#But I’m rewatching riptide so why not

[baroquepoultry]

Moonbathing

[the0retically]

114 Thoughts

- I wrote down almost every thought I had while watching this episode and I already want to go back and rewatch it, but if anyone wants to read my descent to madness here it is!

- Jay and Chip peak siblings this episode though

- IT’S GILLY SKIN??

- “That’s gilly skin.” “Well….hope he’s alright”

- Why do I feel like Goobleck is about to come back

- Also them talking about the ways they’ve thought about dying is So sad

- God fuck RAFT, they’re studying the hollowed to use it??

- Oh god other triton skin, is edyn here??

- Also when I said I wanted another Chip and Jay session of them doing stuff I didn’t want this

- Bizly and Condi need to deafen and leave for this?????

- That’s gotta be Edyn in this room with Gill right?

- WAIT IS IT ARLIN?? IS ARLIN UP ON THE HOOKS WITH GILLION?? Ok no it’s a triton

- KUBA KENTA?? He always said rats, is it him?? HOLY SHIT OH MY GOD IT IS

- GILLION YOU PUT THE HELMET ON??

- Oh god this helmet device is Not good, Gillion :(

- HE FEELS THE NEED TO BE A MORE OBEDIENT SOLDIER WHAT THE FUCK??

- Charlie rolled a zero on initiative goodness

- 20 ON STEALTH LETS GOOO GILLION!!

- HES BACK WITH THE GROUP!

- Also Gill please tell them about Kuba, good job that they know about his thoughts about the prophecy now but please they should know about Kuba

- “Fuck my fucking gay ass stupid life” CONDI PLEASE

- Fish and chips I hate you /j what the hell do you mean you dock your poles together??

- I do love that Chibo is still a nickname that’s just fun

- Oh god please tell me the crew didn’t follow them into the stronghold

- Chip is going through it

- “Praise the solar mother” ???? Ok grandma ferin

- But also I cannot believe they split up and left Jay alone

- And now Condi has to deafen while we’re with Gill and Chip goodness

- WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT GILLION IS NOT GILLION

- “They didn’t make me with all of his memories; you didn’t really think I just grew the skin back did you?”

- God and Condi is deafened for this oh not Not Ferin Well OH NO

- “I took the fireball for you” “yeah and that’s when I knew I had you”

- Charlie you’re too good at this

- My face is numb oh god chip please be ok

- “You hear in your head: chip is about to die” NO NO NO NO

- I have never felt dread like this before for a piece of media oh my god

- “…I don’t know how chip works?” “I don’t either dude!”

- Also I really want the riptide dice whenever they come out

- God Gillion seeing himself again must be Difficult

- Gill still has 1 HP goodness

- They’re gonna die, I’ve never been this scared for them

- THANK GOD THEYRE OUT THEYRE BACK TOGETHER

- oh god a chase now

- I JUST CHOKED OH MY WATER “oh yeah guys Kuna Kenta is downstairs! :D”

- Literally had to get up and pace for a few minutes

- “Do you think we can befriend doppel-Gilly?”

- Thank god doppel-Gilly can’t use prophetic screwup

- “Hey dopple-Gilly it is your destiny to jump into the hole” OH MY GOD??

- This has become some looney tunes shenanigans and I love it

- “I killed you once and I’ll do it again!” “I’m gonna go down with a smile and fuck you up and change the trajectory of your life!”

- This is insanity

- Also ok but both Chip and Gillion trying to convince Jay to get the other out of that room and save the other was Heartbreaking

- DOPPLE-GILLY IS PULLING FROM THE DECK?????? BIZLY WHY DID YOU SUGGEST THAT

- Prophetic screwup playing during this is so funny

- Condi just losing it and then everyone else just laughing is killing me

- This episode has been incredible holy shit

[petty-crush]

“Psycho” 1960 (rewatch)

-I had forgotten the throughly lived world of pre Norman Bates section of this film

+how hungry and desperate for love Marion Crane and Sam Loomis are

-I particularly like the line from the rich Texan character about giving money to his daughter (that Marion later steals)

-“It’s not that I’m buying happiness. It’s that I’m buying off unhappiness!”

-Truly outstanding

+it’s the demented David Lynch character like way he says it that really underscores it.

-How funny is it that all this effort was to have Marion get with Loomis, and the resulting investigation gets her sister Lila to marry him (in the film sequel)

-Anthony Perkins is riveting in the parlor scene, the little tics and laughter he gives to “everyone has their own little trap they want to escape”.

-It sucks that he got typecasted like this, but, like Bela Lugosi and a few others, he will be remembered for eternity for this role. He just inhabits the skin of this character.

-You watch him and you go “that is the joy an actor brings to a role”

-What was it like to go into this film raw when first released? It is so excellently paced in how it parses information and infers a path only to twist the knife.

+by my count at least five paths are teased then dashed away (including meeting the mother and the secrets). No wonder it became so beloved

-My personal second favorite performance of the film is the delightful Martin Balsam as the oily charming private investigator Arbogast.

-It occurs to me that this is the film that put the cliche of “why doesn’t this filmmaker go back to basics after those expensive films and do a well executed low budget?”

(The only one to really follow up on this is M. Night Shyamalan, who flushed away the taste of “Last Airbender”with some of his best work starting with “The Visitor”)

-When does five minutes feel like twenty? When this doctor spells everything out for us at the end. Possibly just to raise the gist of transvestism and then dash it away.

-Not that any serious motion picture enthusiast expects a perfect film, but here is definitive proof that a great riptide of a film can have a truly pointless scene and still knock it out of the park.

-Bernard Herrmann’s score still smokes. The silence adds to his through the window intrusions.

-Somehow a film that informs you to do your best work but also entertains no matter how many times seen. A rare delicious unicorn

[tigers1o1]

I’m curious, what are your opinions on the other campaigns?

I LOVE THEM. I LOVE ALL OF THEM. I’ve listened to all 6 and I love all of them. Here’s my personal ranking of the jrwi campaigns and why:

1. Riptide: Pirates. What more do I have to say tbh (also I’m in love with Albatrio and 70% of npcs)

2. Blood in the bayou: you’re telling me that they’re a bunch of stoners in the 80s, going through an immense amount of trauma that’s described by Charlie Slimecicle? Hell yeah.

3. Prime defenders. Awwww the sillies- oh lord that’s a lot of trauma. It’s rated slightly lower just bc I don’t love the way bizly DMs, and I feel like (in the first half at least) they don’t take this campaign nearly as seriously

4. Fated. Listen to me as I say this. The DM? Garbage awful, hated him. The story? Mid at best. They were all learning and I think they took on more than they could handle. The reason it’s not last? The CHARACTERS. I fucking LOOOOOOVE the characters from fated and I’m SO UPSET that they didn’t get to finish their stories. Fuck DM [Redacted], but those characters deserved better. I don’t recommend new listeners listen tho. 0/10 recommendability

5. Apotheosis: you may be wondering why I put this so low. Honestly valid. It’s a WONDERFUL campaign and I love it in the depths of my soul and the characters are awesome and I love the nonbinary rep, but for some reason my awful object permanence kicks in and I forget about it 70% of the time. I also feel like it’s one that I’m not the most likely to rewatch. It’s nothing wrong with the campaign or how Condi DMs, I think it’s genuinely just a preference thing for me in that typical fantasy stuff with gods gets old quick for me

6. Convergence. I LOOOVE Charlie as a DM, I LOOOOOVE the chaos of this campaign. However: the characters didn’t really connect with me and I had absolutely zero clue what was happening throughout most of the campaign.

And there’s my bs opinion of the JRWI campaign. If I were to rate them based of recommendability, it would go: Riptide, pd, bitb, Apoth, convergence, dated

[aratinatophat]

I have so many things to watch a rewatch…. I am slurmpt with my friends interests

Ok ok ok ok, itemised list time LETS GO BABY

First off: finish JRWI Riptide. That is top priority at the moment because I need to know if my guy my most relatable bitch ever Gillion Tidestrider, Ex Champion of the Undersea, ex Hero of the deep, knighter of Julian that one time, eater of grass beater of ass, is ok. I need him to be ok or I will have a mental breakdown.

SECOND: Finally watch over the garden wall, I need to do this I need to. Charlie I swear I’m getting around to it.

Thirdly: hope I’m done with all that in around 2 days so I can watch the new Helluva Boss episode

Fourth: BBC GHOSTS BABY. For Logan my bestie to analyse Pat for the tism bc Logs suspects so but isn’t sure

Four point five: maybe rewatch A League of Their Own? That’s a maybe so it’s a four point five

FIFTH: FINISH WATCHING SPY X FAMILY BECAUSE OMG I AM SO BEHIND

Sixth: rewatch do revenge because do I have to say why

Seventh: lightly rewatch riptide because I think I now have a special interest in this silly little internet dnd show because how could I not like like chip is just like me fr and so is gillion and I need more of girlboss Jay in my life of course I need that and I wanna see all the guest characters again and Marshall John and captain Lizzie and and and Aslana and Maria and the empress and you always notice new things the second time around so I can see the maybe accidental foreshadowing and my god I haven’t watched riptide in about an hour and I’m already missing it and if I’m gonna be watching all of these things I need to get a riptide refresher now and again y’know? I need them

Eighth: Then I need to rewatch shit like Sex education because that show changed me /pos when it came out and I wanna relive it idc idc

[reannabeth]

So I am rewatching the Percy Jackson Peter Johnson movie, and I just thought I’d make an official post for all my icks with it.

Why? Cause I like to rant? Idk.

First off, characters:

The age thing threw me off. They’re sixteen? Seriously? Why did they think that was a good idea? Did they want it to be a full-out series or not?

Leaves less room for character growth, both physically and mentally- and romantically (which I will get to in a bit).

Plus, the way the characters are written in the books is meant to fit twelve year olds, so everything they do feels off. Pessimistic 12 year old Percy was so funny. Like his sass would genuinely catch me off guard, because he’s so freaking young and you don’t really expect him to be so fearless and rash. Movie Percy does have sass and the awkward pessimist thing down pretty much to a ‘t’, but the way the right it can come off a bit corny, despite Logan Lerman’s best acting. Boy does the guy do a great job. His performance almost overshadows the bad writing, but not quite. Gods, the Capture-the-Flag tripping all falling over himself thing was fabulous, though the rest of the scene didn’t quite match up (do they even know how that game works??) Also,,, later corniness. Again. I don’t really care about the eyes thing, because blue is still the color of the ocean.

Annabeth is way too aggressive. Why is she so eager to slice-and-dice him even though they’ve never officially met? I guess she took the place of Clarisse in that way, but WHY. Clarisse had reason; Percy humiliated her and her cabin. If they wanted to get him to heal in the water and such, that could’ve been achieved if they had just followed the freaking books. They just… butchered her character in so many ways. Her appearance, the handy dandy Yankees ball cap, all that. The whole purpose of her being blonde was to discount the stupid dumb blonde stereotype and feed into her need to prove herself to everyone. That was taken away too.

Speaking of which… Grover. Baby boi, they ruined you. I didn’t mind them making him black… until they made him all party-like and confident. That may have not had to do with his race, though, and just trying to make him act more like the satyrs from the myths. But that defeats the point that Rick made; he purposefully made Grover scared and stressed and doing his best all the time as a foil to that stereotype- which is made obvious when the Party Ponies come into play in the second book. I miss that Grover. Also, why was he just like standing around during the disaster of the Minotaur scene (Gods, they made that so lame). It would’ve been better if he was unconscious, because then he wasn’t just standing around. I could’ve excused it as him just being reluctant because he’s scared, but this Grover is brave and more protective, a better fighter. Why would he just stand and watch? There are just so many things that don’t add up.

Chiron and Luke were really the only characters that felt true to their book forms.

The stand-off between Luke and Percy was cool, but the plot twist in the book is just so much better. I was totally blown away by the easy-going camp counselor dude poisoning a twelve year old kid with scorpion venom. Also, Luke got his scar from Percy? NOOO. It was never about Percy. It was about Luke and his dad. Percy was just a means to an end or an enemy to get rid of.

Gods, they forgot the prophecy, too. And Ares. And Clarisse. And Mr. D.

I don’t even want to talk about Hades. Or Persephone, for that matter. Why was she there? It wasn’t winter and- nope, not even. Just nope.

Riptide is a ballpoint pen, not a clicky one (though this one is admittedly cooler. WE NEED THE TARTARUS SCENE WHERE HE ANNABETH FIGURES OUT HE CAN WRITE WITH IT). And the shield thingy… that’s Tyson’s. He made it in the second one.

The thing is, Rick ties everything into his later works, so many of the changes they made mess with future possibilities and therefore narrow the rest of everything.

I understand not having every scene, every detail included in the movies. But why keep things if you’re going to change them?

Why have the hydra come in this movie? It comes in the second book, bro.

WHERE ARE THE ORANGE CAMP HALF-BLOOD SHIRTS??

Oh, right I was supposed to have topics. Sorry, everything is blending in together.

uh… ROMANCE.

Why was Grover a ladies man :|

What the Tartarus were they doing with Percabeth? Long, kinda creepy stares and close contact. THIS STUPID LINE: “I definitely have strong feelings for you. I just haven’t decide if they’re positive or negative yet.”

Like,,, EW. Is this supposed to be the “You drool in your sleep” replacement? How about no.

They took away the cute little crushes and slow-burn friends to lovers (even though it kinda started off as enemies).

MOMMA’S BOY

every moment Percy had with his mom was so awful. Why is he using “mother” so much? That’s only for his dad, because they haven’t reached the kind of relationship where Percy can call him Dad. I wanted to see the scene with her coming home from the candy shop with a big bag of candy and him pretending to be cranky when she shows affection but you can tell he loves it and ughhhhh

WHY

What did I like? The music. The Lotus flowers and casino scene. The pearl plot line thing was admittedly smart, but overall problematic and questionable. Why the Parthenon? Why not Crusty’s?

I do also like Percy and Grover’s bud relationship, but Annabeth was supposed to be his guide of a sort. So they either could’ve had them both guide him, or her alone. We needed more time to get to know her.

Where was Cerberus? I guess they didn’t want a repeat of Fluffy in The Sorceror’s Stone (since this is the same director), but still. He’s a major part of the Underworld system. And I wanted fancy Italian suit Charon and the “died in a bathtub” scene. The Hellhounds were also creepy, so how does the whole Mrs. O’Leary thing work? Also, makes me wonder why they didn’t have Percy be attacked by one during Capture-the-Flag like in the books.

ALSO WHY DID GROVER STAY? WHY? The Sally I know would never let him do that. Also, Sally can’t even get through the boundaries and into Olympus anyway, so why…? Why.

Persephone being all weird and flirty to Grover was just… ew. Again. Ew ew ew ew.

Hades is not the bad guy, he just came across a situation he could take advantage of. It doesn’t make sense that Luke would get it to Hades and Hades alone. It gets rid of the whole Kronos thing.

And the prophecies were gone, too. I know they brought them up in the second one, but not very well. The second one retconned the first’s continuity and yet still sucked on representing the second one. Yeesh.

Anyway, that’s my spill. I could organize it better, but I’m too tired at this point.

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog issue 28

catch me completely ignoring dark cybertron lmao

yeahhhh so I'm just gonna skip dark cybertron bc no thanks. I did read the tf wiki articles for the issues tho, which is more than I did in the past, so at least now I kinda know what happened, though I had to suffer thru reading about dark cybertron to learn stuff about it. yikes. reading ABOUT dark cybertron further enforced my decision to not actually read thru it

anyways. the best part of dark cybertron was when chromedome threw prowl off that cliff. that was baller lmfao

a 1 page recap of dark cybertron is about all I can handle. thank you

ooh, the 6 months later smash-cut, I fucking love itttt

nautica’s here!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so happy I love her. also brainstorm, and I love their friendship sm

hvbjdkhfbshdfj god I love them. they have such a fun dynamic 

everyone eavesdropping on a therapy session vhbhdjkhafbhkjsdf. hipaa laws mean nothing as usual 

the casual reveal of captain megatron, oh god 

the title fucking slaps, as usual. this is one of my favorites - ‘world, shut your mouth.’ great stuff, and a song title/reference to boot! and this being part 1: towards peace...chefs kiss

and then we flash back to 6 months earlier...yknow now that I'm rereading this, mtmte has a LOT of framing devices used - there's story-within-a-story, flashback/flash-forwards, storytelling with narration, etc...I love it

god hbvhjakdfbshjkdf rodimus saying ‘magic’ and then the little *magic = science rodimus doesn't understand HBGKJHSDBFKHJSDF my idiot boy ily

rodimus roasting prowl is my fav hbfjdkafshsbjkf ‘maybe the knights can help us find a cure for your personality’ ily sm

and then prowl agreeing w/rodimus a few panels later about megatron’s guilt...

optimus...don't you think that making yourself chief of justice is...maybe a bad idea...like, maybe there's a conflict of interests here...just a little bit of bias...a bit too much history, perhaps...

the fact that all the big roles in the trial were given to high-ranking autobots who were heavily involved in the war...I see that cybertrons justice system is as much of a farce as their medical ethics and patient confidentiality laws 

the ‘you BROKE the MATRIX’ panel is so good bjhkdhfbajskhdf

rodimus: LISTEN dad I just wanna resume my space cruise with my frat bro ship I have no interest in politics

psychiatrists HATE him! local former warlord refuses to recognize the validity of psychological analyzation of people’s actions

ravage casually breaking hipaa laws and chilling in megatron’s therapy session like >:3

I love rung...he’s so good at like, passive-aggressively cutting right to the heart of someone’s issues, and he’s so generally mild that you can’t even really get mad at him 

the sudden inclusion of megatron as a major character in mtmte is kinda jarring at first - mostly, for me at least, due in part because I didn't read dark cybertron so this is like, megatron’s introduction as a relevant character in general - but I feel like jro does a great job laying a lot of intrigue down from the very beginning w/his character - like, I already want to know more about what his whole deal is, even though we have, ostensibly, seen pretty much all of his story play out already 

rung name-dropping froid...i remember that made me lose my shit bc cmon. FROID....jesus christ

rung and megatron: holy shit! we’re suddenly being drawn in a 90s-esque sci-fi tron-looking retro-futuristic style!

interesting that megatron sought rung out, and not the other way around

RIPTIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! my favorite sharkboy is HERE

CREWDITIONS...YES....

‘we’re not allowed to take anyone who might remind rodimus of prowl’ vhbhjdkshfbhaskfd brutal

I love nautica so so much. a perfect autistic scientist after my own heart

I adore that nautica brought chromia along for moral support

hgvbjdakhfbhsj and then swerve saying that rodimus hates ‘trisyllabic names’ and nautica is like....but....‘rodimus’.....

and then nightbeat busts in to get all bbc sherlock on they asses hgbfhjadkfbjaskdf

WHY was perceptor at the crewditions if he was already part of the crew lmao

ooof, and then we have megatron flipping out when chromedome, a mnemosurgeon, shows up

also damn the autobots were rlly like okay so we wanna speed this trial up so lets just like, probe megatrons brain, that seems completely ethical, especially when you consider the history of shadowplay and stuff that our previous government had

I know important stuff is happening but megatron is holding a CUBE and I love CUBES so I'm distracted by that. C U B E

and then right after a scene where we see chromedome willing to perform mnemosurgery again - despite rewind’s like, dying wish for him not to - we hear that he’s been locked up in his room rewatching rewinds goodbye message over and over again :( I'm fucking depressed

I love nightbeat, he’s so funny and kind of an asshole

and then you see more missing letters behind them next panel...clearly nightbeat is right and there’s a mystery afoot...OR somebody is fucking with the ship’s lettering as a prank, which is a plot point I would absolutely buy

yeahhhh skids is right, chromedome is clearly Not dealing 

the dramatic graffiti on megatrons door...I wanna know who spray-painted ‘die’ everywhere like they're reaper overwatch

oh god. whirl vs megatron

really cool red lighting tho

GOD its so brutal, all the stuff megatron said about how he told the cons not to kill whirl...and doesn't that end up being false anyways? so he was just saying it to dig at whirl, which is awful

also I'm never over the fact that literally everyone - including megatron and whirl - blames whirl for ‘turning megatron violent,’ as if the entire Point isn't that whirl was a tool for a corrupt system, and if it wasn't whirl it would've just been someone else, and megatron turning away from pacifism was inevitable given the circumstances, AND also a choice on his part, so he really only has himself to blame for his OWN ACTIONS

bye bye whirls right arm, see you in lost light 

‘people never stop changing’ that IS something I say all the time...damn you warlord grandpa! how can you steal my philosophies?!

ohhh man and then rewind’s goodbye message being different....oooh

AUGH the fact that whirl was basically trying to goad megatron into killing him, just like he did in issue 1 w/cyclonus...It Hurts Man

also I do love the hint at who he’s talking to w/whirl shooting megatron with the bow and arrow earlier, and we know that atomizer is a fan of those

ok, but here’s where my philosophy diverges - megatron talks about throwing away his past and starting new, but I think that you have to learn from and build on your past...either way, megatron’s arc is one that I enjoy greatly from a character writing standpoint, and I'm excited to get it underway, especially w/how controversial it is lmao

big ole double-page spread...I like how you can pick out individual characters in the background crowd, which is crazy cause that's a LOT of people. also how come cosmos is so HUGE

phewwww 4.6 billion cybertronians died in the war, that’s INSANE. that's like, an incomprehensibly huge number. is there an estimate for their current population? I bet its not a lot. no wonder jro leaned into reproductive themes so much in mtmte/ll - of course the continuation of your species would be a concern for many if your numbers have been that greatly reduced

optimus w/his fancy tyrest-lookin crown

oughdajbfsbdf and the fact that megatron ALSO murdered 100 BILLION non-cybertronians...bruh. I feel like they maybe should've dialed those numbers back a little to allow his ‘redemption arc’ to run a little smoother lmao. but also I admire the commitment either way

and then we end w/megatron doing captain stuff, and seeing The Coffin...and we never did see rodimus in any of the flash-forward parts of this issue, did we???? I love how concerning that is. where's my BOY

also of course we gotta remember the warning from way back at the beginning of mtmte: ‘don't open the coffin’....

and so begins mtmte s2! man I love s2. I love mtmte in general lmao. s2 takes on the impossible w/the whole ‘megatron redemption arc’ thing, and I know that’s like, a divisive plot point and stuff, but from a writing standpoint I enjoyed it a lot...I think it was pretty much as well done as it could've been given the enormity of the task, and I thought it was a really interesting direction for the story to go in 

also espec if it’s true that hasbro was like ‘hey jro put megatron in your story and give him a redemption arc’ rather than jro like, planning/asking to do it 

anyways. I doubt ill talk much abt the disc horse(tm) here bc this is just for fun and also my own personal opinions and whatever, but I for one am excited to reexperience this stuff 

so yeah s2 off to a strong start with some wild shit already happening! cant wait to read more!

[wincore]

omg i think tumblr ate my ask so i’m sending my response again 😡 (if it didn’t and you just haven’t had time to answer it then sorry for sending the same thing heh) i really really liked mania!!! i don’t get why people don’t like it. some of my friends are the “i miss the old ___” type of music people and i’ve asked them why and they said they liked the older music and got used to it so it’s hard to adjust. which still doesn’t make sense to me but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ i haven’t been keeping up much w debuts and comebacks for groups unless i already like them but some songs i would recommend are all that by emotional oranges, hiccup by valley, and college hoodie by calub!! as for anime, i’ve been rewatching bnha bc it’s been SO LONG since we’ve had new bnha content (and i need the serotonin from seeing todoroki ❤️) but some anime i would recommend are somalia and the forest spirit, dororo, and given!! do you have any song or anime recs?

oh tumblr def ate it up 😡😡 and yes!!! are people trying to tell me they don’t feel an intense unidentified emotion when they listen to the last of the real ones??hold me tight or don’t??? sunshine riptide???? i get people like sticking to older music for comfort and all but. cmon. the joy of new music hits different. you can’t expect the same songs from an artist :// and omg i just listened to the songs you rec’d and thank you for introducing me to them!!!!! they’re really good?? 😳 new on repeat playlist <3 (omg i feel u todoroki comfort character 😌) it’s been so long since i’ve watched bnha 😭😭 i was planning to catch up in the break but got distracted 🤬 i’ve watched given but i’ll be sure to check the others out!! they seem really good (at least the synopsis lol) tysm!! :D

i’ve been listening to glass animals a lot lately, but i can’t name any particular song atm ahh 😠. oh also rina sawayama!! as for particular songs, villain by k/da, metropolis by lexie liu and 2 soon by keshi are kinda stuck in my head :p (also the whole folklore album is on repeat again for some reason 😭)

i can rec the last animes i watched which were fugou keiji, the promised neverland, tiger and bunny, the ancient animagus’ bride, and saiki k for idk the 3239th time :-)

[nerdgatehobbit]

11/11/22

Don’t worry, Lugia, Billy, & Kim will return, but I wanted to mix it up for a bit with my new Mew plush sitting on my Beckett jacket because they’re both associated with genetics! … Listen, it’s the simple things that amuse me sometimes.

Edit: Hang on, it’s acting up on me. Hmm. :/

Edit 2: I figured it out! \o/

Speaking of Pokémon, yes I’ve heard the good news although I am concerned/curious what will be next. Right now I’m still really enjoying Sun & Moon Ultra Legends. Although the Adventures in the Orange Islands are coming up soon- probably less than a year at this rate!

I’m also increasingly curious/hopeful about if Pokémon Masters will have PLA sync pairs after the game’s first anniversary. I mean, if nothing else, it’ll give the app new content while waiting to do Paldea sync pairs. And yes, there’s likely to be Scarlet commentary from me once I have it.

I’ve been playing Dreamlight Valley; I’ve been enjoying it but I haven’t had a lot to say about it. No Milo nor Kida yet. Although to be fair, Belle & Stitch haven’t arrived despite being on the original loading screen. And only Gothel and Scar represent their movies. I don’t even know??

I haven’t yet re-watched SGA’s first mid-season two-parter, but you all will know when I have done so. >:)

XWP’s 3rd season has been a bit of a mixed bag for me so far but I’m still watching & reviewing for my blog. … I still need to resume ALOK’s first season. At this rate I’ll have to start over like I know I’ll have to with Princess Tutu. Though there at least I’ll be able to get screencaps on my second watch now that I have my Blu-Ray disc drive. I’m still figuring how to review Sailor Moon.

Sooner rather than later I’ll be doing my Power Rangers mini-watch. I won’t lie, it’ll be interesting to basically zoom through the first seventeen seasons. Lots of revisiting my favorites! 2023 is going to be the year of Power Rangers & DS9 on this blog. >:D

Speaking of anime, I really liked the first 2 volumes of the Spy x Family manga so hopefully I’ll be able to obtain the anime sometime.

My DS9 watch isn’t especially coherent; on a first watch I’m on the second season but clearly I’ve been going back to rewatch & get screencaps because I want to be just watching on the first time. The important thing is that I’m having a lot of fun! :)

… Although I will say that it’s weirdly impressive how accurate Julian’s hasty backstory will be. Him taking an acute interest/concern about whether or not Rugal’s adoptive parents mistreat him due to who he is. That’s not just Julian being compassionate and/or getting caught up in Garak’s riptide, it’s him projecting due to his own childhood, isn’t it? Same with him calling out Melora’s coping mechanism because he’s aware he’s on the other side of the coin in how they react to people due to a fear of rejection because of who they are.

Meanwhile, Rom hasn’t gotten his development yet, but I have come up with a somewhat depressing Watsonian theory on what was going on in “Babel”. It’s not that Rom couldn’t do the repair, it’s that if he had, Quark would have griped about how long it took him to do so. The idea that Odo caught Quark out because he oversimplified the lie is amusing one. The depressing part is why Rom didn’t actually do so.

I think it’s similar to what went on with Daja and her birth family before the events of the Circle of Magic quartet, where doing manual work was looked down on in Trader culture to the point Daja was scolded/punished for her curiosity about it. To lean into my foreknowledge, Quark hasn’t drunk the root beer enough to encourage his brother’s interest in mechanics, even if it appears to be necessary to do so for profit.

Admittedly the animated Justice League has gone up in my media backlog list after learning about Conroy’s passing. … Not quite literally yet, but odds are I’ll redo the list for real closer to the end of 2022. That’ll probably be the next ramble post.

[blazehedgehog]

the difference it seems is that you're more comfortable suppressing excitement with negativity and low-expectations. I guess maybe excitement is like an investment for you? I don't know, that mindset is just so utterly foreign to me. Personally I find it so much easier to just be excited and hopeful, and if I turn out to be wrong, then I'm wrong. Nothing lost. There's always another game coming around the corner. No point in tearing myself up about one bad game.

It definitely doesn’t feel like suppression on my end, because sometimes I do get excited about games. For example, I was cautious about Sonic Mania because I haven’t entirely loved the additions made to the remastered versions of Sonic 1 and 2. I don’t think Hidden Palace in Sonic 2 Mobile is a great level. It’s not terrible, but it’s way too big and scattered; it’s hard to find a line to take through the level because you’re being sent all over the place. The boss is also straight up bad.

So I had reasons to be skeptical about Sonic Mania, let’s say. Reasons to keep my expectations in check, while many of my friends were losing their minds about “omg, a sonic game by fans for fans.”

A couple weeks before E3 I ended up rewatching Polygon’s Mirage Saloon video and suddenly something about that game clicked for me. Levels still don’t look as elegantly laid out as the Genesis games, but I am fully on board and my breath is baited. Excitement is happening. Anticipation! I am not dead inside.

You say, “there’s always another game coming around the corner.” That’s not always the case for me. I grew up poor. I continue to be poor. The number of games I buy and play in the same year they are released can almost be counted on one hand. Like, let’s take 2016, for example. Here are the games that released in 2016 that I bought (or was gifted) in the same year they came out:

GRIP

Mario & Sonic Rio 2016 (3DS & Wii U)

Oh Sir!!! The Insult Simulator

Devil Daggers

Sonic Boom Fire & Ice

Stardew Valley

Doom

Three of those games were business expenses for TSSZ, and two games I still haven’t launched once despite owning them for eight months. Which means in 2016, the only 2016 games I played were GRIP, Oh Sir, and Devil Daggers. When I said this, it wasn’t a joke:

I usually can’t afford it, don’t have the platform it’s for, am too busy with something else, or simply want to avoid being disappointed by over-hyping myself, as has been the case in multiple past scenarios.

For me, “another game coming around the corner” usually means something that’s 2+ years old that I picked up on the cheap and have had lying around. Why get excited when, not only do I risk being disappointed, but I probably won’t get around to said game or whatever until years later when it’s part of a Humble Bundle or is 80% off in a Steam sale?

Like, let’s compare to the games I actually PLAYED in 2016:

A bunch of stuff from the 3D Realms Collection (Bio Menace, Blake Stone, Monster Bash, Hocus Pocus, Wacky Wheels, etc.)

Shadow Warrior Classic

Super 3D Noah’s Ark

MANOS: The Hands of Fate - Director’s Cut

Super Mario Advance 4: SMB3

The Stanley Parable*

Eversion*

GRIP

The Curse of Crescent Isle DX

Nuclear Throne

Disney Infinity 3.0

Toejam & Earl

Freedom Planet

Shantae: Risky’s Revenge*

Super Street Fighter IV 3DS

Retro City Rampage DX

Slender: The Arrival

Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2014

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes*

The Legend of Korra*

Jazzpunk*

GRID 2

Crysis*

Doom 3*

Dead End Road

Five Nights at Freddy’s

Five Nights at Freddy’s 3

Odallus: The Dark Call

The Beginner’s Guide*

Broforce

Distance

Riptide GP: Renegade

Prototype

Ocarina of Time 3D

Fast Racing NEO

Crash Drive 2

Blameless

Silent Hill 2

Clive Barker’s Undying

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Skyrim

35MM

Legend of Grimrock

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

Probably tons I am forgetting

(* Games I actually finished)

There’s just no point for me to build myself up over this stuff. Oh boy! I sure can’t wait to play Forza Horizon 3 in 2019!! No. that’s dumb.

I’m happy for you, really, but that’s just not me.

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog issue 33

[sees rewind cover] time to be emo

swerve giving us a nice lil recap of the wild events of slaughterhouse thus far

and then the roll call page...I love how the last one is ‘rewind?!?’

OUGHGHGGHGHGH REWIND TINYYYYYYYYYYYY

I adore that nautica has a list of in-jokes to check off 

ohhhh man I forgot that alt-lost light rewind doesn't really know skids?? bc the alt lost light never picked him up....

POOR REWIND he wakes up all elder scrolls style and then immediately autobot megatron is just There without explanation lmao this poor lil guy

love the casual gender stuff honestly

nightbeat: ayyyy rewind!! sup? what horrific slaughter happened here? spill the tea! 

hvakjdfbskdf poor rewind is going thru it jesus

nautica and riptide hvbhkjasdsfasdfn ‘are jokes not funny where you come from?’ immmmm

nautica is so cute I love her

ohhhhh I love the panel of the two lost lights going off in separate directions with the title right below 

‘I remember it well. kind of’ that's a really funny line actually hbvkdjfnasdfl

I really like how on the alt lost light, rodimus’s risky stunt with the sparkeater actually kills him - I mean I'm glad that didn't happen in the main story but that's such a cool jarring discrepancy 

ok but its inherently VERY funny that the djd like, murdered the entire lost light, but later in the story the lost lighters are obviously still around and not dead...that's so fucking funny, the djd were probably like ????????????????? what the fuck didn't we kill these guys?????? but also they were tripping so they cant be sure

isn't it brainstorm who called the djd on the alt lost light??? oof 

LOVE the continuity of the alt lost light being the place that the djd went at the end of the scavengers 2 parter wayyyy back in the beginning of s1

more horrific slaughter, as one would expect from an arc called ‘slaughterhouse’ 

jeeeesus I forgot how completely fucked up all the shit was for poor rewind 2. christ 

also the like, thematic irony of alt-chromedome refusing to erase rewind from his memory and choosing to die horribly instead....SCREAMS I cant handle it

ITS SO HORRIBLE I'm so sad. poor rewind

‘silly string’ I love riptide

nautica is so smart I lov her 

oooh skids going off on megatron is really good. I find the whole ‘cons are super anti-organic/alien life’ angle interesting, bc it like, Makes Sense that a race of robot aliens who live for millions of years wouldn't consider shorter-lived organic life to be on the same level as them, but its also like, not morally right, so the autobots are correct w/the whole ‘freedom is the right of all sentient beings’ thing...its LAYERED

rewind: ‘I'm tiny’

me, crying: yeah...

honestly I really really love the quantum duplication plot in this arc. its like, peak sci fi nonsense but it also like, Makes Sense, and is presented in a very understandable manner...plus its like, super entertaining and fun, so I just love it

love how they're perusing brainstorms lab and just stumble across a dead body. classic

aaaand the plot thickens, with the reveal that brainstorm is a decepticon????? whoaaaa

I love that twist too oh man. I cannot WAIT for the time travel arc yessss

oof nautica being in denial about brainstorm being a con :( 

I find it kinda funny that getaway is IMMEDIATELY like, punching walls and going full that-one-wack-storm-trooper-from-that-star-wars-movie abt brainstorm being a con lmao, like what's even ur beef dude

when nightbeat is all like, wait there's a Type™ for decepticon double agents? and megatron says ‘hm. have you never been approached?’ bvhjaskdfbaksfd

mannn tho, I love all the character stuff this issue...I love the panels of megatron where he looks mad and crushes brainstorms mask, bc like, he’s gotta be thinking abt the fact that the djd, his personal squad of bloodthirsty attack dogs, were the ones responsible for all of this, as well as overlords presence, and brainstorm secretly being a con....

ok rewind and megatrons interactions are fantastic

like, rewind IS the nice one, but the definition of ‘nice’ is probably a little different than it used to be due to Big Ole War 

how are they propelling themselves in space????

NOOOOOOO I'm so fucking sad, rewind 2 is literally like ‘I'm fine with being deleted from existence bc my husband and everything I knew is gone’ aughhhh

and then megatron lies and tells him that he and chromedome, on the og lost light, are ‘inseparable’ 😭😭😭 I mean I guess that's not a lie if you count cd rewatching rewinds goodbye video on loop...AUGHHH

‘let’s not drag out the goodbyes’ but rewind, what about one of the story’s themes, ‘how to say goodbye and mean it’? 

and we cut off right there for maximum suspense...

omg I love swerve like, fistbumping cyclonus in the chest, and cyclonus is just like ?

skids,,,,,maybe surprising chromedome with his not-so-dead alternate-version husband isn't the best idea...like, this isn't exactly a zero-explanation-necessary kinda situation...

I adore rewinds massive shoulder pads tbh

oh god. GODDDDD. the panels of rewind and chromedome sitting next to each other, not saying anything, and just slowly moving closer to each other while looking out at the stars....literally these gay robots invented romance, thank you very much

I'm so fucking tender guhhhhhhh

like,,,,the fact that both of them separately watched the other die horribly and could do nothing to stop it, and now they're reunited here, and they don't even need to say anything...AUGH.....

OUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I'm sorry I can’t. SO tender

and MANNNN I'm so so glad that rewind is back. I don't always love when characters don't stay dead but I'm completely happy w/it here for multiple reasons, like the fact that I really like rewind and chromedome’s story after this arc - like, I LOVE that they addressed the fact that rewind 2 is different from OG rewind, despite being fundamentally the same person, so he and cd cant just immediately get back together and pretend everything's fine, but also there's really only an 18 month (?i think) disparity between the 2 rewinds which is nothing compared to literal millions of years, soooo

ALSO I literally never considered this until this reread but it would've been kind of an L for rewind to die and stay dead considering that rewind and cd were The First transformers gay couple, and that's a really big deal! and I don't really consider it bury your gays bc like, rewind doesn't stay dead that long and also there are soooo many other gays, but STILL 

plus rewind and cd ended up having a lot of story left to get thru, which is awesome

also I just love rewind so I'm glad he’s back :) 

ok the fact that the suspense over brainstorm being a con still isn't resolved bc not everyone knows....spectacular tbh

don't knock the power of love, nightbeat! 

the briefcaseeeeeee

ok but I really don't remember jros explanation as to why rewind 2 and the briefcase didn't get deleted hvbhjsdkhfk I gotta go look that up again

OHHHHHHHHHH I FORGOT THE EPILOGUE IS THIS. OHHHHH MANNNNNN THIS IS ONE OF MY FAV PARTS 

BRAINSTORMMMMMMMMM ILYYYYYYYYY

I fucking love this scene bc this is basically the culmination of brainstorm being Completely Ominous for the entire story thus far, like, it really hit me this readthru that brainstorm was so totally sinister for like most of his screentime up until this arc...and this scene is the pinnacle, I love how everything brainstorm says is overlaid with so much tension for the reader bc of what we know now about him

like brainstorm saying ‘yes - here’s to fixing things’ is so fucking sinister even though out of context that sentence is just normal

and when atomizer basically voices what the entire audience is thinking as brainstorm opens the briefcase - ‘brainstorm, you can’t do that.’ bc yeah, what the hell, he’s opening THE briefcase, Oh Shit

AND THEN THE FINAL SHOT....brainstorm front and center looking SCARY AS HELL.... ‘I can do whatever the hell I like.’....everyone suddenly collapsed around him...the fantastic shadowy lighting...the ominously open briefcase...the clear segue Directly into the next high-concept arc....[chefs kiss] ART

seriously I love this issue so much. SO many good things. such good character stuff, really great interactions, some fantastic plot development, super creative sci-fi fun times...all around just an extremely solid and enjoyable issue, 10 outta 10

and MAN OH MAN I cannot wait to get into the elegant chaos arc, it fucking SLAPS, that arc and remain in light have always been my favs, I'm so excited to revisit it 

AND ruth bought the physical comic TPB for like issues 34-38 or something and I'm so so glad I can read that instead of braving the many split-up double page spreads on the online comic 

so yeah, cant wait!