Old Faces, New Faces

 -The Backrooms-

Three women walked together down a hall of the realm of The Backrooms that was referred to as 'The Waiting Rooms'. Here on the border of the Waiting Room and the nearby Classrooms was a hazy in-between area that resembled a school library. Books lined the walls, assembled on shelves that stretched up to near the ceiling. Various statues and other pieces of decor sat at the very top of the shelves, wooden figurines and stuffed toys looming over the trio like hunching gargoyles.

"Fascinating place you've got here." said Binah, looking around with appreciation. "You've certainly got some impressive discoveries under your belt already, Loremaster."

"Thank you, Binah!" Loremaster replied with a cheeky smile. "For the last year and a half, almost, studying this place has been my number one goal! It's a bit sad to de-prioritize it, but with its' main mysteries conquered, it's prudent I join you in Titan research. That seems rather more urgent. Now, to my honored guest..." Loremaster glanced over at the third woman in the party. "Allow me to introduce my latest breakthrough here in The Backrooms. Are you familiar with 'lost media', miss?"

"Yeah!" came the enthusiastic reply. "I help searches sometimes. In fact, just last month I managed to dig up a critical lead that helped people find the promo bumpers for the 1996 Kids Blast The Ballot Box awards show hosted by Stereoscope!"

"...Excellent!" Loremaster said, nodding as if she understood what any of that meant. "Anyway. I found out about lost media not too long ago, and I realized it could be entwined with The Backrooms. As I've shared already, I have a growing body of evidence that indicates that The Backrooms are formed and influenced by the memories of people on Earth. The places and things that appear here seem to be connected to half-remembered memories of the past. Which means, this could be a hotbed for lost media! If people remember something but it isn't easily accessible today, it could well be found here!" Coming to another room, Loremaster spread her arms and let her two guests soak in the sight of a personal study, shelves packed with books, discs, and cassette tapes (both audio and video), and a large desk with a computer acting as the centerpiece of it all. "Here, I have collected a large number of interesting-looking Backrooms books and media. I don't have the time to look through it all, unfortunately, but if you'd care to join us at Monarch, miss, I would be happy to give you access to this collection. Perhaps you'll find some new lost media!"

"WOW!" the girl exclaimed, pumping her fists excitedly. "This is the chance of a lifetime! And you're saying all I gotta do to get to use this study is to help you with Monarch? It's a deal!"

Truth be told, she probably would have helped even without this extra incentive, but she certainly appreciated it. After all...

Now she had twice the opportunities to expose the esoteric!

Chatzy Madness Volume 424: I Don't Like Killing, But I LOVE Steroids

RubyChao: Exactly how bad is the funding situation for Monarch, again?
Gooper Blooper: oh god
Gooper Blooper: Monarch is a huge deal in the Monsterverse and is easy bait for a massive, world-spanning plot, which I still might do, but I liked the idea of starting small
Gooper Blooper: Binah dreams of being a globetrotting kaiju whisperer but she's stuck here in the desert with Doug
RubyChao: i like it too however binah having to do a stint at mcmechos is still funny to picture

--- 

(After JRM changes his avatar to Mimi Sentry)

Jumpropeman: I can promise

Jumpropeman: Mimi is an idiot

(Later)

Gooper Blooper: the real reason JRM dislikes single fangs: why have just one when you can give a girl a mouth like a bear trap

Brine: Accurate, best kind.

---

New Years Eve-Il: "In Lufia 2, The Sea Ring is strong against Sea Creatures...but the programmers didn't flag any monsters as "Sea Creatures".

Harpydia: owned

Gooper Blooper: Big "Gen 1 ghosts beat psychics" energy

New Years Eve-Il: "Likewise, there is a Capsule monster with "Soil" attacks. There are no monsters with the Soil weakness flag set."

RubyChao: big "moon ball and burn heal" energy

New Years Eve-Il: "Final Fantasy Adventure has an item that cures the "Moogle" status—but the player can't use items as a Moogle, which renders the cure useless."

Harpydia: get moogled, idiot

---

Gooper Blooper: started playing a new robot fighting game today called Battle RC, runs great on the new comp

Jumpropeman: according to steam, Battle RC is similar to the game I've played, Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed

Gooper Blooper: My favorite thing about it is the Steam Workshop where people are uploading bot designs because there are a couple of super hardcore robot combat fans on there. Know how I know? Because instead of making replicas of famous and popular robots, they're putting the most obscure and random robots imaginable into Battle RC

Jumpropeman: excellent

Jumpropeman: ZFRP tier selection methods

Gooper Blooper: link

Jumpropeman: that's the kind of robot you throw into a tournament and it goes on an inexplicable run

Gooper Blooper: A few actually famous robots like Tombstone, Hydra, Toro, and Rusty did get representation on the workshop, but they are definitely outnumbered by the hordes of obscure one-and-done robots from multiple seasons ago

Gooper Blooper: who could forget... *checks notes*... Bucktooth Burl, who entered one tournament and didn't even get on television

Jumpropeman: excellent

Jumpropeman: sorted by most popular, looked at the first page, only recognize Tombstone :V

Gooper Blooper: You mean you don't recognize this famous bot?!

Gooper Blooper: (Malice is on the front page though, we know them because they sent me cool merch!)

Jumpropeman: Unidentified Red and Yellow Flipper for next Robot Champions

Sonic's Good Again: The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of My Relationship With the Sonic the Hedgehog Series

-The Beginning-

You know this story. I've told it before. But here it is, one more time, to set the scene.

It was 1993, and little three-year-old Goops was beginning to form an attachment to video games. I played my mom's Atari 2600 as often as possible, usually playing Space Invaders. One day, the system went dead and refused to turn on again. I was beside myself with grief, and my mom knew what she had to do: get another video game console. She understood the Atari 2600 was old news by the 90s, but since she hadn't kept up with gaming since getting it, she wasn't sure what would be a good system to buy. Originally she considered an NES, but when she asked my older cousin for advice, he directed her away - the NES was old hat, too. The SNES, then? Nah. There was something much cooler on the market. If she wanted the most awesome video game system 1993 had to offer, she needed a Sega Genesis. And so, one morning I woke up to the sight of a new-in-box Model 2 Genesis in the living room and I was enraptured. Later that morning, the system was hooked up and I turned it on for the first time...

My mom has since added some additional information and a correction to this classic tale of how I first got into video games. Firstly, it wasn't a birthday gift like I had misremembered - the Atari did not happen to break down around then, she just wanted to cheer me up with a modern video game console after seeing how upset I was that the Atari had bitten the dust. Hilariously, she also added that when she became a mother, she had actually planned to raise a child without video games, which were at the height of their stereotypical "bad influence/brainrot" stereotyping in the early 90s, and she had bought into that mindset. When I'd found the Atari hanging around the house, though, she'd been willing to let me try it, and when she saw how despondent I was upon its' death, she already knew it was too late and couldn't bear seeing me so sad. Since then, my younger brother and even Mom herself have grown into avid gamers, and we've held the medium in high regard in this household ever since.

But it all comes back to that Genesis, and the pack-in game. Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Chatzy Madness Volume 423: I Have To Turn Gabriella Into A Solifugid

Gooper Blooper: link
Gooper Blooper: evening
RubyChao: "Hotel Mario is a 1994 puzzle video game"
RubyChao: There is a non-zero chance Hotel Mario contains unforgivable sin.
Gooper Blooper: HEY YOU, GET OFFA MY CLOUD
Gooper Blooper: wait a second
Gooper Blooper: could THIS be the unforgivable sin:
Harpydia: yeah that's assault, bro
RubyChao: oh my god
RubyChao: assault and battery
RubyChao: theft
RubyChao: this is the moment where mario becomes destined for hell
Harpydia: truly a sadge moment
Gooper Blooper: he coulda spawned in the OverThere if not for this
Gooper Blooper: damnation it is

--- 

Gooper Blooper: https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/6895769
Jumpropeman: egg!
Gooper Blooper: https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/5209852
Jumpropeman: more egg!
Jumpropeman: when's her older sister join her in rp
Gooper Blooper: I unironically very briefly considered using Eggmaam as an antagonist for a Sonic-themed plot before realizing "no, this is just Eggette again" and scrapping it :V
Jumpropeman: why whats the problem with TWO eggettes-
Draco: Sage says they're copycat posers.
Gooper Blooper: I still find it suspicious that Sage popped up a few years after Eggette
Gooper Blooper: Sega had to have known about her...
Draco: Funny how Eggette hasn't been seen since... BI
Gooper Blooper: she was spotted this past May as a commentator for some big dumb robot fight where she revealed herself to be a stan for Chinkilla
Draco: ...hasn't been seen since...
Draco evacuates.

---

Draco: Two Dracgirls.
Gooper Blooper: I don't recall seeing the Archangel in RP, is this a reveal?
RubyChao: no, Draco used her as a faceclaim for the Mage General in agama
Draco: She had a minor role in Agama, faceclaim for Mage General Michaela Arcanjo. She's Silvania's step-daughter.
Gooper Blooper: Ah, yeah, we didn't see much of her
Gooper Blooper: totally forgot that character even existed
Draco: Yeah, she didn't do much.
Draco: She was a tertiary dueteragonist or something.
Jumpropeman: can you describe her with at least 30 adjectives?
Draco: Mean, rude, bullying, angry, bitter, sour, unhappy, commanding, domineering, dominating, magical, serious, busy, powerful, unimpressed, annoyed, steely, hardened, unforgiving, suspicious, untrusting, intelligent, clever, strategic, militaristic, hawkish, aggressive, brave, courageous, beautiful.
Jumpropeman: excellent, the first and most important zoofights rp wiki page can now be made
Jumpropeman: is she as beautiful as Ms. Fieldmouse though
Gooper Blooper: Ms. Fieldmouse's page got reworked at some point since JRM first found it and is a lot less unhinged in its' simping of her now
RubyChao: How dare.
Gooper Blooper: there's still this:
"Personality
Kind, caring, greedy, beautiful, attractive"
-but it doesn't call her "insanely sexy" any more
Draco: Nobody is THAT beautiful, JRM.
Jumpropeman: finally, modern hip Ms. Fieldmouse
Gooper Blooper: thanks, AI
RubyChao: Both Ms. Fieldmouse and Jacquimo the Swallow mention Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Jacquimo calls attention to the eponymous characters' impossible love, finding it romantic, while Ms. Fieldmouse comments in her song that their love was meaningless because it got them both killed.
However, Ms. Fieldmouse's allusion to Romeo and Juliet is actually incorrect, perhaps implying that she did not actually read the play: she says that they were "very much in love when they were wed" when actually the two lovers died before having the chance to get married (CORRECTION: Romeo and Juliet get married in Act 2, Scene 5 by Friar Laurence).
RubyChao: i like how they didn't bother to remove the incorrect one
RubyChao: but just add a correction
Jumpropeman: they didn't have any whiteout
Draco: The idea that Mrs. Fieldmouse might have not read Romeo and Juliet is very important to understanding her character.

Chatzy Madness Volume 422: Devote The Rest Of My Life To Mario

Gooper Blooper: https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/8165246
Jumpropeman: only 76 images?!
Jumpropeman: *sharon bankrupts herself getting ravio commissions*
Draco: Dang. I can't believe she bought two Ravio commissions.
Hooded Pitohui: link
Hooded Pitohui: I saw a big poster with Ravio on it while browsing Etsy the other day and I was so tempted to buy it
Jumpropeman: oh man, that is cool
Jumpropeman: look at Sheerow! <3
Gooper Blooper: where's sharon tho
Jumpropeman: bringing out tables so it doesn't have to be on the grass
Jumpropeman: link
Gooper Blooper: link link
Jumpropeman: nep sometimes shows up at the rental shop just to make sure sharon's not sacrificing babies or whatever
Draco: "Tapestry" is being generous.
Jumpropeman: redbubble's so called tapestries are a gold mine
Draco: Once in a while, Nep's sister shows up to try to get Gale to do something.
Gooper Blooper: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ickg9LkvgaU/hqdefault.jpg
Jumpropeman: even thinking burns calories you know
Gooper Blooper: "Game Gear never attended SeHaGaHa High, preferring to stay home watching TV all day."
Jumpropeman: she learned enough from tv
Jumpropeman: like all the best soda brands
Draco: I mean, Gale got the best girlfriend that way, so...
Hooded Pitohui: Almost forgot to actually schedule the epilogue because I got to thinking about Sharon
Jumpropeman: understandable pitohui
Gooper Blooper: kek

--- 

Gooper Blooper: small post, I'm wiped out
Draco: *gets the push broom ready*
Hooded Pitohui: I feel ya. It's late.
Draco: It's only 9:30. Y'all are wimps.
Draco: jk
Gooper Blooper: it's 1:30 PM in Japan
Gooper Blooper: got the whole afternoon ahead of us
Gooper Blooper: I'm gonna go take a Tokyo afternoon nap
Gooper Blooper: nite

---

Gooper Blooper: So here's something Chao might enjoy
Gooper Blooper: Lately I've been playing a Rampage-style game on Switch called "Terror Of Hemasaurus" where you attack cities while playing as a Godzilla knockoff, and early on your kaiju attacks start pretty close to NYC
Gooper Blooper: However, when you get to NYC, you only visit it briefly for a short level in which you target one specific building in Manhattan
Gooper Blooper: The next level has you abruptly change course to go to New Jersey and the tutorial/mission explanation guy says "you can go ahead and wipe this whole place out, no one will miss it"
RubyChao: PFFFFFFFT
RubyChao: ahahahahahaa, i love it
Harpydia: jersey devil cries
Gooper Blooper: Oddly enough despite the Switch having approximately five hundred million games on it, none of them are Rampage, not even the original via that massive "Arcade Archives" port series, so I'm glad this was here to fill the gap
Draco: Brutal.
RubyChao: well harpy
RubyChao: robot hell didn't HAVE to be in new jersey, yet it is
RubyChao: checkmate
Harpydia: jersey devil now promoted to new york devil
Draco: Trapped forever here in robot hell.

GB RP 2024 Character Breakdown

Doing something a little different this year for my post-RP blog - I'm going to go through the enormous cast of characters I brought to the table this year and give my thoughts on their performance this year. Including the plot characters and villains means my events will get discussed along the way, too.

While working on this list, I certainly noticed how many times a character either didn't get used much or only got one or maybe two plots added to their resume. This is what comes of having a cast that's too dang large, and it's increased my resolve to heavily trim down the Ensemble for Season 15 as I try to do more with less instead of dumping every cute girl I see into RP. From the hospital crew to the witches to the solos and duos to the characters that joined up with DALI, it seemed like everyone was fighting for scraps of airtime...

Stella
And then there was Hoshii freakin' Holdings, which is somehow stronger than ever. So strong that Stella gets to be above the jump break. Stella has gone from secondary character, to main character, to the point where she's outright my current flagship, the star of GB RP and probably one of the first characters you think of when you think of my writing. This isn't all just Stella herself, either, but the people who work under her, considering the company features multiple breakout characters who did more than expected this season. Stella herself is certainly a powerhouse at this point, though. More than just someone who attends a bunch of events, she's in the tier of someone like Dia or Dawn in that she actively organizes Kobber forces to align against problems. Also, due to the circumstances of Del's cancelled Tau plot and the point it reached before being cut short, she might have prevented a planetwide assimilation attempt with nothing but a sternly-worded warning, which is a completely insane trophy for her already-stuffed trophy cabinet. We are very lucky the cat boomer is a benevolent soul.

To the surprise of no one, Stella is coming to Argo, and a number of the ideas floating around in my head for some kind of plot or conflict in the next season directly relate to her, mostly in the form of some potential new competition.

Chatzy Madness Volume 421: Totally Zarjaz

Jumpropeman: https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/2251717
RubyChao: congrats on the girl, ginny
Mobile Draco: Cute :3
Gooper Blooper: Tiny Thief Is Obsessed With Giant Landfill That's Four Times Her Size
Jumpropeman: wish there were more pictures of zadanost
Gooper Blooper: gorgeous
Jumpropeman: time to get jisatsu on the horn
Jumpropeman: im so proud of the little thief that could, brine pushed her to the stars and she just kept trucking to a possible happy life because of it
Gooper Blooper: sometimes RP is just about making a cute girl happy
RubyChao: time for brine to do it AGAIN
Jumpropeman: i was particularly happy that ginny and zada connected on feeling like they were good as they are. I wonder if Zadanost would still be as she is if Ginny didn't tell her it's alright to be a trash heap and in fact, it's amazing
Jumpropeman has a lot of pent up happiness after last night's scene!
Gooper Blooper: I'm reminded of how every so often I'll go back and reread big pairing confirmation moments of my own just to smile at them
Gooper Blooper: Meredith/Rachel is a favorite, big surprise
Jumpropeman: i went back and reread some palette/cube lately
Gooper Blooper: The Cuddle Cube~
RubyChao: i need to do a few more of those to reread, clearly
RubyChao: my most recent one was two years ago!
Jumpropeman: i mean, chao, if you need a lady, i've got hot singles in your area
Jumpropeman: let's see...
Claire: taken. Kogasa: in progress. GBC: taken. Cube: taken. Miyoi: available, but a rare treasure. Yuuma: available. Pete: if that's your thing. Sinful: ... Prosperity: available. Ginny: <3 Vita: in progress ;) PSP: available Fiona: in progress. DALI: all available, so grab Uysnskow QUICK
Fussy Little BunBun: What about Zed
Jumpropeman: nobody's gone for the big guy yet
Gooper Blooper: he'd fall under DALI
Fussy Little BunBun: What about Dr Crygor
Jumpropeman: Crygor x Lady Science is hard canon
Mobile Draco: Miyoi is a forbidden fruit, too sweet to actually possess...
Brine: Very happy with that scene as well. Definitely feels like a culmination of all their sort of stuff... Full stop, Zadanost wouldn't have embraced her full Trash Crystal Elementalness but for Ginny, likely would've gone in the other direction slowly but surely over time. Brine RP is just a drive to make ALL the cute girls happy.

 --- 

Jumpropeman: "The robot chef drained her sausage" right in front of everyone?!
Jumpropeman: (sorry)
Gooper Blooper: XD
RubyChao: jrm pls

---

The Folks On Death Helicopters: "Oh, this is nice. The bacon, especially." I read this as "The bitcoin."
Gooper Blooper: delicious kromer
RubyChao: ?

---

Draco: Dorothy can't wait to try Sue's cake. B)
Gooper Blooper: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Draco: (ง ͠° ͟ل͜ ͡°)ง