Ahh, console video games (or vidcons as I call them). the ultimate medium of expression, able to convey any emotion ranging from hatred to love, loyalty to fear, all in front of our eyes. Ah, and with lovingly crafted art, music, and the ability to control the action, vidcons are the ultimate combination of the high arts. While I tend to play the stoic, I will be the first to admit that vidcons haven driven me to cry, to scream and shout, to feel actual hate; such is the power of this force beyond our wildest reckoning. And here I am, before you, to temp your tongues with the taint of such a tantalizing topic.
And the Japanese, the true geniuses behind the world of video games. Pah, I throw my scorn upon such incompetents of the West who would mock the true art of the Japanese with 'games' such as Baldur's Gate and Madden. Perhaps it is that the West is not as intelligent as the East, but this is a matter for another day. Japan has given us such masterpieces as the Final Fantasy series, Star Ocean, Wild Arms, and of course, Arc the Lad. Yes, some of the finest vidcons in the world were created by Japanese. I come to you today to ask you in all earnesty, what is your favorite vidcon? I will reveal mine after the grand debate has illustriously begun, but not before the first poster falls victim to my plot of discussion.
In other words, this is a thread on an imaginary forum our avatars frequent. The topic can fluctuate, and its mostly just general discussion.
Mercenary Anarchist Ace
I didn’t know where the word “Nikke” originated from, but we are designed to triumph over the Raptures so humanity can regain the surface, so yep, we can be confident that we can win!
Raptures are seemingly alien machines that descended from the sky and attacked humans, forcing them into stay underground from them.
Wait…like the Lunarians?
I don’t what know you mean, but maybe? 
Edited by MorganFoulke on Mar 11th 2023 at 4:24:37 AM
Yo buddies, still tropin’?
SheZow the Pal Tamer
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
x3
That moment when my brother’s arch-nemesis teams up with the antagonist of my favorite show.
Anyways, let me wake him up.
(20M) Time to get zowy with it and gotta go fast! https://shiverthermal.carrd.co/
Fairy-type Iris
So, do you guys think I would look good in a superhero costume? I've been thinking about what if I had Izuku's One For All Quirk and costume.
I think you would look great, Marnie. But I think it would be better if you stood out with a unique Quirk of your own.
Maybe you can design a costume of your own to see what it would look like, I guess.
"I usually specialize in Dragon-types, but now I'm a fairy and specialize in Fairy-types. See the irony?" - Iris
Extreme math nerd
[1]
That quote made my day. I'm kinda scared of visiting your homeworld now, though.
[2] Out of curiosity, how much can your kind still stargaze? Any idea where the Rapture could've come from?
Har har har
(x1) 
To be fair, the Castle is currently stuck in a time-bubble; and even by the time it's freed, it'll be firmly on Agatha's leash. So I think you'll be safe, at least in the areas under the empire's control.
Your faith in my Mistress gives me hope for this generation's entertainment value.
Ignore him. The continent has dangers, yes, but many of those dangers are held in check. In large part by us, in fact.
(x4) 
Is that so? Interesting. And you're protecting humans from these Raptures?
Edited by m-95 on Mar 11th 2023 at 5:19:05 AM
Please visit the "AITA" forum game
Tama May Cry 1: Toony Angelos
[1] Bettah huwwy, dose two baddies will cause some sewious twouble togethah!
Oh hohoho, I can't help to laugh at how Momotchi carefully avoided a rather naughty line. [2] That would be wonderful to see you in a superhero costume Marnie!
Edited by MkayRose on Mar 11th 2023 at 6:20:47 AM
Meet the Tamas!◊ Can't let any of those suckers live!
Business Youkai of the Mountain
Sounds a bit like my job, except I don't really leave survivors.
Extreme math nerd
Should I be concerned?
"What I don‘t like about measure theory is that you have to say 'almost everywhere' almost everywhere." - Attributed to Kurt Friedrichs
Har har har
"No survivors" always seemed like poor strategy to me. I mean, if you kill everyone, you'll eventually run out of people to kill, which kind of defeats the point.
Please visit the "AITA" forum game
Business Youkai of the Mountain
Not like I get interdimensional assignments so...
Well the point is I generally go in and wipe out what's left of the native civilization so the Decepticon Empire can work on cyberforming the place and/or take all the resources unopposed. Plus it means "one less organic species to threaten Cybertronian civilization" if you ask Tarn. Me? I prefer fighting opponents who can give me trouble but at this point there's not many who qualify. So it gets a bit boring.
Extreme math nerd
[1] That, and if you're looking for resources, then invading Earth (or any organic civilization) is wasteful and pointless. I can tell you for a fact that you'll be better off harvesting and processing Mars soil than going to Earth for a mining trip. Why bother?
Also, how the hell does your kind afford terraforming every planet that it comes across? My kind gets barely enough out of one solar system to build a Dyson sphere and the necessary construction infrastructure.
Albedo
Is nobody going to mention that genocide is ethically wrong?
“You carry the aura of the stars, interesting...”
Extreme math nerd
I don't think the Decepticons care about humans particularly. Which is why I'm trying to argue in terms of economic factors
hey hey
can i come over to that idiot's universe and give him a piece of my mind? please? pretty please?
...I'd advise against it. Though I might keep an eye out.
Edited by StepexNo2 on Mar 11th 2023 at 12:38:27 PM
"What I don‘t like about measure theory is that you have to say 'almost everywhere' almost everywhere." - Attributed to Kurt Friedrichs
Har har har
(x4)
Ah, so you're one of those "mass slaughter for practical reasons" types. Master Faustus warned me about you lot.
(x2) 
Well, Icarus is arguing with a clank/robot/whatever-the-word that probably only listens to it's programming. So I doubt the people who programmed a machine to commit genocide also programmed it with a sense of ethics. Cold statistics is probably the only thing it's going to listen to.
Precisely. For example, I'm only programmed with in-group selective ethics; I believe it's also called "Moral Myopia."
That's ... surprisingly honest of you, Castle.
Edited by m-95 on Mar 11th 2023 at 6:39:53 AM
Please visit the "AITA" forum game
Albedo
I mean, I understand that it’s not going to listen, but it should probably at least be put on the table. Genocide bad. Thank you for reading.
“You carry the aura of the stars, interesting...”
Business Youkai of the Mountain
[1] Hey not my fault that the Ark and Nemesis crashed there, getting Lord Megatron all fixated on the place. Anyway we don't cyberform every planet, just those we plan on sticking around on. I don't stay for the process but usually guys like Deathsaurus source raw material from distant regions of the galaxy and in a few centuries it's a nice little Mini-Cybertron. Helps we're not limited by things like "breathable atmosphere". Heard the Ancients could do it way faster with some kind of supertech but nobody remembers how.
[2] Ah thanks for reminding me why we don't like you fleshies. Always thinking someone made us or that we're slaves to some kind of programming. Well certainly no organic species made us, despite how much the Quintessons try to claim they did. Everyone knows we come from the Allspark, supposedly made by Primus himself to make us, sometimes accessed through Vector Sigma. It spits out new sparks which are then put in protoforms which then grow into a new Cybertronian like me. I was more of an atechnogenesis type myself until Primus' rival the dark god Unicron himself showed up one day and flattened a good chunk of Cybertron. Kind of hard to be an atheist after that.
Anyway, point is there's actual proof we have what you'd call "souls" (sparks sounds nicer if you ask me) but I haven't seen any fleshies with any so not quite sure we're the "soulless machines" here :)... Man I sound like some preaching freak like Tarn, ugh. I need to go crack some Autobot spark casings.
Oh and if you want someone who only cares about cold logic go bother Shockwave, except Unicron squished him, so don't.
Eh, when your war is going on longer than a lot of galactic civilizations have existed you get pretty numb to it.
Edited by shroobot3000 on Mar 11th 2023 at 2:01:25 PM
"That was a pointless encounter with a pointless person."
Extreme math nerd
So basically it's about stroking your own ego? Your kind is basically asking to get destroyed by a third party with these kinds of politics.
Also, wow, you're lobbing around a lot of names.
If I can chip in for a sec: I don't believe in souls, but your Spark thingy still leaves questions open, like: how do you make decisions? And in what capacity is that will "free", whatever that means?
"What I don‘t like about measure theory is that you have to say 'almost everywhere' almost everywhere." - Attributed to Kurt Friedrichs
Har har har
RE: (x2)
. . . Anyhow, RE:
I mean, we have something called "the Spark," but I feel like there's some dissonance in our languages if that's just your word for "soul."
I also know of some automatons (I keep having to remember that not everyone says "clanks") with a degree of sapience. But that just sounds like you were made and programmed by other machines instead of by humans. And what makes you say these machine-gods weren't made by humans? They all seem to have names in Latin, which is a human language.
Edited by m-95 on Mar 11th 2023 at 7:32:29 AM
Please visit the "AITA" forum game
Tama May Cry 1: Toony Angelos
Hahaha, nice.
You (Coffretchi) just couldn't resist to appreciate the Duke Nukem line thrown huh? Hehe.
Edited by MkayRose on Mar 11th 2023 at 8:54:29 AM
Meet the Tamas!◊ Can't let any of those suckers live!
Business Youkai of the Mountain
Heh, I like your attitude housebot.
Well first of all, we predate you little fleshies by about... millions of years. In fact I myself am older than human civilization by quite the big margin. War started about nine million years ago and I was there for it. If anything humans copied us.
Hey take it up with Lord Megatron- err, Galvatron. Not used to his new name and look yet. Or how much more unhinged he is nowadays. The Quints tried to be that third party but it's not working out for them.
As for "how I make decisions". Let's use me about 5 megacycles ago as an example. I thought "Hmm... how should I kill this Autobot? Should I use my wolf mode or my tank mode?" I then ended up deciding on tank, because I mauled his friend already two cycles before that, and blasted him into a molten pile of slag.
Edited by shroobot3000 on Mar 11th 2023 at 2:54:37 PM
"That was a pointless encounter with a pointless person."
Extreme math nerd
So, if you agree that the current Decepticon modus operandi is inefficient, wasteful and needlessly risky, why don't you try talking to Galvatron about it? If words don't work, you can clearly defend yourself - and if your leader really is that unhinged, then you might need a change in politics.
Your response doesn't answer my question of where the decisions are coming from - specifically, how the Spark forms decisions. For humans like me, it would be neurons firing biochemical signals at each other. For the types of AI that I'm familiar with, it's lots of weighted sigmoid functions. For the Spark... well, chaotic magic? Because if it really is non-deterministic magic, then maybe it might qualify as a soul.
Also, holy hell, you really derailed this discussion.
Edited by StepexNo2 on Mar 11th 2023 at 2:11:48 PM
"What I don‘t like about measure theory is that you have to say 'almost everywhere' almost everywhere." - Attributed to Kurt Friedrichs
Fairy-type Iris
I always thought any life form always has a soul, regardless of whether or not they are artificial.
Same here. As a Shinto follower, I think anyone can become a kami in the afterlife, even robots.
As a Transformers fan, I need to ask you something, Sixshot. What are your thoughts on Michael Bay's live-action Transformers movies?
Edited by clemont107 on Mar 11th 2023 at 8:22:34 AM
"I usually specialize in Dragon-types, but now I'm a fairy and specialize in Fairy-types. See the irony?" - Iris
Albedo
Here in Teyvat, souls definitely exist, because Visions are obviously real (I have one in my person as I type this). Visions being granted is directly reliant on the existence of a soul.
“You carry the aura of the stars, interesting...”
Business Youkai of the Mountain
[1] A few issues with that. When Lord Megatron gave us super warriors our upgrades to make us unstoppable, he was smart enough to put in a failsafe so he could disable us with ease. Makes our bodies lock up on a command only be knows. The other main issue is that Lord Galvatron's idea of "friendly conversation" is strangling whoever is currently in front of him, usually Cyclonus.
Anyway I don't know how spark mechanics work, beyond how much damage it takes for them to extinguish. Ask some scientist.
[2] ... who? I know Skullgrin had a stint as an Earth movie star thanks to his monstrous Pretender shell. Was this Michael Bay the director?
I'm not sure if you fellas remember this, but I'm in the middle reading a book by one of my generals about his time in the Siege of Mechanicsburg. HERE
is a link to my previous post on the topic; HERE
is a link to my first post.
I just started the 5th chapter, titled "The Doom Bell Rings." Now, each chapter of this book starts with a quote of some sort from another person. Most of the ones from the previous chapters were just generic quotes about war and politics.
But this chapter? The quote is, um . . . This is the quote:
~ Attributed to Princess Claudia von Blitzengaard (d. 1801), supposedly before her suicide after seeing Jägers with battering rams outside her palace's gates. Quoted in The Blitzengaard Principality in the Late XVIIIth and Early XIXth Centuries (Chase 1862, Paris).
Ooh, when I have the chance, I should have that engraved on one of my doors!
That's not all. There's a second quote here, too:
~ Attributed to the reanimated corpse of the late Claudia von Blitzengaard (c. 1801), supposedly after waking up in Castle Heterodyne. Quoted in ibid.
Hey, I remember her! Quite the comedian, that one!
Please visit the "AITA" forum game