Aiko's Gazebo of Thoughts

Re: r/HobbyDrama Hobby Scuffles - What's a piece of media you really love, not because its the best in its genre or the most competently made or whatever, but because of how much it specifically appeals to your specific tastes and has all the tropes you like?
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As the Gods Will: Death game is my junk food so to speak, I just turn off my brain and have fun seeing the trainwreck. It has fun games and characters plus some BL, especially in the 2nd series.

Qualia the Purple (some would argue it's a masterpiece and I won't argue against that): yuri, >!time loop, set right what once went wrong, descent into madness I'd say, screw destiny, mind screw, quantum mechanics.!<

The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria: it's been ages since I last read it (I plan to re-read it soonTM) so I've already forgotten some things. What do I say...>!descent into madness (kind of), time loop for certain arcs, death game for a certain arc.!< It's one of the first light novels I've read, so its impact is naturally high.

Shishou series: "mundane horror", occult, eccentric leads.

Phenomeno: "mundane horror", occult, eccentric and fun female lead, bonus points for the artworks by Yoshitoshi ABe.

(What is "mundane horror"? It's a term I coined to describe the type of horror I like. Iirc there's a Japanese term that applies but I forgot the name. How do I explain it... I think they embody the real experience of hearing and talking about horror stories, then going about your own lives like it's nothing. You never know exactly where these stories come from. No truth, no resolution, no conclusion. They end as abruptly as they begin, like mysteries nobody have a real solution to. If that makes sense. In other words, relatable? Sometimes the stories are high stakes thriller-horror, but other times they're eerily calm somehow.)

There's more on my mind, but this list may get too long lol.

(Also on: Reddit)Fold

For a few days now, I haven't been playing Endfield much ngl. Just dailies. Even though I'm already (still) at the end of chapter 1, about to and need to unlock Wuling, and need to do many other things...for some reason, I don't really feel like doing any of them 🫠
I'm in chapter 1 process 4 part 7 (8 parts in total, then chapter 2 - Wuling - starts). I'M LITERALLY SO DAMN CLOSE LMAO
I really need to do it ASAP as the deadline is fast approaching though, then do Infinity Nikki (I've been procrastinating it too) orz 🫠
#Arknights_Endfield #Infinity_Nikki

?????? IN 10 FREE ROLLS??? INSANE. PROBABLY MY LUCKIEST ROLLS YET
SilverAsh alter (+Wang +Demetri) really said "here, save your pulls for me" lol. If only the other 5⭐ is Mutsumi it'd be perfect
Got her in the next roll at least, yay!! 20 rolls ez!!

#Arknights

Arknights Endfield Gacha Roundup

I'm too lazy (and too busy playing) to post Endfield stuff on social media, so here's a roundup of my gacha rolls so far from the newest to oldest.
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Summary from Endfield Tools:

Xaihi loves me so much omg. 💀 Snowshine too. 200 rolls and a Laevatain (YAY!!) later, not even a single Alesh. 🙃 Amazing. Why does he hate me so much?? 😭😭😭 Endfield taketh & giveth...

(2026-02-04)

Before her banner ends, I end up rolling again Laevatain's banner out of whim, and much to my surprise...I GOT HER!! OH MY GOD!!! WELCOME HOME, LAEVATAIN!!! 🥹 Now I can use Wulfgard to his full potential! (?)

(2026-01-28)

SURPRISE EARLY 6⭐?!?! Ah, it's Ardelia...pot 2 it is. 😂😭 Also, welcome home, Arclight!! Only Alesh left, huh. Guess he really hates me for some reason. 🥲

(2026-01-25)

OH MY GOD, FINALLY, A NEW (AND MALE) 5⭐!! WELCOME HOME, DA PAN!!! Next up is Alesh...I hope he comes home soon. And damn, yet another Xaihi. I swear, she loves me way too much! 😓

(2026-01-23)

Oh hey, a Wulfgard pot!! I very much welcome that.

(2026-01-23)

Of course I only got 6⭐ in 40 rolls (it was a pain to get here) and OF COURSE it's the one I wanted the least 🙃 (heard she's good but). At least it's not Ardelia as she's free lol. No maleknights, didn't even get Alesh and Da Pan.  Wulfgard says he's the only man I need. 😔😭😭😭💔💔💔🥀 (putting aside 4⭐ lol) (he isn't wrong though, he's my favorite so far. Vigil's position is in danger...)
Too lazy to reroll, dunno if I'll stick around or not anyway. 🫠

(2026-01-22)

Ooh, Avywenna is my first new 5⭐! Welcome home!! I quite like her, but her outfit is truly...something else lol.

(2026-01-22)
Snowshine and Chen Qianyu are my first 5⭐ from gacha?! Why...I already have them!! For free!!! 😭😭😭

FULL GACHA HISTORY OF 5⭐ AND 6⭐
(From Endfield Tools but reformatted)

Scars of the Forge
2026-02-04
* Laevatain 6⭐ 🆕
* Snowshine 5⭐
* Da Pan 5⭐ x2
* Wulfgard 5⭐
* Xaihi 5⭐ x2
* Perlica 5⭐
* Chen Qianyu 5⭐ x2
2026-01-25
* Snowshine 5⭐
* Xaihi 5⭐
2026-01-22
* Chen Qianyu 5⭐

Basic Headhunting
2026-01-30
* Avywenna 5⭐
2026-01-28
* Ardelia 6⭐
* Arclight 5⭐ 🆕
* Xaihi 5⭐
* Da Pan 5⭐
2026-01-25
* Perlica 5⭐
* Da Pan 5⭐ 🆕
* Xaihi 5⭐
2026-01-24
* Snowshine 5⭐
2026-01-23
* Wulfgard 5⭐
* Xaihi 5⭐ 🆕
* Xaihi 5⭐
* Snowshine 5⭐

New Horizons
2026-01-23
* Last Rite 6⭐ 🆕
2026-01-22
* Avywenna 5⭐ 🆕
* Chen Qianyu 5⭐
* Snowshine 5⭐

Solid Ice Issue (Weapon)
2026-01-28
* OBJ Velocitous 5⭐ 🆕
* Rational Farewell 5⭐

Cosmic Voice Issue (Weapon, free rolls)
2026-01-22
* Dreams of the Starry Beach 6⭐ x2
* Wild Wanderer 5⭐ 🆕
* OBJ Arts Identifier 5⭐ 🆕

#Arknights_EndfieldFold

Re: r/HobbyDrama Hobby Scuffles - What's a long-delayed "wait, that's who that was? It's so obvious, how did I miss that" moment for your hobby/interests?

There's plenty of moments for me. On top of my head:

1. Tomoaki Maeno is a voice actor who voiced one of my blorbos of all time, Yamanbagiri Kunihiro. I'd say he has a pretty unique, easy to recognize voice. Except me. I heard a character he voiced then somehow didn't register it was him when it's so obvious. This happened a few times already, with the most recent being Wulgard (Arknights Endfield) lol. Only when I found out that it's him could I actually recognize his voice. To top it off, I'm pretty sure I already read somewhere who Wulfgard's voice actor is, but I forgot when I started playing the game lol.

2. The same thing happened with other big voice actors. Pretty sure Akira Ishida is included in that list. And his voice is so unqiue! What the hell, me?!

3. I listened to songs (original and covers) from some utaites, then they debuted as Virtual YouTubers, but I didn't make that connection until much later when someone told me/I stumbled upon someone revealing it.

...Yeah, I'm bad at remembering and recognizing voices (and faces) lol.

(Also on: Reddit)

Long story short
>To play or not?
>Not really interested due to reasons
>Can't play on phone, no storage
>PC/laptop? But storage crisis & they're weak
>Oh wait I have external SSD
>FOMO is getting to me

SO ANYWAY I FINALLY CAVED IN LMAO 🤣🤣🤣😭😭😭
No harm in trying at least 😂


Btw turns out there's still some space left in HDD so I'm downloading it there for now. Will move it to external SSD when needed
Might also delete GFL 2 (HDD) since I barely play it on laptop and it's in external SSD 🤔

Long version:
>>141

(Also on: Twitter)

#Arknights_Endfield

To play Arknights Enfield or not?
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I'm an OG Arknights player (since day 1) but to be honest, Endfield never really interest me ever since it first came out. There's something about the art and designs that don't vibe with me, and it got even worse as more and more characters got revealed. (I do love Eyja's design, at least. It's cute.)

Not to mention the severe lack of male characters. Yes, I know Arknights in the beginning doesn't have a lot of male characters either, and it's still far from perfect in regards to its treatment to male characters (I have some complaints). I'm not optimistic things will be the similar or even better here - I expect worse. Call me pessimistic, I'd love to be proven wrong.

Also, I'm not big into Hellagur, he isn't even my type, but I'm disappointed he got younger. Seeing him younger feels...so wrong. I know that isn't exactly the same Hellagur, but I can't unsee him.

And then I got hit by natural selection - my phone can't run the game lol (even though it somehow can play Infinity Nikki when it shouldn't, it's a miracle lol). It's like my disinterest is justified (?) lmao. Not like my phone has enough storage, anyway. I can play it on laptop/PC, but I kinda have a storage crisis (and then I remember I have an external SSD with far enough storage where I already tried to play another game so it works, but) and I'm not sure it can run the game well. I'm already forcing it to play Infinity Nikki and I'm afraid to break it even more lmao.

That said, I'd be lying if I said FOMO isn't getting to me right now, seeing so many people near me about to play it. 😂 Maybe I'll try it, after all...? No harm in trying, I suppose.

(Also on: Reddit)

#ArknightsFold

Re: r/HobbyDrama Hobby Scuffles - Does anyone else have examples of stories that tend to be dismissed because of their premise/genre, but you think are actually more nuanced than they seem?
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The one that immediately came to my mind is "SSS-Class Revival Hunter", a novel and a manhwa. The general sentiment I've seen (and I also thought of) is that the title seems...boring, as if it's just your run-of-the-mill story about an overpowered character fighting his way up a tower as a hunter with game-like mechanics. Like it's not anything new, just one of these copies, dime a dozen. The first impression isn't great. I didn't read it for a long time because of that as well.

The first few chapters were pretty rough as well, as the protagonist can come off as cringy. And then it hit you with unexpected emotions, sincerity, and feelings. And again. And again. In the end, I was amazed to find out that at its core, this is a profound and poignant tale of humans, with all their bad and good, joys and woes, making me laugh and cry. It has so much heart in it, coupled with a good comedy and interesting world-building. It takes a while to get there, but I think it really pays off. It also plays around with multiple genres and multi-demographic appeal (there's even otome isekai/villainess arc!). The artwork is phenomenal as well. Hands down one of my favorite manhwa ever.

(Also on: Reddit)Fold

Re: r/HobbyDrama Hobby Scuffles - What's your example, if you have one? When you form an impression of a fandom that you know is either unfair, incomplete or incorrect but it seems to keep getting reinforced?
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> One last thought is generally Shippers. I love shipping, I ship characters. I'm even participating in a ship Zine.
> But I completely understand why shippers are often disparaged because well... shippers often become incredible obsessive with the characters to the point they have no interest in the original story they are from and often place headcanons above whats actually happening in the stories and routinely get upset when they step into communities that don't support their view (Thats no longer based on the original story) and cause disruptions.
> Along with the obsession they tend to want to dominate fan spaces and that's why many subs just straight up ban ship posts because if you don't a couple of people will just spam posts about their ships.
> Countless times I've encountered "Fans" of a series but they really just like the character in abstract sort of way because the character they go on to talk about rarely have any characteristics of the character actually is portrayed so it ends up just being a walking talking example of the thomas jefferson meme.

I'm a shipper too, I even write and draw sometimes, most my fannish activity is in shipping, and I agree.

Another annoying thing is when a ship is so popular/shippers are so obsessed in their ships that a lot of people don't seem to see them as 2 separate, individual characters. For example, when there's only one character in a post/artwork, someone may mention the other character in the ship, even though the post/artwork isn't shippy at all. One fan artist I knew complained about it sometimes, and I saw various instances of it happening across different fandoms and ships.

Like, can't people just appreciate a character without involving another character in a ship sometimes? It's especially kinda depressing when your own blorbo seems to be viewed mostly as an accessory in a ship/a part of a ship rather than their own character by a lot of people. Like, god forbid they're their own character separate from another character. (Yes, I'm kinda venting here, excuse me.)

(Also on: Reddit)Fold

Re: SKPORT (Hypergryph's community app) and gacha games community websites/apps
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>In 2027 you gonna use 10 community apps for each gachas you play

I hate the trend of "you need an app for every single thing" in general, honestly. Feels like an old man screaming at the clouds for saying it lmao. But at least they're still accessible through the website. As long as they don't appwall it on mobile...
As for official community websites/apps, I still don't really know what to feel and think about it. I can see how it can be nice/convenient when you play multiple (or even all) of a dev's game, but otherwise, it kinda sucks (me playing only Tears of Themis going to Hoyolab lol). But again, at least it's accessible through the website, and it's not like it's mandatory (unless). 🤔

(Also on: Reddit)

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>I'm assuming they're gonna release more gachas, because releasing an app for only 2 gachas is kinda diabolical. Hoyo at least has 4 ongoing gacha when they release hoyolab (GGZ, HI3rd, ToT, Genshin).
>Also the name is shit. Hoyolab has hoyo in the name and it's easy for average people that play gacha to know that it's hoyo related app. But SKPORT is 💀💀💀.

Arknights isn't even included in this global version lol.

Yeah, thinking about it, it makes more sense for say, MICA to make a community/website app since they have 3 gachas (Neural Cloud is pretty much dead though, and GFL 1 finally wrapped up its main story) and 1 non-gacha (but still set in the same universe). Iirc there is such a website in CN, but nothing in global (maybe yet).

(Also on: Reddit)

#Arknights #Arknights_EndfieldFold