[dracopia]

Username+ Usernumber: emeritus IV & 897535
Name: Silkmoth
prompt:
not really an info dump, i just wanna talk about my interests :-3
ive been really busy with work, so my hyperfixations aren't as hyper as they could be, but my hyperfixations right now are !!! ghost (the band) and our flag means death!! also i think my fun drinks ™️ also qualify as a hyperfocus.. i have my perfect starbucks matcha tea latte order !! i'll share it here if anyone wants it cus highly recommend -->
--> Iced Matcha Tea Latte (venti), 5 pumps brown sugar syrup, coconut milk, light ice with extra cinnamon dolce sprinkles
it's my favorite i love it so much ;v; it's my replacement for boba cus i can't get boba everyday 😔 i would if i could , though,

[Griff]

Username+ Usernumber: Griff 254592
Name: Wakko
prompt: Passionate huh? For me, that has to be 90's cartoons! We are talking Disney Afternoon, we're talking Kids WB, Fox Kids, all of it! I grew up with a lot of television, and so many of these shows I know the themesongs and the charcahters by heart! Some of course, I am more fond of than others! Animaniacs, Freakazoid? I could go on about either of those for hours! Did I learn from Wakko's songs? Absolutely? The highlight of my childhood? 'Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me!' Not being allowed to swear, I adopted many of freakazoid's sayings. 'Ah nutbunnies!'

It was a fun time that I fondly look back on, and sometimes still draw art for. Where's my Freakazoid reboot?

[Broccoli_Bento]

Username+ Usernumber: Broccoli_Bento + 965616
Name: Zelda
prompt:

Nintendo Miis!!!
I freakin' love these guys to death!
What's there not to love about these adorable avatars? They even have games dedicated to them and not just as a character option, and I'm not talking about the OG game of Wii Sports
Some of these games have been Tomodachi Life, Miitomo (which no longer exists...), and Miitopia.
I have loved playing these games and have put in a lot of hours into each one.

___ ___ ___

Let's start with the one that really gave Miis their own spotlight aside from Wii Sports, Wii Play, and Wii Party, all of which never showcased the Miis as anything aside from being an avatar, but when Tomodachi Life came out it really changed things.
It was originally a Japan-exclusive game called Tomodachi Collection (2009), but got a sequel that had a worldwide release in 2014 which was Tomodachi Life.

I had already loved Miis, but this game skyrocketed that love as I created my own Miis and watched as they interacted with one another and even got married and have children of their own!
When I first started I didn't want anyone I knew to be on my island, so I just made a mess of random faces that ended up being treasured characters of mine to this day, but I did decide to put my own Mii in the game, I mean it was my island of course, Lol.
And then everything became such a fun adventure, my mii was the first to have a marriage and kid, I put on shows in the musical theater, and even one of my couples had broken up (which ended up being pretty fitting).

To this day one of the funniest things that ever happened was when I wanted to give my character Leon a girlfriend, so I designed her and called her Laurie, and things seemed to be going well seeing as Leon actually wanted to date her, but that's when it happened. When he was asking her out his best friend at the time, an elderly man named Mr. Fuji, had shown up and confessed his feelings to Laurie as well! She ended up turning both of them down, but this whole scenario ensued like five times! and it may have happened more if I didn't keep telling Mr. Fuji that he couldn't pursue his feelings for Laurie. He just ended up being the creepy old guy of my island, Lol.
Eventually Leon and Laurie did become a couple, with Mr. Fuji trying to foil things again, but after a while I realized how much I actually didn't like Laurie, like at all. Here I had put so much work, time, and effort into making them a couple just to delete her and prefer Leon being single.

___ ___ ___

Next came Miitomo (2016).
Man I loved this, granted they created it to be a social media of sorts and I only used it for my own personal use (partially because I didn't have any friends, Lol), but it was perfect that way.
I loved getting new outfit pieces and creating fun combos, unlike Tomodachi Life where you could only decorate your Miis in a set outfit, so this was an amazing advancement.
What I really enjoyed the most about the app was making pictures, and my gosh did I have a blast with that! I had this whole setup of a news station with my favorite Miis, and the news was just a bunch of quirky, bizarre things, but it was so much fun and my siblings enjoyed them just as much as I did and couldn't wait for the next one, which I did about weekly where I made a new one.

Then there was the Alice apocalypse.
In the Mii share section you could share Miis you've created and get likes n whatnot, but after a familiar Alice in Wonderland Mii showed up is when EVERYONE made their own Alice Mii and the whole channel was flooded by the adorable character, some were even of the Mii but with a "X" for a face and named "Stop Alice!" because it got so bad that that was some people's way of trying to end the onslaught of Alice Miis that ruined sharing Miis.

I still really miss the app, and sure it had its problems, but sadly it wasn't shut down because of those problems, which I would have been more okay with had it been for that reason, but the real reason they shut it down was because they had a decrease in users and so that they could better optimize their operational resources across their entire smart device business.
R.I.P. Miitomo (Mar 2016 - May 2018).

___ ___ ___

Moving on to the final one, Miitopia! (2016)
This was it, something I had long awaited for, an actual adventure game featuring the Miis! I fell madly in love with the game from the trailers alone, a little sad that some of the scenes didn't play out the same, but it was still amazing!!
I firmly believe it was created after the preinstalled 3ds game "Find Mii" in the streetpass/Miiverse thingy. That had really set the pace for fans seeking more adventures with the Miis, which in fact fans were begging for a game based off of Find Mii, and I was one of them. I wanted it even more when Tomodachi Life featured an 8-bit rpg minigame, and then fast forward and we finally got Miitopia!

I could go on and on about this game alone.
I initially had ideas of how I wanted to play the game, especially after playing the demo, but when I actually started my playthrough I set rules to play by to give myself a more challenging experience.
First of all I banned the use of the Mage, Cleric, and Imp jobs. Second, I forbade myself from using sprinkles unless a Fiend showed up, then I was allowed to use them sparingly, such as revives were okay along with only necessary use of HP and MP sprinkles, this later changed and went from sparingly to hogwild when it came to Fiends when more than one had shown up.
Third, whatever was the next outfit/weapon for a Mii they were stuck wearing it until the next one came around and then forced to wear that, the only exception was the final fight where I dressed them however I wanted them to look, that and I really hated the muscle outfits so I refused for anyone to wear those along with the Scientist hat. Goggles yes, hats no, Lol.
With these rules came some really funny and interesting scenarios, and honestly I couldn't have asked for a better playthrough.
This game is just hilarious and such a blast!

___ ___ ___

Miis have always been special to me and is where a large portion of my characters have stemmed from, heck I'm still trying to work on making some of them as characters outside of the Mii world.
They are just such quirky and charming little avatars and I will legit cry the day Nintendo decides to get rid/replace them.

Thank you for reading.
I am so sorry how long this post ended up being, and I appreciate you sitting through it. I just love the Miis so much that I can't help but share about my adventures with them. :3

[rabbit...]

Username+ Usernumber: rabbit... 45716
Name: Sanna
prompt:

One of my current interests would be Chinese pop, Cpop, where there are a lot of traditional instrumentals.

They call the style 中国风, zhongguo feng or “Chinese Wind” and it's popularity is attributed to Jay Chou with his music in the early 2000s. He takes the traditional instruments, commonly the pipa, erhu, guzheng and the dizi to reimagine traditional sounds for modern audiences.

He uses these instruments for RnB but his lyrics usually invoke imagery of traditional Chinese motifs. One of my favourites would be Blue and White Porcelain. Here is his version and here is a more operaticcover by Li Wenbao. I find the operatic one to be crisper and more interesting. That is to say, the original is to mumbly for me ahahha.

I think the song writing is elegant where there are lines like (loosely translated of course), “if the sky waits for the perfect blue to rain, I can wait for you”. It invokes the image of nature, longing and time passing to wait for love that is common to this sort of genre lyrics. The big genre tings are love, waiting and nature motifs so I think this one hits all three.

Other songs that may fit this category are Fei Yu-Ching's One plum blossom for the instrumentals with the dizi and naturalistic subject of a flower that only blooms in winter. Zhongli’s theme song from Genshin Impact with the traditional sounds to start but then uses an electric erhu?? Very innovative, very surprising that an electric erhu even exists.

There is sort of another category called 古风, gufeng or “Ancient Music” that started differently from Chinese wind music. Ancient music is attributed to being from internet subcultures that write lyrics about storylines found in web novels, dramas and animations. These stories usually feature spirits, cultivators that train to reach immortality and traditional Chinese settings whether real or fantastical, overwise known as wuxia and xianxia settings.

The argument between Ancient Music and Chinese wind is origins and commercialization but I argue that Ancient Music has become popular enough that the commercialization aspect is not a good distinguisher anymore. It’s apparently a topic of hot debate. Wiki info here if you wanted to read more.

Examples of this genre are probably Sa Dingding’s Left hand refers to the moon for the Ashes of Love drama. The lyrics feature immortality, reincarnation and impossible human anatomy. The left hand can be feathery, the right hand can be scaley. The left can hold the earth, the right hand can touch the heavens. Here is a translation! Bonus round! I've got to say that I'm impressed with Grand Demonic Cultivator's music in all the versions. There is music for the audio drama, live action and the animated version and they are all good?? Absolutely witchcraft. I would definitely recommend listening to all their music for the gufeng ideas. Example!

Songs that I think fit into the grey zone between these genres would be Rivers and Lakes by Jing Long and Jing Di. The song refers to cultivators and ancient heros that live in the Jianghu but then there is a beat drop with dubstep effects.

Thanks for reading, I hope it was interesting and a crash course to cpop :>

[Geiger]

Username+ Usernumber: Geiger the Robot (1015202)
Name: TBN
prompt: flags I really like flags. National flags. My favourite is either the Bahamas, Iceland or Mauritius. I have a whole collection of flags, out of the ones I have my favourite would be the Isle of Wight. I like the Bahamas flag because of the nice teal which I don’t see often, and Iceland because it looks nice lol. Mauritius has a really nice shade of blue and the red they use is also really cool. The Isle of Sight’s flag has the island on it! I also have the flag of Wessex and the flag that England used before the St. George’s one. My least favourite flag would unfortunately have to be Dominica :’) I just don’t like how the colours were put together, but it’s definitely very interesting that they have a purple bird on their flag. Dominica has the most purple on a modern flag! The oldest flag in the world is Denmark, and it’s story is that they were fighting a battle, and they prayed for them to win the battle, and as they were praying the Danish flag descended from the sky. For Scotland’s flag of St. Andrew, it was similar but not as literal! They were fighting against the English (or the Anglo-Saxons at the time) and they looked up to see clouds in the sky in a saltire and swore to make St. Andrew the offical saint of Scotland if they won the battle, which they did! I think Albania’s flag might be really really old too, but I’m not exactly sure on that one’s origin. Did you know that Bulgaria’s flag used to be the same as Russia’s? Or that Bulgaria once had a horse tail on one of their flags? Or that their war flag looks like Gucci? Wales and Bhutan have dragons on their flags, but there have been a few other flags with dragons on them. The Qing dynasty in China had a dragon on it, and Wessex (and after 750, England) had a gold wyvern! Malta also has a very tiny dragon on its flag. I think everyone likes dragons, and how could you not? Lol. Northern Ireland still doesn’t have a flag and that bothers me, but I don’t know what they would use for a flag anyway. They have the Ulster Banner, sure, but I don’t think that should become it’s offical flag. They also can’t use the Irish saltire because that represents the whole of (Republic of Ireland + Northern Ireland) Ireland. It’s very interesting, but also a bit confusing tbh. Nepal’s flag is that weird shape because it’s meant to represent the mountains of Nepal. Personally… I don’t see it? But sure, still makes a flag more unique compared to all the rectangles there are! Switzerland and the Vatican City have square flags though.

[Furrydogs12]

Username+ Usernumber: Furrydogs12 992378
Name: Vulcan
prompt: I love cdramas! Especially since that Chinese (Cantonese) is my first language, with English being second. There are some really good dramas with great plots and twists in them! I recently watgg chi Ed one called Falling Into Your Smile about esports and sexism. It was really intriguing and the music was addictive too.

[rem sleep]

Username+ Usernumber: rem sleep 224745
Name: destiny
prompt: alright buckle up kids.

I'm really interested in pokemon legends arceus lately!! I've been putting a ton of thought into my character (affectionately named rem and on the male character model because nonbinary isn't an option so Man is as close as i can get i guess). i haven't beaten it yet because i literally keep getting sidetracked by every new thing i see. i'm really into resource gathering-- so whenever i see a tree with berries or something in the environment i can smash for more resources i completely forget my quest and just go to get *one thing*-- then suddenly hours have passed and im still in the wilds getting my grind on. i'm also very fascinated with camping rare spawns, sitting around and fighting alphas-- the works! space time distortions also get me-- i swear whenever im about to log off a space time distortion starts to form and then, what do you know, i can't log off because... there's a space time distortion. distortions are super weird-- they spawn roughly every 45 mins of game time-- but certain weathers won't spawn them in (so like if it's a snow storm, a distortion won't form, i guess they dont like the snow) and when you're battling a pokemon it also pauses the timer-- so if you're entering combat then that will make a distortion take even LONGER to form. so like, when one comes up, i can't just... leave it. it took so long to get it to spawn in-- and distortions feature epic loot like rare items (some just expensive ones like colored shards and stardust or star pieces, some evolution items like fire stones or dawn stones)-- and rare pokemon (you get 3-4 rare spawns per distortion, and then a bunch of other pokemon you wouldn't usually be able to find in the wild of that area also spawn-- and all of these have a chance of being alpha pokemon! alpha mon are bigger and have higher stats, plus they know moves other members of their species usually wouldn't-- like i have an alpha rapidash that knows poison jab for instance!) hunting distortions is super fun because you can find alpha eeveelutions... and while i have yet to catch one i am super excited to do so.

basically my hc for my character right-- rem is a guy who just. falls out of the big rift in the sky. they're found by prof laventon and have to help catch the escaped pokemon for him, then they get brought back to the village. their friend/rival is akari, the female NPC who spawns in if you pick a male character model. rem has no memories-- despite being sent back in time by arceus himself-- rem doesn't know much about their former life. they do know that they feel like they don't belong here-- and they know other information they have no way of knowing (i.e. how to use the arc phone which resembles a smart phone, facts about pokemon they haven't met before, they have odd bouts of deja vu where they seem to know pokemon/pokemon moves they couldn't know and other historical facts). rem feels odd being referred to as male, but doesn't like being referred to as female either, and they look most like a male, so they let people refer to them in that way (the time period doesn't have an idea of nonbinary identity yet, at least not as we know it, so this will suffice). rem is given a cyndaquil for their first challenge, but through dumb luck they happen upon an alpha rapdiash that takes a shine to them.

this massive pokemon ends up being their partner. alpha rapdiash goes with them everywhere-- and the village is. a little nervous around rem because of this. rem is an older teenager in my hc and they really do love their pokemon a lot. they aren't scared by pokemon, though maybe they should be. they feel love and respect for pokemon, and they approach situations with pokemon like you would a dog you don't know-- cautious but observant. rem is the village errand boy and needs to earn the respect of those around them, but honestly they're not socially aware enough to recognize that they're distrusted. rem is more attuned to pokemon than they are people-- think N from the pokemon games-- and they spend most of their time out in the wilds doing research and with pokemon. they do live in the village, but they basically come back to eat and sleep. they're a completionist, an idealist, and a lover of pokemon and people. they're an optimist despite the circumstances. rem also bonds quickly with ingo, since they're suffering from similar predicaments with memory loss, and the two of them puzzle together to try and figure things out. this ends up being good for both of them, since together they know that their ghosts of memories must be real-- since their memories sometimes overlap or share commonalities.

rem's favorite/most bonded pokemon are their alpha rapidash, who has a mellow disposition despite her imposing size. she's just protective of the people/places she cares about and she has a matronly presence. their cyndaquil-- now a typhlosion-- who's very calm, collected and down to earth. their typhlosion is a sleepy individual who likes to rest often and to sit back and observe the scenery. their umbreon-- who's somewhat somber and reserved, but outgoing on occasion. their floatzel, who is the loud and outgoing member of the team. their alpha wyrdeer-- who's the team protector along with rapidash. and their shiny staraptor-- who is their pride and joy! staraptor is a lil bit proud due to their fancy plumage, but they carry a lot of weight on the team.

the unit is a good team and i just. idk they bring me a lot of serotonin. currently in game im trying to max complete eevee's pokedex entry and shinx's pokedex entry because they're some of my favorite pokemon and i'd really like shiny versions of them!! i'd also love to catch an alpha luxray, but the spawn i'm hanging out at always knows rest which makes it almost impossible to get its health low enough to catch.

tysm for listening to me rant by the way <:3 it was honestly fun to talk this out!! it's been in my brain for a bit and i just love pokemon arceus a lot. arceus is my favorite legendary pokemon so when i saw he had a game i just had to get it-- and i've been having a ton of fun even tho i am late to the band wagon!

[Ucanthandleme]

Username + Usernumber: Ucanthandleme + 809102
Name: Apollo
prompt:
Me reading bad translated novels, never...jk I've read to many to count despite the fact 99 percent of them have a only very slightly different rendition of the same plotline. If you know you know. So spoiler but not really a spoiler because once you have read one you have pretty much read them all, here is my guide to some bad romance translated novel.

Some sort of female protagonist who has...
a) Been an assassin
b) Was betrayed in their past life
c) Is a miracle doctor who can cure literally anything, if the writer is feeling a little spicy they might add in they are also a poison master or have some sort of healing treasure
d) Have some sort of cheat in the form of a magical space, magical animal, magical abilities, take your draw they might even have more then one of the above
e) The body they inhabited has been greatly betrayed and they get revenge: likely something happened to their mysterious parent in the past and they were looked as if they were trash
f) We gotta have some overbearing male lead, usually the most powerful person in the world, usually rescued by the female lead and decides to devote themself to them (I'm in it for the face slapping not the romance hence only one point on this)
g) Usually the antagonist is some other love intrest of the male lead, the sister of the female lead or your normal villain guy
h) Lots of face slapping

Anyway if you decide to write any story of this genre I've pretty much provided the template, though there is usually some very well written and unique ones they still have one or more of these aspects. Honestly these are just a good mindless read because I pretty much know what's gonna happen. Anyway that's all for today hope you enjoyed my guide.

[roelian]

Username+ Usernumber: Roelian 34199
Name: phyllo
prompt: trees are the crabs of plants

Trees aren’t actually a thing, phylogenetically speaking. There’s no “species” for trees. In the same sense that ocean creatures have this uncanny pattern of evolving into crabs, so do plants to trees. A tree is very simply defined as a self supporting, very long-lived plant with wood and leaves. (Sometimes trees are also classified further by their height, but there’s arguments there) However, wood is also not a scientific term in itself either. As it is classified simply as a hard, dense, protective outer layer. It’s a bit easier to identify something as wood though, as it’s a commonly understood term for the flexible yet sturdy outer layer capable of transporting nutrients and storing sugars.

An oak tree, for example, is more closely related to a dandelion than it is to a giant sycamore. And in the same way that plants evolved into trees, they can evolve in reverse should conditions require it. If a “tree” would benefit greater from remaining a shrubby herb. It will.

There is so so much more I could Talk about “trees” and how palm trees are actually grass but I don’t want to make this unbearably long. Just imagine that meme with the guy saying “aliens” but it’s me nr I’m saying “trees”

[Fantelle]

Username+number: Fantelle #399238
Name: Ferreira

i asked my roomie what i'm passionate about and their first answer was 'dragons', so ima take this opportunity to talk about my lair on flight rising lol! im sorry ahead of time for how long this is gonna be, i could truly talk abt my dragons for eternity

i've been on fr since 2015, more than 7 years now! i found it through chickensmoothie, and obviously i already liked dragons (who doesn't), but i definitely wasn't expecting it to take over my life as much as it has! im sure i don't have to explain to anyone on this site how happy pixel pets can make u hahah. anyhow, it has become the hobby that i spend the most time on. i do art for a living, and it's really nice to be able to do art for myself and my dragons when i come home. it's a great outlet for any creative ideas i have!

so let's jump to my lair! im gonna work backwards because that'll be easier to explain / talk about. introducing the members and characters of clan d'orange. :)



the third and last tab of my lair is 'THE POPULATION', and as the name suggests these are the regular dragons of my clan. they have various occupations and reasons for sticking with the clan. these are VERY varied, i should probably let future dragons share occupations because everyone having a separate jobs prob isn't very realistic ? (ye ye it's fantasy dragons but still)

this tab contains of three separate pages (the three rows above, i merged them into one image), as the dragons don't look cohesive (yet!) being on the same page. the goal is to add a row or two of dragons to make a smooth color gradient between the rows, allowing them to all share a page. i'm very certain about wanting to add row of brown dragons (as i've collected a lot of brown g1s over the years), but that alone doesn't really help the gradient. the green dragons are the main issue, i'm not a huge fan of yellow dragons which is what i'd need to blend the green with the orange. so i may have to separate the population into two pages anyways; cool and warm colors. i'll cross that bridge when i get there!



the second tab is 'THE LEADERS'. again, not a very mysterious name. the dragons in this tab have leadership roles within the clan, and are to be respected by the general population. just like the population, this tab is laid out in three separate pages (the rows you see, again). unlike the population though, this is (mostly) on purpose. fr doesn't have any way of centering dragons on a page, so i can't lay them out like i did in the image above. the rows that contain 2 or three dragons would just look empty. so they're separated until centering becomes an option, if ever.

the way i've laid them out in the image also signifies their rank within the leadership.

1st row - the council: ferox and stellar are clan d'orange. they make all the decisions, and their decisions are final. both have royal blood and are well known in the entirety of the scarred wasteland.

2nd row - the diseased: the name 'the diseased' is given to any dragon who is granted eternal life by the plaguebringer. they have an immense amount of power and say, but at the end of the day their loyalty will always lie to the plaguebringer first and to the clan second. thus, when it comes to decisions regarding the clan, they are not the first that will be looked to.

3rd row - the warriors: these four are the appointed warriors of the clan. they are well-trained and by now, well tested. they have a range of roles and responsibilities, but all together make up the clan's permanent army. if war were to ever break out, the general population would certainly be expected to fight, but only the warriors are out on daily patrols and preparations.

this tab is the only one that's finished dragon-wise, which means i don't have any plans to add or swap out dragons here. the main thing that i'm working on with these kids is their lore. i'm writing both overarching lore that applies to the whole clan and certain groups, aswell as individual stories and tidbits. if you want to see an example of what i'm aiming for with all the dragons in my lair, dolor has a pretty complete bio (besides a piece of wip art).



and then the first tab (we were working backwards if u remember lol); 'MYTHOLOGY'. these dragons are very different from the others, in that they don't exist as members of the clan. they're entirely fictional characters that only exist in the mythology of the clan. more specifically, all of them exist in a book called 'Tales for Heinous Hatchlings' which is read to the clan's hatchlings.

this tab is the biggest wip, as i'm going to be replacing all of the dragons except for the middle row (hina -> arcanum). idk how familiar you are with fr, but i have a g1/oldies lair. g1's (gen ones) are dragons that were hatched from eggs, instead of hatching by breeding two dragons. when dragons are hatched from eggs, their colors are randomized. meaning you can't control which colors they get, making them a greater challenge (to me). oldies are dragons that have less than 7 digits in their id. i personally only collect dragons with 6 digits in their id. now, why does that matter? apart from the middle row, none of these dragons are g1s or oldies. they're left over from before i was a g1/oldies lair, and are still to be replaced. i've replaced all the othe dragons in my lair, but these guys are taking a lot longer (and a lot more money) because their colors as g1s are very hard to come by.

i've built up a little collection of dragons to replace them. this collection is not complete yet, and i haven't at all settled on how i want to gene the dragons i do already have. i've decided i'll first be collecting a number of dragons that fulfill my requirements, and then i'll experiment with their looks to see what i like. i'm hoping to start replacing the dragons on my mythology tab sometime next year!

saying that is kinda funny in itself because who the hell is planning pixel pet projects years ahead of time? didn't think i'd ever be that person but i've very proudly become them. i used to be super ashamed to talk about this stuff, but as i've become an adult i've realised that i'm allowed to like whatever i want to like. and if i like pixel dragons, so be it. if yall are not playing fr already btw, get on it!! it's def not gonna be for everyone but i'll always recommend that people try it out

and thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk about my dragons! not often i do, so this was very fun hehe. has also been fun reading through everyone else's entries. god i love reading about random niche interests. ok cheers everyone nd if u join fr, shoot me a message and i'll gladly give u a lil welcome gift <3