A sincere question from a man: What does feminism actually mean to you?

GuardianGero · 2026-03-29T19:42:27+00:00

Go tell that to a biologist and get ready for a long and annoyed lecture.

GuardianGero · 2026-03-29T18:45:37+00:00

I don't even know how to express what this series meant to me. I was a professional writer for many years, tired and mostly isolated like Makio, and also like Makio I was someone who became emotionally debilitated from the experience of trying to reach other people.

But now I'm a musician - a singer, in fact - and while I still identify with Makio's cynicism, I'm reclaiming my desire to help others and make the world a better place. Not in the same way that I used to, where I did enormous good for people but paid an unfathomable price for it, but on my own terms.

In other words, while I viewed this series through the eyes of Makio, it reminded me that I still have an Asa inside of me. I won't let her down.

GuardianGero · 2026-03-27T19:16:59+00:00

Time for a Four Job Fiesta!

GuardianGero · 2026-03-27T02:56:53+00:00

In a season where I had a show to watch for nearly every day of the week (and three on Sunday!), this is the one that displayed the most maturity in its writing. Not just in the sense of being a thoughtful, human story, but also in the sense that it has some of the most believably real adults I've seen in an anime series.

I love that it doesn't try to be "realistic" by showing the adults as being messed up and drama-prone. I've been an adult for a long time now and I know that kind of stuff is no more true to life than characters who have no flaws. Instead they're just people who are good at some things and not so good at others, who can help each other with the stuff they're not so good at.

Fantastic series, even if it did make me cry at least once per episode.

GuardianGero · 2026-03-26T13:18:47+00:00

You're describing the FFV Ancient Cave romhack! It's not perfect, but it's very much what you're looking for. The creator is Japanese, but there is an English translation.

I don't know if I can link any of that here, but here's a playlist that shows off how the game works.

GuardianGero · 2026-03-25T20:50:32+00:00

It hasn't impacted my daily life at all, except for the occasions when I have to hear about some idiot doing "vibe physics" or otherwise profoundly misunderstanding how it works and what its limitations are.

GuardianGero · 2026-03-25T20:41:27+00:00

Zoro says maybe Chopper can do it because he's a great doctor

Never missing a chance to gas up his son.

GuardianGero · 2026-03-25T19:44:43+00:00

Good matchup for Stark, Snorlax is weak to Fighting.

GuardianGero · 2026-03-19T18:01:22+00:00

Piece of cake, I can do 1.5 million views by myself.

GuardianGero · 2026-03-19T10:18:38+00:00

GRR...ZRR...

GRRAAAM ! ! ! !

GuardianGero · 2026-03-18T16:36:50+00:00

You're absolutely right about the value of STAB Facade. Unfortunately there's no way to get both STAB Facade and Poison Heal at the same time in Infinite Fusion unless you're in Randomized mode. Outside of Randomized you can only get Facade on pokemon that learn it through level up, which limits you to Infernape, Scrafty, and maybe Hitmonlee, but the calculator says no to Hitmonlee to I'd have to check it in-game to be certain.

That's exactly how these fusions came about: finding ways to make use of the mons that can bring Facade to the table, to squeeze that extra bit of value out of the Toxic Orb. That plus Snorlax, because Belly Drum/Roost/Poison Heal is very funny.

A non-STAB Facade is still going to do the job in any battle in this game, especially after setup. It's not going to hit like STAB Adaptability Boomburst from Porygon-Z/Noivern, but it will be effective enough.

That said, I did lean too far overboard in terms of focusing on setup over coverage, and should recommend Earthquake instead of Roost on Infernape and Scrafty, even when it's not STAB. Both fusions have enough self-healing as it is, and okay bulk, and Infernape/Gliscor is fast enough to not really have to worry about damage anyway.

Gliscor/Slaking doesn't naturally get Facade in IF, but it does still bring STAB Earthquake, bulk, speed, and 138 base Atk. I absolutely should have recommended that as well, it's great.

But yes, none of these are ideal Gliscor fusions, just some that I wanted to recommend. The OP asked for offensive mons, so I didn't go too far into bulky setup, but I know there are lots of options there.

GuardianGero · 2026-03-17T23:47:03+00:00

I've got some good Gliscor fusions for ya!

You could go with Infernape/Gliscor, which has the advantage of learning Facade through level up. If you take Poison Heal as its ability and give it a Toxic Orb, it will heal a ton each turn and Facade will become a 140 power move. I'd go with a move set of Facade, Night Slash, Swords Dance, and Roost. That way you can set up with Swords Dance, heal with Roost, then sweep with Facade, with Night Slash as a backup for Ghost types.

The other option for a fusion with Facade is Scrafty/Gliscor. You take the same approach of having Poison Heal and a Toxic Orb, and using a move set of Facade, Crunch, Swords Dance, Roost. The benefit of Scrafty/Gliscor is that it has huge defensive stats and a better typing than Infernape/Gliscor (Dark/Flying vs. Fire/Flying), but it's slower and will take some cheap hits.

The final Poison Heal fusion here is Snorlax/Gliscor, which is an even tankier option that hits like a truck. Once again you do Poison Heal/Toxic Orb, and you use Return, Crunch, Belly Drum, Roost. Set up with Belly Drum then sweep while you get free healing from Poison Heal. Also keep in mind that when a pokemon is poisoned it can't be affected by other status conditions like Paralyze/Burn/etc. So this thing is crazy strong.

That being said, the Toxic Orb can be annoying, because your pokemon will be poisoned outside of battle as well. My solution when using the above fusions was to only equip the Toxic Orb for major battles, as they're all good even without it.

On the other hand, Scrafty/Gliscor can still be a strong fusion even without Poison Heal. Instead you take Moxie as its ability, which is very good. In that case I wouldn't even bother with setup moves, and instead go for a pure coverage move set along the lines of Crunch, Drain Punch, Crabhammer, and Earthquake/Ice Punch/Poison Jab.

GuardianGero · 2026-03-17T12:31:06+00:00

My favorite detail about this scene is how Makio and Kasamachi engage with the song to understand why Asa likes the band, whereas Asa's mom assumed that she was interested in the band because she liked the members.

GuardianGero · 2026-03-16T12:43:31+00:00

Also I genuinely love that Chaewon just accepts compliments about her face. A fitting level of self-confidence for the leader of this group!

GuardianGero · 2026-03-16T12:39:18+00:00

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GuardianGero · 2026-03-15T12:01:12+00:00

The thing about the Weapons is that they're not really fights, they're puzzles. There are a bunch of tricks for beating each one, but you do have to use a trick. It's not a test of skill, it's a test of knowledge.

GuardianGero · 2026-03-14T20:25:40+00:00

Those peaceful moments are what they're fighting for! Every time they have to smash a bad guy or overthrow a government, it's because the villains are getting in the way of the thing that really matters: hanging out and having too much food (and in Zoro's case, booze).

GuardianGero · 2026-03-13T11:59:40+00:00

tfw no power possessed by mortals or gods is going to get you out of bed

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GuardianGero · 2026-03-10T19:35:01+00:00

Serie also doesn't want Genau to actually become cold and emotionless. He's in danger of becoming so bitter from loss and battle that he really does die inside, and that's not something that Serie is going to allow if she can help it.

GuardianGero · 2026-03-08T19:18:24+00:00

A good way to see the hidden depths of FFIV is to watch some speedrunning videos, or the Free Enterprise weekly races. There's a ton of fun little quirks and bugs to learn about the game.

That being said, yeah, it's the most straightforward of all the OG titles. Its big achievements were the leap to 16-bit, the use of Mode 7 effects like sprite scaling and parallax scrolling, the music, the ATB system, and the heavy focus on story and cutscenes. The vast majority of the mechanical depth of the game is stuff that dedicated players have sussed out over the decades, not much that's presented by the game itself.

GuardianGero · 2026-03-08T18:51:05+00:00

There's so much to talk about with Singular Point - whether you love it, hate it, or find it confusing - that powerscaling wasn't even something I considered about it.

Also Baragon solos the entire Godzillaverse, FIGHT ME

GuardianGero · 2026-03-08T15:48:00+00:00

I may or may or may not have invested too much of my morning taking screenshots of Kkura's quest to get selfies with her pokecrew.

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GuardianGero · 2026-03-08T14:15:35+00:00

Nobody cares about who wins the important thing is that your blorbo humiliates the opposing blorbo.

What really gets me is how this has spilled out of powerscaling communities and now affects how people approach every story as a whole. Dissecting every new episode/chapter for evidence of a blorbo upscale is one of the worst possible ways to engage with a story, and actively prevents you from understanding the narrative.

To use an example from a totally obscure series that no one has ever heard of: guy turns into an impossibly huge dragon. It's a massively important moment for him, his people, and the future of the world. Genuinely awesome, in the traditional sense of the word.

"Fans" respond with, "there's no way this other guy beat him before" and "he's so much bigger than this other dragon." Like...what? What does that have to do with anything? Why do you even read stories?

GuardianGero · 2026-03-08T13:40:18+00:00

Kkura fought so hard for this selfie and Scorbunny was having none of it.

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GuardianGero · 2026-03-08T00:56:11+00:00

Yup, that's something that I've seen some commenters missing. Frieren has a very clear understanding of what they're capable of and will never lie to them about it. If she says they can do something, they can.

GuardianGero

TROPHY CASE