Stories and Stuff

A Random Blog

[markrosewater]

I would like some feedback on the Spider-Man set. Tell me everything you liked and didn’t like about the product.

[lupstarnyx]

Let's start with the good:

As a commander player, I liked the variety of different legendary creatures, allowing for a bunch of different playstyles. The implementation of their mechanics into magic was pretty inspired, in particular cards like Hydro-Man and my personal favorite, the Superior Spider-Man.

It did seem to bring some of my friends into Magic for the first time! I had a buddy of mine ask me to build him a Spider-Man, Peter Parker deck, so that's great.

Even if it probably wasn't your original plan, I did like the alternative arts featured in "Through the Omenpaths", though part of me wishes that we didn't have to stick with the "Hero" and "Villain" creature types so more could be done with the story. "A bunch of artificers with animal-themed powers fight an inter-dimensional spider invasion" is a concept I would love to actually see someday.

Some things I'm less excited about:

I would classify myself as against Universes Beyond sets in general, and ones set in variations of *our* universe in particular. I don't just play Magic because it's fun, but also because of its pulp fantasy setting and the interesting stories they tell of traveling the planes, about how magic is practiced differently among universes and how cultures clash as these planes draw ever closer. UB hits this issue two-fold - not only does it mean fewer sets with "actual" MTG in them, the characters within seldom interact with characters in the Magic universe. This is exacerbated by the UB being set in a place that I, the human behind this blog, have actually been before. I think, for me, planes like New Capenna lack this issue due to obvious "Magic" influences and the like, but straight up NYC is a bridge too far. Final Fantasy and LOTR were alright, but this feels like too much. This is one of the major reasons I'm also not a fan of the TMNT UB.

Spider-Man as a set overshadowed Edge of Eternities, which I really liked. The re-framing of the five colors, Warp as a mechanic, and the return of classic cards in new forms (i.e. Tezzy, Cosmogoyf) was very cool, and I dislike how soon Spider-Man came out after EoE.

"Hero" and "Villain" as creature types really didn't stick for me. I guess they make more sense as "Superhero" and "Supervillain", but it's a funny implication that savior of the multiverse Gids isn't "Hero" enough.

This is more of a nitpick, but Web-slinging and Mayhem feel *just* different enough from Ninjutsu and Madness to really throw me off.

What I think I would have liked out of this set:

I think my major gripe with Universes Beyond is the lack of reciprocity. It feels too much like Magic used as an advertisement platform for external IPs rather than an attempt to promote both brands, and that makes me feel pretty bitter. I think I'd be a lot less sad about it if Magic was also promoted by whatever crossover IP they were peddling. Maybe an in-character round of Standard or Commander via the MCU, or a few skins in Rivals, or a crossover comic. I really like Magic for its universe and story, so seeing that be spread would be something I'd enjoy.

TL;DR: Don't like real-world settings / less overtly "magical" settings for UB, don't like Hero and Villain as creature types, did like how the characters and cards were implemented.

[lupstarnyx]

[pequod-come-pick-me-up-im-scared]

my evil horse an d bird

[lupstarnyx]

[lazer-screwdriver]

This comic makes me so stupid emotional. She might have never known.

[prokopetz]

Concept: survival-horror tabletop RPG set in one of those fleshy hell-worlds, except the Flesh Hell Planet is a. basically benevolent, but b. deeply incompetent. Like, it's not one of those "theoretically benevolent but thinks it knows what's good for you better than you do" or "trying to violently assimilate everything because it thinks that being made a part of itself is ontologically good" deals – it really does want to help its human inhabitants, and it's willing to do so on humanity's own terms. The trouble is that it doesn't really get humanity, its capacity for both receptive and expressive communication in ways that individual humans can understand is extremely limited, and also it's just plain not very good at a lot of things, to the extent that even when it does fully understand what's needed it often fucks it up in some bizarre way.

[darthbob88]

* The party is tired, and in the next room are some well furnished beds. But there aren't enough beds, and the blanket on one of the beds has long hair with a center part.

* There are fleshy globules that ooze red liquid when struck, but it's not blood, it's red Gatorade.

* The multi-legged monstrosities the party encounters are the planet's attempts to feed them. It knows how much people like drumsticks and ham :)

* There's a room full of blue cans of soda. They're labeled "Coca Lola" and full of lemon-lime soda. Some of the cans are half-formed, just to make it abundantly clear where they came from. (Stolen from someone else's tags)

[no-longer-another-bondi-blonde]

[ventraman]

This could save your life.

[instructor144]

BOOST.

[aqueous2]

Absolutely vital information to have if you live where the waters freeze over.

I especially appreciate this guy's commitment to actually showing the steps himself. That cold-shock response is a bitch and willingly subjecting himself to it couldn't have been fun.

[marlynnofmany]

I don’t live anywhere near water like this, but I am still memorizing this knowledge because:

* I might use it in a story someday.

* Any knowledge that staves off the dying is good knowledge.

[ilariel]

Hey our husband saw you across the mists and we hate your vibe. We're going to kill you.

Strahd's lovely consorts

[fuckyeahcomicsbaby]

Sometimes a Son’s Greatest Fear is Becoming His Father

[staticdiplomat]

That was bloody fantastic.

[realindevelopment-returns]

Pat Grant

[kimtextileart-deactivated201602]

Wow

[browsethestacks]

Story And Art by Pat Grant

[rosemoonweaver]

GUYS. DID YOU KNOW YOU CAN WRITE CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE FICS ON AO3

[rosemoonweaver]

Other things you can do:

Linked footnotes

Customized page dividers

Sticky notes

Lined paper

Paper that looks stacked on top of each other

Old looking paper

Newspaper articles

Tumblr posts

iOS text messages

Emails

Fake ao3 authors notes and kudos button

Freaking discord chats

Its fucking amazing. Ao3 is fucking amazing. Can I legally marry a website?

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[starkerfilth]

WHAT

[the-stars-our-destination]

One of those times I'm reblogging something so I can find it again later

[rightstickdev]

Happy Mermay, everyone!

Meet some special mermaids (snailmaids? mersnails?) who'll help you on your journey!

[bogleech]

Aw, nice!

Hell yeah another one but different!

Sweet now there's three of them!

OH MY GOD

[mikkeneko]

concept: a death god that is actually surprisingly supportive and on the side of the good guys, supporting actions and promoting policies that will lead to the kingdom growing and thriving instead of being destroyed, because the more the kingdom grows, the more people there are, and the more people there are the more people will eventually  die, and when you’re an immortal god of death, you know there’s no need to rush. you’ll get them all in the end

[mikkeneko]

i like how the responses on this post are cleanly split between “hey this is a great story idea i love it” and “this is absolutely terrifying”

[honourablejester]

Yes. A Death that is kind, and patient, and inevitable.

A Death that need not fight against you, that will often fight for you, because why not? It will gather you home eventually. Why not enjoy you first?

A Death that treasures those who fight it most ardently. That loves healers and defenders and survivalists and necromancers and mad scientists and immortal gods. That lets them pour everything they are into fighting it, denying it, adoring every desperate scrap of strength and will and brilliance and raw determination poured out against it. That catches you when your strength is done and all your will and brilliance run out, that gathers you close beneath a warm, dark cloak, and whispers well done, oh child, you were magnificent, well done.

A Death who will not seek to hasten an inevitable end, who will chastise those who seek to hasten it for others in Death’s stead, who will slowly and patiently plot and sow and siphon away from the great monsters of the world. Because who are they to hasten Death’s domain, who are they to deny Death its time and its place, who are they to cut short these vital glories that illuminate it so? Who are they to presume upon its will, that is so much larger and so much longer than theirs?

Who are they to call, and presume that Death, of all beings, should obey?

A Death that is not a hunter but a gatherer, who is always and eternal, who loves you, and can afford to wait. A Death who will fight for you and defend you, who will place its hand upon those who would speed you to its embrace, who has no need to rush you, only to greet you when you call.

A Death who is kind.

And patient.

And, before all and above all,

inevitable.

[the-haiku-bot]

Who are they to call,

and presume that Death, of all

beings, should obey?

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

[sea-of-bones]

Death is no hunter nor gatherer. But rather a farmer. Do not forget: Death wields a scythe, a farming tool. Death will harvest you when you are ripe. Not a second sooner or later. Death will protect you from vermin, fire, and flood. You are Deaths crop after all.

Oh, and one more thing: Death always completes the harvest.

SKELETON

[ihavemints]

wenis comp

[goatsandgangsters]

how to find literally any post on a blog in seconds (on desktop)

there are so many posts about ~tumblr is so broken, you can’t find any post on your own blog, it’s impossible, bluhrblub~

I am here to tell you otherwise! it is in fact INCREDIBLY easy to find a post on a blog if you’re on desktop/browser and you know what you’re doing:

url.tumblr.com/tagged/croissant will bring up EVERY post on the blog tagged with the specific and exact phrase #croissant. every single post, every single time. in chronological order starting with the most recent post. note: it will not find #croissants or that time you made the typo #croidnssants. for a tag with multiple words, it’s just /tagged/my-croissant and it will show you everything with the exact phrase #my croissant

url.tumblr.com/tagged/croissant/chrono will bring up EVERY post on the blog tagged with the exact phrase #croissant, but it will show them in reverse order with the oldest first 

url.tumblr.com/search/croissant isn’t as perfect at finding everything, but it’s generally loads better than the search on mobile. it will find a good array of posts that have the word croissant in them somewhere. could be in the body of the post (op captioned it “look at my croissant”) or in the tags (#man I want a croissant). it won’t necessarily find EVERYTHING like /tagged/ does, but I find it’s still more reliable than search on mobile. you can sometimes even find posts by a specific user by searching their url. also, unlike whatever random assortment tumblr mobile pulls up, it will still show them in a more logically chronological order

url.tumblr.com/day/2020/11/05 will show you every post on the blog from november 5th, 2020, in case you’re taking a break from croissants to look for destiel election memes 

url.tumblr.com/archive/ is search paradise. easily go to a particular month and see all posts as thumbnails! search by post type! search by tags but as thumbnails now

url.tumblr.com/archive/filter-by/audio will show you every audio post on your blog (you can also filter by other post types). sometimes a little imperfect if you’re looking for a video when the op embedded the video in a text post instead of posting as a video post, etc

url.tumblr.com/archive/tagged/croissant will show you EVERY post on the blog tagged with the specific and exact phrase #croissant, but it will show you them in the archive thumbnail view divided by months. very useful if you’re looking for a specific picture of a croissant that was reblogged 6 months ago and want to be able to scan for it quickly 

url.tumblr.com/archive/filter-by/audio/tagged/croissant will show you every audio post tagged with the specific phrase #croissant (you can also filter by photo or text instead, because I don’t know why you have audio posts tagged croissant) 

the tag system on desktop tumblr is GENUINELY amazing for searching within a specific blog! 

caveat: this assumes a person HAS a desktop theme (or “custom theme”) enabled. a “custom theme” is url.tumblr.com, as opposed to tumblr.com/url. I’ve heard you have to opt-into the former now, when it used to be the default, so not everyone HAS a custom theme where you can use all those neat url tricks. 

if the person doesn’t have a “custom theme” enabled, you’re beholden to the search bar. still, I’ve found the search bar on tumblr.com/url is WAY more reliable than search on mobile. for starters, it tends to bring posts up in a sensible order, instead of dredging up random posts from 2013 before anything else

if you’re on mobile, I’m sorry. godspeed and good luck finding anything. (my one tip is that if you’re able to click ON a tag rather than go through the search bar, you’ll have better luck. if your mutual has recently reblogged a post tagged #croissant, you can click #croissant and it’ll bring up everything tagged #croissant just like /tagged/croissant. but if there’s no readily available tag to click on, you have to rely on the mobile search bar and its weird bizarre whims) 

[mylittleredgirl]

the archive/tagged trick is a lifesaver!!

a caveat on op’s caveat is that if your blog/the blog you want to search is older than [whenever they forced everybody into the tumblr.com/user change], most of these tricks will still work whether or not they have enabled “custom theme.”

tumblr works it’s just a closely guarded secret

[marovation-deactivated20241126]

[07242024-deactivated20240725]

[07242024-deactivated20240725]

i got the job

[alexaloraetheris]

Litany against unemployment.

[hatterene-estrogen]

Okay Rejuv theory time:

So Zetta is a Solosis originally, right? He’s supposedly a failed clone of Melia formed from a Solosis who, while possessing limited power (ability to create Rifts) was considered to be a failure and utilized as an admin.

So my theory is: Melia herself is a failed clone, too.

Melia knows she isn’t Maria. Melia was also given to Jenner by Xen. Madame X seeks to reclaim Melia, yet does not keep her and raise her herself, but rather, gives her to another to raise her, organically, outside of her direct influence. Zetta, a proto experiment kept by Xen, a test, who failed. Melia, a second experiment placed in different conditions, with different power, a different appearance, raised for the purpose of being used.

So if Zetta was a Pokémon- a Solosis, a relatively weak Pokémon in and of itself- then is it possible that Melia was something else, too?

Vitus built the Marble Mansion in hopes of finding Meloetta. He placed three of his children within the Unown Dimension, yet kept Maria. Why would Vitus need Meloetta? And if he found it, what would he have done with it?

My theory: much like Zetta is a clone using a Solosis as a base, Melia is a clone using Meloetta as a base.

Melia has more power than Zetta. Her name sounds like Meloetta. She looks similar in appearance to Meloetta. Her focus on Normal-types, even (all small, inconsequential details, yeah, but I swear I’m going somewhere with this).

Yet she remains a failed clone, with Genesis Syndrome corrupting her.

But if Melia isn’t the base material, then who is?

Madame X. Injured, Madame X— Maria, Marianette, one of them— cloned herself in an attempt to make and overpower her copy, gaining their power to heal herself. Zetta failed, but she couldn’t dispose of him. Melia failed, which she remains unaware of.

This is a draft, i have more thoughts and need to polish them, but here’s like. The rough draft version, as I sit in a cabin, no power, flooding outside, and like, three slices of ham for sustenance.