I don't know the name of the trope, but I love it when a ghost or a demon or an alien intelligence tries to take over a person only to discover that that the person they picked is incredibly, terribly, horribly fucked up and not a suitable host.

Could be that the person is in constant pain that's beyond the tolerances of the invading intellect. Could just be that there's already so many voices/so much stuff going on mentally that the intelligence has no way to control the person. Could just be that the person is deeply, madly, truly into Sonic Inflation porn and the demon is like "Nope."

I'm cleaning out my shed and reviewing my robot hoard... and it turns out the roof has been leaking on a bunch of my stuff and also mice ate their way into one of the boxes, nothing is like biologically "gross" or anything, more like it needs the loving care of a toothbrush and some warm soapy water., the sort I do not have time or energy for.

So somebody at the flea market this weekend is going to make a killing if they're willing to meet me like 30% of the way on this shit.

In Acquisition mode, you're exploring the world, solving puzzles, and participating in some light combat. You can do things like loot ancient ruins to locate lost books, or get items needed to complete trade quests (to get more books) or items needed to repair damaged books or unlock/uncurse magic books.

Also, as you help liberate and defend nearby villages, once the villagers feel safe enough, they'll start hosting "flea markets" where you can search through multiple vendors pulling from wide arrays of different, often inaccessible loot pools so that no two trips are the same - today you might find two rare books, tomorrow you might find a scroll hinting at the location of an ancient library or a piece of a puzzle key that you need to open a sealed door.

RPG Idea:

You are a librarian attempting to collect books in a cozy fantasy post-apocalypse setting. Gameplay is split between library management and book acquisition.

In Library Management mode, I imagine it plays sorta like the Atelier or "dungeon shop" games, where you're placing shelves and displays and filling those with books. There are different passive bonuses for things like completing sets or putting out themed displays, and in-game missions/quests that require you find certain books for the townspeople. You might even have to occasionally track down overdue books.

I don't need AI in order to be able to create images in other people's heads. I can skip over all that stuff and just tell people the prompts and let it happen.

Professor Charles Xavier attempting to do a Kamehameha attack from Dragonball Z, except he forgot to set the parking brakes on his wheelchair first.

See?

Wizardposting

He could do a No Way Home to about a third of the Batman Rogue's Gallery, too.

Peter, with a clipboard in the Bat Cave giving a breakdown of what all happened while Bruce was away: "Let's see... Pam, Vic, and I stabilized the DNA of Clayface and Man-Bat, and were able to at least partially walk back Killer Croc's mutation. We also tried to fix Penguin - did you realize he's just A GUY? Like, no superpowers or anything."

Bruce: "Pam and Vic?"

Peter: "Oh, uh... Poison Ivy and Mr. Freeze, sorry. They helped in return for me looking at both their research and helping them out. We've almost cracked a way to revive Nora AND undo Victor's condition. And... uh... Bruce... I looked at Pam's numbers, and she is absolutely right about all the global warming stuff, you need to really take that more seriously."

Bruce: (audible groan)

Peter: "Look, I know you can't punch global warming, but you can switch this arm of Wayne Corp over to sustainable energy, it would help."

Story Idea:

Batman and the entire Bat Family have to leave Gotham suddenly and unexpectedly unattended for an extended period of time because of... reasons. Maybe they have to go to space, that's usually where characters have gone for this sort of thing.

So, to cover for him while he's out, Batman has brought in... Spider-man, from the Marvel universe.

Why Spider-man? Bruce Wayne has money, Peter Parker needs money (even if it's from another dimension). And he's smart.

And I think during the entire run, it would be a hilarious running gag that Peter just has ZERO time for The Joker. Like, Joker escapes from Arkham and winds up hanging from the Crook Depository Hook outside Gotham PD in under an hour. No banter, no battle, not even shown in the comic. He just refuses to engage with the Joker at all, which drives the Joker even more insane.

Next question is... what are the wizarding degrees in? Like, what fields can you get a doctorate - and on that matter, we need a magic word for "doctorate".

I think that Wizard should be treated as an academic title, on the same level as Doctor, including a standardized abbreviation - "Wz. Ian McKellan" - that sort of thing.

To that end, I am formally founding the Universitatus Esoterica, a very reputable for-profit online university and diploma mill... but for wizards, witches, warlocks, mages, and the like. (No sorcerers though, those self-taught hacks can go fuck themselves)

I don't know how to get the eyes or ears of any big #Fediverse movers or shakers, but if someone out there who is good with code wants to jump on a golden opportunity, one is presenting itself.

A couple of days ago, Tapas warned all their creators that they were going to be shutting down. If you're not familiar with it, Tapas is a webcomics platform, and basically the only decent-sized alternative to Webtoon.

If we could throw together some sort of ActivityPub-backed Webcomics platform, we could use it as a way to get a lot more people using Fediverse-adjacent technology.

I don't have the time or energy to do any of this myself, and I am not good at coding, but I have been doing webcomics since the 1990s, and have watched the rise and fall of Keenspot, Drunk Duck, Wordpress and the RSS era, and now the modern "Walmart for Webcomics" era. This is a huge opportunity to present the Fediverse as a viable alternative.

#webcomics #webtoon #tapas #artists #activitypub

RE: https://mastodon.social/@Retrogamebot/117326139002086608

I have to reboost/requote/re-whatever this whenever it comes up. This was MY Super Mario Bros, I loved this game so hard and played it so much and I can still basically run through the entire thing in my sleep.

It's an early Metroidvania which has a unique gimmick - you're cursed by a dragon and change forms, and each form gives you access to new areas, but you lose access to the areas you previously could reach.

For instance, the second curse turns you into "Mouse Man", who is only one block tall and can fit into tiny spaces, and can also walk upside down and sideways on certain blocks. When you follow his "level" path and fight the next dragon, you get turned into a Fish Man, who can swim underwater... but can't climb upside down or fit into one space blocks anymore.

You CAN change back into previous forms, using special rooms that are dotted throughout the map, It's only at the end of the game, when you're near the final boss fight, that you get the ability to change forms at will.

I am sorta blind in one eye, and have never ever been able to see those fucking Magic Eye things that were all over the place in the 1990s.

Today, I found this.

https://www.cachesleuth.com/tools/magiceye/

It's a difference slider that helps you "see" the picture in the noise. I can finally see the fucking sailboat.

Or how picking what to watch was easier when there were only 3-4 tv channels, and every "innovation" we've made since - cable, DVR, streaming, etc - has made making choices harder and harder.

I watched some absolute garbage back in the 3-4 channel days, and some of that garbage became some of my favorite things ever, but I never would have even tried watching it if it hadn't been the best bad choice amongst a field of even worse choices.

There's got to be a proper term for this - probably in German, since they have words for everything - but when I say it, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Limits, even artificial ones, foster innovation and creativity, and help our brains work... better?

I have a million examples I can think of.

Like how people are STILL making brand new Game Boy games, to this day, because the limitations of the hardware hone creative visions into a narrow laser-like focus.

I have sort of cooled on buying Transformers - a decade ago, I was a "drive across half the state to pick up a rare box set from one of the only surviving TRUs" sorta fan, but I am kinda burnt out and am waiting for them to show me something new and interesting again.

That said, I did buy the transparent tank guy, despite the fact that I own like three of this mold already, because... transparent tank guy.

I am a simple fan.

I admit, I have never tried any of the "Trails" video games. I take it from all the news and excitement I'm seeing that they're... good?

Recommendations on where to start as a first-timer that's never played one of them?

I have managed to defeat most of my Autistic/Asperger's Food Issues, with a couple of glaring exceptions, however I am not the same when it comes to soda.

Over the years, there have been a number of different sodas that have been "Acceptable Fluids", and one by one every single one of them has been discontinued or had their flavors vastly changed.

The most recent thing that I've been drinking is Walmart-brand "Great Value Diet Mountain Lightning", but it looks like the grim reaper of 'not calling things Diet' has maybe finally come for it too, because it is out of stock everywhere now, and I just noticed that they are NOW selling...

Great Value Mountain Lightning Zero Sugar

That is never a good sign. Krogers soda all became not potable anymore after they switched their everything to "Zero Sugar" from Diet, so I am scared.

I miss Saturday Morning cartoons.

I don't want to go back in time, I want to bring time forward with me. Wrap myself in the traditions and practices that were important to me, and bring them with me into the future, and have others see and care about things the way I do.

I picked up a new video game today called Bakeru and it's a fuckin' delight. Very very well made 3D platformer where you are a Tanuki guy fighting evil possessed festival equipment with a taito drum. Visuals are great, gameplay is super smooth, controls are wonderful.

And it's celebrating Japanese festival culture and stuff with the rest of the world and trusting us all to be adults and not need us to have the things turned into fuckin' jelly donuts.