#2nd time we've gotten this thing!

[hellsitegenetics]

i'm only 14, however i didn't understand this gimmick blog last year, since i hadn't learned about it in school.

i bring great news, i have been enlightened bro

i can now enjoy this blog to the fullest extent.

i feel like a fish who had been trapped in a bowl introduced to the splendor that is his home, the ocean

thank you

String identified: ' , 't ta t gc g at a, c a't a at t c. g gat , a gt ca t g t t t tt. a a ta a tc t t tat , t ca ta

Closest match: Hermodice carunculata genome assembly, chromosome: 10 Common name: Bearded Fireworm

(image source)

[kakujis]

happy birthday, keisuke!

synopsis: you celebrate keisuke's day with toman.

warnings: gn!reader, swearing, this is fluffy and gross, yn can't bake for shit (me), not proofread, and that should be it!

ft: baji keisuke x reader, 1.2k

network: @enchantedforest-network

a/n: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE LOML!!!!!!! i set aside my hw and all to get this finished hehe. it's still the 2nd in my area, but ik it's the 3rd elsewhere! i tried to keep it short and simple this time!! i won't get sappy or anything but i truly love baji so much!! happy birthday, kei, hope its a good one. ♡

with the amount of staring you’ve been doing, you must as well be losing your vision, the words on the screen blurred and hazy. you’ve scrolled through the ingredient and instruction list an obscene amount of times, and yet… things seem to always turn out like this. 

“i’ve got no fucking clue what i’m doing!” you huff, but the silver haired man besides you simply laughs in reply. “mitsuya, why does my cake look like one of y’all rolled it over with your motorbikes?” 

“to be honest,” he starts, snickering as he inspects it, “i have no idea. i mean, you followed the recipe and all didn’t you?” 

you nod, sadly staring at another failed attempt. he decides to take a piece and taste it, throwing it into his mouth, chewing with an unreadable expression.

“it’s not like it’s inedible, it’s miles better than your first attempt. it’s just a little dry and crumbly…” mitsuya says, brow furrowing, “alright, honestly, it’s pretty bad.” 

you sigh loudly, picking it up and throwing it into the trash, “i told you we should’ve gotten him a cake from the store!” all your attempts have been moot. instead of a fluffy and moist cake, it’s always flat and dry even with mitsuya’s help. 

kazutora pops his head into the kitchen at that moment, “i can run really fast if you want me to.” 

you shake your head, “...no. don’t… do that.” you point to your forehead, signaling him of the decorations stuck on his. 

he shrugs, pulling off a stray streamer, and walking in before he’s jumping up to sit on the counter.“how are we gonna have a birthday party with no cake?” 

you frown, whining, “man, i don’t know. mitsuya, what do we do?” 

he glances over at the clock, mouth pressed in a line, before he answers. “you could always stick a candle into his soba noodles, we've got tons of those.” 

“we are doomed.” you state, sighing as you slump against the counter. “sorry kei…” 

even though you know, deep down, that keisuke baji could give less than two shits about a cake, you really wanted to surprise him. you did the same for him on white day, all those years back in highschool when you finally confessed. he accepted it, shitty chocolate and all, as you hid your burnt bandaged fingers behind your back. he never mentioned it, but you assume he knew, when instead of kissing your lips, he dragged your hands out from behind you and kissed your them while your heart almost sprang out of your chest. 

“who’s doomed?” you hear a loud yet comforting voice coming from the hallway. you look up to see draken, smiling ear to ear as he holds a cake box. 

“draken!” the three of you giddily call in unison and he smiles wider. 

mikey isn’t far behind him, peeking out to say, “there’s no way you guys thought we were gonna eat a cake they made right? it’s literally y/n, we would’ve died. i think baji almost did when he ate your confession chocolate.” 

“i’m going to ignore that for now.♡︎” you chime, keeping the strained smile on your face. 

“you guys are so mean to my protégé.” mitsuya chides, giving you a pat on the back. “anyway, we’re running out of time before he gets home, let’s finish this up.” 

you all nod and run off to your places, with you cleaning up the kitchen, and yourself, as best you can before you head out to the living room. the decorations are strung up nicely, courtesy of emma and hina, although takemichi, chifuyu, and pah definitely tried their best. you’re a little nervous, heart fluttering, as the lights dim and everyone crouches in place. 

you wait a few moments, eyes adjusting to the now darkened room as you catch a wave from chifuyu right before the front door slams open. equally as loud as the slam shut, baji talks to his mom on the phone. 

“yeah ma, i just got home. thanks for hangin’ with me today. huh? oh yeah, i’ve got plans with the guys tonight…” he mutters, phone pressed up against one shoulder as he kicks his shoes off. “unfortunately, its just the guys, said they couldn’t get off work early enough..” he trails off, a solemn expression on his face and you bite back the urge to laugh. 

“alright, love you ma, talk to you later.” he says as he hangs up, placing his book bag onto the floor. as he hits the lights, you all pop up out of place. 

“happy birthday, baji!” you cheer out in unison. it’s an explosion of streamers, confetti, and colors with some of you using party poppers and some of you using the blowers. 

he jumps while breaking out in a shit-eating grin, his pearly canine teeth in full view. his eyes scan the room til they fall onto you, the excitement sparked behind them clear as he immediately makes his way over to you. 

“no fuckin’ way,” he laughs, throwing his arms around you, before peppering kisses on your cheeks. “should’ve known you were a liar.” 

you hug him back, but pull off slightly, when you suddenly feel the heavy eyes of everyone around you. “o-okay keisuke, that’s enough.”

he presses a final kiss to your forehead before turns and glares, “huh? you guys got a problem with this?” 

mikey glares back, “yeah. i do.”

baji releases you, walking over to “square up” with mikey. the two of them bickering about the importance of everyone showing up, but also, a significant other is important too, and besides, “i was about to greet everyone, it’s not my fault you can’t find a date.”  

“here we go,” draken sighs, before sliding onto the couch. “emma, can you get me something to drink?” 

you shrug, settling in next to kazutora who’s excitedly bringing out the games for the night. the rest of the party goes well, the laughter bouncing off the walls of your shared apartment. it’s a nice little life you’ve got with baji so far. while he studies his ass off in school, your work is good enough to support the both of you. it’s cozy, it’s everything you’ve wanted. 

as the night winds down and everyone clears out, you find yourself cleaning up. you tell keisuke not to worry about it, “it’s your night, i’ll finish up here.” but he tsks you away, shoving littered plastic forks and plates into a bag anyway. he finds you in the kitchen later on, washing a few trays that were used to set the food out. 

he snakes his arms around your waist, breath tickling your ear as he asks, “so where’s my cake?” 

“huh?” you giggle, turning off the sink. “what are you talking about? we ate it all earlier?” 

“no, not that one.” he grins, his pretty hair falling over your shoulder. “the one mikey told me you made.” 

you freeze, that little shit. “uh… honestly, we threw them away. even with mitsu’s help, i couldn’t make you anythin’ good.” 

“well, that’s no good.” he hums for a bit, before spinning you around, a devious smile on his face. 

“kei?” you ask, but you’re interrupted by his lips on yours. 

“guess i gotta settle for somethin’ even sweeter.” he murmurs, before his hands are cupping your cheeks as he kisses you again and again.

“you’re so fucking cheesy.” you giggle in between kisses, hands naturally coming around his waist. “happy birthday, keisuke.♡︎” 

[moonyasnow]

Brief Guide to Briar Valley Fashion

[ for the purposes of this post I'll be ignoring the 'they can just magic the clothes from thin air' argument because that's boring and doesn't let me infodump about historical clothing materials ]

Hey you!

🫵

Do you want to dress (or draw your OCs dressing) like you're from Briar Valley, but also don't wanna just 100% copy one of the in-game outfits? Well you're in luck, because I made a chart thing about it to show you how to copy the style!

[ TL;DR: be a billionaire ]

SO yeah, here are all the common design elements I've been able to spot in the fashion, from what we can see of the few designs we've gotten

First off I'm gonna share what a potential Briar Valley design COULD end up looking like— a more high-end dress, at least

I don't share W.I.Ps on my blog like…EVER, but this once, as a special treat, I'm gonna share this wedding dress I've been working on for my OC Irina

I am NOT done with the colors yet— this is just my 'first draft' of what I'd want the colors to look like

This was my biggest inspiration:

A dress here illustrated to apparently have been worn by Catherine De Medici

Catherine de Medici is in the right time period, though this illustration does also look to be Victorian, so take it with a grain of salt if you're just judging historical accuracy— but it certainly gets the vibe across. For more references I recommend going to the Wikipedia list of 'Henry the 2nd of France' going to the 'Children' section, and pasting one of their names + 'portrait' into google

And keep in mind that this is just what nobility would wear. So if you wanna design something more commoner-y, I recommend looking at what French peasants wore around the 1500s, since fashion for common people didn't tend to change as quickly back then as it does now.

And for color, I recommend the sort of moss green you see Lilia and Baul wear.

I wouldn't recommend black though if you're going for accuracy, since pure black was also quite expensive to color something back in the day— it was less expensive with a dark shade of another color, like quite dark blue, or dark red, or green, or even brown.

Another two for Veronica— though theses ones are more in the 'inspired by' section, and more ENGLISH late 1500s than French

Now onto the 'Moony yaps about some random obscure knowledge they have on a niche topic' part of the post

If you seriously wanted to dress like you're from Briar Valley I hope you have a MASSIVE bank account because this is going to COST YOU.

Now, contrary to what I myself expected, velvet isn't actually all THAT expensive— at least compared to the other materials I outlined in the image.

But don't be fooled, this is NOT because velvet is just not that expensive.

The other materials are just somehow way more expensive.

Now. The biggest reason for that would be the color purple.

Purple has always been the most expensive shade you can get ANYTHING in, because purple dye used to be stupid hard to actually acquire, due to how difficult it is to procure.

The color could only be procured from snails from the Mediterranean sea. First, they had to be harvested. And you'd need to harvest THOUSANDS for just one ounce of purple dye.

Then you'd need to remove the glands from the snails, and place them in a lead pot filled with brine, after which they were very slowly heated over a course of around ten days.

And this SMELLED. Smelled so bad, in fact, that the places which made the dyes had to be located downwind of cities.

And needle lace....

Is EXPENSIVE.

It requires someone to have strong, steady hands, but also small enough fingers to be the right size for the small needles used for this kind of lace.

So then…

PURPLE NEEDLE-LACE??

And pure blavk fabric!!! Back in the day, pure black was also quite hard to dye; it would be more common with a dark shade of some other color, like dark green, or dark blue, etc.

Maleanor is REALLY showing off her 'Queen' status here because if she were an actual renaissance ruler that would be worth an absolute fortune!

Purple anything and needle-lace are already difficult to make on their own. But put the two together and you'd need to make sure only the best of the best of craftsmen would be working with it, adding yet another layer of 'expensive'.

But yeah anyway.

Hope you found this useful/interesting!

Tagging @chillygourami since you seemed interested 👍

And @babyghoul138 bc VERONICA MENTION

[buffyfan145]

Word of warning we just got a ton of possible leaks about season 2 of "Rings of Power" coming from The One Ring Net source. However, I will point out while a few of these seem possible this reminds me a lot of other "leaked" things for my other fandoms, especially DC and Marvel movies/shows, and most of those turned out to be false and fans just posting things for their own enjoyment. However, this is how it first leaked that Halbrand was Sauron before season 1 aired. Some of these do match scoops/spoilers we've gotten from Fellowship of Fans an interviews with the cast, but some of these are so out of left field. I'll post a breakdown under a cut of the major ones but you can see the post in full here. But I will point out some of these would be massive changes to the lore that even I'd be shocked if they do it, so again we'll see.

So the first thing that matches what FOF and even Charlie Vickers teased is that season 2 is going to show a lot of Sauron flashbacks and tell his side of the story and that we'll be in on his plans the whole time. But according to this post the Mairon version is a separate actor and that Gavi is actually the Annatar version but Halbrand/Charlie is still the main one going forward.

They're saying the Tolkien estate gave Amazon more access to "The Silmarillion" and we will see all the Valar, Maiar, Eru (he's just a voice though so we won't see a person), Melkor/Morgoth, Mairon (even called this name), Gandalf/Mithrander (who is Daniel's The Stranger), and even Ungoliant as we get this full backstory in the show.

Halbrand will go back to the dwarves and reveal he's Mairon to them and they truth him because of Aule.

It'll be revealed that Sauron/Mairon had a son and Adar killed him, which was why the line Adar said about "a woman or a child" was said in s1. No idea who the boy's mother is but possibly Amelia Kenworthy's character. This is a huge departure but would be interesting to have Sauron/Mairon/Halbrand actually have been a father and the 2nd Maiar besides Melian to have children.

Gandalf/Mithrander will also have flashbacks, including that he almost sided with Mairon, and even introduce Shadowfax.

Tom Bombadil and Goldberry will appear, which we already saw a leak about this possibly happening last year.

Supposedly Halbrand/Sauron does keep up his infatuation with Galadriel but actually goes back to Eregion not as just Annatar but as Celeborn!!! 😮 So they don't rescue Celeborn after all but it is Sauron/Halbrand and it's making it sound like there's romantic scenes between them but again it's actually Sauron/Halbrand with Galadriel and not Celeborn. I know some of us Haladriel shippers have written this exact thing in our fics and if this really does happen that again hints that Sauron/Halbrand really could be Celebrian's biological father which I would be shocked if the show did this even though I'd also love it. LOL Then add in if they do this change where Sauron had a son that died and possibly ends up having a daughter with Galadriel. It does sound like the real Celeborn does come back too at some point so if this happens this is going to be interesting, even though I know a lot of the purists and regular LOTR fans might hate it.

The season does end with Sauron forging the One Ring, which FOF has also been speculating. The thing is if Galadriel will be with him when he does as FOF reported on her being captured by Adar during the Battle of Eregion with this also confirms happens in the last 2 episodes.

They're also saying too that the season will also end with Galadriel making a choice to save either real Celeborn and/or Sauron/Halbrand as Celeborn, which again could point to above that she gets captured and then decides to stay with him. So this is going to be very interesting if any of these turn out to be true.

[guardian-angle22]

Tag Game Tuesday: 911 Lone Star Fandom Edition

Thank you for the tags! @thisbuildinghasfeelings @rmd-writes & @goldenskykaysani

When did you first start watching Lone Star? Who or what introduced you to the show?

I first started watching LS around the 2nd or 3rd episode of season 1 after seeing some adorable gifs of Owen & TK floating around on my tumblr feed.

I wish I could find out who patient zero was that first brought them to my attention from my follow list, but I think it must've been someone from the Skam fandom? maybe?

Which season is your favorite?

Season 3, baby!! and ngl, I highly doubt anything will top it at this point just based off where the plots have gone since.

Who is your favorite character? (Bonus: If you answered TK or Carlos, who is your favorite besides them?)

I mean - y'all knew what the answer would be to this one, right? Obviously Paul is my favorite. I do also really love TK. I know I have a reputation for loving Paul because I get very animated about him LOL... but I would like to put TK in my pocket and keep him safe forever, thank you.

Top five episodes. Go!

3.13

2.09

3.08

2.08

3.04

If you could pick any character to be given a "begins" episode, who would it be and what would that episode look like?

Paul. One hundred percent, I need it from Paul. I know everyone and their brother is going to or has answered Carlos for this and that tracks for a tarlos based fandom... but my unpopular opinion is that we've gotten quite a bit of character backstory for him this past season compared to some others like Nancy, Paul, and Marj. I feel like Paul has been part of the core group since the beginning but hasn't seen the amount of meaty plots as some of the others have. He's due!

What is a scenario or storyline that you would like to see in season 5?

Okay, I have two ideas for this: - an episode in which some of the characters who rarely interact are somehow trapped together due to some kind of emergency/disaster/storm and must navigate their way out together while the rest of the team helps from the outside. There are a few groupings we could use for it, but I personally would have the potential pairings be one of the following (or all three at once??): Paul & Tommy... TK & Grace... Judd & Carlos. I feel like these 3 pairings are people we don't get to see interact one-on-one often (or at all) and it would be super fun! - a true HEAT WAVE. they very briefly had that heat thing happen in 4x01 but I want a whole episode about a temperature heat wave and how first responders have to deal with them. this is TEXAS, c'mon. Plus the theme of heat throughout the episode could pop up in various character's stories. Tarlos = sexy heat. One of the firefighters = heat in the form of pressure in their job like a promotion of some kind. etc.

What do you think is going on in this still?

I have absolutely no fucking clue 😂 So I will instead direct you to this wonderful little spec fic by @littlemissmarianna As much as I hate everything to do with the Gabriel plot and tbh am not excited to see its continuation... if they manage to pull something off like that fic, I might actually enjoy some of it!

We all know about the elusive 5x05 spicy scene that has been teased, so what is your prediction for how it could possibly top 1x02?

... soooooooo I must confess something here...

*whispers* I don't actually know all about the elusive 5.05 spicy scene. someone needs to fill me in. I have not been paying attention to spoilers & speculation as much this time around since last season's speculation went so terribly for me 🤭🤣

Where was the Tarlos honeymoon in your mind?

Something about Carlos "getting homesick after a weekend in Branson" just tickles me. and the sarcastic way TK talks about the idea of Carlos wanting to travel the world also just amuses me to no end...

so this paired with the way the wedding went down, I think TK wouldn't want to make Carlos travel very far. or leave his mother so soon. I think TK wants his husband to feel as safe and comfortable as possible and so they spend a weekend at a nice spa/resort near Austin. Some place like this: Miraval Austin and then spend the rest of their honeymoon week bundled up together at home.

Shoutout one of your favorite fan creations.

for fics, I'm gonna be a little lazy here and link some of my previous themed fic rec lists:

but truly there are some wonderful fics in those lists!!! For some fanart: - this one by @whatsintheboxmh is one of my faves. ankle grab my beloved. 🥺🥰 - this one of s5 TK by @fitzherbertssmolder is so adorable! - this one of BUTTERCUP! by @greentealycheejelly is absolutely precious. - this one of Paul & Marjan!! by @heartstringsduet is amazingggg. give me all the paul fanart - this one of Grace by @yorit1 is stunning.

I'm not sure who has already done this, but I'm gonna tag some mutuals that I don't think I've seen it from yet (no pressure though!!) @lemonlyman-dotcom @herefortarlos @tkstrandreyes @three-drink-amy @littlemissmarianna @mikibwrites @alrightbuckaroo

[luke-hughes43]

hughes little sister and went second in the 2023 draft and maybe just her brothers realizing how much their sister has grown up and it’s not the little girl who use to hide in their beds when she was scared or would cling to them when they had to leave

oh yes!

she ends up at the ducks with trev (which scares luke and quinn and excites jack) and the boys are so happy for her.

after her draft party, the 4 of them end up in the same room, all semi drunk/tipsy, and cuddling on the same bed like they did when they were kids.

they all just have one big pile of each other and just reminise on their childhood and how much fun they had together. jack says, "remember when quinn ripped off my braces and y/n, you clung to me for days and refused to talk to quinn for like a week."

"i remember. and i remember me and luke always being paired up during mini sticks so you two could beat on us. it's why i became a forward. to be better than you jacky."

"how'd that work out 2nd overall?"

"pretty damn good. we all know it won't matter until games start. as long as my rookie year goes better than yours, i'll call it a win." y/n snides back at jack jokingly.

quinn and luke laugh while jack pouts. luke pulls y/n as close to him as he can. those two were inseperable growing up, being the youngest. luke says quietly to no one in particular, "this is the last time we're gonna be in the same room until next summer."

"no it's not. we have the rest of this trip and the rest of the summer."

"y/n you have dev camp in a few weeks so you'll be gone. i'm going to see dylan and a few of the guys for a few days beofre dad starts training. jack is going to new york to see trev. and quinn is going god knows where. we all have plans for the rest of the summer. and you guys won't be in new york/new jeresy at the same time, ever."

"i guess your right luke." quinn says.

there's a silence over the room that gets broken by y/n, "i'm gonna miss you guys. i wouldn't have gotten where i am and i don't know what i'm gonna do without you guys."

"we're gonna miss you too y/n."

"at least you'll have trevor in anahiema and quinn isn't that fair away and you'll see him 4 times next season." jack says trying to look at the bright side. y/n scoffs, "because having trevor around is supposed to make me feel better? i'll end up babysitting him."

"yea she has a point jacky." quinns says. luke stays quiet not wanting to think about losing his baby sister to the nhl. jack and quinn are the first pass out but y/n and luke can tell that they are both still awake. y/n can also tell that luke is lost in his thoughts.

"penny for your thoughts lukey?"

"i'm not ready to lose you yet. not to the likes of zegras anyways."

"you're not gonna lose me. especially not to trevor. luke, i'm your little sister, i'm always gonna be the biggest thorn in your side and your best friend at the same time. besides, who else am i gonna go to when there's a big spider in my room or who's bed am i gonna hide in during thunderstorms or who's gonna be my first call after my first game? it's gonna be you moose, my big brother who basically my twin. i'm not going anywhere."

"you're going to anahiem."

"i know. but this was the dream luke. we're finally living it. this is a good thing, i know it's sad in the moment but this is a good thing. we're finally living the dream that we've talked about for i don't know how long. we're always gonna have each other and we'll never really lose each other either."

"i know. i just hard seeing you grow up."

"i know. have i told you what number i want in anahiem?"

"no." he shakes shaking his head. she responds softly, "43."

"really?"

"yea. after my big brother, twin flame, and partner in crime."

there's no words said after that. both of them letting their exhaustion consume them. later on that night/early the next morning, ellen pops her head in to check on her kids and see them all cuddling in one bed like the used to when they were little. she snaps a few pictures before leaving them be.

she shows the pictures to jim and gishes about how her babies are all grown up now. jim just says softly, "we did good honey. we did real good. the rest is up to them."

once all the kids wake up, they decide to spend that day as a family and deal with their friends and thte media later. today was about the family and they loved the idea of that.

[fiendishneko]

Over-analysing Stormcast Eternal character design

So we've gotten a good look at the new AoS starter box, right? No? Well you should, because for even those 40k die-hards among you, there's some absolute gold here.

Now this is coming from someone who's been into Stormcasts conceptually since the first edition, but seeing the "flawed forging" narrative come to fruition is SO SATISFYING!

(Very big, mostly coherent post under the break)

So first off, I'm going to show you the main character models from the 1st and 2nd edition AoS boxes: Vandus Hammerhand and the Lord Arcanum:

So I don't think it's much of a stretch to say these characters are both "Hero Coded"; gleaming gold armour, weapons held aloft and sat atop a fearsome, yet noble looking steed. Hell, paint them entirely grey and they wouldn't look far removed from actual statuary we have in our world.

At this stage in the AoS timeline, the Stormcasts are still these nigh-impervious heroes, champions of Sigmar and civilisation itself, the flaws of their construction being apparent only to their creator himself. There's an underlying tone of something uncanny though, the human looking, but eyeless helmets feel familiar, but a little off...

Ah well, nothing to worry about, here comes 3rd edition, and champion of Sigmar, Yndrasta, along with it!

So that's different. She's certainly brandishing her weapons, but her armour is dull and tarnished compared to the gold of previous editions (this is due to her being of a different stormhost, but the lack of gleaming gold IS of note here). Additionally, not only does she not have a steed, but it's her counterpart in the box set, the Orruk Kruleboss that comes saddled up, almost aping this cliche hero pose we've become used to.

Add onto this how Yndrasta is characterised, not as a proud leader or wielder of magic, but as a hunter prone losing herself in the act of slaughtering her prey and dumping their severed heads in Sigmar's throneroom. And to put a cherry on top, here's how she is depicted in art form, gorgeous, radiant and FUCKING TERRIFYING.

So that leaves us at 4th edition, the Stormcast Eternals who have been killed and reforged so many times as to be nothing but a shadow of what they used to be are being called back into service against the Skaven. And who leads them this time?

Oh.

This is the Lord Vigilant. His weapon is lowered, his armour a dull, battered silver and his steed... oh his steed...

The side by side of this guy and the Lord Arcanum is pretty shocking to me. The mount of the Lord Arcanum is a Gryph Charger, and incorporates elements of horses and birds of prey like hawks and eagles. It reads as noble.

The Lord Vigilant rides a Gryph Stalker. It doesn't rear up like a knight's heraldry come to life, it stalks, hell it looks like it's staring you down through the screen! (Good job photography team, btw!) Like, I really need you to understand when I first looked at that thing, I was drawn straight to it's eyes and I got chills.

The use of colour here also feels like a natural conclusion. The bold colours have faded and worn, the armour's gold plating has been chipped and broken away from years of war, even the Gryph Stalker looks washed out.

Anyway, that's about as much as I can write on this subject without wanting to smack myself for being a pretentious art nerd, but there is a whole (half) box set of interesting model designs I'd be down to analyse if that's what you folks are into?

[annakie]

We've been waiting literally ten years for a new Dragon Age game and now that it's going to be here tomorrow I am very much not ready.

My life needs to be a little less chaotic right now (it won't be until the middle of November.) The earliest I'm going to really be able to sit down and play more than a few hours is the week of Thanksgiving. But hey, I am staying home alone for Thanksgiving weekend so then I'm going to really get to devote time to just playing the hell out of the game.

I'm gonna be so behind.

It was a hard choice but I think I'm going to break the mold of me always playing a rogue first in Dragon Age games and having literally NEVER played a fighter type character in any DA game (or most any RPG ever.)

I haven't paid a ton of attention to the options yet but after a quick skim several weeks ago I think I'm going with a Grey Warden Fighter romancing Emmrich first.

Basing her off the character I just got done playing for a few years in 13th Age who is a 40-ish year old woman who, when she was only 20 years old had to make a hard call that ended up going very badly for her and it was kind of her downfall, so she spent most of the rest of the last 20 years trying to make up for it.

Second playthrough will be a rogue or mage who romances Davrin.

---

I've honestly BARELY gamed the last several months, what with all the renovation stuff happening and other stuff going on in life.

This weekend I swore to change that and, after spending all day Saturday working on house projects, decided to pick back up my ME3 playthrough that I had gotten to Thessia on and never finished.

But then I had to reinstall the game since the SSD I had been playing it on died. Then I had to reinstall all the mods, and picked up a few new ones. That took a few hours to make sure I got it all right.

I did end up playing, and actually got through Thessia... and then I was tired of being at my computer all day and went outside and read a book on the patio for awhile. Then I realized something was wrong with my new airondeck chair and spent an hour fixing it (my bad, I screwed two screws in the wrong place it turns out.

By the time all that was done it was time to prep for my Sunday night D&D game.

Not gonna finish before tomorrow since I'm running D&D tonight, too and still have to do Omega in there. (Plus the Citadel Epilogue Mod AFTER the game.) Ah well.

Never did finish my 2nd BG3 playthrough.

Never did finish writing my BG3 fic. It's just languishing.

Never did play Starfield more than a few hours despite buying the deluxe edition.

Started playing My Time at Portia and still haven't played more than like 8 hours of it, despite enjoying it (with lots of mods.)

Hoping now that the house is getting close to being done where I want it to be that maybe next year I can spend some time focusing on hobbies more.

Not that I regret a single thing about how I've spent my time this entire year. :)

Working on my last two house renovation posts, too. Definitely want to finish that since my two favorite rooms (after the master bath) I saved for last.

[divineerdrick]

The Warhammer Preview Show: Warhammer Day 2024

I'm once again liveblogging my reaction to a Warhammer preview, and I couldn't be happier!

Why?

Because the Preview was live again!

If you've followed my Warhammer Liveblogs you know how much I hated that they moved to prerecorded live shows. And I wasn't the only one! But once again the studio has listened to the community and it looks like we've got live shows back.

This is one thing I will constantly press about Games Workshop. Being less than a billion-dollar global company, in a niche hobby, means they still have to respond to us. If we make our displeasure known for long enough, and it impacts their sales, they have to act. If even 1% of Warhammer fans don't buy the latest and greatest product that GW releases, it hurts.

It also helps that they're under UK corporate law instead of American corporate law.

And I have a feeling from some of the things I've seen on discount retailer sites, that certain big releases have been under-performing. So hopefully this is the first in some course corrections.

Give San Guard their wings back!

I'm still wondering about what's going on with how few releases have been announced for Christmas. They do seem to be pushing War of the Rohirrim more than I was expecting, so maybe they really are trying to just let releases breathe instead of smothering them. I'm wondering how Necromunda Secondus and Mechanicum performed given how they released along side Age of Sigmar 4.0.

Honestly I think that most Warhammer fans hold GW products as being the best in the market. When they start taking a downturn, we start asking why we're paying so much for them. I think GW really should go back to a slower release cadence of higher quality products. Releasing both of their major game systems back to back in essentially a beta state should not happen. There's no excuse for 10th Edition Eldar to release one summer only for 4.0 Nighthaunt to release the next. And the less said about 4.0's Regiment system the better.

All and all, I'm still really excited for this Preview. I'm not expecting too much right now, but I'm willing to be surprised. For now, just having a live Preview is enough.

Enough rambling! Onto the Preview!

Preshow

Our hosts today are veterans of the Preview shows, Alex and Nick. This was one of the first things that got me excited when I checked in on the stream after discovering WarCom was down. After some of their traditional introduction, including asking for location shout outs, Alex tells us what we've got in store. The reveals today are for Underworlds, AoS, 40K, Kill Team, and Legions. Legions in the past hasn't gotten a lot of love in these Preview shows, so I'm hoping for a little better presentation this time around.

But then Nick slyly cuts in that those are just what was announced, and we should keep our eyes pealed. I've heard some rumors already, but let's see what they actually tease for us.

Underworlds

We're starting with GW's original Skirmish game set in the Age of Sigmar. I'm still really hoping that Warcry gets some love again soon, but I'm betting Underworlds must be just slightly outperforming it.

Oh wow! So with the new edition of AoS out and the story advancing with the Vermindoom, the team has decided to release a new edition of Underworlds. And this edition looks like it will also start with a Stormcast verses Skaven box.

They're once again pushing that accessibility factor with this new edition. I will say this much, other than a few sticking points I have I don't really feel this push to accessibility has resulted in any "dumbing down" of these editions. Probably the worst offender was Kill Team 2nd, and they've undone some of that. Admittedly they pushed the worst part even more . . . Still I feel that 40K 10th and AoS 4.0 are still very tactically deep games. And that, at the end of the day, is what really matters.

And unfortunately we're probably never going to see this push to expand the audience through accessibility ever go away. Businesses in the current corporate world live and die through growth. There's only so much money GW can wring out of their current audience. There has to come a point where GW expands their audience, or investors will leave and the company will decline.

Unfortunately that's tricky to do when you also keep raising the prices of starter products.

But Underworlds has always been relatively inexpensive compared to GW's other products. It's a perfect example of creating a stepping stone into the larger hobby. Buying a board game style starter box with only a few push-fit miniatures to assemble and paint is much easier than buying and painting something like Skaventide. And GW looks to be leaning into that.

They're really throwing a lot of long looks into the miniatures and the board. Still, no matter how much time they spend here this is never as good as the bright, close-in pictures WarCom usually has later. One advantage of the Live previews is we often get to see some of those ahead of time. Hopefully Nick and Alex will focus in on some like they used to.

Here's our box reveal.

And you're making me nervous Nick. This is very similar to a lot of those prerecorded shows. Now that the reveal trailer is done I don't want to be here having someone presenting a prerecorded message on why I should want to pick this up. I want to be back in the studio, with chat, getting live impressions and active responses to questions and feedback from you and Alex. You got me excited for a live show, Nick. Don't turn this around on me.

Uh oh! It's a reset! Normally, this would have me excited. But there are two things that make me nervous here.

The first is that this game incorporates cards and deck building. If they're completely updating the rules, does that mean previous cards won't work anymore? Will we have to get new decks for any warbands we play?

The second is Kill Team. In case you didn't know, Kill Team just introduced a Standard style rotation that means that eventually your Kill Teams won't be legal in competitive play. Many classic Kill Teams already don't have rules in the new edition. Now many of those Kill Teams are still perfectly fine for casual games . . . for as long as GW writes compatible rules for them. But eventually you won't be able to play a given Kill Team without going back to a prior edition of a game. That's fine for collectors who have lots of friends going back to previous editions. But for most LGS communities, that creates a problem.

I'm guessing Underworlds will work in a similar way. I don't know if any previous Warbands will get retired, but they'll probably introduce a cut off point and then rotate out older Warbands eventually. You'll probably have to go buy a new deck for any of the older Warbands to use them in the new rules. This is all just speculation, but it's speculation based off how GW has been running their other games.

This may be a small point to some, but it's a legitimate up-sell to me. GW has gotten considerably better at creating and designing rule books. They've gotten much easier to read in recent editions of their games and much easier to use at the table. I'm hoping they continue to refine them. Also their apps have gotten better too for looking up the latest version of any given rule.

We're also going to single boards, war scrolls, and they're defining Warbands with stat systems to help you understand their play style. One thing I'm not sure of is the replacement of card art with miniature photos. I kind of liked the way the cards added some of that great GW art into the game. I'm not sure how well the various cards will depict the action if it's just still photos.

All and all the new edition looks good, but I've got questions that are going to need answered.

Back in the studio we've got some great shots of the miniatures - not sure I'm liking the sculpt around the eyes for this one - but we're not getting any community interaction yet. There's no point in these being live shows if we don't have any response to the community feedback and questions!

Hm . . . We've got them just talking over these repeating slideshows. I'd honestly prefer to just seem them sitting their and talking to each other to gauge their live reactions. And while I'll admit that this is a new edition, and there's a lot to talk about, they're kinda just going over what the presentation showed. Yes! I'm going to harp on this! I want community interaction, dammit!

Okay, here's one point answered. The starter set is going to come with four decks in it, one based on each of the now named play-styles, Strike, Take and Hold, Flex, and Mastery. These decks will be playable with any Warband. So any of the old Warbands that receives rule updates can use these decks to start with.

It looks like with other recent new editions, we'll get our first chance to see this played at a GW event. In this case it's the Tampa Open, which is next weekend! So we'll probably learn a lot about the game in the coming days.

. . .

And now we're moving into the next part of the show. No questions taken, no feedback, not even a glance at chat. I'm not happy.

Age of Sigmar

And it's just the Warhammer Day miniature. We've already seen this. It's a pretty cool looking miniature to be sure, but why are we covering it here?

My hype is draining away.

Same thing with the Darkoath. Though this looks like it might be a box set, and that means it might have some new miniatures.

Oh! While they didn't show it, this is the announcement for the Slaves to Darkness Battletome. I did miss that this box set is the Darkoath Spearhead. So this will be our first big release for AoS 4.0 following Skaventide.

We're getting a new release for a Sorcerer Lord outside of the Warhammer Day model. This one sounds like it will have a few options for it. Hopefully we'll see these on WarCom.

And here's our Battletome reveal! It sounds like they're doubling down on how little changed between the Skaven Index and Battletomes. This is potentially bad as some of the AoS armies need some real changes.

We are getting a new Army of Renown, Be'lakor's Legion of the First Prince. So hopefully that will bring something interesting for AoS players to experiment with. It's my understanding though that Regiments of Renown aren't seeing much play right now. But we can wait and see.

Speaking of! We've got a nice rules preview here of a new Regiment of Renown that can be included in any most of the god-aligned Chaos factions. The Daemon Prince gets to keep it's Gift of Chaos that it would have claimed in an S2D army and gets the relevant faction Keyword too. However, I can't imagine spending a drop on this the way AoS 4 currently plays, unless they change how drops work in the next rules update.

Battleforces

They didn't mention any universe transition, just that big boxes are on the way soon. My guess is this is our first look at the holiday boxes, which will probably included both 40K and AoS, maybe Old World if we're lucky.

These are all themed after detachments. The Tau box is obscured, but we saw it earlier in the preview, and is the Retaliation Cadre. This means that this is probably a sneaky reveal of one of the new Imperial Knight Detachments, the Valourstrike Lance. Though that sounds suspiciously like it might be a rename for the Noble Lance.

I'll note that none of these battleforces are Chaos themed. We've got three Imperial battleforces and two Xenos. But there looks like there's a lot of value in these kits. That Tau box has a Riptide in it, the Knights have a Paladin and four Armigers, the Sisters comes with two vehicles and a pair of Penitent Engines, the Necrons get the Void Dragon, and the Dark Angels get The Lion. I'm not gonna add everything up here, since I can't see exactly what everything is, but that's over $300 worth of Knights.

And just as I suspected, we immediately go into AoS boxes.

We're only getting four here, Maggotkin, Cities, Iron Jaws, and Flesh-Eaters. One for each Grand Alliance. These don't appear to be based on any Regiments or Armies. And I'm not seeing anything popping out at me for high value items.

These are indeed our holiday boxes. As with recent years, these are designed to go along with the intro boxes. So if you get a Combat Patrol or Spearhead alongside one of these, you'll have a pretty decent collection. Whether they match well with previous Battleforce launch boxes, I'd have to check. But at the very least, I know the Dark Angels one didn't have The Lion in it.

They're saying they're supposed to match Regiments in AoS. I only checked Iron Jaws, but looking through the others they also don't match any current Regiments. So these might be renames or new Regiments coming in the Battletomes.

Hah! They even just mentioned that the Cities of Sigmar force can represent different Regiments! So maybe there wasn't any actual consideration made there at all.

They also just brought up that there's duplication with the Morbheg Knights. So not so good there for the AoS portions either.

Warhammer Armoury

They tease that no one knows about this reveal yet. But it's an Officially Licensed product, so outside of games I'm not sure how much interest there will be.

Warhammer Armory! Okay, you have my attention.

Also, gee! I wonder what's about to be revealed?

There it is! Ghal Maraz! (Subject to GW's approval.)

i haven't gotten my hands on any of these, but I really want to see if I can. I just love stuff like this. If my father's business could get them to sell, we would in a heart beat.

I still have my Slayer of Kings. It's sitting right next to me. I'd honestly love to collect more stuff like this.

Legions

So we've already had Mechanicum for Legions revealed, so they're starting off by going into the lore. I guess that's one way to try to pay more respect to the specialist game. Still I'm hoping for more news for Legions.

"Now you're probably sat at home, thinking, "Games Workshop we've already seen these." It had crossed my mind, yes.

Dark Mechanicum! While they haven't shown any traitor specific models yet, the new rules will allow you to field these models in both Loyalist and Traitor forces.

But they're not keeping us waiting for long! This is the Serperos Heavy Stalker. Looks like it's a near Titanic scale model for the Dark Mechanicum. Like most of the new Mechanicum stuff, I'm totally here for this.

I'm also still hoping to see some even larger creations hitting Titanicus and Legions. Say a certain class of Titan that hasn't had an official model for a while . . .

And book reveal! This book will apparently have the rule for playing both factions. So hopefully we'll see more force specific miniatures in the future.

A Special Surprise

Something a bit more lighthearted. A feast in the field, huh? Blood Bowl? Don't they already have halflings?

40K! I know what this is! Apparently Death Korp isn't all the Guard is getting!

"Make a pie crust from compressed cardboard and fill it with a tin of Munitorum issued nutrient paste." Yummy.

I'm so here for this!

These ratlings look fantastic and have so much life and character to them! This is a fantastic addition to the Guard range!

Oh! It's a commemorative model! Boo! I want this to be a part of the main range!

Oh well. Looks like I'm picking up at least one thing for myself this year.

Kill Team

They teased more ratlings, but look at these Boyz! More proper Orky miniatures! Yes!

And there's our new ratlings! Look at the bulldog!

So I guess the next Kill Team box is Orks verse Ratlings. So much for the idea that the next team would be Storm Boyz. Specifically this is Ratling Snipers verses Tankbustas.

All of these miniatures look pretty bespoke. The ratling kit is definitely new, but that doesn't look like an upgrade sprue on the Orks either. I'm wondering if all the Kill Teams will be new kits from now on?

This Kill Team set will include a bunker terrain piece and missions for trying to defend the bunker or storm it. Sounds like a fun time.

The holiday miniature will also have a mission for trying to steal the food for their provisions. So there's another fun detail.

Hmm. New animation or game?

Bandai Namco? Guessing game.

Oh! I was wrong! It's an animated short! Looks like a free one too!

Our next preview will apparently be in November, for the Championships and Grand Narrative Campaign. I'm hoping they do a better job there.

But as the sign off, they hit us with one more teaser.

Final Thoughts

I've apparently hit my image limit, so I'm not gonna go into more details on the miniatures. But on the whole they were fantastic. Not the biggest fan of the Stormcast models for Underworlds but the Skaven models were cool. All the other new models, especially our new Kill Team set and commemorative mini look fantastic! While this Preview was light on new models, what was shown was great!

And that's all the good I have to say.

So this did definitely need to be a Preview because they were revealing the new Underworlds. But honestly, they could have made the whole show about that and I think it would have been better. The Kill Team reveals were good, but the rest was stuff that would normally just be a WarCom article. So they may as well have just dedicated it all to an Underworlds deep dive and left the Kill Team stuff for later.

And while I think this was better than the prerecorded stuff we got before, this might as well have been prerecorded. In fact I'm sure there are gonna be people who accuse this stream of being prerecorded. There was zero interaction with chat. Yeah, they asked chat to call out where they were from like they used to, but then didn't acknowledge any responses. Chat might as well have not been there, and that means this might as well not be live.

This isn't okay! And while I appreciate the nod to the old format, this was honestly something where I wanted to see designers talking about what they were doing. I don't want to hear Nick and Alex talking about the new mechanics and design ideas of Underworlds, I want to here it from the people who made the game! While I didn't like the mock interviews, there's no reason not to have the designers on there talking about what they're excited about.

Between lack of meaningful reveals and the misuse of the live format, this is still a fail. If the last review was a student handing in a print-off from Wikipedia with his name on it, this one was two guys who threw together their paper at the last minute. This will probably be my last liveblog for these. I'm certainly not gonna do another one until I see meaningful changes in the format.

[posttexasstressdisorder]

Friday, 11-15-24, 8am Pacific

'Mornin' all, Mr. Baggins here with Morning Coffee Music, selections to get us in gear and in good cheer. Yes, it's Friday, and I wanna start us off with music you probably know well, if you're of at least a certain age. This album served as incidental music for All Things Considered on NPR for quite awhile. Here is new-age composer Ray Lynch, with his 1984 album "Deep Breakfast". He leads us off with a big glass of bubbly "Celestial Soda Pop." Enjoy!

That album puts a smile on my face every time I listen to it. Next I had wanted to play you one of Wendy Carlos' "Switched-On" Brandenburg concerti, but alas, they do not exist on YouTube. So, we'll have to do with the regular "un-plugged" kind. I thought we'd hear the jaunty Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047, performed by The Chamber Orchestra of The Saar, conducted by Karl Ristenpart in a 1960 recording.

Next let's hear our Brazilian friend Mme. Novaes, in her sparkling performance of the complete Op. 10 Etudes of Frederich Chopin.

Let's travel back to Dvorak now, we heard his first symphony yesterday, this morning we'll listen to his 2nd. Again, Istvan Kertesz leads the London Symphony Orchestra.

And I thought we'd hear a little Gershwin, this time his "Rhapsody In Blue", with Leonard Bernstein at the piano AND conducting the New York Philharmonic on a Columbia Masterworks recording from 1959.

Igor Stravinsky conducts his suite from his ballet "Petrushka" for us now, we hear a historic performance from 1962, from the Great Hall at the Moscow Conservatory. The Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow State Philharmonic Society plays.

And as a little "dessert", here is a delicious little "Vocalise" by Stravinsky, sung by the incomparable Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, accompanied by pianist Geoffrey Parsons.

We've been invited to attend a Schubert Soirée with violinist Gidon Kremer, who plays along with members of The Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Some gorgeously tuneful Schubert!

I thought I would wrap this edition of Morning Coffee Music up with a historic recording from 1941. A pair of legends took the stage at Carnegie Hall to bring us what might be the most spirited recording of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 put to record. Vladimir Horowitz is at the piano, and his father-in-law, the formidable Arturo Toscanini was at the helm. I do hope you enjoy!

That should have gotten your blood stirring just a bit, and hopefully leave you with a smile! Mr. Baggins signing off for now, I'll return this afternoon at 2pm Pacific with your Afternoon Stack of Classic Wax!

Until then, be kind, babies, be kind.

[shadowweaver06]

If you observe, I hope that you all had a lovely Rosh Hashanah. Mine was busy, to say the least. And the entirety of the chag was overshadowed by Oct 7th, which, while expected, did add a tint of melancholy to the holiday. I will admit, the level of the holiday being overshadowed by Oct 7th happenings by my shul was a bit offputting, to say the least, and I found myself feeling wrong-footed. Our rabbi talked about it both on Erev RH and during morning services on Thursday - and if I had been smart, I'd have heeded his disclaimer about the topical discussion of his sermon on Thursday morning before opting to sit through it. Instead, I did sit through his entire speech, and it left me feeling uncomfortable. Now - I've gotten pretty used to the array of feelings around what is happening with Israel and Gaza and whatnot. As much of a peacenik as I am, I still find myself vacillating between anger, grief, frustration, and rage, both about what happened on Oct 7th and what is still happening both to Israeli citizens and to other non-combatants unlucky enough to get caught in the way, and even more so now with Lebanon and Iran getting themselves involved in the fray.

Our Rabbi's discussion rehashed all the atrocities of last year (which I could have done without the reminder of... like we've all borne witness to it, repeatedly), and then veered off into congratulating the congregation for their increased Zionism. Which I found... weird. Like, sure, congratulate us for being more observantly Jewish and involved in our community, and engaged in doing mitzvot, but congratulating us for an ideology just seems... I don't know, odd? I just found it troubling, and it was not the type of message I expect to hear during a holiday sermon I guess - I expected more of a hopeful, 'dawn of a new year' message. (I will admit, this is my first time spending HHD at a Conservative shul, so maybe this is the norm and I'm just not used to it, I don't know). It was also heavily flavored with some us-vs-them rhetoric, which I also did not care for. (Ultimately, though, I very much lack the generational trauma of my co-religionists (I was not raised as a Jew), so I expect that lack of trauma is strongly flavoring my view on things). I don't begrudge people for feeling the way they feel - it's certainly valid. I suppose this is a lot of what the congregation here wants to hear, which is why he wrote it, but... I don't know if it was what I needed to hear in that moment. Like I'd already been reflecting on the last year and what we've lost as a community as I was praying - and having that note layered on top of it made it feel even more bitter. 2nd day was better - but we joined our friends with their kids for the family service, which was shorter and more interactive (since we're the only other folks they know at this shul, they asked us to be with them so they didn't feel so abnormal, since they are new to this shul as well). We went to a RH party thrown by a friend on 2nd night - we catered the majority of the food (we smoked an enormous brisket, I made gluten free challah and regular challah with rasins, and apple honey cake, vegetarian matzah ball soup, and diri djon djon (it's our little taste of Haiti - and a staple of our shabbat table, which is usually a mix of Kosher-fied Haitian or lebanese/middle eastern dishes). On Friday evening I had company over for Shabbat - my friends (who aren't Jewish) came with their daughter and one of our other Jewish friends who needed a break from her kids came by, and I made an absolutely amazing pomegranate molasses roasted chicken recipe, ktiztzot with leeks and swiss chard, roasted squash and root vegetables, glazed carrots, a tossed salad, and a really tasty herb salad with apples and pomegranate seeds (which I am absolutely making again for Sukkot because it was amazing). Saturday night after Havdalah, we walked down the street and made an appearance at my best friend's birthday party, and I am 98% certain that I ate my body weight in tacos. Yesterday I woke up with a terrible cold. And now I'm sitting in bed typing this after waking up for the second time today after sleeping for 99% of yesterday, and a good chunk of the day today. So yeah. That's been the last week or so in a nutshell. Still feeling rather off-kilter given that it's the Oct 7th anniversary, and I sometimes feel like as a convert, my opinion doesn't really matter on these things - I don't have family ties to Israel, just religious/emotional/theoretical ties, so it's something I don't really feel like I sometimes have a right to have an opinion on, because so many other people do, and have lost someone either to the violence on the 7th, or to subsequent skirmishes. It's just a weird, somber, and reflective time, and I'm spending my day praying for an end to the cycle of violence, and for something approaching lasting peace for folks who live there. If nothing else, that is something I can do, and don't need to voice a personal opinion on.

(Forgive me my rambling - I'm all manner of doped up on cold medicine).

[blakbonnet]

Hello! I try to understand the whole clowning situation but I can't find things 😕

Why do we think the renewal announcement is for tomorrow? I think I saw a post saying it would be for the 1st of january but why? What is going on?

Can you please explain/recap for people like me who didn't quite follow? 🥺

Hi! God I'm so sorry this must be incredibly confusing because honestly, there is no info 🤷🏽‍♀️ we use the 🤡 emoji next to these posts so people know that this is pure speculation, and most days, speculation is a kind word.

The last renewal hiatus lasted 69 days (hehe) and 2nd Jan was when the current renewal hiatus has gotten longer than that apparently. So we've been "clowning" every day hoping/praying that things that are being posted on socials by the cast and crew (David) is where they're are trying to subliminally tell us that the renewal is close 🤡

So last night, their official twitter account suddenly started liking stuff which happened last time when they dropped new merch but mainly when the trailer madness was going on. So the new 🤡 theory is that it's dropping today!

We have a lot of fun with clowning and coming up with unhinged theories, I wouldn't take it seriously tho lmao because when it gets renewed, I guarantee it'll be trending on tumblr so you'll know :)

[hellobitchlet]

Honestly, I feel like Fontaine has been really bad. Even by Genshin's nonexistent standards.

Outside of Furina's backstory, the writing is a step down from Sumeru instead of a step up, with 90% of the first 4 acts being filler and the handling of the terrible government being even worse than previous nations (bc the horrifying justice system would look bad on Furina, Focalors, Neuvillette, Clorinde, Chevreuse, Sigewinne, and Wriothesly if we admitted that it was bad). It's so bad that it falls apart if you know anything about human rights, slavery in prisons, capitalism, police corruption, or even the basic rules of detective fiction, when it comes to the first 2 acts.

And on top of that, everything about the oceanids were completely retconned and ignored...even though some of that retconned lore was given to us an update before Fontaine was released. Instead, oceanid lore was completely changed, used to make Neuvillette look cool, and then forgotten about after the main act except for like...1 world questline. That has nothing to do with playable characters. Even though it's super important to the story. Aka the npc problem also continues.

The underwater areas are cool, but the whole nation is about as empty and boring as the desert. There are a few highlights, but that's it. And not only is it significantly smaller than Sumeru for no reason, but it was shafted just to make ANOTHER addition to Liyue's map, which is bigger than Dragonspine, Chasm's Maw, and Stormterrors Lair combined. And it also doesn't utilize most of the giant space it has. We got our first separate, underground map since Inazuma, but it's even smaller than Enkanomiya, there's nothing interesting that I've found so far, and the map is hard to look at because of the way they make maps now.

Speaking of, they seriously thought that adding mini underground maps to the normal map was enough compensation for them making hard to navigate caves to let them get away with continuing to do that?? Why not just stop making them?? Is this not one of the reasons why your normal map looks so boring??

While Cyno suddenly got a 2nd story quest (which should've been his only one with how useless the 1st one was, but whatever), for the first time since the beta(?), the archon character didn't get 2 story quests. They could've chosen to give neither Furina or Neuvi a 2nd quest, give one of then a 2nd quest, or give both of them a 2nd quest. They went with the laziest option.

Instead, our 2nd weekly boss was Arlecchino in her own quest. This was honestly the first time I felt disappointed with a weekly boss. It had nothing that special about it gameplay-wise, and Arlecchino's boss form looks weird. It's just the barebones first part and the cool boss form last part. No big, unique mechanics that change how you fight it, no in between stage, no switching back and forth between the stages. Nothing.

Just like Inazuma, Fontaine wasn't allowed it's own Traveler quest. Instead, Bedtime Story was a continuation of Caribert that could've been released during Sumeru, as well as a lore dump and empty reassurance that the next Traveler quest will finally, actually start an actual Abyss Order + Dain plot. Not right now though. And the ending is literally a MLB identity reveal fakeout episode.

To make the obvious laziness even worse, this is the first time since interludes were introduced that we haven't gotten a yearly Interlude. That's ONE single act quest! There's no reason why you couldn't have made one! Fontaine has NO other storylines for the playable characters besides the main quest, despite all the npc storylines!

Additionally, while this is the first time we've gotten 5 skins per year instead of 4, it's also the first time we've been given a skin without it being used in an event. Which is...weird. And that's without mentioning how bad Ganyu, Shenhe, and Nilou's skins are imo.

I swear, the only good thing that has happened is that Mondstadt has been further solidified as The Witch Nation. And again, the underwater stuff is cool.

[feuqueerfire]

Unknown Live Blogging

I loveeeeee a younger pursuer character, especially when they've known each other for a while and the older is just like I love you kid (platonic/familial) while the younger is losing their mind with their crush/love/lust. Also, the fact that the novel it's adapted from is literally called Da Ge 大哥 ah, I've gotten more into adoptive or step-brothers trope since I got into live-action BL but I've only just watched Addicted/Stay With Me and Kiseki: Dear to Me 2nd couple, so it's exciting to add another one to the list.

This is also a novel from China that's being adapted in Taiwan so that they don't have to censor it, right? There are several other BLs currently in the works like this.

Anyway, seems like people really like this show (not counting the sex scene in ep 11 or something because I heard so much complaining about that lol), so my hopes are high.

Ep 1 (June 13)

ahhh crazy start/glimpse into future

starts when they're young but have been living together a while already

ahhhh trying to take care of things/the family/his ge by paying the bills using his gift money + some part time job maybe. isn't quite a grownup yet but he wants to be so bad

2007 - when they first met

oh fuck the child being hit with the metal pipe was scary and unexpected

oh man, Qian getting embroiled with gangs and doing their dirty work for money

oof, gonna have to win 3 boxing matches to leave the gang

Ep 2 (June 13)

the teacher saying an older brother is like a father

not them ganging up on Xiao Bao!

dang, Qian's mother hated him because he did well, that's wild

Qian is so attractive like woah

we've reached current year - 2016

Ep 3 (June 13)

Yuan to the rescue

Bao and Yuan's dynamic is so cuteee

damn, Qian mad as hell at Xiao Bao's outfit and it has a bit of the "proprietary" thing that so many father-daughter older brother-younger sister dynamics have (in media at least) but also most importantly it reminds him of their mother who they are both very traumatized by

I'm so nervous, I hope nothing bad happens to Xiao Bao (esp because we know this world has like gangsters and stuff)

Is this guy part of the gangsters? Does he know who Xiao Bao is?

Yuan recognizes the gangster oh no

Sam Lin as doctor, though I must say I would not recognize him if I wasn't already aware of this

sharing a bed

studying abroad mentioned

I don't wanna read thoughts of r/boyslove or look for gifsets on tumblr, I just wanna get to the next episode.

It feels like since they both scold/get upset at Xiao Bao in an attempt to protect her, she's not gonna retain any of the reasons they're worried about her but rather maybe rebel and end up in troublesome situations. please no rape storyline though plsplspls

Ep 4 (June 14)

Yuan's 18th birthday? adult Yuan alright

pls Qian thinking that Xiao Bao's saying Yuan watches porn

it's romantic stuff but is it yaoi/BL? because the one Sweet Summer or whatever novel seemed to be two guys on the cover?

Qian kinda reminds me of Na Jaemin (my NCT bias when I was into them) from some angles

I will forever love helping something with feet, whether it be shoelace tying, giving a massage/a foot bath, or now taking care of an ankle/foot injury. it's not even a foot kink, it's just... idek like lowering oneself... in aid of the other... taking care of them...

Yuan definitely doesn't wanna hear about them seperating and liking other people

this kiss must be in Yuan's imagination

so I guess Qian doesn't suspect Yuan's feelings toward him at all + also doesn't return the feelings (yet + he might be unconsciously feeling something but it's not as intense as Yuan's feelings). However, I'm unclear on whether he thinks Yuan likes boys? Like he saw Yuan's romance novel with 2 boys + asking about the high school class monitor...

Ep 5 (June 14)

I knew this was a daydream because of the dreamy filter + I kinda remember some post on reddit about Yuan's daydream but if I was watching this in real time, I would've lost my shit

oh oh my god okay. "Ge, do you already know that I like guys?" extremely forward and sudden, I wasn't expecting it

ahhh, I can't watch this, it's so T.T. like ik it's very Uncle Jim to Liming, looking out for their young(er) nephew/brother because being gay openly isn't easy but like T.T still

What year is this? 2016 right? while gay marriage became legal in Taiwan in 2019

I love a "it's my business who i like, not yours" or whatever

ah, Qian's nice to Yuan again, he likes gives him a little lecture but isn't like actually homophobic

Xiao Bao turns 18 too

damn, what's up with Qian? head hurts?

pls the colleague (is that San Pang? yeah right?) running into Qian's room to see him and Yuan in bed sleeping and cuddling and being like... hm

pls Qian himself being like "it's not what it looks like" before the other guy even says what it looks like

QIAN WHY ARE YOU TELLING HIM THAT YUAN LIKES GUYS?!

omg San Pang now coming over to talk to Yuan

pls I know why he's asking but the way he's talking about where Xiao Bao sleeps and where he sleeps like hey ! stop

that's her literal brother and they have no parents, I think it's fine if Xiao Bao climbs into her Dage's bed to sleep occasionally lmfao

oh I guess he was talking about Xiao Bao sleeping in Yuan's bed. whelp he'd have a point in that case I guess becuase Yuan def can like these siblings lol he just happens to not like the sister

pls Xiao Bao wants San Pang to ask about her, so whenever he talks about Yuan and Qian the way her eyes roll so hard that her whole head rotates, so funny

not the office fujos Noticing and Observing lol

ahh, Yuan's inner turmoil seeing his "future sister-in-law"

ah, San Pang straight up asking if the one Yuan likes is Qian

I just wanna know when the confession is gonna happen, is it gonna be next ep? because Yuan also has to go abroad (though I don't think that time skip takes too much airtime from what I've read). I want some stuff to happen after confession + after getting together too.

Ep 6 (June 14)

I wonder what role San Pang will play like will he help them figure it out or hinder all the way through? they're kinda hinting him with Lili, so he can't possibly be a "bad guy." I get him dissuading them now or giving them reasons why they shouldn't but once they do, I assume he'll be okay with it at least

"Don't tell me that guy also has some?" oh Qian

Qian feeling pity for Yuan and being like why do you have to like him... oh Qian, oh Yuan

aklsdfjalksdf ahhh Yuan about to me a drunken mess at this important work function plssss I'm nervous. but also... does the confession happen when Yuan's drunk? Is it gonna happen this ep?

Feng Ning is so cool I love her. if Yuan does anything that upsets her I'll get mad at him im negl

oh omg I have an image in my mind of when Yuan confesses maybe and it was not in this outfit and they were also maybe sitting, so the i like you and attempted kiss was like oh!

It also stressed me out that they're still at work

woahhh it hurts so good the way Qian not only punched Yuan but also didn't stop to care for his wounded hand

ahhh Qian avoiding Yuan and the home entirely

studying abroad plan on

Aw, Xiao Bao who is like ? wtf is going on, why are my brothers fighting and also Yuan literally going to NY

is that Yuan sitting on the floor with his paper on his face and crying? yes, same sweater stripes

The angst is done well. The situation must happen (I was anticipating the fallout from the confession so much!), it's not overdramatized (Qian reacts badly but then just avoids Yuan for the rest and Yuan tries to apologize a bunch but doesn't force anything when Qian ignores him), the acting-writing-directing are all good. I'm also liking the consequence of him moving away to a different country (for a few years?) because he's known Qian all his life and practically only talks to Qian, Lili, and sometimes people like San Pang or a classmate but he'll broaden his horizons now and it'll be less "he loves Qian because he only knows him"

Ep 7 (June 14)

damn, Qian's apparently been so apathetic that San Pang's like maybe I shouldn't made Yuan stay so that at least you wouldn't be like this

Qian's alcohol problem + his chronic headache bruh

San Pang straight up asking if Qian has feelings for Yuan too and Qian does not deny it

also it's been 2 years right? since it's 2018 now and 2017-2018 were blank for Yuan's height

Qian is truly so attractive. his face but also his mannerisms and expressions and gestures. woah. and of course my forever weakness: nice smile and there's a dimple too

2017 - 2023?! omg 6 years? that's a lot, I was expected 2-3 fr

Qian continues reading Yuan's texts but not replying to them. then impulsively calling Yuan and immediately hanging up again

first reciprocal contact in 6 years, if I was Yuan that call would've made me lose my whole entire mind fr

Bro, it's actally Qian who's losing his mind because he's sitting on Yuan's bed in Yuan's room and texting Yuan to come home if he misses it

Xiao Bao has truly become grown up model Lili

San Pang is at the office gathering, so who did she see at the door? would Yuan already be at home lmfao

ah, indeed Yuan's here lol

Yuan and Lili antics begin again, how fun

From a few Tumblr posts, I thought Lil iand San Pang's relationship was gonna get exposed? next ep i guess.

also saw some gifs that Yuan's gonna be petty toward Qian next ep and I'm so excited, how did people wait weekly for this? I can barely wait for tomorrow.

Ep 8 (June 15)

starting this around 7:30pm because I had to watch Wandee Goodday episode today. Hope I like this episode than I liked Wandee's

ah, Yuan's so bold now "Have you seen enough?"

The fact that Yuan made eye contact with Qian before handing the drink over to Xiong-ge. Qian expectantly holding out his hand but having to retreat and check afterwards that nobody else saw lmfao

It's killing me that Yuan keeps looking at the other two ges during the conversation while Qian keeps glancing at Yuan and can't keep his eyes off of him even when he tries

Yuan even thanking San Pang for making him go to the states...

the hickeys?!

Qian's incredulous look at 8:00 is really so Na Jaemin, why does he remind me so much of him

I would say Qian's slow for not catching on that they're together somehow but ig San Pang and Lili are LDR since she doesn't even live here anymore? and so Qian's not aware of it? but it's also funny to think his brain was barely working while Yuan wasn't here but managed to deduce it by glimpsing the hickeys as soon as Yuan came and Qian's brain started working again lmao

damn, Lili's literally shaking her head no, how dare San Pang make the executive decision to confess to Qian?

NOT THE BUTCHER KNIFE LMFAO

Yuan literally sitting back and eating fruits on the couch as he observes is so funny

and his smiles lmfaooo

and only inserting himself when Xiong-ge brings up Qian dating somebody else lmfao he's a menace

Yuan calling Qian as Wei Qian instead of ge is so .

Qian's mad because the two of them are dating and there's an age difference and San Pang's known Lili since she was a child and he figured it out through hickeys and he's the last to know and all those reasons but also... he's probably also mad that why isn't he with Yuan then? If those two can do it, why not him too?

Yuan knowssssss he's getting to Qian

I've seen a glimpse of a gif of Yuan feeding Qian ahh

and now that Yuan's indeed giving him his full attention at the table, Qian can't look at him

Qian's losing his mind and I along with him

Yuan's so bold now, it makes me nervous like chilllllll, move back like the way he kept walking toward Qian and nearly kissed him alksdfjla;ksfj

Yuan is suchhh a menace, the way he starting speaking loud and clear when he heard Qian at the door

my mom dragged me away right then but I'm back

plss he's talking about how he also likes somebody and both Xiao Bao and Ge know that person. lmfao. menace.

Xiao Bao reading from a script lmfaooo

Yuan truly is such a menace, sliding the family vacation into Lili's script pls

cryingggg Xiao Bao ditched the family trip to go to Milan

Yuan kept poking until Qian finally says to not keep feelings for him anymore, only to hit him back with "what makes you think i still like you?"

Yuan saying Wei Qian really does me in. "Wei Qian, don't you like Wei Zhiyuan?" was woah

agh, A'Le and gangsters next ep. hmph

I've been curious to see which other age gap older male/younger female ships I like because they usually give me major ick but I'm such a fan of age gap ships in m/m-f/f-noona romances. I think History 3: Trapped side side ship with the sister and bulter man is the only one I can think of and they barely existed lol. So I want to like San Pang and Lili, especially when she said she's the one who pursued him (I'm into that trope a lot too; like Yuan's also the younger one pursing the older one) but I wish San Pang wasn't a hypocrite/homophobe because if he's into Lili and has no problems getting with her but so disapproved and dissuaded Yuan, like the reason is homophobia yes? I wanted him to come to The Realization that Yuan liking Qian is... fine-ish when he developed feelings for Lili, not have him separate the two situations.

Ep 9 (June 15)

so many things to do but I'm watching this instead, goddammit. but been a little while since i've been so eager to binge and watch next ep (Kiseki and Triage last month I think)

Also, I saw a post that had a clip from the trailer that hasn't happened yet or something and I didn't watch it but there was text about how Qian looks Yuan in the eye when he confesses... omg now I'm so excited to see when that happens. I hadn't been thinking about how they'd actually come together but a confession must happen and I'd be very happy if Qian's the one who does it this time, even more so if he's very tortured about it

oh, abroad was 4 years ago? not 6

I like Yuan's whole spiel about I can't stop liking you but this is enough

Yuan calling Qian out on his bullshit, he can't kick Yuan out again

Qian can tell when Yuan's lying/hiding something

hmm they're calling Qian the snitch and the cops came back then... I feel like Qian didn't do it since he himself was involved

when's that napkin with the poem from?

what is the plan exactly? Lin's telling Yuan to remember that Qian cares about him...

damn, Yuan left for a trip with very short notice?

"You're acting like a wife trying to catch her cheating husband" read the room, San Pang. you can't tell this to Qian who is trying to not be in love with his didi

Dr. Lin so funny. also did We Best Love have eating raw noodles? I feel like it did...

Wei Zhiyuan means "belongs to Wei"

no but what was Yuan plan actually because mans just went to their lair, asked for Le-ge and now is just getting beat up lmfao

scary, Le-ge's got bullets

please why are we doing Russian Roulette rn T.T

Can't have a bullet in there if he's doing it on himself, right? I didn't see how many bullets he put in there. or is he just fucked up in the head enough to do it anyway lol

Qian hugging Yuan in desperation

omg that napkin was literally what Yuan wrote as he thought they were his last words stuck on a mountain during his study abroad. and Qian was avoiding speaking to him during that time godddd, what a tragedy it would have been

and it's a good time to reveal that since they just did the russian roulette for e/o

I don't wanna read ppls thoughts or look at gifsets, I wanna just watch the next episode omg but I won't look at anything after ep 10 until I finish the whole thing since ep 11-12 spoilers will also be there, so I should look at stuff now.

Ep 10 (June 16)

Qian remembering everything Yuan's said and done

nose bleed...

parallels w the hair drying and cuddling to sleep, it'd be funny if san pang woke them up again

does Qian think he'll die

lmaoooooo San Pangcame but unfortunaly Qian was aklready downstairs

i knew bout this blood clot

not the i wish i could tie you up with a rope

Idk how Qian thinks he could possibly hide this from Yuan lol I'm surprised he hadn't just listened in or bothered Lin about the info

the three of them just exchanging eye contact and the focus from San Pang -> Qian with a zoom! sound effect was very funny

Yuan is so funny to San Pang lmfao he keeps being like San Pang ge thank you <3 to the point of uncomfortableness

welp indeed Yuan figured it out on his own

ah, Yuan's mad that Qian hid it from him and keeps saying he'll deal with it on its own

Qian made all of Yuan's favourites to try to win him over askdf but Yuan's still mad

Yuan taking a brief break from ignoring Qian's existence to take away greasy food/beer and give him and San Pang salad instead

San Pang once again telling Qian to consider Yuan and getting with him seriously

Did he not that he wants Yuan to have a future without him?

I think I got a little lost about what exactly led to Yuan storming out but ahhh that convo, fuck. Qian's turmoil and inner conflict and Yuan being like it's mind to deal with, not yours but Qian not being able to let Yuan go.

Ep 11 (June 16/17)

I wanna binge these last 3 eps but it's Eid so I'm busy and gotta watch the rest later. I'm really excited for this ep since it's gonna have the confession and also the sex scene but I know it made everybody fucking mad because of the editing (they had flashbacks to them as kids?) + position top/bottom implications/confusions lmfaoo

The first time Qian took initiative to grab Yuan omg

wait, we're already going into the house okay

I need a pillow or stuffed animal to dig my nails into rn omg i keep grabbing air

what was the more correct translation of "I've been waiting all my life. This isn't fast at all." that made me lose my mind when I saw it and I hadn't even been watching the show back then

"You don't even know what I dream about you at night" hah. hahahah. haha. ok

hello why are we having flashbacks to a conversation from 5 minutes in between the sex scene instead of just... being linear??? I didn't know this happened bc it got drowned out w the other complaints ig lmao

yeah, interspliced scenes we haven't seen before + flashbacks of scenes we've seen during a sex scene are already annoying but then WHY ARE THERE CHILDHOOD FLASHBACKS. this is not the time to have kids on my damn screen wtf

also I just kinda took top Yuan from that, is it top Qian in the novel or something because I feel like people mentioned that it seemed one way but it wasn't supposed to be that way? or is it because the scene where Yuan had his bare legs splayed that gave the illusion of bottom Yuan and people didn't like that? I'm so curious

domestic morning kissing, they've really come all the way here

Lili's home?!

a fight? girl lmao ig Lili's the normal sibling who's not guessing that her other siblings are fucking, biologically related or not

what is this Le/Lin scene lmao

fancy dinner date at the same gangster restaurant as always lol but apparently Qian's reserved the whole place and made it romantic

Enough angles for one kiss!

restaurant owner gang uncle just witnessing all this lmfao I think it'd be hilarious if he gossips with Le-ge about Qian and his brother kissing

fuck, this nerve and surgery stuff is so scary fr

Okay, finished the last 10 minutes while having lunch the next day because I had to leave yesterday. Good to see both Yuan and Lili care about Qian and want to take care of him and such. Qian took up smoking again in all this stress. I still don't fully get all the mom stuff beyond she thoroughly abused him.

The sex scene was like... what??? and I'm glad I was already aware of its issues because I would've gone beserk if I was watching this weekly for 10 weeks and got that in return wtf. The whole show relies on their emotions and inner conflicts but it felt like neither aspect was truly explored in the scene and made worsened with the horrific editing.

Also I can't fucking reblog but this is maybe the post I was talking about with the translation during the sex scene. Yuan's line implies he's masturbated thinking about Qian which is like the most unsurprising thing ever.

Ep 12 (June 17)

Final episode, hope it at least ends well

Lili figures it out. she's kinda upset that she's the last one to know about it, her lines remind me of when Qian found out about her and San Pang haha

but what does she wanna say, why am I nervous that she's pregnant

lol Qian liking that Yuan's trying to help him out at work

I'm suddenly embarrassed, I really can't do office romances

Xiong-ge showing support in his awkward ways is nice

hehhehe Yuan coming to pick Qian up from work dressed up so nice and Qian kissing him outside after checking nobody's around

I got stressed out by Yuan kissing Qian at work omg in broad daylight with people around

yeah the office fujo will certainly keep this a secret lol as if a bunch of them weren't already gossiping like 4 years ago or whatever

I can't handle office romances guys my body shrivels up and my toes and fingers curl, I'm so embarrassed. can the employees stop squealing about it in public. I'm so stressed out by office gossip even if it's like shippy/supportive. also the excited fujo character can sometimes work for me in high school/college shows because it's like young characters but this in an office is like. no. their family and friends can know but i don't need to see their coworkers finding out unless it's meant to be a point of conflict

how can you be discussing top-bottom dynamics of your boss with your colleagues!! and asking your other boss about it !!!! let's get serious I hate this, I should skip through

HOW CAN YOU ASK THIS TO YOUR FUCKING BOSS?!?!?!?!? HOW CAN THIS BE A POSSIBLE THING?!?!?! this show is generally so grounded, even in it's more out-there aspects, that this is like... what world are we in? so inappropriate and also like probably homophobic because you would not be asking this if Qian was dating a woman

are they insinuating Qian's the top/tiger? That does not go with what I want form this trope so I'm ignoring it lmfao I can do verse because I can almost always ship verse but with the younger-guy-deeply-in-love-with-and-madly-pursues-older-guy-who-is-resistant-and-conflicted trope, I like a younger top

but i think people were also annoyed about this suggestion of top Qian lmfao, I think I remember reading comments about it

ah, Lili is indeed pregnant

aw, hug before the questioning but it's like genuine, not from anger. Especially important for them because their mother was terrible and they don't want a child to go through that again obvs

pls San Pang's also here loll I think it's good the ways they were all in different rooms

the panic when Xiao Bao knelt and the 3 of them also scrambling to kneel, especially when Qian also knelt

aw, Qian really was their da-ge, father, and mother all in one

Qian's afraid Lili will follow in their mother's footsteps (pregnant then married young) and be unhappy

why is this so good T.T

I can't believe the messy sex scene from last ep and the utter bullshit that was the office scene in this ep made me forget for a bit how good this show can be

Damn, they're really saving the surgery thing for the very last few minutes. anyway ik he doesn't die because everything would've gone up in flames if that happened

omg how much timeskip, there's a whole baby now

The office discussion actually made me so uncomfortable, it was so inappropriate and unnecessary, why didn't we take that time to... just show at least a bit of the surgery and aftermath or whatever? Like that was such a huge thing in the past 2-3 eps but it just... disappears and we assume it was successful bc of the ending

Overall:

I'm so glad I got over my pseudo-incest brother-lover aversion because I can now watch this stuff in delight. Though I must say, my favourite aspect of this show is the little family trio with Qian, Yuan, and Lili, with San Pang occasionally invited as well. I loved how they cared for each other and how though Lili was left out of the romantic duo inside their trio, it didn't feel like she was forgotten or sidelined. They each had specific relationships with each of the other people, their interactions had their own flavours and it was so good.

The romance itself hm I think the development was nice, especially from Yuan's side since we saw how he thought of Qian and how he supported him and such. We also saw a bit of how Qian was so lost when Yuan was gone that even San Pang was wondering whether Qian liked Yuan and it would've been better if they hadn't sent him away. It just feels like since there was so much angst and build-up for like 10 episodes, their actual coming together should have been grander. The sex feels a bit sudden, I don't think it should've happened right after that conversation because Qian was barely ready to admit whether he saw Yuan as more romantically than just a brother, and then the editing of it all was terrible.

The surgery stuff also kinda dwindled, if they'd brought it up, I wished they would've at least shown the direct aftermath or whatever. I despised how we had the office Yuan/Qian gossip for so long in episode 12, we could've used it for better things. At least we ended with the Lili pregnancy announcement and coming together over that, which reminded me just at the end why I liked the show.

Some other things I really loved: 1) Qian's face, holy shit. Qian is so beautiful, like incredibly attractive to me, woah. Reminds me of Na Jaemin who I was also taken by when I stanned NCT; is it the lower half of their faces/their mouths? 2) The 2 scenes where Qian finds out Lili and San Pang are dating in ep 8 + finds out Lili's pregnant in ep 12 and just going to kill San Pang lol (also loved how Yuan was enjoying it in ep 8 but was helping San Pang and Lili out in ep 12 lol). 3) The episodes, especially the earlier-middle ones, were so addictive, I didn't end up reading the on-air reddit threads because I was too into watching the next ep instead of reading about it.

In the end, I don't think I'll think about it often, especially not the Yuan/Qian ship unless just to remember the brother-lover trope and even then, Kiseki's Chen Yi/Ai Di gave me more intense brainworms for a similar trope I think. I'm disappointed that I didn't love the show, its flaws are at moments that are too important. So deeply conflicted about whether to give 6 or 6.5, I'll go with 6.5 for now.

Rating: 6.5/10

[buffyfan145]

Looks like we might've gotten more information about why it's taking Amazon so long to announce about "Rings of Power" renewal and they are restructuring their UK division as their head is leaving and they just announced who was overseeing all their genre shows (including ROP) is taking over the position. He'll now be in charge of both, since ROP films in the UK and Deadline also mentions it as being one of their still on-going shows. I saw some rumors going around that the show might be cancelled, but it hasn't. We've already gotten the s3 writers announced from THR, Deadline like above keeps talking about how s3 is coming, and Production Weekly just listed crew jobs they are hiring for filming in the UK next year. Plus, the show just got announced as Amazon's best 2nd season show. It also was reported there are budgets cuts coming and that is also likely what the delay is (also Amazon laid off a ton of people in multiple departments), but the show isn't being cancelled. If anything shows like "My Lady Jane" (which I loved) also got cancelled to keep ROP and their other hits "The Boys", "Reacher", "Wheel of Time", and others still going. I know a lot of us are nervous, especially here in the US with the election tomorrow and how scary it could get (don't want to get too political but all our shows, movies, and books are at risk of being cancelled/banned and/or the people involved being arrested with Project 2025) so a lot is going on to why it's being delayed and there's way more important things to focus on than wanting the show to be cancelled or ship wars.

[studentbyday]

src: lo-fi for bears (only) 🐻

productivity:

finished + sent biochem group asst (finally! i wish i never have to do another group project in school again but that is a wish made in vain 😅)

finished + sent biochem discussion replies (i wish they would give us feedback on the ones we've done so far... 😣😣😣)

set up bujo for next week

watched psyc and mol bio module reviews

finished mol bio notes for this week

i still have the last half of psyc notes to finish but i'll do that on monday bc it's finally reading week and i'm taking the weekend off! 😌😌😌 (i really really really really hope that the 2nd half of the semester won't be super draining 🙏🙏🙏)

self-care:

tried a lower abs workout (we might not be where we wanna be yet but we're getting stronger every day we try 💪😤)

🤔 an honest review of the week: there was a lot more i wanted to do (really just 2 things, but they're kind of big and would've been spread out over the week), so i feel kinda disappointed about that. yet i wonder, even if i had not gotten distracted, would i have gotten to them? this week's content was kind of tough and i would have liked to take more real/rejuvenating breaks and just kind of...chill more so i don't feel the stress sm 😅 my daily phone time has been the highest it's ever been during a school week (and the fact that i have now regressed to spending at least 30 mins on it each when i wake up and b4 i go to sleep... 🙈 that should absolutely stop) and i could instead use that time to more intentionally relax and do self-care things, things that are neither school nor self-study, things that feed my soul and not just my career like playing piano, catching up on @zzzzzestforlife's fiction recs, catching up on my watch later, journalling... that is what "best me" would do...