throughout the game, like the "Moonshiners" or the "Skinner Brothers" and even the "Night folk" Something I am also very happy about is the hunting. there is a bunch of different animals you can encounter and hunt. there are also Legendary Animals that can be found around the map, you can hunt them and sell them, or make clothes out of them. One thing I don't really like about the game is the stupidity of the NPCs like when they can fight you all they want and not get in trouble. but if you punch once, the law will arrest you. I hope that my summary was a pleasure to read (if anyone actually reads these which I'm pretty sure they don't) And if you stuck around and read my true speech of boredom then thank you.

#red dead 2 gameplay#boredom

basicbeigecapybara

How To Effectivley Defend Your Home Against An Opposition.

Today, we will be learning how to effectivley defend against home invasion. All you need, is a 12 gauge shotgun, an M84 Flashbang Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ suace, and a 20,000 kilogram block of solid uranium 235. We first must create a diversion that will distract the assailant such that you have an opening for tactical withdrawl. it is for this reason that we have Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ suace. using your buff, well toned arm. lob the BBQ suace out your window at exactly 100 MPS and at an angle directly parallel to the outside ground. This gives you exactly 1.11 seconds to escape the vicinity before the BBQ suace lands on the ground, and explodes into a highly-lethal fireball, as all nearby objects are incinerated by a common household condiment burning at 6,000 degrees Celcius. A single tear escapes your eye as you realize you will probolably never taste the sweet nectar of Sweet Baby Ray's ever again. not after the Sigma variant cuased the downfall of the BBQ supply chain. a great regime whose unwavering glory surpassed that of the Roman Empire at its peak. but right now more important matter are at hand. you will never forget the sacrifce the sweet baby rays made to save your own life and entrust in your hands the future of human civilization. there is no turning back now. you must now take action and seek immediate vengeance. Carefully breach your bedroom door with a 12 guage shotgun. and clear the outside area with an M84 flashback. then, quickly advance towards the nearest exit making turns to confuse the enemy, for if you dont know your next move, neither do they finally, once you are outside, it is time to unleash the fury of a 20,000 kilogram solid block of subcritical Uranium 235 with your house surrounded it only makes sense to make one last stand for the survival of human civilization. this is what you have been preparing for assuming that you have not been lacking, you should easily be able to replicate the compression affects of chemically feuled implosion assembly nuclear weapon explosive lens, with your bare hands to force the fissel uranium into supercriticality, cuasing an expotential growth of nuclear chain reactions that realeases 226 billion joules of energy into the surrounding enviroment. but this is not a tragic case of self sacrifice, because you took a swig of sweet baby rays before running out of the house. you will not go gentle into this goodnight, for souped up on the sweet nectar of God. You are now essentially a highly lethal superhuman nuclear recoil gun. no mortal shall oppose you now. for you have ascended to a plane of existence touched by no other living man. your opponents will not even realize what is happening, before a beam of thistle material transfers 500 Kilotons worth of TNT through their chest, killing them instantly.

#home security#barbecue#uranium

basicbeigecapybara

The Gettysburg Adress

Since it is currently presidents day, Here is the entire Gettysburg Adress.

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate-we can not consecrate-we can not hallow-this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

[anubisisms]

Hello.

I was reading your fic Widowmaker and came to a chapter that had news articles in them. How did you manage to format them the way you did in the fic (by that I mean in a gray box and in a Times New Roman font)?

Another thing is how do you figure out how to write scenes related to crime rates and police stuff (like how things work in stations, etc)? Ive read fics with stuff like this (and have been wanting to write a fic of my own at some point), but I never knew how people manage to flesh out good, convincing ones. How do you research?

Questions aside, I love your fics and hope to see how the rest of Widowmaker ends. (Also I hope I’m not bothering you with this ;-;)

Hi!!! It's not a bother at all, I love talking about fics and fic formatting!!!

Making the news articles was something I accomplished using CSS and a workskin. I'm not sure how familiar you are with either of them, but CSS is a style sheet language/coding used to change the formatting of a page. AO3 lets you input it into fics by using workskins! The process is essentially coding up how you want certain parts of the page to look, creating a workskin and putting the code in there. Once you've applied it to that fic, any part of the fic enclosed in specific HTML will have that different look to it! If you're unfamiliar with it, here's some basic stuff for it:

beginner guide to CSS

a step-by-step guide to workskins on ao3

But anyways, I accomplished those sections with some very basic CSS. This was the entirety of it:

#workskin .newspaper { border: 1.7px solid; padding: 20px; background-color: #f0f0f0; font-size: 1em; color: #000000; font-family: "Georgia", serif; }

So all you need to do is post that into a workskin on AO3, apply it to your fic, and once you're editing the fic, switch to the 'HTML' view and enclose anything you want to make look like a newspaper in the following:

<div class="newspaper"> insert your content here </div>

That should get you the same look as what I had in my fic! It's annoying and fiddly, but I love CSS because it can get those different appearances and layouts, and once you get the hang of it, it can be quite fun! This is a very shitty tutorial, though, so if you need any more info I'm always happy to ramble at length on tumblr or discord.

As for your other questions, about how I do my fic research, it really depends on the fic. For crime-heavy fics like Widowmaker, however, I always kind of do research in the following way:

Figure out the jurisdiction/area

Figure out any divergence from reality

Figure out the fic specifics

Now that sounds very vague, so let me break it down a bit:

The first thing I do in any fic, no matter where it's set, is figure out where exactly it is. For Widowmaker, it was Tokyo, specifically Roppongi and Musutafu. Now Musutafu is a fictional area, so I substituted in other central Tokyo locations like Shibuya, since the differences wouldn't be too stark. From here I build my basic knowledge. How do the police work in Japan? What governs them? I never do anything too in depth at this stage but having a low level of background knowledge is a good thing to grab early on.

Next up is, of course, figuring out where irl research is going to fail you. Like it does often in a world set approximately 200 years in the future, where more laws would cover quirk use than traditional crime. For Widowmaker, that meant examining what role the police would actually have, given the widespread nature of heroes (and vigilantes). I made the personal decision that their role would be a more procedural and investigative one, with most field work left to pro heroes like it is in the case of Hawks.

Third is to figure out the fic specifics. This ties in a bit with the second step since that step helps eliminate what you don't need to take into account. This step tells you what you do - the police have a massive role across many areas of law enforcement, so you have to narrow it down. Do they work in drug crimes? Crime prevention? Or crimes against people like murder and such?

Once we know for sure we can start to narrow down our search - general stuff like the makeup of a police station doesn't have to be as specific, but we may need to know the punishments for murder in Japan in a prospective future, and while a bit of bullshitting is inherent in any fic set in BNHA's world, we can get a solid grasp on reality by examining the first part.

A lot of it can be trawling through boring, overlong Wikipedia pages and hunting down articles on the justice system in Japan. But for me it also involves a lot of imagination about how the systems I find solid research on would actually differ with the changes made by any kind of canon.

So that's it really - a mixture of those three steps and just using my own imagination to fill in the gaps! I'm sorry if that doesn't end up being very helpful, sometimes a writer has a very specific research style that suits them, but hopefully it gave you some insight! Again, if you want any help with said research or for me to dig out any of my old sites, just let me know! I'm always down to look at tiny little niches!

Sorry that this answer got so long, and thank you so much for the ask!! I'm really glad you're enjoying my fic so much <3 <3 <3

#ask answers #introvertedartistwriter15 #fic meta #css #fic research #<3

[normanbased]

AHOY i am not Entirely sure if you got my ask about norman’s character progression (tumblr may have eaten it, but it was the one about him gradually seeming angrier/more frustrated throughout the films at the knowledge that he’s trapped in this cycle of loneliness and violence but can’t do anything about it) but BUILDING ON THAT right right right

in the first film especially (and at certain points in the second), i feel like norman’s anger is very tranquil. in fact the reason it’s so intense is because he’s very clearly holding back. and this partly ties in with the post you reblogged ages ago about Characters Who Are So Inauthentic and who Only Let You See What They Want You To See but. idk i feel like he has a complicated relationship with anger and resentment because. i’m sure he has a lot of it, but he’s painfully aware that allowing it to overtake him has the potential to scare the shit out of people, and he doesn’t want to make himself any more isolated than he already is. part of me also wonders if he really really doesn’t want it to manifest in him the way it did in his mother. or if he never really felt allowed to express it at all growing up, and he assumes people will respond to it the same way his mother did

and so the fact that this resentment keeps building in him over time is, in and of itself, probably something that’s enormously frustrating to him. he doesn’t want to be this person, by god he never wanted to be this person, but the situation he’s in is just so cyclical and so goddamn unfair, how else is he supposed to feel about it? he resents his past, he resents his circumstances, but above all, i think, he’s angry with himself

i don’t know if this made ANY sense but i was seized by a divine vision and had to write it down and if it’s completely incoherent i cannot be held accountable /j (fr tho ive been thinking about this all day)

<33 I quite literally couldn’t have said it better, I always find the outburst he has with Duke for example in III where he’s like “YOU THINK IM STUPID DUKE??” to be super interesting. It mirrors the “and I’m not capable of being deceived” line from the first film. Like, it’s the same sentiment but expressed so differently like, Psycho I Norman would never have done that.

His development up to his third iteration is so fucking interesting because you just know he’s been lied to, manipulated, and deceived consistently throughout the franchise and it’s boiling over.

Like, do people seriously think he’s stupid?

#ask #psycho #Norman Bates

[xtruss]

“Hypocrite, War Criminal, Genocidal and Demented Biden” Just Signed A Bill That Could Ban TikTok. His Campaign Plans To Stay On The App Anyway

— By Will Weissert | Tuesday April 23, 2024 | AP

Washington (AP) — When President Joe Biden showed off his putting during a campaign stop at a public golf course in Michigan last month, the moment was captured on TikTok.

Forced inside by a rainstorm, he competed with 13-year-old Hurley “HJ” Coleman IV to make putts on a practice mat. The Coleman family posted video of the proceedings on the app — complete with Biden holing out a putt and the teen knocking his own shot home in response, over the caption, “I had to sink the rebuttal.”

The network television cameras that normally follow the president were stuck outside.

Biden signed legislation Wednesday that could ban TikTok in the U.S. while his campaign has embraced the platform and tried to work with influencers. Already struggling to maintain his previous support from younger voters, the president is now facing criticism from some avid users of the app, which researchers have found is a primary news source for a third of Americans under the age of 30.

“There’s a core hypocrisy to the Biden administration supporting the TikTok ban while at the same time using TikTok for his campaign purposes,” said Kahlil Greene, who has more than 650,000 followers and is known on TikTok as the “Gen Z Historian.”

“I think it illustrates that he and his people know the power and necessity of TikTok.”

The Biden campaign defends its approach and rejects the idea that White House policy is contradicting its political efforts.

“We would be silly to write off any place where people are getting information about the president,” said Rob Flaherty, who ran the White House’s Office of Digital Strategy and now is deputy manager of Biden’s reelection campaign.

Flaherty said Biden’s team forged relationships with TikTok influencers the 2020 election and that the platform has only gotten more influential since then, “growing as an internet search engine and driving narratives about the president.”

The Biden campaign says that an increasingly fragmented modern media environment requires it to meet voters where they are and that TikTok is one of many such places where would-be supporters see its content, in addition to platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

It has produced its own TikTok content, but also relied on everyday users who interact with the president. That includes a post from a family that ate fries and other fixings from the Cook Out fast food chain when Biden recently visited Raleigh, North Carolina, as well as Coleman’s putting video.

Opponents of TikTok say its ownership by Chinese company ByteDance gives Beijing a dangerous amount of influence over what narratives Americans see as well as potential access to U.S. user data. Chinese national-security laws allow the ruling Communist Party wide latitude over private business, though the U.S. has not made public evidence that the Chinese government has manipulated the app or forced ByteDance to do its bidding.

The law Biden signed Wednesday would force ByteDance to sell the app to a U.S. company within a year or face a national ban. ByteDance has argued the law violates the First Amendment and promised to sue.

Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, now publicly opposes a TikTok ban after issuing an executive order while in office trying to ban the app if ByteDance didn’t sell it.

The White House doesn’t have an official TikTok account and Biden banned the app on most government devices in December 2022. Yet the Biden campaign also officially joined TikTok on the night of this year’s Super Bowl, as the president shunned a traditional gameday TV interview to instead spread a political message with the platform.

Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki convened a virtual briefing in 2022 for more than two dozen of the app’s influencers to discuss the U.S. approach to Ukraine, a gathering later parodied on “Saturday Night Live.”

There have been scores of other such events, including an influencer party at the White House last Christmas and a State of the Union watch party in March. During Biden’s recent, $26 million campaign fundraiser at New York’s Radio City Music Hall with former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, there was an influencer happy hour and an after-party where attendees interacted with Biden.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the legislation Biden signed “is not a ban. This is about our national security.” She added that the White House isn’t saying “that we do not want Americans to use TikTok.”

TikTok has 170 million U.S. users and a study released last November by the Pew Research Center found that about a third of U.S. adults under 30 regularly got news from TikTok, compared to 14% of all adults.

Adults under 30 are more likely than U.S. adults overall to oppose a ban on the use of TikTok in the United States, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in January. Nearly half of 18- to 29-year-olds are opposed, compared to 35% of U.S. adults.

About 2 in 10 U.S. adults said then they use TikTok at least once a day, including 44% of 18- to 29-year-olds. Among 18- to 29-year-olds, 7% say they use TikTok “almost constantly” and an additional 28% are using it “several times a day.”

Priorities USA, a leading Democratic super PAC, is spending around $1 million this cycle to help fund more than 100 TikTok influencers who produce pro-Biden content ahead of November, and views those efforts as an extension of traditional organizing and communications initiatives.

Even if TikTok is eventually banned, most of its influencers are on other platforms that could continue to take their content, especially YouTube and Instagram, said Danielle Butterfield, Priorities USA’s executive director.

“TikTok users are online generally and that’s a lot of different places,” said Butterfield, who was also deputy director of digital advertising for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Biden, meanwhile, has seen his standing with young people decline. About one-third of adults under 30 approve of how he’s handling his job as president, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in March — a sharp drop from the roughly two-thirds approved when he first entered office.

Greene studied history at Yale, served as the school’s first Black student body president and graduated in 2022. He attended past White House events as an influencer, including a Juneteenth celebration and a West Wing event for the Inflation Reduction Act, a sweeping health care and green energy package, where he met both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

About a year ago, however, Greene says he began posting about Biden’s championing a sweeping 1994 crime law that activists have long said contributed to the mass incarceration of racial minorities. He also criticized Biden’s current administration for what he called “a lack of specific policy made for Black Americans.”

Since then, while Greene continues to receive more general emails from the Biden administration, he said says he’s no longer invited to more personal events while some “creators who fell in line, who are less critical” are still going.

Flaherty, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, said the campaign has paid influencers in specific instances, like when their content has been used in ads, and that some content creators who work with the campaign have raised concerns about legislation forcing divestment. But he doesn’t see it having a major Election Day impact.

“I think young voters aren’t going to vote on TikTok,” Flaherty said. “They are going to vote on issues, which are discussed on TikTok but they’re also discussed other places.”

Greene, however, said young voters’ frustration with the Biden administration in other areas — particularly its handling of Israel-Hamas war — have combined with the TikTok divestment legislation to spell political problems for Biden.

“There’s no ability for me to overstate how that exacerbates the outcry,” he said, “and the dissatisfaction that people already have.”

— Associated Press writer Linley Sanders contributed to this report.

#TikTok | Ban #“Hypocrite | War Criminal | Genocidal | Demented Joe Biden” #Associated Press

[theversevision-rp]

[Updated] Casting Protocols

To: Verseprods, applicants

Subject: Updated Casting Protocols

Date: Jan. 12, 2024

By: Gianlorenzo

Updated Casting Protocols

TheVerse Vision follows a strict and meticulous process in casting to ensure that roleplayers are permitted to be one of the agency and share enough of an honest overview of their mindset and personality; so that the personnel have a scratch paper on to base their observations from whether the artist stayed consistent, true, or exceeded expectations from their performance during casting.

FILED BY GIANLORENZO AND TODIEFOR

Principal Policy Authors: Gianlorenzo, Windbythesea

Final Approval: Paradise Lost

Date Effective: January 2022

Date Revised and Revisions' Author: January 12, 2024, Gianlorenzo

Scope of Implementation: Verseprods, applicants, THEVERSEPLAY, Down The Universe

Conditions: Qualifications

Applicants should be eligible for application through passing the needed requirements and initial standards.

Must be a Filipino roleplayer.

The account used for the application should have a defining roleplay forte. According to the standards of TheVerse Vision, the general classification of roleplay fortes are In Character (IC), Original Character (OC), Canon, Alternative Universe (AU), and General Art - as long as the account takes after a roleplay account [has a muse].

Has a recognizable faceclaim, of any nationality, profession, or field. Self-drawn OCs and animated fictional characters are allowed. Deceased personalities (ex. Michael Jackson, Naya Rivera) and children as faceclaims are prohibited. Specifically, for children, prohibited are those who are non-celebrity; a faceclaim below 18 years old (in the current year the roleplayer is joining) is only acceptable if the person is an artist (ex. Leeseo, IVE. Hyein, NewJeans)

Willing to abide by community policies by being responsible, respectful, and active.

Applicants with a known history of issues in character will be automatically rejected or have a lower chance of being recruited, depending on the case. Examples of issues can be but are not limited to plagiarism, catfishing, bullying, seen with below-the-belt remarks in public, spying, unapologetic behavior, harassment, cheating, and too much inconsistency in activeness such as repeatedly joining in and signing out of affiliations. If rejection in evaluation is grounded in the cases mentioned above, the evaluators should have proof of actions projecting the cases to avoid ungrounded judgments.

If an applicant was turned down the first time for medium-level reasons such as lacking substantial answers, and applies again, the roleplayer will be given the right to an interview and evaluation as consideration for persistence and choosing the agency again. Roleplayers with known issues are excluded from this consideration. A roleplayer can reapply after not less than 25 days.

Returning members, or artists who would rejoin after previously resigning or being terminated from purge, are allowed.

Conditions: Requirements

A submitted application form with complete answers, written in English or Filipino, through TheVerse Vision’s pinned post, in its application section within the comments section. Forms with incomplete answers are automatically rejected. Forms submitted through a third-party person such as an officer or mutual in the group are not allowed unless the reply section is restricted.

Any timeline pinned post that expounds the roleplayer’s forte and disclaimer.

Conditions: Protocols and Process

Interviews are scheduled only on weekends.

The Casting Director has the right to turn down an applicant if the objectives of the interview are not met or there is insufficient depth, with three days to finalize the decision to which the applicant will be made aware of.

Applicants, if caught copying an answer from the Internet without citing it, would automatically be turned down.

1st step: application form, 50-50 chances. Submitting a form doesn’t guarantee consideration, as it would depend on whether the answers are substantial. 2nd step: casting interview, 50-50 chances. If the applicant’s form is considered by the Casting Director, the applicant will be invited for an interview that should be conducted in any official panel room of TheVerse Vision. Members of the management are in each panel room, but only the Casting Director or designated panelist for an applicant will share the floor with the interviewee. 3rd step: completion of requirements, if the verdict arrives as passed.

Returning members are considered not required to undergo a casting interview for the second time unless the returning member was formerly terminated due to sudden inactivity during their previous time in the group; only an application form. Members previously terminated for being involved in known issues or causing damage to the group are excluded from this consideration.

One applicant only per interview room. The applicant will be given a schedule to meet with the panelist but the duration to complete the interview is given 7 days. Failure to accomplish the interview [and requirements, if passed, will nullify the process.

If an applicant gives no response a day after being summoned to their last reply, they will be asked in the Interview Room if they wish to continue. If there is no response still, they will be temporarily removed from the Interview Room and be moved to Room 4 until their 7th due day.

Applicants who pass the casting shall receive an evaluation result or receipt.

Applicants applying to be an officer and passed the casting, but have no history in the group as a member would undergo 1-month probation first.

Conditions: Privacy

As stated in the application form, answers to the application form, a copy of the full interview, and responses in the contract record are to be documented as part of the management’s archival purposes to ensure everyone who applies and enters the group properly undergoes evaluation and process, and history tracking. Records are limited to Verseprods only.

Conditions: Free Pass

All of the measures above are applied in Free Pass phases except for the following changes:

Interviews can be scheduled on weekdays.

For officers, no probation period.

[dynamite-derek]

Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest: Another Side, Another Story

Please note, this is the latest entry in my series of Final Fantasy retrospectives that I write for a website called vidyathoughts.com. I am not able to post every single one of them on tumblr due to image restrictions, so please consider checking out the site and reading my other reviews in full. This post was edited slightly to remove some images that put me over the limit, so I apologize for the occasional long block of uninterrupted text. Thanks!

Here’s your new Final Fantasy, bro

Final Fantasy IV had come and gone and Square was very intent on making a push into North American markets. They had released SaGa games and redubbed them as spin-off Final Fantasy titles (The Final Fantasy Legend, Final Fantasy Legend II and Final Fantasy Legend III.) The first Mana title had also made the journey stateside, rechristened as Final Fantasy Adventure. The franchise seemed ready to really spread its wings with Final Fantasy V set for release in Japan in December of 1992.

Let’s revisit a quote related to the release of Final Fantasy IV in North America.

“I guess the biggest change is that they made it a little bit easier for the U.S. market, but that was because we already had Final Fantasy I, II, and III in Japan, whereas Final Fantasy I was the only one released in the states,” Final Fantasy IV lead designer Takashi Tokita said in a 2007 interview with 1up. “Final Fantasy II and III had some experimental elements to them, and so for U.S. users to suddenly dive into IV… it just seemed a little bit difficult. So we balanced it out to present it as a follow-up to Final Fantasy I. And, you know, the NES platform had a very wide range of users where the bottom end was very young, and we took that into account as well”

The difficulty issue was weighing heavily on the minds of those at SquareSoft. Final Fantasy V was the most difficult Final Fantasy title yet and the West was comprised of RPG babies at the time. They didn’t get to experience the other two Famicom titles and grow with the franchise, so they could not be expected to handle the hardcore gameplay of V. So a decision was made to release a Final Fantasy game specifically for North American audiences in order to get them more accustomed to the genre. Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest was born.

Despite being made for an American audience, development for Mystic Quest was handled by an internal Japanese SquareSoft team led by Kouzi Ide. Ide’s most notable work to this point was as the lead for the third SaGa title, which North American players would receive as Final Fantasy Legend III. Ide would only direct one more game after Mystic Quest, Treasure of Rudras, which only saw release in Japan. I would normally say that since it’s been nearly 30 years you shouldn’t count on ever getting a version of that game in North America, but they released Live-A-Live over here eventually so I guess anything is possible.

Mystic Quest is also the first game credited to Ted Woolsey, who was the lead localizer at SquareSoft during the SNES era. His translations are known to be a tad bit more colorful than your typical works of the time. This leads to a lot of his writing quirks being referred to as Woolseyisms. This ranges from his take on Frog speaking in olde English in Chrono Trigger (despite nobody else in the middle ages knowing what thees and thous are in that game) to Kefka’s infamous “Son of a Submariner” line from Final Fantasy VI. Most of his work has been retranslated over the years, but odds are if you played a SNES game made by SquareSoft, you’ve experienced his work in some way.

Woolsey at his finest, in my opinion anyway, is Super Mario RPG. I think his quirky style helped give that game a lot more of a life than it could have had. SMRPG was my very first role playing game and I credit it with getting me into the genre. It accomplished what Mystic Quest was trying to.

Here is what Woolsey said about the prospect of moving Final Fantasy V westward in an interview with Super Play Magazine in 1994:

“The Final Fantasy series basically has two separate tracks: the odd series (FFI, FFIII and FFV) are controller command drive games, whereas the even series are more story line driven games. As for FFV though, well, although we’re sure it’s a great title it hasn’t been a hit with too many people in our focus groups, although experienced gamers loved the complex character building – it’s just not accessible enough to the average gamer. But we’re determined we want to release it so we’re going to wait and introduce it once there’s a larger audience for that particular style.”

Now obviously Woolsey isn’t a major decision maker at Square. He didn’t pull aside upper management and warn them about the dangers of the Job system. But he would certainly know of what games are being localized and why certain ones are being skipped over.

Mass appeal

From the above quote, we can guess that Final Fantasy V’s fate might have been determined by focus groups. Before I even sat down to write this retrospective, the feeling I had while playing Mystic Quest was ‘this is a focus grouped Final Fantasy.’ It’s nice to have the lead localizer sort of confirm that there might have been a little truth to that. The original plan for Final Fantasy V would have seen it released as a spin-off title of some sort, but I will get more into what they did with V later (Spoiler: not release it in America at all until the next console generation.)

Mystic Quest would release in North America just two months before the Japanese release of Final Fantasy V. It would later go on to release in Japan as Final Fantasy USA: Mystic Quest in September of 1993. Final Fantasy VI was released in April of 1994, so expectations probably weren’t too high for the spin-off title in Japan.

The first time I saw MQ was as a middle schooler. I wasn’t terribly interested in playing it, I was too hyper-fixated on the PS1 Final Fantasy games I could not play for myself at the time, and for some reason a shard stuck in my mind that correlated Final Fantasy II (IV) with it. So for a long time I knew the first four mainline Final Fantasy titles North America got as: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy II: Mystic Quest, Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy VII. The 90s were a different, more confusing time.

In discussing how Mystic Quest differs from your standard Final Fantasy, let’s explore the focus group idea a little bit. Allow me to pretend to give feedback to SquareSoft as a non-RPG playing fella on Final Fantasy IV and talk about how these concerns were addressed. Remember: Square wants Final Fantasy and role playing games to be a massive hit in North America. They want what Enix had with Dragon Quest where Japanese police officers beg them not to release the game during the school week. Final Fantasy definitely had a host of hardcore fans in North America, but an absolute mainstream fervor would not encompass the west until Final Fantasy VII’s release.

“Five is a lot of party members, I can’t keep track of all this stuff!”

Mystic Quest trims your party down to only two characters and if you so choose, you only need to control one character. The game defaults to your secondary character acting automatically, though you can press a button to change to manual commands. MQ also utilizes the Final Fantasy II and IV approach of having characters constantly entering and exiting your party. The secondary character is always a fair deal stronger than your main character when they show up but by the time they leave, your protagonist should be equal to or greater than them. It’s an easy way to determine whether someone is going to leave your party soon or not. Are you their level? If so, prepare to say goodbye!

I find that if you play on auto, the computer will cheat for you. At some point I switched to auto mode because I wanted to move this along. The combat system isn’t terribly deep with two people so the battle-to-battle strategic decisions didn’t matter so much. I would notice on certain turns that sometimes my main character would get hit with a big critical by an enemy and then my partner would heal me back up before it became time to input moves again. My character gets stoned – no I do not know a better way to word this – and my partner would cast heal. In manual, I would have had to plan ahead for that. I guess they try to give you every leg up that they can?

There were a couple of times later on I had to switch back to manual combat for my partner to do something specific, but it was very seldom.

As a result of having only two party members, battles don’t have a lot of strategy. Towards the end of the game, some encounters will feature minor hurdles with enemies that will reflect your magic or give you a status effect if you attack them physically, but outside of that most encounters feel the same. The only real differences come down to the sprites. You either both attack or one of you heals. There are status effects to manage but there’s no buffs or nerfs. It’s very straightforward.

“This ATB system is so hard to figure out. I was browsing that old guy’s spells looking for meteor and some random bad guy called Red Eye swooped in and killed me while I was looking!”

True turn-based gameplay is back. So if you were getting sick of holding it in while you wait for battles to play out, you can once again tell your main character to act and then run out to the bathroom while everyone takes their turn. Given that you only have to put in your main protagonist’s commands if you’re on auto battle, this can lead to some very repetitive encounters. For a large portion of the game, I was just having my two characters attack. I know I said in my FF1-3 recaps that I spend most of my battles just physically attacking but at least there were four party members to choose from. Like if I wanted to attack enemies in other ways, I definitely had options. It felt a little more in depth.

“What’s the deal with all these status effects? How do I cure them? What’s the difference between confused and charmed?”

Status effects remain, but dealing with them is a little simpler than it was in the past. Up to this point, each status effect could be cured with a specific item. There was also the ‘cure all’ item, remedy. These are usually rare and expensive, so it encouraged the player to only use those in emergencies. Better yet, use Esuna! Forget items!

In MQ, there is only one item that heals status effects. It is pretty easily obtained and ensures that status effects will never really hamper your playtime unless you just outright ignore them for some reason. Which you can certainly do because I tackled the first major dungeon of the game poisoned for at least 3/4 of it. Your rotating secondary party member almost always has some white magic, so they’ll usually be able to heal you too. And if they can’t heal you, they’ll probably have the Life spell which will revive you. They also very generously make Life the equivalent to Full Life in Final Fantasy IV, i.e. you respawn with full health.

I will say that with two party members, encountering enemies that throw around status effects willy nilly can be slightly frustrating. There were a couple of times where both my party members were confused or asleep or something and I had to wait for the enemy AI to smack me before I could do anything. I also had a couple of unlucky battles where both of my fellas would get stoned right away, which is an instant game over. It doesn’t happen enough to be annoying but it does happen. Generally if you heal status effects as they come, it’s no big deal.

“Why are there so many spells? How do I know which one to use? Is Fire 2 better than Blizzard 2? Why does Fire need a sequel? It takes me forever to see my spells!”

Your total spell count is really low. Observe.

The spell book on the left is the main character’s magic and those 12 spells represent your entire catalogue. You have four white magic spells, four black magic spells and four wizard spells. For white magic you get Cure, Heal, Exit (for leaving dungeons) and Life. Black magic gets Quake, Fire, Blizzard and Aero. Wizard magic gets Thunder, White (holy, or as Kingdom Hearts fans know it as, Pearl), Meteor and Flare.

First, as you can see the magic charge system is back for some reason. I don’t understand the logic behind it because it’s far less user friendly than MP but whatever, maybe they were operating under the assumption that Americans were scared of big numbers not tied to their health pool. The game defaults to having a lifebar instead of HP numbers, you have to opt in to seeing more precise health statistics. Second, the limited number of spells really lowers the number of strategies you can use in battle. No buffs, no debuffs, just the basics on white magic. Black magic? In what could be described as a series tradition at this point (not counting IV), black magic isn’t very useful. There are some enemies with elemental weakness out there, but usually you can just hit them every bit as hard as you can magic them. It’s also really weird that the first spell you locate (we’re back to finding our spells, the main character can’t learn anything) is quake. Quake! That’s endgame shit! Well, not here, but you know what I mean. But there is another reason black magic isn’t useful.

Wizard spells just eat their lunch. It’s black magic but good. I have no idea why thunder was upgraded to a wizard spell away from its blizzard and fire brothers but good for it I guess. If you’re ever in an argument over which basic magic spell is the best one, I guess you can just point to Mystic Quest. Every single wizard spell hits hard. Yes, you have fewer magic charges for those, but they can get you through battles very quickly.

Now you might be thinking having fewer magic charges for wizard spells helps balance things. You might feel desperate enough to actually use quake or something! But no, because…

“This item conservation business is hard work. I run out of MP or mana or magic or whatever weird thing halfway through a dungeon and it sucks. Why can’t I just buy ethers easily? Rydia should be able to nuke at will. Also why are there like eight different potions? What’s the difference?”

MQ offers you the ability to purchase MP restorative items called seeds. Seeds are fairly cheap for how effective they are. You only need to spend something like 25GP to get one and there really isn’t much to spend your money on so it’s pretty easy to get a whole horde of them to carry you through the majority of the game.

By the time I unlocked White, which was immediately my best spell by a country mile because it targets every enemy and hits them for a respectable amount of damage, I basically exclusively used that ability. There was no reason not to because why would I conserve? Yeah I only had like four wizard spell charges but the second I run out, I can just pop some seeds and go right back to town. It makes battles go blazingly fast but it just lowers the already low difficulty level. I am not kidding when I say I barely used black magic. I do not think I ever ran out of black magic charges. Wizard charges though? Wewie brother, I was popping those seeds like mad to keep it up. I think by the end of the game I had eight charges, which felt luxurious. I could make it through eight battles without opening the item menu!

There are other consumable items, but just like with seeds, you don’t ever have to second guess using them. You only have one type of potion that cures something like 300 HP. They are littered all over the map and you can also buy them. You get bombs and arrows but around every other corner there is a treasure chest that contains 10 bombs or a merchant that will sell you a bomb for 10 GP. It’s so wild going from playing Final Fantasy I, a game that demands the player horde their items like some sorta dragon, to playing MQ, a game where you have such an embarrassment of riches that tossing out an item here or there just doesn’t matter. Nothing matters! Why I could say this is a commentary on the haves and have-nots in society but I don’t have enough brain power to activate a think piece like that.

“I keep getting lost. I don’t know where Mysidia or Myst or Riven or whatever is and it’s seriously driving me insane.”

The world map as you know it is completely gone. Instead, you get what looks like a Super Mario World map.

You just guide your little protagonist to the next area and go from there. You usually go to a town and talk to a bunch of NPCs and one of them will say something like “hey bro, go to the bone yard to get the earth crystal” and then a new map will open up for you to explore and you go from there. There’s no fear of getting lost or deciphering NPC dialogue to determine where certain towns are. I mean, as someone who gets lost all the time in real and fictional life, I certainly appreciate that there are people looking out for me. But this format really hampers this era of Final Fantasy where world exploration really feels like it’s part of the experience. A map of this style wouldn’t come around again until Final Fantasy X and X-2, where I feel it’s handled a lot better for what those games are going for.

Part of the leveling process of old Final Fantasy titles was running into random battles while you desperately searched for where to go next. Since that’s no longer the case, Square implemented 10 encounter long “battlefields” throughout the map. You just fight 10 battles, one at a time, and at the end you get an award…sometimes. Other times it’s just a bunch of EXP. So if you ever feel underleveled, just do those. I did them all because I hate myself and try to do every objective that comes across as long as it’s reasonable, but the average person can just skip these. I do not see ‘being underleveled’ as a problem many people will have with this game.

Probably the strangest part of this title is when at the very end you need to backtrack for an item called the Thunder Rock. Since you don’t need to get into an airship to fly to a different part of the world, you just move your character across the map city by city until you get to where you need to go. Then you go into the city, talk to the NPC, and then go back. There isn’t a boss battle, the NPC doesn’t give you any narrative, there’s no trick – you just get your item and that’s that. It takes like five minutes and I can’t understand the purpose of it. It’s like in a modern game when you need to flip a power switch but oh no! The power is out! You need to flow power to it in order for the switch to work! It just comes across as pointless padding.

“I never know when I’m going to get into a battle. Cecil will just be walking around and POW I’m in a fight. That’s so annoying, I’m just trying to become a Paladin.”

For the first time in the franchise, random battles are completely gone. Instead, you just see enemies on the world map. They are always in the same spot no matter what you do and they will always reload if you exit the dungeon or whatever you’re doing, but you can avoid excessive battles if you want to. Even though the implementation of encounters is kind of basic and makes the world feel very artificially created, it’s still nice to see this in a SNES Square game. They would later go on to do this better in Super Mario RPG. Really if you look at the basics of how this game operates and then compare it to Super Mario RPG, it’s very similar. One is just way better and actually did convince people to try this strange turn-based genre and the other is Mystic Quest.

For mainline Final Fantasy titles, non random encounters would not appear for quite a while. I don’t count XI in this because an MMO with random encounters seems absurd, so the first single player game you see this in is Final Fantasy XII. Encounters have been not-so-random since then. It’s interesting that they kept that staple of the franchise in for so long since other Square games like the aforementioned Mario RPG and Chrono Cross both ditched them.

“Why are there so many weapons here? Should Cecil use a sword? A bow? No weapons? It’s a little overwhelming.”

Early Final Fantasy games were pretty lenient with what they would allow your characters to use. With I and III it makes a lot of sense because those characters are just avatars for the player, but II and IV were pretty loose with it too. If you’re more familiar with later games in the franchise, you’ll know that they eventually migrated to a system where each character has a weapon dedicated to them. You can’t have Squall equip one of Quistis’s whips for example.

Mystic Quest dumbs this down to the point of just removing the ability to equip things entirely. Yes, you will find new weapons and armor, but they will just stack onto your character and replace what they had beforehand. If you get a sword upgrade, you can’t switch back to the old sword. You just have your new blade. Going to the equipment screen is just for reference. Your character has access to four weapons (sword, axe, a grappling hook-like thing and a bomb) and you can switch between them as much as you like by pressing R and L. In old Final Fantasy titles, flying enemies were often weak to bows but not very many other enemies had weaknesses related to physical attacks. That is not quite the case here, with multiple enemies having weaknesses to your various weapons. I would like to think this is to make up for how shallow the magic system is.

To me, the way this works comes across like an old Zelda game. I’m thinking Link’s Awakening here. You get your seashells and then you get your fancy new sword and the old one just vanishes. That works pretty well for a more action-focused game but in a turn-based RPG, I think it takes some of the player agency away. What if I wanted to have a challenge run and equip really weak items? I guess you could just avoid all treasure chests if you really wanted to but…oh who am I kidding, who the heck would try a challenge run of Mystic Quest?

“The overworld is so boring. All you can do is walk and talk to people. You can’t even swing your sword out there!”

Speaking of Zelda, I feel this part of Mystic Quest was probably designed with games like Zelda in mind. In the overworld, your character can take various actions. You can swing your sword or axe, you can blow up certain rock or bone formations with your bombs or you can use your grappling hook-like-thing to climb up walls. You can also jump! This leads to some dungeons having some very light puzzle elements. Combined with how massive some of these places are – seriously the dungeons here are about as long as Final Fantasy II’s and definitely longer than most of IV’s – you have some really annoying levels.

My least favorite was probably the ice temple. This might have been my emulator legal SNES playing tricks on me, but this was the one place in the game where random encounters were turned back on. Enemies were still stationary but I couldn’t see them, so it felt like an older game. That dungeon was like a giant maze where you had to jump carefully over things, fall down multiple floors and flick switches with your sword to open new paths. Combining that with the non-random battles, it was probably the most miserable I have felt playing one of these games so far. I was trying to figure out where the hell to go and then every fifth step I’d have to fight some battle and it’d really break the flow of things.

The jumping thing leads to some really unfun positioning puzzles that require you to leave the area and come back in some way. They aren’t hard by any means, but with the glacially slow walking speed it sure is annoying putting blocks in the right place. This game would have been a lot more tolerable if it kept things simple. But hey, it’s neat that jumping made its debut here. The next Final Fantasy title to try that was X-2 and it was in very limited quantities. You couldn’t jump on will until XV. No, MMOs do not count.

“This story is too wacky. Some moon guy hypnotized some guy named Golbez and also Golbez is your brother? A little kid fell into some weird dimension and aged into an adult? What the fuck is a Namingway? Also those fakeout deaths had me sweating.”

MQ is like a meeting ground between NES-style Final Fantasy storytelling and the FFIV style. The overall narrative is very straight forward – the crystals have been shut off and the world is fucked and you need to fix everything. You go to four distinct areas and fight your new version of the four fiends and then you find out the true master behind it all and deal with him. NPCs have more dialogue here than they do in the older games, but it’s more flavor text than anything.

You don’t actually learn anything about your character though, he’s just a plucky brave kid trying to save the day. There are no character arcs to be seen here, but your entire cast is still well more defined than the main cast of II I suppose. It’s not bad or anything like that, it’s just exceptionally dull. It feels like a giant step backwards from Final Fantasy IV.

Now you might remember IV had a lot of fakeout deaths. I would like to think this was based on feedback from Final Fantasy II, but whatever. Some characters are gone for hours of game time only to pop back later.

Here, there is exactly one time a character is seen to be in mortal danger. You’re walking along a bridge and some bad guys attack you. Your party member of the hour, Reuben, bravely sacrifices himself so you can escape. You aren’t even allowed to think he’s dead for a millisecond as the screen pans down so he can assure your protagonist that he’s okay and you just move on. Come on Reuben, the enemies in this area were kinda weak, I probably could have just cast White and finished them! There was no need for that kind of bravery!

“So if I lose and I didn’t save, that’s it? I lost hours of progress?”

Here is what the game over screen of Mystic Quest looks like:

If you click no, it just restarts the battle from the beginning. It’s a convenient feature because you will waltz your way into an accidental death or two, but it makes marching into any battle feel bereft of consequences. Going into battle and just mashing on the A-button over and over again will usually get the job done anyway, but if you blindly do it and get yourself killed, it’s cool. Just try again.

I think retries are fine. It’s just that this game is already so devoid of challenge that placing a little player inconvenience there wouldn’t really hurt. You can already save whenever you want, so even if you did die to a random battle, odds are you wouldn’t lose a whole lot of progress. Still, a feature like this is console generations ahead of its time. Very few games just send you back to the title screen anymore. It’s just a little weird to see such convenience in a 90s RPG for the SNES.

“That music sure kicks ass”

You’re damn right it does and I can say that Mystic Quest also has an excellent soundtrack. The main composer credited is Ryuji Sasai and he turns in a performance that is different from what you’d hear from Nobuo Uematsu, but is still one that you won’t want to mute.

I’ve mentioned the walking speed very briefly before, but let me reiterate: it’s slow. Like, heinously so, to the point that I think most players would probably drop this game without utlizing an emulator’s fast forward function. If this game had a bad soundtrack, I truly believe most people would bail in order to play something a little more fast paced. The music here truly carries MQ and in some ways saves it. This is a game almost nobody talks about anymore and yet it earned a place in the most recent Theatrythm (Final Fantasy rhythm game) title. That’s impressive! I don’t think it’s a top-tier Final Fantasy OST by any means but it could have been so much worse. Like, have you played Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood? …If not, please don’t.

While I may have come off as slightly harsh on this game, please understand that there are things I do like about it. It’s not one of the worst games ever made, or even close to it really, but it’s painfully boring and slow. It feels like a weird missing link between the Famicom titles and Final Fantasy IV, even though it was released AFTER IV came out. The cover art does say “Entry-Level Role Playing Adventure” so I guess they do try to warn you a little bit.

Notable characters

For the playable characters, this title does not include character portraits like the mainline games do. So I grabbed character portraits from the instruction manual (thanks to the Final Fantasy wiki) so you could get an idea as to what your heroes are supposed to look like. The chibified character art is pretty common in the series up to this point, as seen in the Super Famicom cover for Final Fantasy IV.

I like that the art style can at least be tied to the original series.

Protagonist

Here is the very first screen you are greeted with in Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest

It starts out totally blank, implying that there is no true name for this fella. However, if you open the instruction manual, you will find out that his name is Benjamin. Very cool. I decided to just name him after myself, like any good middle schooler would do. “Benjamin” is the only character in the game that you get to name. So if you wanted a group of you and your best bros to take on the Dark King, well, too bad. I have referred to him as ‘the protagonist’ up to this point in this retrospective, so I will continue to do so. Though if I accidentally call him Benjamin, Benny, Ben or Benmothy…I apologize.

The journey starts with your main character’s village getting destroyed by an earthquake. A mysterious old man shows up and tells him that this is because a group of villains called the “Vile Four” stole the power of the crystals and locked up the Focus Tower, which is at the center of the world and basically brings everyone together.

The old man says that there is a prophecy that states a hero will show up and save the world and wouldn’t you know it, the old fella thinks you’re that hero. Exciting!

The protagonist is the only character you have complete control of for the entire game and yet he spends a lot of the game being outclassed by your other party members because they always join like five-or-so levels above what your protagonist currently is. This changes in the late game when your protagonist has the best magic, but until that point your buddies will often be more useful than you are. Some legendary hero! I guess he’s by far the most useful character by the end of things, so it all works out.

Kaeli

Early on in the game, the protagonist travels to the Level Forest – a bad name for one of the first areas in the game, made me think the fire area would be called Level Lava or something – and discovers it is in bad shape. He takes a withered branch and presents it to Kaeli who is something of a nature lover and vows to go to the forest and help you fix it. It’s unveiled that an evil minotaur is poisoning everything in the vicinity and he also poisons Kaeli, but that doesn’t stop her from helping you send the Minotaur packing to save the forest. She still collapses from all this and your main character must now focus on saving her! Wouldn’t you know it though, the cure for her illness is in the BONE DUNGEON which is also where your first crystal is. How about that! Her illness leads to one of my favorite exchanges in the game.

It gives me some serious “LOOK MOM IT’S A DIGIMON, IT’S NOT A POKEMON, THEY ARE DIFFERENT.”

Kaeli’s defining combat characteristic is that she has an axe. It makes her very useful against creatures of the forest, like evil trees, because they are weak to axes. She comes back later in the game with an even better axe to use against even more evil trees. Heck, you enter a giant tree during her return to root out the evil in th…wait a minute, did Ocarina of Time steal from Mystic Quest!?

I think they hint a couple of times about her having romantic feelings towards the protagonist, but I might have been trying to find a character where there wasn’t one.

Tristam

Your mandatory ninja companion! You meet him while trying to save Kaeli and he agrees to let you have the elixir if you help him clear out the BONE DUNGEON. This works out because, as I said, the earth crystal is there. He sells you explosives once you get there, which will go on to become one of the most important items in the game.

When you get your single fake death in the game, Tristam rejoins you very briefly. Like 20 minutes later you run into another character who says he might have found a treasure somewhere and Tristam immediately takes him at his word and fucks off for the rest of the game. Well until the credits. I had a good laugh at him leaving you at the mere suggestion of treasure though. Maybe this fella was inspiration for everybody’s favorite Final Fantasy ninja, Yuffie Kisaragi.

Tristam uses ninja stars, which are not an infinite resource. I never ever came close to running out of ninja stars so I don’t know what happens if you ever do, but the number ticks down every time you attack so I figure it’s worth noting. He teases you early on with a grappling hook only to just give you one for free later on, which is very nice of him.

Tristam is probably in your party less than any other character in the game and that probably makes him my favorite one. As they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder!

Phoebe

You meet Phoebe while you are trying to find your second crystal. Her hometown, Aquaria, has been frozen over because the water temple has been taken over by an evil Ice Golem in the Ice Pyramid. Killing the golem frees Aquaria. Phoebe is the character you probably have in your party the most, simply because she is your companion for the final boss of the game, the Dark King. You’d think it would give her more of a character, but no. The only thing you need to know about Phoebe is that she loves her town and that her grandfather likes to dig a lot.

From a gameplay perspective, Phoebe hits really hard with her arrows and has the highest magic stats in the game. She has access to a wizard spell in thunder, which is extremely useful when you recruit her. During the final stretch of the game, she gets access to the White spell and has 10 wizard charges which is really nice. But for me, she was basically just around to heal the protagonist if he got put under a status effect or something. He has access to more powerful skills, so even if his magic stats are technically weaker, he still is more valuable than Phoebe because Phoebe can’t cast flare.

She’s also your partner during the most annoying part of the game, which most definitely put her in a negative light in my eyes. I cannot stress how much I hated the Ice Pyramid.

Reuben

Your final party member! Hey you make four friends and the main bad guys are called “The Vile Four.” Do you think there’s a correlation there? Who can say. You meet Reuben when you’re trying to find the fire crystal. He tells you his dad knows where it is, but his dad is trapped behind a boulder somewhere and he needs your help to save him! So everyone wins by this alliance. Reuben is the first party member you get who doesn’t seem like he wants to ditch you, so the game invents a reason for him to ditch you by giving him the half-a-second fakeout death I mentioned above. How rude. He comes back later to help you reach the final dungeon but quickly leaves again.

Reuben hits really hard but his magic skills aren’t terribly useful. The first time you get access to him, the only spell he knows is Life. Life is handy in case an emergency happens, but it’s not something you would get a use out of in every encounter. He returns with White much later on, but much like Phoebe, by the time he returns to the protagonist, your main character is just too strong. He’s there to support and keep ya moving. By the end of the game, I was pretty ready for it to be over so maybe I’m being unfair to these guys, but if the protagonist can solo most everything so efficiently, why would I shake things up?

Spencer

When grabbing screens for this game, I forgot to grab some for characters I thought were important. Every single stinking picture of Spencer I have in my FINAL FANTASY: MYSTIC QUEST folder is from a side profile, the end of the game with the entire main cast that would be really weird to use here or from the back like this. So I went ahead and attached my favorite Spencer screen and just hastily placed front-facing Spencer on there. There might be one or two more guys I do this with. Plus I just love this dialogue exchange because Spencer just likes digging. Dudes rock, ya know?

Spencer is Phoebe’s grandfather. He is trying to dig a tunnel from underneath Phoebe’s hometown of Aquaria all the way to a lake where another important character, Captain Mac, is trapped. The goal of this is to get Aquaria’s water into the dried lake where Mac is stuck. A one man digging operation seems like the most efficient way to do this, sure. Unfortunately Aquaria is frozen over when you reach that area and Spencer is trapped down in his little tunnel. Not to worry, his plight is why Phoebe joins your party, so his suffering is your gain. When Spencer gets free, our good friend Tristam lures him away from his work with the promise of a treasure hunt. He bails and then in the best scene of the whole game, Phoebe gets frustrated and throws a bomb in an effort to complete the tunnel really quickly but this fails and just destroys this guy’s hard work.

Despite not really needing his zany tunnel anymore, he goes back to it at the end of the game to continue digging. Even though Spencer doesn’t get a ton of dialogue, he came across as a crazy old coot (kinda like FFIV’s take on Cid) to me and I found him very charming.

Arion

This Indiana Jones looking guy is Arion. He is Reuben’s father and a major reason why that particular rapscallion joins your party. Just like with Spencer, the crystals going haywire has trapped him somewhere. In Arion’s case, he’s trapped behind a boulder that can only be destroyed by mega grenades (an upgrade for your bombs that Tristam so nicely hooked you up with). Once you save him, he just tells you where the Fire Crystal is, which allows you to finish up your journey through the fire nation.

Arion is also the NPC that you have to visit for that garbage fetch quest I mentioned above regarding the thunder rock, so I am inclined to dislike him a little bit.

Otto

This guy’s full name is apparently Otto CID Bekenstein. That’s right, even Mystic Quest has a Cid! Now I didn’t encounter this anywhere in the game myself, but I read it online and I choose to believe it. It also makes sense because Cid is a mechanic which falls in line with every single incarnation of Cid ever up until this point.

Otto operates a machine that generates a rainbow road, which would help the party get to the wind crystal that is located in Pazuzu’s tower and doubles as a sick go-kart track. Pazuzu is one of the Vile Four, for the record. His daughter just so happens to be trapped there too, but unfortunately there is a lot of wind disturbance going around and his machine is broken so he tasks your crew with fixing that and then saving his daughter. He’s also involved with the thunder stone fetch quest I mentioned earlier, so I can’t say that I’m a fan.

Since this is the last time I’ll mention it, I’ll just explain it real quick. The thunder stone is used to power up the rainbow bridge machine so that the bridge extends to Spencer’s zany tunnel, which allows your party to get to Captain Mac and his boat, which then allows you to get to the end of the game. Cool? Cool.

Captain Mac

Mac is Kaeli’s father and goes on an expedition at the start of the game to learn more about the prophecy that states a warrior will take down the Vile Four and restore the crystals. Unfortunately while he is sailing, crystal shenanigans occur and his boat is stranded in a dry lake. Using the powered up rainbow machine, your protagonist proceeds to set off another bomb in Spencer’s place which floods the lake Mac’s boat is stuck in. Whenever you reach the captain, he informs you that there was more to the prophecy than anybody realized. He states that the true fiend behind this is someone who is commanding the Vile Four: The Dark King. You then can take his boat, head to Focus Tower and finish the game.

Mac is strange because I feel like the game talks a lot about him before he shows up, but when looking over my notes while writing this section, I have towards the end “I still don’t really know who Mac is.” He’s important because he unveils the mastermind of everything, but I’m not sure how everybody in the world knows who he is or why Spencer is trying desperately to save him. I guess all we need to know is 1. he’s an explorer 2. he’s Kaeli’s dad 3. he has found some neat information and 4. he gives you his boat.

White or "Mysterious old guy"

Throughout your journey to save the crystals and the world, a weird old guy will pop in and give you vague information and then go away. He seems to know a lot about the workings of this world and he shows up a lot to sort of guide you along. You might even briefly think that he knows too much, but at the end of the game the nature of the mysterious old man is revealed.

He’s a crystal! Like, you know, one of the tentpoles of the franchise at this point? Kind of an interesting idea for a character reveal because it makes sense that a crystal would be interested in saving the crystals, but I wish this idea had been explored in a Final Fantasy game that actually has an interesting narrative. Wait…I activated and rescued all four crystals. How could he contact me while deactivat-

The title screen hinted at this. Five crystals! It’s right there! Well played.

The Vile Four

The Four Fiends return again and just like in the Famicom titles, they even come back from the dead at the very end of the game as part of a little boss gauntlet during the final dungeon. In the above compilation, the original bad guy is on the left while the revived one is on the right. The little fella in the middle is the overworld sprite of the original encounter. The final dungeon is probably my favorite dungeon of the game because it reminds me of Hyrule Castle in Ocarina of Time. What I mean by that is it’s comprised of tiny bite-size portions of the major dungeons you’ve encountered so far. This part of the game is pretty straight forward, so even the annoying ice pyramid isn’t so bad when it only lasts two screens. I’m just a sucker for when a game puts you through a microcosm of itself. It’s a trip down memory lane!

As for the boss fights themselves? They all kind of run together. The only one that requires any strategy is Pazuzu because there is a brief period during battle where he will counter your magic abilities. It is one of the few times the game outright forces you to ‘strategize’ so it stands out. The rest are just ‘cast a big spell and heal’ so I will take what I can get.

The Dark King

Here’s the final boss of the game. He’s the only baddie in MQ with multiple forms. He has four of them and in the little grid above they are ordered clockwise starting in the top left. There doesn’t seem to be any differences in the four forms as far as combat goes, so just look at it as a way to tell your progression. My favorite one is his second form because he looks like a poor man’s Gilgamesh from other Final Fantasy titles. Just like every other non-Pazuzu boss, all you need to do is hit him hard and heal and you’ll be fine. Somehow he is harder than the final boss of Final Fantasy II, but to be fair I used a blood sword when dealing with that boss so I might have had an unfair advantage.

As our good friend Captain Mac told us, the Dark King is the one behind everything. He’s the key to all of this. He has basically no personality outside of “boss of the bad guys.” It’s not quite a Necron situation because you’re explicitly told he’s the main bad guy by Mac before the final dungeon even starts and wait shouldn’t White have told you about him? He should know about this guy! Oh whatever. He’s evil and you need to kill him. Simple as that.

It started here

I’m not going to pretend later Final Fantasy games pilfered ideas from Mystic Quest, but I still wanted to point a couple of things out. Think of these as an early cameo.

No overworld, retries instead of a game over

Both mentioned above. The no overworld thing is interesting because every mainline Final Fantasy title would have one until Final Fantasy X. Then they just kinda vanish until Final Fantasy XV. That’s not to say other SquareSoft titles evaded an overworld, the other beginner friendly Square title Super Mario RPG also chose to go with a level select screen, but it’s definitely interesting to see a SNES title with Final Fantasy branding just not have that.

Battle damage

I would like to think focus groups were bothered by how you just can’t tell how much health random enemies have (without casting magic that explicitly tells you), so their solution to this problem was having enemies have different sprites based on how much health they have. It’s fun when you one-hit a bad guy because their battle damaged form will pop up very briefly before they vanish entirely. It’s actually admirable how they gave every enemy multiple sprites because not even later Final Fantasy games do that, usually the only characters to show a ‘weakened’ state are boss monsters. Going back to Final Fantasy X, a lot of bosses show fatigue when they’re close to going down but I can’t think of a single regular encounter that has enemies acting differently when they’re about to die. Mighta been kinda nice for when you’re fighting Sand worms or a Zu, ya know?

My favorite sprite in the game is the werewolf as seen above (you thought I forgot about that in my character recap? hah!) He’s CLEARLY waving a white flag. He’s surrendering to you! And yet the protagonist must wail away on him anyway to get that sweet EXP. My second favorite is the little Edgehog because it looks like he got a bad haircut. It’s cute.

Bosses have multiple damage sprites, which helps give character to those battles and helps those characters stand out from the rank-and-file. Hey man, the battles themselves aren’t that interesting so they gotta do something, right? The Dark King seems to eschew battle damage to give you forms, which I think is a poor substitution because it just makes the Dark King stand out as the only bad guy in the game who doesn’t show proof of your prowess.

Spin-offs

Now you might try to take me to task by claiming that Final Fantasy Legend or Final Fantasy Adventure count as the first spin-off titles but I disagree. Those were SaGa and Mana games that got rechristened so a North American audience might be willing to try something new. Mystic Quest, from the ground up, was designed to be a Final Fantasy spin-off title. It may not be the greatest game ever, but there are roughly 83,000,000 Final Fantasy spin-off titles now and this is where they start.

Before you ask, no, I’m not going to do retrospectives on every Final Fantasy spin-off game. The only other one I plan on doing right now is Final Fantasy Tactics. I will be doing select sequels (like X-2), but I don’t consider those spin-offs. I chose to recap Mystic Quest because it was the first major spin-off title and it is also what Westerners got instead of Final Fantasy V.

In conclusion

This is likely a game many people wouldn’t even bother with (myself included) if the words FINAL FANTASY were missing from the title. It’s a game that would probably be forgotten to history if it wasn’t for those two simple words. It’s not absolutely horrible by any means, it’s just dull and forgettable. A middling title in a sea of more interesting Super Nintendo games.

I think if Square’s aim was to get Western children into RPGs, this was a bad way to do it. They would eventually figure it out with Super Mario RPG, but I don’t think a playthrough of Mystic Quest would convince anybody to try out Final Fantasy IV or the relatively soon-to-be-released Final Fantasy VI.

#Final Fantasy #Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest #Final Fantasy retrospectives #video games #vidya thoughts #opinion #super nintendo #squaresoft #square enix #retro gaming

[horizon-forbidden-sheesh]

Writing Process: Google > Scrivener

When I began writing, I already had plenty of material to work from! For more details on this, read the Preamble. 💋

⚙️ When I began work on the fic, I was working in Scrivener, adapting first-person journal entries I'd drafted in my phone's Notes app. I wanted the full fic to be third-person in order to develop the background motivations for multiple characters. Scrivener gave me plenty of space to hold all the journal entries, timeline notes, and dialogue scraps I didn't know what to do with yet.

I originally planned for 10 Chapters, at ~10k words each. My initial outline looked like this:

I The Bulwark II The Kulrut III Returning IV Rest V What Was Lost VI Waiting VII The Scorcher (👈🏻 After 26 chapters and 90k words, we are currently here.) VIII Rebellion IX Endgame X Finale, or Returning, Reprise

However, I was quickly burning out due to the length of each chapter, and after asking around in Discord, I had a sinking feeling readers would be overwhelmed.

What I Did Instead:

At a certain point in April, after about ~6 months of on-again off-again drafting, I got fed up, a little drunk, and chopped up my enormous existing chapters into smaller chapters: five, to be exact. That night I posted the first one, ironically called 'The Last One.'

While I have been very selective about chapter titles, at the time, I didn't have a title for the whole shebang. But I was wine-drunk and flippant, and said "Oh just fuggin pick something u bish." So I called it 'The Marshal,' because it was just vague enough, y'know?

(I absolutely would have called it 'What I Choose,' if it didn't already exist.)

I told myself I'd post weekly. Just the first 10, ending in that bittersweet conversation Aloy has with Varl about Rost. It gave me 5 weeks to figure out how to write 5 more chapters. And I was off to a great start with 6 & 7 drafted in advance.

But then I got this comment on Chapter 6: "Looking forward to the Kulrut Hopefully we get some more of our power duo fighting together 😁"

I was... absolutely planning on skipping directly to the dialogue scene after the battle. And based on what I'd already plotted, I would need to squeeze in an extra chapter to get'er done, pushing out my 10 chapter outline. But I REALLY didn't want to disappoint anyone, especially if they were LOOKING FORWARD TO IT?!? 🥹

I was also traveling at this time, away from my computer and my stupid, bulky Scrivener file. So I whipped open a Google Doc and started firing on all cylinders to write a new Chapter 8 complete with Kulrut battle scene. And lo, I discovered:

⚙️ Writing in Google Docs gave me SO MUCH MORE FREEDOM. I could access my drafts from my desktop, my tablet, and my phone. These days, I write mostly in bed on my tablet, which is a FAR cry from the early days staying up till 2am at my desk.

It was extra comfy, because Google Docs is where I do all my client work. As I've mentioned: IRL, I'm a copywriter/project manager for print & digital design work. Mostly, I build websites, but as a freelancer, I work on a wide range of projects and the tools I use need to be flexible & accessible to a wide range of audiences.

The Google Suite is perfect for that, and I have a simple filing system for all my projects to keep things nice and neat. My writing work fit perfectly into that system, and the same flexibility & accessibility really supported my writing process.

Here's what my file folder looks like these days:

Which frankly, is a lot easier to navigate than this dumb Scrivener sidebar:

I finished chapters 8, 9, & 10 in Google Docs. I'm still really proud of myself for taking the leap and posting. Sharing your work is scary! Or at least, it was for me.

I'd never written ANYTHING on this scale before, and it felt like a huge accomplishment. I'll be honest, impulsively posting that first chapter with a short runway and a clear end-goal made it a LOT easier to be accountable. I would recommend this strategy to ANYONE!

Tips & Takeaways:

🖤 Consistency is key, but I've found it comes at a price. Trying to post once a week in perpetuity will slowly bleed you out. Wait to post until you have at least half your content under your belt, and set a clear end date—if only for your own sanity.

🖤 Be flexible in your outline!! In both Part 1 and Part 2 I ended up with an extra chapter that pushed my intended finale into the next season. I'm still glad I had an outline, but I'm grateful I left room for it to change. (This is something I would have had a LOT of trouble with 5 years ago! Personal growth FTW!)

🖤 When you start to feel like writing is just biting concrete, find the most fun way out. Is it writing the most exciting scene you can think of? Or is it looking at what you already have and finding a new way forward within your existing structure?

🖤 You're gonna be stuck with your title for the long haul, so make sure you like it. Or at least that it's something you can tolerate.

🖤 Do what feels natural. Everyone is different. If you're like 'okay yeah, but I really like writing by hand and then editing as I transcribe it' do that. Go bananas. Have a ball! Find your own way up the mountain. These tools may work for you, or they may send you into the pit of despair. And you should always avoid the pit of despair.

🖤 Write sober, edit drunk.

xo, Sheesh

#hfw #horizon forbidden west #kotaloy #The Marshal #the making of #writing process #writing tools #writing advice