#2 episodes are released per week here :'))

[felassan]

Thoughts on DA: Vows & Vengeance -

[info compilation post link] [more info on the podcast]

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this post is rather unstructured : )

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I know what BW said about how there won't be official transcripts, but I hope that they decide to post official transcripts of each episode if it's possible, as it's rly important for accessibility & inclusivity.

I like the title - the alliteration is fun, and the concepts of vengeance and revenge are a DA thematic staple atp. it's neat that it's free and the spacing of one episode per week until mid/late October will help pass the time until launch (the last podcast episode releases 2 weeks before DA:TV Release Day). it's also cool to see DA expand into new forms of media, and I'm excited that we will hear lots more lines from each of the 7 Veilguard companions. 👁️

here is one of the podcast writers, Jeremy Novick, on Twitter.

I’m really looking forwards to Taash and Davrin’s episodes of the podcast in particular ◕‿◕ it feels like we don't know much about them or their backstories relative to the other DA:TV companions at this point in time.

Nadia Carcosa, Drayden and Elio are described as being "podcast-exclusive" characters, I guess this means they will not appear in the game itself (which helps the podcast storyline stay self-contained and the podcast to remain as optional listening). but it would be cool if in the game there is some references to them here and there, like in dialogue and/or codex entries/notes etc. 😊

in the background image of the teaser trailer and what looks like the thumbnail for the podcast[?] on podcasting sites, the two faction symbols shown are the Mourn Watch and the Shadow Dragons. is this a coincidence/just since their symbols look cool, or are these two factions the factions with the biggest roles in the podcast storyline relative to the others? the penultimate episodes are the ones that focus on Emmrich and Neve 🤔

"revenge, redemption, and love": these themes mixed together often produce regret. and there was a quote somewhere in DA:TV marketing materials that said “For DA:TV [the game itself], from the start one of the biggest themes has been regret; how regret shaped peoples’ lives, how people deal with their regrets, how people maybe move past their regrets.”

Mae Whitman previous credits include: Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Brigette Lundy-Paine previous credits include: Bill & Ted Face the Music, Atypical, I Saw the TV Glow Armen Taylor previous credits include: Diablo IV, Octopath Traveler II, Vinland Saga

I wonder when the podcast is set? maybe in the weeks to months before Varric, Harding, Neve and Rook go to Solas' ritual site in the game's prologue? I also wonder what lineages Nadia, Drayden and Elio are? If Drayden has a mysterious connection to the Fade, they're most likely to be human or elven, right?

cat burglar, thief, scoring jobs like the one described in the podcast's plotblurbs - these kind of plot beats remind me of what we learned about an earlier concept of DA:TV when the game was more about stuff like heists and spies.

Nadia being a thief unknowingly employed by the Dread Wolf to track down a powerful ancient artifact before finding herself tangled up in everything: this reminds me sm of one of the 'here's what the DA4 PC's backstory could be and how they could end up caught up in the narrative of the game'-speculation ideas I used to wonder about hhh.

a retired cat burglar.. maybe Nadia has ties to the Lords of Fortune? some of them seem to be more thiefy. although, being wanted by Tevinter authorities for crimes of theft, high treason and murder maybe points towards Shadow Dragons instead.

two lovers going on a job to get an artifact reminds me of Irian Cestes and Vadis from TN. "burglar" also gives me Hobbit/LOTR vibes :D I imagine that over the many years since DA:I, the Dread Wolf has employed many such people [unknowingly to them] on jobs like this.

Elio being "seemingly" banished to the Fade is interesting wording.. so is "banished" actually. (Elio's Fade banishment also makes me think of foreshadowing Solas' subsequent entry to Fade Jail in DA:TV.) ((shoutout to left-in-the-Fade-Hawkes' LIs who I can also imagine desperately searching for answers on a rescue mission across all of Thedas after learning that Hawke was left in the Fade in DA:I...))

Carcosa

I'm reaaally curious about what Drayden's mysterious connection to the Fade is all about and entails.

"a few [answers] they wish they hadn’t" 👁️...

the question is, what the powerful ancient artifact is, and why does Solas want it? if he wants it it's probably ancient elven, right?

On the trailer itself

"This chamber, it feels different from the cave. I can sense something. The Veil is thin here." - I'd guess this speaker is Drayden. it isn't Nadia, as we hear her later on. the speaker can sense the thin/thickness of the Veil and Drayden is said to have a mysterious connection to the Fade. at this point they're in some kind of, well, chamber, as the speaker's voice echoes and you can hear water dripping down the damp walls.

The announcer's voice is so deep hh!

To be wanted by Tevinter authorities for crimes including high treason, maybe Nadia is from Tevinter? treason is "the crime of betraying one's country, especially by attempting to kill or overthrow the sovereign or government." so to commit treason in Tevinter context, you're probably from Tevinter.

"Who the hell is Nadia Carcosa?" - this sounds like Varric. :>

"So, what's the mark?" - I'd guess this speaker is Nadia. they sound scrappy/seasoned (Nadia is nearly retired), and the speaker is probably asking for more details on the job they've just acquired to do. does she sound like she could be a dwarf to anyone else or is this just me? :D maybe that's just my daydreams hhh

"The Eye of Kethisca" quote: presumably the middle man who Solas hired to hire someone, thereby keeping his own identity secret

The Eye of Kethisca itself: this must be the "powerful ancient artifact" from the text blurbs. there are no hits for "Kethisca" on the DA Wiki, so this is a new name/thing. it must be creepy-deepy, because when it's mentioned in the trailer you can hear creepy voices whispering ominously. :D "Kethisca" doesn't sound elven, but you could easily have an artifact that's e.g. ancient elven but acquired another name or been called something else by others in the centuries since.

"The Eye was made from a rare gem mined here in the caves beneath us. It was crafted centuries ago by a powerful Dreamer." - Solas speaking. I wonder how oblique/lies of omission/technically true (you know what I mean? that thing he does) Solas is being here.. like maybe the Dreamer was an ancient elvhen Dreamer not a human Tevinter one, like maybe the centuries ago were centuries and centuries and centuries ago dating back to Elvhenan rather than later on temporally at say, a more recent time in history like the height of the Imperium. "Eye" makes me think of spherical things, "gem" makes me think of how lyrium (Titans' blood) is a mineral. caves makes me think of dwarfy things and the Deep Roads. as for "mined":

"The runes say the Evanuris fought the Titans. They mined their bodies for lyrium and... something else. It's not clear."

what if the Eye is the heart of a Titan, a foci? Solas' Orb was spherical and the hearts of Titans look spherical here in the Death of a Titan mural. the way he frames it makes it sound like the mark is a rare jewel mined from caves by a Tevinter human dreamer long ago before being crafted into something, but I wonder if it was, more technically, the heart of a Titan mined from the body of a Titan even longer ago by, say, a member of the Evanuris, before being crafted into a foci. Solas needed his own foci in DA:I to carry out his plans, and then it was broken. there was more than one foci in ancient Elvhenan; after DA:I and Trespasser, I could see a world/storyline in which, during the long years between then and DA:TV, Solas at some point learns that another one of the foci artifacts survived into the modern day, and decided to try and get his hands on it so that he can carry out his plan using another foci instead. and since the foci can do Fadey/Veily stuff, that could be how Elio got yeeted in there. reminds me a bit of the scene when the Inquisitor yeets Cory at the end of DA:I. (here I'm just speculating wildly for fun hhh. Solas' Orb doesn't really look like a gem etc. and the Lyrium Knife tears the Veil, so maybe this storyline was set before he got that or sth)

also I wonder where these caves are? beneath Minrathous? Solas has a hideout beneath Minrathous, as we know, and the deeper you go the more elfy things get.

Magister Andante: I think this is our first time hearing about this character. their name reminds me of Andraste.

"Magister Andante? It's about Nadia. She's about to do something quite reckless." - this sounds to me like Neve speaking. it kind of sounds like she's meeting the magister clandestinely, at night. she seems to know Nadia.

"Listen to me, you've been tricked. This isn't a simple grab-and-go for the money. There are bigger forces at play. We have to put this back and leave." - I'd guess this speaker is Elio. it sounds like at this point he and Nadia have found the Eye and taken it, but he's trying to get her to see reason/warn her. it's a tense moment with the sound of battle all around them.

"I'm sorry, but I won't let you pay for my mistakes." - Nadia refusing to listen to Elio. the sounds of battle get louder and it sounds like there's an explosion or something? plus the dragon roar. maybe Mr dragon is breathing fire everywhere. :D I wonder as well if it's Elio grunting in pain at this point. I'd guess this is the moment where Elio is seemingly yeeted into the Fade perhaps?

"Nadia, I presume. I am Solas, and I am, I believe, the one that you seek." - Solas again obviously, only this time sounding way more godly and Fen'Harelly in persona (booming) than he did when he was talking more demurely/plainly about what the Eye is.

"The name I seek is the Dread Wolf" - Nadia again obviously :) so something in the job went wrong, she figures out who hired them, and goes to find the Dread Wolf presumably because she either blames him for Elio being stuck in the Fade and/or she thinks he might be able to get him out or tell her how.

"The Eye will destroy you" - and this sounds like Neve again maybe?

[raayllum]

Season 6 Trailer Breakdown

You all know what this is, although a quick note that I won't be drawing much from other teasers or clips released / a "this is what probs happens in each episode" amalgamation may come out later depending on motivation. There are some scenes I left out as 1) we know where those clips are from already (like the water funnelling shadowpaw clip) or they seem self explanatory (Karim and Sol Regem's plotline, etc).

Furthermore — there is one specific screencap with something I noticed that I'd argue is the biggest / most plot relevant spoiler in the trailer; I am enclosing it at the end for posterity. If you want to read the rest of the breakdown but want to avoid a potentially big spoiler, please stop reading after *** . I don't want anyone to be more spoiled than they'd like to be. Okay? Okay.

With that out of the way, let's dig in

First up: Kosmo's monologue overlaid with clips of the Starscraper and some kind of wintery storm. Kosmo is the male Skywing / celestial elf with vitiligo on the left in another shot

Kosmo: I see a thousand stars. A thousand eyes. Worlds one and myriad. All of us nothing, and all of us infinite.

This probably relates to his understanding of Star magic and possibly the arcanum itself. The wintery storm may be something from the past or present up here in the Frozen North, a lightning storm that Avizandum or Zubeia created, or it could even be from Callum pulling lightning down they face the large blue dragon we've seen in a few clips now (Luna Tenebris' "unsuitable" heir) and later on in the trailer.

Then we see Rayla, accompanied by Kosmo and Astrid, overseeing the beginning of Callum's trust fall 'trial' for lack of a better term with the blindfold over his eyes. It's clearly extremely cold and he doesn't seem particularly happy, but... willing participant, I suppose?

We're gonna come back to the staffs in a second, just you wait. To start, I want to affirm that there are multiple shots of this same location being unveiled, and make up the bulk of the Callum / Rayla + Starscraper portion of the trailer, such as these:

We see eight staff-holders, though it's not clear if one is missing. This could mean a 'Startouch' elf for each primal source + two others, or something unrelated to magic at all. There was "eight" singled out in the 5x08 poem ("eight in a line") though this is a circle, not a line.

The reason I highlight this is because 1) I've been confident that Viren's staff contained Star magic or extra power of some kind for years now and it seems that the answer is yes and (bonus points) it's not a quasar diamond, which also helps keep another theory of mine going and 2) we saw in the teaser some of the Viren-Kpp'Ar flashback fight scene, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were partially fighting over Viren taking the staff from Kpp'Ar, period.

Moving on, I'm speculating that the growing blast we see may be Aaravos (or another Startouch elf) being cast down to earth and creating the Sea of the Cast Out, given that Ripples describes it as, "The falling star plummeted, down and down and down, until it struck the breathless world below. With its impact came a long and terrible night: The earth bled! The seas churned! The sun and moon hid for weeks behind the sky’s screaming storm!" This may be what we've seen Aaravos weeping over additionally: not his own banishment per se, but the loss of someone else (Leola?).

the next main 'set piece' of the trailer is the big battle scene in the encroaching Sunfire civil war, and while there was speculation previously from a shot of Aanya and her arrow that she'd joined the fray, we now have confirmation. I am intrigued about what has Ezran being on the battlefield on foot without armour, weapons, or his usual dragon cavalry.

You can even see her in the background here on the stones, seemingly firing off her special flashy arrow in order to help Ezran get away from Karim's forces, which may be why he's caught up in the middle of things without a lot of preparation. This might be related to the closeup shot of her from this trailer with her bow and arrow, but given the nature of the arrow, it could easily be the other closeup shot of her with the fancy unfurling flower gemstone arrow we got in the Teaser.

For more individual shots:

Aaravos still has his chest piece in full and it doesn't seem like he's been expelled from the heavens yet. Looking very pointedly at my "his chest piece is out there somewhere and maybe in the cube as a quasar diamond" theory. I could see this being him on trial or something with the other Startouch elves

Then we have Rayla and some form of Runaan. He has red eyes like a corrupted Banther, but the green is completely base. This Runaan also doesn't have his canonically broken horn (just like Rayla's vision of him and her other parents in 5x01) so I'm willing to bet whatever this is is preying on Rayla's memory of Runaan > the actual Moonshadow elf himself. Could be a nightmare, or even some kind of illusion (maybe Luna's heir's moonstone collar has some messed up illusion stuff?). Rayla also seems to be underwater or in some kind of dark place, though the background for Runaan looks more fittingly like the Silvergrove. I certainly would not be opposed to Callum and Rayla having to face their worst nightmares, or something — stuff like that is always interesting angsty and juicy characterization.

Speaking of nightmares, that would also fit with this screencap of Callum. We know from 6x01 details that he has a nightmare regarding Aaravos, and we also know from people at cons that this screencap was not there. Looking at the scene itself, the deep purple lighting highlights that it's not quite 'real', nor is it necessarily possible due to the background being Finnegrin's office on the Sea Legs, where Callum last did dark magic. I could very easily see this being a dream where Callum is having horrifying visions of himself outside his body, and this is one.

I do find it interesting that, rather than black dark magic slug goop like I first thought on his hand, it's actually blood on his hand, and the changes this indicates of Callum's psyche / fears. Normally when Callum breaks things (primal stone, moon opal necklace, the green slug) it's with his other hand, for starters. But more importantly, I think it's interesting that this nightmare isn't about being flat out possessed, but of being more of a dark mage: the eyes, the corruption, the blood, etc. and how that may lead to Aaravos' will being further enforced over him. It speaks to a recognition of his own agency as well as growing fears of being not just controlled, but corrupted along the way.

Claudia on the beach probably after killing Sir Sparklepuff (hence the blood and corruption) having the worst mental breakdown of her life (which is saying something) so far, either upon realizing she's lost her father anyway, Viren being alive but leaving her, etc.

Then we have Callum the infamous Frozen Ship, now burning. Either he was in there with Rayla and escaped first, leading to him sadly thinking she's gone before she manages to get out on her own and they happily embrace... or he was vibing outside without her (by her request no doubt) and shit's hit the fan. I could see him mourning her and her reappearance is when they finally fully reconcile, and I could also see him running back onto a burning ship for her (or trying at least). Y'know, the way you do.

I am famously always here for Rayllum being desperate as fuck about each other's safety, so I know I'm gonna eat that shit up regardless and it will be Delicious.

Onto the less clear parts of the trailer, in some ways:

We have what seems to be Terry and Claudia presumably at the same place, the Valley of the Graves, back in Katolis, although for what reason is unknown. I could see them maybe coming back to Katolis to the Orphan Queen's grave, for some reason. I could also see the spell Claudia doing (hence the light hair and yellow on the chest) being a release spell for Aaravos — which asks when and how does she get the prison from Callum and co. — or some 'opening up the heavens' spell that'll come close to killing her; it could be something else entirely. It has to be something where Terry seems reluctant to let her go through with it and has probably tried to stop her (yes internal Terry turmoil!! Come back to me) and failed. I've kept meaning to make a post about it, but I could see Claudia post-6x01 come crawling back to Terry at Aaravos' beckoning ("He'll be a useful ally") and Terry realizing Claudia didn't come back to him out of love like he thought, but partially to use him because she's too far gone right now to see it and trying to keep her distance emotionally.

Which asks the question: we all thought this was maybe from the beginning of the season, with Viren or Claudia or something trying to get into Katolis. But what if it's closer to the end?

I posit this order of things for two reasons. The first is that we know in 6x01 Soren leaves to go look for Zubeia with Zym, reunites with Corvus at the Sunfire elves (6x02-ish?), Corvus and Ezran see Karim's forces at one point (the Teaser) with Zym helping Ez escape. We even have a shot of Soren leaving Katolis with Zym in the trailer.

The shot of Soren being bloody is clearly at Katolis on the battlements, so it seems that it has to be after the Sunfire battle has happened, and I doubt Janai and Amaya can win considering Sol Regem having his wings healed by the Sun seed, and it's S6 "everything goes wrong" time.

It could be that the Sunfire battle didn't end well (Karim as king or forces corrupted by Pharos-sleeper agent? Kim'Dael is free?) even with Aanya's help, and people have retreated to regroup in the stronghold that is Katolis... A stronghold that Claudia wants or needs to get to, for whatever reason. Soren would have good reason to look pissed. Maybe the big explosion from earlier on in the trailer is even just Claudia, making her presence known on her way into Katolis for some kind of scare-factor.

And, of course, Claudia could go to Katolis in the first half of the season (6x02—6x05) when bloodied and bruised Soren isn't there, and just Ezran in the rain. There could be some magical power-up, and then Ez has to flee and go to the Sunfire elves, the situation not much better. But this doesn't explain why we see Soren presumably at Katolis and looking as beat up as he does unless it's a shot from very near the end of the season.

And here's where we get to the Big Spoiler, imo, so please click away now if you don't want to see it!

Furthermore... we Know the Sunfire battle is happening near the End of the season (sometime 6x07 onwards) because there's no way Rayllum is leaving the Starscraper any earlier than the end of 6x06... and they're there, along with Astrid, at said battle.

Y'know this big shot of the Sunfire battle? Well, the trio is there in the upper red corner, when you zoom in.

There's Astrid (blue and white), Callum in between flapping his wings, and presumably Rayla with her borrowed wing bracelets from Kosmo (though I suppose it could just be Kosmo himself, but I doubt it). Why they're coming to the battle, I don't know — if Aaravos is out by this point, they might have bigger problems that they need to collect Ezran and co. for, and didn't realize the level of conflict had escalated — or somehow, we get through the Starscraper portion of the story without the prison breaking, though Callum is still presumably possessed (?) — and it is Claudia who releases Aaravos near the end of S6.

That could be possible, especially if Claudia, whose S6 plotline is a total mystery, comes sniffing around the Sunfire side of things and can steal the prison here and... take it back to Katolis because it needs to be? Orphan Queen had Aaravos' chest piece? Idk. But yeah, this is where things get kind of tricky, and if we did go this route I'd wonder why not let Claudia steal the pearl in 5x09 at all, but we'll have to see. It could work! My money is still on Callum possessed or otherwise having a hand in setting Aaravos free, but really anything could happen at this point

Just thirteen days to go!

[destiny-aesthetics]

❗Long Rambling Incoming ❗

Disclaimer: Before this expansion I was by no means a regular player. Sometime I would have burst of playtime where I would jump on every week, other I would lose track of time and wouldn't touch it for months. I have also played this game since 2016. So ain't no New Light.

Might be the minority here but ...

I Hate how Episode: Revenant's story is being delivered.

So much time passes between Acts that I forget what happen during the first one, but somehow because it dropped all in the first day it also feels like things are progressing too fast.

It feels like, when it comes to story interactions, we capture Eramis and released her all in the same week instead of her being our custody for months.

The other episodes/seasons felt like our Guardian was active in the operations that the NPCs were doing, while this one it just feels like we're, ironically, just fetching things for NPCs.

Like we're waiting on our ship twiddling our thumbs until called on.

The "Fieldwork" also does not help in filling the story or the time. They are so short and easy that they become forgettable. Also does not help the audio was missing the first couple of weeks.

Onslaught also didn't do much for the story. I don't really feel like I'm saving Eliskni and the disjointed audio didn't help.

I get some players felt like they HAD to come back every week or wasn't patient enough to wait a week but this ain't it.

Best solution maybe ...

If this was a TV series with (15) 1-hour episodes, per season, give players the first (5) 1-hour episodes INSTEAD of (1) 1-hour long episode and (4) 10-minute long minisodes.

Players still get to finish whenever they want but it also has a good play time.

I shouldn't be finish with this Act in only 2 hours THEN have to wait 76 DAYS for more story.

AND most of that 2-hour run time was not even story. It is me going into the episode activity and then getting more dialogue afterwards.

And again, I believe I touch on this in previous post.

IT WAS NOT MANDATORY TO PLAY THE WEEKLY STORY MISSIONS.

You could have just as easily played everything else in Destiny 2 then jumped on the last week of the season, and played through the season story.

You didn't even have to do the story to get the season activities unlocked. AND they stopped locking previous season things after the new one began so realistically you could have completed them all before the next expansion.

No one has explain to me a good answer on WHY weekly missions were so hard for players and "I didn't want to have to jump on every week" or "I don't want a weekly story mission" is not a good answer when the options above were available.

Destiny 2 need something because there's a triangle of players, Casuals, No Lifers and Content creators, and when it good for two points it sucks for the last one.

Casuals are going to have to learn that they are going to miss out on things just because they don't play enough.

No lifers are going to have to learn that they're going to run out things to do because they do it all in a the first week or couple weeks.

Content Creators are going to have to learn to be entertaining without the game feeding constant steam of content or something now being easy because they made a boss melting build

........................

This post is already too long, so Destiny rambling part 2?

[melefim]

What Dead Boy Detectives Analysis do you want to see next?

Hello old and new followers! (And anyone else who happens to see this)

If you’re here, you’re probably familiar with at least one of my DBDA analysis or list posts (if not, you can find them all linked here).

We’re just about done with the Swearing in Dead Boy Detectives series, so it’s time for you all to choose what I’ll be doing next!

These are the next two I have in mind (and I’ve got a few more ideas percolating for after I’m done with these- more on that coming soon)

Whatever you all choose will be starting posting some time next week, after I’ve wrapped up the last few swearing posts and done a final check rewatch (Or two. Or three) for your chosen series.

Brills, Aces, Mint: Charles’ Favorite Words

Description: Similar to the Swearing posts, I’ll be going through the show and noting every time Charles says some of his favorite words. Charts for usages of each word per episode, rankings for most popular, every line said listed and more.

Number of Posts: Between 10 and 19. 1 Masterlist, 1 overall analysis (like the swearing by character posts) 1 for each episode, 1 for each word. Number of posts may be lower depending on how many times each word is said. Some words may be combined into one post if they aren’t used very often, while others will get entire posts to themselves. I also might find new words to include that aren’t already on my list.

Music Part 2: When Each Song from the Score was Used

Description: Like I did with the soundtrack, I’ll be going through each episode and finding where each song from the score was used throughout the season. Timestamps for each song will be included as well as links to each song.

Number of Posts: 29. 1 Masterlist, 1 for each episode, and 1 for each song. Potential bonus posts for themes and motifs not on the officially released score. Timestamps from soundtrack songs will also be included in the individual episode posts.

There will also be at least one ‘choose the order they post in’ poll for each option above! Individual episode posts will be going up in order, but posting order for individual words and songs will be up to you all!

And if you have any ideas for posts you’d like to see from me in the future, please feel free to comment or add in a tag!

[maybeimavillain-byleif]

So, I was able to get all the illustrations on my second account, while on my first I only missed Amanda and on my third Jason, but in all of them I wasn't able to complete the witch outfit but at this point I don't even care about the outfit, I just wanted to get all the illustrations. I hope the next events they'll make things easier because clearly not many of us could complete it without even spending gems (that I don't even have and I need them for the episodes). Overall, it's not like I didn't like it, but it became stressful, basically one already knew if they could complete it or not and I don't understand how they did it, they've always calculated everything well when it came to the events on the first MCL, like, I've always been able to finish them in the week they gave us and even with one or more days before its end. Really, I have no idea. Anyways, since I'm here complaining, better take this opportunity to talk about this. I think we should start complaining about the gems, 2 per day, for me, are too little, I know that who has the VIP pass gets more but even for them, getting 2 more for a total of 4 is too little, like, we get 5 golds on MCL everyday + some more by playing the minigame. So, why can't they do the same here? VIP players will still get more than us non VIP players but at least give us more. They still have to fix the contests since they said it needs time, but anyway, by playing it the winners get a lot of gems. Really, I don't understand this, many things requires gems, for example, if you do the mini-game (not the contest) if you don't want to wait you can use the gems to finish it faster but we use them more for the special scenes in the episodes which costs 120 gems. So, for me, either they give us more gems, or they make us pay less gems for the special scenes cause I can't keep up like this, I still have to play ep 8 and there's already the 9th available (well almost) and I can't always wait a whole month or more to get the gems I need for the episode. Plus, the messages from the crushes became useless if I can't get them because I have to finish the episode before the next one gets released. I don't know if you think the same, but for me, that's what I think. Feel free to say how you think it would be better, I'd like to see different opinions, I'm really tired of this honestly

[markantonys]

a few more bridgerton thoughts! i've always been only a casual enjoyer who watches just for a few hours of fun and doesn't get super invested, but even so, i'm still feeling pretty underwhelmed by this season so far. i watched it in one sitting and enjoyed it while it was happening but just immediately forgot about it as soon as i was done. maybe all the memorable moments are going to be in the second half of the season, but for these first four episodes, i feel like it was all just kinda bland and forgettable (granted, of all the romance tropes in the world, m/f childhood-friends-to-lovers is just about the #1 most boring one to me, so this never would've been my favorite season regardless)

i adore romance and romcoms, always have, and am pretty happy to watch The Classic Marriage Plot play out a thousand times, yet i feel like bridgerton is maybe becoming TOO formulaic and repetitive. although, to be fair, i WAS giggling and kicking my feet during all the Classic Romance Scenes, but the problem was maybe just that there weren't enough of them, which brings me to my second point of too many subplots. too much padding and filler and not enough Classic Romance, which is what i'm here for.

8 hours is way more time than is needed to tell 1 love story, so to fill up the time they invent 17 random subplots that are ultimately pointless and have little relevance outside of the current season. i would way rather a season be only 4 episodes but tightly focused on the main love story, or that a season be about two siblings and two main love stories at a time, than have all this extra time they need to fill up with random unimportant shit. why have we had 3 seasons' worth of storylines about benedict having one-off non-endgame girlfriends that don't have a lasting impact on his character development? what's the point? he's been treading water for so long that i'm not even going to care about him anymore by the time he finally comes into the spotlight, and same with eloise. god, the thought of eloise's season potentially not being until like 2027 is insane. it's past time to start picking up the pace and doing 2 siblings per season!

and the kicker is that all these subplots, which were only invented to fill up the time, end up filling too MUCH time and taking away from the main love story, which is left feeling underbaked. this sort of happened last season, but it's way worse this season. penelope is an excellent character, but her back is breaking from trying to carry the season because colin is kinda giving us nothing due to lack of narrative attention given to him as an individual. he's supposed to be the co-lead, yet i couldn't tell you a single personality trait of his besides "vaguely nice" because he's just had no development and exists more as a prop for penelope to love than as a fleshed-out character in his own right. there was that whole scene where violet was talking about how he's a people pleaser who focuses on making others happy at the expense of his own wants and happiness, and i was just sitting there going "he is?" because i didn't feel i'd ever gotten to know him enough as a person to see this trait in him.

i also think the "dropping a season in 2 halves" model is just about the worst possible release model. if you drop 1 episode a week, that's constant engagement and allows for longer time to digest and appreciate each individual episode. if you drop the whole season at once, it's all over too fast but on the flipside you can experience the entire story at once without risking forgetting things or losing interest while waiting for new episodes. but dropping in two halves a month apart is the worst of both models (over too quickly yet also makes you wait too long to finish the story).

i do like some of the subplots, though. cressida getting to be more than just a mean girl caricature has been a particular highlight, the mondrich family going suddenly from working class to noble is interesting to see, and as a mega-introvert myself (and a music lover!) whose ideal partner would be someone who's happy to sit in silence with me, francesca and john's whole vibe is THE definition of romance to me and has me absolutely swooning (and it's a nice change of pace from all the loud dramatic romances on this show). violet potentially finding new love is also very sweet and i'm rooting hard for her! meanwhile i am not a fan of the featherington subplot; after s1 portraying regency girls' lack of sex education as a serious issue, it feels.........odd for the show to now be playing that very same thing for laughs this season and it just kinda makes me uncomfortable.

but otherwise there isn't much i dislike about the season, it's just kinda "meh" to me so far. the second half might turn things around if it's more memorable!

[randomfoggytiger]

Scully's Abduction, Emily Sim, and the Lost Scully Baby

SOLVING SCULLY'S ABDUCTION DATES

The answer to the question of when Scully was returned differs here and there. Sometime after 11/2/94 and on or before 11/11/94 seems to be the consensus: themareks posits November 2nd, xfilestimeline.net guesses in-between the 2nd and 11th, and epguides stands by the 11th as both One Breath's airdate and Scully's reappearance.

But how long was Scully gone?

Mulder states in Emily: "She [Scully] was missing for four weeks. That's documented in the file."

And to further back up that abduction timeline, Mulder later finds a medical paperwork in the nursing home containing Scully's full name next to a possible abduction date: 13/10/94. At the very least, October 13 was when the government tagged her in their system, meaning Scully was likely abducted on the 12th or 13th and returned not on the 2nd but on the 11th.

WAS SCULLY IMPREGNATED DURING HER ABDUCTION?

Mulder's filed report contains another tidbit he never shared with his partner: it states (as read aloud by the official overseeing Emily's custody case) that Scully was "subjected to a series of experiments where... they extracted her ova."

The episode divulges the 'how's a few scenes later: abductees or unwitting volunteers were put into "beauty sleep" by the Syndicate doctors before being injected with a series of enhanced drugs to stimulate ovulation for extraction. Essentially, the women were put through a process similar to the early stages of IVF treatments, for far more nefarious purposes.

After the extracted ova were combined with suitable sperm or cloned with alien DNA, they were not returned to the womb but were instead grown separately in metal and glass containers filled with a green-not-gray alien liquid.

NURSING HOME MOTHERS

As is the end result of man playing God, the Syndicate pushed the bounds of their "science" by dabbling with the unconscionable: they darkened the doors of nursing homes, developing an extra preceding step that involved "awakening" and growing the ova of older women to maturation before subjecting them to the "beauty sleep." These women were the perfect targets, either too confused or too forgetful to intelligently articulate what was happening to them; and Dr. Calderon and his cohorts banked on repeating their experimental process for unlimited ova until death claimed their patients in natural or unnatural ways. (Unfortunately for Dr. Calderon, his aspirations were cut short when Mulder threatened exposure.)

So, to recap: the women were violated, not impregnated.

THE ROANOKE SCULLY

What's even worse?

While investigating the nursing home, Mulder not only finds the aforementioned paperwork listing Scully's full name and possible abduction date but also a corresponding fetus, alive and kicking, in its own little container of green fluid.

This, too, was Scully's child; and it, too, was likely killed or discarded as medical waste during the Consortium's coverup.

"NATURAL", CLONE, OR HYBRID?

Though not entirely explained in Emily (or after), the fetuses grew at unimaginably rapid rates from conception to "birth" in a month's time; but the cost of accelerated growth sacrificed their health, causing the babies born to be dependent on consistent injections of their mysterious gestation fluid in order to survive.

What were those babies, then? Clones? Hybrids? Fully human?

My personal theory? Emily was a hybrid. Not only would this fit the injections and extractions and underhanded IVF machinations in Season 8 (quality of its writing aside), but it would also correlate the mirroring aims of Emily's Dr. Calderon and Per Manum's Dr. Parenti. Parenti stuffed his batch of alien-human hybrid babies into identical containers of fluid, too (albeit for darker purposes.)

The episodes she appears in provides evidence of its own. Even though clones created from alien DNA bleed green and Emily bled red, her blood still released toxic fumes for self-defense, which means Emily's DNA couldn't have been fully human even if both ova and sperm were tampered with before insemination (a feat the Syndicate couldn't accomplish despite their many, many horrific attempts.)

CONCLUSIONS

Not only was Scully never pregnant but she was also never abducted more than once, making her an anomaly even amongst the other MUFON women. This leads me to believe the first round of experimentation inflicted on her was so severe that the Syndicate deemed Scully too great a risk for future harvesting... which was also likely why she was left to die (even if CSM "returned her to you" for a merciful death surrounded by the ones she loved.) Serving no further purpose to the Project, she had been considered waste and was, therefore, disposable.

Emily, too, was ultimately doomed to die after the Consortium or Dr. Calderon tired of his experiments; and if it hadn't been for Melissa Scully's ghostly interference, Emily Sim would have been torn from her parents the minute they stopped towing the line and raised elsewhere as a lab rat-- unloved and, again, tossed aside when deemed no longer necessary.

Finally, there's still one Scully child unaccounted for.

Existence begun and ended in obscurity, it was likely squirreled away or destroyed along with any remaining evidence of Dr. Calderon's work-- a loose end from a man no longer needed by his overlords.

However, the thought that Mulder was the only person other than its merciless creators to behold this tiny fetus is one best pondered on a dark, lonely night when one is in the mood for either melancholy or heart failure.

Thank you for reading~

Enjoy!

[hidingoutbackstage]

Still in shock that they took all the songs down BECAUSE??? IT JUST LEAVES US WITH MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS???

I KNOW?? Like okay here’s everything weird about the situation because it’s only 7 am I feel like I need lay it all out to process this. So, timeline time I guess! (I combined several images into one a few times bc of Tumblr’s 10 image per post limit but I hope everything still makes sense)

Starting January 5, the Ever After High Spotify (and Apple Music I guess although I was only checking the Spotify) began posting songs as singles. The first was called “Can’t Get Me Down” which had a screenshot of Raven from the episode “Rebel’s Got Talent” as the album cover.

Following that, two weeks later, on January 19, we get a song called “Unbreakable” which also has a screenshot of Raven from the show, from the “The Tale of Legacy Day” episode. At this point the songs are gaining attraction because what the heck, Ever After High content in 2024? Is it coming back?

People are also pointing out that Mattel renewed their licenses for some Ever After High stuff, but also companies do that all the time and I think they did it specifically for their webisodes so that they couldn’t be reposted/reuploaded to YouTube or whatever by a party that wasn’t them. It makes sense (Also I can’t actually verify which if any things they did actually renew because all I heard was people claiming that I never saw any proof)

Also at this point, both songs have given Allison Bloom composing credit, which fans thought made sense since Allison Bloom was also a composer on Ever After High content before

ONE week after “Unbreakable”, instead of two like last time, on January 26, we get the third song, Destiny, with a screenshot of promo art for the Epic Winter storyline of Briar, Crystal, Ashlynn, and Rosabella. Once again, composing credit to Allison Bloom. People are so confused, lots of people are reaching out to Mattel’s social media trying to make sense of it all. Also this song in particular had the trademark misspelled as “Ever Aftert High” which could be the reason for something happening later

Actually, before Destiny was released, someone on Reddit apparently got in contact with Bloom and asked if she had any insight as to what was up with the songs, and Bloom said, “I honestly don't know because I am not currently working on the project. Your note was the first I had heard of it. Wish I had more to tell you!” which led people to suspect Mattel was making AI generated songs but using Bloom’s name to release them, possibly because they still had a contract with her (though that is purely speculation)

Same Redditor also emailed Mattel customer support, who gave a very corporate response, but in their email used the phrase “AI-generated songs uploaded to the EAH Spotify list” blatantly calling the music AI generated in this email

One week after “Destiny”, on February 2, we get “Brand New Day” which is another single with another screenshot from the show as the cover, this time of Crystal Winter from the Epic Winter episodes

Three days after “Brand New Day”, on February 5, people realize that “Destiny” has been taken down, but ONLY Destiny. Some speculate this is due to the typo in the trademark upon release. The rest stay up

One week after “Brand New Day”, on February 9, the song “Forever Friends” with art of Raven and Apple as the cover is uploaded

Later that same day on February 9, “Forever Friends” and all the other remaining songs, “Brand New Day”, “Unbreakable”, and “Can’t Get Me Down” have all been taken off the Spotify (and Apple Music) list

[sarahjtv]

My Hero Academia is Officially Ending and I'm Fucking Coping 😭

So, it was officially announced early today, June 24th, 2024, by Shueshia and mangaka, Kohei Horikoshi, that My Hero Academia/Boku no Hero Academia will officially end in 5 chapters on Chapter 430. The last chapter will be released at the beginning of August after 10 years of publication in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine if all goes well.

I woke up to this news. I'm sitting here on my laptop typing this as a way of coping tbh. On the outside, I'm numb and stunned. On the inside, I'M SCREAMING, CRYING, THROWING UP, MOURNING LIKE I LOST A LOVED ONE WTF 😭

*sigh* But, this was going to happen eventually. It was only a matter of when. When Horikoshi said that we would have more epilogue to cover, I thought "Maybe he'll give us 10 more chapters!" Turns out it is 6-7 chapters instead... In Horikoshi's defense, 6-7 chapters are much longer than what most mangaka have given us for epilogues to their stories. I'd rather have him give us 5 more chapters of an epilogue than rush it in 1-2. Plus, if possible, we could potentially get 19-20 pages per chapter which might be just enough to wrap everything up. And since final chapters of manga tend to be longer than usual, we could get extra pages in the last chapter to finish everyone's arcs and the story properly.

Still, it's so wild to see a series I have loved for years and have such a strong attachment to end as I am following it. I have been a part of many fandoms before and have stuck around them for years (Pokémon, Supernatural, Doctor Who, Breaking Bad, and many more), but it's not often that I've been there there to see a series come to it's conclusion. Sometimes that can turn out well (Breaking Bad) and other times I've seen it end badly (Supernatural; only read about it and it was not great. I bounced after season 13? and I am so sorry to the fandom). My Hero Academia is one of the very few series I will see through to the end.

I'm really coping here, honestly. I've been a fan of My Hero Academia since 2018. I first heard about the series randomly through the internet, but I didn't fully introduce myself to it until I listened to a cover of The Day on YouTube (I forget the artist, I'm so sorry). I thought the song was so cool and that led to me listening to more covers of MHA OPs (Peace Sign is still GOATed btw). This eventually led me to the manga and the anime where I became truly immersed in the series. I started reading the manga around the Joint Training Arc (I think) which was definitely an interesting time to read the manga because the chapters where so short due to Horikoshi dealing with health and I think moving conflicts at the time. It was still an enjoyable arc and enough to keep me interested in reading from the beginning. I want to say I started the anime around season 3?, but I started at the beginning and worked my way up from there. "Shoto Todoroki: Origin" was the episode that finally solidified my love for the series and is still my favorite episode of the series.

To say that MHA has an important place in my heart is an understatement. (⚠️Warning: very quick mention of suicide) I was very sad and depressed in the latter half of 2018. My life didn't feel like it was going anywhere and I was close to giving up entirely. (⚠️ ). Finding and loving MHA during that time honestly might have saved my life. As strange as it sounds, it was one of the few things that brought me genuine happiness at the time. I had something to look forward to every week and it was thrilling. I still remember debating whether Deku or Shoto was my favorite character. Shoto took the top spot in my heart, but Deku is a very close second 🩵💚.

Seeing MHA end is heartbreaking, honestly. I'm watching something I truly love come to an end. We'll still have the anime, movies, and spin-off series to keep us busy for the next few years, but the manga that started it all is coming to a close. It feels so, so surreal. God, is this how the Haikyuu fandom felt when it’s manga ended? My hope is that this fandom can be kept alive long after the series is over. The MHA fandom DEFINITELY has it's flaws, but it also has a lot of good in it too. I have seen incredible art and fanfics come from this fandom. I have laughed and hyped up some of the best moments of MHA with people who love it too. I know that the fandom is collectively mourning its end and I know we'll all cry bittersweet tears when it ends. If anything, I am glad to see Kohei Horikoshi end his momentous story on his own terms. I hope it ends up being one of the best manga endings in recent Shonen Jump like how Haikyuu's was. I think Horikoshi can do it. Regardless of how it ends, My Hero Academia will be one of my favorite pieces of fiction. I am really glad to be here to celebrate it.

[bronzetomatoes]

do y'all fuck w my essay

The Shift From Broadcast TV To Made-For-Streaming Has Hurt Its Impact As A Medium

TV shows have long been one of the most widely efficient ways to share a story, but could that be on the decline? While it is considered by some to be a subpar medium, here on the tail end of the Golden Age of Television we have seen the impact a good show can make. While TV shows have invented new subcultures, or new technology (Star Trek, inspiring both the concept of Fandom and the invention of the mobile phone), and series finales have brought whole communities together (M*A*S*H’s finale, Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen, was watched in over 60% of American households), the decrease in popularity of broadcast television could be spelling an end to this. While the concept itself isn’t going away, TV has seen some major shifts over the last number of years, and a lot of it is not looking good. The rise in streaming services is bringing changes to television that negatively impact the viewers, the creators, and the content itself.

Since 2018, networks have seen a decline of over 70% in TV shows with more than 20 episodes per season (Daniel Quinaud, Why Your Favorite TV Shows Are Getting Shorter, March 15th 2024). There hasn’t been a corresponding decrease in runtime, however, with episodes ranging from 40-60 minutes long, compared to the traditional 22-25. This shift has been facilitated by streaming services, as network television was not so often able to accommodate for inconsistent episode lengths. The weekly release schedule of broadcast television also encouraged the longer seasons that used to be typical, but are no longer necessary.

Sources reason that viewers prefer a more tightly-knit narrative, and that it is a struggle to retain viewership all the way through a 20-episode season (Quinaud), but how much of that can be explained by the nature of streaming services? The average viewer is far less likely to binge through 2-dozen episodes within a week of a series being released than they are to tune in once a week for 6 months. Not only this, but the scheduled broadcast will pick up new fans over the course of its airing and rerun cycle, while Netflix (for example) has a tendency to cancel any show that isn’t an overnight success. 

Whether or not the runtime itself has been decreasing, it still feels as though we, the viewers, are receiving a fraction of a TV show. They have too much plot to fit into their 6-episode mini-series, so they cut filler episodes. They cut filler scenes. They reduce any moments of chatter that fail to actively further the plot down to 20 minutes of their 200 minute run time; 10% is enough to explore our characters, how they work, how they act when they’re comfortable. Showmakers are so afraid of our boredom that they refuse to give us time to breathe. Action shows become messy and rushed, sitcoms shove an A, B, C, and D plot into each episode, and dramas give little-to-no time to process emotions because they need your attention. They cannot risk you losing interest.

Quality isn’t the only thing suffering from the shorter seasons, which made their way into the 2023 Writers Guild of America (WGA) strikes. What could have been a stable job becomes gig work; writers are used for 8 episodes (“13 at best,” says Miranda Banks, Marymount University’s chair of film, TV, and media studies (Gili Malinsky, TV and film writers share why they’re on strike, May 13th 2023)), when, in years past, a season meant being “guaranteed to be working for about nine months every year.” This, combined with shrinking writing rooms making it harder to find a job (unrelated to streaming services), was a major blow to writers’ job security. The aforementioned trend of cancelling made-for-streaming programs after a single season was another contributing factor to the writers struggling for work, and all three were components in last year’s strike.

While they don’t have the same problems with writing rooms, actors have struggled with cancellations and short employment periods. An issue exclusive to streaming that impacts both actors and writers, however, is that of residuals. While the creatives involved receive additional earnings from cable reruns, dvd releases, and even licensing to streaming services, they were given little-to-nothing by these services themselves (a major aspect of the 2023 WGA and Screen Actors’ Guild (SAG) strikes). While necessary progress was made, the fact remains unavoidable that those who are underpaid must overwork themselves to make ends meet. As long as artists are hopping between gigs with nothing to hold them over, writing and acting quality cannot be at its best.

The scheduled nature of broadcast television brings more than just structure, though. The consistent release of new episodes, watched at the same time nation-wide, brings a sense of community to fans of the programs. While more streaming services (namely Disney+) have been picking up on the benefits of a weekly release schedule, it isn’t on the same scale (one show at a time being released weekly for a month and a half, compared to multiple channels putting out a year-round new-episode-to-rerun cycle).

Other made-for-streaming programs that drop whole seasons at once are actively limiting the potential levels of discussion around them. Most viewers can’t afford to drop everything to watch a new TV show in one sitting, and in efforts to avoid spoilers they isolate themselves from fans that can. The minority that can binge all of Stranger Things does so, stopping to talk once they’ve completed the series. In doing so, details are missed or forgotten, certain aspects of the second or third episode are glossed over in favour of the more interest premier/finale, and so on. The rush to watch as fast as possible places attention to detail, appreciation of the art form (was it well written? Well directed? How was the acting? How much attention were you paying?), and serious thought as an afterthought to staying ahead. By the time everyone has finished the series, the hype will remain for about a month. By then, there will be something new to watch.

TV shows aren’t going anywhere, but it’s difficult to not see the trends of its decline. While cable becomes less and less popular in favour of on-demand streaming, there are fewer restrictions preventing these patterns from continuing. While we have seen major victories for the workers’ rights of creatives involved, we can only hope that an effort is made on other fronts; that they keep petitioning for shorter episodes and longer seasons, to go with their larger writers’ rooms and extended break times. We can hope that weekly release schedules become more popular across various platforms, but until then, we will continue the same way we have been, lately: rather poorly.

[magnificent-buckless-butt]

Tumblr theory: I feel like we should all have been BBC Sherlock fans at some extent (no, no need for the extra Johnlock drama). Because for years we had to put up with the joke "there's more season in a year than in BBC Sherlock". You'll have three episodes and then that's it, see you in a couple of years. Oh, why? Because the actors busy becoming Smaug and Bilbo, Strange and Everett Ross or whatever's good for their career.

The return of Sherlock after his death was even more unhinged: you got first a minisode reminding you you've been crazy for having waited all that time thinking there would be a season 3 then first episode mocks all the wild theories you made to explain how Sherlock faked his own death. (To this day, I still don't know if they honored us or despised us.) Oh and obviously season 5 is still up in the air since the show was neither officially ended nor canceled.

What I'm going for is: BBC Sherlock had us wait. This is something I especially noticed when the Marvel series aired, one episode per week. People drew wild conclusions on the spot, without having watched half the season while also complaining it wasn't fair that they had to wait a whole week for the next one. And I'm here like. Wow, did society damaged our patience so much. And even excluding Sherlock, it was the norm to wait one week? Heck, in my country, to see the new season, you'd have to wait around 9 months for the dubbed version to be ready so you knew you'd be almost one year late to the party.

In summary: chill guys. Bath is the rare shows that doesn't release it at once and have you wait. Relish in the nice feeling that you don't have to watch it now or you'll get spoiled tomorrow and that's obviously your fault duh.

In summary 2: actually I think I just hate Netflix.

[tlbodine]

Overthinking Goosebumps

It's been a long, ugly year for me. So I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise that I've be craving some intense comfort and nostalgia this fall. Which is, I think, why I found myself gripped by a sudden and intense desire to re-read the the Goosebumps books.

Like every horror-loving Millennial, I cut my teeth on R.L. Stine books. The Haunted Mask was the first chapter book I remember reading, checking it out from the library on a whim. I was 7 years old and completely enthralled.

I spent my weekly $5 allowance on Goosebumps as often as I could and read them from libraries all over the country as we traveled. I didn't have a complete set -- my interest waned by the end of the run, as I'd shifted over to Animorphs -- but I did have a couple dozen of them that I foolishly donated. I haven't touched one of these books in 20 years.

So when the craving hit, replacing my copies felt expensive and daunting. They're collector's items that are worth more than the $3.99 I paid for them in the first place. So I tried to quell my craving by watching videos of people who had done a "read every Goosebumps book challenge," except that just made me want to read them more.

Then I found a bunch of them in audio. They just so happen to be the perfect length to knock out in a day or two of commuting - 2-3 hours per book. A perfect indulgence. I started listening and discovered that not only was I enjoying myself, but that I even had some big thoughts! So, hell, why not blog it?

No promises that I'll blog about every one that I read, and no telling how far I'll make it into the series before my enthusiasm wears off, but for now...I'm overthinking Goosebumps.

So follow along at the "#overthinking goosebumps" tag and come tell me about YOUR experience with these books!

Some General Notes

There are a few things that are kind of a given for every Goosebumps book, which I'll acknowledge here so I don't have to re-tread the same ground over and over in future reviews:

Every chapter ends on a cliffhanger. A lot of those cliffhangers are fake "gotchas" and a lot of the stories rely heavily on practical joker characters in order to add some conflict. Sometimes this is more annoying than others, but I can't really fault Stine for doing it. These were pulpy books for young reluctant readers. When you're 7 years old, this kind of stuff keeps you engaged.

Every book has a twist. At least, most of them do. Some of these twists are better than others. I'll probably talk about a lot of them, but just...you have to go into this anticipating that a lot of these books are shaggy dog stories.

Adults are useless. That's just middle-grade fiction for you. Kids don't want to read about parents solving problems. They want to read about kids having cool adventures.

Oh yeah - I also may mention the TV show from time to time, but I was not much of a fan of the show. I know a lot of other people are nostalgic about it, but I didn't like it as a kid and it certainly hasn't aged well. The effects look cheap, the acting is uniformly terrible, and the episodes generally aren't well-adapted from the books. So sorry if I piss on your parade when I bring up episodes in relation to the books. The theme song is a banger though.

The average Goosebumps book is around 20-25k in length. Stine released a new one every month for the entirety of its 62-book run. He was writing these in a couple weeks. EDIT: Apparently he did employ some ghostwriters, which is news to me and makes me sad, but I still respect him anyway. His background in magazine and TV writing really shows through with these, both in terms of speed, process, and humor.

(I admire the hell out of R.L. Stine. I got to very briefly meet him at NYCC and thank him for his influence. It was great.)

Ok. Fangirl flexing over.

Looking forward to re-visiting these books and giving some of the ol' classic T.L. Bodine deep-dive treatment to them ;)

[ask-serendipity-sky]

Jikooker here! ☺️ I do for the most part think Jk and Jm are dating especially with the many 'tells' these past few weeks 👀 but why does it seem like they're on completely opposite schedules lately? Jm just finished his promos, now JK is already in LA working on his album. Do you think the company is minimizing their time together for optics purposes pre-military, or that it's just the timing or nature of their solo work? The two of them NOT being on camera together almost seems even more sus.

Hello, fellow Jikooker!

This is my opinion, of course, but I think it's just the way things were decided since the beginning. Also, from what we have seen, 2 members release their own work per quarter, so Jhope and Rm, then Suga and Jimin, and then Jungkook and Tae. Jin's single was different because of his enlistment. I suppose that was the basic idea but we don't really know everything that goes behind the scenes and why the scheduling messed up somewhere along the way (side eyeing BH for doing Jimin dirty).

Jimin said he began working on his album around April of last year and it took him 10 whole months to have it ready plus promo time. He didn't leave the studio much (but you know, Jk can go there 👀), Jk was working on his collab with Charlie Puth that summer too and also had the Fifa performance. Then the fashion collabs. So they've been busy and Jimin's work just required more time and commitment. And now Jk's turn is next. From what has been said, Jimin "abandoned" society for a bit to focus only on his album but who knows how Jk's mind functions during creative times.

Now, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that they are a private couple and their love is not for the cameras. But if we notice, ever since they came from from Las Vegas and they went incognito mode, there was less hate for them. But even then, they are jikooking behind the scenes. K-army has seen them. But also, they can't really go all out because of work issues, you get me?

And if we think about it, it IS sus that we haven't seen them on camera but also, there hasn't been many chances to see them. There just isn't a reason for them to appear together. But if you look back at the Busan after live, there they were...

And also in the concert practice together... BAM.

If we look back a little more, we saw them together at Jhope's party. "Being shy"...sure.

And how Jk was satellite-ing during Run episodes and this...I dont even know how to call this lol

So if we point a camera at them long enough, Jikook starts doing questionable things.

And since they are whispering loudly that they are together, we also have all the weverse interactions that left us all in a daze lol

I know that for the longest time, people were saying that Jikook wasn't interacting because of the military issue and I never thought that made sense. Like yeah, ok, 1 year of not being loud is going to erase the countless questionable moments, interactions, and footage. Just didn't make sense to me.

But now we know that Jimin was busy. And that's all I can say.

Thank you for your ask!

[charmac]

Frank Vs. Russia

Okay I'm reallllly done waiting for the official press to release the plot and this week at work is gonna be incredibly rough for me so I'm gonna throw all my evidence down tonight for this episode:

Directed by Heath Cullens and Written by Megan Ganz:

This is airing as Episode 4, but was written and filmed with the production code 1602:

Episode 1602 was the first episode filmed for Season 16.

(Further, Health Cullens is labelled as the director here for 1602, whereas we know Richie Keen directed S16 Episode 2 (1604), Frank Shoots Every Member of the Gang)

We have a BTS video from Rob for this episode, celebrating the first day of filming:

Notice the outfits? C'mon who could forget that ugly fuckin' shirt Glenn-Dennis-is wearing?

Now the title "Frank Vs. Russia" kinda tells us everything else we need to know about spotting clips for this one. So here's a compilation of stills for you:

And so, per my deductions I've written my own summary.

Frank Vs. Russia: "When Frank and Charlie visit Bonnie for [insert some family member's name]'s birthday, Charlie discovers Frank was once a competitive chess player. The two take on a local chess tournament where a Russian kid is favored to win. Meanwhile, Dennis attempts to help Mac and Dee with their struggling dating lives by teaching them a revised version of the D.E.N.N.I.S. System."

[blackcherryvelvet0909]

Summer Commissions

Hello everyone! I have suddenly had my calendar cleared for most of June, so not only will I be periodically releasing the rest of my Beach Episode mini series, along with some other story time goodies, I have decided to open my commissions back up! (College isn't going to pay for itself) Last time I opened commissions, there was a problem with my commission form and I was not notified of all forms turned in. I deeply apologize to those who were the victims of this...glitch? Kerfuffle? Whatever it was. I have since made a new form and hope it will not be like the last. Just in case, I will be checking it every other day of the week - daily, if I can help it. As of right now, I have five (5) slots open. The fandom list includes Twisted Wonderland, Fire Emblem, Pokemon, and the Legend of Zelda. The summer commission options and their prices are as follows:

Short Fic: 1k words ($10), 1.5k words ($15)

Letter: 1 page ($5), 2 pages ($10), 3 pages ($15)

Character Headcanons: $2 per character (canon only)

Character Matchup: $5 per matchup

(Important Note: There will be a $5 fee for each OC included in a commission)

Should you wish to commission me, you will find my form here. If you have any questions for me, feel free to send me a DM! I am always happy to lend an ear.

As for regular posts outside of commissions, the next part of Persayis's backstory will be posted later tonight. Along with that, I am currently cooking up a special fic for Deuce's birthday (06/03), and finishing up Ace's Beach Episode fic. I hope you'll look forward to both! I've missed it here a lot. Your comments, reblogs, and notes on my fics have not been ignored, I assure you. Every single one has lifted my spirits and kept me smiling, despite all the hooey going on in the world right now. I hope you have all been safe and well, and that I will get to interact with y'all more in the future. Until next time, lovelies!~

[officialjanetweiss]

List 8 tv shows for your followers to get to know you.

Tagged by @nero-neptune

OOPS I was tagged in this like a year ago and am just getting around to posting it 😅 I’m the queen of starting these and then saving them to my drafts to finish later and then just abandoning them. ANYWAY

(I, too, am giving a lil blurb for each one bc I love to talk)

Desperate Housewives

I started watching it a couple weeks ago finished it in the spring and I love one (1) republican. I am now slowly thrifting all of the seasons on DVD

My mom watched it when it first aired and I never sat down and joined her but I remember catching glimpses. As an adult I knew I would love it before I even started and I was right! It has WOMEN. It’s outrageous. It’s hilarious. It’s addicting. The theme song is glorious!! Almost every episode title is a reference to a Sondheim song!!! It has (mostly) aged surprisingly well. And in general it just reminds me of a time before streaming when TV was…different. Idk how to put it into words but first of all, remember when shows had 20+ episodes per season? Never forget what they took from us.

Glee

IYKYK. Any “old” songs I know I know because of either Glee or Rockband. Jayma Mays was my awakening. It introduced me to Rocky Horror and many other musicals. It got me into media literacy/critique and was the first show that I anticipated every single week and the first show I gave up on before it ended. I could go on for ages but you just had to be there (my tumblr from 2012-2015).

Passions

I watched this with my mom as a little kid and am slowly rewatching now. Soap operas are a staple on her side of the family and Passions is the only one I ever got into, because I was like 4 and there was ✨magic✨. As an adult I’m not even really into fantasy but in this case it works for me bc it’s so balls to the wall insane. I definitely don’t think I could get into it today if it weren’t for the childhood nostalgia. It ran for almost 10 years, which is not long considering some soaps are still kicking after 50 or 60. But at 2,231 episodes it’s a LOT if you’re not used to the slow pacing of the soap opera format. It’s so special to me though. I have cat and baby names picked out bc of characters on this show. AND THE THEME SONG!!

Soap

My all time fave. For 10 years I have run the only tumblr blog dedicated to Soap. It’s hilarious and touching and was ahead of its time. Susan Harris is a genius. Fleabag falling in love with a priest? Susan Harris did it first. That lady on Days of Our Lives being possessed? Susan Harris did it first. Who shot JR? Susan Harris did it first. The Golden Girls sitting at a table eating dessert and talking about sex? Susan Harris did that but she also did it BEFORE SHE DID IT. I’ve rewatched this show so many times and there are still scenes that make me laugh out loud. I would die for Jessica Tate. Bury me with the boxset.

That Girl

Just started watching this (in real time, not a year ago) and it’s just so fun!! Marlo Thomas is a cutie. Her wardrobe is unreal. I’ve laughed out loud quite a few times. She has great chemistry with the leading man whose actor’s name I shan’t bother to look up. I feel like I started watching it at the perfect time in my life too.

Ann Marie 🤝🏼 Cute little aspiring actresses who just moved out on their own to the big city and don’t have sex 🤝🏼 Me

Trial & Error

Came for Jayma, stayed for everything. Last year I watched Arrested Development for the first time and if you like that show I think you’ll like Trial & Error. Mockumentary style, wacky characters, great running gags. It was gone too soon and I’m still waiting for a season 2 DVD release.

Out of the Box

Here’s a throwback bc who am I if I don’t put a kids show on the list? I loved this show when I was little. It’s so underrated. I showed it to my current babysitting kids when I first started watching them and they love it too :,) Watching it as an adult makes me so emotional idk why. It warms my heart. If I were to ever become a preschool teacher I would make the babies sing the ending song at their graduation and make their parents cryyyy. If you have little guys in your life you should show it to them. It’s on Disney + (eewwww) but there might be episodes on youtube too.

Instead of blabbing about an 8th show here are some runner ups that I’ve enjoyed over the years, some of which I think are v underrated: Tuca & Bertie, Girlfriends, Mum (BBC, not to be confused with Mom, which I also enjoy), Fleabag, Go On, Jane the Virgin, Wonderfalls, Masters of Sex (might be due for a rewatch of that one), The Fosters (fuck them kids tho), Pushing Daisies, One Mississippi

I tag @lifesizehysteria @cakesexuality @sic-transit-gloria-mea and you can do it again @nero-neptune, I know you have more shows to talk about.