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Here No Longer

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  1. Here No Longer
    You know when there's something you can never stop talking about? This is it for me.
     
    My life is significantly less depressing for me now than it was only a mere couple of months ago. I mean you all know a big chunk of why this is, and if you don't, well, you haven't been paying an awful lot of attention to what I've been posting about said thing is over and over again. If you don't know, as of late February or Early March of this year (can't look because of inane forum drama), I have been happily in a relationship, one that has helped me out significantly.  
     
    Two months ago, I had a chance argument with a man who would later become my boyfriend. He was arguing about a post he made in regards to being depressed, he sounded like he was trying to force his sadness on other people. Then we apologize to each other, and then after that he begins to sound like the sad little puppy. Adorable, but definitely very depressed about life as a whole. I don't know what switch flips on in me, but I come to love him pretty quickly, and within a week, we've both said that we love each other. Though at first I admit I was a little unsure if I really loved him or I was desperate. But, after a while I come to realize, this guy, was in all ways but physically everything I ever wanted in a romantic partner...
    He's smart enough, and oddly civilized enough, for me to have intellectual discussions with. He has been immensely courteous to me, to the point it makes me feel guilty sometimes.   He's also presses the right buttons if you know what I mean , and if you don't know what I mean, well your mind isn't sick enough to know. He also shares interests with me, mainly in the areas of science, mathematics, a specific type of humor, and his musical tastes aren't really too different than mine. But when I saw him in real life a couple of weeks ago ( had a great time by the way, though it didn't quite go as far as I wanted ), I realized he was also a big cute teddy bear too, you know like the one that's begging to be cuddled with.   I'll also say that we slept in the same bed together and I nearly kissed him. Like I was inches from his face before I backed off, because he looks like a big chubby angel who's begging for a kissing.  
     
    But to what he's done for me.
    His complements towards me have helped me find a renewed self-esteem, as in I don't view myself as ugly anymore. I still feel like I don't deserve such high praise, but I'll admit I look pretty cute . He also helped me through a depression that was spiraling out of control, by giving me hope and love that I've needed for a long time. Seriously, I was quite seriously thinking about hanging myself from the pecan (let's pronounce that: pi' KAN (It's a joke most of you may not get about another couple)) tree growing in the backyard, but since him, they've been replaced with thoughts of cuddling, kissing, and everything else. He's helped me get along in the pursuit of my dream of making my own successful tabletop game. He has resources that are getting content from the current version printed off! That and he's really encouraged me to work on it. He's also made me realize that it is always good to appreciate what you have. On another philosophical tangent, he's made me realize that negativity is necessary for positivity to exist.  This is not the complete list, but only the list of what is the most impactful of these things.
     
    As for our future together, we're supposed to be going on our "second date" a week from now! We've also been planning about what happens when we really go the distance, and live together under the same roof. He's been planning to get his driver's license renewed, and he's been planning to save up for some sort of place to live for the two of us. We haven't discussed anything like legal marriage or anything yet, but I do fantasize about our lives together as one little bitty gay family of 2 (or 3 if adopting a kid is ever in the cards). I just hope it gets there!
     
    Sorry if I keep bringing this up almost non-stop, but can you blame me anyways? After all my life has improved dramatically since I and he have been together. I am not sorry.   
  2. Here No Longer
    Well, here it is. The inevitable political blog post... In this post I will make short summations of my beliefs on a variety of topics. I'm doing this for four reasons. Firstly, so that way I don't feel the urge to post in the toxic cesspool that is the Debate Pit (Debate Symposium is way too polite of a name for it). Secondly, it feels like they confuse some people with the narrow-minded perspective of every issue being left vs right. That ISN'T always the case! I agree with the right on some things, but mainly on things that, from a more nuanced perspective, are not really left vs right issues like neo-liberals or neo-conservatives would want you to believe. And thirdly, to say f*** you to the fake left democrats of the world. My voice will be heard whether you like it or not! And lastly, I do this because I really don't feel the need to explain them to those who choose to object to them. If you see things differently, fine. Just don't start s*** with me. Also, I'll give a trigger warning. If you are easily offended, stop reading this post now, because I guarantee you'll be screaming at me later.
     
    Guns. Guns should be legal as long as they aren't FULLY automatic (even burst-fire is potentially fine) or have a magazine size larger than 20 rounds.  Taxes. I believe in a very progressive tax bracket. I like the idea of a 49% tax on the highest bracket, and on the lowest maybe 4 or 5%. Also, GET RID OF THE TAX HAVENS!  Drugs. I see no problem with legalizing a lot of them. Maybe not crystal meth, but for marijuana it's only common sense I think. Also, we should END this war on drugs. It is HARMING more than it is helping! Dense-a** sheep and their alternative facts (also known as obvious LIES that they decided to BELIEVE) are not helping. Immigration. I believe that dreamers deserve an opportunity to prove themselves, but drug lords don't belong here. I believe that immigration should be CHEAPER (it costs over $1000 in stupid-a** fees to get a green card for f***'s sake!), but I also believe that sanctuary cities are downright WRONG. Yeah sort of in the middle on the whole issue. But I have to say this: both sides of the issue are completely moronic, but in some ways each of them are right. Healthcare. I believe in Medicare-for-all for everyone. Politicians shouldn't get special privileges, and we shouldn't be thrown to the curb.  Corruption. It's everywhere, and it HAS to STOP! Or else we may no longer have any right to call ourselves a "democratic republic" (though it is true CONGO is supposed to be one)... Miitary Spending. NEEDS to go WAY down! We spend 3 or 4 f***ing times what China does and our military is HALF THE SIZE! Not to mention most of this spending goes towards things we will REALLY never need!  Abortion. I frankly think that for the most part pro-lifers are a bunch of fruitcakes, that frankly have no idea what they're talking about. I see no issue as long as it is done before 29 weeks, though I can see numbers lower than that. National Debt. Should be the first priority to pay it off, or else all of our necessary welfare programs will suffer. Not even to mention that it will eventually affect the way other countries see us. Trade. We need less of these dumb trade unions and we need to increase tariffs on imported goods. Racist Cops. They do exist! There IS some degree of legitimacy to Black Lives Matter. Albeit, a small degree of it. In about three cases on national news that I remember (of a decent few...), the cops should have been charged, one with first-degree murder (yes FIRST DEGREE, not SECOND or THIRD!). Aside from those few cases though, Black Lives Matter is WRONG. However, I do agree there is a problem here that should be addressed. I have a hard time believing there isn't a little discrimination somewhere in this. Just a little though. American Flag vs American Principles. Principles win, every time. So in other words, I don't support the idea of forcing people to stand to the Pledge. It is frankly more patriotic NOT to considering that it is an extension of freedom of speech, in the exact same sense as the right to have a Confederate flag. I think if you support forcing people to stand to the pledge, it's VERY hypocritical of you to also turn around and pride your heritage for being traitors to the union. By the way, yes, I have no issues with the Confederate flag. "Religious Freedom Laws" regarding Gay Marriage- They are ridiculous. If they didn't make wedding cakes for Trump supporters, would YOU want the right to sue them? The right likes to make this issue into something it is not. There is NOBODY saying that it should be illegal to NOT serve them. They're saying that a**holes that don't serve them have every right to get sued for it. LGBT Rights. Being LGBT, I fully support them, until they trample on other people's rights or until they force pro-gay propaganda down the throats of elementary school kids (which my dad inaccurately told me was happening while quite obviously not evaluating the credibility of his source). Since I saw this thread, I say the most important thing to solve this issue worldwide is time as well as tolerance for those who don't support us. They won't accept us if we force the issue on them. Autistic Rights. This isn't one you hear about everyday probably. Autism Speaks is EVIL. Period. They are a HATE group that deserves no funding. If anything, the head honchos of this c*** need to go to JAIL! I believe in the right for people with Autism to live their lives the way they are. We don't need a cure for this, we just need society's acceptance. (I say we here, because of the nature of my perspective on the issue. I believe that I have Asperger's Syndrome, the mildest form of Autism). American Justice and Prison Systems. Both NEED fundamental reworks from the top down. It spends too much money, treats prisoners too well, and has too many people in it. Also, private prisons should not f***ing exist. It's sick to make money like that. My proposition involves shorter sentences in harsher prisons, so that way we don't have to pay to keep them there or for luxuries they don't really need. Things like weight rooms, like actual cafeteria food (From what I've heard, the luxuries they get food-wise are ridiculous)... You know, things there are no reason why prisoners should have access to, but also so they have a chance to get back into society and maybe contribute if prison really made them realize that they don't want to be criminals. Affirmative Action. Affirmative action is a bad thing. It is fundamentally bad for everyone, Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, Native American... IT'S BAD ALL THE WAY AROUND. Unqualified Blacks getting jobs over more qualified Blacks, Whites, or any other race is WRONG. Job opportunity shold be equal for everyone, not more equal for blacks who don't belong in the jobs they have than everyone else. Minimum Wage. Well, here's a hum-dinger. I think it should be FLEXIBLE, and not just a single value, as taxes are. I'm sorry Bernie, but increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour will hurt small businesses everywhere. It sounds good until you get to there though. The better idea is for the IRS to start doing their JOB! Deliver forms to both workers and company owners asking about how much the workers make, how many employees the establishment has, and how much the establishment earns. Based on the later two of the values, calculate how much they should pay the workers. From the first value, ascertain whether that amount is being paid. If the forms contradict each other, trust the worker. They have much less reason to lie about it.  Also make this wage increase or decrease wit inflation or deflation. Sounds like a slippery slope, I know. But this is probably better than setting it to one number for everyone. Federal Funding for College. The government needs to start paying up for it's country's future. Colleges basically rob their students blind of hundreds of thousands of dollars. All for what? A piece of paper that will get you a job in a year maybe while the interest on your student loans (which you will have unless you have RICH-A** PARENTS!) stacks up. Also, they should only pay the colleges a reasonable amount of money and any need for more than what is necessary here should be a federal offense for the bookies and the higher ups. Death Penalty. I consider it unusual, and unfitting punishment. Note that I didn't say cruel, because it's actually quite the opposite. It's too humane! They should rot in jail instead! Also, the death penalty actually isn't cheap either. They have to maintain the execution chamber and all, which I'd suppose costs an insane amount of money, not even to mention most death row inmates now stay there for DECADES before getting executed because of all the red tape! Just put them in for life with no parole. Treat them to the suffering they deserve. Also, not even to mention in the case of those that actually aren't guilty, they'd get the chance to prove it (of course if anybody would f***ing listen to appeals!). Fake News. Needs to go. Period. No more CNN, no more Fox, no more MSNBC, no more of that. And, yes, the government actually does have the authority to delegitimize them as far as I know, and it's not really being utilized because of all of the FREAKING CORRUPTION! What could replace it is actual journalism, of course if the corruption went away. Also, they need to stop praising EVERY politician that dies. Seriously, I could care less about George HW Bush, and how it's plastered everywhere that he's died is ALREADY beginning to annoy me. Seriously, WHO SHOULD REALLY CARE? He was a mediocre president who's best political moment (My opinion) was calling out Reagan on his economic policy. Gold Standard. Here's where I actually go right on economics. The Gold Standard is necessary right now. We need less inflation, so that way the poor's money is worth more, and so that way there's less for the rich to make, with the government basically making notes willy-nilly whenever they want. The United States as a whole. Not great, but not terrible either. Sure, we technically are the world's largest terrorist organization, and we don't get all of the freedoms listed in the constitution (thanks for the false advertisement, f***ers!), but at least we have the semblance of a democratic society here and that's enough for me. I did a ranking of nations based on how much I'd want to live in them, and the US ranked around 16th on the list, so not bad at all in that sense.  As for voting? I have a question. Would you rather be shot in the back or shot in the face? Or neither? I choose neither. Meaning, I don't freaking vote, because there's NO POINT when your only options are BAD! Socialism as a whole. It's BADLY misdefined by the right and the fake left in an attempt to delegitimize actual leftist economics. Why? I don't think it's that hard to figure out. The word has had a completely unfair stigma surrounding it since the Cold War, almost exclusively because the Soviet Union was a TYPE of socialist and we didn't like them. Communism and Socialism are NOT the same thing. Communism is an authoritarian brand of socialism, and I think believing otherwise is frankly a show of bias and a laughable lack of knowledge about how the left REALLY is. Trump as a president. I already went into this in a Debate Pit post (which was my mistake that I'm surprised I'm not seeing the effects of), but he's a pretty freaking bad president. Trump may have done some good on the Korean front, but I'm starting to think that the peace would have happened without Trump in office, and I'm starting not to understand why that didn't come across my mind sooner. After all, he's the one and the same guy that nearly started a freaking WAR with them over his own freaking ego, and the same guy who's already killed HUNDREDS of innocent people ON PURPOSE...  (And yes, there's no logical reason for this source to lie). What saves him I my mind is that he IS tackling important issues such as corruption in the government, although very slowly. But nonetheless it hardly excuses him from being, by definition, a TERRORIST. It also doesn't help his case whatsoever that he's totally SCREWED the economy for the working class. I was already concerned about the tax policy, but it's worse than I thought. The rich are being allowed to have their cake and eat it too... Seriously, trickle-down economics does NOT work, and it NEVER has. Let's see how we like living in the 1880's again... Seriously, that's what this is becoming. A modern version of the 1880's partially THANKS to Trump! I don't care if you say "but he didn't initially propose it" because HE ALLOWED IT TO GO THROUGH. And that's more than enough to say that he is going to cause the financial train wreck just waiting to happen... Democrats. I can't STAND them, for several reasons, but I have to go over some misconceptions that BOTHER me. First off, they are FAR from left-wing, they only pretend they are which I and others will point out is full of s***. Secondly, they aren't GOING LEFT! SOCIETY'S GOING FURTHER RIGHT! I think that's a freaking no-brainer at this point, but apparently it isn't because society is TOTALLY oblivious to the entire phenomenon! Democrats are literally NOT changing whatsoever. They're a bunch of hawkish, corporatist LIARS who have no moral compass and have NO IDEA how to criticize Trump when he shoots himself in the foot at every opportunity! Saying Trump is bad without an actual argument is actually giving him more SUPPORT! It makes me think even more that their agenda is actually to silence the actual left-wing in the United States. Also, the people who support them still must either be naïve or moronic. Yes, there's literally NO other explanation why ANYONE would support people like Hillary Clinton or ESPECIALLY NANCY PELOSI! None, whatsoever. It doesn't help that most of the people that support them complain about literally everything under the sun, and try to justify it with total nonsense! Republicans. They're a bunch of deranged, hypocritical, spiteful lunatics, and I must say so are a large fraction of their supporters. These people complain about lobbying. What about all the money the NRA pays Republicans for propping up their agenda? Then they complain about spending. If you really cared, you wouldn't advocate spending so much money on the military... They complain about the constitution. The Patriot Act is the most blatant breach of our rights per the constitution I've ever seen, and a REPUBLICAN put that into law! They complain about snowflakes. What about Religious Freedom laws, what about the controversy with the pledge, or what about half of what your favorite Fox News moron says about "leftists"? 'But that's the truth' Bulls*** it's an opinion DON'T YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE?!?!?! For f***'s sake, you're WORSE than the people you complain about! Just stop calling everyone you don't like an SJW and come up with real reasons to not like things! Get a freaking spine, too! You really need one, you vile piece of crap!  
    Quick list of my who I think were the best and worst president in our nation's history:
    Best: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, George Washington, Harry S. Truman, Woodrow Wilson, Dwight D. Eisenhower
    Worst: Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, Ronald Reagan, Warren G. Harding, George W. Bush (Junior), Donald Trump
     
    I may edit some of this later on, and I'll more than likely expand it also. But regardless, I really want the toxicity in this blog post to stay at a minimum, because that's part of the point anyways... (which is funny to think about now because I've already had to deal with a ton from fake leftists and a few right-wingers that lurk around the Debate Pit (Symposium is FAR too polite of a term for the place) and try to pick fights by accusing people of things they know are complete and utter bologna, ether that or blatantly lie about their opinions in posts, because that happens too.) 
  3. Here No Longer
    Be warned, contains spoilers for Pokémon Black and White. To anyone who hasn't played it yet and plans to, you've been warned.
     
     
    There seems to be a sort of debate what N actually IS in the Gen V Pokémon games (well aside from his real name being really funny. Seriously look him up and you'll see that it's pretty bad if you have a sick mind). Some people say he's a villain because he's, on paper, the leader of Team Plasma, the evil team in Generation V. But here's the thing, technically HE ISN'T. You learn very late in the game (basically the end in fact) that Ghetsis was manipulating his "son" the entire time. Also, he seems to be awfully friendly towards the player for being the villain of the game But onto the actual subject of this blog post. What actually makes N a great anti-hero in my opinion? Well...
     
    N has a warped, but very interesting train of thought about Pokémon and their trainers. He thinks (or thought, before his mind was changed towards the end of the game's story) that Pokémon should be released from their trainers because they long to be free. Sure these ideas were brought on by Ghetsis basically brainwashing N for his own gain, but the ideas themselves are rather interesting. I mean think about it. We keep making them fight until they faint for our own enjoyment, we keep making them wear silly (but classy and cute) outfits to compete in contests for our own enjoyment, and we take them from their natural habitats and stuff them inside a little ball. But the problem with this train of thought lies in the assumption that N makes that all Pokémon are suffering and none of them are actually happy to do this for their trainers. Also, he doesn't think about how this will affect the trainers of the Pokémon. But this train of thought feels natural for him to have because the story reveals he was actually raised... by Pokémon and he shows his intelligence by how he argues his point of view, though occasionally he gets a little bit immature about it, but for reasons that actually make perfect sense considering his actual backstory. They aren't random outbursts, they are actually rooted to his lack of real contact with people.  
    N is a part of the evil team, yes, but he actually has a heart. He throughout the game shows that he has legitimate concern for all Pokémon, and even to a degree the player. He occasionally will heal your team, show you the benefit of the doubt even when you disagree with his ideas, and even release his Pokémon after he loses battles to you (he is the only recurring rival or villain to never keep his team. The only Pokémon he DOESN'T release during the game's events is Reshiram or Zekrom (Depending if you play White or Black respectively), and even then he seems to avoid putting him in an actual ball unlike you who keeps theirs in the ball, whether it be your Master Ball, an Ultra Ball, or whatever ball you catch him with. He actually shows more concern for his Pokémon than you or anyone else does with theirs. Not to mention, he actually only serves Ghetsis because his adoptive father convinced him and everyone else that Plasma's mission is to free all Pokémon from their trainers. If he knew the real reason for Ghetsis' agenda against all of the people (including non-trainers even) in Unova, he would have immediately had scorn for Ghetsis and would never have went along with Plasma's takeover of Unova, especially being the king representing such a takeover.  
    N's battles are generally difficult enough to put up a challenge for people who don't have a good understanding of Pokémon, especially the last battle you have with him in Black and White. His Pokémon are made deliberately two or three levels higher than your own, and without a proper amount of strategy it is potentially challenging especially for being a battle in a Pokémon game against a character that technically isn't the Champion or an Elite Four member. He has a variety of types in his teams and his trainer AI isn't going to make battling him too easy, but also not too hard for the tykes the game was initially designed for. I mean none of the trainers in Pokémon games are particularly challenging with a few notable and frustrating exceptions (WHITNEY AND HER FREAKING MILTANK ), but they aren't supposed to be. I think N's AI does this really well and I applaud whoever designed his AI specifically.  
     
    Well, I'm bad with conclusions, but those are my reasons. N is a kind person with somewhat twisted ideas that provides an adequate challenge for the player. Also, he looks kind of cute. DAMMIT JAPANESE ARTISTS ARE SO GOOD AT MAKING PEOPLE LOOK CUTE Anyways, N in my mind, fits every criteria for a good anti-hero in a video game and he does it well in his own way, making him an interesting character to say the least and I think probably even one of the best characters in the entire video game franchise. Not the anime version of him though, because the cleverness of the character was taken out of the anime. But I say in Black and White, he was a cleverly written anti-hero that checked all of my boxes. Yeah I repeated myself multiple times here, but that is it.
  4. Here No Longer

    Hazbin Hotel OC?

    By Here No Longer,

    Well I've been in the processes of trying to make this forum-appropriate (Still a couple things that may be, well, iffy) and refining some of the details in my head for a while, but here's a general idea. Really, I forgot to post it a couple of weeks ago, so it never came out. Also, there's still no art because I'm no artist.
     
    Name: Mr. McLove (Meyer McLeery) Nicknames: "Rat in the Hat", "Rat Fink", "Sweets"         Type: Rat Demon
    Date of Death: July 26, 1889           Cause of Death: Shot during a fight in a saloon
    Occupation: Male Prostitute (Primarily serving male clients)
    About: Meyer McLeery, or Mister McLove as he's known, was a male prostitute in the days of the Old West, operating in a small town in Arizona. The "Rat in the Hat", as he's been called, was and is still known for his trademark pink ten gallon hat, his mercilessness towards those who cross him, and his inability to handle bad insults about his sexual orientation. He is in Hell to atone for the following acts: the murders of at least 15 people, several bank robberies, and a few acts of grotesque cruelty that can't even be mentioned. In the underworld, he's been up to his old tricks. Killing demons for looking at him funny, being "obnoxious," or even calling him "Rat Fink." He doesn't want to leave Hell as he gathered a faithful clientele there. He also doesn't want them to leave either. He vehemently opposes Charlie's Hotel and he's been trying his hardest to make it fail. 
     
     
  5. Here No Longer
    My lovely, my manly
    My heart pounds so gladly
    For you, my wondrous knight
    I lust for you all night
    If only t'were today
    but not another day   My lover, my precious
    You've been quite chivalrous
    Am I justified such
    From a man I love much
    you've taught me love once more
    couldn't be gladder for   My dear, my loveliest
    do you fancy me best
    I ponder that your mate
    is me not, do I rate
    better than I believe
    or should my nerves reprieve   My other half, my love
    I must be such a dove
    in your eyes at the least
    in mine eyes you're a feast
    I quite frankly love you
    more than you could have knew   He says it's good... But I'm not sure if it's because he's just being nice or it's actually good... -_- 
  6. Here No Longer
    I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm once again posting a tier list for a game I haven't actually played in it's current form (or in this case, at all). A LOT of perceptions of mine have changed since release looking at tournament results and also seeing more potential in some characters and less in others than I initially saw in them. I'm also changing the format slightly. I'll note that these lists are based on a combination of opinion, tournament results (as far as I know), and what I've heard from players in the pro scene (ZeRo, ESAM, the like), so this isn't in any way "objective" nor do I intend it to be. I just intend it to be an evaluation of the game's meta based on my knowledge of it.
     
    Top Tier: Snake, Peach/Daisy, Pichu, Marth/Lucina, Pokemon Trainer, Inkling
    High Tier: Cloud, Pikachu, Ness, Shulk, Olimar, Roy, Yoshi, Sheik, King K. Rool, Wolf, Ike, Mario, Meta Knight, Bayonetta
    High Mid Tier:  Young Link, Isabelle, Pirahna Plant, Fox, Pit, Mewtwo, Richter/Simon, Chrom, Mega Man, Donkey Kong, Ken, Ridley, Dark Samus/Samus
    Low Mid Tier: Luigi, Link, Ganondorf, Sonic, Wario, Corrin, Diddy Kong, Incineroar, Mr. Game and Watch, Dark Pit, Ryu, Lucas, Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, ROB
    Low Tier:  Zelda, Villager, Palutena, Robin, Falco, Zero Suit Samus, Ice Climbers, Pac-Man, Toon Link, Greninja, Duck Hunt, Bowser
    Bottom Tier: Mii Gunner, Lucario, Wii Fit Trainer, Bowser Jr., Kirby, Mii Swordsman, King Dedede, Mii Brawler
     
  7. Here No Longer
    Since the top 20 list wasn't, well... very well-explained, I plan to make a new list soon. But, for now I'll talk about one specific show and what it does so well. That show being? Steven Universe.     In my opinion, Steven Universe is just one of the shows I could count on one hand that ascends above everything else that has EVER come on TV. No matter how much I hate the fandom (it's NOT okay to tell people to kill themselves over a piece of fanart or to attack a kid DYING OF CANCER over the fact he got to watch episodes early before he DIED *cough cough* AwestruckVox *cough cough), no matter how much BS there is around about the show having a "liberal agenda" (it doesn't, if you really watched the show without trying to get offended by it, you'd understand it applies to everyone and works for everyone regardless of political stance), and no matter if it messed up a few episodes (I can admit that), I can't stop LOVING this show. Yes, I do think that the first season was downright ATROCIOUS, but after that point, it recovered quite well from it's mistakes and really turned itself around.  It went from a show I couldn't stand to a masterpiece of a show that even at it's most disappointing, is far from a bad show. Here's just a couple of reasons why this show is just so amazing.         THE CHARACTERS   When I watched Season 1, I hated EVERYONE in the show. They were all annoying, one-dimensional wrecks (particularly Steven and Garnet... Ugh). But now, I don't even find RONALDO irritating, and he's a character that's always considered annoying by the animation community as a whole. I can't blame them, but he's even improved to the point I don't cringe when he/s on screen anymore... As for everyone else... Well, I'll give you the three best examples.   Steven went from being immature and downright annoying to being mature almost beyond his father's years. He's really shown that he has a heart of, well, solid diamond of a sizeable carat. Gold is FAR from appropriate. Steven has an ability to just humanize ANYONE. To be able to really get to literally anyone on a deep emotional level. Heck, one great scene of his involves him destroying a weapon Bismuth MADE for him because he wasn't out to destroy gems, but instead to speak out to them, to teach them of tolerance and of kindness. I really can't believe it. They really went out of the park with him. From, I swear, giving me ANEURYSMS to being the absolute nicest, sweetest kid in... well, anything ever.  Pearl went from a b**** with a serious nagging issue, to a character with more depth than I could possibly have imagined. She apparently was in love with Rose Quartz, was hiding a secret of hers for over 5000 years (one with DIRE consequences mind you), and has shown a level of concern and care for Steven that wouldn't even be expected out of the best of mothers. She also has been struggling with plenty of her own demons for the longest time. When Steven got into her mind, you really got to see what she has on her mind all the time. On the exterior is the organized clean freak we know her to be, but underneath lies a hidden depression, comprised of thousands of years of sorrow. I could go on, but Pearl's insanely deep even for a Steven Universe character, and that says something because they all have an amount of depth I've never seen anywhere else. Garnet went from being a complete f***ing buzzkill to being literally the best LGBT representation in ALL of media, period, and among the absolute best cartoon characters EVER devised. Garnet really shows the beauty of love, regardless of who it's between. Ruby and Sapphire (the two gems that fuse to create Garnet) are absolutely the most adorable couple I've ever seen. The two, well, women also offer up their own characters to the mix, really creating an interesting sort of split personality within Garnet that occasionally manifests itself. A part of her is insightful and mature, while another part of her is energetic and almost childlike in a very charming way. They literally fused out of love, and they've stayed fused for most of almost 6000 years! That's true love, if I've ever known it. True dedication to each other and to their fusion. She, well, they are just such a great way to represent the community as a whole. I could never ask for such. It's also a huge plus that they're "marriage" was the most adorable thing I've ever witnessed in all of animation... Garnet is really a show of how strong the bond of love can be, and an impressive one at that.    
     
     
    THE MESSAGE
     
    I also love the message of the series as a whole, which I would say is that we should let everyone be who they are, regardless of any standards we may place on them. That we should accept people's expressions of themselves. If you hate the show for having a message like that, well you're offended and you more than deserve to be... Seriously, this show is beyond insightful and if you decide not to see that because you don't like it, you have a problem not the show. There is so MUCH to get out of this masterpiece of a show. There is a lot about individuality, a lot about abusing power, and a lot about the importance of the connections we have with others, among a lot about other things as well. Seriously, there's just so many good things this show could teach EVERYONE that listing them would take far too long. All I'm saying is, this show is deep and thought-provoking with messages that can apply to literally anyone, regardless of who they happen to be.          This show is a show for everyone, young or old, conservative or progressive, male or female, white or black, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity... I can't recommend it enough. Though I also can't recommend skipping the first season enough either. There are a few key episodes that should be seen to start with, but this is more about how good the show is and not anything else. This show is a phenomenal show. It's even more than just a show... It's an experience, and it's one heck of an experience. It's one that I think every single fan of animation should give a try, and a real try not just make some pointless 30-45 minute videos trying to criticize it's animation style that don't really go anywhere and prove more or less you're trying to hate the show as hard as you possibly can (I've seen more than one of those ...). All I ask to people who do that s*** is to really give the show a shot before they start bashing it. Maybe you can see the same thing I do in it.
  8. Here No Longer
    Well, this used to be a tier list and now I'm turning into a list of my top 5 husbandos. A tier list was hard to keep up with, plus I wanted to elaborate more on why I love certain guys from video games (yes, all of them will be) so much (and I wanted to add new ones). Well here it is I suppose, because I'm so bad with introductions. Before I get into it, I'll give honorable mentions to the TF2 Medic for just his voice and his personality (some of the fanart helps him also), Captain Gordon for being my first husbando and also being such a goof , and Guzma because he's our boy and I have to admit he's kind of cute :3! Now onto the list.
     
     
    5. Fernando

     
    I was initially going to just put him as an honorable mention, but I decided denying myself the opportunity to talk about Fernando was... being cruel to myself. So if you don't know where he's from, he's a frontline champion from Paladins: Champions of the Realm, and he's among the best designed champions in the game I think, but this is more about his visual and personal appeal. I low key love him. The fan-art I put above here is kind of an example of his physical appeal, if that says anything. I could link a picture of him in game here, but really is heavy armor going to make a guy look better? There's a reason why Paladins players PROTESTED when his avatar put his helmet on. His face... Is just a thing of beauty. Just how could you not admire such features? Most men would be jealous, and well, "men" like me? I'm in love. I don't even know how to describe how he has such a kissable face, but HE JUST DOES LOOK AT IT! I think I'm already melting...   But he only gets fifth because he's got a pretty bad ego problem..
     
     
     
    4. Marth

     
    Yes, a character from a franchise I never even played . His smash appearances were more than enough for me. There's quite reason he's a popular choice as a husbando to many of my variety. He may be a bit feminine in a appearance to a degree, but in a way that just makes him insanely cute. His personality is also one that I find to be attractive in a way. Sure it doesn't get too many points for being a bit patriotic for my tastes, he has a sort of quiet strength about him. I couldn't really pinpoint it until looking him up on the Fire Emblem wiki. He puts his responsibilities before his personal life, and it makes it hard for him to really get past some of the tragic events in his life. That's something I can't exactly relate to, but I find... attractive about him. His own sense of moral obligation and the strength he has for being able to suffer mostly in silence. It's admirable. But he's only fourth because of a couple of things. He has too much pride in his country and he is a bit too regal for my tastes. I'd rather have a more humble man than one of royalty and nobility such as Marth.
     
     
    3. Soldier: 76

     
    I will admit I only gained interest in him after the whole controversy surrounding his sexual orientation. But, that was really only because that's when I BEGAN to notice him for what he is. Actually among the best characters from the entire game, with an amount of depth I didn't initially realize. I mean the guy faked his own death to expose those who caused the collapse of the Overwatch task force, literally went AGAINST A GOVERNMENT AT ONE POINT HE SWORE TO PROTECT OUT OF HIS OWN MORALITY, and he somehow hid his relationship with his ex-boyfriend, Vincent, for so long while also hiding a secret pain that was eating away at him that more than likely began with the relationship... I am amazed with this. Seriously, this is something. I'd normally avoid men that could be my freaking dad on this subject (well, although his age isn't revealed, my guess for it isn't far from my dad's in real life...), but he's got so much depth, and he aged unbelievably well... Seriously he looks better now with his white hair than he did with blonde hair! He'd probably be the only man of his age I could remotely love in that sense, and that's something.  
     
     
    2. Axton

     
    "Wow... Just wow... " I've had my eye on Axton for a while now, and I have to say I've only gotten more attracted to him sense. This specific piece of fanart may not be the best representation of it, (I couldn't find much better that wasn't kind of icky or a crossover) but he's probably the most attractive looking guy on this entire list. He also has this air about him that I just can't describe with any other statement than "he doesn't give a f***." Being that he was once a Dahl soldier that left because he was objected to their objective even though it put his relationship with his ex-wife (who was also his commanding officer) on the line, he'll kill anyone if you pay him enough, and he even mocks his enemies in some of his voice lines... Another thing I like about him is the way he talks to his turret. I, no joke, have daydreams at times about him talking to ME that way, just as an example of such a daydream (pretty short): "*Insert my real name here* what would I do without you?" *Intense blushing, and tearing up while I just think 'kiss me now!'" Thinking about this, it's really hard for me to believe he isn't number one. But there's only one better and we all know who he is. Axton may be almost the perfect man, though he's got his flaws, of the same variety as Fernando's though not nearly as bad. On the other hand...
     
     
    1. Luigi

    Luigi is still definitely number one. He's still my favorite, period. There's just so many reasons why. He's kind of adorkable in his own way, he's a little hot (but nothing like Axton or Fernando), but most of all I feel like he and I are kindred spirits from different universes. I know he's a fictional character, but f*** if I don't love him so much. He's almost always so kind to other people even when they hurt him (MARIO), but he also has shown his capability to fight if he needs to. He's got literally the perfect mustache, but he wears it with such a humble goofiness as only he could. Heck I even dig his hair and he always hides it under his hat. He's just so perfect in a lot of ways. He may not have quite the level of visual appeal as others on this list but he MORE than makes up for it in personality. His kind, but kind of silly and timid nature really grips me on a level that other characters don't. All that must be said here is that I ABSOLUTELY love him. Not on the level that one person loves a specific pony that I won't mention here, but if he were real and I knew him... I'd flirt with him as much as I could ! 
        Well that's the list. Bad with endings too so I'll just cut it here.  
  9. Here No Longer
    Well, I've really been recently thinking a LOT about love. Why? Well, because I've been having the feeling that I need a man to love. A man I can depend on, a steady shoulder to lean on. I know that I'm not the best candidate for a lover, and I never have been. I'm definitely not a looker for sure, and I have my fair share of issues. But here goes, a description of my ideal boyfriend, by how important the specific traits are to me... I know I already posted most of this in a thread before, but I'm going to get into other things I didn't get into there.
     
     
    NECESSARY
     
    He has to love me for who I am. I know it's nice to be able to find a guy who also likes my appearance (well my lack of a decent one may make that a little bit of a challenge...), but it's much more important that he is really fine with dating an absurdly skinny nerd that has almost no dexterity, is more than likely autistic, and has anxiety and depression issues. He has to be at least 16 years old at the moment. I don't want to have to deal with parents that are too concerned if they're dating another dude that's more than 5 years older than they are... Even 16 is iffy though...      
    GOOD TO HAVE
     
    He and I should share a few interests. My interests include: Cartoons, particularly Steven Universe, MLP, Rick and Morty, and We Bare Bears. Also I'm really enjoying Hazbin Hotel as of now. Video Games, particularly Super Smash Bros., Mario games, Paladins/Overwatch, and Borderlands/Fallout. Tabletop arena games, like Heroclix. I'm developing my own, you know!   Science Fiction, including things like Star Trek and the Twilight Zone. Music. I personally played the Tuba in band for years... So you know I'm more than capable   (I'm sick...) Pixar movies. I'm sorry, but if you don't like Finding Nemo or Toy Story, you more than likely won't like me. He should respect my space. I'm extremely introverted and at times I just have to be away from people. Even people I'm really close to...  He needs to have a good heart. I couldn't date an intolerant jerk, because I love people that love me. It's just the way I work. He's got to be a little bit perverted...   Trust me when I say that I'm very much that way... though it's been getting tamer recently. It would be great if his viewpoints were similar enough to mine. I don't want to have an argument about stuff every 5 minutes. I mean it is nice to disagree on a couple of things, but that definitely has its limits. I'll tell you that I'm a bit left on politics and my viewpoints on things are far from conservative. Although I share some viewpoints with conservatives. He needs to be able to start a conversation with me. I have huge issues with starting a dialogue with other people. It helps if he can make me laugh sometimes. I know that I don't have much of a sense of humor, but I like being humored to a degree. He has to have some level of intelligence. I think that I have an IQ of around 135-140, so I'm not sure I could handle a dope well...       PREFERRED PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES (Not that important)   A few inches taller than me (around 6' maybe). I don't mean to seem racist, but I prefer white men. I had a crush from a video game for a little bit who happens to be black, though. Not overly muscular. or fat. Neither looks that good in my opinion. Yet again, I'll say this isn't too important so... Yeah. I don't have much of a preference for age, but I'd like a man around my age. Like teens or early twenties.  
    So there it is, I guess... I don't know what else to say here, other than I'm still open to the idea of an open relationship, it's not a must anymore I don't think.
     
     
     
  10. Here No Longer
    Well after recently watching one of the best TV episodes in all of television, I really feel positive. I feel like expressing that positivity into what I see for 2019. The potential for maybe something good to happen to me for once. Maybe it will be the best year of my entire life. Although I'll be the first to admit, the opposite may once again be true, and if it were bad enough it could be my last year of life (You know what I'm implying here), I'm really looking forward to a year in and of itself for the first time, quite literally ever. I know this is about 3 weeks late, but I'll dive into it here. Why exactly do I feel cautiously optimistic about 2019? Well here are a couple of reasons.
     
     
    ~What's coming out in 2019?~
     
    There are some AMAZING things coming out this year. Among them being Toy Story 4, Borderlands 3, Hazbin Hotel, and Long Gone Gulch. Toy Story 4 seems, so far, to be on its way to being a phenomenal ending place for the series (Here's the summary that says so). I really feel the hype on this one. As for Borderlands 3, I'm REALLY excited. It's another Borderlands game, what do I have to say here? As for Hazbin Hotel, it's been shaping up to be among my favorite adult animated shows of all time (I DOUBT it will beat out Rick and Morty and the older seasons of the Simpsons, but I think it will be up there). But nonetheless, definitely loving the dark creativity. And for Long Gone Gulch, the character concepts and the blending of genres are both QUITE intriguing to me. I see it being perhaps among the best of all time with the potential shown by Rawhide's character. I'm sure there's more to be excited about, but these are the main things. Like yes, the Bowser's Inside STory remake is a thing, and yes so are things like Infinity Train. But these are the things that REALLY make me feel like there's hope.
     
     
    Maybe a Chance at Love? <3
     
    I think it's ACTUALLY possible I'll find him. You now, the one. I know it's been a struggle in that department with you know the fact I as of now have a whopping 3 ex-boyfriends at the age of 21, but I've began to become hopeful in recent times I might find the fourth and maybe they'll revise that saying to "the fourth is the charm." But I have hope for a three reasons. Firstly, I have made my own blog post citing what I want in that department, and I'll link it right here. Secondly, over those 3 failed relationships, I gained a better understanding of how to make them work, or at least I'm led to believe so. And last, but not least, the potential move may help out a LOT here. If I moved in with my brother I'd be moving into the second largest city in the state and the seventh largest city in the country (San Antonio, Texas). By my math (and admittedly a few assumptions), that leaves me in that city alone... Just about 10,000 possibilities. Yes, 10 THOUSAND (for a male looking for a relationship with another of the same sex, that's an awful lot of possibilities). At least 1 ought to be compatible? Of course this is all me trying to be positive. The realism of this is still... a bit shaky at the very best.
     
  11. Here No Longer
    Even with how short it will probably be, yes, I do need to post this.
     
    If you somehow got here without knowing, I have been working on a potential design for a tabletop game. Now the game has technically been in development at this point for about 2 or 3 years. All I can reveal as of now about the game itself (I've revealed a lot of this already) is that it's a sort of hybrid between Heroclix and a MOBA with a post-apocalyptic setting (To address concerns about the way that may sound, it actually feels quite natural to a degree when you actually play it, the combination actually works quite well... Though it's had to receive a few tweaks on the way, I think it should work pretty decently right now based on my first impressions. Though, fair warning, there's plenty of things to keep track of).
     
    The game right now is sort of on pause (until things get better enough to make it feasible to progress). There are several reasons why it is:
    I'm having SERIOUS financial trouble, so bad that the power at my house may be cut off in a few hours if my Dad didn't get on to paying the bill... If it's that bad, then i I don't have access to my own printer right now. I can get around this, but Dad will have to be off of his computer and I'll have to be proactive enough to put all the content on a flash drive so I can get it there to print. Which looks like it's not going to be quite that simple, but I can make it happen. I've done it before. This is important because I finished the current patch, but I'd prefer to do my own QA some before I really get it out there, so that way I can sort of judge for myself based on actual play of the game, and also so I can make sure it is playable and coherent. I've not been on the best terms emotionally. This has been the case for a long while now, but it's really compounding it nonetheless. I've had issues with anxiety and depression for a while now, and it's been getting worse because of my current financial situation. It's been causing a LOT of distress. As of now, I'm the ONLY person working on it and the only real interest I've had for the game has been from my older brother who play-tested an earlier version and @PoisonClaw. There have been people who have brought it up a couple of times, but what I mean here is that they show interest in a way that actually CONTRIBUTES to it and helps it on its way. I'll admit I only really NEED the printer and electricity (obviously) to get anywhere at all right now, but to really progress with it, I'll really need to address all of this, and it needs to be remedied somehow or this game is going to go into serious development hell in the near future. But I think that's not going to happen, so... Probably won't get too far after a certain point...
     
    But, hopefully, I might be able to get out the patch I actually finished about a week ago soon if things turn out. All I'd actually need to do is get on to printing all of the necessary materials, triple-checking it so that way it comes out as polished as a single person could possibly make such a thing. For now, I am also sort of working on ANOTHER side project that may become a sort of spin-off to this (but is starting to look like it has a better chance of getting scrapped instead, due to it more than likely being overshadowed by an EXTREMELY popular tabletop game that's been around for a while), and other than that just trying as hard as I possibly can to keep my stress under control before it pops by playing an excessive amount of Borderlands 2 and trying to farm every piece of legendary gear in the base game that I have any remote degree of interest in... -__-
     
  12. Here No Longer
    Well, here's something a BIT different, and a random bone to toss at @ChB (hopefully that was termed right... If it wasn't, you probably know what I meant to say. I'm trying to say it's a random "gift" of sorts). I thought of this after watching Cosmodore's video ranking every classic SpongeBob episode (Seasons 1-3) from Worst to Best (I know it's over a year old now, but that's what initially inspired this). SpongeBob was once among the best cartoons of all time, and there's PLENTY of reason for that to almost be accepted fact for animation entusiasts. SpongeBob has seriously decayed from There's over a HUNDRED of them, so it would be too difficult to actually rank them, thus the tiered format (and even then the tiering of these is, well, quick considering how many there are). Also, If you don't know, the color scheme is supposed to be all of the colors SpongeBob has on him, aside from black and white (By the way, yes his chin is purple sometimes, like on the cover of Battle for Bikini Bottom) ... Of course, with the quality this series once had consistently, there's really a lack of episodes at the bottom...
     
    Phenomenal-
    Band Geeks, Pizza Delivery, SB-129, Arrgh!, Christmas Who?, Frankendoodle, The Fry Cook Games, Nasty Patty, Idiot Box, Wet Painters, Krusty Krab Training Video, Chocolate with Nuts, Mermaid and Barnacle Boy V, The Camping Episode
     
    Great-
    Help Wanted, Plankton!, Squeaky Boots, Culture Shock, F.U.N., Scaredy Pants, Karate Choppers, Sleepy Time, Neptune's Spatula, Your Shoe's Untied, Squid's Day Off, Dying for Pie, Squidville, Life of Crime, Survival of the Idiots, Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III, Shanghaied, The Secret Box, The Graveyard Shift, Procrastination, Sailor Mouth, Squid on Strike,  The Algae's Always Greener, Club SpongeBob, Just One Bite, Mermaid and Barnacle Boy IV, One Krabs Trash, Can You Spare a Dime?, Rock-a-Bye Bivalve, New Student Starfish, I Had an Accident
     
    Good-
    Reef Blower, Hall Monitor, Sandy's Rocket, Opposite Day, Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost, The Chaperone, Employee of the Month, Rock Bottom, Walking Small, Hooky, Something Smells, Big Pink Loser, Imitation Krabs, Wormy, Grandma's Kisses, Prehibernation Week, I'm Your Biggest Fanatic, The Smoking Peanut, Welcome to the Chum Bucket, Krusty Love, SpongeGuard on Duty, Doing Time, Snowball Effect, No Weenies Allowed, Krab Borg, Clams, The Great Snail Race, Born Again Krabs, Missing Identity, SpongeBob Meets the Strangler
     
    Decent-
    Bubblestand, Jellyfishing, Home Sweet Pineapple, Jellyfish Jam, Nature Pants, MuscleBob BuffPants, The Paper, Texas, Bossy Boots, Bubble Buddy, Patty Hype, No Free Rides, Squirrel Jokes, Gary Takes a Bath, Artist Unknown, (Sandy, SpongeBob, and the Worm), My Pretty Seahorse, As Seen on TV, Squilliam Returns, Ugh, Mid-Life Crustacean, Pranks a Lot
     
    Mediocre- Naughty Nautical Neighbors, Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, Pickles, Suds, Fools in April, Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II, Dumped, Pressure, Valentine's Day, Jellyfish Hunter, The Bully, Krabby Land, Plankton's Army, The Sponge Who Could Fly     Bad- I'm With Stupid, I Was a Teenage Gary, Party Pooper Pants
     
     
    Yet again, it wasn't really made over a lot of time, so I may not be remembering things the way I thought I did on some episodes. When I initially made this list, for example, there were plenty of episodes I forgot existed, and also some that I actually got confused until I looked at plot summaries. I haven't watched a ton of these episodes I recent times either and that doesn't help my recollection.
  13. Here No Longer
    Pre-Sequel has always been treated as the black sheep of the Borderlands series by many fans, and I'll agree with them on that. I avoided this game until recently because I couldn't initially get into it, but I had a change of heart. I played it. Today, I'll be answering these questions: Are the flaws with this game really that massive, or are they really not that big of a deal? Is this game actually bad? That's what's up for discussion here. Before I get into it though, the format of this will be a lot like a series done by a favorite YouTuber of mine named Fawful's Minion called "Blessed or Messed." If you aren't familiar, I'll be placing a point value on positive and negative traits of the game (except I'll use a different points system) and I'll make a judgment from which number ends up greater and by how much. I'll just start with the good.
     
    This game, mechanically speaking, actually retains most of what makes the Borderlands games great (Yes, most, and that will come up later). The loot system (although the more flawed one from Borderlands 2) remained completely intact, the gun variety is still there, it kept it's sense of humor, and the gameplay still feels like you're playing Borderlands. It's the fast-paced, first person shooter and RPG hybrid that we know and love still and that in itself is quite great. I mean it is expected, but the gameplay is still quite solid. +10 The platforming in Zero-Gravity, although a little easy even by Borderlands standards (hey it isn't a platformer!), feels absolutely AWESOME. You can utilize the lack of gravity to your advantage in navigating levels with an amount of speed and thoroughness that's absent in other games (although bunny hopping and grenade hopping are rather fast ways to move around in Borderlands 2 and 1 respectively). Also, it feels like it was executed in such a way that it almost feels natural after a while.  +3 (Two plus one more because of the Slam mechanic) I really like the premise of the story. It's always refreshing to see a game from the villain's perspective, and see how they justify their own actions. It brings a level of depth to the plot that makes for a lot of interest on my end. It's really helpful in the case of Handsome Jack to have this because he made feeble attempts in trying to justify himself and demonize you in the original game. +2 Am I the only one who wishes that there were a character like Athena in another game? I think her kit has easily the best design of everyone's in this game. You can either play around elemental damage, your action skill, or massively painful melee attacks. She also complements the addition of Cryo perfectly. +2 Oh I forgot. A point for the addition of Cryo. Although it's way too powerful, I really like the crowd control mechanic, and it was executed fairly well. +1 The characters you play as ACTUALLY TALK NOW. Seriously, they respond to NPCs in certain conversations. It's a nice touch of polish. +1 This game added a dimension to Lilith specifically that I can appreciate. This game actually makes her look really bad, and I like it. +1 Some of the side quests are actually pretty entertaining. Nothing quite like Face McShooty's quest from Borderlands 2, but I found some humor in them. Especially the Torgue quest, because anyone who can't find Mr. Torgue amusing doesn't have a soul... +1 The game does a decent job of further building on the Borderlands universe. Yeah, just decent. +1 (Total: +21)
     
    Now moving onto the bad...
    I said the PREMISE of the story was good. The story itself though? It is the WEAKEST of the series. BY AND FAR. It did almost nothing to justify Jack's actions during the game or Borderlands 2. The plot had several holes, and didn't really mesh well with the rest of the series, either. Why exactly would the vault hunters ALIGN THEMSELVES WITH THE PERSON THAT TOOK ALL THE CREDIT FOR OPENING THE FREAKING VAULT? It's convenient enough ANYWAYS that they're even ON Elpis (they're there on... VACATION?)... It seems more like it should have been DLC than an actual game in this regard. -4 The O2 meter was an ASTOUNDINGLY dumb design choice. I understand Elpis has no atmosphere, and you couldn't breathe without oxygen, but that cannot and WILL NOT justify a mechanic that punishes you for trying to get around, or FORCES you into standing around doing nothing for an amount of time that adds up QUITE quickly. Not even to mention that the only reason they'd add this isn't consistent with the blatant lack of realism the series has. -3 They kept Badass Ranks. I can't believe that they'd keep literally the WORST thing about Borderlands 2... -3 Why exactly do the laser weapons of this game feel totally redundant to me? Is it because they could have been replaced by Sniper Rifles or SMGs with similar effects? Oh why am I asking this question, when the answer is quite obviously yes. This weapon category contributed next to NOTHING to this game, and I hope they replace it with similar weapons of different types in Borderlands 3, or maybe make their effects apply to a specific manufacturer. -2 Moxxi being blatantly out of character is downright inexcusable. The attempt to brush it off really didn't work on me. Not even to mention that attempt wasn't even referring to the ACTUAL PROBLEM! It was referring to... her make-up being different and her covered up southern accent? Seriously? -2 The boss fights in this game are so badly designed... None of these fights was remotely interesting or compelling to me at all... -2 NO. FREAKING. SLAG. I don't care if it doesn't precisely line up with the game canonically. I MISS MY SLAG. -1 Nurse Nina is literally a walking "strong, Russian-sounding woman" stereotype that reminds me WAY too much of Zarya from Overwatch for some reason. Zed was an amazing character, who probably had some of the funniest lines in the entire series, and they replace him... with that? Not acceptable. Just not acceptable. -1 Congratulations for butchering Mordecai's character even MORE. You make him look like a bumbling drunk has-been who can't stop stealing second winds and annoying you with a bad impression of his old voicing, and then you make him look like a complete moron? He was totally badass in the first game... What went wrong? -1 Aside from Athena's kit, I didn't really like the design of the other characters. None of them have quite the appeal of the playable characters from the other games. -1  
    (Total: -20)
     
    This game may be the black sheep of the series for good reason, but it's not really a bad game. It still retains what makes Borderlands great, and puts in interesting twists. Sure, it proved that Gearbox and 2K Games should never trust 2K Australia to make a Borderlands game EVER AGAIN, but it's still going to get a solid 7/10 from me. I can still see a degree of enjoyment here, and a unique experience that is worth playing, though I'd recommend not doing so not too many times more than once. The first two games are much more worth playing over and over with every character, and I'd even recommend doing so. But here, all I could recommend is maybe two saves... Past that point, you have to have better things to do with your time than playing this.
  14. Here No Longer
    Well, I was originally going to vent here, but I got inspiration after watching a YouTube video to do something less simultaneously migraine-inducing and controversial. I'll just discuss some of my favorite characters to play as in video game history, and why I enjoy them so much. The only rules here are one per game. These are not in order.
     
    Barik (Paladins)- The Dwarven god among men himself. My main when I played Paladins, he brought me so much enjoyment playing the game that I can hardly contain myself right now with the literal nostalgia I have on the topic. I actually don't know why I enjoy him so much. Maybe it's my signature playstyle of plopping turrets wherever I see fit and destroying everyone? Maybe it's his emphasis on positioning? Maybe it's dashing in circles like a little madman high on drugs? Maybe it's even because I'm playing as the Paladins equivalent of Goldeneye 007's Oddjob? I really don't know. But he's so enjoyable that I managed to play as him in over HALF of all of my matches playing the game. Axton (Borderlands 2)- My recent obsession, Axton has become my favorite Borderlands 2 character to play as. Why? Only one line must be said here. "Have you met the misses?" Are you starting to see a pattern here? Turrets. I freaking like turrets. Axton's turret has great offensive zoning potential building an Engineer build, and it also gives you INSANE buffs to your damage output running the Battlefront skill. Combining this with weapons with high damage potential like the Unkempt Harold results in the DPS being taken to MAXIMUM overdrive. Sure, he has the worst melee in the ENTIRE GAME and I like playing melee builds, but his turret build is even better than Melee Zer0 for me.  Yoshi (Smash Bros)- Oh. My. Word. The. SPIKES. I've always found Yoshi a blast to play because there's just so many ways you can burst your opponent into submission. But the most fun will always be spiking straight into volleyball combos. If you're unaware, Yoshi has the capability to pretend you're a volleyball and smack you into the next ZIP code with a combo of chaining down and up airs. They keep saying Villager isn't the face of mercy, but Yoshi is RUTHLESS. He'll knock you into the next ZIP code with his tail, He will throw eggs at your face like grenades. Heck, he will even use his HEAD as a weapon of mass destruction. Seriously, that noggin has some serious kill potential.  Sniper (Team Fortress 2)- There's a good reason he was my go-to when I played the game. He's a great example of how a sniper class should be executed. He's got a surprising amount of versatility, and he's got a lot of ranged damage. Sure it's at the expense of close-quarters... but... IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE! Take a Shahanshah. Sure it deals bad damage if you melee somebody at above half health, but when you get flanked, it's super useful because your health pool is going to get low enough to get the damage buff at low health. With that boost, those annoying scouts are history. Also, he's even got support options! Get a Sydney Sleeper and you can mark targets for your team to take down for you! Mordecai (Borderlands 1)- Note that I didn't say one per SERIES. Sure, Bloodwing is a bit of a subpar action skill without investment, but that's more than made up for running him with a Sniper or a Pistol build. Sniper builds on him are BETTER than Zer0 in all honesty. With skills like Trespasser that allow you to have up to a 100% chance to IGNORE SHIELDS and skills like Killer that allow you to consistently chain damage output, it's not hard to see what makes him fun to play but also really good. This isn't to mention his potential with pistols (especially revolvers) running the right build, especially with the right Class Mods along with skills that buff reload speed and DPS.  
    I may add a League of Legends character and a DotA 2 character later on, but this is it.
  15. Here No Longer
    Well, once again I find myself copying somebody else's idea for a blog post. Seriously what is wrong with me? Well, I'll tell you what's wrong with me, from the top.
     
    I was born out of a high risk pregnancy. My mother had a congenital defect in one of her heart valves, and it nearly caused both of us to die, from what I heard. That's why I was born in a Seattle hospital. Both of my siblings were born in Renton, Washington, because they were far more normal. I hear that I was also born a couple of weeks premature. I was apparently initially a relatively normal child. I hear that I was very interested with helping my dad out with stuff. Now I have a hard time believing this, considering the cynical, useless piece of human waste I have become. Seriously, what do I even do for anyone anymore? Sure I occasionally  help other people, but most of the time my anxiety and my lack of empathy get in the way. Or of course my pre-occupation with video games and the like. I was initially considered to be mentally retarded, because I literally never spoke. I initially thought I didn't get into kindergarten because I couldn't tie my own shoes, but this reason makes more sense. I'll admit, they were initially not too far from wrong. My intelligence didn't really blossom until around 4th grade or so. All I had to say for myself until that point was being the first kid done with their multiplication charts... But also I was the only kid to wet myself in the middle of class because I was scared of my uncomfortable surroundings. Also, I was in special education classes, and my reading level was WAY below average. To the point where I was in a kindergarten class for part of the day. Dang I used to be an idiot. In a way I still kind of am... I finally learned how to learn how to tie my own shoes at the age of 10 and I finally somehow stopped wetting myself around the age of 14... I also finally learned to double-knot around the age of 14 also, but even then I was bullied for single-knotting more than enough by that time to realize I was years behind the curve... My handwriting was abysmal to the point of people being unable to read it... I worked on it for years and it's still yet to get past the neatness of your average fifth grader... Then I gave up on that, because I asked myself this question: What's the use in trying? I can't write like a normal person, so why should I make the attempt to? Seriously, it's a complete waste of time. Now as an adult, I deal with nearly constant emotional problems. I have silent anxiety attacks (yes, they do exist) at least once every other day, I spend most of my days hiding my depression from myself and everyone else, and I try to tame my, what I consider, manic outbursts. My dad and my grandma used to say I bounced off the wall as a kid sometimes it was so bad. I also had issues with anger that I tried to hide (but failed to a degree), and my anxiety about relationships of the sexual and romantic varieties. Seriously, it's bad. I'm not going into depth HOW bad, but let's just say that it's made me think I'm a disgusting creep for reasons that I can't really discuss in depth because it may break forum rules. I also deal with the constant issue of being disappointed with what I see in the mirror everyday. Between the eyebrows marred by my anxiety, my uncomfortable and emasculating facial hair that I frequently forget to shave for days on end, all of my body hair, this bulging thing coming through my neck... Now I realized that my legs aren't even. Gosh dang it I'm an ugly mess. Now that I've worried about my anxiety and depression, I've become aware that my problems may be attributed to Asperger's Syndrome and potentially Cyclothymia and even possibly ADD. Combine that with Gender Dysphoria and you get a freak with no life and little purpose other than to maybe develop a tabletop game, that may not even ever come out if things go wrong.  
    I feel like there's more to add here, but I'm just not able to think of it right now... I got too wound up seeing a guy play K Rool like a boss in a YouTube video about how stupid he is in Smash Ultimate, and too occupied thinking about how worthless I've been. Luckily I'm not thinking about suicide anymore, but I'm still tormented by thoughts about me being a waste. Also I can't count, because I thought this was the fifth "Cry for Help" when it was only the fourth. Seriously, why?
  16. Here No Longer
    Well, here it is. I haven't actually played the game since early Season 7 (Can't believe it's been almost 2 years), so my opinions may be a little outdated. Nonetheless, this is also partially based on other tier lists, so there is something to this aside from what I think. Nonetheless, it is mostly what I think from watching a few league games, combined with my opinions and my knowledge of changes since I actually played the game, so it could be a little off.
     
    Top Tier: Sion, Darius, Viktor
    Strong: Irelia, Urgot, Garen, Teemo, Jax, Yasuo, Riven, Akali, Aatrox, Camille, Kled, Fiora, Renekton
    Decent: Yorick, Pantheon, Illaoi, Cho'Gath, Nasus, Shen, Rumble, Gangplank, Singed, Poppy, Swain, Jayce, Kayle, Wukong, Quinn, Vladimir
    Usable: Kennen, Jarvan IV, Pyke, Lissandra, Dr. Mundo, Tryndamere, Nautilus, Heimerdinger, Rengar, Maokai, Ekko, Cassiopeia, Karma, Trundle, Vayne
    Weak: Gnar, Ornn, Talon, Xin Zhao, Graves, Galio, Olaf, Mordekaiser, Ryze, Tahm Kench, Fizz, Lulu, Leona, Vi, Lee Sin
    Bottom Tier: Zed, Blitzcrank, Thresh, Udyr
  17. Here No Longer
    Well, I've been talking about this some. Smash Ultimate as a game is easily the game I've been most excited for in at least a year, if not even earlier. The Smash Bros. franchise has been an important series to me, and this newest installment has me super excited. I wasn't initially when I heard some of the roster, but since then my opinion has changed drastically. Since I learned some of the mechanical differences between Smash 5 and Sm4sh, I've been interested, and a specific crocodile really made me hype ( no names ) since then. I feel a list is in order here.
     
    Yoshi- My Sm4sh main, Yoshi has been a favorite of mine for a long time do to his reliable combo chains, and the way his kit flows together. Also, of course, how annoying he can be to fight against with the right player playing him... I felt the need to mention him here, because I don't think that's changing. The game's speed increase is actually going to make me like Yoshi a lot more, because it will be easier to volleyball (term used for Down Air into repeated Up Airs) up into higher percentages and fair them off. Of course, that's just one example, but Yoshi will be even more fun to play than he already was for me. Really going to be a solid mid-tier character for sure this time around., maybe even upper mid possibly. Of course, I can't really say because there has been no gameplay of Yoshi because he wasn't in the demo for some weird reason... Disappointing, but I'll get over it I think... RIGHT? F***ING D*** IT SAKURAI!
    King K. Rool- You know I have invested interest in this character if you've really been looking at my posts. He's probably going to be the best heavy in the game, because he can easily rack up percentage and chain a lot of combos with his crown toss and his cannonballs. That's not even to mention the versatility of the blunderbuss ability as a whole. It's quite easily the most versatile projectile in the entire game. You can either just shoot it at them and do decent damage, or you can shoot it at them, suck it in, and then shoot again for insane damage. The suck in also works on other characters as per his trailer (when he did it to Kirby), so it's potentially possible to shoot them out and begin a combo that way. I just see so much potential for loads of insane combos here, that just makes me really excited, not even to mention I've really wanted a good heavy for a while that feels good to play (Well, Samus could be good for me also, but I'll get to her later).
    Young Link- FINALLY! The boy from Melee's BACK! There's some catching up I really want to do here. You know I like reliable bursty combos that do a lot of damage. Well, Young Link has those in spades. His Forward Smash does a huge chunk and is potentially chainable with enough speed, his Down A almost acts like Yoshi's (but I don't think it spikes)... Sounds just right I think. A big thing for me on Young Link is that (at least in Melee) he could rack up percentage really easily with two or three short bursts of damage. I've seen people say that Toon Link was a straight-up improvement... And I have to say that's totally wrong. Toon Link is lighter than Young Link and actually does less damage with combos than Young Link does. They both offer their own unique advantages, but I don't like Toon Link because I prefer characters closer to medium-weight generally (K. Rool and potentially Ike and Samus can be exceptions). I always preferred Young Link, so I like that he's back.
    Ike- I didn't like Sm4sh Ike a lot. He was a bit too heavy for my tastes, and very sluggish. He had a LOT of ending lag on his combos that was a huge issue when you ran him. I should know, my brother was an Ike main (and probably still is, I don't know) and I kept beating him because I could start combos between the ending lag on his smash attacks. But now with the new Ike he's a good bit lighter, and his ending lag was absolutely SLASHED. He went from probably a lower mid tier character to perhaps even high tier. He probably got one of the biggest buffs between Sm4sh and Ultimate out of the whole cast. His damage output is surprisingly close in consistency to Marth's and that's pretty shocking. I didn't initially have my eye on Ike, but after all of this, I think he'd fit me decently well. Just have to adjust to him a little (which shouldn't be that difficult considering I played him some in Sm4sh).
    Ness- I started getting into Ness when I started playing Ness v Villager matches (probably the lightest character I intend to play), and I really like his moveset. It makes for unique opportunities to damage opponents, but also to begin a combo or two with PK Fire's stun (it's short, but it can be enough to start something with a bat hit). Also, his recovery can be used to route an opponent into a direction (as it knocks enemies back further into it's path each time it hits). Also Ness' bat could be pretty important for blocking projectiles like K. Rool's Cannonballs, which is more useful in what I think the Smash Ultimate meta will have in store than it is in Sm4sh's meta (especially after Cloud and Bayonetta came out). I think though I'd more likely play this sometimes more than I would all of the time, because Ness is a character I'm decent with, but never could get good with (as mastering Ness is pretty hard).
    Samus- Samus is a character I would go to from time to time in Smash 64 and Melee, but I started to drop around Melee because she was too slow to really provide good damage output at about that point. In Smash Ultimate, she didn't really receive much of a buff in the general mechanics of the game getting faster, but there is one there nonetheless, and it makes me want to pick her up as a potential pick. I always liked her high damage neutral B as well as the damage she could output with her forward smash and her fair in particular. I still think she'll be lower mid tier as of Smash Ultimate, but I think that she can still be a viable choice potentially. Not like I'd want to choose her over K. Rool most of the time, but she does have a decent air game, and she can do a lot of damage in single hits. It also helps her that she's smaller than K. Rool is, and therefore a little harder to hit. Still would play K. Rool over her 90% of the time, but I'd still play her occasionally.
     
    I also have some interest in Wolf, Meta Knight, Simon, Pokémon Trainer, Pikachu, and Inkling, but the six I listed are who I'd likely play if I got to play the game, personally. 
     
     
  18. Here No Longer
    There are some TV series that just seem to bring out nostalgia in everyone. They may not be as good as we remember them to be, but there's nonetheless a reason to why these shows are classics in our hearts. The Twilight Zone is one of those series for many fans of science fiction as well as those of the macabre and the strange. The writing is usually solid (I do mean usually, since even Rod Serling himself has written a few duds), and the pacing is usually done quite well. Most episodes have an interesting premise, and usually deliver on utilizing the potential to intrigue with heir episodes, with well-written plot twists at the end of episodes that shock the audience into a love of the series. This will be a list of the episodes that did what Twilight Zone does best with nearly flawless execution, and a very short review for each, that may be 2 or 3 lines long giving the gist of why they are ranked where they are.
    Before we start, let's go through the 6 Honorable Mentions (it was really hard to mention less than that) for this list: 
    These are "On Thursday We Leave for Home", "The New Exhibit", "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", " The Masks", "Number 12 Looks Just Like You", and "The Invaders." These were all really good episodes, even if they couldn't make this list.  This wasn't listed in any particular order, but the closest to the list would probably be "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." The episode was written extremely well. Probably would have put it in the list if I didn't have a slight bit of a bias against William Shatner as am actor. 
    THE TWENTY BEST EPISODES OF THE TWILIGHT ZONE
    20. "Twenty-Two"- This episode is very creepy, and entertaining. It also has a clever way of hiding it's most major plot twist by throwing in a small twist a few times in a way that just works so well with the episode itself. I'm not going to spoil the ending, but that really made it for me. It's amazing, and well thought out, even as Twilight Zone episodes go. 
    19. "People are Alike All Over"- This episode had an interesting way of sneaking in a premonition at the beginning, that sounded like it was meant positively, but, ironically, actually made for one of the most gripping, dark, and clever plot twists of the entire series. Of course, keeping this spoiler free yet again.
    18. "Nothing in the Dark"- As like "Twenty-Two", another very creepy episode with some clever writing, as well as probably some of the better acting in the series. At first we think the old lady is completely crazy (she really seemed that way), but, in another one of the great classic Twilight Zone plot twists, it's actually so revealed she wasn't quite as we thought.
    17. "Nick of Time"- Oh great, another good one with Shatner that would have been better if Jack Klugman or the like were in it instead. Nonetheless, the episode was intriguing to say the least, and it had almost perfect pacing and an extremely intriguing premise. But seriously, Shatner must have had an amazing agent to be in this many classics...
    16. "The Hitchhiker"- I was really amazed (and sort of but not really creeped out) with this one when I initially watched this one as a kid, and it still is very interesting to this day. Really, I must have watched this one 20 times and the twist ending still gets me. Though it's presented in such a way it makes sense once it's revealed to you. Almost as well paced as "Nick of Time."
    15. "It's a Good Life"- Classic and very creepy episode. But since I feel like I may get questions on why it's so low, I'll answer you this: the ending was in no way startling or surprising. I expected that sort of ending from the story considering the boy's powers as well as his narcissistic traits. Also, it was slightly too out there for me to like that much.
    14. "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?"- Another classic. Absolutely amazing episode, and the real plot twist was completely unexpected. I would never have expected the way it ended. It would be top 5 though if it were harder to actually figure out who the martian was. I hadn't watched it in years and knew who it was by the 5 or 6 minute mark.
    13. "The Midnight Sun"- Another intriguing Twiight Zone episode. Almost tired of using the word, but it's too much of a match for the episodes and Twilight Zone as a whole. Anyways, a big factor as to why this is above some of the classics everyone likes is how the ending actually turned out. I was legitimately SHOCKED by how it ended.
    12. "Where is Everybody?"- An episode with an amazing premise, and amazing acting that really did quite the job of complementing the situation. The ending was like the ending "The Hitchhiker" sort of. It's a twist that still sort of gets me, and it actually makes perfect sense of the entire episode when you think about it.
    11. "Eye of the Beholder"- This episode has certifiably the BEST ending of the entire series, that alone justifies it's placement here. But the seamless execution of the whole episode's premise reallt sealed the deal for its spot on this list. I'm actually having trouble not spoiling this one because the ending was so perfect...
    10. "And the Sky Was Opened"- This is an odd one out, there's no real twist or shocking ending here. Just an episode that's well paced (it is a tad on the slow side), that's a thrill to watch every time. . It is completely unnerving to watch what happens to the main characters over the course of this episode. Very creepy and weird, but in a good way I promise.
    09. "The Obsolete Man"- A cautionary tale against authoritarian government. A well-written masterpiece with an interesting premise, that Burgess Meredith executed almost flawlessly, as the librarian in this episode. What it ended up being is a classic that I've yet to see a bad word about, and after watching it, it's easy to see why.
    08. "Living Doll"- An unnerving cautionary tale against bad stepfathers, that borders the line of macabre. The great thing about this episode is that this is one time where a seemingly evil doll is actually acting out of good faith, or so it could seem like. The piece was paced well, with acting that fit the story very well.
    07. "Long Distance Call"- This was a weird one to say the least. No real twist at the end, but nonetheless satisfying. Sure it was one of the six episodes done in videotape, but quality scripting and the execution of the script in itself more than accounts for it. Won't spoil anything for you here, and considering there'd be spoilers very early on, can't say much more.
    06. "Walking Distance"- A weird episode that involved some timey-wimey things, and a very strange visit of a 30-some year old man into the town of his childhood. The episode was presented fairly well, and the situation presented very well. Literally the only issue keeping it from trumping a similar episode later on is that the pacing could have been a little bit better.
    05. "The After Hours"- One of the most creative  and properly paced episodes of the series, that has perhaps one of the best endings. I will not spoil it for you, here however. I will just say this: the woman you follow in the story is not exactly what she appears to be, and the 9th floor of that department store is, for all intents and purposes, the Twilight Zone. 
    04. "To Serve Man"- An absolute classic, and it is not hard to see why. It is the best written episode in the entire series, bar none. The episode also has a very nice twist at the end (that at least SOMEBODY should have been suspicious of all along), that was nonetheless a little bit predictable (why it's only number 4 on this list).
    03. "A Stop at Willoughby"- This was the episode I was talking about earlier on in the list. This is basically a better version of "The Walking Distance" with improved pacing, a miserable woman that never deserved the main character's affection, and an ever-so slightly improved premise. I debated where to position this one, I was initially going to put it second actually.
    02. "Time Enough at Last"- This episode is considered one of the show's absolute best, for good reason. The plot flows extraordinarily well, and all of the several twists and turns feel highly impactful to the episode's progression. I'm also not spoiling the ending, but after the twist at the end, I feel particularly sorry for the main character of this episode.
    01. "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street"- Bar none the best episode in he entire series, that is the best representation of Rod Serling's writing genius, and it has definitively the best acting in the show's entire 156 episode run. This episode is so close to flawless I might as well just say every facet is flawless and among the best in the series.
     
    I will end on this note, that this series deserves all of the praise it has gotten over the years. Even with all of the duds in the show's run (JESS-BELLE), the show is in general an absolutely fantastic venture into the unknown that will likely leave you wanting more and wishing it hadn't ended so soon after watching all of the episodes. The show is just about as much of a masterpiece as I remember it being. An impressive show that's probably about a 9/10 in my book, because the stellar outnumber the terrible MASSIVELY. I would have a hard time making a list half this size talking about terrible episodes, and with this list, I had to take some greats out and not even mention them, episodes like "The Dummy" that was absolutely stellar (To be honest, if I had to rank it it would probably be somewhere between 27 and 30). More A+'s than D's or lower, surely. Absolutely wonderful series that I couldn't recommend enough to fans of 60's television, the macabre, or science-fiction.
     
  19. Here No Longer
    This should be the last one of this series, discussing autism. As has been discussed, I don't like the way that autism as an issue is handled today, but I think that with leadership, dedication, and initiative the autistic community as a whole could potentially remedy this situation, at least in my opinion. I understand that less than 1% of the population are autists with an IQ above the mentally retarded line, but hear me out here. Fixing this issue won't be a quick process, but it will actually be worth it when we get proper awareness to the issue.
     
    Kill Autism Speaks!
    No, I do NOT mean killing any person. I mean making the organization collapse. Making one of the largest and most prevalent hate groups in America just simply collapse is no easy feat, though. Especially considering how much money Autism Awareness Month pumps in for them. We would have to find a way to attack them in a way that would make the public think "wow these really are evil people aren't they?" Eventually over time this could lead to the intended objective. Killing them off once and for all would improve the awareness the public has of the autistic as individuals instead of their unawareness in thinking it's a disease and a plague. What they should instead be made to ultimately accept is that this is a unique trait of who we are as individuals., It also helps with the end-goal of this sort of operation for there to be more proper representation in media, in other words less Sheldon Cooper types being placed on the autistic spectrum by TV shows just itching to find a way to put an autistic character in a TV show. In other words, treat us like the disabled or dwarves (I don't mean the dwarven race of fantasy games, obviously).
     
    How to Effectively Treat It
    I understand that word could have a sort of stigma in this case, but hear me out. What I mean here is nothing like what Autism Speaks advocates for. What I mean here is to look at the harmful symptoms themselves and find an effective way to treat those symptoms, with medications such as anti-depressants or anti-anxiety meds. Also drugs like Seroquel and Zyprexa that are meant to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder also provide benefits to the autistic. There are others of these kinds of drugs, but they're either not potent enough, (such is the case with Risperdol) or have too many and too potent of side effects (as is the case with (such is the case with Clozaril. Of course, don't go around telling your doctor to prescribe anything to you though, that's their job (BIG PHARMA). Also, counseling can be important, considering how therapeutic venting about it can be (oh trust me I know, it's part of the reason I posted this series of blog posts in the first place). 
     
     
    Wow this one was really short, but hey it isn't necessarily that complicated to be honest... Just make the public aware of the real issues we face, and then try to combat those issues with the proper treatment, and also make them remember that we're people too and not just some sort of label.
  20. Here No Longer
    Well, I had a stray thought a few moments about making a blog post about autism, and really discuss the topic as a whole. The stray thought was partially triggered by a thought I have circling in the back of my mind that goes something like this: "If I really were to be diagnosed with Asperger's (if you didn't know, it's the mildest form of autism), what would it mean for me?". It came to evolve into something along the lines of "I know I've discussed it a lot before, but . Society lacks awareness of the issue, regardless of how much they may think otherwise.  It's not really that much of a black and white topic, as many people who have invested research into it would understand. If anything, autism in general can be pretty complicated. I know plenty about the issue considering I've been researching into it for the past 3 years or so. 
     
    What is Autism, Really?
    This may seem straight-forward, but it's not. It can be told a number of ways, as it still isn't truly understood and exactly established how exactly to define it. Here's a couple of examples: one from Leo Kanner, a psychiatrist who was one of the first to study autism, and another from the Autistic Society of America, respectively.
    "a developmental disability which affects language and communication, sensory processing and motor skills, cognition, and interaction" "Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and is the result of a neurological disorder that affects the normal functioning of the brain, impacting development in the areas of social interaction and communication skills. Both children and adults with autism typically show difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication, social interactions, and leisure or play activities." These two definitions aren't exactly conclusive. Kanner's way of defining It is way more to the point, but the ASA's definition has some nuance lacked by the former. Sure, these definitions are clearly describing autism as anybody invested into the topic would know of it, but they aren't entirely congruous with each other. They both properly describe autism as developmental (the disability part isn't necessarily accepted much anymore by the autistic community). Both also describe issues with social interaction, but here's where they split. Kanner describes it affecting sensory processing, motor skills, and cognition as well.  The ASA on the other hand describes in more detail how it impacts the affected. It states that it occurs within the first three years of life and that it's a complex disorder that isn't truly understood by the psychiatric community, and that autism in itself is a catch-all term. Both are correct in their own ways. But I personally believe this is the way I would define Autism:
    "Autism is an umbrella term for a developmental disorder that affects a variety of functions of the brain including the processing of sensory information, communication, motor skills, and also may effect the emotional stability of the affected. Most also affect cognitive skills. The disorder normally shows signs in the first three years, but some milder forms may not be diagnosed until adulthood, due to the fact that it's generally associated with cognitive deficiency, but they will nonetheless show difficulties in specific areas that may become concerning later in life."
    Wow that was a mouthful. It's basically a combination of both definitions, but a bit modernized as both definitions were a bit aged. In simpler terms, I'm stating that autism is actually a term for several conditions that affect neurological development. That's probably the simplest it could be made, really.
     
    What are the Symptoms of an Autism Spectrum Disorder?
    Whoa. Back up. ASDs have a multitude of complex, sometimes even contradictory symptoms.Nobody diagnosed with autism really crosses off every single box. It's always been more about an interpretation of a variety of symptoms that are indicative of an ASD. Here's some of the characteristics that are usually present in most autists. Note that the way these are presented aren't very specific, and in fact can allude to a vast array of symptoms. I will put them down here, and then relate them to myself to sort of explain what they're supposed to mean.
    Atypical movements. I have a consistent need to pop my knuckles, a very odd gait that changes from time to time (to explain, it's sort of a limp, sort of a long stride, and sort of a march), I also will occasionally rock back and forth in chairs, especially if I don't feel secure in them (in other words if I can't lean back far enough in it...) Communication issues. I don't think I really need to explain this one. Just not being able to communicate in an effective manner.  Unusual responses to sensory input. I have always had issues with the sound of vacuum cleaners, I find them torturous and loud. So when one's going I usually have a habit of making weird noises in imitation of it to block the noise from them out. Unusual development for age. Well, considering I watch quite a variety of cartoons and enjoy them when most people around me my age would just cringe, the fact that I am quite the fan of Pixar, and that I still retain a borderline obsession with video games (particularly "unusual" in this category a love of the Pokémon and Mario franchises). Not to mention that I couldn't tie my shoes until I was 10, and I wet my bed until I was about 14. I also wet myself in public more than once, but that was more of a social anxiety issue. Specialized interests. Well, I feel the need to constantly discuss League of Legends and Paladins related things whether it be with somebody else or (99.99% of the time) myself. Also, my interest in game development kind of falls into this as well. Potentially having problems with the following: anxiety, depression, ADHD, epilepsy, dyspraxia, et cetera.  I can check two of those boxes. I have had unchecked anxiety and depression issues for years now. As for ADHD, I don't think I have it but I do sort of fit the bill, albeit to a smaller degree.  (Most Forms) Cognitive Delays. I actually had some. I was in special education classes until I was in the fifth grade. Even though I excelled in math, I was slow with reading initially. I had a kindergarten reading level in the third grade... That's pretty bad. But by the fifth grade, I had gotten ahead of the curb there as well, so I guess that's where it ended. By the sixth grade, I was able to read the entirety of Watership Down in a matter of a week (trust me, it is long. By long, I mean like the book was in excess of 400 pages... But the book is definitely a good book I'd more than definitely recommend to anyone with the patience to muddle through the beginning 40 pages or so).  These are generally what psychiatrists and psychologists look for in diagnosing somebody with an autism spectrum disorder. They look for problems of those varieties, and if qualified professionals observe you and believe that you check enough boxes, they will diagnose you with a form of autism depending on which you check and don't. It's a bit more complicated than it seems, because different people have different requirements for what they'll diagnose as autistic... 
     
    I'll release a part 2 and maybe a part 3 in the future. Maybe not too soon, but likely after a few days or so. I've really been spamming out these blog posts lately, and there's a chance I may not be able to post for a little while... Oh well... People are probably tired of me just posting more and more s*** anyways. *shrug*
  21. Here No Longer
    Well, here it is. My least favorite episodes ever of MLP. I know that I already posted portions of this list in a post in a related topic, but I didn't comment on the episodes themselves as a whole. Fair warning, I may not go into enough detail for some people here, because with some of these episodes they're just so terrible that being blunt about it is the only way to adequately explain just how much of a dumpster fire it was. Also, fair warning, I may also get a bit... over the top at some points. But trust me, it is MORE than justified. 
     
     
    10. Power Ponies. Oh wait I think I miscounted in that one thread. This is actually a Season 4 episode. I thought it was Season 5. Color me surprised that this trope-filled, contrived disaster was in such a great season. The whole concept to me felt like a reason to commit the copyright-violation rendition of f***ing seppuku. It's so obvious who everyone is supposed to be here that I'm honestly surprised that neither DC nor Marvel didn't sue Hasbro for this... It doesn't help that the plot of this episode felt so limited, nor that the entire premise was because of some sort of magic spell in a f***ing comic book with no real reason to be there. Not much to say here other than it just being boring and cringy in general.
    09. On Your Marks. I wasn't specific in my original post in this topic, but yes, this episode was an absolute nightmare to watch, and I couldn't even get through it, the episode was so bad... I honestly don't understand why this gets a pass, but Somepony to Watch Over Me does not. Apple Bloom was more than definitely out of character here, like she honestly WASN'T in SpoWOM. She's NOT generally the worrier of the group, and in fact she's normally more of the leader if anything... But here she becomes f***ing paranoid for no really logical reason over a cutie mark that isn't really that hard to understand to be honest. The whole thing frankly felt like pointless filler to me, with no real place here. And this is only ninth...
    08. What About Discord? What hasn't been said about this atrocity, other than "why isn't this in the top 5?" Well, unfortunately, the answer is that the quality of the worst of the show is still much worse than even this was. First off, Discord had NO REASON to feel left out whatsoever. He literally got a MUCH better episode EARLIER IN THE SEASON. Not even to mention that he should be GRATEFUL that he's Twilight's good graces to be frank. Secondly, Discord here seemed really, REALLY selfish. To the point of literally causing chaos for no apparent reason other than JUST BEING BORED? WHAT? With Discord there's at least more of a point usually...
    07. Cart Before the Ponies. What a travesty. This episode was clearly not planned with much if any forethought towards any portion of the audience over the age of 6, and that's stretching it. The whole thing ends up with the depth of a pancake. A predictable mess that revolves around what might be one of the WORST premises I've ever had the displeasure of watching unfold. It really doesn't help that this episode has the characterization to back my reasoning for me to now consider it the worst episode in the sixth season over the overlooked catastrophe that was On Your Marks. Not even to mention that this episode was beyond boring. Not the most boring episode in the series, but among them surely.
    06. Non-Compete Clause. I know this may actually seem like a high placement to some, but I will say that this episode deserves every bit of criticism that it gets. Rainbow Dash and Applejack are both made so out of character, so egotistical, that the singular thing alone makes the episode bad. What makes it one of the worst is a premise that basically goes AGAINST the show's entire message! This kind of premise was done not so badly and executed decently in "Fall Weather Friends" back in Season 1. Why can't that be made to work here? We know they have a competitive streak, but come on. This goes beyond that... It goes into the territory of self-absorption! We all know how bad that is...
    05. Spike at Your Service. Oh no. NOT THE ABSURDLY META "YOU SAVED MY LIFE SO I OWE YOU MINE" PLOT! Seriously, this type of plot never makes sense, and never works. Here is no exception. First problem, this is the FIRST mention of the "Honorable Dragon Code" which is supposedly SO important. Second, Dragons are NOT honorable. In any way whatsoever. That's literally their most obvious character trait... Third, the plot itself was an overused trope that never even worked in anything ever before to begin with. Fourth, Spike in this episode is so f***king petty, and actually SELFISH in his pursuit of making himself feel better about AJ "saving" him...   
    04. The End In Friend. Why did they need to make another episode just like the atrocity that was Non-Compete Clause IN THE SAME SEASON? Who wanted this? Oh I'll have their f***ing head. Nobody really learned anything (and RD should have already LEARNED beforehand anyways that being a d***** to your friends is NOT a good idea, regardless of how they're treating you). Nothing really happened of consequence. Also, quite literally, the entire episode's runtime after about 5 minutes felt like it was devoted to RD and Rarity having prolonged temper tantrums because the other does or says something that offends them. This episode gave me a headache before halfway, and made me want to punch something a ways before it even ended!
    03. Magical Mystery Cure. More Like "Malicious Musical Cancer." Yes, I'm going there. I think that watching this episode has the potential to cause brain tumors, or at the very least aneurisms (Oh I know that part from experience). This episode was a rushed nightmare that even wouldn't have done as a two-parter due to an absurd lack of coherent anything behind it. Literally nothing made sense. I had no idea what was even happening most of the time aside from seemingly random songs. This episode would be the worst, but the thing is that, yes, I will admit that it would have made a plausibly okay two-parter. But it would likely still suffer from the same issues from what I can gleam. SO F*** THIS PILE OF C*** FOR BEING SO BAD!
    02. Hard to Say Anything. I think I really don't need to comment much here, but I will anyways. This episode is the most cringe-worthy, most fanfic-y thing I've ever seen. I could swear this episode started as a bad fanfiction before it became an episode. The whole thing felt so f***ing fake. Forced doesn't even do it justice. This ship is straight-up FAKE at this point (of course, with the Season 8 follow-up episode, my opinion of the ship drastically improved). Not to mention this episode was very, very boring for anyone not interested in the worst ship I've ever seen. Like nothing happens except the focus on that totally garbage ship. I say this, as you know, with the context of how I felt at the time being that "I CAN'T TOLERATE THIS CRINGE FOR ONE MORE NANOSECOND!"
    01. Fake It 'Til You Make It. This episode is so abysmal, so terrible in every way that it's hard for me not to see it as downright offensive. Fluttershy was the most OOC that any character has ever been at any point in the entire series, Rarity once again repeats her infuriatingly stupid mistake of getting the wrong person for her job (even after Honest Apple, and even knowing Fluttershy), and the premise in of itself is just... WHY? Whoever thought of this needs a f***king lobotomy. I'm serious. This was a piling heap of garbage, and there's no way I can be lead to believe that anyone sane would have produced this without an a public apology afterwards. At least Faust did that when she f***ed up. But unfortunately the writer had as little common courtesy as they did writing ability...
  22. Here No Longer
    This is a post a LONG time coming. Paladins vs Overwatch. Considering that I have perspective on both games (I've played over 600 hours of Paladins, and my brother last I heard climbed to Diamond in Overwatch and I've been watching Overwatch pretty closely), I think it's more than appropriate for me to make the comparisons here. Paladins and Overwatch both have their own sort of appeal behind them to me, and honestly I would love to play Overwatch. But I don't think it's nearly as good as Paladins. Why? I have my reasons.
     
     
    Mechanical Design
    Overwatch, mechanically, is a game flawed on a very fundamental level... Overwatch does have things like stuns and slows, along with shields and armor, but they lack so much. They don't have things like Healing Reduction, Damage Reduction, CC Reduction, Damage Types, or anything remotely like Androxus' Reversal (well, there are similarities to Genji's Deflect, but Zhin's Counter is much closer to it in functionality). This makes the game seem very basic in that regard. Not even to mention that the aforementioned shield and armor mechanics sort of feel redundant, as they accomplish the exact same thing in a way that doesn't really feel that different.. I'll also bring up another couple of things here: switching and the structure of Overwatch's premier game mode. Character switching is BAD for a variety of reasons. First off, it removes the entire strategy of picking a character that does well on the map or the real impact of counter-picking the enemy team (as they can just switch after they die!). Secondly, It actually encourages trolling, because it allows people to pick a full damage comp with almost zero consequence (as they can change it to a 3-0-3 or whatever is meta in OW right now). And lastly, they also FORCE it on you! That really p***es me off. I've literally heard no real arguments why this is a good thing. I've heard "because one-tricks" but they AREN'T A PROBLEM ANYWHERE ELSE! In Paladins, no problem. In League of Legends, it's done by a LOT of people including streamers, and it's been zero issue. As for the structure of the game-mode, that's an absurdly obvious one. The problem is that Attack and Defense are NOT the same! In Paladins Siege, both teams compete for an objective and whoever captures it then pushes a payload. Here, you either push a payload or defend! That creates a lot of issues, because it polarizes characters like Torbjorn (even new Torb is to a degree) that are good  at doing one thing (In Torb's case, defense) but not as good at the other. And these issues are furthered by character switching.
     
    Character Customization
    I don't mean the skins here. I mean how much you can actually tweak your character (hero, or champion in Paladins) and their stats to best suit a certain playstyle. I'll take Barik and Torbjorn for example. Torbjorn is stuck in an offensive playstyle centered around shredding tanks and taking advantage of chokes, while Barik can literally do ALL KINDS OF THINGS. By picking from Talents and building decks of Cards, you can make Barik either the king of area denial, a flanker, a mid-range DPS, or heck you could even make him a defensive tank if you wanted to (although it's not a not even remotely viable option). He can do any of those things if you build him a certain way. Also, not to mention, there are items in the game that allow you to gain stats that could be vital and game-changing, such as Healing Reduction on weapon shots or you could opt for Cooldown Reduction (which is also not in Overwatch!), or you could make your ultimate charge faster, or you can even increase the healing you get from your healers. Those aren't the only options, but a few examples. 
     
    Character Designs
    I say this more from a creative standpoint considering that I'm developing my own game (it's a tabletop game, but nonetheless) with it's own characters, Overwatch's characters are a little less creative than Paladins' in design. A good example of this can be made with a comparison between McCree and Androxus. McCree may be a well designed character, but he's really not that creative. He's just a modern-day version of the likes of Wild Bill. Androxus' design was a lot more inspired. He's supposed to be a lawman, that became corrupted with an evil curse that requires him to kill to sate it. I don't even think I've heard of that concept before. Also, not even to mention that the designs of Paladins characters actually make it feel like there are (however much I hate to critique games like this) actual stakes in the real universe. With Overwatch, there doesn't actually seem to be that much of a stake in the actual lore. Maybe a few more places could look like Australia. Not as much as Paladins, where it actually feels like the fate of the Realm rests in your hands.
     
    Balancing
    The balancing in Overwatch at the moment is downright terrible. Literally every tank and support is in the meta right now (after Roadhog got buffed), but only half of the DPSes are (not McCree, not Soldier: 76, not Tracer, not Symmetra...) Doesn't that just seem like bad balancing to you or am I alone on that? Sure, Paladins has had it's issues, but not everyone of a single class is meta. Terminus is pretty weak right now and Ruckus is also on the tank side. On the support end, Jenos has been pretty mediocre lately (Even though I think that will change next patch), Furia's been struggling to compete, and Grohk hasn't been meta since Patch OB48 (in other words1 and a half YEARS). As for Damage champions, Vivian has always been garbage (except on release when she was absurdly overpowered), Tyra's pretty freaking terrible, Kinessa's going to get badly outclassed after nerfs, and now Willo is going to be absolutely miserable since her nerf last patch. And Flanks... Well, I can't argue that most of them (aside from Androxus, Talus, and Evie) are downright unviable in the current competitive metagame. Although Lex may be added to that list next patch because of a slight meta-shift that I see happening in the next patch along with buffs to his sustained output at range.
     
     
    However, I will note a couple of important things Overwatch has over Paladins. I'm trying to be as objective as I can with this, after all. 
     
    Lore
    I just have to say that the current Paladins lore kind of SUCKS. Most of the lore feels generic, and some of it doesn't even make sense. Mostly it's just about a fight between the Magistrate and the Resistance, which feels like something I recognize from... EVERYWHERE... Overwatch is a far different story. I find Overwatch's lore really interesting to say the least. The whole war between humans and omnics is quite interesting, and I am especially intrigued by the story of Reaper. Considering he used to be the equivalent of an undercover agent working for Overwatch (as the leader of "Blackwatch", and then something slowly snaps in him that Talon (who if you didn't know are terrorist faction that the Overwatch is trying to stop) is better than Overwatch. Sure I left out a lot of details, but even without them. That makes a far more interesting lore story than "This guy knew this guy and they were both cops and then suddenly one of them went raving mad" (that's Androxus' lore in a nutshell...) The old lore of Paladins was better than it is now, as it had a lot of worldbuilding, but it still wasn't good because there were so few strands actually connecting the characters...
     
     
    Bugs!
    As anyone who's actually played Paladins knows, the game has had a HUGE issue with bugs. Terminus has had some game-breaking bugs (at least on PC) for a long time now that haven't been fixed. Pip has bugs that literally affect his VIABILITY in the meta (getting rid of them would buff him a LOT), and Evie has had issues with bugs for the longest time. Not to mention Grover had a bug for MONTHS that could CRASH THE GAME! In Overwatch, on the other hand, I don't notice these when I watch other people play nearly as much. In Paladins, on a bad patch, you may even get a game where you see a game-breaking bug in action once every 10 matches or so...  But I'm pretty sure I haven't once heard something like an Overwatch hero having a bug so bad, let alone so prolifically bad from YouTubers like Stylosa, Tyrodin, or Your Overwatch (although I've heard a lot of pointless bickering over dumbness that doesn't even matter...). Sure, I know the game has bugs, but it's nothing like Paladins where I've seen Terminus's shattered body moving around the map, or Barik spontaneously get spaghettified on death, or a movement ability crashing the game...
     
    So there it is. Overwatch is worse than Paladins. Overwatch may be a game with a lot less bugs and lore that's actually interesting, but Paladins isn't mechanically flawed on a fundamental level, it has actual character customization in the sense of adjusting mechanical functionality, the character designs are more interesting, and the meta doesn't literally discourage people from playing an entire role that encompasses HALF OF THE ROSTER... (Competitive meta from what I've seen is 3 tanks and 3 supports, with the occasional DPS before teamfighting starts...). I really have been toying with the idea of buying Overwatch whenever I get a computer of my own (because I haven't had one for a YEAR now) and internet (that's hopefully good enough to play on, because I had a hard time playing Paladins on my old internet with a f***ing 1Mbps download and upload...) nonetheless. It may be worth it.
  23. Here No Longer
    Before I begin just listing them off, a quick reminder. These are OPINIONS. Don't waste your time trying to say I'm wrong because I'm not saying anything as fact. If you want to post yours here, I suppose that is also fine, as long as you aren't trying to cause a ruckus with a s***storm. With that out of the way...
     
    Video Games
    Goldeneye 007 is (I hate to say it, but it's deserved) severely overrated. It has a myriad of issues that are acknowledged... Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was not a masterpiece. It was a pretty good game, but it has... issues. Medal of Honor: Warfighter is the best Medal of Honor game ever released. Grand Theft Auto games are boring. Severely so in fact. One of my favorite games of all time just happens to be a licensed game, not telling which. Paladins is quite a bit better than Overwatch, and more balanced as of the moment.  Super Mario Bros. 3 does not deserve most of the praise it gets. I have a huge problem with the mechanics. Super Mario Bros. 2 is, quite easily, my favorite 2D Mario platformer. Nintendo 64, as a console, had poor design and didn't do much to leap ahead of the SNES. Cynthia was not that hard of a Pokémon Champion in Diamond and Pearl. You have to have a diverse team, but other than that...  Generation 2 was, easily, my least favorite Pokémon generation. Difficulty curve problems, the worst balancing ever... Aside from Whitney, the hardest gym leader for me was Wattson in Gen 3. I don't like Elder Scrolls as a franchise. Half of the time it feels like the game is cheating you. Fallout 3, as a game, is pretty mediocre. It feels really, really incomplete. Fallout 4 is actually designed just right. Not too shooter oriented to be honest. Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus was better than the original game. The original Borderlands was better than Borderlands 2 in almost every respect. The Wii U was a better console than the original Wii, and had a better library of exclusives. Movies
    Marvel movies in general are severely overrated. They're no better than DC movies. If anything, they're worse. I. Hate. Disney. They ruined Pixar, they're ruining Star Wars... I bet the list doesn't and won't end there. Frozen was pretty meh honestly. People singing "Let It Go" off-key soon after it came out still haunts me... I didn't like Despicable Me. I found the movie, how should I put it, a brain-rotting experience. Phantom Menace was not that bad. It wasn't good, but it surely wasn't that bad... Dark Knight Rises is just as solid as the rest of the Dark Knight trilogy.   Not everything with Adam Sandler remotely involved is terrible. "Grown Ups" is actually a really funny comedy, with some jokes still hitting even after watching it several times.  
    TV Shows (Including plenty of MLP)
     
    Scootaloo is one of the least likeable ponies in MLP. Rarity was at fault for the conflict in "Honest Apple." "Somepony to Watch Over Me" is one of the best MLP episodes ever aired. "The Washouts" was a TERRIBLE episode for RD, who I frankly think was less mature than Scoots there. I also don't see this "growth" I've heard as justification.  I have yet to see a bad DC Universe show, even if the movies are bad. Even Arrow was really good, and Legends of Tomorrow was 9+/10 before they killed off Snark. Deep Space Nine is easily the worst Star Trek series. Nobody was likeable whatsoever. Star Trek: Enterprise is underrated. Sure it had a bad end to its run, but so did TOS. Will Shatner should never have played Kirk. Chris Pines' Kirk is much, much better. Captain Janeway is the worst Star Trek captain ever. Even over Captain Decker that was written to be a terrible captain. Phineas and Ferb as a show is a disgusting pile of trash, aside from the platypus. He's fine. Big Bang Theory is a heaping pile of garbage filled with offensive lowbrow jokes that are unfunny. The new Magnum P.I. is miles better than the original series. Star VS the Forces of Evil isn't a bad show yet (it used to be really good), but it's definitely sinking fast with the increased Starco focus... The Walking Dead lost its luster after around season 1. All the drama ruined the show.  TV has gotten progressively worse over the past 3 or 4 years. Bull is actually better than Law and Order: SVU.  
    That may not be it, though. Expect to see edits in the future.
  24. Here No Longer
    When I initially watched the first couple of seasons of Star VS the Forces of Evil, I had a very positive reception of the series. But, then just after the Battle for Mewni... The episodes took a SERIOUS nosedive in quality. It's a real shame, considering how good the series USED to be. Now it's become mediocre to the point that I can hardly even tolerate watching it any more. Well, the series has 3 main problems now that need to be discussed to answer the question of why.
     
    The Animation. It's not bad, but it doesn't fit the show anymore. The animation just had this looseness to it before that fit what was at the time a good, rather off-the-wall episodic show that built itself around following the characters around their lives rather perfectly. Now it's lost that loseness, and instead has become way less fitting to how I perceive the show should be. It's become a show with more computer-generated animation, and less of the earlier hand-drawn animation, which for a show specifically one like Star VS the Forces of Evil, doesn't really work... The Characters. I know that's not specific, but the characters in general are losing charm, and a lot of the enjoyable secondary characters are losing relevance as the show goes on. Star used to be a fun-loving, carefree teenage girl from another universe where literally everyone grows corn for some reason. Now she's become stern, and definitely not fun-loving. I honestly can't even really describe it much more than that, but it is a TOTAL turnaround from her original character, and it's BAD. As for Marco, I don't understand what's happening to him either. It's similar to Star except of course the opposite. He used to be a good counterbalance to Star's whimsical spontaneity. Now he's just becoming... A blank slate, who's actually lost a lot of his maturity... It really doesn't make sense at all in his case, because he aged 15 f***ing years in an alternate dimension... HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE MORE MATURE, NOT LESS!!! As for secondary characters, I don't even remember seeing most of the ones that were actually well-conceived. Instead we just get Pony Head. ALL THE TIME. And also some of Tom, but let's face it considering he's a demon, he's really, really bland... There's nothing about him that makes him interesting... We also have background characters constantly repeating bad, annoying one-liners more often... I swear I'll slap that... thing that keeps saying "CAMERAPHONE!" and taking selfies. IT WAS ANNOYING THE FIRST TIME AND NOW IT'S JUST DOWNRIGHT INFURIATING! The Plot. This is the most egregious part of all. Star VS was never centered around it's plotline before. The show mostly made it an afterthought until around mid-season 2. AND IT WORKED REALLY WELL! The series originally worked this way because the characters bounced off of each other so well that they could literally use that to make episodes that were absolutely amazing in their own right. They made a plot-based show work well for half a season, because the plot was an interesting one about Toffee's network of minions and stopping Toffee from getting control of Mewni. But now what is it about? SHIPPING? Trying to force Starco? F*** NO. IT WORKED FINE WHEN IT WAS A SUBPLOT. But now that it's the MAIN PLOT POINT AS OF EARLY MID SEASON 3 instead of... you know... ECLIPSA... But even then, that shouldn't even be emphasize on as much as the SHIP. Seriously, this ship as of far has been the main focus of more episodes this season so far than the ENTIRETY of the last season... And I only got a THIRD of the way through before I had to stop it...   
    It's really a shame that a 9/10 show became a 6/10 show so quickly, but it's no wonder that it fell so far. With the poor characterization, the plot becoming ABOUT a forced ship, and the animation not fitting the show as well, it's pretty different from how it used to be. Where did we go so wrong...?
     
  25. Here No Longer
    Yet another "Cry for Help" post. I feel like somebody's got to think that this is getting old. But this one concerns thoughts I've had for a while. I'll just get to the point...
     
     
     
     
    I Believe that I'm an Aspie

     
    I know I repeatedly express this feeling, but I feel this need to express my belief that I have Asperger's. I don't know what that need is about (probably the anxiety surrounding it), but I just can't not express it. I have a lot of symptoms that perfectly fit including, but not limited to: social awkwardness, developmental issues (shoe-tying, bed-wetting, and handwriting development in particular), repetitive behaviors, a select number of specific interests, emotional issues (particularly anxiety and depression) and issues expressing them outwardly, repetitive twitches and spasms, talking to myself more than I do with other people, sound sensitivity, an extreme sensitivity to physical pain, social isolation, and being proficient at only specific things. This has caused serious problems in my own life, including communication problems with my teachers and a lack of initiative applying for jobs. I need to get help for this I think, but I'm unfortunately incapable in my current circumstance. It has really, really harmed me, but what can I do if I can't afford anything or go anywhere to get real help, you know?
     
     
     
    My Gender Identity Issues

    My gender identity was a frequent topic of discussion when I was on my old account. I was transgender, then I was bi-gender, then I was non-binary, then I just dropped the whole gender thing completely. I'm not entirely sure what I am now. The thing is that I've found that logic and reasoning kind of eliminates the whole idea of multiple genders. I used to believe that there were 11 genders in total, but now I only believe there's 2. But the thing is, my past experiences and my feelings don't jive with logic here. I've always felt at least sort of like a woman in at least some fashion and have always felt sort of off-put by my masculinity. To be honest, it disgusts me in a lot of ways. I know that the people who say "there are only two genders" will tell me that I'm just trying to get attention, but the truth is that I'm not. This is a real issue for me, not feeling right in my own body. Feeling as conflicted and awkward as Stevonnie (Steven Universe) looks. I'm just so uncertain about it all. I feel like I want to express myself more, but I also feel like I shouldn't for the fear that it just won't feel right.
     
     
    Sorry for wasting everyone else's time again with these dumb blog posts I keep making. Seriously, they accomplish nothing in real life. I know they bring me a sort of relief of some of my anxiety (some meaning a lot in normal people terms and a little in my terms), but nothing really comes out of them. Why do I keep posting these instead of writing a suicide note? At least that will bring some relief to everyone else if I ultimately decide to end it all. They'll understand my emotional pain much better, and won't just think of my suicide as some sort of random event without reason. I know there must be an answer to that if I just keep on suffering like this... Right? If there weren't, I'd have overdosed on Ibuprofen by now. I don't know if that question was rhetorical or not anymore.
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