This Week’s Topics:

• Rundown Preamble Ramble: TG and Turn Into A Girl
• Never 7 and Ever 17 Remasters Revealed (It’s Not a Remake Like They Said It Would Be!)
• Sony is Planning a Portable PS5 (The PlayStation Portal Was a Test Project)
• Natalie Fixates on Collection Contents (The Early GAMEBOY Days)
• Tariff Turmoil (Fear The Rulers Who Want to Destroy The Economy)
• Tencent Bought Kuro Games (They Develop Punishing: Gray Raven and Wuthering Waves)

---

Rundown Preamble Ramble:
TG and Turn Into A Girl

In working on the next TSF Showcase, I began to muse about something that I have acknowledged in the past and made semi-regular comments on. A certain, immediately perceptible, fixation across not only creators of TSF works, but transformation fantasy (TF) media as a whole. To once again provide my definitions: “TSF is a genre of fiction wherein a character undergoes a change in sex through fictitious or fantastical means. With the ensuing narrative, assuming there is one beyond the initial transformation, following how they adapt to these changes.” Not a perfect definition, but until Sajah gets the Wikipedia page up, it’ll do.

I am, naturally, a devout enthusiast to the world of TSF, as seen with my TSF Showcases, my own anthology series TSF Series, and my many novels that are heavily rooted in the genre. It is something I have been following for the majority of my life at this point, and while my views of it are by no means definitive, I am pretty darn experienced. I have seen projects come and go, witnessed a gradual rise in quality from creators as the genre grew. And I have seen how things adapted as the public’s understanding of sex, gender, and sexuality has become more sophisticated.

However, even with all the evolution the genre has undergone in the past 25+ years, it has never really gotten past a certain fixation that has dominated it since its inception. Ideally, any genre committed to exploring the differences in physical sex, secondary sexual characteristics, and the social constructs built around sex and gender, should be even-handed in its approach. It should focus on male characters gaining female bodies (MTF) and female characters gaining male bodies (FTM) in equal measure.

However, that is not the case, and never has been. I lack any quantitative analysis I can point to, but I would loosely estimate that about 80% of all TSF creations focus entirely on male to female experiences. This MTF perspective is so common that I have seen people say that they thought TG stood for ‘Turn into a Girl’ and that TSF stood for ‘TransSexual Feminization.’ Because, based on the overwhelming majority of TSF out there, that’s what it looks like. A thing where boys become girls.

Why is that the case? Well, a thorough answer would be a great subject for a research paper or thesis, but there are a few reasons that come to mind.

Throughout modern society, and basically all of history, the male and the man have been seen as the default. The standard, baseline form of what it means to be human. Meanwhile, the female and the woman have been seen as variants. As essential members for any society, but not necessarily equal ones either. And while strides have been made to correct the course across many cultures in the past century, it is a problem that lurks at the root of all human cultures. It is even reflected in the English terms used to describe them. Fe-male and wo-man.

Because the male is viewed as the default, the idea of a female becoming male is seen to lack a certain impact or tension. It is often not seen as a conflict, a burden, or a bane. For the female to become male, it means their position in a patriarchal culture is elevated, and they are absolved from the myriad burdens that come with living as a woman. The persistent sexism, the very real wage disparity that lurks between men and women, different gender-based standards in work ethics, demeanor, and appearance. Which is before getting into the physical burdens. Curves that, while good looking, can often get in the way or be a source of pain. Longer, higher maintenance hair, which is almost always depicted as a biological trait, when it’s not. And of course, dealing with menstruation from approximately ages 10 to 55 and all the fun that comes with it.

There’s actually a very telling ancient comic about this from TG artist Chess-Man (formerly ComX-1), Plea to TG-ers. I find it to be a deeply honest cultural artifact that speaks to the DeviantArt TG community’s perspective circa 2008, and their fixation on MTF. particularly the dialogue in the sixth panel.

“F2M doesn’t change anything! Just relieves girls from their pesky problems!” Which says a lot about how they view the male existence. As one free of problems, free of issues, and far more simple, more of a default, something to transform from, rather than something to transform into. 

This is, of course, wrong. While any sociologist worth their salt would point out how women, generally speaking, have it harder in basically every society in the world, only hacks would dismiss men having any issues. If being male was devoid of issues, then the sociopolitical climate of the world today would look very different. Masculinity can be hypocritical, confusing, emotionally stifling, and even dehumanizing. The term toxic masculinity is thrown around often, but the roots of the term stem from how being forced by a society to perform masculinity can be akin to poison. It is a cultural evil that eats away at the person, their mind, and their spirit.

…And that is all far harder for people to understand than dealing with periods, makeup, what sexism has colloquially meant for decades, and myriad things many women commonly or stereotypically complain about. 

There is also a very real visual perspective as well. Outside of writing and the niche of audio recordings, pretty much every form of TSF would be in a visual medium. And in a visual medium, people of all demographics like to see attractive young women. …Well, maybe not misogynistic gay men. People across the world have been conditioned since birth to find attractive young women to be desirable on some level, and if you want a more detailed explanation, ask a sociologist or gender studies major.

Furthermore, the female form is open to a greater level of visual variety. More shapes, sizes, styles, hair options, and clothing choices are seen as attractive. Meanwhile, any search for ‘handsome men’ will result in permutations of the same handful of men who all look kind of the same and are either wearing comfortable casual wear or a suit. The female form is broadly seen as more desirable, and that in turn affects what people want to see and what form artists want to project. Female bodies get more attention, it is easier to monetize, and people, just speaking in general, prefer to see it. 

All of which leads to my next point… TSF often features far more interesting female characters than male characters. MTF TG sequences almost always begin with a nondescript male or an established character before getting transformed into any number of things. Half of all TSF manga out there does not care what the male protagonist originally looked like. And there are countless examples I could point to showing a standard looking male character becoming someone who is at least intended to be more interesting. But for demonstration purposes, here is the most recent example that I have taken note of. An illustration by TF artist QuickCast depicting the male and female forms of their “artist persona/self insert.” 

As should be obvious, I am not bringing this up to mock or criticize QuickCast or their art. It is merely an example of a broader trend I have noticed.

These illustrations have the same pose, same outfit, and generally the same hairstyle. The only thing that really changes is the hair length, body shape, and introduction/retraction of eyelashes. But even with so few differences… the female version just looks far better. The male form of this character has a glaringly rectangular body, what would be seen as a more effeminate hairstyle for a man, and the skintight jumpsuit does not do them any favors. The violet coloring is generally considered feminine, though it could be seen as neutral or even masculine in some instances. Yet the outfit of a jumpsuit, with light accents, emphasizes the form of this person and… they just look like some dude. Not strong, not tall, not thin, not fat, just a guy with a stocky frame. The outfit tells me very little, and with both the hip accents and lines directing to their crotch, it does not look quite right on male QuickCast.

Meanwhile, the female QuickCast design is far more… curvaceous and voluminous. The hair is billowing and poofy, going down to their tailbone, with the hair band having a far more obvious purpose. Their frame is both considerably taller than the male counterpart and more geometrically interesting. Thighs, hips, ass, breasts, waist— their entire frame is cushioned and circular. The hip accents now have a purpose, and the crotch lines are pointing toward something that is appropriate, as the design is more overtly sexualized. As evidenced by some horny doodles the artist did a day later. (Now try to imagine some horny doodles of the male character…)

It’s not a great design. It’s clearly designed by an artist with more sexual or perverted fixations, but one is clearly more interesting and eye-catching than the other, and it is clear which form the artist prefers. 

However, this preference for the female form is also common in the broader world of TF, or Transformation Fantasy. A label that applies to any work where a physical/mental transformation is applied to someone or something. Which extends from turning someone into a different person. A box of cereal becoming a muscle-bound, hypnotized, anthropomorphic bird woman harem dancer. Or a super model based loosely on a real person being transformed into an inflatable pool toy that experiences sexual pleasure whenever somebody fills them with air, uses them in their intended purpose, or otherwise embraces them. TF can get weird, I love it for that, and there are plenty of male-to-male TFs out there, but there are definitely more female-to-female TFs out there. 

Third point is the matter of audience. In practical terms, TSF largely appeals to people who are fascinated by feminization and MTF transformations. However, just because someone is interested in MTF does not mean they are interested in FTM. In practice, the opposite is true, and that is not necessarily surprising. They appeal to different people, to different sexualities, and different fantasies. What is wish fulfillment or an erotic fantasy for one group will likely not be the same for another. It’s similar to how a novel about gay men will be fundamentally different and appeal to a different audience than a novel about gay women. They are both queer and gay literature, but that does not necessarily mean they would have much audience overlap. There will definitely be some overlap, but there likely would not be a ton of overlap in terms of readers or creators for that matter.

Still, this should mean that there would be a smaller yet comparable community of FTM enthusiasts, but there… aren’t. Why is that? Because of how TSF was originally established on the internet. Largely by dudes— and trans women— who were primarily interested in the feminization angle. When a community starts with such a strict majority, then it becomes difficult for things to balance out, and unless it can be divided, one side will likely overtake the other. And it has. Just to do a quick and easy comparison, Fictionmania hosts 48,057 stories, most of which are TSF— some of which are crossdressing, which is another kettle of fish— but only 2,308 female-to-male stories.

This distinction of preference is made all the more extreme given how much TSF media is erotic, if not pornographic. And most people want to see attractive women or attractive men when engaging in porn, not necessarily both. People who go to TG caption sites want to see photos of attractive women with stories attached to them. The majority of people interested in TSF are there to see women, and there are plenty of TSF enjoyers who will gloss over anything FTM. Because they are here for something sexy, and they don’t find men sexy. They find men turning into women sexy. …And among TF devotees, a lot of people just like seeing women transform into other stuff. From dragons with fat tits to a Boeing 747 to sultry mouse vixens. 

I understand the reasons for this, though I do think that if TSF creators want the genre to grow, they will need to find more ways to pursue FTM content. And not with odd offshoots like female to drag queen or female to femboy stuff, though that is important too. (Love ya Diggerman and FanterFane!) I mean taking cute or average girls and turning them into sexy men! Unfortunately, in order for that change to happen, people are going to want it, and I kind of doubt that enough people in the existing bastions of TSF really would. Especially with so many of the biggest creators being crowdfunded. Part of me wants to think there is just some secretive community of FTM enjoyers out there who use completely different terms, but… I kind of doubt it. I would’ve seen ’em by now.

Oh well. Guess I’ll just need to do my part and keep making TSF works with FTM elements in them. I don’t do it as often as I probably should, but I’m a trans woman, you can’t expect me to be as into FTM as I am into MTF!

---

Never 7 and Ever 17 Remasters Revealed
(It’s Not a Remake Like They Said It Would Be!)

And over a year and a half later, the scrolls have proven to be true! 

Back in March 2023, remakes of Never 7: The End of Infinity (2000) and Ever 17: The Out of Infinity (2002) were announced. A pair of visual novels from acclaimed and defunct developer KID that serves as proving grounds for developers of games like Zero Escape, AI: The Somnium Files, Root Double: Before Crime * After Days. I celebrated this news at the time, as these games have been on my to-play list for way too long, and assuming a remake is good enough, it could be better than futzing around with old PC software. Well, particularly for Never7, which was never released. Hirameki’s official localization of Ever 17 seemed to work just fine, if you are okay with chunky resolution issues.

I similarly understood why these were going to be remakes, as the games are ass-old, and VNs of that era typically do not receive bog standard re-releases. …But as it turns out, we are running into a re-whatever terminology kerfuffle yet again! This project is actually just a remaster of Never 7 and Ever 17, the games being largely kept as is, barring some visual changes. Because there are always visual changes. 

The alterations to the HUD are fair enough, with the remaster being more minimalistic. It is a bit lacking in personality, but it’s functional. However, the artwork has been subject to some less than stellar upscaling technology. (I’m not calling it AI upscaling, because nobody was calling Waifu2x AI when it first appeared on the scene.) Now, I understand why upscaling is necessary in cases like this, and I would encourage game developers to use whatever tools they can to minimize their workload. However, quality is essential at the end of the day, and just from the sample screenshots, I can already see problems with this. The devil’s in the detail, and small features on certain outfits just do not look right when upscaled, as the software does not understand what letters are or what clothing is. It just tries to correct shapes.

The clothing of Sora Akanegasaki and Yubiseiakikana Tanaka from Ever 17 has notable smudging from this upscale. While the backgrounds in Never 7 are just… bad looking. It looks like they were just thrown into Waifu2x, upscaled 1.8x, and cropped to fit in a 16:9 aspect ratio. And with the particular art style of these backgrounds, they just do not lend themselves for upscaling in the same way. 

Now, I understand why this is the case. KID shut down in 2006, the source code for these games is likely lost, let alone the original high res art files, and this is the best they could do given the budget they had. …Which was probably just enough to bring the game to a modern engine, redo the UX, upscale the assets, do QA and testing work, and fund a localization.

Yes, a localization! Both Never 7 and Ever 17 will feature English and traditional Chinese localizations. Never 7 was never officially released in English, so it’s going to be a new translation. Ever 17 did get a localization from Hirameki in 2005. It was good for its time, but I don’t think it can be used. In part because I was wrong earlier. This is not actually a remaster of Ever 17 (2002). Instead, it is a kitbash between the original and 2011 Ever 17 remake released for Xbox 360. Which was bad. 

Not only were the sprites replaced with subpar 3D models, they brought in new writers who changed many elements of the story, and made it far worse. This is some uber niche stuff that only the few thousand Japanese/English speakers who care about obscure VNs would realize, and is easy to misunderstand, given the terms used to describe these games. But this is also just a straight up bad idea that will upset fans of the original release of Ever 17, and give the game a bad reputation. 

So… I guess support the official release and then hit up abandonware sites to play the original Ever 17 release and never buy these console versions, because they are based on a bad version. Sure, I always want to support the official release, but I also want the official release to be better than what you could get on abandonware sites for 15 years. This is such bullcrap for the VN that popularized the term visual novel and got many people invested in the genre.

Additionally, it is odd that this is just a package of two games, rather than the entire series, or at least why does this release omit Remember 11: The Age of Infinity (2004). A body swapping investigation game that is primarily led by a female protagonist. …DAMN IT! I could have had such good synergy transitioning into Remember 11 with that preamble! 

Why would they snub this title, and not re-release it now? Because Mages is likely planning on making this a two volume release. They have not said as much, but the official website is for the Infinity Series Remaster. Most likely the second entry will feature Remember 11 along with 12 Riven: The Psi-Climinal of Integral (2008). A spin-off of the series that was originally developed by the same creators at KID before development shifted away to CyberFront. It was not really considered to be part of the trilogy that fans claimed the Infinity series was, but it is possible that Mages views things differently. …Ah crap, there was also Code_18 (2011), which had a really lame 2010-ass art style and supposedly wasn’t very good. I don’t think people actually care about that one.

Anyway, Never 7 and Ever 17 will be released internationally for PS4, Switch, and Steam on March 6, 2025. Though, it strangely took Spike Chunsoft half a day to announce that they were publishing it in the west. I guess nobody was in the office on a Sunday night…

---

Sony is Planning a Portable PS5
(The PlayStation Portal Was a Test Project)

I do not like the fact that the PlayStation Portal is a thing. I get that it fulfills a certain desire in the market and people generally enjoy handheld gaming now that they can play real games on it. As opposed to handheld games, which were routinely viewed as lesser by culturally moronic western gaming pundits from 1989 to 2016. All before Nintendo tricked people into thinking that a tablet was a home console. When it is just a tablet.

Now, my problem with the PlayStation Portal was that it was a strictly streaming device, and just a waste of resources. It was just a way to play PlayStation 5 games elsewhere in one’s home, when people could already do that via their damn phones and a controller grip. Sure, the Portal’s quality was better, but it was a $200 luxury product with a use case I did not understand. Then again, I am someone who hates being in my bed. Let alone doing stuff in it. And I have not hooked up a game console to a living room TV since… 2011, when my sister wanted to play my Wii for some reason.

The system had a lot of problems, such as how one could not stream games to the device via PlayStation Plus. Which made no sense. But earlier this month it introduced the feature to stream over 120 PS5 games. …Which just makes this omission all the more frustrating!

I am still baffled that Sony saw the success of the Switch and decided to not make a portable PS4 as a $400 handheld. It would be expensive, sure. But having access to a library as robust as the PS4 would be immensely impressive, sell millions, keep people invested in the PlayStation ecosystem, and keep developers cranking out PS4 games. Which would be good for Sony, as they make money on game sales, not hardware sales. Sure, the PlayStation Portal is no slouch, it has consistently sold the units Sony has shipped out to stores. But a PS4 Portable would have been amazing! …Especially if they figured out a way to get it to play PS1, PSP, and Vita games. 

…I just remembered that Sony did not let people buy or play PS1 games on their flagship consoles for almost a decade. Gosh do I not like their current management.

Now a year after the Portal’s release, Sony seems to be pivoting toward what they should have done in the first place. According to Bloomberg, Sony is currently in the early stages of developing a portable PS5, based on the technology of the Portal. …Well, better late than never I guess.

Portable games systems have undergone their own revolution over the past few years, and it is frankly a bizarre situation. Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, ROG Ally, oodles of handheld PC attempts, PlayStation Portal, Analogue Pocket, the deluge of third party emulator handhelds, and the Playdate. You know, in addition to phones. Combined this with a confirmed Xbox handheld in development and this news about a portable PS5… I don’t know what to make of this.

I tend to be very minimalistic when it comes to my devices. I just have my PC, my phone, my Xbox controller, my printer, my label printer, and my monitors. I don’t need anything else, and I do not want anything else. Getting rid of my game collection last year really showed me how little I wanted any tat, and even after moving into a WAY bigger house, I have not bought any additional devices. …Aside from my to-be-delivered NAS, but that’s a different story. 

I get the whole desire to return to devices with fewer purposes instead of a wonder slab that can do just about everything, but not particularly well. (I cannot believe that the iPhone, successor to the iPod, is a bad MP3 player. Just… what the fuck?) But this level of production just strikes me as… silly. Gaming has had a platform overabundance problem for quite some time, and this is just going to make things worse.

---

Natalie Fixates on Collection Contents
(The Early GAMEBOY Days)

I will never quite get why re-release collections feel the need nowadays to withhold certain information instead of just announcing every game within them upon its announcement. Yes, it does leave room for time-wasting speculation, engagement, and masturbatory thought exercises of an untenable reality. However, that’s not really a good thing, now is it?

Anyway, I talked about Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection when it was first announced back in February. Musing about what games it could include, how the games were trading card RPGs, rather than simulations of card games a la most modern games based on trading cards. But per a box art leak, people now know what games will be included… and it’s just a bunch of GameBoy and GameBoy Advance games.

• Duel Monsters (1998) – JP Only
• Duel Monsters II: Dark Duel Stories (1999) – JP Only
• Monster Capsule GB (2000) – JP Only
• Duel Monsters III: Dark Duel Stories (2000) (Yes, they reused the same subtitle from the second game for the localization of the third game. Konami!)
• Duel Monsters 4: Battle of Great Duelist (2000) – JP Only
• Dungeon Dice Monsters (2001)
• The Eternal Duelist Soul (2001)
• Duel Monsters 6 Expert 2 (2001) – JP Only
• The Sacred Cards (2002)
• Reshef of Destruction (2003)
• Worldwide Edition: Stairway to the Destined Duel (2003)
• World Championship Tournament 2004
• Destiny Board Traveler (2004)
• 7 Trials to Glory: World Championship Tournament 2005

14 bloody games. Every Yu-Gi-Oh game released for the GameBoy and GameBoy Advance, with the exception of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Duel Academy (2005) and Yu-Gi-Oh! Ultimate Masters: World Championship Tournament 2006. Both of which would probably best be reserved for a Yu-Gi-Oh GX collection that will probably never happen. (I really need to start watching Yu-Gi-Oh GX with Cassie. That series was so much fun!)

However, this collection omits the beloved console fare like Forbidden Memories (1999), The Duelists of the Roses (2001), Dual Duelist Destinies (2005), Monster Capsule: Breed and Battle (1998), The Dawn of Destiny (2004), or Falsebound Kingdom (2002). …Just kidding! People only care about the first two, and the third one is fake! 

Now, these omissions make complete sense to me. Konami only wanted to focus on the GameBoy era of games, and not touch the rest of the series. They already have a quality GameBoy and GBA emulator provided by M2 after the Castlevania Anniversary Collection (2019) and Castlevania Advance Collection (2021). However, PS1 and PS2 emulation is far in a way trickier than GBA emulation. I mean, shit, people were booting GBA games on emulators before the system was even out! And if Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1 proved anything, it’s that a ‘zero frills emulation’ of a PS1 or PS2 game is unacceptable. It does not need to be DuckStation or PCSX2 levels of quality, but it needs to at least look clean and crisp. At least give it a Pikmin 1+2 style touch up, don’t present that shit in 240p because it’s authentic. Ya smelly poop!

…Though, it would be bonkers if they just never release Forbidden Memories and Duelists of the Roses. Forbidden Memories sold 2.5 million, making it the best selling game in the series. At least based on the figures I could find. Roses sold 1.44 million— not the best, but PS2 games cost a lot more than GBA games back in the day. It would be silly to make a collection for just these two games… but it would make a profit. 

---

Tariff Turmoil
(Fear The Rulers Who Want to Destroy The Economy)

Oh dear, oh bother. 

So, one of my biggest anxieties this past week has centered around the insane ideas of the recently elected president. Yeah, not looking forward to that consuming the next four years of my life, the stress aging me a decade in less than half that time. The latest news, as posted on his White Supremacist watering hole, is an intention to not only impose immense tariffs across long-standing trade partners, but impose an obscene 25% tariff on US’s biggest and most important trade partners. Canada and Mexico. And a 35% tariff on Chinese imports.

Why? Because he’s a psychotic fascist who wants to watch the world burn, and the Nazis have an opportunity to seize the Capitol. But for real this time. God, history is being written by some absolute hacks. If you wanted to do the Nazi uprising, actually stage the execution of democracy on January 6, 2021. Don’t just pussyfoot around for four-fucking-years and then dick slap the people right when a better future seems possible. It’d be more respectable to just say that rocks fell and everybody died. Like an OG, IDGAF, softball-sized-nuttz king would’ve done.

Also, maybe he wants to fund the deportation efforts that WILL NOT WORK, unless the US makes literal concentration camps. Not internment camps. Hell, I’d say even that is inefficient. Why bother with the homes, beds, food, water, or forced labor? If murder is the goal, don’t even bother wasting any bullets! Just put them in a pit, give them nothing, livestream them slowly die of dehydration. And when batch one is done, shove batch two on top of them. Then batch 3, 4, 5, 6, and if there is ever too much, you know what humans are? Flammable!  Just a sprinkle of oil, a single match, and bam, fastest mass murder ever! And you want to stream that to the world, forcing Twitch and YouTube to show it, and only it, and shutting down all operations, under threat of having their offices bombed! Do that and then you will prove to the world that Genocide Works™!

Akumako: “Holy shit, Natalie. if you keep saying shit like that, you will just bleed all your readers.”

Yeah! I just prevented anybody from ever citing or referencing the top preamble by association. Oh well~! 

In all seriousness, this would have devastating consequences for the US economy, wreck the global economy, and ultimately lead to a lot of rich people losing a lot of money, while others lose everything! So many people are living from paycheck to paycheck and have no savings that this would just destroy them. Everybody would use this as an opportunity to increase the prices for everything, no matter the source. And this would usher in a profound economic destruction that will make The Great Depression seem like The Great Recession. And as a kid, I didn’t even notice The Great Recession!

The housing crisis would get worse, people would be kicked out of their homes and sent on the streets, where the ugly-pig-bastard cops would round them up to jail for loitering or some shit. People would not be able to afford food, forcing them to steal it or starve. Countless small businesses would crumble, millions of jobs would disappear, and the stock market would have an 80 degree crash because nobody in the US can buy shit!

Will I be able to withstand this hit? …I mean, probably. People will still need to file their taxes, so I will still make money. I bought a bunch of stuff in advance— hygiene stuff, toiletries, shampoo, clothes to replace the ones that are falling apart. I got a backup monitor, extra RAM, and two 4 TB NVME SSDs, so I should be good for computer stuff. I have tried to pick up every high value item I could. And I already talked about my ample savings.

But holy shit does this leave me paranoid about maintaining all my investments and finding the best way to preserve my money. Because people will start panic buying and panic selling if this goes through, and I don’t want my damn investment accounts to go to hell!

Now, part of me is convinced this will not happen, and is just a way of Mr. Nazi Clown throwing his weight around, trying to make a stir and get a favorable deal with Canada and Mexico. Because not only would this hurt biological humans, this would hurt nearly every corporation as a massive swath of the economy becomes unable to buy things. People would stop buying clothes, stop going out to eat, stop buying new electronics, stop going out and doing things, and squalor in newfound poverty as they lose the resources needed to support themselves.

And you know what that also means? Less tax revenue, reduced GDP, and a lot of angry-ass people who will be pissed at the guy who implemented the tariffs. And while America has a lot of people whose brains have been broken by a system of engineered ignorance and lies, this is not something you could spin as not being caused by tariffs. …Wait, no, what the fuck am I saying? Stupidity and ignorance has been engineered so successfully some people started believing in fucking weather machines!

---

Tencent Bought Kuro Games
(They Develop Punishing: Gray Raven and Wuthering Waves)

Ah beans. Gotta add this one last bit because somebody thought to actually announce something on a Saturday!

Tencent, the monolithic consumer of all things video games, has acquired a majority stake in fellow Chinese games company Kuro Games. A developer who has made a name for themselves with the character action gacha Punishing: Gray Raven (2019) and Wuthering Waves (2024). Games that can be both derisively described as a Honkai Impact 3rd (2016) copycat and a Genshin Impact (2020) copycat.

This makes complete sense, as Tencent wants to appeal to all corners of the market, and while they are pumping out oodles of live services, this is acquiring an ongoing live service that might need some additional capital injection. Now, Wuthering Waves made a splash (haha) when it first launched, but has not retained a playerbase or spender base like the developers would have hoped. It made $150 million in its first six months, but in the world of AAA level live services, that might not be good enough. Or maybe Tencent does think this is enough. I don’t really have the information to tell what the cause was!

Despite this purchase though, Tencent claims they will be hands-off in managing the company, letting them operate business as usual— albeit with a nice cash injection. However, this is yet another smaller company getting gobbled up by a massive conglomerate, and you folks just know how much I hate to see that! 

---

Progress Report 2024-12-01

God I miss when Mental Crash was a comic author instead of being a self-described “femcel” who does raffles for wack-ass themed fetishes. It will never be summer at this rate! I still remember reading Mirror’s Cycle in 2011, and it was DOPE. Definitely one of the works that made me realize that ‘oh shit, you can do WILD THINGS with TG!’ Should I do a TSF Showcase on it? Maybe?

For the header image here, I originally wanted to use the banner for the defunct DeviantArt group, Turn-Into-A-Girl, which was drawn by OG TG artist and group co-founder Gomyugomyu. However, the group was removed, Gomyugomyu deleted their DeviantArt, and I could not find the original artwork used for this banner, which is seared into my memory. However, in 2015, Gomyugomyu released a piece that looks very similar to the original banner. So much so that I thought it was the banner when I went to investigate my archives. Also, Gomyugomyu goes by mogmog on Pixiv, and they now double as an artist with a cute yet limited style to an AI smut generator. 

---

DAMN! I forgot to listen to Thanks Giving by RA MU, one of the best Japanese pop albums of all time, on Thanksgiving! Especially if you just bolt the extra 5 songs that were never included as part of an album. Why the frick is this not part of my focus playlist? Because it is too good!

Also, fun Nat fact, but I used to often listen to music when masturbating back when I had a penis, and this was the album I was listening to while doing my final session. I no longer masturbate to music these days, because I can only get off if I am lying in my bed. It’s a blood flow thang. And stupid Apple ditched the headphone jack! No, I will NEVER get over that, you stinky poo-poo heads! Screw you and your garbage wireless earbuds! Panasonic Ergo Fit 4 Lyfe!

---

lol. Crossed Signals and Coffee Buns reviews will come out when the games are done. But for now, lol. Gender is hilarious. Hopefully it isn’t banned.

Also, as a reminder, I am a weird trans person in that I do not really care about my looks, or being hot. So long as I exist and have a face, I won’t be happy with it, and that’s OK!

---

SEE! I warned you Cap! I WARNED YOU! And that Split ‘Keisuke & Britney’ Route will never happen. I’ll bet $1,000 on that. But yeah, Espeon really did drop the ball with re:Dreamer. CapCap is a brilliant person, and I love them, but they need someone to remind them that water is wet and the ceiling is up. At least they’re better than my 66-year-old boss.

---

2024-11-24: Wrote 3,800 words for the Rundown, the preamble, the Never7/Ever17 bit, and the PlayStation Portal bit. Would have done more, but Cassie wanted to watch Terminator 2, Ice Age 2, and Ice Age 3 in one day. I love Cassie, but that took like 5.5 hours in total! Movies were good though. Which means I didn’t read dinny bupkis for The Wotch!

2024-11-25: Polished up some stuff, adding 200 words to… some bit, wrote the Yu-Gi-Oh bit for 500 words. Read almost half of The Wotch and did some more file organization. You see, I just backed up the dang website for this, as I wanted to ensure I was using the highest quality files possible, as some of these are real stanky!

2024-11-26: Wrote 900 word tariff bit and started writing the big 2024 Ramble, like 600 words or so. Still in planning stages, so it’s hard to quantify and stuff will get butchered. Wanted to read more of The Wotch, but I just ran out of steam. Also, I had another extended work day after a 17:30 meeting gave way to more work and my sister came over for an hour in a surprise visit. So I didn’t even start reading The Wotch until like 23:30. And that comic is DENSE! 

2024-11-27: More Wotch! I’m legit impressed at how much cleaner later parts of the story are. Just a lot more focused and driven. Still not bloody done with it though! 

2024-11-28: Finished The Wotch. Realized I was MISSING a material amount of content that has been relegated to lost media, and wrote 1,500 words for the START of the Showcase. (Lord help me rape my soul…) Had Thanksgiving dinner with my father’s side of the family, it was quaint but nice, the turkey was good. Then edited this Rundown. I had a headache, so I did not return to The Wotch after getting stuff done. Probably some bad smell from my grandma’s house, or irritation from her damn cat. I’m allergic to cats.

2024-11-29: Woo! 6,300 words for The Wotch Showcase! And I’m only six issues in. DAMN! This is going to be the longest Showcase yet… and that is appropriate. Still gonna be a two-parter, ‘cos fuck y’all. Honestly, having a lot of fun with it so far.

2024-11-30: Had to help my mother with some things and spent nearly 4 hours goofing off with my lovely Cassie, watching the adorable Haruka Nogizaka’s Secret. But I managed to get another 4,000 words into The Wotch showcase. So that’s cool! Finished season one, and will probably split this puppy into three, because that’s easier.