#Formidable Liveblogs

[becauseplot]

I just finished Episode 0 of Ordem Paranormal: Calamidade! I've decided I'm going to do post-episode "journal entry" posts as I watch this season just like i did when I watched OSNF because it's fun and it's a nice record of my thoughts as I work my way through this series. Helps me process stuff too because the lore in this series can get fucking DENSE. I'm sad I didn't do this for OPD (partially because I was instead liveblogging to a discord, which I didn't do for OSNF), so we're changing that this time around.

Gonna preface the first of these journal entries with the fact that I speak little to no Portuguese. Thus, I have to rely on YouTube auto-translated subs (which suffered a lot in this episode, audio was lower quality) and a combo of some Portuguese I've picked up with a tangential understanding of Portuguese via my mediocre grasp on Spanish. This combined with the fact that I am very slow with the mystery and not a puzzle-doer by any means means I might get things horribly wrong or miss details entirely. Shoutout to the discord people for answering my fifty fuckmillion questions about the lore. Anyway journal entry time yippee!

IN-PERSON ORDEM SESSION LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOO

First of all, the fact that Cellbit opened this season saying that even he doesn't know how this season of Ordem is going to end is. Very concerning. But so interesting! Nothing is set in stone, which raises the stakes for this series---the fate of this story is truly in the hands of the players, as there's no longer the GM's guard rails. Or, as strong of guard rails. You get what I mean.

I'll go over story stuff first. My main goal is to at minimum follow the story. Again, I'm really not a mystery head, I'm not too good at theorizing, and the connections between the lore points and plot points tends to become a bowl of spaghetti in this series. If I can at least follow what's going on, I'll be happy.

So it's been a bit under a year since the events of OPD. Things are...strangely quiet. As Agatha points out, for all of Kian's promises for the bloody murder of thousands of innocents, there's been a distinct lack of blood, and murder, and dead innocents. All the better for the Order, which has steadily been growing its own forces in preparation for the oncoming war.

War. We're at war-levels of conflict now. Such an escalation from the days of AOP. It's interesting to see exactly how much more formidable both the Order and the paranormal threats have become. I remember the days of AOP where for a majority of the story, there was a singular gun with a singular magazine (we didn't even have bullet-counting mechanics yet!) and a blood zombie was still a genuine cause for alarm! Now we have Arthur with his giant sniper rifle that he carries around on his back in a guitar case, Dante with his Echo Dolor ritual that lets him bend time and "repeat" previous characters' attacks, and Carina's sick-ass nun chucks and throwing knives against whatever THIS thing is:

And yeah there was a blood zombie too, I guess. But the blood zombies are now just tutorial creatures, used to get players used to the fighting mechanics. (I mean.... I suppose AOP technically had a Degolified in its first session, but there was no way they were gonna kill it, you know? They barely even escaped it.)

The point is that we have come a long way from the days of AOP, and the scale of this world and its conflicts has been steadily ramping up and expanding since that fateful day in January, 2020. The "arms race" between the Order members and the paranormal continues to escalate, and escalate, and escalate.

I mean just look at their health!! Look at it!!! And Jesus Christ that blood zombie they fought at the beginning could've breathed on OSNF!Arthur and he would've died!!

ANYWAY. From what I understand: Veríssimo has found that Arnaldo Fritz's grimoire on the Relics is less promising that he initially thought it would be, and he's concluded that all of the relevant information has been lost. It's up to Arthur and Dante---with some new and returning recruits---to find as much lost information as possible. The video of the "devil" posted online seems to echo a case from over 20 years ago that Arnaldo was on, so it's as close to a lead as they're gonna get.

So they go and investigate! A woman named Elsa was harassed by a voice of a child ("mommy?"), sculpted a bunch of things to try to appease it, and died in the house. She turned into a blood zombie and her organs were gone, likely a result of the organ-sucking that the child-monster does. The gang has a peak around and find out there was some cursed shit with a devil child happening 20 something years ago which was likely terrorizing the more recent woman. Arnaldo had handled whatever came of it and locked it in the basement, and poor Eusábio was never the same, listening to static on TVs and radios believing they spoke "the truth," whatever that means. Could be an Energy thing? Not sure.

In any case, they head back to the house, basement has more blood and weird shit in it surrounding this "devil" and this mother and her child, things happen, and BAM big ol' monster in the house. And it's also the same child that Dante killed in that gone-wrong ritual where he unintentionally aided Kian (among other things)! And it has a weird dice effect to those who are "responsible for a pregnancy"! That one felt awfully targeted, by far the wildest fucked up thing to come out of pregnant Dante lore sorry dude.

Anyway onto the thing I really wanna ramble about CHARACTERS!! THE CHARACTERS!!! The energy in this session was off the charts, the group was so animated and into it and it was so much fun holy shit.

This is definitely in part thanks to Balu, who is the number one defender of the Sillies and Cellbit's number one enemy in regards to the atmosphere of his horrormurderdeath TTRPG. The captions especially hate it whenever people are being giggly so I don't think I caught more than 10% of Balu's shenanigans but the sheer energy of it crosses language barriers, man. This is such a 180 from reserved and socially-anxious Cesar/Kaiser, who was still silly and goofy, yes, but was much less loud about it. Also interesting to have him be a member returning upon Veríssimo's request! I wonder why he retired.....

Next, Rubens! Back from Episode 7 of OPD, letsgo!! (Head in hands. Where is Johnny. Please tell me he's okay.) Jumpy guy! I love how Felps clarifies at every opportunity that Rubens is doing what he's doing, scared. His under-socialized ass is walking around with nothing but a flashlight, a gun, a resting heartrate of 110BPM. And he might be scared literally every second he's alive, but he's not a coward. You never see him run from fights, he always runs into them, just like his friends. And he's not pathetic or blubbery either! He's extremely capable despite the fact that he looks like he's one loud sneeze away from fainting on the spot! When he uses his ghosting ritual to run away from the creature, it's specifically to drag Balu out of the way of a hit that likely could have killed him. Do it scared, or so they say, and by god, is my mans doing it scared!

Carina! Similar to Balu, not too many deep character thoughts about her yet, which sucks :( But her taking out the nun chucks in the middle of the fight had me oh so pleasantly surprised! (Look at her she's kicking ass.) One thing that sticks out to me is the scene where the group is handling Eusábio. That scene was such an incredible display of teamwork, everyone working together to assist each other in the infiltration: Balu and eventually Arthur serving as distraction as Rubens helps Dante slip into the bedroom. Meanwhile, Carina was smart enough to not make her presence known at all so she could freely explore the garage without arousing suspicion! So even if the guys' cover was blown in the house, she could've kept snooping around in the garage. She comes from a famous family of paranormal investigators and is highly praised by her father, the leader of this family business, so I'm very excited to see more of her shine. Also Gabi is just incredible at puzzles. Liz's lore notebook from OSNF beloved <3

Okay, onto the remaining OPD boys. Starting with Dante---what the FUCK is up with his vision. Sometimes mans can see the paranormal, and sometimes mans can straight up SEE things. He "opened his eyes" to read a document and to see the creature, which uh, rip dude bad timing to decide to have vision lol. Have a confronting-the-horrors Rakin/Dante moodboard:

Dante is his same non-plussed self. Still very mellow, not very silly-goofy like a lot of the others here, but not exactly opposed to the silly-goofy. Arthur definitely joke-flirts with him on at least one occasion. Very endeared to the fact that he just recognizes Arthur by his footsteps alone. I always imagine that whenever Cellbit is giving a new-location base description of the party's surroundings, Arthur is quietly relaying all of this information to Dante.

Another fun detail happens when Felipe gets downed by the creature. Dante practically throws himself at Felipe, doing everything he can to save him. And yeah, that's definitely a swirling combo of Felipe being an ally and Dante himself being fueled by guilt over this creature, but... Thiago and Gonzales, right? Rakin (and the other players) remembering Gonzales and letting that bleed into Dante's actions as he desperately tries to save him only furhter reinforces the fact that the Marcados are connected to their "other lives" via the players who played said characters. Love love love toying with the idea that OUR reality is the Other Side to Ordem's reality, like with the special 50% NEX transcending question Cellbit poses to the players. That deserves its own post, I think.

And finally, Arthur. Oh, Arthur, my boy. You've grown so much in the past, what, year and a half since your world got flipped upside down, turned inside out? There's just. A lot going on here. The first impression we get from Arthur is that he's a lot more...serious? He seems older (the white streaks definitely help in that regard), and more mature. He still has his charm and his goofiness, yes, his personality is still there, it's just... All of the people, family, he's lost compounding with his new duty to lead means that his personality has been damped a bit. The constant loss is taking a toll on him, and he's definitely feeling the pressure placed on him, considering he's basically Veríssimo's right hand and has now been explicitly appointed leader of a team.

And circling back to what I was talking about with the "war" theme going on here---Ordem teams have never had an explicit leader. The "leader" role, however, has slowly started to emerge. I think it's because OSNF had such a strong team-as-family dynamic going for it, and AOP was just a gaggle of fresh-faced, severely underqualified and inexperience individuals who were forced to either get your collective shit together or die and bonded into team-as-(dysfunctional)-family as a result. OPD was when the first murmurings of a "leader" came up: Dante encouraged Joui to take a stronger leadership role in order to hold the team together. This mantle was passed onto Kaiser, which was then passed onto Arthur, the last remaining Vulture, the last remaining member of Equipe E, and Veríssimo's right hand. And now Veríssimo has explicitly stated him leader of the team when before, that wasn't seen as necessary. The emergence of the leadership role within the teams no doubt coincides with the fact that they have been approaching and are now involved in a "war;" the situation is grave and the pressure is on, and we need to make sure that there is someone on the team holding everyone together and making sure they stay focused on the mission.

Though, thinking about it, I don't think team dynamics themselves will shift too much as a result. Just because Arthur is technically "leader" doesn't mean that he has to lord it over the group, and so far, he hasn't. He's barely even mentioned that Veríssimo has technically appointed him leader. It's brought up with the others like, maybe once? So far it hasn't played into the characters' dynamics at all, even if Arthur is clearly feeling the pressure. At the end of the day, I do believe in Ordem's strong power-of-friendship theme, and this session has given me hope that this team of characters will feel a little less disjointed than OPD's.

Running through a few extra details: Agatha is beloved and now has at least two (2) friends!! Ivete is still here and I love her, and Veríssimo needs at minimum a glass of water and to take a thirty minute nap in the infirmary. (The base is still sorely lacking in couches and beanbag chairs and overall crash-after-shitty-mission spots. Sad.) But man, the fact that Veríssimo is described as being "nervous" when Arthur n co. walk in for the meeting...

In any case, that's all I got for now. I'm very excited for what comes next :D

[no-side-us]

Letters From Watson Liveblog - Feb. 24

The Scandal in Bohemia, Part 3 of 3

Well, Watson is truly back in the swing of things if he's staying at Baker Street, even if for one night. I imagine it was quite a nostalgic evening for him.

Von Ormstein over here sure is full of himself, isn't he? Like I understand he's a king, so of course he's full of himself, but he can at least try to not seem so desperate.

I think this line is very interesting. It shows the range of Holmes' reputation to have expanded to not just be that of an infallible detective, but also someone who works as an agent for nobles and royalty. We've seen in other cases and in the beginning of this one that Holmes is familiar with noblemen looking for scandalous letters and other such items, and so that reputation has preceded him here.

And I'm sure Holmes doesn't see it that way, that from his perspective he still helps anyone who calls for him, whatever class they may be. But from an outsider's perspective, those cases aren't the ones that get any attention, it's ones like these that do, and so get talked about and spread in upper social circles till they finally reach Irene Adler's ear.

You know earlier in the story we heard about how Miss Adler sticks by a fairly strict schedule, going to concerts and having dinner at the exact same time every day, how she seldom if ever goes out, that she lives quietly. I like that this line implies the exact opposite. She probably goes out quite frequently actually, just not as Miss Adler.

I wonder if anyone's written a version of this story from Miss Adler's perspective. The tale of an opera singer, hounded by agents of a jilted king, finally finding someone who truly loves her, only to have to face off against the king's most formidable agent yet: the cold and heartless Sherlock Holmes.

We never learn what Von Ormstein did to Miss Adler, but it's not that surprising that he did do something. At the very least we get word from her that Godfrey Norton is a better man than him. Admittedly it's a low bar to pass, but still.

Probably the most memorable line from this story: both a compliment towards Mrs. Norton and a subtle insult towards his majesty.

Irene Norton, née Adler, everyone. What an icon. Just one great little story and she's gone on to be almost as ubiquitous as Holmes and Watson. More often than not she's been characterized quite poorly, but nonetheless it's an impressive feat for a character to have.

Reading this story was a lot of fun, can't wait for The Man with the Twisted Lip.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

[mariana-oconnor]

Wisteria Lodge pt 4

Last time, we left Holmes and Watson about to mount an intrepid rescue of probable inside woman and possibly dead Miss Burnett, who at 40 years old is apparently too old for love, because the Victorian era was an ageist hellscape.

I have come up with a solution by which Mr Garcia (who I have decided is a bisexual spy) and Miss Burnet are actually the good guys. But this requires the two girls to have been pre-kidnapped and so Garcia's plan would be a counter-kidnapping.

I mean, I jumped straight to kidnapping as soon as it seemed likely that the governess was involved and there were two young girls. I may have jumped the gun a bit, but weirdly the idea is sticking with me.

It was not, I must confess, a very alluring prospect. The old house with its atmosphere of murder, the singular and formidable inhabitants, the unknown dangers of the approach, and the fact that we were putting ourselves legally in a false position all combined to damp my ardour.

Psh, I bet they didn't damp Mr Garcia's ardour.

Yeah, that was a cheap shot, but seriously Watson, come on. Screw your courage to the sticking place and all that.

But it was not destined that our investigation should have so adventurous an ending.

...well that's anticlimactic. I was all geared up for a rescue mission! What am I going to do with these grappling hooks now?

“They've gone, Mr. Holmes. They went by the last train. The lady broke away, and I've got her in a cab downstairs.”

Did they go because of Holmes' investigation of the house or did they go because of whatever Mr Baynes' mysterious cunning plan is?

"I shan't forget the face at the carriage window as I led her away. I'd have a short life if he had his way—the black-eyed, scowling, yellow devil.”

A lot of 'devil' faces in windows this time around. And all on ethnic minorities as far as I can tell. Racist Victorian tropes, my beloathed.

Good for Miss Burnet for fighting back even when she's been drugged up to the gills on opium. I really hope she wasn't planning a kidnapping because I want to like her. And I really don't like her employer. Not drugging or whipping your employees is like the lowest bar of employer conduct to jump over. Even Violet Hunter wasn't drugged or whipped and she had a terrible work environment. I want him to be unambiguously the bad guy. Also because I want the poor cook to be acquitted.

“I was sure Henderson, as he calls himself, felt that he was suspected, and that he would lie low and make no move so long as he thought he was in any danger. I arrested the wrong man to make him believe that our eyes were off him. I knew he would be likely to clear off then and give us a chance of getting at Miss Burnet.”

OK, fine. You were right, but fuck you for arresting and attacking an innocent man. Poor show. Dick move. Be better.

(is that the first gif I've posted from an actual Sherlock Holmes media for one of these liveblogs? I think it might be...)

"We can't arrest without her evidence, that is clear, so the sooner we get a statement the better.”

Read this as 'her without' rather than 'without her' and was confused about what was going on, as she seems pretty innocent of the murder. But then I reread and realised that I once again fail at reading comprehension. Not like I have a degree in it or literally work in a related field or anything.

“Henderson,” the inspector answered, “is Don Murillo, once called the Tiger of San Pedro.”

Who the fuck is that?

OK, Watson's going to become Captain Exposition for a minute, great. Gimme some backstory, bay-beeee.

Oh... Is San Pedro a fake country? Did ACD make up a fake country for this story so he couldn't be accused of being rude about a specific country? Or do I just not know history?

Central America, okay, not the Caribbean, but right ballpark.

The dictator, his two children, his secretary, and his wealth had all escaped them. From that moment he had vanished from the world, and his identity had been a frequent subject for comment in the European press.

I feel... I feel like if this had been real information and a real country I would have worked this out? Like if I had known there was a mysteriously missing dictator from a formerly Spanish colony with a green and white flag, who had two children, I feel like I called every part of this except the specifics, which I couldn't have called because they're made up.

“Once already his life has been attempted, but some evil spirit shielded him. Now, again, it is the noble, chivalrous Garcia who has fallen, while the monster goes safe."

Alright, so no kidnapping, just assassination. Chivalrous, charming bi assassin Garcia is once again on the side of good and not abducting children. Pity he got his face beaten in.

"My husband—yes, my real name is Signora Victor Durando—was the San Pedro minister in London. He met me and married me there. A nobler man never lived upon earth. Unhappily, Murillo heard of his excellence, recalled him on some pretext, and had him shot. With a premonition of his fate he had refused to take me with him. His estates were confiscated, and I was left with a pittance and a broken heart."

Vengeance!

"I was to see that the doors were open and the signal of a green or white light in a window which faced the drive was to give notice if all was safe or if the attempt had better be postponed."

Light not shutters, but coolcoolcool.

"But they determined to get rid forever of Garcia. They had gagged me, and Murillo twisted my arm round until I gave him the address. I swear that he might have twisted it off had I understood what it would mean to Garcia."

How did you... not know... what it would mean to Garcia? Like, what did you think they were going to do? Have a tea party? Invite him to play his guitar at their next shindig? Have a chat about gardening? I get that you were being tortured for information, so there's no shame in giving him up, but you can't say 'well, I didn't know they would kill him.'

"This afternoon a good lunch was brought me, but the moment after I took it I knew that I had been drugged."

Also feel like maybe you should have guessed this before you ate it, after they'd been starving you for days. But you were probably out of your mind hungry and on the edge of hallucinating, so I suppose that makes sense.

It is a matter of history, however, that a little time was still to elapse before the Tiger of San Pedro should meet with his deserts. [...] Some six months afterwards the Marquess of Montalva and Signor Rulli, his secretary, were both murdered in their rooms at the Hotel Escurial at Madrid.

In the best traditions of these stories, the bad guys reach justice offscreen at the hands of unknown people. 😂

But Vengeance has been satisfied.

BUT, there is just enough time for some more racist discussion of the cook, because of course there is. And it turns out his entire inclusion as a character is completely pointless and a racist little red herring that goes nowhere and just had some extra racism piled on top for garnish. Wonderful. I hope they released him and didn't keep him in prison for assaulting a police officer/resisting arrest, because when you literally arrested him illegally for a crime you knew he didn't commit, that's bullshit.

I was right about it being a Victorian depiction of Voodoo, though, so... I get points for knowing my racist stereotypes? I feel like that's like an extra level of losing, though.

Wow this story went from gay hookup gone wrong to racist mess in two seconds flat, huh? I miss the simpler times when Mr Scott Eccles being an oblivious tory was the biggest problem.

On a happier note, Silver Blaze is next, and I remember a lot about this one just from the title, so I guess there will be no attempt to solve it, just memes for days.

ETA: That little wrap up does not tell us what happened to the children. What happened to the children? Where did they go? The little girls just disappear. Did I miss something? What happened to the children?

[firefaerie81]

(liveblog tag in chronological order)

YEAH BOY!!

He's gotten you with that maneuver twice now, Mumm-Ra. Those giant wings don't do your peripheral vision any favors, do they.

After how easily Lion-O beat Mumm-Ra in the Astral Plane, he knows what a formidable threat he is with two Stones, the only way he gets out of this is by running.

And riding the adrenaline of the moment, Lion-O almost loses himself to impulse again, but when Panthro calls out to him, he doesn't argue. They're still deep in enemy territory, and they have a lot of work to do outside this place.

[blookmallow]

alright lets finish this

----

so. things came to a head and i finally hit a point where i had to commit to one side even though ive been kind of just playing by my own rules and helping whoever i felt like rather than taking any Side particularly

what i wanted the most was to take down the legion so ive been working mostly with the NCR. but i hit a dead end in both the ncr line and the house line (i dont trust him but i felt like being in mr. house's good graces was a wise move lmao) where everyone wanted me to destroy the brotherhood of steel. and i dont... really Trust them, and i understand they're potentially a formidable threat, but i didn't want to make enemies with them for that reason, and just, like, i don't know, i really don't see why murdering everyone in there unprovoked is a good decision. i couldn't justify that. the only thing they've ever done to me is threaten me and briefly bomb collar me into doing them a favor which, while admittedly fucking rude, who HASN'T tried to kill me for one reason or another around here, y'know,

so i decided in the end if i absolutely must decide between murdering a ton of people for no clear reason either because a rich capitalist dictator told me to or because an army known for not really being there for people when they're needed and kinda serving their own needs told me to. or, y'know, not doing that. i figured. we're not doing that

so i killed mr. house. which i don't feel great about. i don't really feel like i needed to do that either. i could've left him powerless but technically still alive but he said he didn't want that, so i guess i made the best choice i could given the options but it still kinda feels like murder with an unclear motive or purpose. don't love that for me

i don't understand why the securitrons didn't immediately turn on me this feels very passive aggressively threatening. i feel unsafe

OH NO VICTOR.... what did i do. did i do this? could i have prevented this? i don't know. i feel like this is my fault. im sorry victor

i feel like putting the ai specifically designed to say yes to everything/give unrestricted access to just whatever you ask him for in this kind of position is extremely reckless at best but what do i know. i guess we're doing this now

OH boy here we go

i didn't really want to go against the NCR directly. i was hoping to be able to do this to take out the legion myself, i know i have all those fucking robots right under caesar's camp, i saw them, i do not fucking understand why i didn't get to just unleash chaos and burn them all to the ground. i killed that one really dramatic officer but it didn't feel like enough

i guess in the end independence probably is the best for everyone. maybe my courier was able to make a difference. i had hoped to negotiate and work with the NCR but i guess this is where we ended up

also turns out new vegas has my video game ending pet peeve of when you finish the game you just go back to immediately before you did the Final Quest and none of that actually happened. if you want to keep playing you just get to be stuck in "technically i resolved all this already but since that's The End it hasn't happened yet" limbo forever. i fucking hate that lmfao

ANYWay. that's that. i also played dead money but i really really want to get going on my fallout 4 liveblogs so im probably going to focus on sorting through all that next

[formidablepassion]

Live blog #6

Editing v Suggesting by @treefrogie84

Summary:  His deadline is in two days, he's been stuck for a week and he has no idea what happens next. So Amara comes to visit.

Amara helping Chuck? Oh this is gonna be good.

“A) yes, you can fuck up her entire sense of self-- you’re God,” Amara points out, voice carrying over the noise. “B) You’ve spent entirely long as a human, brother.”

I mean, he kinda does it all the time, right?

Sighing, Chuck makes a copy appear on the table next to her, burying his hands in his hair and thumping his head against the table. “Will you get me a beer? And a clean glass?”

“No,” Amara says, bent over the paper. “You’re God, get your own.”

Nice. I love this brother sister exchange.

“Don’t,” Amara warns. “If I’m helping you with this, then we’re working on this, not me working and you dicking around.”

I know you missed out on a lot, Amara, but dicking around while everyone else does the work is kinda his M.O.

Chuck reclaims his seat and moves the cursor until he doesn’t recognize what’s been written… approximately two pages from the beginning, all of which was setting. “Really?”

“It was terrible and you know it. If you ditch her, you have to start all over.”

I mean, she kinda has a point.

“Sauntering, really?”

“If you don’t like it, write your own hunter-cowboy bachelor porn.”

*snickers*

“How much porn did Crowley introduce you to?” he asks, astonished.

I mean, should you be astonished? Crowley probably had some of the best stuff just for himself.

“I see why you do this now though. It’s fun playing with other people.”

“Yeah, if you…” Chuck trails off, looks up sharply. “Wait. What did you do?”

Oh what did she do indeed. Something you probably didn't have the ovaries to do.

This was a fun read. Totally worth it and I highly recommend it. Go read and show Frogie some love with comments and kudos.

[raayllum]

my love

[dirt-str1der]

They did shimano so fucking dirty in the stageplay 😭😭😭 hes supposed to be the scariest guy in the room but he looks like mini me

[daisyachain]

What was really lost in X-Comics is that Claremont was a jewish english man living in the U.S. with a fascination for the marginal and taboo that extended equally to romance between stepsiblings and queer identity without distinguishing, and Louise Simonson was a talented writer who carried forward those ideas with her own cleaner, more psychological style, and everyone afterward just went ‘the white people are suffering racism because they have wings’

[sunlightswallowed]

“Perhaps you are not aware of this but I have several formidable enemies in the Literature Division.”

Enemies? Enemies? Sir, this is a McDonald’s

[kabbal]

📯📜Avis à la population📜📯

Dans un espoir de partager de l'amour entre vous et de redynamiser les relations dans le coin :

Si tu le veux, pourrais-tu me donner ton top 5* des gens qu'il faut absolument suivre dans le fandom Kaamelott et ce que tu aimes ou préfères dans le contenu de leur blog ?

*5 c'est pour donner une consigne générale mais en vérité tu peux en mettre 6, 7, 3 ou 32 c'est toi qui vois 🌸

*se frotte les mains*c'est le moment de parler des copains

1) il faut bien évidemment suivre @kaantt pour ses incorrect quotes, son Galessin content intarissable et ses OCs ma foi délicieux.ses

2) @gerceval pour les liveblog régulier qui me causent autant de joie que de dégâts psychologiques

3) @sherhaanks qui fait des edits et a converti énormément de monde à shipper les vieux hommes à la moralité douteuse de kaamelott

4) @garnetrena a un système de tags incroyablement exhaustif donc je vous encourage vraiment à checker son tag kaamelott parce que moi pour retrouver mes propres posts je vais souvent la bas pour les retrouver plutôt que sur mon propre tumblr

5) @belphegor1982 fait de magnifiques fanarts (notamment un guide pour différencier tous les personnages de la série qui sera fort utile aux gens)

6) @dagonet nous deale des gifs de qualitey par centaines

Toutes ces personnes ont aussi des fics formidables que je vous encourage à aller lire !

[biomic]

So... besides finishing Bioman (which is undeniably a banger), I also had the chance to finish Daimajin Kanon. It was a surprise to me for how good it was; the story, the story arcs, a few toku actors surprises here and there, formidable. It even made me cry. I know there's plenty of shows to catch up to, but liveblogged or not, make sure to complete this one.

im glad you liked it! i definitely need to get back to it, i loved every bit of what i saw, just got distracted by life

[duhragonball]

Battle Tendency Liveblog: JJBA Ch. 83-87

Last time, the Red Stone of Aja got mailed out to the bad guys, so Joseph and Caesar have gone to shake down the Venice Post Office.   Notably, Joseph wears a hat and coat similar to the one he’s rocking in Part 3.

Turns out, the package is already on its way to St. Moritz, Switzerland.   Messina knows this because... okay, try to follow this.   So Esidisi hijacked Suzie Q’s body to mail the Stone.   So she probably wasn’t even aware of what she was being forced to do, but Lisa Lisa used Ripple Hypnosis on her to retrieve the address.   You’d think she would have told the boys about this ability before they ran over to the post office, but maybe they left before she could say anything.

Meanwhile, this dog’s about to get run over, but this is Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, so what else is new.   Araki’s hatred for comic book dogs is the stuff of legend.

OR IS IT?   Yeah, take a good long look, because this is the only time Araki saves a dog in JJBA.    Apparently, Kars is a sucker for innocent plants and animals, go figure.  

I don’t know what else to tell you, except Battle Tendency = Best JoJo Part.  

As for Joseph, he and the others go to Switzerland, only to get held up by Nazis at the border.  Turns out, their mysterious commander knows all about the Red Stone of Aja, the Pillar Men, and Joseph and Caesar’s Ripple training.   That guy who tried to rob Lisa Lisa a while back?  He was a Nazi spy the whole time.   So now they have the Stone, and they want to cooperate with Joseph’s group.   Lisa goes along with it, because it’s better than letting Kars find the stone.

For some reason, Araki pauses to discuss Nazi Germany a bit, except he has all these historical events from March and September of 1939.   I’m not entirely clear on the chronology of Part 2, except that the final battle with Kars takes place in February of 1939, so none of these things have happened yet.  

But the point still stands.    Hitler wants Nazi Germany to rise above mankind, just as Kars seeks his own kind of supremacy.   And like Kars, the Nazis are interested in the Red Stone of Aja as a possible path to greater power.  

Everybody spends the night at some Swiss inn, until Kars shows up and uses his hyper-senses to detect how many men are in their room.   Then he slashes through the wall with that blade he sprouts out of his forearm, killing them all with one attack.   

Except for their commander, who has the Stone.   Kars is confused, because he sensed the number and location of everyone in the room, but somehow he missed this last guy, because he’s got no body heat.  

And Joseph barges in just in time to find out that this dude is Stroheim, the Nazi officer who blew himself up to stop Santana.  Somehow he’s alive, and also a cyborg, which is why Kars couldn’t detect him.  

Kars only wants two things: To capture the Aja Stone, and to kill Joseph Joestar.    He says that he can’t afford to spare a Ripple User powerful enough to slay Esidisi, but Joseph wonders if Kars is motivated by a desire to avenge his comrade, rather than any sort of cold tactics.    Wammu had called dibs on fighting Jojo, but he’s in Greece at the moment, and Kars is in no mood to wait.   

But Stroheim insists on tackling Kars himself, as his cyborg body was specifically designed using the information gleaned from studying Santana.   He’s strong enough to rip out pieces of Kars’ flesh, and he’s armed with a big-ass machine gun.  He tells Joseph not to pity him, because he’s proud to become this living tribute to German technology.  

What I want to know is: How did Stroheim survive Mexico without Joseph knowing about it?  He was there when that grenade went off, after all.   Maybe Stroheim landed some distance away, where Joseph wouldn’t have thought to look for him.    But how did Stroheim’s men find him?  

Anyway, Kars is not impressed, and he cuts Stroheim in half with his “light mode”, which is just the blades in his arms.   They seem to glow, but it’s actually just reflected light from the complex patterns in the blades.   From the sidelines, Joseph is unnerved by Kars’ ability, because he doubts that he could block or avoid those blades, even with the full power of his Hamon energy.   

As for Stroheim, he had no idea that Kars could do anything like this.   I don’t know, are arm-blades really that big a deal?   Wammu’s powers seem a lot cooler, and Esidisi’s “flame mode” looks pretty scary, even if it only melts stuff.   Still, it’s enough to beat Stroheim.    Kars mocks him for thinking that he and Santana were on the same level.   Kars considered Santanta a “novice”, like a “weak puppy.”   That’s an interesting choice of words, since we just saw Kars save the life of a weak puppy earilier.   Maybe that same pity was the only reason Kars kept Santana around in the first place.      As dangerous as Santana was, Kars considers him utterly useless.   

He even refers to Santana as “it.”  Maybe that’s just a mistake in this scanlation, but I dunno.   He’d probably use “it” to refer to that puppy he saved too.   And maybe this contempt explains why Kars refers to him as “Santana”, the name Stroheim gave the guy.   I always wondered why Kars didn’t use Santana’s real name, but maybe Santana never had one.  

But Stroheim’s not done just yet.   He has a UV beam built into his eyepiece, which stuns Kars long enough to make him drop the stone, and then it slides over a cliff.

Joseph and Kars race after it, but Kars is faster, because he doesn’t have to worry about slowing down before he goes over the edge.    He can survive the fall, while Joseph can’t.   So Kars figures that Joseph will try to kick him, and Joseph does throw a kick... at the snow, to distract Kars long enough for Joseph to get the Stone back.

But Kars has  blades in his legs too, and he uses one to snag Joseph and pull him over the edge of the cliff.   Joseph manages to use Hamon to grab hold of some icicles to stop his fall, but he still has to deal with Kars’ unstoppable blades, and his relentlessness.   Joseph’s whole deal is that he outsmarts his opponents by exploiting their inattentiveness.   But Kars is laser focused on getting the Aja Stone, so it’s almost impossible to catch him off-guard.

So Joseph uses that tenacity against him by holding up the Stone in the path of Kars’ attacks.   Kars wants to kill Joseph, but he doesn’t dare use his blades near the Stone.  Remember, Kars’ plan requires that specific Aja Stone because it’s the only one big enough and flawless enough to power his “Ultimate Life Form” mask.   If he damages the Stone, it won’t be suitable for his needs.   Knowing this, Joseph kicks him down the rest of the way, while he heads back up a “rope” made of Ripple-connected icicles.

Said icicles were provided by Caesar, who expected Joseph to try something like this, because he’s already learned that Joseph thinks in terms of ropes and strings.   Stroheim is astonished by their flawless teamwork.  

Below, Kars goes out of his way to adjust his fall so as not to crush a flower.   He laughs at this latest setback, because he’s just that impressed with Joseph’s resourcefulness.   Then he withdraws to try again another day.  

This whole arc surprised me when I watched the anime, because it seemed like Kars would be the final boss of Battle Tendency, but here he was fighting Joseph early.   And it wasn’t exactly an all-out fight.    They had a little footrace and Joseph used the Aja Stone to keep Kars at bay, but not much more than that.   Considering all the crazy stuff we saw from Esidisi, you’d think Kars would be much more dangerous. 

But that’s just it.    Esidisi was extremely formidable, and Joseph destroyed him with his Hamon training.    Kars lost 33% of his team in a single stroke.    All he has left is Wammu, who’s in Greece at the moment.  He simply can’t afford to take on Joseph in this situation, so he doesn’t try anything too crazy.   Both of them know his blades are powerful enough to get the job done, so he used them, but when they stopped being effective, he ran out of cards to play, so he left.    It’s not that Kars is weak, it’s just that Joseph’s gotten so much stronger.    So this fight feels like a much milder affair than the battles with the other Pillar Men so far, even though Kars is supposed to be the best one.  

And this is something else I really love about Part 2.    There’s only five villains to deal with: Straizo, Santana, Eisidisi, Wammu, and Kars.   That’s it, so it makes things pretty easy to keep up with, and it leaves room for Wammu and Kars to fight multiple times.  

Compare this with Part 3, where the Stardust Crusaders have to fight through a gauntlet of evil Stand Users as they make their way to Egypt.    I think I counted 26 bad guys in Part 3?   Somewhere in that neighborhood.    And I love Part 3, don’t get me wrong, but if Dio only had ten henchmen instead of two dozen, would it really hurt the story?  

This was something that really bugged me about Parts 4 and 5.   Would La Squadra Esecuzioni’s role in Vento Aureo be any different if they only had five guys instead of seven?    And what was the deal with that dude who lived in the transmission tower?    Most of the “villains” in Part 4 were just randos who just fought with the good guys for no particular reason. 

With Part 2, you don’t have any of that.   Five villains, and three of them only get to fight once.   That means every fight has to count, and every fight has to move the story along.  Kars isn’t going to just show up to be sociable.  He saw an opening to achieve his goal, and he went for it, only to discover his enemies were better prepared than he expected.   Now, he’ll have to wait for Wammu... 

[jean----ralphio]

IT’S BoB LIVEBLOG TIME

Episode 1 is under the cut!

Warning, I swear a lot... and am very in love with RSJ so a lot of this was just me pointing at the screen and screaming RICH and then remembering you can’t see me so writing it down...

Episode 1: Curahee! Curaahhee? Curraahhee? I can’t spell so I’m renaming it Ross is a punk bitch

Buckle up my babies, this will be a carcrash!

00:01 Here we fucking go aw yis

00:11 Aw who’s this? I wish they named the gentlemen at the start of the episodes, I wanna know who is who :s

00:25 Shifty, is that you my angel son?

00:41 OMG you guys… these men are breaking my heart </3

01:06 Lord, men were committing suicide because they couldn’t go to fight? That mentality… man. Oh my God, you angels. Babies.

01:36 No jokes allowed, every man is <3

01:40 Now that I’m humbled and we’re all well and truly miserable…the credits, ugh, my heart. The score is amaziiiing. Some of the footage is actual war-time footage, I read, which is a brilliant touch.

02:01 DICK <3

02:13 DICK’S HUSBAND <3

02:18 RSJ’S NAAAAAME

02:27 JFC this music makes me so emotional. Look there’s Matthew Settle’s face. That makes me emotional too

02:48 Ah it’s Roe <3

03:48 I’m trying to pick them all out in the line-up but I can’t tell who is who. Are we supposed to be able to? There’s a short one in the middle, is that Harry?

03:49 I’m not drunk enough to handle this

04:10 Upottery? Ah it’s so English I love it. That’s not a name! Wtf is up with English place-names, you guys have the weirdest names. Upottery? Seriously? Is it only potters that live there? I’m so confused

04:22 Close up of Roe! Perfect. I approve.

04:32 Is that the guy from Line of Duty? I think it is

04:39 Lip <3

04:44 Ew. GTFO Cobb. He doesn’t even go here

04:47 IS THAT RICH? RICH. ILY. ILY RICH. Please note that 94% of this will be a Rich-watch

04:53 Lieb stop. I am sure you are not a certified hairdresser

04:56 RICH. SMOKING. SMOKING RICH. More like smoking hot do you see what I did there?

05:20 I can categorically say that I love Joe Toye. I do. I love him. But every time I see Kirk Acevedo, all I think of is Charlie my baby from Fringe (awesome show, please watch it). And I just. Charlieee <3

05:39 Aw. They’re so sad

05:55 They’re so despondent. Guys. It’s fine

06:05 Fassy?? FASSY!!

06:18 God Damien is pretty

06:25 Nix that’s not how you flirt

06:57 Lol at Dick noting its happy hour. Thinking about taking Nix on a date, are we? I bet you are. Now THAT is how you flirt!

07:24 OMG the fucking flirting! GUYS. “And give up all this?” NIX SAYS AS HE CHECKS HIM OUT

07:37 Yeah, Nix, you’ll take him ‘to Chicago’ huh? Is that what they call it nowadays.

07:44 Do you want to be that cigarette? ‘Cos there is nothing heterosexual about that lingering look, Dick

08:18 ‘Murica time

08:25 Ross, fuck off. Nice jacket though. “You PEOPLE are at the position of attention” ugh GTFO. Dick’s sideye tho lol

08:52 NGL Ross does a great job at being super unlikeable

09:05 Noooo you don’t want it with Johnny Martin. You wont win. Yeah, walk away Ross

09:15 Careful around Lip too, or Speirs will materialize out of thin air and snap your neck

09:33 RICH. Don’t be scared of that douchebag, baby

09:43 What kind of question is that, there is nothing Lieb wants more!

09:50 It’s weird hearing Ross swear tho

10:26 Don’t argue with Johnny, baby. Also Roe OMG <3 Shane is freaking fit

10:43 Wow Lip is ripped

10:48 Oh no, poor baby. Lip leave him be ☹ </3

11:10 LOL I just noticed the drum by the door. It says ‘butts’ and it took me a seconds to realise it was for cigarettes. I am an adult (31-year-old married woman). I’ll laugh at the word butts if I want.

11:11 RICH

11:18 Lieb omg lol

11:39 RICH BABY NO! FUCK OFF ROSS! LEAVE HIM ALONE OR I WILL HAVE SPEIRS CUT YOU

11:52 I can’t take Ross seriously in those shorts. Hi-ho GTFO

12:07 Ew fuck off running up that, I’d just nope out like nah babe imma go chill with that sweet baby back in the butts cabin

12:18 Aw Dick <3 The juxtaposition of Dick as a leader compared to Sobel who sure he might be honing them into something formidable and skilled but he’s an asshole. He’s not a leader. He’s a bullying, abusive scumbag. Dick is an actual leader who protects them and supports them and encourages them and IHAVEALOTOFFEELINGSOK

12:43 You don’t deserve that sick jacket, Ross. Seriously. That is a boss jacket, I want it

13:04 Have they not stopped fucking working out all this time? Ugh

13:23 Oh good, Dick gets a boss jacket too. He deserves it.

13:30 I wish people had to ask me for permission to speak.

13:53 I just. He. I can’t with Dick Winters, you guys. I cannot. I have lost the ability to can. Like they’re so upset and tired and low and just with that little joke he boosts their morale back up from where Sobel fucking beat it down into the mud and makes everything lighter and they laugh and are less tense and I just. Fucking love you, Dick.

14:00 Is that my angel son? I see you Shifty, love you baby

14:03 RICH. DON’T TOUCH MY RICH.

14:07 Oh my God, address them yourself you weirdo, Ross. They’re right there, you’re right there! I had a colleague that used to do the same, would get me to speak to my employees for her when they were right there in front of her like… ‘can you tell x to do y for me pls…’ … I was like wtf you know you CAN talk to them… you won’t catch poor just by speaking to people lower down the pecking order

14:22 Fassy! Wtf they’re not supposed to drink? Dehydration is legit one of the most dangerous things, how tf can you turn them into high-key supersoldiers if they’re dehydrated? How is this man so dumb? The guy in front of Fassy tho omg. I bet Fassy’s boss wife Alicia Vikander won’t like her husband being treated that way… she’s so badass tho right?

14:26 He’s so dramatic! Ugh

15:11 Piss off omg

15:24 oh my DVD flipped its shit here, only picked back up at 16:30 don’t @ me

16:52 RICH WHAT ARE THEY DOING TO YOU RICH

17:21 Shifty my angel son

17:46 so sweet

18:04 Sink, babe, no he is the worst, stop

18:20 LOL no, he’s jel as fuck babe

18:32 NO FUN ALLOWED. Im sorry, that tie is so ugly

18:44 Simon Pegg??!!

18:51 Ross is so dramatic God shut up. it’s not a conspiracy, weirdo

19:10 “It’s a can of peaces, sir.” Iconic.

19:11 Dick’s tiny smile is equally iconic.

19:17 SHUT UP ROSS

19:44 He wants to be punched, I think, like he’s goading them. The sick fuck.

20:47 DON’T TRUST HIM, DICK!

21:02 ROE <3

21:31 Hoobler, aw <3

21:37 I warned you not to trust him, boys

21:54 Ah boys, oh no

22:04 RICH. Kick him, baby

22:17 Bull, punch him, seriously

22:24 Oh Luz <3

22:26 Yeah GTFO, suck it, bitch

23:06 Who is this? Fella’s hot

23:40 RICH. FASSY. WEB. TAB.

24:19 Suck it, Ross

24:30 Real footage?

24:41 Lol you suck Ross

25:23 RICH. SMOKING RICH.

25:26 Bill omg

25:45 Perco, baby, no. don’t talk to Johnny Martin. Don’t look at Johnny Martin. Don’t so much as think about Johnny Martin. He will fuck you up with his gaze alone, baby

25:56 Ah Luz

26:06 OK. That’s hot. Joe/Charlie don’t be hot. It confuses me

26:42 Winnix being husbands in the corner

27:42 YOU’RE in the wrong position, dumbass, it’s no one else’s fault

27:46 Dick’s come to save the day

27:56 Ross knows nothing omg

28:05 RICH. Even my Rich is confused, Ross, you dweeb

28:20 Lol at Dick dropping down ready for a fight

28:36 Fassy isn’t happy. That means Alicia Vikander is coming for you. Joe/Charlie is definitely not happy. Lip is upset. Think about your life, Ross, think about your choices. You know you’ve failed when Roe is judging you

28:57 Nix is like lol where tf is the alcohol tho

28:59 Harry! Harry is here! But yes, baby, you’re interrupting the husband’s foreplay, leave immediately

30:00 Lol at the Nix vs Ross staredown. Nix won

30:17 RICH. GUYS IT’S RICH

30:33 Do it, Lieb. Drop the grenade. Just don’t upset my angel son Shifty

30:40 He is a literal angel. Don’t corrupt him Lieb

30:59 Nix is having another crack at flirting. “Going my way” so suave omg. Omg stop. No wait don’t

31:09 “I’m not the intelligence officer.” Neither is Nix half the time babe let’s be fair

31:14 “If I told you I’d have to kill you.” Nix is getting better at flirting! He’s been attending flirting 101 classes it seems

31:40 They’re legit such husbands prove me wrong

32:00 He’s not joking, Dick

32:06 Harry’s like oh yay yes please

32:11 Lol Nix

33:03 Ugh. Men. I feel like that hold smells so bad.

33:09 RICH. Naw, Rich is sad he’s missing out on the flamingos.

33:32 Joe/Charlie you deserve a day to commemorate you tbh. I love you.

33:46 “My brother’s in North Africa, he says it’s hot.” Bill is iconic.

34:34 Lieb, honey, don’t, please

34:49 I feel you, random hot guy. Tipper?

35:05 Eyyy this place is nice, let’s all move there.

35:17 Shifty, my angel son, my baby <3

35:26 Yay, Harry gets a boss jacket too!

36:22 Mum and Dad of Easy. I’m low-key living for Lip’s little worried faces.

36:33 THAT JACKET IS SICK AS FUCK I WANT 20

36:38 The fence is there, Ross, because you’re so fucking dumb

36:51 Guys, look, cows

37:06 He’s fucking useless. Hi Simon Pegg.

37:22 RICH

37:25 This whole scene gives me life and waters my crop

37:31 RICH <3. YOU GUYS. I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH. RICH RICH RICCCCHHHH

37:42 Poor Tip is so done

37:58 Simon Pegg is so confused

38:04 Good job, Tipper, I’m proud of you and your pretty face

38:10 Iconic

38:15 Keep it together Tip

38:54 The hand signals, no, I’d be like BABY. WHAT. I CAN’T UNDERSTAND YOU WTF. I’d last like a millisecond in the military lmao. Does my country even have one? Tbh probably not. Us Kiwis are too chill, cbf’ed with anything. Too busy watching rugby, drinking, and sulking that we can’t afford houses cos our housing market is fucked. But at least we beat Covid *shrugs*

39:06 ILY, old guy. You are the best thing in this episode, aside from Rich

39:22 But wait, there’s more weird Americans hopping out yo’ bushes

39:26 “Bloody hell!” Mood

39:47 “You’ve done it now, yanks, you’ve captured me!” He is such a mood. I love him.

39:54 FUCK OFF ROSS. “Would that be the enemy?” “As a matter of fact, yes.” DICK IS SO VALID I LOVE HIM THIS IS ICONIC.

40:25 Be free, moo-cows

40:40 LAMO GET WRECKED

41:00 Guys imma be straight with you. I’m on my third whiskey lmao.

41:10 Simon Pegg, please refrain from being a douchebag. Leave Dick and his husband to flirt in peace.

41:23 I love how Nix is like instantly suspicious. He knows.

41:39 Worried husband

41:45 “Misspelled court-marital.” Iconic

42:14 Ross, why you lying? So threatened and jel that you gotta lie omg.

42:50 God Damien is freaking hot. Guys.

42:57 Punk bitch Ross.

43:22 Dick is so BDE. It’s fucking hot.

43:30 Ross is shooketh tbh. Punk bitch.

43:36 AH! IT IS HIM! THE GUY FROM LINE OF DUTY S5!

43:50 That underbite must have hurt FJH a lot omg so committed.

44:02 Hey Lip <3

44:09 Johnny Martin has absolute BDE

44:22 God they’re willing to be killed just to not follow Ross. Same tbh.

44:57 This whole scene is BDE.

46:00 But Sink has the most BDE let’s be honest

46:44 The respect for Dick. Even after what they just went through. I AM EMOTIONAL.

46:58 He’s so worried like omg what have my troublesome sons done now

47:09 ROSS WHY YOU ALWAYS LYING??

48:09 Weak

48:24 Yeah, fuck off back to ‘Murica

48:34 Legit, can we acknowledge Ross did a great job (the actor). Really really well done, one of the best performances on the series tbh.

49:48 LMAO GET WRECKED PUNK BITCH

50:06 Dick just wanders about a lot on his own, huh?

50:50 What? What? I understand nothing of what the cockney guy is saying.

50:55 Me too, Hoob, the fuck.

51:00 RICH I SAW YOU

52:19 “Never put yourself in a position where you can take from these men.” Don’t omg I can’t, Dick, I’m weak, I can’t deal with these fucking feelings.

52:36 DAFUQ

52:40 OHHHH I get it. Right. Dick, you’re so smart. It’s a little sad they have to do all that just to get some answers and guidance but tbh it’s probably fair? Gotta be top secret so punk bitches like Ross can’t screw things up.

53:30 Hey Nix. Speak French to me any day.

53:48 Unf.

54:08 LMAO Lieb, how many cigarettes do you need!

54:10 NGL I paused here for a little while.

55:05 We could ALL use some brass knuckles, Joe/Charlie. Mood.

55:25 LOL Lieb is so nosy.

56:15 Oh no

57:00 Luz LMAO

57:10 Oh babies

57:13 Bill LMAO that’s not ice cream, yuck it looks like soup

57:28 God. All that effort. Not just logistically but emotionally, mentally, psychologically, to prepare, just to have it put off. Fuck.

57:38 That movie again. Poor boys.

57:47 That’s actually a really smart move, Johnny.

58:41 Oh no. I would lose it completely. Oh Bill </3

59:11 Naw, Dick dawdling around again

59:49 RICH I SEE YOU

1:00:08 AAAHHHH IT’S TOO CONFRONTING DON’T

1:00:48 NOOO I CAN’T aw Bill

1:01:09 Naww

1:01:16 RIIIIICH

1:01:20 It’s like they’re kiddies on a field trip and Dick is the teacher wrangling them lol

1:01:47 Lol their crap is so heavy Dick has to help pull them up. That’s actually really sweet.

1:01:51 I wish I could hold Rich’s hand

1:02:08 Oh God. I can’t. Like he’s helping them up BUT IT’S ALSO HIS WAY OF SAYING GOOD LUCK AND GOODBYE AND HAVING LIKE A MOMENT TO CONNECT WITH EACH OF THEM I CAN’T LIKE THE EYE CONTACT NO DICK STOP

1:02:19 LMAO at them having to shove each other into the plane

1:02:23 That look between him and Roe. Ugh. Like. You two gotta take care of your boys together. Brotp

1:03:22 Can someone explain the block on that guy’s helmet to me?

1:03:55 I’m sad. And scared. This series is so confronting. I’ve watched in annually since I was like 16 and I’m still so nervous for them.

1:05:37 Rich, I see you! I recognized his chin lmao

1:06:16 God, Dick be careful

1:10:00 This show. The feels. Every time.

[paradife-loft]

Close reading all the Jin Guangyao scenes: episode 10

Episode 11 | Episode 22 | Episode 23

So, when I was talking to @fatalism-and-villainy​ the other day, I mentioned how while doing this third watch of The Untamed, I was feeling really quite tempted to make a semi-liveblogging project out of doing a close analysis of basically every episode where Meng Yao/Jin Guangyao has a substantial scene.... Their response was only to encourage me in this further obsessive descent, and well, here we are.

I’m starting with episode 10 where we are in this watch right now, rather than going back to episode 4, because while ep4 is utterly delightful, I don’t really feel like I have a lot to say about it that hasn’t already been hashed to death.

Meanwhile, episode 10... oh boy! So much going on here. This episode is most interesting to me because the main theme we see in a majority of Meng Yao’s scenes, is how wholeheartedly invested he is in advancing the cause and prominence of the Nie Sect that he serves. Particularly in light of how we see him later giving the same loyalty and effort to the Jin sect, it’s a really cool (and tragic, tbh) precursor that shows a lot about how much he’ll make a point of doing well by those who’ve elevated him in turn.

So he first shows up with Nie Huisang, when WWX/LWJ/JC are all discussing with Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen what they ought to do with Xue Yang. Noticing the latter two (who are established already as being well-known heroes throughout the cultivation world), he asks if they wouldn’t come along to Qinghe to figure out how best to punish Xue Yang, and also what the best course of action would be for dealing with the Wen sect. Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan rebuff this offer... because they understand, accurately, that what Meng Yao is suggesting/asking about is for them to establish a relationship tying them, however informally (for now), to the Qinghe Nie sect.

(^This, incidentally, is the face he makes when they say “yeahhh, but no thanks,” or specifically, “We give less value to blood heritage and more to like-mindedness. We don’t want to depend on any cultivation family.” This is the face of “oh, okay, tell me no in such direct terms, when I went to the trouble of phrasing my suggestion a bit more obliquely, thanks so much,” and also, “Wow, doesn’t that sound nice to be able to do :/”)

Then a few minutes later, we get this wonderful facial expression! ...which I don’t actually have a whole lot to say about, except that I take it for... curiosity, mostly, about someone who’s had such an outsize effect on the local area, what with murdering a handful of minor cultivation clans? Interest in what inter-clan strategic advantages could be gained in one way or another with Xue Yang as a bargaining chip, source of information, etc.? Possibly also interest in the sense of, this is also someone who came from nothing and has been able to get a lot of important people to pay attention to him (even if not for a good reason), depending on how much he’s heard about Xue Yang as a person? There’s a lot of possibilities this is opening up, and I think he’s basically curious to see what happens.

Again, we just have him being very good at working the angles to get an advantage to the Nie sect (compared to the Wen sect in this case). Jiang Cheng even comments on him being thorough and formidable! (And Huisang mentions that Nie Mingjue really admires him; and Wei Wuxian says it looks like Jin Guangshan doesn’t know how to recognise talent... anyway.)

Mmmm, yep, douchebags gonna douchebag.... Nothing terribly interesting here that hasn’t already been noted a zillion times, since the basic fundamentals of his character relate to how poorly others treat him for his birth. (It is noteworthy though, I think, how the condensed timeline & events for Meng Yao killing his superior and ruining his relationship with Nie Mingjue in the process compared to the extended version in the novel, alters the first bit of screen time we get here seeing what Nie Mingjue is actually like as a leader. In the novel, his men in the army have a bit of a nasty gossip problem, but the person who mistreats Meng Yao and takes credit for his ideas later is a part of the Jin clan; in the drama, various Nie sect disciples have a gossip problem that he berates them for, but even so he still is, at best, ignorant of how his men’s mistreatment of the person he promoted and thinks highly of has continued.)

Oh boy, here’s where it starts to get fun! This is Meng Yao’s face as Wen Chao has just threatened to do “housecleaning” of the Nie sect if they don’t hand over Xue Yang, and it’s looking as though Nie Mingjue won’t be able to contain the conflict in a single one-on-one duel with Wen Zhuliu. It’s curious - he has a smirky face looking over toward Huisang when NMJ initially throws Baxia out in front of Wen Chao, like he’s thinking clearly the offered duel would go their way. Was he expecting the duel to be between NMJ and Wen Chao, who he’d clearly clean the floor with, and Wen Zhuliu stepping up instead took him off-guard? - Because that’s when he looks down thinking very quickly for a couple moments, and then tells Huisang he’s going to go check on Xue Yang.

As @veliseraptor​ and @ameliarating​ and I hashed out as this scene continued: what makes the most sense here is that, seeing how things might be going downhill for the Nie sect very quickly if something isn’t done to get the Wen sect off their backs, Meng Yao makes the snap calculation that the best course of action to keep them from getting massacred would be to free Xue Yang to hand him over. He doesn’t really look happy as he heads away from the entrance here; he looks like someone making the unpleasant decision to let a known murderer avoid justice because it will be better for his immediate concern of preserving the sect and clan he serves. Mingjue is uncompromising, but Meng Yao will look for the most advantageous option he can see and go for it, even if it’s a bit shady and perhaps not what his sect leader would prefer. Nie Mingjue respects him and listens to him well when he explains, after all, so with so much at stake, taking this gamble is probably worth the risk.

Aaaand, then we get to the part where he quite deservedly stabs the army commander who’s been treating him like shit for the past while! It’s not terribly clear (especially at this point) the exact chain of events that occurred before NMJ showed up, but from the number of other bodies in the back of the scene, I do think it’s quite plausible that Xue Yang actually did kill most of the dead Nie disciples there, as that would be... a lot of people for someone with a weak cultivation base to off very quickly. And the commander himself - I take that as a highly relished stroke of opportunism, honestly. Meng Yao picks up a Wen sword to use to kill him because he is good at quick thinking to avoid self-incrimination, but I don’t think he’d been intending on multiple homicides when he initially went back to grab Xue Yang before Wen Chao ordered his men to attack everyone and all hell broke loose.

Oh, ow! NMJ is getting ready to attack him, as Meng Yao frantically tries to talk him down - and Meng Yao still instinctively jumps in front of a sword for his sect leader! Like, truly, honestly, I do believe he had great regard for and loyalty to Nie Mingjue at the very least up through the end of this episode. Whether or not this particular sword thrust could have been fatal to either of them, it still says quite a lot about how he values Chifeng-zun’s person more than his own, even as he’s quite possibly gearing up to kill Meng Yao for what he’s done. That is just... a real intense instinctive sense of obligation and value differential between the two of them that he has, here. Ouch, ouch.

When they resume in the throne room, I think there’s a lot that’s already been said and/or is obviously central, with the line about “fame for merit” and how much it matters to him being the big one. (Why should being recognised for your merit matter so much??? says the one who essentially always has been - lining up one of the central conflicts that continues between the two of them until the ends of their lives.) But I do think it’s pretty fun and telling how seamlessly (performance-wise) Meng Yao slips in the definite lie about the army commander freeing Xue Yang, amongst all the other (pretty certainly true) reasons to condemn him, and then claims it’s all true. I think it definitely speaks of... familiarity with being in a position where others won’t take your own actual reasons for doing something as a good enough justification, and so you develop an intuition of how to mix in motives that also target and appeal to the person you’re talking to as well, to avoid harsh punishment.

Also... hmmmm..... >>>

Hey look, I’m just saying there’s some interesting thematic comparisons going on in this show regarding moral worth and who a person considers to have enough ethical standing and goodness in them to judge them for their actions and have them accept it, okay?

Jin Guangyao and Wei Wuxian are amazing narrative foils and I am probably never going to get tired of saying it.

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Bonus round!

(When you’ve just been stabbed but you’re still really worried about the attack on the Cloud Recesses that Wen Chao has just revealed, because of what it means could be happening to one incredibly wonderful person! Better go make sure he’s okay, right?? ~*~ XiYao feels intensify ~*~)

[missfinefeather]

I’m ganna pick up the pace with this liveblog as i remembered I have therapy in an hour and a half.

Ah, the old “skin is too tough, just going to burn it from the inside” technique. I forgot giant worms were supposed to be formidable by this point. This trick kills them almost TOO easily! Still shocks onlookers though.

Also, I love how when Yuna finally describes the technique to someone, their response was like “would all the saliva and stuff put out the fire?”