The Winter Court of the Insane, Philosophical Ladybug

So Over the Nexus came last Friday and I've been playing it since then. I really feel bad to compare it to Nightmare Troubadour, because Nightmare Troubadour is great for what it is and it must always be honored as one of the only games to acknowledge the Big Five exist, but ... I have to say, most of the time, Over the Nexus does things better.

Over the Nexus lets you fully design an OC and pick a gender, instead of only designing hair length, only ever seeing a silhouette, and having the game always figure it's a boy.

There are 3D characters and beautifully rendered areas to explore, instead of just seeing aerial maps and stars for characters and not even knowing who you're going up to until you're there. It's partially an open world RPG, with so much to see and do. Even after the main story finishes, there are mini stories to play, like finding Jordan is alive but with amnesia and helping him restore his memory.

During duels, you see much bigger pictures of the characters. There's also talking back and forth during duels.

It moves faster on plot. No more dueling endlessly for in-game days before it decides you're ready for the plot to start.

The downside, however, is mandatory racing games. Why on Earth would they stick that in a battle card game?! I kind of get the reasoning, Turbo Duels and all, but if someone is playing battle cards, they might not be good a racing games too. I'm horrible at them, especially beating particular characters! You're forced to beat Breo in a race before the plot will advance, and now I'm stuck with Primo's ghost bots throwing balls at me. I can't dodge them long enough to hold out. Luckily, with the nature of the game, I can give up and go chill with Radley until I'm ready to try again. Lol. I was wrong that I couldn't see him more until the main story wraps up!

Radley is arrested in the game, which I don't like at all, but he does calm down and acts more his usual self when you visit him in jail. And I suddenly realized why he's more of a jerk during the Crash Town scene. The OC is dueling for Malcolm; of course Radley won't be friendly. Plus, he's under a ton of stress right then because Malcolm is launching an all-out war against him. I still don't think the game got his personality quite right, but looking at it in these lights, it's very forgivable.

Gah, though, when you visit him, he says sadly, "I wanna go home soon." **hugs him!** He perks up if you want to duel. During the duel, when your lifepoints drop a lot, he says, "Give it your best!" Squeeee. If he wins, he says, "Give it up. It's pointless to strive so hard." Which is just heartbreaking when you think he may be saying that because he fought so long and so hard against Malcolm and lost everything. I like that the game kept that he sounds rather educated and/or philosophical.

Meanwhile, Malcolm is so incredibly childish. He actually carved up his bar counter with, "Ramon is an idiot." ROTFLOL! I had to show that happening in a fic because it's just too funny. I can imagine Radley would have some snarky comment to make on Malcolm's itty-bitty intelligence if he ever found out.

The game really fleshes out Crash Town and shows some fun OCs. I love all the new characters. It even made one of Malcolm's main stooges interesting. If he wins a duel, he says, "You know best why you lost." If he loses, he says, "There's a lesson to be learned in losing." In the anime he's just a generic brute. There's also a low-level Crewmember who's adorably nervous and worried about the mine being a volcano that might erupt. Aww.

Overall, I am just in love with this game and I see why it's so sought-after. I think any YGO fan would probably enjoy it, not just 5Ds fans, because of the improvements in gameplay.

Meanwhile, on Duel Links, the Duke event is go! I'm thrilled we have him, but I do have some mixed feelings. They're doing the manga, and I'm glad people will get to see how amazing Duke's manga intro is, but the manga-ka really forgot about him after the intro. Duke has more screentime in the anime, so I'm sad that that aspect will be forgotten here. And it feels like they're playing up the negative side of his personality, like he keeps challenging people with, "Loser does whatever the winner wants for a week." And they had Marc Thompson voice him like in the anime intro episodes, so on a lot of lines he sounds snooty and arrogant. On the upside, though, he has the most adorable losing lines. He's a better sport than most of the characters, honestly. Like he'll say, "So I lost, but I sure had a good time losing." Awww! And he does show he feels awful for what he did during the manga intro; he keeps apologizing to people. I am anxious to get enough points to unlock him.

On Dreamwidth, I'm trying a Kaiba brothers icon. You know, I think it's the first time I've ever used a Seto icon of any sort....

Here's pictures of my two main Marik cosplays, from many years ago. http://cubeupload.com/codes/cad37e

The first two pictures are from the first attempt, a very ghetto cosplay with a blue shirt instead of lavender, but I was ecstatic when I got it for my birthday, both because it was awesome in general and because it was close enough of a color that I figured I could use it for my Marik costume, which was already underway at that point (I'd been planning it since July). You can see the gold foil armbands, which, as mentioned, were very uncomfortable to wear for long. They looked awesome, though! The Millennium Rod was made from a very heavy cardboard cylinder (probably off aluminum foil), a miniature bowling ball, and cardboard shapes, all covered in gold foil and taped together with clear packing tape. The cape was used pretty much only because I wasn't keen on walking around in public in something sleeveless, heh. And behind me you can see my Bakura and Marik commissioned plushies from SetsunaKou. Also, my YGO board game and Star Wars Trivial Pursuit (which I love to play, but rarely do; it's a little embarrassing because I'm so good at it, LOL).

The bottom picture, from the following year, is five together because it used to be on CosplayLab, which has now shut down. Waaah. The accurate lavender hoodie I sewed from a pattern. As I recall, the pattern was for something longer, a sweater or something, and I modified it. (And yes, I used the sewing machine that time, instead of trying to do it by hand.) The middle pictures are from the church Halloween party; the others are of the very small bedroom at the old house. I still have the Balto standee, but I haven't been able to display it ever since we moved. **sniffle.** Of course, clicking on the pictures makes them bigger. I shouldn't have to say that, but it's incredible how many people I've encountered who don't seem to know that.

... Huh, since the bottom picture is labeled 2004, that means the first attempt must have been from 2003. I didn't remember I had both Bakura and Marik that soon; I thought I only commissioned Bakura in the summer! And it takes weeks to get the plushies, although less weeks back then. I don't know; I am seriously confused. Maybe I commissioned Bakura in May and Marik a couple of months later? I will have to think about this.

That blond wig I'm using has got a lot of mileage. I originally bought it to use for my Margaret Houlihan cosplay (yes). I love when I can reuse wigs for other costumes! And I know the wig looks consistently white in the pictures, but I swear it isn't.

I'm amazed at how fast I'm moving along with the Seto plush. Shirt's done and I'm currently hemming the coat. I don't think I'll do any more tonight, but later today I'm hoping to do all the rest, finishing the hemming and sewing the sleeves and attaching them. Then I'll take pictures and display him while I try to figure out how to make the locket. Normally it takes me around a week to get a plushie done. Maybe this shows I've done it enough times by now that it's a swifter task.

The anime and the manga both could have done more with Seto than they did, but in both it really is moving how different he becomes by the end. Especially in the anime, since there you get to see him move past the hate and not just think about it. All of that content is anime-only. The Seto from the first episode could never have been the hero he became in later seasons, or at least, I don't think so. So while he still has a long way to go (and I'll see what I can do about that in my fics), he did come a long way from where he started.

It is sad, though, that the storyline had him get so bad in Battle City at all. In the final episode taking place at Duelist Kingdom, he actually seems peaceful, happy, and respectful. I fully believed he was going to loosen up after that. Instead, he got a thousand times worse than he'd already been! In my old timeline, he is already very relaxed and pleasant with Yugi-tachi in the early stories, albeit still aloof. That was because I believed that was how he would be after Duelist Kingdom. Later on, when I saw he wasn't that way at all, I think I half-unconsciously started changing how I wrote him to match canon more. I remember at least one reader wondering about that. For my new timeline, since it follows canon to the end before branching out, he still has a long way to go. But in Dragons at Dawn, Yugi speculates that Seto does think of them as friends and just can't admit it out loud yet. That was inspired by Ishizu's words to Seto before Atem's duel with Yami Marik. Of course, in any case, I think I've mostly toned down Seto's rudeness to original Japanese version levels. I cringe at how the dub made him sound so much worse than he was on many occasions. When I am displeased at how the dub handled something, I tend to write from the original Japanese version and pretend that the dub mangling didn't happen. But I will always write with the English names, locales, and humor, since that's "my" YGO.

Occasionally the dub actually improves on something. One thing I noticed is that in the original Japanese, Marik doesn't seem to acknowledge how badly he treated Rishid. In the dub, he does. And then there's how the dub tried to give Duke more of a noble reason for going after Yugi then just being whiny about not being able to get his game going because Yugi defeated Pegasus. In the dub, he's upset about that, alright, but what bends him out of shape the most is that he believes Yugi cheated to win. So he wants to expose Yugi as a cheat.

(Of course, then there's the sticky situation that I hear in the original, Yami Yugi can actually will certain cards to come up next, which definitely is cheating. As cheesy as the Heart of the Cards thing is, I far prefer that explanation to what's going on in the original. Although in the case of facing Pegasus, I wouldn't begrudge Yami Yugi willing cards to appear to win....)

And I'd forgotten I have so much of the YGO manga. Most of it I bought from Borders because of their awesome 40% off coupons. I have 30 out of 42 total (including YGO R). And I'm confused that I don't seem to have Duelist #19. I was sure I had that one. I must just be remembering reading some of it in the store. I'm missing 1, 4, and 5 of the first seven, and 1, 2, 4, 7, 11, 13, 19, 21, and 22 of Duelist. I have all of R and Millennium World. And the Movie ani-manga. Also, I am still thoroughly grossed-out by all the gratuitous shots of Yami Bakura being eaten by the darkness in Duelist #20. It looks much more gruesome in the manga than in the anime. Of course, it is absolutely horrifying in any case, and I had to look at other parts of the screen a lot while watching those scenes in the episodes, but I see no need to depict it the way the manga did. Give me the anime version any day.

And I still think anime Yami Marik is a way better villain because he's more creative and personalizes his torture. In the manga, he just torments Mai with sickening physical depictions, including one of my most hated tropes. In the anime, he tailors his torture to her insecurities. That was repugnant, but honestly brilliant. In my fic Taming the Darkness, which is of course anime-based despite the manga quote title, he tortures Thief King Bakura along anime-style lines (although he does get manga-style gruesome at some points, as what he tends to torture his victim with are mainly illusions of Ryou Bakura being harmed in all manner of different ways, or him betraying Yami Bakura, and reenactments of the Kul Elna massacre). Taming the Darkness and its predecessor, White is in the Winter Night, are both very important to my current timeline and also the darkest and most disturbing fics I've ever written. Both have a category of Horror, although White is in the Winter Night is mostly psychological horror while Taming the Darkness is a physical/psychological horror mix. Both also develop Bakura and Yami/Thief King Bakura's relationship a great deal, which was certainly necessary when following canon and taking place shortly after it. Yami/Thief King is separate from Zorc at last and trying to figure out who he is, and who Bakura is to him, and Bakura likewise is trying to decide what Yami Bakura means to him, and they get into more than one argument as Bakura finally lets loose with a lot of pent-up feelings from canon.

... Also, manga Bakura seems to either be an idiot or extremely innocently clueless, always wanting the Ring back and not seeming to realize there's any problem with it. I was thinking he remembered there was a problem because of what happened in his manga introduction arc. Maybe I'd better read that one again.

I know I'm down on the manga a lot, but I usually do prefer the TV or movie versions of most things. But I really do respect the manga for being what came first and bringing the characters to life for the first time. And I do prefer Duke's manga intro and some parts of Millennium World in the manga, although I prefer Seto being present for that last arc, as he was in the anime. I'm a little surprised I have so much of the manga since I do prefer the anime, but I think the reason is because I wanted some new YGO following the anime's end and the manga certainly fit that bill in some ways, LOL. Millennium World, as I recall, I happily bought before the dubbed anime version happened ... I think? ("Happily," because I was so eager to see what Yami Bakura was like in ancient Egypt.) Because I remember when the anime version came out and I was disappointed by some things being mostly absent, like Atem and Thief King's intriguingly deep conversations in the early scenes. At least, I think some volumes came out before the English anime version, but it finished up after the anime did. I seem to remember getting some of the volumes at the new house, and we moved when the final season was underway. Then R was the other manga thing I really looked forward to. One of the characters, Pete Coppermine, has occasionally popped up in my fics as Duke's neighbor. I should read R again. As is usual with filler arcs, I loved it.

And I feel somewhat guilty that I've always enjoyed seeing Yami Bakura being villainous, to some extent. Naturally I don't like seeing him hurt people (... usually, although I did like his protectiveness of Bakura against that mean gym teacher in the manga, despite disagreeing with his methods, and I felt his dispatching of the thugs that wanted to kill and rob him in the tavern in ancient Egypt was self-defense), but sometimes I like seeing his schemes and him being smooth and cool, and sometimes I get a kick out of that mad cackle and his sarcastic wit. I know many feel the same way, about him or other villains, but I'm usually not that way. Usually I only like antagonists because of them showing goodness and/or repenting. And I certainly prefer writing Yami Bakura as an antihero rather than a villain. But ... I've always found him a fun and intriguing villain in canon. He was in the first episode I ever saw (The Evil Spirit of the Ring), and I remember hoping it wasn't the only time we'd see him because he was just too interesting. He and Bakura were my first favorite characters and certainly part of what made me so excited about this strange new show. I was hooked from that episode. I've rewatched it so many times, and I even remembered that I watched it in Spanish on my old DVD at least once, just to hear the Spanish voices. And I'd rewatched it so many times in English by then that I think I mostly provided my own subtitles. LOL.

Back to the manga rambles, one thing I've long puzzled over is how to have Duke's manga intro plus the anime thing of mind-controlled Bandit Keith both happen in my verse, since both involved the breaking of the Puzzle and a fire. I tentatively sorted out some of the problem by having Duke's intro involve that creepy Devil's Boardgame go haywire and age the house they're in so it starts collapsing. (Yeah, I'm not going to burn down or collapse Duke's store.) But as for the Puzzle getting broke, I think that still happens in both adventures, unless I alter Keith's escapade so it doesn't happen there. Maybe someday I'll try to actually write Duke's intro as per my verse, which is mostly manga but with the anime inclusions of the store belonging to Duke and not his dad, his store manager "David," and the apology scene. And with my own concept of them being in a house that ends up aging into collapse. And I didn't have his dad turn good, but I still wonder if I should have let that happen. I think I was influenced by a friend who felt he would probably go back to his old ways despite the redemption. For manga verse, honestly, I feel that he did truly turn good. There were glimpses of a good person still there all along and I think that won out. But for my verse, it worked better for him to not turn good and to instead leave off disowning Duke. It gave Duke a lot of issues to work through. Yet I feel guilty about doing it that way, feeling it's not fair to the character of Duke's father. So I continue to waffle about that from time to time and wonder if I should try to redeem him in my verse, either by him coming back after being thought dead or else him coming to Duke as a ghost and wanting forgiveness. (My verse had him die in the collapsing house when he refused to be helped by Duke and Yugi and fell instead.)

I'm rambling again.... I should be working with my fics!

I think I'm obsessed with the starfish Pokemon. I always seem to get intrigued by something not many people do anything with, and I assume not many do anything with those two. I have a vague plunnie that might become a oneshot, but meanwhile, much more pleasing news is that I think I've worked out all the bugs with the big fic, including how to make it different from the second movie, what kind of Pokemon are guarding the object, what the object is, and how Tyson or whoever learns about things to go and cause trouble. The only hang-up now is the sacrifice angle, but maybe I can work that out too. Maybe Father Joe tells James he has the potential to be a hero and James is able to help with things in the plot along the way, with Jessie and Meowth too, of course. And then the sacrifice is, as planned, only after everything else has been tried and it's the last option left to get the object back into place. If James has successfully helped with things earlier in the plot, maybe it won't have a "you're only helpful if you die for something" feel. Of course, I'll also have to be careful not to bend over backwards making him helpful at too many things. I'll need to spread the helpfulness around.

I find it interesting that with most fandoms, someone will probably die for real somewhere in the stories (but be brought back). But with the Turtles, for some reason, I seem to have a block with doing that. I don't want it to happen to Baxter, at least. The only times he's been thought dead, he really wasn't at all. Then Barney's heart stopped very briefly once, but he doesn't seem to have left his body and I don't seem to want to have him really die either. Vincent may or may not have really died in the Rare Magnet fic. Still not sure on that.

Now, I'm generally always uncomfortable when I do the "someone dies for real" idea in a fic, no matter what fic, but then I calm down and feel alright later. But for some unknown reason, I don't want to do it with Baxter, even if he'd be brought back. I'm really not sure why he's an exception. Maybe it's one of those "he's been through too much for that" lines that I don't want to cross, same as how, after the emotional anguish Duke goes through after Lead Me Through the Fire, I don't think I'd ever do David hurt/comfort scenes and probably not Duke hurt/comfort scenes either (unless it's emotional hurt/comfort). There's definitely a block against it with them because they've already gone through so much in the Lead Me timeline. In Baxter's case, though, I'm perfectly willing to do certain types of hurt/comfort with him, just not other types. Some kinds of hurt/comfort I don't seem to be in a mood to do anymore with any characters, but when it's one specific thing I don't want to do to one or two specific characters, I find that puzzling.