I’ve kinda wondered what would happen if you took little trope inside jokes or realizations off the internet and made them into full games. For example, this is Tumblr after all. What would happen if someone saw our many, many ramblings about humans being space orcs and made a full game off of it? What would it look like?
For me, if I had to design a “Humans Are Space Orcs” Game, I think I’d do it as an MMORPG. I think I’d actually start it off as a completely human-free game, where you get to choose an alien species to play as (with various benefits and drawbacks) being part of this gargantuan intergalactic collective of species and peoples and planets. There’d be classic “go out and do stuff adventures,” but I think I’d also take stuff from the idea behind that MMORPG called “Albion Online” where everything is a player-built economy, and have highly expansive routes you could take for crafting things. Though now that I think about it, that might just be “EVE: Online” but with aliens. So there probably would be a lot more options in terms of alien ships and weapons and parts and all that.
However, the “humans are space orcs thing” would come in a form of one of those crazy expansions and events MMORPGs do. I’d have a sector of this one galaxy be hyper-dangerous, known as the “Dead Sector,” not because it’s lifeless, but because that’s what it does: make you dead. Quickly. A high population of gargantuan interstellar space worms, death worlds, all that jazz. Entering it would yield high resources, if you could make it out alive.
However, in this expansion, would enter THE HUMAN RACE and all the marketing would make them sound like they were weird and foreign and strange. They wouldn’t be playable yet, that would only be unlocked after the next major update, when they’ve really started to proliferate across the galaxies. But the whole “story” of that update would be learning about the humans and their culture, exploring Earth and slowly dawning upon the realization that oh my god these people are fucking insane.
That’s how I’d do it, anyway. It’d probably be fun.
We've lost a lot to the onslaught of enshittification but I can think of none more brazen than Discord getting rid of the send button
Poorly drawn Pokemon of Myth
sometimes i think about the fact that the name i chose a couple years ago to be the name i'd be known online as (ophion) happens to be shared with a giant, hypermuscular, dad-bod, scaly-ass dragon from some japanese mobile card game and it haunts me at night
Personally I think that battle sims like showdown would still be a thing in the pokemon world. Cuz like picture this: you are ten years old and the only Pokémon you have access to is the elderly family Sunflora. You love Sunny to death but also literally every media you consume involves Pokémon battles and champions and cool ass fights. Sunny is too old to fight and your neighbor’s Gothita is too young. One day on the playground your friend tells you about this cool website that lets you battle pokemon on the computer. Later that night you boot up the family computer and instantly realize that this website lets you play as GROUDON (!!!!). There’s no going back from there.
Alright, so. First proper post on this site.
I wanna talk about Pokemon.
I've been working on a Pokemon-based world-building project for about two years now, coming up on three, with the intent to make it more realistic, and explain some of the science behind certain Pokemon or behaviors, or at least providing logical explanations. Parts of it have been taken from the games and the anime, and synthesized into a narrative I feel works. Not to say it doesn't need work in some areas (it does), but that's part of why I share it: to have conversations about it, and get new ideas to fill the gaps.
And in some cases, cutting some things out because I don't like them, and potentially replacing them with something better.
I'm gonna have to admit, a LOT of this has been ripped straight out of (or inspired by) fanfics that I've read. I simply liked their ideas about the world, and added them to my world. I'm not claiming them as my own, they're just cool and I believe what they created was a very good or plausible explanation. If you end up seeing something that you might find familiar, don't judge me.
Where to begin... right, overall story/narrative.
The apocalypse is on its way. No thanks to Mewtwo.
When Mewtwo escaped from the clutches of Giovanni, realizing his manipulation and bringing down the entire hidden Rocket Headquarters and bringing an end to the 30-year Rocket Age, he isolated himself away on New Island, with the purpose of ending humanity via a series of gargantuan hurricanes fully capable of wiping every human civilization off the face of the earth.
He didn't, thankfully, as he was stopped, but there were still consequences. The shockwaves of psychic power used to create the storms echoed across the Earth... reawakening the Legendary Birds.
Cue the Shamouti Incident. More shockwaves. Greenfield. Even more.
But those incidents could be covered up. What couldn't was the Sootopolis Catastrophe.
It was a horrifying blow to the people of the world, to know that at least some Gods did exist, and weren't simply fabrications of the ancient past. The International Pokemon League, or IPL, assembled a press conference to address the fears. They confirmed it: the Gods existed, and have existed for a very long time. A government list was posted of the gods that are confirmed to exist, gods that are likely to exist, gods that are unknown to exist, and gods that certainly do not.
And now, the regions of the world are left to wonder: where will the legendaries reawaken next?
I'll give you a hint, it's not Sinnoh. The dominos that are the echoes of power haven't grown strong enough yet to even attract the gaze of the Creation Trio, let alone Arceus. They'll be the grand finale of the narrative.
Instead, it goes to the richest region in the world, of luxury and extravagance, of ancient architecture and diversity, the melting pot of the Pokemon World:
Kalos.
They're not prepared for what's going to hit them.
homestuck tumblr please tell me im right about this
Bug types (a personal favorite type of mine) are often underestimated, due to the plethora of weaknesses known to it and very few advantages, which are mostly only useful in specific battling rings or matchups. However, this is partially due to the way that standardized battles are structured in order to create fairness in our League Circuits and Conferences. One-on-one, up to three-on-three battles are all sanctioned by the league, and the amount of Pokemon has be equal on either side. However, this has created significant weaknesses for a couple of Pokemon types, which can be exploited. For example, rock types thrive in this environment, being fully capable of defending themselves on their own, as many rock types live solitary lives finding food and caring for themselves, only living with other members of their species when they are a mated pair, or are caring for young.
Bugs and Dark types are the polar opposites of this. They are often considered frail, having low defense stats in most cases, and often cannot survive long-term, one-on-one engagements. They are not meant for this kind of battle, instead, where they excel is teamwork and numbers.
Bugs are in roughly 90% of species, social Pokemon. They might exist in a small swarm of 3-10, or in a massive hive with thousands of members. Bug Specialists are limited to their 6-Pokemon capacity, often having to focus on bugs that are naturally strong, or are more suited to solitary lives, such as Scizor, Pinsir, Volcarona and Drapion (yes, this isn’t technically a bug, but since it suffers with the third type problem, I’m including it). However, a truly talented bug specialist might have a range of 7-10 Pokemon all suitable and trained for the standardized arenas of the Leagues, while on a personal space, having tens, if not hundreds of smaller bug Pokemon that all work as a part of a trainer-fostered “hive,” as a community, to be unleashed upon a series of targets on a whim.
This has been witnessed several times by bug specialists in the present and the past. A more modern example is Elite Four Aaron of the Sinnoh League. When members of the Sinnoh League were dispatched across the region to try and wipe out any Galactic Bases (the most notable of which is Sunnyshore Gym Leader Volkner, who wiped out an estimated 75% of all bases eliminated by the League on his own), footage of Aaron’s battling style was unveiled to the public: he did not use his signature team as his only fighters, instead unleashing a gargantuan swarm of an estimated 10,000 bugs to infest the base (comprised of Yanma, Ninjask, Ariados, Combee, Venomoth and Beedrill), systematically eliminating anyone (save for civilian hostages) found inside.
So next time you see a bug, don’t underestimate it, as while it may be weak on its own, the swarm might be in another nearby bit of trees, listening for the cry of distress that will invoke the wrath of the collective.
Mood for today and every single week that will follow
Alright, it's two AM, and I need to ramble, so forgive me if this is awful. Yes, this will contain lore spoilers for the following game.
ULTRAKILL.
It is by far my favorite shooter of all time, and I like to put in at least one or two cybergrind runs every day (my record, considered modest in comparison to many of the far more skilled ULTRAKILL players, is wave 42) and I am at least half-decent at it, something I am quite proud of.
However, I don't know if anyone else realized this, so I need to share.
Gabriel's monologue in 6-2 was an emotional, riveting and overall incredible addition to the game (thank you, Gianni). However, one part of it made me stop in my tracks and think.
"Limbo. Lust. All gone. With Gluttony soon to follow."
This line hit me with such guilt and regret. "Wait... was this my fault? I didn't want this." And I didn't know why, but I think I've figured it out.
We didn't just go deeper. We, and all the other machines, have GENOCIDED the layers. We, as V1, (and V2, just ahead of us) cleaved a path of gore to sustain our need for blood, and the lesser machines? They followed us, picking off the scraps. Machines had already been in hell, feeding off of the lesser husks, but we condemned the layers to die as the survivors were picked off.
And then we defeated Gabriel. The guardian of the lower layers. No machine had made it past him yet. We opened the floodgates, and in our selfish quest for more blood, condemned the lower layers to the same fate as the first three as the streetcleaners, sentries, drones, swordsmachines, and mindflayers picked off the scraps.
The souls, they were already suffering, enacting their punishments... and perhaps the souls on the lower layer deserve it, that much is true. But Limbo? Lust? No, we'd already killed all humans off in the robot revolution. They'd already been forced to suffer at our hands.
And we just killed them again. We couldn't even let them find some form of peace in their somewhat sour afterlife. We did this.
Minos was right. Perhaps our punishment should be death, for our crimes are too great to be forgotten.
Perhaps we let the blood dry up.
Rock types and Ground types are heavily intertwined in both public perception of them and in biological terms (referencing several species, namely from the far East in regions such as Kanto and Johto), as many argue there was no need to separate them at all, and in fact, exist as the same typing. Yet, that glosses over the reason why they were separated in the first place.
Granted, both typings control and manipulate inanimate earth, or generally parts of the Earth’s crust. However, considering the two the same declines both types the nuance which gives them distinction. Yes, species of both types often have tankier, more defensive battling styles, sometimes even coming paired with overwhelming offensive capability. However, it’s what part of the earth that is manipulated which provides the distinction, as well as some biological factors regarding the aforementioned defensive capabilities.
Rock types focus on what is completely and utterly solid. Stone, crystals, fossilized remains, or in one particular case, tar, of which this is the main exception. Rock types embody these solid, sturdy traits and require serious offensive power to either crack their rock bodies or pierce their thick, stone-like hides. Meanwhile, Ground Types control earth, but the more particulate kind, sand and soil being the primary examples. Ground types are just as defensively oriented, but are more bulky with their flesh as opposed to the natural armor of rock types. For example, a Coalossal may be covered in large coal blocks that shield it from harm, but a Seismitoad is bulky and has a thick layer of fat to help absorb direct hits.
What’s especially interesting is how this makes the two, at least in a defensive standpoint, complete opposites of one another. Rock types, with their thick armor, are more adept at shrugging off more piercing, slashing, or energy-based hits, while taking severe damage with blunt collisions that could crack their armor. Meanwhile, Ground types with their bulkier builds are better made for countering those same blunt attacks, while slashing and piercing, as well as energy-based attacks, do significant damage.
Despite the differences, this is still a heavily debated topic in the scientific community, and yet another reason as to why the typing system is in desperate need of maintenance and reform, as to better classify all Pokemon within its bounds.