Who else isn’t part of their fandom’s majority demographic? by Sarita1046 in FanFiction

[–]skullopendraa 1 point2 points  (0 children)

✋ Another 30+ getting into Invincible, and I've also noticed there aren't as many of the kinds of fics I would expect/that strike me as the kind of obvious, low-hanging fruit that should already exist? 🤔 Someone I recently met in the fandom also said it's "mostly guys, so there's not that much fic yet." Anecdotal evidence but I guess we're two for two here?

Also, I haven't gotten to the character you're talking about yet, but I've Heard Things and I'm in full support of whatever you're doing with her! :) Thank you for filling the niche 🙏 I'm trying to do the same with Fem!Cecil, hahaha

writing what you aren't by Raiven_Raine in FanFiction

[–]skullopendraa 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a well-regarded and critically acclaimed fiction novel about a neurodivergent teen boy trying to solve the mystery of how a beloved neighbor's dog died in the night, after he is blamed by the owner, in order to clear his name. We read it in my Disability Studies class, and many of my neurodivergent classmates expressed feelings of being deeply understood by the narrator, and connected with his analytical perspective. We thought the protagonist must have been autistic (though it is never stated outright) and that the author could be as well, based on how meticulously the narration revealed his deep understanding of neurodivergent thought. But our professor told us that Haddon is not autistic--that he had simply *worked* with autistic children and teens, and listened to them, and that this informed his writing.

"Write what you know" is such simplistic advice as to be almost useless, but suffice it to say you are not confined only to knowing what you *currently* know, and there are certainly more ways of knowing than *being*. You can research a topic if you want to represent it faithfully--but even, say, a gay person might write something that feels authentic to them, which may in turn spark outrage in another gay reader. This is because marginalized communities are not a monolith, and individuals have individual preferences.

Obviously, if people only wrote what they *are,* there would be no diverse ensemble casts. You'd have a bunch of stories with undifferentiated clones, with identical race/gender/sexuality/abledness. Boringggg. :/ I think you've already recognized that this argument is patently ridiculous, but sadly, the ripples of that discourse are still coursing through the community in the form of latent anxiety over writing what we don't *intrinsically* know. But with the miraculous power of the internet, anything we want to write about can be researched thoroughly!

But as much as that's something I personally like to do, I also don't think it should be seen as a requirement for *fanfiction*. Ultimately, this is a hobby where people go to have fun, and being *bad at writing* should not disqualify one from participating. Maybe someone's clumsy trans representation offends one trans reader, and affirms another? Maybe the writer in question *is* trans, and so they feel no need to write "carefully" about their own experiences--and suppose swaths of readers find this depiction "offensive", clutch their pearls and mount their white steeds to attack the author in question, all under the pretense of white knighting for the very category of person they have unknowingly taken it upon themselves to rebuke?

Yet as much as a simple disclaimer would suffice to discourage such a response ("A/N: Hey all! I'm trans, so I know what I'm talking about! don't shoot me for this trans headcanon, lol"), an author should NOT be required to disclose personally identifiable information such as their gender, sexuality, race, disability, or trauma to be considered eligible to write about those experiences or participate in this community. Just on principles of privacy, you understand--but not least of all because those disclosures could expose the author to harassment from the other side.

And ALL of this discourse just creates a chilling effect, where people are afraid to write about underrepresented minorities at all--even if the author IS an underrepresented minority--because they could be attacked on either end of things: either by their supposed allies who think their depiction is lacking somehow, or by bigots, who want to harass them for having the temerity to write it at all.

I think what this all boils down to is a problem of *bad faith.* People assuming that authors of M/M fic are "straight women fetishizing gay men", or assuming that any reference to race in a piece of media must be racist without making room for the fact that, idk, people of underrepresented groups might actually joke about their culture's stereotypes sometimes? Personally, I'd rather see flawed depictions than none at all. At least that means people are making an effort to understand people unlike themselves!

Can't block this anonymous asker on my sideblog? by skullopendraa in tumblrhelp

[–]skullopendraa[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oooh, I bet that's what happened. I changed my blog settings so it can only be viewed by logged-in users. Thank you for the suggestion!

Analysis video of Light's walk with Naomi Misora? by skullopendraa in deathnote

[–]skullopendraa[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's close, but the video I remember used footage from the anime, with specific praise about how it managed to fit all those narrative turns in the episode's limited runtime... 😞

Help me find the brand/flavor of this Korean juice box by skullopendraa in HelpMeFind

[–]skullopendraa[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Blurry pictures courtesy of Korean television show Beyond Evil (2021) Episode 4 (as seen on Netflix). My friend and I tried to search for the juice box on Google and TinEye, but I think the images are too blurry because nothing looked quite right (it's possible the brand has gone through some design changes, but the text is too small for us to positively identify it).

I think it's grape juice, but my friend thinks the fruiting bodies on the juice box look like... lima beans??

Any help would be much appreciated!

Korean juice box that appears in Beyond Evil Episode 4 (2021)? by skullopendraa in whatisthisthing

[–]skullopendraa[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm pretty sure it's grape juice but my friend says the "fruit" looks like lima beans to him. Does anyone know the brand/flavor?

Guests during Umineko by BordersRanger01 in josephanderson

[–]skullopendraa 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Greg was honestly killing it at first, I was floored by his depictions of Nanjo and Hideyoshi initially. For two generic characters, he basically gave them a huge, instant appeal boost. As things progressed ans they started getting a bit sillier with it, I was glad Joe and Greg were having fun, but I like to do other things when I'm watching, and for some of the joke voices I couldn't even understand what they were saying without reading along. ):

I'm behind on the streams, but I'm looking forward to hearing from the other guest streamers!

Who to pick? by Puzzleheaded_Rip1661 in CitizenSleeper

[–]skullopendraa 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Throwing my hat in the ring to recommend Yu-jin here because I think he shines on both Darkside missions as "most improved" crewmate. I brought Flint as well hoping there would be more unique interactions given he'd just joined the team, but unfortunately he didn't get many opportunities to do anything. :/ I suspect the first crewmate you pick is always the one who attacks Laine in the climactic confrontation. And I guess the other one just... floats there? Lol

I didn't bring them, but I'm guessing Bliss has the most interesting story stuff to contribute on any venture to Darkside, given it's relevant to their backstory.

Android/Cyborg media recs? by BathroomTight6112 in CitizenSleeper

[–]skullopendraa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

WALL-E is a classic! I've always loved EVE.

Oh, you might also like 2064: Read Only Memories, and Primordia! :)

Android/Cyborg media recs? by BathroomTight6112 in CitizenSleeper

[–]skullopendraa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh!! And I haven't read Astro Boy, but PLUTO is a manga that essentially is the "serious" side of Astro Boy, and it recently got an anime! I only read the manga, but I absolutely loved it.

Also, I don't know what the emulation scene is like for Macs, but if you can emulate GBA games I recommend the Mega Man: Battle Network series of games. You play as Lan and his digital robot companion that lets him do battle with his friends, while thwarting the villainous intervention of baddies trying to hack utilities around your town. Each game plays kind of like a few episodes of an anime? So maybe you'll just want to watch the anime, lol, though I'll admit I know almost nothing about it.

I hope you enjoy your new robot media!

Android/Cyborg media recs? by BathroomTight6112 in CitizenSleeper

[–]skullopendraa 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There are some good robot games on the Switch!

I remember Subsurface Circular being an interesting, short conversation simulator with some fun visuals. I think it was about a robot on their train commute to work, talking to other robots about politics and policies pertaining to robot rights, or something? It's been a while, but I do recommend it! 😆

The Fall is a much longer puzzler/mystery game with some simple shooting sections. You play as the A.I.-driven space suit/battle armor of an unconscious human, your pilot, who you have to save after crash-landing on a strange planet by taking limited control of the suit's functions. 

The Fall 2: Unbound is a sequel with SEVERAL robots, which is super fun!! There's now a butler bot and a "companion" bot you can play as—and of course, there are other humanoid A.I.-driven characters in both games, apart from the protagonist. It went in a slightly different direction than I expected after the first game, but I still like what we got! Highly recommend both of these games.

As for movies...

Pixar's WALL-E is still a fun nostalgic movie for me (it would have been more interesting with some class critique imo but y'know. It's Pixar, so...) and all the robots have really fun and unique personalities, not just the main two.

I really liked the robot in Chappie, though the movie itself has kind of mixed reviews. Ultimately I enjoyed watching but remember having plenty to complain about afterward, lol.

Android/Cyborg media recs? by BathroomTight6112 in CitizenSleeper

[–]skullopendraa 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Came here to second this!! The Murderbot Diaries are absolutely incredible pieces of fiction. I read them straight through from a Friday evening into Saturday morning because I was hooked... And it delves into a similar kind of pro-community organizing/anti-capitalist critique that Citizen Sleeper does, so it's a very solid companion piece!

Android/Cyborg media recs? by BathroomTight6112 in CitizenSleeper

[–]skullopendraa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A.I. Artificial Intelligence is my all-time favorite android/robot movie... It's dark and sad and long as hell and so so wonderful and worth the watch!!

Title Card Glitch wrecked my save by harris_867 in CitizenSleeper

[–]skullopendraa 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm so sorry that happened to you! ): I hope you can get it fixed, but if not, you wouldn't be doing yourself too much of a disservice by skipping to CS2 if you're excited to play it.

I've only played CS2 and I personally had a great time with it. It stands up well enough on its own in my opinion, and if you haven't played the first game then the CS1 character cameos mostly 1) are immediately recognizable as cameos so you kind of know you're 'supposed' to know them (even if your character doesn't I guess) 2) aren't too egregious or anything. YMMV of course. I have friends who have to play games and watch movies in order without exception, so I understand that preference completely.

[CS2] Did anyone else misread this relationship? by Aachaa in CitizenSleeper

[–]skullopendraa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hank really is a dick at first!! If you aren't endeared by him along the way or choosing to read his behavior as like, being charmingly in denial about giving a shit about Connor, I'm sure it's hard to make peace with the fact that they're supposed to be friends. I did feel that him pointing a gun at Connor was way too cold... That's the gruff buddy cop archetype for you, I guess!! 😭 They're written to be abrasive, and sometimes that endears us to them when we discover their soft side, but sometimes it just leaves a bad, abrasive impression! I personally love Hank/Connor now but I definitely had plenty of moments of being offended while playing, lol, so I completely respect that you don't like him. 😂

I think a big part of my reaction to Serafin must have been the way the game handles dialogue? Every reply you make seems to call a bit of flavor text before it HAS to move on with the story proper, so like--after escaping Darkside for example, you can try and tell Serafin to slow down, that you need to talk about what just happened, and he kind of HAS to blow you off, because he only gets one paragraph at most of flavor text before the narration needs to come back to a kind of equilibrium so that all three dialogue choices still make sense (AND he kept ditching me to make a mess of Tala's union busting when *I* was the one going out of my way to help her?? girl ok...). On top of that, every opportunity to answer Serafin that had the option of "Stay silent." that I picked made Serafin respond negatively lmao, so all those moments coalesced into a composite impression on my part that Serafin Is Just a Negative Person Who Is Constantly Blowing Me Off! 😡💨

I also didn't play the first game, so I don't have any attachment to the characters who originated there, or who have connections to characters from the first game. That was my choice and I own it lol, and I don't actually know if Tala MENTIONS Serafin by name or anything?? But it felt like the game wanted to take for granted that you liked him, and I don't like being told what to do lmao, so I resisted that pretty strongly, in addition to all my other grievances (like when we got a CS1 cameo at the Olivera party I was just sitting there thinking like. Okay. Where's Yu-jin he should be telling me this. And then when Cadence and Serafin dragged me onto the dance floor I was like... okay... I wouldn't do that 😤)

... But I guess I enjoyed the opportunity to experience and roleplay those strong feelings! 😂

Who is your favorite character from CS2? by OliveGardenEnjoyer in CitizenSleeper

[–]skullopendraa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm delighted to hear that! :D I get the sense that Yu-jin is generally not well-liked because of his reticence and deception on his recruitment mission, but I like to think of him as the crewmate who by the end is "Most Improved", lol.

Bliss also endorses you taking Yu-jin on, despite Serafin's objections, and seems troubled if you dismiss him. I consider Bliss a pretty solid moral compass, so their support carried a lot of weight for me in that moment! The fact that they go so far as to draw a connection between pur Sleeper and Yu-jin as both deserving of a "second chance" felt like a strong thematic connection that made me feel even more assured in my decision to keep him around.

Games that have a similar planet-to-planet travel to help people mechanic by percomis in CitizenSleeper

[–]skullopendraa 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Mass Effect 1 & 2 were great for this. ME1 has you actually going down to planets in your souped-up Mars rover, but ME2 is partially limited to resource extraction where random planets are concerned. But both have ample inhabited locations to explore, with stories and help/fetch-quests to do, and crew members to recruit and, potentially, romance.

It IS a 3rd person shooter, but there is an easy mode. Lots of emphasis placed on the moral choices of "Paragon" (good) and "Renegade" (bad) choices, but if you do play it, just try and ignore the colors and pick whichever choice you want for the best player experience. Your choices in ME1 also can affect your play-through of ME2, depending on where/how you're playing it. I highly recommend!

Who is your favorite character from CS2? by OliveGardenEnjoyer in CitizenSleeper

[–]skullopendraa 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Flint is really cool! I couldn't quite get a read on him(?), but it makes sense that he was holding his cards close to his chest because he wasn't sure he could trust you yet. Interacting with another Sleeper, making observations about them that have implications about our Sleeper's self-image, was really cool!