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X-Fusion Review: A Beautiful Lie

This review—which I will be keeping relatively short (under thirty pages)—is for  X-Fusion  (2025), a "total conversion" romhack [1] for  Super Metroid  (1994) and  Metroid Fusion  (2002) by  Metaquarius . It is  not  a thematic analysis of the game or its textual elements (for  that , refer to my series of essays, " X Marks the Spot ," 2025). Instead, it covers the base game; i.e., as something to play and watch, and in similar ways to the old interviews I conducted for my initial PhD research (re: " Mazes and Labyrinths ," 2021). While I  have  played the game, myself, much of this review was gleaned by watching a variety of  Metroid  speedrunners suffer on YouTube and Twitch (the three primarily featured here being  CScottyW ,  Oatsngoats  and Shiny Zeni ); i.e., because I am  not  a speedrunner but  do  research Metroidvania as games  to  speedrun. As for the game its...
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Hailing Hellions: An Interview with Goddess Asterin

This interview is for "Hailing Hellions," a Q&A series where I interview sex workers (or ex-sex workers) who have modeled for me and my  Sex Positivity*  book project. Today's guest is Goddess Asterin ! This is the SFW version;  click here  for the SFW-version interview compendium! *The longer title being  Sex Positivity versus Sex Coercion, or Gothic Communism: Liberating Sex Work under Capitalism through Iconoclastic Art  (2023). Part of an overarching movement that connects sex positivity to what I call "Gothic (gay-anarcho) Communism,"  Sex Positivity  essentially provides a hybrid; i.e., one established between academic (Gothic, queer, game and Marxist) theories, and wherein  applied  theory towards  universal  liberation is achieved by challenging Capitalist Realism (the inability to imagine a world beyond Capitalism) at a grassroots level. To it, Gothic Communism specifically occurs through direct mutual worker actio...