My Characters Beat Me Up and Take My Lunch Money

AKA CRAFTY COOPER ON EVERYTHING ~ he/him - old - trans gay/aego ~ A cesspit of Destiny & Titanfall reblogs and occasional original content ~ !!Now with 100% more shitposting!!

[slavetomyheadcanon]

I'm posting this only so I can pin it so I can stare at him. I love him so fucking much you guys. I cry about this man.

FEELING BLUE? CLICK HERE FOR INSTANT SEROTONIN (ymmv)

[screebyy]

Feeling A Way About Destiny And The Games Industry And Art

I've been trying to put into words how the final update of Destiny makes me feel since it was announced. I haven't been able to appreciate it the way I used to since the second round of layoffs after TFS. Every story beat that didn't land or every mission that felt a bit tedious made me wonder - what could this have been if they had kept the whole team? What would have happened if they had been given the time and resources to make something great?

I love this universe, and the characters that hundreds of developers have poured their hearts into creating. But the American games industry feels hostile towards the kind of work that made the Destiny universe feel so special to me - lore entries don't make money, cutscenes are too expensive, every line of dialogue is another budget expense that yields no return on investment in the eyes of the stakeholders. I saw the same thing happening in the game I was working on, where budgets were reduced over and over again, forcing my team to work harder and harder to try and meet a level of quality that was simply unobtainable without sufficient time and money. We spent months scrambling to find solutions to budget cuts, only to be told the budget was being cut yet again, and again, and again. Finally we were told the game was going to be shut down - and the hundreds of people working on the team, including myself, would be laid off. There was no consideration for the success of our final update, or the thousands of people who loved our game and played every single day - years of investment both from developers and players was reduced to a number on a spreadsheet, and someone who makes more than all our salaries combined decided that the number wasn't big enough.

All this to say, the news of Destiny's final update hit very close to home for me, and brought up a lot of grief I've spent the last six months trying to process. I know firsthand how angry the devs must be, and how scared, and how bitter - what could they have done better? What could have prevented this? There may be design decisions you can point towards, misplaced focus on crossovers and cosmetics, but ultimately the decision to end Destiny came from the top, from a number on a spreadsheet that someone decided wasn't big enough, and wasn't interested in trying to fix.

The games industry is feeling increasingly hopeless, with shockingly few jobs being fought over by thousands of laid off devs. Something like 30% of the American games industry has been laid off within the past few years - many have been laid off, fought their way into a new job, uprooted their families and sold their homes to move to a new city, only to be laid off again a few months later. Within my circle, there's been a lot of speculation about what the end of Destiny means for Bungie, especially since Marathon isn't taking off in the way they had hoped. Bungie, for all its faults, will always be the reason I fell in love with games - an industry without Destiny, and potentially without Bungie, is nauseating to think about.

There's so much I have to thank Destiny for. It gave me something to look forward to during an exceptionally difficult time in my life. I got back into Destiny shortly before I started thinking about my gender, and transitioning is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. It caused me to lose my partner of many years, caused a rift between my family, and forced me to look in the mirror and really acknowledge how unhappy I was for the first time in my life. People have written before about how a lot of themes in Destiny strike a particular chord with the trans community, and I don't think it's surprising that exploring the lore and writing about my favorite characters became a safe space for me while the rest of my life seemed to be falling apart at my own hands. The game inspired a creativity in me that I had been suppressing for years, and the community here gave me a glimmer of confidence that there was something I was doing that people liked. Because of Destiny, I became a much better artist, I took on creative projects I never would have dreamed of, and I allowed myself to wonder for the first time what I wanted my life to look like rather than just mindlessly doing what I thought I was supposed to do. My whole life, I've made myself believe that any creative work is just a silly, self-indulgent hobby, something to keep secret from the people around me. This weekend, I'm going to be selling art for the first time in my life, and I don't think I ever would have made it to that point without the joy this community and this game have brought me.

This is a long and rambling message with no real point, but I guess what I'm trying to say is: life is scary, the world is scary, and I'm somehow the happiest I've ever been. I love Destiny, and I love you all - thank you for going on this journey with me.

[nihilnovisubsole]

me explaining goncharov to my mother: so tumblr made up this scorsese crime film and they're arguing about its themes and-

my mother, completely deadpan: well are they reviewing the theatrical release or director's cut.

me:

my mother: what does frances ford coppola think of it

[dancinbutterfly]

Your mother is the only one who understands me

[blackholesun321]

Baby eridians, for a good portion of their lives, are soft-shelled, as Erid likes to call it. It takes a few molts (more than a few, but for abbreviation's sake) for their shells to entirely harden, absorbing minerals from around them and through their food to develop the shell on their exterior. If you need a comparison, consider how human bones fuse and we become less flexible as we get older.

But for a few years (cough, decades, cough), a baby pebble is about as hard as a soft-shelled turtle—or a normal turtle, if they're a bit older. Disadvantages aside, there is an advantage to being able to see your offspring's internal functions. And until their vocal bladders form and they're capable of making multiple complex sounds, being able to see what is hurting is absolutely helpful.

It's a universal experience among parents to lament the day they can no longer hear their pebbles' heartbeats.

That is to say, Rocky knows Grace is an adult, okay? He isn't someone who anthropomorphizes, and he isn't going to start now. Statement.

But when he first heard Grace in all his squishy glory— heart pumping away, lungs filling and deflating, organs digesting food— his brain went full baby-fever mode. Frankly, he was white-knuckling the urge to find the nearest hypothetical cave, bundle him up into a proper nest, and wait for his skin to absorb the surrounding minerals and start hardening properly.

But because Rocky is sensible and proper and not going to infantilize his best friend (he swears to God, stupid fucking instincts, shut the fuck up!!), he won't.

But sometimes the urge to squish his best friend is overwhelming. He just pinches at him through the permeable mesh of his ball. And Grace will screw up his face (so soft) and go what’s up bud? I piss you off or something? (He learns what bruises are and sulks for half a day afterward.)

All of that aside, once again, Rocky has gotten used to Grace's heartbeat, his clumsiness, and his one-tone voice. That's his best friend, and he's smart and just as capable as any other adult. He is also the cutest fucking thing to Eridian hearing. Is he also disconcertingly alien, definitely— His size, the limbs, the head protrusion (and other protrusions), the leakiness detracted maybe. But his cluster-sibling once cooed at and brought home a pet sulphur slug because, oh my spirits, hear his squishy respiratory system and you tell me that's not the cutest thing on the planet! It blurbles, Rocky! It fucking blurbles!

So, as Erid draws closer and Rocky/Grace become more excited and stressed. (The food has yet to run out, and as good as Erid is, they need substantial help from the human side to figure out how to make proper human nutrition. And finding the right informational packs in all of human knowledge is a very big undertaking.)

Rocky dreads the ever-looming talk he’ll need to have with Grace about the fact that Erid may, in fact, possibly find him very, very adorable. And that this might hamper communication for a second while he explains no, that is not a tall baby and no you cannot squish it.

[fandomsandfeminism]

This may be the best Pride merch I've seen from a major corporation.

Levi's said yes, actually. Assless chaps and a biker vest. Happy Pride.

And the assless chaps sold out on June 1.

[aetherograph]

They also specifically contacted members of the leather community, used them as models iirc, and donated $100k to Outright International. They talked the talk and walked the walk and put their money on it too. I don't really care that I can't afford and don't want this merch, I love to see my community getting the respect it deserves. Levi's said, "We make jeans which gays wear lots of jeans? Oh leather daddies? Let's call them."

[fandomsandfeminism]

I think Levi's donates to Outreach International every year too, as well as sponsoring pride events and other community support. They were offering Same Sex domestic partner benefits to employees in the 90s, and have been very public about their support for pro-lgbt legislation all through the 2000s.

So, you know, a giant corporation that walks the walk pretty consistently.

[spades-of-ace--arts]

so i've recently gotten into project hail mary and saw people making some fucked up eridians, and in the dead of night the muses had struck me with some form of divine inspiration.

behold my beautiful and fucked up child; Wet Floor.

[lanimaluu]

Nivanfield log 5/5

[lanimaluu]

Chris, if RE was a post-apocalyptic Survival Horror Game.

[slutdge]

"make an account to-"

[drchucktingle]

pretty incredible that google went from this bountiful source of information to just trotting out blatant factual inaccuracies every time you try to use it. i do not use she/her pronouns. GREAT JOB AI

its funny because when i first posted about my non-dysphoric trans way i was VERY hesitant because its complex and nuanced and i was worried people would take it out of context and flatten it into something incorrect. turns out the people were fine. MACHINES on the other hand cant figure it out

to explain again and help the broken AI machine and then i wont have to talk about it anymore: my preferred pronouns are he/him. my real pronouns are she/her. i prefer to use the wrong pronouns

the reason i do this is because i am not dysphoric and dont need every conversation i have to revolve around gender and my spiritual beliefs about gender. i love my male body even if it does not match my soul. it is a VERY COOL SECOND PLACE and i am pumped as heck on it

if we are talkin just use he/him. ASSUME AWAY. just dont put it on any technical documents or labelers because it is technically incorrect. dont put anything on those. i had a book delayed two weeks because of this once. ANYWAY hopefully the computer will have an easier time with this

[swhftt]

SWHFTT 108: Nonlinearity

[altrnvte]

Guardians make their own fate.

[nearfromfar]

There's nothing else I could have possibly done to commemorate 12 years playing Destiny than assembling an entire video of the best mischief and tomfoolery clips. I humbly present: Almost Three Minutes Of Pure Destiny Shenanigans.

Alternative YouTube link for those who want it:

[tmgefan]

Now it is done. If I speak again, I am not Kabr.

[quantumphoenixblue]

Meeting on the Tower Stairs

aka Meeting on the Turret Stairs but make it O14

[only-cat-memes]

[fairweatheralways]