a sophielicious year in review

as maia crimew said, its probably illegal to have a blog of some sort and not write a year in review, so i figured that i myself even if i didn't have the groundwork and html of my own posts all set up, i also wanted to join the fun and write about some of my favorite things I've consumed this year, let it be of note that not all of these are gonna be things released in 2024 so don't get spooked when i bring up any old game

Game spotlight: malcatras' maiden

Malcatras maiden is an adult horror visual novel made by nadianova and released in may of 2024, and treats topics the likes of parental abuse, sisterhood, cults, sexual harassment, and maids with dope magic powers.
You can see my full review of it here but tldr, malmaid is a brilliantly told story that hit me hard in the feelings and in the cock, and that if you feel like you can stomach it, you should go play right now. lilliana is just like me fr (sad)!

Franchise i got into this year: persona

I've been on the modern internet the past few years, I know what Persona is. but not recently until my friend started replaying persona 4 golden for himself did i not give the series a chance
Unfortunately I am what you will call a newgen, as the first game I played was Persona 3 Reload, but I genuinely wouldn't have it any other way. such a beautifully hand crafted game, And I don't care what anyone says, afterwards i played persona 4 golden and yet again i had a blast, probably even more so than playing persona 3, man is this a feel good game to me, coupled with the fact i played it over the hot breezy summer and thought about it constantly and listened to the soundtrack repeatedly during my short vacation time overseas it's safe to say i gained a life long memory here, i now deeply associate persona 4 with the summertime.
I sadly didn't start persona 5 because i was entering a very busy and frankly dark period of my life and i simply didn't have the time or energy to sit through the whole game but pretty safe to say I'm planning on playing 5, 3 portables femc route, 2 and even 1 if my monkey brain can figure it out

Franchise i got back into: Pokemon

Pokemon is one of those things that has never actually left my brain, but I'd say that around 2020 my interest in pokemon laid dormant so to say and made way for sparkly new media i picked up around that time, not to say i stopped liking pokemon, i still loved it and i kept up with the entries but without much thought put into it, thatbis until the famous teraleak caught my attention and boy am i glad she's back with me
when the leaks were first happening i paid not much attention to it, i saw my friends post about it on discord from time to time but it never grabbed me until one fateful day, where i was sandwiched between two baddies at the fucking ikea no less (they just opened one here in colombia and i just needed to go it was like meeting a celebrity), until i don't even remember why but i decided to take the L and check twitter on the fucking browser app on my phone because i had twitter uninstalled at the time. safe to say i killed any sexual tension in the air as i was violently shaking at the pandora's box that was in front of me, and after that fateful day me and pokemon got un-divorced and its safe to say: we are so fucking back baby
Many new blessings and curses alike came to light during the so blessed leak period, anything from the actual fucking mythology of legendary Pokemon, Cyrus autism diagnosis, and the new 9/11 for people who hate pokephilia jokes, but im kind of ashamed to admit that what yanked me back into the world of pokemon was a 4chan thread reposted on twitter that claimed to lay out the plot of pokemon legends Z-A and that now that i have a clearer head i can admit with a tail between my legs that its clearly fake, some my uncle works at nintendo type shit. But what grabbed me by the neck like a baby kitten and threw me right in the trenches was one passing little phrase probably no one but me gave a fuck about, that's right, the claim that looker and most importantly, my dear wife anabel would be coming back.
now anabel has been my beloved and favorite all time pokemon character since about 2017 but my brain also put her in dormancy around mid 2020, i still thought about her from time to time but i never stopped to smell the lilacs, but oh fucking boy when i read that passage, and if youre one of my dear friends you will atest to this, i was GEEKED OUT, immediately all my feelings came back like a beam of divine intervention. Now with all the sadness and shame in the world i know that i may not get my dream plot revolving around her, I didn't even get a character sheet leaked for her when the sun and moon ones came out for god's sake, but there's still holding out hope that the interpol gang will make their appearance in z-a to some capacity after years of no postgame cameos, and if not, you got me for brainrot as always, i replayed pokemon moon for the umpteenth time and my flop era is back, the pokeshrine and anabel shrine are coming, trust (writing is hard. Can you tell that writing is hard for me?)

Movie spotlight: i saw the tv glow

I cant say what hasn't already been said but better about isttvg, it's a beautiful piece of art and a fucking life changing experience, holy actual fuck the things i felt while watching this movie are indescribable, im not eloquent enough to write a pitch to you, sadly, and i kind of feel bad for having this segment be so incredibly short, but what i can say is that if you're transgender, or have been considering if you're transgender, you have GOT to watch this movie, i cant recommend it enough, there is still time

Movie i watched the most this year: Raggedy ann and andy a musical adventure

ANOTHER 20 TRILLION TO RAGGEDY ANN AND ANDY A MUSICAL ADVENTURE
according to letterboxd, Ive watched this movie 4 times this year, and before you come out and say rookie numbers, first of all i know and second of all, i dont fucking watch movies like ever, so thats insanity levels for me, plus i dont put it past me that one night or two i fell asleep with it on the background or something, im sure that it being readily available on youtube helped with that
Raggedy ann and andy a musical adventure is a work of art that showcases the wonders that you can do just with 2d handdrawn animation, you can every single frame was drawn with pure fucking love, this movie toy story if it was good and im 100% serious, the psychedelic visuals and banging songs, plus the adorable characterization of the titular siblings or raggedy ann and andy plus their friend the camel with the wrinkled knees make this the perfect movie to watch whenever im feeling down, highly recommend, as said before its fully uploaded on youtube with 0 midroll ads for your viewing pleasure, courtesy of the thief and the cobbler archive official
(second most watched movie is probably challengers btw….the kissing scene is my heroin)

Album of the year: The new sound by geordie greep

I thought that my favorite album this year would have been Tyler the creators new album that i awaited so hard, but in came sweeping mr greep to take that spot from poor little chromakopia, and fuck is it GOOD
Admittedly i am a newgen to Greeps body of work, I had never listened to black midi once before my exposure to the new sound, but it only took me stumbling into this albums single “Holy, holy” for me to fall in love with this album, i deeply apologize to my dear beloved boyfriend for having this song on loop CONSTANTLY. The instrumental work on this album is divine, although admittedly I don't get the people who say this is completely foreign sounding to them, as the instrumentation of songs like “terra” sound just like the kinds of things you'd hear being blasted from a speaker here in Latin america.
regardless, the thing that captured me the most are the lyrics, holy fuck the lyrics!! If you want my pitch on this album, its all about a man with probably a few divorces under his belt and some sort of diagnosis in at least one cluster-b disorder who falls head over heels in love with a prostitute. The “plot twist” or so to say in holy, holy is what got me hooked on this album, but i gotta say that my favorite songs lyric-wise are “trough a war” and “as if waltz”, GOD as if waltz got me fucked up bro, can't recommend enough.

Favorite art piece i made this year: the nativity (dec 24)

click to view the full

If you cant tell this is indeed Pokemon fanart that slightly references paintings of the birth of Jesus Christ, who let me cook. Regardless of that im very VERY proud of how this turned out, looking back at my old art and comparing it to this it warms my heart to see how far I've come, i even drew a background and had fun with it for god's sake! close second is probably this teddie redraw and another 20 trillion for anabel

In conclusion, and my personal experience with the year

to say 2024 was a difficult year for me would be an understatement, this year punched me and roughened me up quite a lot but to say that it only brought hardship would be a complete lie. Unlike my other rough periods, which I'd describe as me being flung by the currents, this year I'd say that I instead swam upstream, and against all odds, I have made it to the top of the waterfall like a beautiful…salmon? don't let me write metaphors again, anyways, this year was, to me, defined by a deep sense of bravery and a strong will to live, sure, life threw so much shit at me, and i sometimes felt like giving up, but i actually made an effort to try and get better instead of wallowing and letting it pass like i always did, this year i've come very far mental-health wise, I've identified the cores of many of my mental freakouts, and even if uncovering those memories was very painful at first, the pain was a little necessary to develop coping strategies and identify whenever im spiraling, that's way more than i could say about myself a year ago.
Enough about me, Id like to thank my Amazing boyfriend for being next to me all this time, thanks for the reminders to eat and breathe, i mean it. And my amazing friend group for being there whenever i needed a place to yell out my frustrations, i'm sorry if it ever got too much, and thanks for always being so patient and gentle with me every time i got sad, i love you guys
And thank you, the reader, for reaching the end of this blog post! i wish you a happy new year from the bottom of my heart and i hope we all have an amazing 2025!

- sophie

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