AMA: Radio Call-in Hour

[radio414 903]

On 5/3/2021 at 10:09 AM, Thar said:

Who in Utena do you identify with the most so far?

Lot of answers to this question I guess, and I don't really have a particular order here other than "this is who I thought of first" so here goes:

My first thought, pun not intended for what inspired this thread getting bumped, was Juri, who is absolutely my favorite character in the entire show, though on reflection I'm not sure I "identify" with her that much. Like, I don't fence and I'm not a lesbian, so it's not like I can look at that part of her and go "it me." On the other hand, I have moments of internalized aphobia, sometimes take long showers to wallow in sadness, and, despite my cynicism, really really want miracles to exist, so maybe "it me" after all.

Second was Utena, a basic choice, perhaps, but the show, I think, tries really hard to make the viewer want to be Utena in order to prime some of the traps it sets in the third arc. I dunno, she's dense as a brick but she's our brick, you know?

Third thought was E-Ko and F-ko, the Shadow Girls who host the radio club in Adolescence of Utena (and my current avatar!), and it's like radio... Utena-related... eh? eh? Not that they have much character besides that besides being generally benevolent and [spoilers].

I have more thoughts about my relation to other characters (Wakaba comes a close fourth and could probably replace Utena on a different day -- maybe it's an "Everyone wants to be Utena but secretly we're all Wakaba" sort of feeling) but that's a good base to go off of, I think.

Edited May 10, 2021 by radio414

[LordCowCow 840]

If you could have a Smash-like game from any series/franchise/group of franchises (like how nickelodeon has one now) what would it be?

[radio414 903]

15 hours ago, LordCowCow said:

If you could have a Smash-like game from any series/franchise/group of franchises (like how nickelodeon has one now) what would it be?

I mentioned this in a DM but I'd rather it not be an arena battler like smash because I don't like them as much as normal fighting games, both for watching and for playing.

To get the obvious(?) answer out of the way, an Utena fighting game seems pretty easy to get inspiration for. Like, sword duels are the centerpiece of that show, and there are already fighting games based around swordplay -- Samurai Showdown (or even Nidhogg if you wanted to go that route) comes to mind. There are enough characters too.

But I want to get a more out-there answer in too, especially since the examples you gave are much more interested in crossover and the spectacle of having King Dedede fight King K. Rool or whoever. To that end, I want the video game Everything itself adapted into a fighting game. Now, this would definitely be difficult since fighting games are animation-intensive and Everything, as you can probably tell by the trailer, deliberately eschews that sort of style, but I want a bear to square up against a leaf. I want a mathematical construct to square up against whole galaxies. I want to be able to fight with Alan Watts talking in the background. And if you say that already exists and is called Mugen, I mean, that's a cop-out answer, but sure.

[radio414 903]

on the road for most of the day today so i'm bumping this

[LordCowCow 840]

Top four Elite Four members? (No Champions)

[radio414 903]

12 hours ago, LordCowCow said:

Top four Elite Four members? (No Champions)

Alright, from bottom to top:

4) Lorelei for being the first first

3) Aaron because his was my first encounter with Vespiquen and I thought it was so cool and also it kicked my butt.

2) Flint but only in Diamond and Pearl because he takes forever to admit defeat and that's hilarious

1) Phoebe for teaching me "no, blaziken can't just spam brick break or whatever fighting move in your elite four battles you actually have to train up more pokemon, nerd"

[LordCowCow 840]

Pokemon question. Favorite base stage starter, middle stage starter, and final stage starter? (for instance Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, Venusaur)

[radio414 903]

20 hours ago, LordCowCow said:

Pokemon question. Favorite base stage starter, middle stage starter, and final stage starter? (for instance Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, Venusaur)

Thinking about this question got me thinking about how we don't really acknowledge the middle stage as much as we do the base and final stages. Like, we liek Mudkips and Swampert is... around but nobody thinks about poor Marshtomp even though May's Grovyle has bopped mine more times than I can remember. I guess Grovyle has that Mystery Dungeon appearance to its name, at least...

Actually it's a bit weird that I consider both Grovyle and Bayleef as superior to their fully-evolved forms, wonder what that says about final-stage grass starters in general (though Torterra is obviously superior for that line).

And speaking of Mystery Dungeon, where do the odder starters like Machop from that game (or Pikachu and Eevee, for that matter) fall into this? Does Wally's Ralts count?

Anyway this is me dancing around the question uhhh

Torchic, Bayleef, Greninja

[Thar 502]

What 2 movie theater snacks would you combine for a movie?

[radio414 903]

2 minutes ago, Thar said:

What 2 movie theater snacks would you combine for a movie?

i'm given to understand the correct answer here is "pissy shitty" but i don't drink that much soda anymore so that's not my answer

The hard part is most theater snacks fall into the "sweet" category with "salty" coming just second, and the other taste types sorely lacking, so most combinations are just going to be popcorn and candy in some capacity. The last time I did that it was just M&Ms and unbuttered popcorn, though I have, on occasion, smuggled in a pretty sizeable homemade rice crispy treat to pair instead. 

[LordCowCow 840]

If you had to choose a Fire Emblem game besides Sacred Stones right now to play, not worrying about accessibility, what would it be?

[radio414 903]

4 hours ago, LordCowCow said:

If you had to choose a Fire Emblem game besides Sacred Stones right now to play, not worrying about accessibility, what would it be?

"Geneology of the Holy War" is the most eye-catching of the titles I've glanced over and I am more interested in the earlier Fires Emblem than later ones -- I guess as a lineage study? -- though if I had to pick something later than Sacred Stones it would either be Awakening as "the one that caught everyone's attention" or Three Houses as "the most recent one" so those are my three choices.

Actually wait I would start at the beginning with Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light and then work my way forward from there like I wanted to do with the Final Fantasy games before realizing that was a losing battle. So four choices.

[Thar 502]

Favorite Halloween costume, candy, and decoration?

[yui 574]

skeletons or ghosts?

[radio414 903]

On 10/1/2021 at 8:16 AM, Thar said:

Favorite Halloween costume, candy, and decoration?

Favorite costume: The one I remember most as a kid was the Charlie Brown costume back from like third grade. It was pretty simple, like, a shirt with a felt zigzag on it and a squiggle drawn on my forehead, but it felt pretty cool at the time. The most recent one, though, was a Plague Doctor in 2019 (timely!) after I got a cheap robe, mask, and hat, so that was pretty fun.

Favorite candy: Take 5, probably? I like the crunchyness and I like the chocolate, and I had braces for like two years as a kid so they were a forbidden fruit for a while.

Favorite decoration: There was a candy bowl in my neighborhood growing up that had a zombie hand sticking out. If you tried to take candy from the bowl, a motion sensor would trip and the hand would slip down and say "stop touching the candy!" and it was always a funny sort of scary.

On 10/1/2021 at 8:02 PM, yui said:

skeletons or ghosts?

I'm going to paraphrase a story I once heard:

A man was watching an artist paint when curiosity struck and the question was asked, "What is the most difficult thing to draw?" the man said.

"A skeleton," the artist replied. "And the easiest thing to draw is a ghost."

"Why is that?" the man asked.

"Because everyone knows what a skeleton looks like. If you see a drawing of a skeleton, you are immediately looking for the flaws, for the imperfections in the artistry. What is a ghost, though? Is it a spectral vision of a person? Is it some monstrous representation of someone's darkest fears? Nobody can say what a ghost is for sure, and thus it can be whatever the artist wants it to be."

All that is to say, skellingtons are cool and I like the aesthetic, but at the end of the day, I'm going to prefer ghosts every time.

[Thar 502]

Favorite Jack-O-Lantern design?

[radio414 903]

8 hours ago, Thar said:

Favorite Jack-O-Lantern design?

[LordCowCow 840]

If you could add one support convo chain to Sacred Stones that it doesn't have what would it be?

[radio414 903]

18 hours ago, LordCowCow said:

If you could add one support convo chain to Sacred Stones that it doesn't have what would it be?

Not that anyone would take it when getting Joshua to A is the OTP, but I feel like Natasha would be a good conduit to reflect a bit more on faith. Yes, she does have that conversation with Knoll, and that's close, but that one shifts from "Magic and Faith are like this and like this" to a lore dump rather quickly. It's not quite what I want. Maybe it's a crisis of faith? A conversation with Moulder is probably best here? I mean, Moulder's character is kind of static in the normal game, so maybe he's the one with the crisis and he turns to Natasha.

I dunno, I like those narratives, whichever way they turn out. Artur and L'Arachel are other options, though I don't think L'Arachel could make it through three support conversations of being somber. Natasha and Artur could work out, though.

[LordCowCow 840]

You now have 3 Pokemon, but they have to be Baby Pokemon, which do you pick?

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Baby_Pokémon

for reference

[radio414 903]

23 hours ago, LordCowCow said:

You now have 3 Pokemon, but they have to be Baby Pokemon, which do you pick?

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Baby_Pokémon

for reference

pichu but only the weird spike-eared one who's a time-traveller

pichu but the one with a ukelele (if these have to be unique pokemon then idk riolu i guess)

togepi because if a togepi cannot break out of its eggshell, it will die without being born. we are the togepi, the world is our egg. smash the world's shell for the revolution of the world.

phione to be contrarian

[radio414 903]

it's my birthday ask me things

[LordCowCow 840]

If you had to describe your personality just with one of the pokemon natures which would it be

[radio414 903]

6 hours ago, LordCowCow said:

If you had to describe your personality just with one of the pokemon natures which would it be

I find I start kind of quiet while I warm up to people and then I end up sassy, so I guess Sassy is my choice.

[radio414 903]

Literally nothing has been happening at work today and nothing probably will so ask me things to pass the time