#'season 9 was a return to quality' you might say.

[thosewildcharms]

can i just say. and this is obviously my bias at play here but. rick and michonne's absence was sorely felt when they left the walking dead but by contrast the only characters from the mothership i want to see on the ones who live are their children lmao

[tomwambsmilk]

Alright, here's my actual reasoning for the bottom ten episodes. A couple of things before we start - number one, all this is relative. These are the bottom ten episodes of a show with only 34 episodes so far. Honestly, the only one of these I think is actively not-good is Lifeboats, and even that I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call it Bad. It has just enough redeeming qualities that I feel uncomfortable calling it that.

Number two - I'm judging each of these episodes as a whole. Most of them have individual moments that I quite like. But, when I'm ranking an entire episode, I'm not just asking how much I enjoyed those individual beats. I'm also asking - how well were the plotlines of the episode thematically integrated? How did this episode serve the various season and character arcs? Individual character beats work best when they're integrated into one big tapestry, pointing towards the same idea or cluster of ideas. Some of the best episodes - All the Bells Say, Chiantishire, This is Not For Tears - do that beautifully, and that ends up becoming the metric by which I'm measuring other episodes. I know what Succession can do, and so an otherwise good episode that doesn't measure up can sometimes be a bit disappointing.

Let's get started:

10. Dundee (2.08)

Honestly, I think I might like Dundee better if it came at a different place in the season. Season two as a whole is incredibly driven - it touches on a lot of different things, sure, but from the jump it's always driving towards positioning Shiv as a potential successor, the Pierce deal, or cruises (and all the thematic implications therein). All of those hit really crucial points in the Ternhaven-Argestes-Return combo (which also re-introduces Kendall and the waiter) - and then we hit Dundee.

I'm not going to say Dundee's not important - it is - but it's an episode that feels to me like it's doing a lot to set up the season endgame, and consequently is missing the kind of emotional and character beats that make succession really tick. There's some stuff, sure - obviously the shiv + logan stuff at the dinner is important. But ultimately, they're mostly trying to get everyone and everything in position to be able to tie it all together in DC and This Is Not For Tears. They're reintroducing the idea of Shiv as successor so that her sacrifice in the finale will be meaningful; they're developing the cruises plotline enough to jump right into the hearings next episode; they're setting Ewan up to potentially cut off Greg to incentivize him to give Kendall the papers; they're highlighting Kendall's malaise and hero-worship of Logan. And those kinds of episodes - where it feels a like the gears of the story are showing a bit too much - tend to be my least favourite (a lot of the episodes on this list fall into that category imo). Here, it's a bit more pronounced coming where it is in the season - there's a dip in the season flow that feels a bit jarring, at least to me.

There is some fun stuff in here. L to the OG, obviously, is iconic; I also love the sibling dynamics around them scheming to get rid of Rhea. And we come to a fuller understanding of who Logan is as a person; that's this episode's main redeeming quality, and why it's so high on the list. Again, this is an episode that's not bad. It's a good episode. I like it. It's just nowhere near what Succession is capable of when it's firing on all cylinders.

9. The Summer Palace (2.01)

You'll notice that the premieres of the first 3 seasons are all on this list, and that's because I think Succession struggles with premieres. It's not even really their fault! It's sort of the nature of the show. There are episodes that set the table and episodes that smash everything on the table onto the ground, and there are episodes that are doing both at the same time. You need to set the table for the smashing to really hit. But what makes Succession, Succession, is how beautifully it executes the smashing of the table and makes it thematically resonant and ties together every other plotline that's been happening in the process. The episodes that are pure table-setting? They tend not to have the Secret Succession Sauce.

And that's honestly my main complaint with Summer Palace. It's ALL table setting. All of it! Every scene and beat of this episode is establishing important information that we'll need to carry through the rest of the season. Now, that doesn't mean it's bad. There are a lot of great character moments woven in through the table-setting - and obviously, the queen of those moments is Logan offering Shiv the CEO position. Again, this is a good episode, and I like it. Of the first 3 premieres, I think it's the strongest (season 4 premiere blows them all out of the water imo). But it doesn't have the kind of emotional payoff that, for me, is part of what makes for an excellent episode of Succession.

8. Sad Sack Wasp Trap (1.04)

This one almost pains me to say, because I love all the Tom scenes in this episode, and I think it's a really, really crucial episode in his arc. It's also the episode I force people to watch until, because I think this is where Succession starts to get good (largely because this is where the plot starts moving). And. Again. It is a good episode. It's just not a very good episode.

It's weak points? One is that it hasn't quite figured out Roman as a character. The Roman-Grace stuff never worked for me, mostly because it feels too on the nose. "Guy gets off on petty exertions of power" is an old and boring and tired plotline. Later episodes and seasons would manage to nuance that idea phenomenally well, but they haven't hit that sweet spot yet, and so Roman is still kind of a caricature of spoiled rich toxic masculinity.

I think they're still figuring out Kendall as well, although he's nowhere near as rough as Roman. The Kendall-Logan conflict in this episode feels a little too petty - and not in the sense of the show making a commentary on its pettiness. Most of the conflict surrounds the idea of public perception; I think the dynamic really finds its stride in later episodes when it a) becomes more about the question of Logan competently running the business and b) is carrying all the implications that come with the how the family and business dynamics are conjoined.

7. Shit Show at the Fuck Factory (1.02)

Not to sound like a broken record, but. It is a good episode! I like it! But no, I don't think it's a very good episode.

The problem with Succession's first three episodes is that they're the worst kind of table-setting - it's table-setting where you don't know the characters well enough to understand the stakes or the significance. Shit Show is, in my opinion, much better on a rewatch when you know what's going on. But the first viewing is tough. It packs a lot of character work into the runtime, to the extent that I think it's almost overwhelming, and it's made more so by your lack of orientation. You don't actually know what the established relationships are yet, so each scene and interaction is giving you a fuckton of new info to parse very quickly before it hits you with something else. And a lot of it - more than usual - gets lost because of that. You don't know enough about Roman to understand why he's constantly standing outside the window staring at Logan. You don't know enough about Kendall to understand the full complexity of his feelings about his father. You don't know enough about Shiv to understand her relationship to the company and how this impacts her relationship to her brothers. And that's why the episode is so much better when you rewatch it after you do know all of that.

(Normally, that speed and energy is one of Succession's strengths, but it's just too soon in the story to work effectively here.)

That being said, the character work in this episode is quite good! The character work is, I think, even better than the 3 episodes that I ranked higher on this list. But I think the fact that it relies so heavily on knowledge you don't have is a relatively serious problem with the writing, which is why it makes the list.

6. Secession (3.01)

This is the episode which takes us out of the territory of "good but not very good". This episode is not bad, but it is also not good. It's fine. It's just fine. It is a thoroughly mediocre hour of television.

In a lot of ways, I think part of the problem with Secession comes with the structure of the first two episodes. Mass in Time of War (a top ten episode for me) is an episode that is all about character dynamics to the exclusion of all else. That's good! It works really well! But it means that Secession's runtime is spent getting everything in place for that. It's getting Roman and Shiv into the room by giving them reasons to potentially 'defect' to Kendall, it's rushing through all the necessary plot dynamics of establishing the public response to the press conference, the White House response, how this impacts the shareholder meeting, the risk to Logan and him fleeing to Bosnia, etc. Tom and Shiv are still on shaky ground, Greg is still on Kendall's side, Karolina was blindsided. Connor is.... there. Roman and Gerri are forming an alliance.

It feels to me like a lot of box-checking. We don't spend enough time delving into any one plot point for it to be meaningful, and that leads to a feeling of some wasted opportunities. Like shivlisa - we learn Lisa exists, we learn she and Shiv were friends, we learn Kendall wants her, and then we have one (1) shivlisa convo and now Lisa's off the table. That could have had some real significance for Shiv as a character, but because they need to gallop through so much plot to set up 1.02 it becomes a strange perfunctory thing that feels more significant than it is. Some of that's unavoidable, but I do think that episode needed a once-over with a fine-tooth comb because I think they could have shaved off enough runtime to make the other stuff matter.

5. Lion in the Meadow (3.04)

Yes, yes, the nero-sporus episode. That's a great scene! It's maybe one of the best scenes in the episode!

..... And that's a problem.

First of all... What a waste of Adrien Brody. Have you seen his other work? He does a great job, but I think if you've cast Adrien Brody in exactly one episode you should write him a character marginally more interesting than Josh Aaronson, the epitome of Wealthy Shareholder Plot Device.

Ultimately this sort of feels like a Nothing episode to me. It's not even a table-setter, really, aside from the nero-sporus scene, the thing about getting Ravenhead to go after the president, and Greg abandoning Kendall, all of which could have been part of a different, more interesting episode. Every other character beat feels, to me, like a rehash of something we already know. There's nothing new in the Logan-Kendall relationship, the Roman plotline is so weak I continually forget he does anything in this episode, and we didn't need all of that to establish that no one at the company respects Shiv bc I think we knew that already. You could lift this entire episode out of season 3 (and just shift a few scenes backwards into Disruption or forwards into Retired Janitors) and the rest of the season would hit more or less exactly the same.

4. Austerlitz (1.07)

This is maybe my most controversial one bc I know a lot of people love Austerlitz. And I do want to acknowledge its strong points - Jeremy Strong and Brian Cox are both in peak form here, I think.

The problem with Austerlitz, though, is that it's an episode that feels (to me) a bit too loud and clumsy in what it's trying to do. I think Succession's best dialogue lets you read between the lines. It traffics in no one ever actually saying what it is they mean. I think you can contrast Kendall and Logan's confrontation in this episode with, say, their scenes in This Is Not For Tears and Chiantishire - both episodes where some significant truths are being dropped on the table, but they're still sort of covered in a veneer. If you squint it could maybe mean something different than what it actually does.

In contrast, the scene in the kitchen is blunt. "You resent what you've given your children", "You're marrying a man fathoms beneath you because you're afraid of being betrayed", all the dialogue about "evil uncle Noah". Jeremy Strong and Brian Cox do amazing work with it, but it's a lot of characters saying things that, yes, are very true, and yes, it's significant because it's been otherwise unsaid, but veers away from the sort of linguistic gymnastics that characterize other, better episodes in favour of heavy-handed family drama. And what's the lasting impact? Kendall feels better for talking shit about Logan, but he's still a mess. Logan doesn't care. There's no overall shift in the family dynamic coming out of this episode. To me, the whole enterprise feels like the writers pulling out a bullhorn and going "okay, it's really really important that you've figured out all this stuff we've been implying for six episodes so in case you haven't already we're just going to make it really abundantly clear with flashing lights and arrows etc." And sometimes you need to do that, but Succession's strength in later seasons is very much its subtlety and ambiguity, and Austerlitz is about as far from subtle and ambiguous as it gets.

3. I Went to Market (1.05)

I get conflicted about this one's placement on the list because it does have a really interesting thematic throughline about the transactional nature of relationships on Succession. Tom and Shiv's prenup, Greg shredding the documents, Connor and Willa 'going steady', Marcia advocating for her son - all of it taps into the idea of trying to negotiate an even exchange when one party holds more power than another. Tying that all together with a Thanksgiving celebration is a clever stroke on the writers' part.

But I think all of that gets undercut by the relative lethargy of the episode. The problem is that season 1 is anchored around Kendall and Logan's conflict, which, in 1.05 is centred around Kendall planning the vote of no confidence. But he's too early in the planning for the audience to really feel the urgency or the stakes, and consequently, that leaves the rest of the episode feeling a bit lethargic (something that's especially apparent in comparison to the energy of 1.06). We get a bunch of really interesting windows into the relationships of characters who are not Kendall, but it sort of feels like we're just waiting around for the plot to start again. We can't really explore any dynamic (outside of Tom and Greg and cruises) in a way that also moves the plot forward, so the episode turns into a bunch of little character vignettes strung together. And that's not helped by the fact that it sits where it does in the season; we just had the conflict between the two of them start moving and now it's idling again? It's really an issue of pacing more than anything else, but it's a big enough issue that I think it undercuts the stuff in the episode that is really good, and that's why it's so low on the list.

2. Celebration (1.01)

This is another one that I kind of feel bad about because... well. It's the pilot! For one thing, it was filmed before they'd written the rest of the season. For another, it actually does a really, really, good job of establishing a lot of key character information very quickly. And obviously a pilot is going to have normal Pilot Problems, like wives and children who are suddenly no longer wives and children in episode 2.

But unfortunately, I don't think Celebration is a great showcase of what makes Succession special. And maybe it was never going to be, because maybe that's not the kind of stuff that works well in a pilot. But, judging each episode on its own merits... There's nothing in Celebration to indicate that this is going to be a particularly unique or interesting or nuanced exploration of family drama and abuse and the corruption of capitalism. There's nothing bad about it either, and there are a lot of very interesting seeds being planted for sure. But honestly, there's a reason the near-universal critical reaction to the first few episodes was a whole bunch of eye-rolling and "what, are we supposed to feel sorry for these people?"

It does play better on a rewatch, much like Shit Show, but again - I do think it's a problem when an episode becomes good on a rewatch rather than being initially good and becoming better. And I feel bad saying it, because I'm not sure how they could have made it better. Maybe they couldn't have. But it still has to come in near the bottom because of it.

Lifeboats (1.03)

This is the one episode I actively dislike. It's not good. I don't think it's good. It's definitely closer to bad than good. Is it Bad with a capital B? Maybe not. But it's definitely not good.

Listen. I understand why it is what it is. The purpose of Lifeboats is to broaden the scope of the show and introduce us to the world of Waystar. Fine. It had to happen. But did it have to happen so.... blandly? It's the only episode where the business side actually is the most important thing happening, and where it can't really be understood from context clues and yet is never clearly explained, and that's a massive stumbling block. I know more than a couple people who've given up the show here on the assumption the whole thing was going to be like this. It's rough.

And on top of that, I think this episode is home to some of the most obvious possible character beats, which always annoys me with any show but especially annoys me when I know what Succession is capable of. Roman masturbating onto the window is one that makes me go yeah, okay, we get it. And yeah, sure, it's part of the bodily fluid motif, but it's also something a cartoon villain would do. It's one of the extremely rare moments on Succession I'd actively categorize as bad writing.

I also think the scene with Logan and Shiv is poorly written, and it frustrates me because it had the potential to be really interesting. But I don't think its a moment that's grounded enough in an existing Logan-Shiv dynamic for us to really know what it means (at least on a first watch), and so it leaves the audience disturbed but mostly just confused, and unsure as to specifically how this is relevant.

There's some good stuff in this episode, but the good stuff is good in an "oh thats a fun scene to watch", not an "oh this tells me something about a character" kind of way. So ultimately, this one has to come in at the bottom for me.

[alexdaisykidsfurniture]

Budget-Friendly Kids' Furniture: Tips for Furnishing Your Child's Room Affordably

Furnishing your child's room can be an exciting yet challenging task, especially when you're on a budget. The good news is that you can create a beautiful, functional, and comfortable space for your child without breaking the bank. In this guide, we’ll explore some budget-friendly tips by Alex Daisy for furnishing your child's room, with a focus on finding the perfect kids single bed and incorporating a practical kids wardrobe with a study table.

 1. Plan and Prioritize

Before you start shopping, take some time to plan and prioritize your purchases. Make a list of the essential furniture pieces your child needs. A kids single bed and a kids wardrobe with a study table are often top priorities. By focusing on these key items first, you can allocate your budget more effectively.

 2. Set a Budget

Establish a clear budget for your child’s room furnishings. Determine how much you're willing to spend on each item and try to stick to it. Remember, it's possible to find affordable furniture that doesn't compromise on quality or style.

 3. Shop Sales and Discounts

One of the best ways to furnish your child's room affordably is to take advantage of sales and discounts. Look out for seasonal sales, clearance events, and online deals. Many furniture stores offer significant discounts during these times, allowing you to score great deals on kids' single beds and other essential furniture.

 4. Consider Second-Hand Options

Don’t overlook the potential of second-hand furniture. Thrift stores, garage sales, and online marketplaces like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace can be treasure troves for budget-friendly kids furniture. Often, you can find gently used kids' single beds and kid's wardrobes with study tables at a fraction of the cost of new ones.

 5. DIY and Upcycling

If you’re handy with tools, consider DIY projects or upcycling old furniture. A fresh coat of paint, new hardware, or a bit of creativity can transform an old piece into something new and unique for your child’s room. This approach not only saves money but also adds a personal touch to the space.

 6. Multi-Functional Furniture

Opt for multi-functional furniture to maximize both space and budget. A kids wardrobe with study table is a perfect example. This piece combines storage and a study area, reducing the need to buy separate items. Similarly, look for beds with built-in storage drawers or trundle options to make the most of your investment.

 7. Measure and Plan Your Space

Measure your child's room carefully before purchasing furniture. Ensure that the kids single bed and kids wardrobe with study table will fit comfortably in the space. Proper planning prevents the hassle and expense of returning items that don’t fit and helps you make the best use of your room’s layout.

 8. Involve Your Child

Get your child involved in the process. Let them help choose their kids' single bed or the style of the kids wardrobe with study table. When children have a say in the selection, they are more likely to appreciate and take care of their furniture. Plus, it makes the experience fun and engaging for them.

 9. Focus on Quality Over Quantity

While it’s important to stay within budget, don’t compromise too much on quality. Well-made furniture might be a bit more expensive initially, but it will last longer and withstand the wear and tear of daily use. Investing in a sturdy kids single bed and a durable kids wardrobe with a study table can save you money in the long run.

 10. Customize with Accessories

Once you have the essential Alex Daisy furniture, use affordable accessories to personalize the space. Items like colorful bedding, fun wall decals, and cozy rugs can transform a simple room into a vibrant and welcoming space for your child. These accessories are often inexpensive and can be easily changed as your child grows and their tastes evolve.

Conclusion 

In conclusion, furnishing your child’s room on a budget is entirely achievable with some careful planning and smart shopping. Focus on essential items like a kids single bed and a kids wardrobe with study table, look for sales and second-hand options, and consider DIY projects to save money. By following these tips, you can create a beautiful and functional space for your child without overspending.

Originally Published At: https://alexdaisyy.blogspot.com/2024/05/budget-friendly-kids-furniture-tips-for.html

[alchemicaldesignquery]

The "Fix" for 6v6

"6v6 this, 5v5 that. How do we fix this? Can it be fixed? I long for the days of OW1-"

Alright! Alright.

Fine.

I am a shameless 6v6 advocate (an Oldhead, if you will) and miss the days of double Tank that expressly allowed me to work with a Teammate to keep my squishies alive-

-or feed my brains out charging the front lines as a giant 9f armoured mess of a german yelling "Beer!" just before I'm flayed by focus fire.

That very specific feeling is a microcosm of all that it meant to Tank in a game like Overwatch. It is a feeling that celebrated the comforts and joys of limited engagement onto the enemy, so that you could provide maximum protection and safeguarding for your team.

There's nothing quite like pulling off a Winston Bubble-Nuke, Earthshattering a nano'ing Genji in your backline for the split second he's forced to touch the ground, or Halting some poor schmuck off the map as Orisa (the only vaguely enjoyable mechanic out of her Overwatch 1 kit).

And when I say "There's nothing" I genuinely mean, nothing.

None of that made the transfer over to Overwatch 2 for a variety of reasons. Damage Mitigation resources just can't be spent in those flashy ways anymore, while Support abilities make a mockery of every Earthshatter you might throw out there.

And Halt? Well that's just not in the game anymore.

sigh

This is Nostalgia, mind you. Nothing to be done there, beyond reminisce. A bit of the old ways while I dribble around looking for my first rocking chair and the inevitable shotgun to be wielded against future zombies/mutants/guvernmints on my lawn-

-except that would just keep my awake for the next few years trying to appease the Neurodivergence, screaming about pattern recognition and Game Design using as many firing neurons as possible.

So!

How to Build out a proper 6v6 Foundation:

The following is a small list of foundational changes from which, a Development Team could easily explore a re-structured 6v6 format that would also account for re-works and re-designs of varying quality.

(Or at least, the sorts of re-designs and re-works I would personally love to see but, would require this foundation to be possible.)

Each of these is meant to work in conjunction with one another, relaxing the more restrictive elements of the game to return a lot of the design potential needed to make really creative and engaging hero designs. Too much of that potential is locked up in large health, healing, and (potential) damage values.

(Note: Beyond the below changes, removing any and all Role Passives while reverting the Season 9 changes, except for the projectile sizes, would be necessary for any of this to work as intended.)

Let's get stuck in:

1 - Decrease Hitboxes for Hero models

This one is fairly simple. Reduce visual clutter by decreasing the over all volume of hitboxes within any given match. This would include not just the hitboxes of the Heroes themselves, but also any deployables and visual effects for abilities they would have.

It would not need to be drastic.

5% for Supports, DPS, and Junkerqueen (except for those whose hitboxes are already small I.E - Kiriko, Baby Dva, Illari, and Tracer).

10% for all other Tanks.

Maintaining the projectile size increase from Season 9 + reducing overall Hitboxes, allows for body shot potential to remain relatively easy, while increasing Critical Shot difficulty slightly.

2 - Provide all Heroes with 'Squishy' Health

Rather than attempt to reduce Tank Health (which promotes a lopsided degree of survival across individual Tanks), all Heroes in every Role should be given somewhere between 50 - 250 standard health

This sets a firm, reflexive, understanding whenever a hero is vulnerable; either by operating in a vulnerable state to begin with in the case of many DPS and most Supports?

Or by damaging a Tank enough to put that Tank into their vulnerable or 'Squishy' health.

If all heroes can be measured inside the Squishy range, then every player in a given match has the potential to calculate the use of resources and values necessary to secure an elimination. Tanks are no longer relegated to such an extreme separation in Health states that they require their own separate calculations from enemies and allies.

With standard health universalized, Tanks are now free to be Tanks based on what type of Damage Adjustment Health they have (Armour, Shield, Overhealth, etc.)

Turn Overhealth into a Damage Adjustment Health type as well (call it Resilience or something) and give it to any Tank that uses Healing as a sustain mechanic (Roadhog, Junkerqueen, Mauga, any future Tanks with Healing Sustain).

Give Damage Adjustment Health different sound effects for when they take damage (metallic pings for Armour, digital 'woops' for Shields, etc.), to easily tell when dealing damage switches between the Tank's protective health and their Squishy health.

What this accomplishes:

Healers use less resources to get their Tanks back into their Damage Adjustment Health, increasing independence for Tanks and Supports both.

Tanks have significantly more Damage Adjustment Health, but, overall, less total Health (Rein would be 200 Health + 250armour = 450 Total Health).

Damage Mitigation design can be strengthened, improving Tank's active survival mechanics, rather than the boring/sustain of high health pools

Increased health consistency across all Roles, improves both player understanding and learning of the game's basics.

Reduced need for heavy handed CC/Debuff effects to punish Tanks.

3 - Universalize AoE Healing with Single Target

All Healing should have a percentage decrease, depending on how many Heroes are receiving healing from the same source.

Single Target healing will always receive 100% of the healing source

Ex. Ana Biotic Rifle or Mercy Healing Beam will always do 100% of their healing, before modifiers.

If a source of healing would affect multiple heroes, the source is reduced by 15% per target included in the Area of Effect.

Ex. Baptiste's Regenerative Burst would do 100% of the healing if no one but Baptiste is in the Area of Effect. It would do 85% with one(1) other Teammate in the AoE, and 70% if two(2) other teammates were in the AoE.

The lowest any healing could go (before modifiers) would be 50%.

Ult charge would remain largely unchanged, making AoE Healing's benefit fixed more on building more ult charge off of multiple heroes affected, while single target healing would benefit from higher healing output at source.

What this accomplishes:

Reflexive counterplay embedded in Damage vs. Healing values, further prioritizing of targets for both sides, that rewards good choices, positioning, and resource management.

Promotes the use of utility, alternative sustain mechanics, and survivability effects and their executions in non-Tanks.

Alleviates the stat creep of Healing, both in speed of application and total amount delivered.

And lastly (DPS players, the spoiled brats that they are, will probably hate this, but it's necessary):

4 - Turn Critical Modifiers into a Percentage based on Range (maybe, Travel Speed as well)

Critical hits will now be measured based on where a Hero's fall off range begins and provided a certain percentage based on that range (adjusted based on kit and Design Structure).

Falloff below 20 metres = 30 - 50% critical modifier

Falloff between 20 - 40 metres = 50 - 75% critical modifier

Falloff between 40 - 60 metres = 75 - 90% critical modifier

All damage output with Critical Option, will now be subject to the range at which the Hero doing the damage, operates at across all Roles.

Close ranged DPS (Reaper, Tracer, etc.), benefit from a larger critical hitbox on their opponent and do not need excessive critical damage to be a threat.

Longer ranged DPS, must hit a smaller critical hitbox on their opponent, rewarding higher critical damage for successful shots.

(Note: Projectiles will always be 100% of damage, due to travel speed and the more inconsistent nature of their application, though it might be worth testing this out using the above values as a range measurement)

What this accomplishes:

The lowering of Potential Damage, rather than Base Damage, strengthens access between lower level and higher level play, rewarding better positioning, game-sense, and non-mechanical knowledge, much earlier in the rankings.

Skillful play is segregated based on value extracted across Heroes (and Players) and their preferences, rather than on general optimization. Hero skill expression is much more rewarding, rather than Hero selection.

One-shots are heavily reduced to only the highest ends of Hero/Kit expression, allowing for significantly improved Kit Design for those heroes who relied on them to be useful (Widow, Hanzo, Roadhog, etc.)

Non-critical option Heroes no longer need excessive Damage output to compensate for the missing Potential Damage (Junkrat, Pharah, etc.).

Base Damage can be balanced across a wider range of numbers from patch to patch, hero to hero (no more 0.5 adjustments).

Damage Modifiers are now universalized with Critical hits as a total percentage, easing the calculations needed during fights.

Damage Amplification effects are far more tolerable for all heroes and can be much more easily balanced

Whew! A lot to work with, but overall, the above should be codable based on a variety of other examples that have already been included in the game at one point or another in it's history.

As a foundation, this would serve to place the entire cast into a baseline state of

"Everyone can be vulnerable, everyone can be healed, every can do damage, but it's up to the Player to execute for the win."

All while maintaining their Role's preference for How to execute.

[jrpneblog]

The big games start now

With Coventry, Hull and Southampton being the next three fixtures for North End it is fair to say that the big games start on Friday night at the CBS Stadium. All three teams sit above North End although you might well say that Southampton are out of sight as far as we are concerned. However Coventry and Hull are right in the mix with us and Ryan Lowe will be all too aware of that as he takes his side to the Midlands for a 7.45ko. The trip to Coventry comes on the back of the 2-2 draw against Blackburn Rovers last Saturday which was a game that left me both disappointed and relieved. Two down after twenty five minutes does not bode well but North End showed their fighting qualities and were certainly well worth the point at the end of the day.

The Lancashire derby was played out in front of a 20,924 crowd with North Ends highest home attendance of the season, 16,202, inside Deepdale. North End did not start the game well and in under ten minutes were a goal down to Szmodics. When Gallagher made it two after twenty five minutes the North End fans fell silent on what looked like being one of those afternoons. To their credit North End fought their way back before the interval, firstly through a super strike from Robbie Brady on the right hand side and then just before the interval Emil Riis popped up to tap home the equaliser and send North End into the break in the ascendancy. After half time I thought we always looked the team more likely to score but we just couldn`t put that final quality ball into the box for the forwards to latch on to. In the end a draw was probably the right result but North End will be ruing those defensive lapses early in the game which may well have cost them two points.

On Friday we travel to Coventry City to take on Mark Robins men in what is a crunch encounter in the race to snatch a play off place. Hull`s unexpected win at Southampton means we are now five points behind the play off places with thirteen games to go. The game against the Sky Blues has been changed due to their involvement in the FA Cup next Monday evening against Maidstone, a game that is live on television hence the date change for our fixture. Coventry sit two points above North End having played the same games and they have collected one less point than North End (29) at home this season. Their home record reads played sixteen, won seven, drawn eight and lost just one on their own patch. Clearly they are a tough team to beat at home this season but North End will not be afraid to take the game to them. A win for North End would be a great result and would take us above Coventry and put pressure on the teams above us who are playing on Saturday. I hope the boys have rested well this week and are raring to go for this big game on Friday evening.

And finally this week:- on Tuesday afternoon I made the journey to Bower Field, home of Stalybridge Celtic, to watch North End reserves play Barrow reserves. Dont ask me why Barrow play their reserve fixtures 108 miles away from Holker Street because I dont know the answer! It was a very young North End side playing against, mostly, seasoned professionals. The lads went down 0-3 but played some excellent football on a poor surface against a much older team. No wonder they are top of their Alliance League on a Saturday morning and lets just hope some of these lads come through and make the first team.

.

MATCH PREDICTION -

COVENTRY CITY (A) League - Score Draw

.

JR`s HIGH FIVES

West Brom to beat Hull 9/5

A £5 Stake returns £14.00 on bet365

SEASONS STATS

Returns £96.00 Stake £145.00

Percentage profit+/-loss - 33.79%

Predictions 29 won 9 lost 20

[greatlakesworks]

Transform Your Space With Expert Landscaping And Cleaning Services

Are you tired of coming home to a lackluster yard and a cluttered living space? The solution might be simpler than you think. In this article, we'll explore how expert landscaping and cleaning services can transform your space, making it not only aesthetically pleasing but also a haven of comfort. Say goodbye to the mundane and welcome a fresh perspective on your surroundings.

Why Landscaping Matters

1. Boosting Curb Appeal

Your front yard is the first thing people notice about your home. Enhance its allure with professional landscaping. Lush greenery, vibrant flowers, and well-maintained pathways can make your property stand out.

2. Creating Outdoor Sanctuaries

Transform your backyard into an oasis. Imagine a cozy corner with a well-manicured lawn, surrounded by blooming flowers and a serene water feature. It's not just a yard; it's your personal retreat.

3. Environmental Benefits

Beyond aesthetics, landscaping contributes to the environment. Green spaces absorb carbon dioxide, release oxygen, and promote biodiversity. Embrace landscaping not just for your home, but for the planet.

The Art of Cleaning Services

4. A Clutter-Free Haven

Cleaning services extend beyond mere tidying up. They create a haven of order and cleanliness, allowing you to come home to a stress-free environment. Say goodbye to clutter and hello to tranquility.

5. Time-Saving Solutions

We all lead busy lives. Cleaning is often neglected due to time constraints. Professional services not only clean efficiently but also free up your time, letting you focus on what truly matters.

6. Health and Hygiene

A clean home is a healthy home. Expert cleaning services eliminate hidden germs and allergens, ensuring your living space is not just visually clean but also hygienically safe.

The Perfect Duo: Landscaping and Cleaning Combined

7. Seamless Indoor-Outdoor Flow

When your indoor space seamlessly connects with the outdoors, magic happens. Expert landscaping and cleaning services create a flow that blurs the lines, making your entire living space feel unified and harmonious.

8. Stress Reduction

Imagine returning home to a well-groomed garden and a spotless interior. The stress of the day melts away as you step into a serene environment carefully crafted by experts.

9. Increased Property Value

Investing in landscaping and cleaning isn't just an expense; it's an investment. A well-maintained property not only provides immediate joy but also increases its market value.

Choosing the Right Services

10. Researching Providers

Not all landscaping and cleaning services are created equal. Explore reviews, ask for recommendations, and thoroughly research providers before entrusting them with the transformation of your space.

11. Customization Options

Each home is unique. Opt for services that offer customization to ensure your specific needs and preferences are met. Tailored solutions lead to a more personalized transformation.

12. Budget Considerations

Transformation doesn't have to break the bank. Budget-friendly options exist, offering quality services without compromising your financial peace of mind. Strike a balance between affordability and excellence.

Conclusion

In the hands of experts, landscaping and cleaning services go beyond a mundane chore; they become a transformative experience. Your space is a canvas, and these services are the brushstrokes that turn it into a masterpiece.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: How often should I invest in professional landscaping services? A1: The frequency depends on your preferences and the specific needs of your yard. Yearly assessments are recommended, but seasonal touch-ups can keep your space consistently appealing.

Q2: Are professional cleaning services environmentally friendly? A2: Many cleaning services today prioritize eco-friendly practices. Inquire about their cleaning products and methods to ensure a green and clean transformation.

Q3: Can landscaping services work within a limited budget? A3: Absolutely! Many landscaping services offer budget-friendly packages tailored to your financial constraints. Discuss your budget upfront for a customized plan.

Q4: What is the difference between landscaping and gardening services? A4: While gardening focuses on plants, landscaping involves a broader scope, including design, hardscaping, and overall outdoor aesthetics. It's a holistic approach to transforming your outdoor space.

Q5: How long does it take to see noticeable changes after availing cleaning services? A5: The timeline varies based on the initial state of your home. However, you'll likely notice significant improvements after the first session, with ongoing services maintaining the enhanced state.

Transforming your space is a journey, and with expert landscaping and cleaning services, it's a journey worth taking. Invest in the art of transformation, and watch as your surroundings become a reflection of comfort and beauty.

[princessbriarrose]

The McCartney Collective breakdown and theory.

weird idea i know but it could have some interesting ideas in it. Made by Soupiza on YouTube ( https://www.youtube.com/@soupiza/videos link to channel here, give this guy some love his videos are amazing) It's based off of the Paul is dead theory, A old theory stating that Sir Paul McCartney of Beatles fame actually died, Now depending on what version of events you hear since there's multiple versions of events, The one that seems to make sense for this series is that Paul died in a car crash and to save people from the grief of a beloved music icon dying young and so suddenly, He was replaced by a lookalike. Theres multiple versions of events but the car crash was the one that caught on and is the most common explanation. Personally i heard that the original Paul died of a drug overdose, how you can do that with weed i have no idea. Before you read on watch the videos, Its really good (although some might think its goofy) Its really short at only three short videos at the time of writing, Soupiza said a new video will be coming out later this week and unless the zombie of the real Paul McCartney comes and gets me i will be posting that breakdown After the fact in its own post but i will edit this post with a link to the new episode breakdown.

Video One:

This is just a Teaser Trailer for the series but it has some interesting things, It opens up to a new broadcast about the theory and specifically how allegedly the group to revealing the truth though the songs and album covers. It cuts to a small picture of the lookalike that replaced Paul, Named Billy Shears. (Authors note: Its actually a believed to be passport picture around the time of the srgt peppers era.) Next a raspy text to speech audio saying "I am not dead." "They won't tell the truth."Stop trying to hide it John." "It will come out someday.". It cuts to part of a audio interview with John, The interviewer is asking John about the fate of Paul, John says (rather dismissively) "Uh no it's a joke in it i mean.....Paul isn't dead and if he was we have told you, Uh we'd be the first to know."

Lastly a distorted picture of Paul shows up, he looks as if hes in pain then turns into a pained smile while Revolution 9 plays.

Video Two:

This was is currently the shortest one in the series, At only 32 seconds long so this will be a real quick breakdown, Its still another teaser trailer for the series.

It opens up to the Apple corps logo with a bit of "She loves you" playing in the background, abruptly ends then fades into a picture of George Harrison, Its a low quality picture and you can hear a man say "It Paul McCartney alive or dead?" then in the background a distorted face of Paul shows up and Yesterday starts to play then cuts way. Another mans voice says "Viewing of these unauthorized tapes, We advise you to turn off your player at once and return these tapes right back to where you found them." Lastly the same distorted picture of Paul shows up while a screaming sound plays.

Video Three:

This is the main video in the series, Its the first one in supposedly nine in season one. It's also currently the longest in the three videos as of writing.

It opens up to the Apple corps logo with a bit of "She loves you" playing in the background, abruptly ends then fades into a warning screen saying "WARNING: For private use of apple corp members. ANY COPYING, EDITING, EXHIBITING, RENTING OR PUBLIC PERFORMANCE OF THIS PROGRAM OR ANY PART THEREOF IS PROHIBITED WITHOUT THE WRITTEN AUTHORIZATION OFT HE COPYRIGHT HOLDER." then shows the number of the tape and name "Tape 1/9" and "Staff information." then "these tapes are to only be viewed by staff of apple corp and to be kept confidential."

"The McCartney Collective." Next comes a screen showing all of the upcoming tapes or the tapes that are suppose to be in this series. "1/9 (Staff informational video)" "2/9 (George's Interview)" "3/9 (Ringo's Interview)" "4/9 (John's Interview)" It briefly changes to "H3SGUILT4". "5/9 (Police report.)" "6/9 (John talk)" it changes to "CONFESS" "7/9 (shoes on)" "8/9 (The walrus fears the rabbit)" "9/9 (laup deirub I)" then briefly flashes "10/9 (cranberry reven9e).

The next part of the video is showing the Mock interviews with fans, training the employees at apple corp how to act with fans or members of the press ask them about the whereabouts of Paul. the first one asks "Is Paul McCartney alive? Because we haven't heard much from him recently...i don't know we're just getting worried." Next the show the answer the employee's are suppose to give "No, he's alive and well." then quickly fades in and out is another distorted picture of Paul McCartney. Question two is "Is Paul ok? uhhh... I don't know a lot of people just have been kinda....i dunno...weary I guess it's just weird that he hasn't been seen for awhile. Is he sick?" the employee is suppose to answer "you have nothing to worry about he is well and safe!" The last question goes on and is interrupted by a clip of john saying in a angered and frantic manner. "He was upset it wasn't. IT WAS NOT MY FAULT!" then a repetitive sound plays while in the foreground another distorted picture of Paul is shown finally it cuts away to the tape being removed while a beep plays.

Theory time:

If its not obvious now then let me spell it out for you. Paul got injured in a car crash and was presumed dead at the scene, John was (i don't know if the rest of the Beatles were there or helped) was the one who buried him but Paul was alive, injured badly yes but wasn't dead then was buried alive. It does seem like Paul is particularly vengeful right now, its not like hes trying to kill john its more like he wants him to admit what he did, after all he did say "stop trying to hide it john.". While Apple corp is struggling to hide it people are getting sus about it. I'm curious to know (the in lore explanation) on who the uploader is, we haven't gotten any clue to who it is and I've searched the comments and the descriptions too. i'm really excited for the next video that coming out later this week.

[punkpandapatrixk]

Libra Season Overview for 🐞🐍⛲🐝ALL SIGNS

ASO☔️bonus content always goes public at the end of every astrological season*, don't forget to check back~🌤 With the elements/signs of the zodiac, you can freely use your Sun, Moon, Rising/Ascendant, or even your Stellium (❗️) *23rd October

[Back to Masterlist]

Libra season is a time of returning to balance. If you’ve been working hard at something dearly beloved to your Soul, this is harvest season. If you’ve been stuck, energies are flowing more smoothly now. If you’ve been ill, health is returning. But if you’ve been pushing yourself too hard, too… you might get a cold just so your body gets to rest.

At any rate, this season is a time for paying attention to subtle energetic changes that reset/recalibrate you to your centre. If you manage to work with these changes and return to balance, you will be propelled faster🏎️💨towards your Destiny.

If right now, your future self could come through and tell you how everything is wonderful in the future—that you are successful, happy, and thriving—would you be braver now? No matter how tall the challenges and how low you feel every now and then; would you keep your hope, and faith?

Tipping Balance for 🐞Fire Signs – Green Alchemist (Nicolas Flamel)

Pause to smell the roses; your passion has brought you this far—you’ve done well. For the time being, enjoy what you’ve managed to achieve even if you’re only beginning. When it comes to passion, there’s no end to it. You'll never run out of exciting things to do, so take your time to rest when you need it.

🐏Aries – King of Wands Rx

In spite of what people usually say about the negative qualities of Aries, this energy is actually really, really, extremely generous. You’re kind, friendly and helpful. And because you have a strong spirit, you want to be a champion or warrior for a lot of other people. There’s cosmic fire in your Soul—you have a heart that will always care.

For a while now, you’ve been feeling a lack of power. There are restrictions put around the goals you’ve envisioned for yourself. You’re suffocating and the lack of oxygen has caused your fire to become dimmed. You feel a sense of detachment from the people or projects you used to care about. Don’t feel bad about any of this though.

Think of this phase as an arrow about to be shot into stardom. That’s you. You feel like you’re being held back, but the truth of the matter is that you’re being prepared for extremely fast propulsion. You’re amassing great spiritual power and you’re gaining momentum. When the moment comes, you’re gonna grow so big and gain success so fast people can’t understand how you do it all.

🦁Leo – 9 of Pentacles Rx

You tend to be really generous with your resources when socialising. Maybe you like to party and have a good time. Maybe you simply like do, create and build things within a group setting. You care about other people and will go the extra mile to help others. But you do this because you also know you can benefit from others when the time comes🤠

Still, for a while now you’ve been feeling suffocated by your connections. You’ve begun to sense something is amiss and yearn for something deeper, purer. But more importantly, you crave independence. Not freedom per se; independence—to feel enough and capable on your own.

You want to start anew, but to do this, you know some things need to come to a close. When the old is taken care of and finances are safely in place, you’ll feel secure to tread a new path that is more suited to your Soul’s calling. It’s OK to go about this one day at a time. You don’t have to have it all figured out from the get go. Just keep swimming~

🎠Sagittarius – Ace of Pentacles Rx

There is a new beginning you’ve been praying for. Some of you have been hard at work trying to allow a change to happen, but manifestation is taking so long. Some of you have simply been stuck in a rut; can’t even begin to work on anything unless an energetic shift has taken place. Know that this Libra season is opening the floodgates of abundance and a sense of personal freedom.

What I’m seeing here is that up until now you’ve not had a great energy. This could involve many things: maybe your health has been on the low; maybe you’ve been psychically attacked; maybe you’ve been in post-op surgery recovery; maybe you’re in rehab after a great mental health issue; maybe you’re healing from a traumatic experience with a toxic or abusive partner; etc.

At any rate, the key to your balance lies in the protection of your spiritual and emotional energy. Before you can receive this season’s blessings, you must prioritise protecting yourself from toxic or draining situations, as well as take necessary measures to maintain your physical health. If walking, exercising or taking supplements help, do that. If you need a nutritionist or learn healthy living from YouTube, do that.

This season, just take care of your health first, especially physically. Trust that everything else will just magically resolve itself in divine timing!

Mind Magick Transmutation🔻❤️👻

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Tipping Balance for 🐍Earth Signs – Silver Physician (John Dee)

Honey, you’re dehydrated; please drink more this season. You also need to improve your relationship with food. Balance is key in everything and you can simply follow reason when it comes to ‘eating healthy’. When you feel refreshed physically, your mind also thinks clearly.

🐂Taurus – Queen of Wands Rx

If you’ve been feeling a lack of inspiration or motivation, it’s coming this season; but first, you need to take care of your physical health. I’m not a nutritionist or anything, but I’m seeing in your case you’re lethargic physically because you haven’t been eating right, and that’s caused a mental fog. And then, it just feels like you’re stuck or that any option available to you doesn’t seem viable or good enough to pursue/explore/attempt.

Wherever you are in the world, this season, try to calm down and slow down. If you can, learn about ‘healthy eating’ and try to build new habits surrounding this new knowledge. Most of us weren’t taught proper eating by our education system, so if you’re blind to this and need a lot of trial and error, it’s all dandy. The most important thing is that you’re learning something new.

And whatever life-changing endeavour you’re pursuing, which you feel a lack of confidence, thus the lack of motivation, I’m seeing the need to read up on a lot of materials on it. The more you study or immerse yourself in the practice of it, the more confident you feel about finding success in it. So that you won’t crumble easily, you need to have a strong foundation. Read up; study and exercise from NOW🌟You got this!

🧘🏻‍♀️Virgo – 7 of Swords

Did you witness someone cheating in life and caused you to miss an amazing opportunity? Perhaps something relating to your profession? Something like that happened in the past and you felt grossed out by it. But you actually learnt about the reality of what it takes to achieve success in this world. Sometimes you’ve got to do unsavoury shit to get by, and get ahead. By now, even you’ve done a thing or two that’s less than noble.

This may have caused you a great deal of mental burden—questioning your own morality and dignity. But here’s a little pat on your back: you did the clever thing to do to save a situation; this isn’t necessarily evil. Sometimes, when we’re lacking guidance or a situation is a total mess, we’ve got to think quick based on what’s most favourable at the time.

I guess this season brings you a more wholesome understanding of this dynamic, so you can learn to be at peace with yourself. Life is a balancing act; it is Yin and Yang. Sometimes we choose to do ‘dark’ things to serve a greater good. Whatever happens, believe in your innate goodness!

🐐Capricorn – 5 of Pentacles Rx

Oh, my gosh. It’s like you’re about to come out of poverty of sort! In fact, perhaps you’ve been fresh out of a hot oven that was frying you up spiritually or psychologically. This season brings that sense of breathing fresh air and dipping your entire self in cool Fiji waters. If you can, please indulge in drinking clean, quality water as much as you can.

Your body is 80% water so drinking quality water can speed up manifestation as well as spiritual purification. Trust me on this one. On top of that, I sense that you have a tendency of working so hard to a point of burning yourself up multiple times. This pattern needs to be broken. Try to control your urge to tackle a lot of challenges within a given day. If something needs to be done, it will be done in divine timing.

This Libra season is all about being kinder and gentler with yourself. You’ve survived so much murder, you’ve got to give yourself the biggest credit for just making it this far. A new chapter that’s easier and more peaceful is really beginning for you.

Mind Magick Transmutation🔻💚👻

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Tipping Balance for ⛲Air Signs – Red Geographer (John Dee)

It’s time to plan ahead. Think different thoughts and apply unique methods. The solution is in your crazy—meaning, you’ve just got to flow with the rhythm of your intuition. Remember what you came here for: there are great things waiting to be made manifest by your earnest efforts.

👯Gemini – Queen of Pentacles

This season you will find a sense of stability in finances or just a practical sense of having mastered something. You may have just struggled with a little bit of imbalance/confusion in the recent past. Other than that, you might get some help or guidance from someone older or more professional than you. Other than that, too, you may simply make a connection with someone motherlike who will take care, provide for you. You’ll decide for yourself whether or not you like the assistance provided.

For some of you, you may realise that you’re done being helped by other people because that causes you to feel indebted—and you don’t like the connection. Suddenly, you’re motivated to make it yourself in whatever you’re working on. You’re motivated to resolve your own problems. You have more energy to finish more work and create or study more. You just have a lot of motivation and that’s a welcome change.

You are so capable of becoming the Queen of Pentacles yourself. This season, be wise with how you spend your energy so that you don’t burn yourself out. Work, rest, play, self-care; these are all equally important. Have faith that some kind of miracle is seeking you~ You just need to be in alignment with the energy of ease and excitement!

⚖️Libra – 7 of Pentacles Rx

This is your season, alright! 7 of Pentacles in reverse is totally saying that you aren’t resting, aren’t waiting anymore. Whatever is on your mind, whatever you’ve been working on or wanting to start, the GREEN LIGHT is here. There is a surge of energy for success, fortune, happiness, excitement, and creation. Use this energy, this moment, the best you can while it lasts. Enjoy it. Delight in it.

You’ll know when to make a move or start something new by means of synchronicity. Maybe angel numbers, precognitive dreams, synchronous names, etc. Be mindful of false synchronicities though. These ones happen the most when we are dead anxious. When you’re anxious, you’re seeing symbols and SYNKs that are created by your ego-based fears; these could be misleading.

To hear real guidance from the Higher Realms, one must always be in a relaxed state. Your mind must be cleared of environmental clutter. This season, a lot of good things are yours to take, but you must also take care of your mental state. Don’t overwork yourself. Don’t get too excited. Remain chill and casual about shit😎

🏺Aquarius – 4 of Pentacles

You’re cutting your losses and tying loose ends. You’re realising now it’s important to save up your hard earnt resources for yourself—and only those who truly truly truly matter in your Life. It’s high time you thought about the future—what you intend to do with your amazing wealth (or talent) to roll out changes in the bigger world once you’ve garnered enough power.

This season for you is the season for amassing wealth. Fortune and talents and knowledge and skills. Some of you will resonate with work, some with studies. Your personal world has the potential to set a good example for the public* so whatever you do with career, family, vocation, etc. can have an impact on the world at large. And in that way, you could be saving the world.

You’re powerful like that, so this season would be great for your studies and keeping to yourself, keeping to your dreams and visions, and making sure you have all the resources to manifest your Life Purpose.

*public can simply mean your co-workers, neighbours or social media following; take what resonates~

Mind Magick Transmutation🔻💙👻

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Tipping Balance for 🐝Water Signs – Silver Astrologer (John Dee)

Look to the stars for guidance. A loving spirit guide is holding your everything tightly. Whoever this spirit guide might be, they’re trying to divulge a secret to your future—pssst, it’s Destiny! Look inwardly to hear all the great advice and empowering words of Love!

🦀Cancer – 8 of Cups

A Spirit Guide has been guiding you to come out of an unfortunate situation. Some of you are still on prison break (you’ll get out soon), but many of you have just been fresh out of hot water. This season then becomes a resting period for you. You need R&R, you’re deserving of it, and when you’re rejuvenated you will be so busy with new things that are exciting! Like, things are finally moving in the direction you and your Higher Self have always intended!

There is a lot of protection surrounding you at this time. I’m almost seeing a huge bubble of light protecting you from harmful energies, psychic attacks, malicious intents and all that bad juju. Your connection with your guardian angels is very strong at this moment. You’re advised to amplify, or at least maintain, this protection by resting well and eating clean. Need to shift habits that lower your vibe to new healthier habits.

Meditation, reiki, and subliminals are also useful in this scenario. Psst… please skip the whole solfeggio frequencies… they’re actually really bad for your manifestations.

🦂Scorpio – Knight of Pentacles Rx

This isn’t the time to be thinking too logically about things. What you’re dealing with may feel larger than you and you’re trying to resolve issues with a logical pattern. Nope. Stop that. This time around, you don’t go from 1 to 2 to 3. This season, you’re going FASTER. From 0 to 100 in an instant. The key to allowing this to happen smoothly? MAGICK.

Magic isn’t rational and it doesn’t follow convention. That’s the essence of magic anyway: miraculous, unexpected, and ends with glad tidings. You just follow whatever your intuition tells you. I saw on Pinterest a quote like this: your anxiety is lying to you, it’s not the end of the world; you can do this!

What you are seeking is seeking you, too. Relax, sit back, and allow yourself to be in alignment with the energy of miracles. Your Spirit Guides are orchestrating something big behind the scenes. You’ve done enough, let them do their job of serving you now!🎆

🎏Pisces – 3 of Cups Rx

You’ve either been in isolation or just out of touch with most people. At any rate, for quite a while now you’ve been feeling a lack of cheer. You feel quite lonesome and stagnant. But all of that is ‘bout to change. A stream of beauty consciousness is pouring into your Life. It’s like, things are just magically going to get brighter, sweeter, nicer and merrier.

I’m thinking aespa’s DREAMS COME TRUE for both its aesthetic and lyrics, really. And also, their LIFE’S TOO SHORT for those of you who’ve been dealing with haters or parents who wouldn’t allow you to DO YOU. You know? People who make you feel miserable because you’re just trying to be yourself.

Some of you may still be in the dark phase of the Moon. It’s quiet and boring maybe, but it’s just a natural part of the Cosmic Mechanism of the world. Sooner than you think, the Moon is going to wax again and when everything is bright and calm in your world you’ll be glad you didn’t give up.

Mind Magick Transmutation🔻💛👻

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[six-costume-refs]

Have you seen Six’s recent performance on the Today Show? It looks like Keri has the proper Seymour boots now (not the ones she had during her debut) and Sam isn’t wearing her flats anymore, could it just be because of them being on the Today Show or have they changed their boots recently? Also, could that hint that Keri’s not leaving the show anytime soon (whether that be on Broadway or possibly the Boleyn Tour)?

Hey! First of all this got stuck in my drafts for a while and Keri Rene Fuller has seemingly left the show since. However, I think there’s still some helpful info here and am still going to leave most of what I said in answer to your question about Keri, but just a heads up for anyone reading this

So both Sam Pauly and Adrianna Hicks started out in the show with heeled boots. Due to injuries they switched to flat boots, and have been wearing those pretty consistently since. They both wore heeled boots for the Today Show performance.

Keri Rene Fuller has actually had three pairs of boots:

Left: her flat debut boots Center: a different flat pair that she was wearing later in the run Right: Heeled boots. The only time I can confirm that she wore these are on the Today Show. She may have started wearing the heeled boots in performances a few days before Abby Mueller’s return, but it's hard to know with the fairly low quality photos and minimal megasixes we get now. My guess is she never wore them in a show.

Adrianna, Sam, and Keri were just wearing heeled because it's a public performance for the Today Show. Two major components of that: a) Six usually has any queens who might typically wear flats wear heeled boots for promos. Wearing them for a performance of one song or a photoshoot is much easier on the queens' feet then wearing them for 8-9 shows a week, and it just makes things way more uniform! The Broadway cast has done that for most public performances in recent months; most recently they also did so for the Visit London performance a week after the Today Show performance b) It's also Tony's season, and Six is really going after that costume design award! It's one of their most likely bets for a win so they'll really focus on it in the next month. We'll likely see a lot of promo in that features their costumes, and for public performances like that that they'll definitely prioritize the uniformity of everyone in their heeled boots as much as possible.

There's something notable about Keri's heeled boots, though: they actually might be alt style. They look similar to Seymour, yes, but they have a number of key differences that are out of the ordinary for Seymour boots:

1. Quick disclaimer on this one that due to lighting and photo editing it can be hard to say with certainty, but Keri's boots (left) seem to have two of the three crystal colors typically used for the monotone Broadway alt boots rather than the three crystal colors used for principal Seymour (right). 2. Keri's boots have two straps, while the standard design used in US productions only have one. This may seem negligible, but they’ve really standardized these strap designs for Aragon Tour and Broadway. 3. Seymour is also the only boot pattern that none of the other alts are currently using: Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert has Aragon/Howard, Keirsten Hodgens has Cleves, Courtney Mack has Boleyn, and Mallory Maedke has Parr (all talked about with photos in that post linked in #1) They're visually small differences, but notable ones. I also want to address that while it might seem like this could just be a design change for Seymour, the Aragon Tour boots have been made since Keri’s and don’t have these changes.

This could definitely indicate that Keri is meant to have multiple covers. If Keri had been meant to stay as alternate Seymour with no other covers (regardless of whether or not she became principal Seymour down the road), it would make the most sense for her to have the standard US Seymour boot design: the usual crystal colors and the usual one wide strap. These seem more like monotone, semi-generic alt boots modeled after a primary cover, just like the other Broadway alts. 

Like I said I wrote this back when we though Keri would be staying on, but I still think this is notable. I always try to note boot design changes, for starters, but it also could be an indicator that Keri may have been meant to be an alt with multiple covers at some point (I have a theory about this but I want to wait and see if we get any future evidence). I do expect that she’ll return in the future as a principal Seymour, but I’m also wondering if they could have set her up to return as an alt. Super curious where things go in the next few months, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

Website Advertising a Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 9?

If anyone hears about a Voltron: Legendary Defender season 9 coming out in December of 2021, the source of this information is a site called Whenetflix. Aside from the fact that the whole site looks like clickbait and is riddled with grammatical errors, the details therein also heavily contradict years of other articles and interviews about the show.

You can find the article in question here: https://whenetflix.com/voltron-legendary-defender

Here is a screenshot of what the article looks like:

Photo text: “The ninth season of Voltron: Legendary Defender is coming, with fans strives to see Bex Taylor-Klaus’s Pidge back in action. It will return on Friday, December 10, 2021 just similar time at 8th. All information about upcoming part created by Joaquim dos Santos below.”

There are several signs here to suggest that this article is suspicious and most likely just clickbait. If you read the description above, you can see how poor the writing quality is.

The errors continue below, starting with an all-new winner of a sentence: “Voltron: Legendary Defender TV series is a children Joaquim dos Santos.”

“Okay,” you might say. “So the quality of the source is a little sus. Couldn’t it still be possible that a season 9 is really coming out?”

You can be your own judge, but I am extremely skeptical for the additional following reasons:

1. The trailer embedded in the article is actually an old clip from season 8. The video first appeared on YouTube back in December of 2018. There is no new animated content for anything.

2. There’s a lack of official confirmation from any other source about a show renewal for s9, and there is no name even attached to this article.

3. The post-s8 comics by LionForge were hurriedly wrapped up after the backlash regarding s8. Only 3 volumes were produced before LionForge shut its doors to DreamWorks, suggesting there was a real business reason to not renew a license for a prestigious franchise. (source: https://geekdad.com/2019/05/lionforge-does-not-renew-voltron-license-ends-comic-series/#:~:text=LionForge%20Does%20Not%20Renew%20Voltron%20License%2C%20Ends%20Comic%20Series,-Comic%20Books%20Television&text=In%20a%20reversal%20from%20earlier,%2C%20while%20disappointing%2C%20is%20unsurprising.)

4. Speaking of confirmation from other sources: Netflix had agreed to only 78 episodes for the entire VLD show, and season 8 completed that contract. Numerous articles and interviews confirm this, stating that VLD had a predetermined contract ending with season 8, which also determines the budget to produce episodes. Here is only one of many such articles from the more credible Screenrant: (source: https://screenrant.com/voltron-season-9-netflix/)

Picture text: “When it was announced Netflix had renewed Voltron for a fourth season it was also revealed that the streaming network was committed to a 78-episode order for the series. With season 8's 13 episodes, that 78-episode quota has been fulfilled. It's unlikely, then, that Netflix will seek any more episodes of Voltron from DreamWorks, and instead will continue developing any of the other series currently coming to Netflix from DreamWorks Animation (see below).

Additionally, Voltron series creators Dos Santos and Montgomery are already moving on to new projects. Dos Santos has been tapped to direct the forthcoming Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse sequel, while Montgomery is in talks to tackle the Spider-Gwen spinoff. Still, it's hard to believe there won't ever be another Voltron series, just not anytime soon and probably not from the same creative team.”

So again, the only other sources we have about a Voltron season 9 consistently reiterate that there won’t be a season 9.

And finally, as the above article suggests:

5. Previous VAs and development team members mentioned in this suspicious article are already busy/contracted for other projects. For example, look at the IMDB page for Kimberly Brooks, which shows all the other things she’s involved with or still filming, but no mention of VLD in 2021.

Picture description: References to shows in-progress for 2021, but no mention of VLD.

In addition, on IMDB pages, VLD is still listed as complete, 2016 - 2018.

Conclusion

In general, I wouldn’t lose sleep over a VLD season 9 or hold my breath in anticipation of one. This appears to be a clickbait trick to prey on a snoozing fandom. I posted this message after checking the main “Voltron” tag on tumblr and seeing it flooded with some hype but mostly anxiety from a variety of other blogs.

I hope this info helps someone sleep easier tonight ;alsdjfs

[twdmusicboxmystery]

TWD 11x02: The Talking Dead

Okay, I DO have a details post, which will go up tomorrow. Because Emily was a guest on TTD this week, I thought it would be more important to post this first this week.

P.S. Apologies for the low quality of the pictures. I wasn’t able to get my usual screenshots this week, so I had to take pics of my TV. ;D

Right off the bat, let me say there weren’t any huge, smoking guns about Beth’s return in the episode. In other words, not much that the general audience (GA) would pick up on.

But we’re not the GA, are we? LOTS of suspicious dialogue and symbolism came out of this. Way more than we usually get from TTD. So, let’s dive right in.

The first thing was in the introduction. When Chris Hardwick was introducing his guests, as he always does, he used the phrase, “Beth is back!” That sort of thing always catches our attention and makes us side-eye.

@wdway​ observed that Emily’s outfit was a mixture of black and white/cream colors, Xs, and diamond patterns. In the past, I might not have been entirely swayed by that. (We’re assuming she chooses her own clothes, right?) But there have been too many times in the past when similar things have happened. Like for the S8 premiere when she wore that bright pink top that looked exactly like the pink bra ashtray in Still? Yeah, I’m no longer convinced Emily ISN’T dropping hints through her clothing.

It was also observed that her hair was very long. Whether extensions or not, it was very long (Beth length) and very blond. Might have been another hint.

One of the first questions Chris asked he was what she thought of Maggie’s SURVIVAL. That’s important both because it’s a question about someone who was left for dead surviving and also because Maggie crawling under the train was a direct parallel to Glenn, who was a direct parallel to Beth. So I was definitely side-eyeing that.

At one point, Chris referenced the Commonwealth interrogating people before letting them in, and he asked if Hershel had done that at the farm, would Rick’s group have made it past the screening process. Emily, overall, said yes. But Josh (McDermott who was on with her) said Shane wouldn’t have. They then started talking and making typical fandom jokes about Shane’s craziness.

The reason this made me smile is because Emily often deflects questions by saying she doesn’t remember, or doesn’t know, or that she no longer keeps up with the show. But here, she talked about specific characters and events in specific parts of a season 9 years ago as though she’s VERY familiar with it. It was like, “oh, but that character didn’t do that until minute 32 of episode 8 of season 2. But I don’t know. I don’t really keep up with things anymore.”

Okay, I’m totally exaggerating there. She wasn’t that specific. But that’s what it felt like. The little fibs she tells to keep people from suspecting Beth’s return are showing.

In talking about the significance of Maggie giving Negan a gun, Lauren said something kind of interesting and Beth-ish. She said, and I paraphrase, that Maggie is struggling to hold onto the person she was, rather than giving into who she might become. Just very reminiscent of Beth’s line to Daryl from still. “You gotta stay who you are, not who you were.”

Chris then asked what Beth would have thought of the current Maggie. And he asked specifically, “Would she even recognize her?” Now, of course he meant that in terms of recognizing who she’s become, because Maggie has changed so much as a person since Beth’s death.

But given the memory loss theories and all the surrounding evidence, we really think there’s a good chance Beth won’t recognize Maggie right away. So that was a huge hint to drop.

See what I mean? It’s not that they talked about Beth’s return in a huge, smoking gun sort of way. Rather, they just dropped a lot of hints through dialogue and the way they phrased questions.

The other thing I noticed is that Emily, in answer to the question, said that without Maggie, everyone seemed adrift and as if they didn’t know what to do because they no longer had a leader (until Maggie showed up again) to tell them what to do. Especially since it didn’t directly answer Chris’s question, I felt like maybe Emily was hinting at Beth’s leadership. New sheriff in town, and such.

Then Josh brought the shiv to everyone’s attention. I don’t think I mentioned this yesterday. If not, it will be in tomorrow’s Details post. But we saw Eugene wheedle a piece of wood into a sharp shive/spike and stick it into his sleeve. It was very reminiscent of Beth hiding the scissors in her cast in Coda. And Josh specifically called attention to that scene. He actually compared it to Terminus, rather than Coda, because we saw them trying to create makeshift weapons in the train car in 5x01. But still, it’s all season 5 and revolves around Beth’s arc.

Actually, as they went along through the episode, they did callbacks to various things in S5 a BUNCH of times. Kind of convenient given that Emily is sitting on the couch next to him, no? Both Lauren and Josh mentioned Terminus multiple times in various ways. Which works because Eugene’s group has been around a lot of train cars these past few episodes. But the thing is, they didn’t really equate Eugene’s storyline directly with Terminus. They were simply finding ways/reasons to randomly mention it.

They also brought up Noah’s death multiple times, comparing Gauge’s death to it, since in both cases, people watched them die horribly from behind a glass partition. Totally makes sense, but yet another tie to Beth by really talking about Noah a lot.

Lauren, talking about good vs evil and what people are capable of, a la Maggie’s disturbing cannibal story, said it wasn’t just about what outward choices people make. She pointed to her chest and said, “it’s what’s in here.” That just gave me huge Beth feels from Still, when she said, “…or it kills you. Here.” And pointed to her chest in the same way.

It just felt like they were invoking Beth a lot during this episode.

This next one was kind of the big kahuna. Chris, just out of left field, looked at Emily and asked, “Will Daryl prove Beth right? Will he be the last man standing?”

And that’s important because it has nothing to do with this discussion or this specific episode. Daryl wasn’t even in this episode.

And I have to acknowledge that there’s a good chance Emily was supposed to be on last week, and her appearance was pushed. We just don’t entirely know what happened there. So possibly, they would have asked this last week during a more Daryl-centric discussion. But still, Chris didn’t say that. It wasn’t like, “Oh you were supposed to be on last week and we wanted to ask this…” No. He just launched into it.

Furthermore, Emily knew exactly what he was talking about. Yes, it’s a well-known line of Beth dialogue from Still that she probably would have been familiar with either way, but even so. The “will Daryl prove her right” came directly from Daryl’s origins episode. So again, despite “not keeping up with the show,” she clearly watched the Origins episode and knew what Chris was talking about.

A couple of suspicious things in her answer:

She essential said yes, that she believes Daryl will be the last man standing. But she also said she didn’t think he would be the ONLY last man standing. Then Chris made a joke saying (and I paraphrase), “Yeah, it’s not like Beth could have said, ‘Daryl, you’re going to get a spinoff.’” And they all laughed and joked about it.

Let’s consider her statement first. She said he wouldn’t be the only one who was standing last, but how would she know that? If she doesn’t follow it anymore and is only associated with it as a previous, deceased character, how would she know that.

And yes, you could argue that this was conjecture on her part, but she said with such…I don’t know, authority? As though she knows something we don’t.

I think you can interpret this one of two ways. The first is what I’ve hinted at above: that she knows others besides Daryl will survive to the end of the show. And I totally agree with her on that. While most of us believe, I think, that Daryl will live until the end, I think plenty of others will, too. Rick and Michonne. Probably Carol and Zeke. Hopefully Maggie, though I’m a little more worried about her. You get the idea. But once again, why would Emily know anything about that?

The other way you could interpret it is that this is a statement about Daryl not being alone. He’ll be the last man standing, but he won’t be the ONLY one. He won’t be alone in that, because Beth will be by his side.

And here’s your friendly neighborhood reminder that in an interview with Larry King prior to S5 airing, Gimple confirmed that Daryl will find love in the apocalypse at some point.

Then there’s Chris’s statement about the spinoff. Now, that came from Chris rather than her, but it was still a really random reference. For me, what Chris does or doesn’t know is kind of irrelevant at this point. I personally believe he knows everything and is fully in on Beth’s storyline. But even if I’m wrong about that, these questions come from tptb. If Chris recognizes their significance, he’s being instructed to ask them and direct the conversation in a particular way.

And they way he threw in this mention made it seem like he was equating Beth with the spinoff in some way. Even the way he said, “there’s no way Beth could have known to say…” the thing about the spinoff struck me as interesting. Because back then, I truly don’t believe the writers knew anything about the spinoff. As I like to say, everything changed when Kirkman abruptly ended the comics and the writers decided to pick up all the characters and story lines and move them to a different vehicle: the spinoff. Probably for legal reasons. But they couldn’t have know that would happen back in S4.

There’s also the unspoken implication that, while Beth couldn’t have “known” about the spinoff, she didn’t know about other things. Like her return and Daryl’s fate.

Emily even told a story about how when they were getting ready to film the porch scene for Still, both she and Norman were hounding Angela Kang (not the show runner back then, but the writer of that episode) about the last man standing line. They both wondered if it was some kind of foreshadow. She implied they were both worried that Daryl would die soon because of it.

A few things about that. 1) I don’t think either of them actually believed Daryl was soon to die. I seriously doubt that. This is just one of those stories they tell to illustrate a point. Which leads me to my next point. 2) Clearly they are implying that this IS some sort of foreshadowing. They’re just not being specific about what it foreshadows. 3) Keep this in mind--that they were both asking about what a certain line of dialogue might foreshadow--the next the time actors try to claim they have no idea what anything means or what’s going to happen next. They’re VERY aware of how the writers put these symbols in and are constantly wanting to know where the show is going, just like we are. 

So yeah. I was definitely a fan of that whole discussion.

The Inside the Dead portion referenced some interesting Easter eggs, including Gorbelli foods (seen in Tara’s backstory in S4, which had lots of Beth parallels) and Duane Jones Whiskey (alcohol, Morgan, etc; we’ve compared that with Beth before). Kinda small potatoes, but still important.

I missed part of this next question, but they asked Emily something about whether she thought the Commonwealth is going to turn out to be a good thing and helpful to Alexandria. She said no. Again, maybe not a smoking gun but given that we think she’s most likely coming through Eugene’s story line, it might have been a hint.

They asked her about the Eugene/Stephanie story line, and she said she was excited for any love story in this world. *coughs Bethyl hint*. She also said she’s suspicious of ‘Stephanie’ (emphasis mine) *coughs plot hint*.

For the quiz, they talked about how many walkers Dog killed in the episode (1). Where Mercer said he went to school (Westpoint). What was interesting, is that they kinda gave something away there. After giving the answer, it said, “Mercer didn’t go to school there, but the actor that played him did.” So, they kind of hinted that Mercer SAID he went to Westpoint, but was lying. Just more evidence that Eugene’s group is being lied to and manipulated. Finally, they had a fill-in-the-blank of Eugene’s dialogue. It was when he asked how he was being processed. And one of the options was “as in bologna and other meant stuffs…” (again, I’m paraphrasing; forgive me if my wording is a little off). Anyway, it said at that moment, Eugene was thinking about Terminus. So, just another callback to that story line in S5.

Near the end, Chris asked Lauren and Emily what they miss most about working together. Lauren’s replay was, again, suspicious. She said Emily was “such a bright light,” which we equated to Norman’s famous description of Beth as Daryl’s light that “went out.” She also talked about how it was a testament to Emily’s goodness that she’s “being so missed.” Which made me think of, “you’re gonna miss me so bad when I’m gone, Daryl Dixon.”

Finally, even before the episode aired, @wdway had a theory about Emily being in the studio for the episode, rather than via satellite. Well, I guess it was more of a hope than an actual theory. Now that the episode has aired, it’s an actual theory. 

See, she had a hunch that maybe the Commonwealth story lines (what Josh should be filming right now) might be filmed in studio, rather than on location in Georgia. And there IS an AMC studio in L.A. What we saw--Josh in person on the show while Lauren was there via satellite because she’s in Georgia--does seem to back up this idea. Or at least the possibility. 

The fact that Emily was also there in person could be a coincidence. But it could also possibly mean that she’s filming in studio for the Commonwealth story line as well. @wdway​ thought of this because we think she’ll first come through Eugene’s arc, and none of the Commonwealth stuff is being filmed on the main Alexandria lots where people generally look for spoilers.

Not something that can be proven either way, of course. But a great theory that I’m 100% behind! 

Okay, that’s it for TTD (but that was a LOT) and it makes me super happy. Together with the screeners not being able to talk about episodes moving forward, I think we’ll see Beth very soon. Any references in TTD that I missed?

[aclickbaittitle]

A study of the friendships in Brimstone Valley Mall

If you are like me, you probably stalk follow your favorite podcasts in Instagram, and if so, you’ll know that we are getting a season 2, baby! And in celebration of that I want to talk about one key factor that made the podcast so special.

Philia love; The second type of Greek love. Is the reciprocal quality of love you feel for a friend. It’s about showing loyalty to your friends, sacrificing for them as well as sharing your emotions with them.

Author C.S. Lewis wrote that Philia “has the least commerce with our nerves; there is nothing throaty about it” but BVM (Brimstone Valley Mall) is here to prove him wrong. Philia or platonic love can cause as much ruckus as any other.

[Image ID: Two disembodied hands one pink and one dark brown making a pink promise]

From Belzagor undying (and possibly misplaced) loyalty in Hornblas, Misroch’s desire to be seen as an equally valuable member of the gang as him, to Trainee’s and Xaphan’s longing to be part of a group. This podcast shows us different kinds of friendships, and how mess up can they be while still having beauty in them.

MISROCH

[ID: Misroch crossing their arms with a frown on their face, next to it a quote that says: “I probably wouldn’t put you in the fryer if you passed out]

Of all the things the first episode “Where the hell are you?” pulls off, I think that at the end of the day these 30 minutes are theirs (and Belzagor’s of course).

Belzagor comes to the Wiener’s world and Misroch is quick to tell Trainee that even if they have NO clients whatsoever that their friend can come here and have anything free of charge. This immediately sets up the fact that the love language of the Demon is food (which is also mine). One of the most notable scenes for Misroch’s character in relation to the gang is in episode 8 “Attention Port Authority Bus Terminal”, when we hear Misroch list the separate snacks they brought for their friends.

Food was also the first common ground Misroch found between themselves and Xaphan.

BELZAGOR

[ID: Belzagor with one hand on her hip and in the other a screwdriver next to a quote that says: “I’d share my dumpster booze with you, valentine]

There is no question Belzagor isn’t a good friend -most of all to Hornblas-. Her second line is literally expressing how much she likes him, which when put against emotionally constipated Misroch and their ex-boyfriend Asmoraius, is for lack of another word BIG. She is the most concerned on finding Hornblas and cares a lot about his mental wellbeing, understanding the rough patch his being going through.

In that same episode she shares her Holly water with Misroch who had been not that nice with her, and then says, “Love you too Misnis”.

Is Belz love language words of affirmation? Possibly.

One for my favorite scene and the one that probably get birth to the Xaphan/Belzagor ship. Is in episode 9 “Happy Y2K, Part 1”. Xaphan has return to the too small too hot Boiling room of Hell and Belzagor is here to come rescue her.

Xaphan, curse her innocent soul, thought the gang would not come to rescue her and that she was all alone again, and her comes Belzagor and casually reassures her that she is important to the gang and that people need her. For Xaphan this might be the sweetest thing someone has done for her, and so she said “Belzagor...I owe you-”. But Belzagor, as being just a good friend for the sake of it and as with her friendship with Misroch is based on slushie just says, “A slushie? Yeah, you do.”

ASMORAIUS

[ID: Asmoraius blowing a kiss with a text that says: “valentine, I’d ________ and we could_________ so much.]

Asmoraius did not only serve us the only and very sweet romantic storyline of an angel and a demon (which we are all suckers for), him and Misroch also show us that ex-partners can be friends.

One of the most beautiful scenes and that stay with me in this podcast was on episode 8 “Attention Port Authority Bus Terminal” when him and Misroch are the only ones awake on the trip to Hell. As a Misroch kinnie it was so gratifying to hear how the lust demon reassures them that their friends like them the same as “Perfect Hornblas”.

We also discover that he is very observant, and that maybe if him and Belzagor don’t have as many interactions, you can see he cares about her and vice versa because he pays attention to what he likes.

Additionally, in episode 3 “Moral Kombat” Asmoraius is the only one that doesn’t threat Xaphan as a nuisance the first time he sees her (yeah, he ditches her for his romantic interest, but not before explaining the rules of the world to her and stating is a solo adventure). He answers her questions, he motivates her to earn her first sin coin and seems genuinely impressed with how well she did.

He boosts her confidence in the same way that he did Misroch’s and Trainee in episode 4 “Don’t call me darling.”

XAPHAN

[ID: Xaphan with a hand in the air, appearing to be waving and next to it a text that says: “Valentine, I’d let you be in my band if I was in the band.]

I think she has one of the most tragic backstories on this whole podcast, alone with nothing more to do than stoke the flames of hell, she didn’t any experience to learn about friendship, or anything at all, really.

Then when she firsts meets the gang, they are reluctant to have it, understandably so since she is “Hornblas’ replacement” and the idea of a member of your friend group being replace is not one you take lightly.

For me Xaphan’s journey is about coming into her own through the different things that the band gave her: an obsession with wieners, a lesson on how to make people sin and (at the end) words of affirmation that she is more than the “stoker of the belos of hell”.

To conclude

C.S. Lewis wrote: “To the Ancients, Friendship seemed the happiest and most fully human of all loves; the crown of life and the school of virtue. The modern world, in comparison, ignores it.” -he also went to say friendship was unnatural because you can breed without it which is cow poop.

I think one of the things that makes this podcast so great is how at is core is the story of a friendship, how it started, its problems and how it is changing into something different and probably better. In a story about human-eating demons Brimstone Valley Mall reminded us of what The Ancients (whoever they are) already knew: platonic love is the most fully human.

Image Credit:

#1https://dribbble.com/shots/9547608-Philia-Affectionate-Love

#2,3,4,5 https://misnis.tumblr.com/post/643199691865096192/i-am-a-leetel-late-but-happy-valentines-everyone

[oldguy56-world]

That’s Alright (Mama)

One of our girls is now a mother and I am trying to figure out if there is a way I can cash in to get a gift for Mother’s Day. She begat a child but I begat her so there must be a way that I begetting a gift out of this. Somehow.

I had to get that off of my chest. This is the first time I have written about Mother’s Day since May 13, 2019. Hey. I have a lot on my plate these days. There was pressure on me to get my wife a great gift for Mother’s Day. When I was a kid and buying for my mother it was easy. The first few years I got nothing for her but that seemed to be okay. Then as I got older, A bouquet of dandelions or a 5 cent chocolate bar (yes kids, they used to be that cheap) was fine. It was the thought that counts. But buying for your wife for Mother’s Day is a lot trickier than buying for your mother. 

Because I have still not figured out women in all my years on Earth, I really don’t know what a good gift for this occasion is. Why am I wasting your time now? I am not. While I don’t know what a good gift is, I can tell you what a good gift isn’t based on years of personal experience or that of close friends. These are our stories.

- Sexy lingerie. This apparently is not appropriate for the occasion. You might get away with it for Valentine’s Day, but not here. Technically, and we all know this, this type of gift is really for the husband. Giving this gift carries with it the danger of the next time you see it is when she is packing it for a weekend away with ‘the girls’. Big Red Flag.

- A 9-iron. Unless she is a pro golfer, stay away from it. You will be surprised at how quickly and adeptly she learns how to wield it.

- A clothing iron or any other household appliance. She might say that’s all she wants but this is a trap to test you. Buy her one any time other than for a special occasion. (Also retailers will not let you return them if they are dented or have blood on them)

- A TV remote control. A friend of mine bought his wife one back in 1983. She moved out in 1984, Good news was she let him keep the remote. Bad news is she told him where he could keep it.

- Personal service coupons, Fun when you are a kid and they are for hugs and kisses.  Be careful what you put on them when you get older. First rule is remember your kids might see them. Second rule is they are for what she wants not what you want. Third rule is be specific. Don’t just say back rub. put a time limit on it and don’t let her combine them otherwise on a dreary day when the power is out you might be rubbing her back until your arms go numb.

- No season tickets unless they are for a museum, opera, or a garden. Don’t try to double this up with the 9-iron. Quantity does not equal quality. It might mean in this case your destruction.

- I am pretty sure I have mentioned this before, but nothing sharp. Ever. Trust me.

If you are still stuck, Flowers, Jewelry and a card. Never forget the card. Avoid candy as that can backfire in ways you never thought of.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK: It should not take a special occasion to tell your wife or mother you appreciate them and love them. This is the gift that keeps on giving.

[neitherever-nornever-goodbye]

Number Five Fic Recs

I have spent days reading Five fics since season 2 aired, so I decided that I might as well start jotting them all down for anyone’s interested. It’s a long list, here we go xD

Completed

1.  Blood and Steel by @e-vasong, T, 6900 words

Diego gets shot. Five is evasive. There is a bit of an emotional reckoning, and neither of them are even vaguely equipped for it.

2.  Carry Him by ClaraCivry (Kat_Of_Dresden), not rated, 2422 words

`Five times Five's siblings carried him, took his weight.

Some hurt Five, some fluff, but mostly Hargreeves being worried and looking after him.

3.  Small Changes by calypso42, T, 3509 words

“I need to ask you something.” He set down the large stack of books he was carrying beside him. Klaus glanced at a few of the titles - Consciousness in the Brain - Memory & the Role of the Hippocampus - Soul vs. Matter: A Comprehensive Look at the Origins of Sentience - and grimaced.

“Are you… having an existential crisis, or something? Because I am possibly the worst person you could go to for that.”

...

When Five goes to Klaus to ask him something about his powers, Klaus doesn’t think much of it. At least, until he realizes that what he thought was simple curiosity was actually deeper than that, leading to a revelation about Five himself.

4.  Strike A Violent Pose by @ford-ye-fiji, T, 1268 words

And here he was, limping along with a twisted ankle, going to save his siblings from certain doom yet again.

5.  You are not alone by my_monster_are_real, T, 4259 words

Five doesn't like to be taken care of, but Allison doesn't care.

6.  They Could Care Less (as long as someone’ll bleed) by @ford-ye-fiji, M, 2835 words

Number Five is cornered once again by commission agents, but this time with his family.

-

Diego and Klaus learn something about their littlest-oldest brother.

7. Didn’t Give Me Time to Say Goodbye by rookflight, Gen, 1769 words

After dealing with the second apocalypse, Five takes time to think about everything that’s happened. Klaus seizes the opportunity for some quality sibling bonding.

8.  With Two Arms by karcheri, T, 3345 words

What it comes down to, really, is that Five had been too eager for results. Once it became clear to him that there was a connection between his powers and his energy level the obvious course of action, as he saw it, was to test this information. The hypothesis was this: higher energy levels = stronger powers and the easiest way to get more energy is to eat more. Pretty simple stuff. Too simple.

or Five times that Five starves himself and one time that he gets called out on it.

9.  Number Five The Monster Under The Bed by Kraeyola, T, 5460 words

It's easy to forget sometimes when you look at Five; small lanky body, little boy-scout shorts, and a perfectly pristine uniform. A smooth youthful face that's always wearing a too-serious expression for someone (supposedly) so young. Not that the siblings don't respect Five as an equal, it's just... well. It's hard to take him so seriously. Especially when he gets mad and makes such an adorable pouty face.

It's why they find it so difficult to deal with reconciling Five to the boy they (thought they) knew, to the boy they're seeing standing right in front of them. But you can't really blame them, can you?

After all, it's hard to believe things without witnessing them first hand.

There is a monster under the bed and it's in the shape of a thirteen-year-old boy.

10.  Nonlinear theory for dummies by Inkjade, Gen, 4786 words

After forty-five years of fighting, it's kind of hard to know how to stop.

11.  Vital Signs by aye_of_newt, M, 3524 words

Sometimes, it's difficult for Klaus to tell if someone is alive or dead.

When Five shows up, covered in blood after killing the Board, Klaus panics.

12.  Not with me by Claracivry (Kat_Of_Dresden) Gen, 5681 words

They never asked if any of that blood was his.

Five is bleeding, and he is also giving up.

AU to 2X07, with hurt Five because after all that boy has been through...

13.  Nothing’s Going on (and that’s the problem) by briegretful, T, 5231 words

(Directly after the season 2 ending, except everything's normal and everyone's still around) He did it. Five saved his family. They landed in 2019 and everything, somehow, worked out.

He's not sure how to deal with that.

or

Five struggles to deal with not having an apocalypse to stop, and his family tries to help him.

14.  A New Life by BirdInTheCave, T, 3884 words

Allison had convinced Ray to come back to 2019 with her and her family and after a month of being cooped up in the house with the other Hargreeves plus their own unconventional guests, Ray suggests they spend some time alone. He's still struggling to fully comprehend the new world he's stepped into but he's determined that with Allison at his side he can get used to anything. Allison can't find a reason to say no. She should have said no.

Luckily for her, Five will always be there for his family, now that he's back.

15. Side Effects May Vary by CivilBores, T, 6565 words

Allison crosses her arms. “Five,” she says firmly, “when was the last time you slept?”

“I don’t know,” Five says honestly. At Allison’s expression, he quickly adds, “But it doesn’t matter. I don’t know what it’ll take for all of you pea-brained idiots to realize that.”

“We may not be as intelligent as you, Five,” Allison says, “but at least all of us are smart enough to know how to take care of ourselves.”

OR

A week after the world is saved, Five convinces himself that he is still experiencing lingering side effects of paradox psychosis. His family has something to say about that.

16. The Walls Kept Tumbling Down by @ingu, T, 64888 words, 8 chapters

It started small.

There was a nagging ache in his chest, phantom pain from where the bullets had pierced his flesh, in the overwritten timeline that never will be.

(the one where rewinding time doesn't miraculously resolve mortal gunshot wounds)

17. Stay by maddienole, T, 6027 words

Five had saved his life once, many months ago. Maybe it was time for Klaus to return the favor.

18. Growing Pains by kakashi_mole, Not rated, 10520 words, Fiveya (personal fave, angst too much)

Number Five remembers his first kiss

Notes:    

Takes place after Season Two. A Five-centric fic. Some teenagers get growing pains, some don’t, but the last “cycles” of pain usually occur around age 13.

19. Another Cog in Murder Machine by @ford-ye-fiji​, T, 2463 words

Five finally gets the breakdown he deserves 

20. Sorrows Like Thunder Clouds by Emotionally_Detached (Yeah_Toast), T, 6953 words

He makes it. He time travels and makes it through another apocalypse.

He makes it, but his siblings don't.His siblings don't make it, except he's in his own childhood and they're still here, alive and thirteen and he can fix things.

He will fix things

On Going

1. “I’m Too Tired” by beastboy12, T, Chapters 2/?

A slight re-telling of the barn scene. Five manages to save his siblings, but at what cost?

In which the author takes a throw-away line in season 2 and runs with it.

2.  And We All Turn To Ash by @golden-redhead, Gen, Chapters 1/?

Seconds, not decades. 

The blue glow pulsed between his fingers and he pulled at the familiarity of the feeling, pulling until time and space bent under his touch, parting as he struggled to squeeze himself through just enough to jump and change the course of history. 

The energy, familiar but somehow different, courses through his body and then he moves, for a few precious seconds existing within the time and yet outside of it. 

-

a.k.a. Five is so, so close to getting them back home and making things right. And then he isn't.

3. Tangled in The Hanging Tree by TiredPigeon (TwistedSkys), T, Chapters 2/?

The timeline is still messed up, obviously. There is still so much work to do, still so much to fix. His siblings have questions and concerns, and they want answers.

Five just wants his nose to stop bleeding.

(Post-season 2, but I have no plans to speculate on season 3, so consider this fluff.)

Five is tired, his family is starting to notice.

 Thats all for now!

@tomatojuicem apologies for making you wait ;)

Lmk if theres something wrong with the link Notes: All these fics posted after season 2 aired, but not neccessary related to season 2

[hawkland]

Destiel fic recs #3 - the (mostly) longfic edition!

It’s been a while since my last rec post - mostly because I’ve been wallowing in a number of longer fics (50-350k!) so it’s taken me a while to have enough to talk about in one post (and boy do I talk a lot, here!)

With these longer fics, I do sometimes have some caveats with my recs - or at least reasons why they might not appeal to every Dean/Cas reader. But note that if I didn’t overall strongly recommend reading the fic I wouldn’t include it in my recs here at all, so any quibbles I bring up are minor compared to my overall enjoyment of the stories. Just, I don’t want someone to commit to a long read without knowing what they’re getting into and why it might not be their thing.

I’m still not into reading complete setting AUs at this time, but a lot/most of these are canon-divergence AUs, often written/set at the end of a season and giving an alternative take on what happened next. I love those kind of stories, as it’s often so interesting to see how fans thought of what might happen in the next season (especially when it’s better than what we actually got.)

Onto the recs & discussion behind the cut!

The Sinking Ship by UnfortunatelyObsessed (114k). This is a story that ripped my heart to pieces (in a good way!). I stayed up all night to finish reading because I simply couldn’t stop once I started on it and it gave me a massive fic hanger from all my emotions. Season 14 divergence, imagine if Dean did go into the Ma’lak box to trap Michael under the ocean with him forever...and once there, he discovers that Cas has stowed away with him. Because of course Cas would never leave Dean to such a fate on his own.

I loved literally. Every. Damn. Thing. About this fic. Cas telling Dean stories to pass the (endless) time. Their small intimate moments while realizing they can never consummate physically while trapped in the box but finding every other way to express their love. The absolute heartbreak that had me SOBBING when Michael fights for control of Dean and destroys everything they’ve built together and Cas thinks he’s lost Dean forever. Sam & Gabriel & Rowena & Claire & Jack doing everything they can to devise a plan back home to try to save them both while keeping Michael trapped. Also even just the wonderfully sensitive portrayal of aroace Jack still closely bonded with Claire and Maggie and just. And just. This is a story I’ve already re-read just to savor how much I loved it and its portrayal of everyone in TFW 2.0 and their extended family, it just hit my id in all the most incredible ways and I have nothing but absolute love for this one.

Beautiful Chaos by anyrei, mugglerock (141k). Season 9 canon-divergence, in which Dean doesn’t simply abandon Cas to fend for himself post 09x03. Instead he sets Cas up in a kind of squatter’s nest in an abandoned building near the bunker so he can keep tabs on him and help him out. 

This fic definitely gets the award for FILTHIEST, HOTTEST, SMUTTIEST Dean/Cas (and Cas/other) I’ve read in, like, ever, for human!Cas turns out to be a rather insatiable sex fiend/cock slut and Dean is too up his own repressed ass to easily give Cas what he wants/needs. It is dark at times, Cas ends up in some very unsavory/non-con situations, and the authors do mention that they tried to hone in on endverse!Cas’s characterization more than what we saw in Season 9...so you might roll with it, you might not. I adored their original character Jerry the tattoo artist in this, and like I said it was seriously hot (if you are good with total bottom!Cas and Cas with others, I know those are not everyone’s cuppa). I did have a few minor issues. For one, the last chapter felt a bit rushed and hand-wavey, but clearly the authors weren’t fond of the canon conflicts of season 9 & 10 (Abbadon, Mark of Cain) and just wanted to be done with them. Can’t say I really blame them. And I did have to laugh a bit at Lebanon, Kansas apparently having such a bustling gay bar/tattoo artist/etc scene being someone from a butt-fuck nowhere American small town myself. But, SPN was never all that realistic in how Lebanon was shown (and yes I’ve spent too much time roaming around it on Google maps), so if you can suspend some disbelief this is an awesome hot/angsty/occasionally heartbreaking read.

These Forsaken Lands by destielpasta (53k). I came upon this story when looking for fics that dealt in some way with the aftermath of Godstiel. This is a wonderfully atmospheric late Season 9 “fill-in” case fic (post Meta-fiction) where Cas ends up in a small town that had been visited by Godstiel...and while initially residents have reaped much good fortune, there has suddenly been a wave of deaths/bad events and he is determined to find out what happened and set things right. He calls upon Dean for help, but Dean is fighting the Mark of Cain and it’s going to take a lot to get past its control and find a way out for both of them. Together they work on repairing an old church while trying to repair each other and their damaged relationship.

I loved this story for how well written it was, really invoking a gothic small-town/Americana atmosphere. The original characters blend in very well with the case-fic at the center of it, and the author deals really well with Cas at a very fragile point when he’s running on borrowed grace and trying to navigate Dean’s MoC-enhanced anger. It’s Dean/Cas but actually much more of a Cas character study, so I highly recommend it to my fellow/compatriot Cas-girls who love a good wallow in his head.

Mixed Emotions by Tierra469 (50k). Canon 12 “parallel” fic that then goes canon-divergent with the season finale. I actually stumbled on this while in the mood to read some Cas/ or & Mary fic after enjoying their interactions in Season 12 (don’t hate me). This is sort of two fics in one. The first half focuses mostly on filling in the gaps with some critical S12 Cas episodes, especially Cas & Mary’s developing friendship (and one night of something more). But of course Cas’s feelings for Dean (and vice-versa) are always there, and when Cas figures out a way to get his powers fully back, the question is if Dean can open himself up to be vulnerable - and express love - the way Cas needs for this to work.

This was an interesting fic in a lot of ways. I loved the author’s take on angels’ connections to their vessels and grace, it was very consistent in a way the show sometimes/often wasn’t. Cas is very Cas in not understanding privacy and personal boundaries (so he does some questionable things, admittedly, which might squick some readers). The smut is fucking HOT - though I will caution at one point it involves Cas temporarily in a younger (NOT underage) female vessel (and the story does point out Dean’s discomfort with this and some of the consent issues involved, I don’t want to spoil too much). I wanted the Mary plot resolved more than it was, but I still recommend this story strongly for the quality of the writing and unique/well-developed take on angel lore and mechanics that was quite different from what I’m used to reading.

We Are Either Here Or Not Here by petramacneary (54k) A post-season 12 fic that goes on a different tangent to how Cas returns, and what happens in the meantime. Particularly, it offers a different take on what apocalypseverse!Cas would be like—as Mary makes her own way back from that world with AU!Cas as her prisoner.

What I loved about this story: first off, BAMF!Mary is awesome here. Dean is so heartbreaking, not quite knowing what the fuck to do with this different Cas who at times is just a painful reminder of who/what Dean’s lost...but then becomes a chance for Dean to say and express some of the things he always was afraid to in the past. And when (real/our) Cas finally returns, there’s some very interesting stuff that happens with both Cas & AU!Cas and Cas & Dean that I don’t want to spoil. (And let’s also just say that when real!Cas and Dean finally get together it’s AMAZINGLY awesome. Like, hot Impala!sex. So is the artwork that goes with this story.)

You Can Keep Holding On by NorthernSparrow (353k) The longest fic I read this time around and probably the one I have the most mixed feelings about, but a while on I do keep thinking about parts of it so I do rec it with some caveats. This is a canon-divergence after the end of Season 11. Dean & Sam find Cas after he’s been blasted out of the bunker...to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Mary isn’t in this one except for a brief appearance/visit, which Dean thinks is Amara’s gift to him. Life seems good for a while, they’re enjoying dealing with mundane problems for a change, but then Cas seems to be pulling away from the brothers, spending less and less time with them at the bunker, taking a mundane job at another Gas ‘n Sip, and clearly preoccupied by something else. Or is it someone else? Dean is worried yet finally ready to accept that Cas maybe has a girlfriend, or a boyfried, but then it turns out that is not at all what Cas has going on. It’s something far more serious than that.

Honestly I almost stopped reading when the reveal happened - it’s a subject that’s very sensitive to me from personal/family experience and not something I usually like reading in fic (especially if there is a sad ending.) So I admit I jumped ahead to read how it would end first before committing to finishing it. And I am glad I did, because the author handles the subject matter with a realism and obvious knowledge of experience as well, not how I often see it in fanfic. There are a lot of emotional ups and downs but it’s nice seeing Dean in his momma-hen/mode, and Sam is so so good in this one! I think I enjoyed Sam’s characterization here most of all! And the author has a really cool/well developed angel/wing lore that hit my wing-kink pretty hard. I do think it could have all been edited down a bit - I found myself skimming parts, especially in the last third, just to get on with things. But it’s definitely a story you can disappear into for a good long time and I’ve bookmarked the author’s other works to read later, so again, I do rec it even with a few caveats.

A few shorter fics, too, just because I don’t want to forget about them...

Eleven Erogenous Zones of a Fallen Angel by almaasi (15k) Pure gratuitous wing!kink for me :) Cas uses the last of his grace to manifest his wings...but then is stuck with them in his human form and not even able to use them to fly as he used to. This presents a lot of awkward problems to deal with but also the excuse for Dean to help him keep them clean :) I did say wing kink, right? :D :D I loved how Cas seemed confused about the pleasure signals he got from bathing vs. sex vs. grooming and all of that. It’s sweet and hot and has my favorite kind of caretaking Dean in it.

Fossil Tracks by SegaBarrett  (3k). Dean & Sam & Cas and dinosaurs. How can you go wrong with that? One of the SPN stories from the Id Pro Quo collection I really enjoyed reading (and didn’t write myself, lol).

[dreamylyfe-x]

of all the things they could make mickey and ian fight over, why are the writers going with 2 so OOC storylines in the final season? the show never framed ian as seeing mickey's illegal income as not "real" work before. and mickey was never the slacker type, so why now? and mickey would never vague about monogamy. i'm so confused. if they gotta fight, why not over something in character and meaningful. this just feels like writers being mean to the fans, making us sit thru all this nonsense

Hey! Thanks for the ask. Made my (very weird and stressful) day. 

I’m going to be disappointing right off the jump and say that I don’t actually think any of this is OOC, per say. But. In GENERAL. Shameless is not the show it was. I think this is very normal for long-running shows. Take Friends: When you get into the back half of that show’s extensive catalogue, is starts to feel like the characters are a Xerox of a Xerox. Early season Monica is a bit OCD, and a clean freak who loves to be in charge -- but she’s also warm, and hospitable and emotionally available to her friends. Late season Monica is often a coked-out squirrel-woman who loses her mind if someone moves a pillow. That’s quality isn’t out of character, but it’s no longer being balanced with the warm and supportive woman we initially met. I think a bit of that might be “we already know you either like or hate Monica, so we’re just giving you the stuff that’s funny and/or dramatic. We got 22 minutes and six characters and we don’t have to build that other shit anymore.” 

I think that’s happening with Mickey and Gallavich. And I don’t think that’s weird for a) a show that has run this long and b) a character who was gone and then returned. They are giving us a Mickey that has always existed -- unbound by traditional manners, aggressive, blunt and obsessed with Ian Gallagher -- but we aren’t getting much of the Mickey who curls up with Ian at the worst time of his life and kisses his forehead. We aren’t getting all the verbal confirmation of Big Feelings they gave us when he came back in season 7. We aren’t seeing Ian and Mickey as a team, which is a big part of their mid-seasons dynamic. I think that makes people feel like these arguments are OOC, when they’re arguably reasonable issues, but aren’t being given a ton of nuance, or balance. 

Aside: There’s some balance in how the actors are playing the intimacy and the physical affection. The little touches and kisses are appreciated by me. 

So to dig into the OOC stuff -- first of all, it makes total sense to me that they’d have issues about the role crime plays in their lives together. I love that Ian never gave a damn that Mickey is a straight up criminal. But every time Ian lost Mickey, it was because the law intervened. When Mickey is not incarcerated, he’s with Ian. Ian is no longer 16, no one is a juvenile offender, Mickey was given a devastating sentence in season 6 -- 16 years -- Ian was 18! That was his entire living memory, if not more. They are married now, against considerable odds, and I completely understand why Ian doesn’t want Mickey to risk going back to jail. 

Likewise, I get why Mickey doesn’t want to do what Ian is doing. Mickey does not have the temperament for minimum wage jobs. He has a longstanding history of thinking it’s absolute bullshit to work hard for no money. Particularly when he’s smart enough, skilled enough and ballsy enough to make a LOT of money in an afternoon just by spotting an opportunity. 

Mickey has never SAID this on the show, but in canon we have seen him go to prison four times. Once, because Ian’s unhinged spurned groomer shot him; once because Mickey CHOSE to headbutt a cop so he could go to prison and avoid his dad; once because Mickey was consumed with a need to avenge Ian; and finally because Ian got himself tossed in prison, so Mickey CHOSE to join him. If Mickey has confidence that he won't go to prison if Ian isn’t a factor... Not the craziest idea. 

So -- writers spitballing ideas for Gallavich conflict? I think that’s a pretty good one. Two clear sides that both have merit. I’ve already written a bit about my thoughts on the monogamy issues... first, I’ve always figured they were monogam-ish, to reference Dan Savage. They are faithful to each other while they’re together, and when they are separated (usually by prison!) they aren’t. This isn’t the first time Mickey has voiced a lack of interest in being monogamous -- most notably “Great. Now we’re in a horror movie.” Mickey isn’t a traditionalist and I don’t think he feels like this is a make-or-break issue. But MOSTLY? 

MOSTLY. 

I really and truly believe what I’m about to say... 

Mostly Mickey wanted to do what Ian wanted. 

If he legit didn’t want monogamy he wouldn’t have tried to cheat of Ian’s paper. He didn’t like that “write it down and flip the paper” game. He wanted to match Ian’s answer. So he took a guess and he was wrong about what Ian -- who had literally just told him he found the concept of the rest of his life overwhelming -- had written. 

This is my head cannon: I think he liked that Ian wrote down monogamy. This is not my head canon: they are SUPER sweet to each other in the next scene. I am not convinced that the monogamy debate is going to be much of a thing beyond that scene. And I understand that, for a lot of people, that scene was extremely unpleasant. To me, personally, it made sense for it to come up. But I think it’s settled. I think they’re done with it. 

The one place where I’m like “What is this?” is the slacker stuff. I mean, I can meta why Mickey might be afraid of failure or whatever, but it’d be mostly head cannon. They haven’t given us a ton to build on there. The best we got is “Stop disappointing the people you love!” being what motivated Mickey to do something he didn’t want to do. But Mickey was right, if he thought that interview was going to be a disaster. Mickey knows himself and he is painfully aware of his limitations. 

As for why are the writers DOING this? Well. Ok. Here’s what I think it is: 

1. Story is conflict. So they needed one. And “struggle to adjust to marriage” really isn’t a bad one. Specifically, figuring out how to be married when you have no role models and have a few social strikes against you is a good one. 

2. The writers are amused by Gallavich fighting. They think it’s entertaining. And while there are a lot of people out there for whom Gallavich is EVERYTHING, Shameless’s viewership is also made up of people who think Frank is hilarious. No one ever send me an ask about why Frank is hilarious. I will not be able to figure that one out and the research might kill me. We definitely don’t all agree on what is and is not funny. 

3. They’re going somewhere with it. At least a little. 

I don’t KNOW three is true, but here’s something I believe about John Welles. I think he’s a biiiiit of a sap. I think he probably wants to leave each Gallagher with something nice. I don't think his plan it to send everyone off on an ice floe to freeze to death. So I think (hope?) that what we’re going to see is three (maybe four?) episodes of Gallavich At Odds and then I think we’re going to move into them trying to work together to make lives together. And they will probably still fight, because that seems to be part of the Xerox of a Xerox of Gallavich. I’m sure many people will find that cringey and problematic and annoying -- but I also bet we get a few moments we love, here and there. 

I don’t think they’re trying to be mean to the fans, but I think it’s serving 8 characters ... Nope. 9. (I forgot Frank. I always forget about Frank.) ... and we aren’t going to get the depth and breadth we want. And most of that will be on the side where we see Gallavich loving each other, because at this point they expect us to KNOW that. And some of it’ll be Mickey’s internal life because they tend to focus on the Gallaghers. But I do fervently hope we get a little more of that other side of the coin. Because I absolutely agree that one side is more fun than the other.