#I just think it would’ve been a great opportunity to show B&R working against the foot clan and possibly w the mutanimals

[dongpound]

I feel like I could go on for hours about the Kavaxas Arc like it is truly my Roman Empire. With like 2 or 3 things changed it could’ve and should’ve been the series finale

[daisylincs]

It's time to see what I can do! To test the limits and break through// no right no wrong no rules for meee// I'm freeeeeeeeee (and i was glad lincoln died)

*silence*

*utter, shocked silence*

Well, Birdie, I only have one thing to say to you --

Why Lincoln Campbell Shouldn't Have Died: A Small Essay By Lily [Redacted]

#1. It’s Lazy. There was all this fuss about how “heart-breaking” Lincoln’s death was, and how it was the most shocking choice, and I’m just like... really? Was it? Because frustrating as it is to me, it’s true that Lincoln didn’t have any significant relationships on the show aside from his with Daisy, and he also didn’t have the time/the writers didn’t invest the time to make him a character the audience could become really close to. 

And I don’t see how that’s a shocking choice at all? That’s just taking the easy way out of things. If they had really wanted to make a heart-breaking death, it would have been so much worse to choose literally anyone of the OG team.

Or, heaven forbid, not to make anyone die at all!! (Yes, I hate the Fallen Agent arc. Yes, that’s a conversation for another day.) But think about it: it would have been way more original, way more shocking, to have Lincoln not die, or find a super original/Fitzsimmons-esque way to get past the vision. It could’ve been way more shocking and ultimately satisfying if the whole team had worked together to avoid someone dying, and succeeded in avoiding that. It would have made excellent bonding.

And it wouldn’t have been lazy, because Lincoln staying alive would force him and Daisy to have some tough conversations, i.e. Hive and SHIELD and what’s next. It would also have meant an equal amount of tricky conversations with the rest of the team - especially surrounding the whole Hive debacle and methods used during it (*coughs in murder vests*). It would’ve actually been much harder than just having Lincoln die... and isn’t that what good storytelling is supposed to do? Make the harder choice for an ultimately far more satisfying resolution? 

Because choosing Lincoln to die makes it feel like that was his only purpose on the show, and I can’t help but rage against that. I know that’s how a lot of people actually do see Lincoln, and it just makes me so furious, because that’s actually such a disservice to his character?? He was so much more than just Daisy’s doomed boyfriend, and he could have been even more. Which brings me to my next point - 

#2. Wasted Opportunities. I’ll always believe that one of the biggest missed opportunities on the show was that we never got to see Lincoln properly bond with anyone on the team - it was like the writers started, but then decided he was going to die, and then went all, oh, RIP that. Which, honestly, is stupid - because they created this amazing character that had so much potential, and then decided to drop it just like that. 

And I mean, dammit!! Aside from Daisy, Lincoln had prime opportunities to bond with at least five other characters on the team - May, Coulson, Jemma, Fitz, and Mack, and that’s not even starting on the other Secret Warriors. 

He had a little bit of bonding with May when Lash/Andrew was still a thing - but then, whoops-a-daisy, unequivocally dropped. And like... Lincoln and May could’ve been such a good friendship?? Imagine May initially terrifying the living daylights out of Lincoln, but slowly seeing that he’s not actually that different to Daisy, and he makes her happy? And maybe inviting him to t’ai chi with her, to help control her powers? And him in turn helping give her some closure over Katya Belyakov/telling her that she really did make the only choice? They could’ve developed a mother/son bond just as beautiful as Daisy’s, if AoS had only tried. 

Then there’s Coulson. Daisy’s (basically) dad. We got to see a little bit of this, especially in the 3x14-15 era, but I would have loved to see even more of Coulson not-so-subtly threatening Lincoln, but grudgingly coming to accept him as a good agent (and, though he’d never admit it, kinda liking the guy.) Ugh, it could have been so funny and GOOD!!

Fitz and Jemma, to do them in a package deal, could also have been a GREAT BroTP with Lincoln if they had only actually developed it. I would have loved to see a) FitzSimmons initially distrusting Lincoln and being like “if you hurt Daisy...” and then eventually growing to bond with him over science and, well, adoring Daisy, b) a Lincoln-and-Simmons-specific friendship starting after Maveth, for example, Jemma can’t really be around her friends because they keep pitying her and trying to help and she doesn’t want that, so here’s someone new who’s nice and can also distract her with a common interest, and finally c) Lincoln and Fitz bonding over, oh, Daisy, and being ridiculously in love. Just. C’mon. It could’ve been WONDERFUL - and, just think about it, the picture of a Fitzsimmons-and-Lincoln triple alliance out-science-ing Daisy. FAB.

And Mack!! Someone who’s basically Daisy’s older brother, and, I do believe, another one for the Don’t-Hurt-Daisy pile. But Mack’s also very just, and an excellent judge of character, plus he was literally listening in on their first kiss, lmfao. So I think he’d be that “ugh AGAIN you two stop *eye roll*” big brother, but secretly be very happy for them. (I would’ve LOVED to see it, ahhhh.)

Then, of course, the Secret Warriors!! If anyone would listen, I could R A G E for days about how we only had one episode with the Secret Warriors, and that only barely before it all blew apart. But what snippets we had in that one episode!! Lincoln comforting Joey when he gets stressed before a mission. That’s canon. Now imagine Lincoln learning Spanish for both him and Elena (and so the three of them can fuck with Daisy.) And him encouraging them to follow Spanish traditions, because he picked up a lot of “traditions are important” culture from Afterlife. And, of course, them all going to Pride together to support Joey...

My point is just, there is so much MORE AoS could have done with Lincoln’s character, but especially his bonds with the other main cast. Instead of highlighting his relationship with Daisy, I would’ve preferred a lot more focus on his bonds with the rest of the gang. Because, most simply put, he’s a nice guy and loves Daisy - but that’s not all he is, and also, that love for Daisy would mean he WOULD go out of his way to bond with her family. (Point made.)

#3. It Conflicts With The S5 Time Paradox. During the Fallen Agent arc, all we’re hearing about is how time is fixed, and a death is inevitable. And then in season 5, we have the same thing with the time loop... except, they manage to break it then. We’re literally told, “there are many different futures.” And, cool. But, uh... that’s exactly what you guys didn’t say in season 3!!

Because someone saw a death, a death had to happen. My question is just: if the loop could have been broken in s5, why couldn’t the death have been avoided in s3?? It wouldn’t even have been that hard to make it still fit with the vision - Daisy can quake the controls to destroy them, then Lincoln pulls her out of the quinjet, but she leaves the jacket behind. Hive dies, but no-one else - and the best part is, that even still fulfils the original vision, because someone did die. Hive. Click boom.

And if I can figure that out, then, come on, surely AoS could have done so much better!! It just... really frustrates me, hrrrg.

#4. It Becomes A Plot Point To Hurt Daisy. We all like to joke about how much AoS hurts Daisy, but... this is extreme?? Like?? She only just went through probably the biggest trauma of her life, being freaking possessed, and now you want to make her lose someone she loves too? Cruel. 

The only real reason the Fallen Agent arc ever existed was, let’s be real, to force Daisy into that spiral of hurt and depression. And, like... she already had more than enough trauma just from Hive. Nobody would have blamed her for running away then - in fact, how very Daisy it would have been, leaving before she could hurt anyone else she loved.

And then, of course, we could have had Lincoln and the team working together to find her and bring her back, and, heyo, bonding!! It could also have been such a good point for Staticquake’s relationship, what with Lincoln helping Daisy recover after depression/withdrawal, because who better suited, and Daisy slowly forgiving herself and them becoming that much more of a deeply caring, solid ship.

So in short - though, 🙈🙈🙈, I suppose I should really say in long, because it would seem I am incapable of doing anything in a short fashion - I don't think anyone should be "glad" about Lincoln's death. If anything, we should all be FURIOUS, and super frustrated, because if he had only lived, there could have been so many excellent storylines, both bonding-wise and regarding THE ACTUAL PLOT (his powers could have been SO HELPFUL, just, argh). Lincoln Campbell should not have died, and I will stand by that till the day I die.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[therainroguefanfiction]

🔥 ℝise Ⱥbove I̾t ◈ Chapter 030 [Scavenger Hunt]

📑 Table of Contents | ◂Backward

Word Count: 2,494

⊱ ────── {⋅. 🔥 .⋅} ────── ⊰

〈“So we’ll keep on starting the fire, thinking we’ll smoke out the liars. We don’t give up when we’re tired, that isn’t the way that I’m wired. Someday, we’re gonna rule the world.” Zayde Wolf, “Rule the World (Generdyn Remix)”〉

⊱ ────── {⋅. 🔥 .⋅} ────── ⊰

“Hey, kid!” Shimatsu grinned as I approached. “You were awesome in the cavalry battle!”

“Thanks,” I smiled softly. “Can I get three?”

“Coming right up!”

I glanced around at the spectators, chatting excitedly about the first two events of the sports fest. Several pro heroes were stationed around the stadium, keeping an eye out on the off chance some villain was dumb enough to try attacking. I spotted the chick from earlier, making a face at one of the food stall guys to get free food while the Woodsman scolded her for doing so.

Heroes… what does that word even mean, really? From what I remember from the TV shows and movies back home, the definition of a hero is someone that saves or helps others without ulterior motives and without personal gain. But in this world, being a hero is a job, one that young people across the globe aspire to have. People want to go pro for the fame, the fortune, and the power… If you have the title of hero, you can basically do whatever you want if Endeavor is anything to go by.

I wonder… why did my mother become a hero? Surely she got paid a lot more being a villain, so it couldn’t have been about money. She was already famous as an assassin, too. Was it the power she wanted? That doesn’t make sense, either. The world of villains makes it ten times easier to gain power because there are no rules or laws. What was her reasoning for changing her life? Did she have a dream? A goal she could only accomplish as a hero? I wish… I wish I could ask her.

“Kid?”

I snapped my attention back to the old man.

He wasn’t smiling, his brow furrowed. “Are you okay? You seem distracted.”

I took the box from his hand, staring down at the individually wrapped tacos. “Nah, I don’t think I am. But… I will be. So don’t worry.” I grinned at him. “Thanks for the food, Ojin.”

⊱ ────── {⋅. 🔥 .⋅} ────── ⊰

“Get those foam fingers in the air, it’s almost time for the last round! But before that, good news for everyone that didn’t make the finals – since this is a sports festival, we’ve prepared some super fun side games everyone can participate in! We even brought in cheerleaders from America to get your blood pumping! Hold up…”

“What are they doing…”

“Looks like class 1-A is going full-on fanservice!!”

The fuck is that cockatiel going on about now? I glanced around, my eyes landing on my female classmates. Uhh, why the fuck are they cosplaying as cheerleaders? Ain’t our class getting enough attention already? Sparky and Mineta look awfully happy about this… I swear if they are responsible.

“What?! You tricked us?!” Momo cried, glaring at the two boys. “You’re gonna regret this!!” Fucking called it. I sighed, approaching Momo as she sunk to her knees. “Why is that I always end up falling for that little pervert’s stupid schemes? I even used my quirk to make these outfits…”

I scratched my cheek. “Haven’t you learned not to believe anything those two dopes say? You’re too naive, Momo, and they keep exploiting that.”

“Ugh!” Punk threw her pom-poms down, face completely red. “I hate those guys!”

“Well, we go have a little time before the finals start and I kinda like these uniforms, so~” Invisigirl started frantically waving her pom-poms and I could hear the smile in her voice. “How about we just roll with it?!”

“Are you crazy?!”

“Wow, Toru, you’ve got skills.”

Momo glanced up at me with a defeated expression. “I tried looking for you to let you know. I was worried that you might get into trouble for not participating, but now I’m glad I wasn’t able to…”

“I would’ve happily gotten in trouble,” I deadpanned. “I would die before wearing that shit.”

“R-Right…”

I smiled, patting her on the head. “Thanks for lookin’ out, though, Momo.”

She smiled back, nodding her head.

I turned toward the two boys, who were too busy watching Toru as she jumped around to notice my advancing toward them. I grabbed both of them by the back of the neck and slammed their faces together. They cried out in pain, wiggling in my grasp, but my hands started to heat up and they stilled, not wanting to get burnt. I smiled brightly, my voice low. “The next time you fuckers mess with the girls, I’ll give you a taste of pure hell, mkay?”

“Y-Yes, ma’am!” They cried as I threw them to the side, scurrying away with their tails between their legs. Fuckin’ idiots. I felt a tug on the back of my shirt and I turned around, raising a brow at Punk.

She shifted, her face still red in embarrassment. “Thanks for that.”

I hummed. “No problem. Sorry about that day in the locker room, I was kind of a dick to you.”

She smiled, “It’s no big deal. Water under the bridge.”

I scratched my cheek, a bead of sweat rolling down my cheek. “So, uh, what’s your name again?”

She sweatdropped. “You’re just like Bakugo, jeez. Kyoka Jirou.”

We shook hands, exchanging a grin. Huh, maybe this socializing shit ain’t as bad as I thought it was.

“Have fun competing in these side games, everyone! After they’re over, the twenty students from the top five teams will be duking it out one-on-one in a tournament-style fighting competition! I promise you’re not going to want to miss these match-ups!”

You’ve got to be kidding me. First, we gotta run around like chickens with our heads cut off, then we gotta work together and socialize, now we gotta beat the shit out of each other? Maybe I shouldn’t have dissed the idea of playing a game of golf…

“Ah, yeah! Finally getting a chance to show what we’re made of!” Kiri grinned brightly. “I watch these finals every year and now I’m actually in them!”

“So wait, is it always a tournament?” Alien asked curiously, bringing her finger to her chin.

“The final’s always a one-on-one competition, but they switch it up every time.” Flex Tape answered. “Last year, it was a foam sword-fighting match.”

I started laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Kiri asked in confusion.

“I just… I pictured hitting Bakugo with a foam sword on the head…”

He paused, lifting his head as he imagined it. Then he started to laugh with me.

“Come closer and draw lots to see who you’re up again!” Midnight announced. “And then enjoy the pleasure of the recreation games before we start. The twenty finalists have the option of participating in these activities or sitting out to prepare for battle. I’m sure you all want to conserve your stamina. I’ll start with the first-place team.”

“Um, excuse me…” Tail raised his hand in the air, looking sad. “Sorry, but I’m withdrawing.”

“Ojirou, no way…”

“But this is a rare chance for you to get scouted!”

“It just wouldn’t be right,” he responded. “I barely remember anything from the cavalry battle until the very end of it. I… think it was that guy’s quirk.”

I scratched my cheek thoughtfully, closing my eyes. Who was he partners with again? I don’t even remember seeing him once during the battle.

“I know this is a great opportunity,” he continued. “I wish I could take advantage of it but my conscious won’t let me.”

“Just think about this,” Izuku spoke softly.

“I have, okay?!” Ojirou’s brow furrowed as he held up his fist. “Everyone gave their all in round two, but I was just someone’s puppet. No way. I don’t want to advance if I don’t even know how I got here. It wouldn’t fair.”

“You’re making way too much of this!” Toru said cheerfully. “Just kill it in the finals and prove you should be here!”

“Yeah, what she said!” Alien added. “I didn’t do much in the battle, either.”

“That’s not it!” He covered his face with his hand. “I’m talking about my pride here. I refuse to give that up!”

Ah, men and their pride.

“Also… why are all the girls except for Winchester dressed like cheerleaders?”

“Because Mineta and Sparky are perverted dipshits,” I answered.

“Right…”

“Nirengeki Shoda from class 1-B,” A short boy with soft blue hair stepped forward. “I think I should withdraw for the exact same reason. Regardless of how strong I am, this isn’t how I wanted to get here! It would go against the values of the festival to advance without earning my spot!”

“Listen to these guys, they’re so manly!” Kirishima cried, making me sweatdrop and pat his back.

“Well now, here’s another weird turn of events.”

“We’ll have to see what Midnight has to say about all this, she’s the one in charge.”

Because letting the R-Rated hero be in charge sounds like a banger of a plan. What could possibly go wrong.

“This sort of talk is incredibly naive, my dear boys. That turns me on!”

“What the fuck, man.” I groaned, smacking my forehead. Thinking of Midnight being turned on is the last fucking thing I want burned into my skull.

“Shoda! Ojirou! You’re both withdrawn! Now, let’s see… We’ll move four students from the sixth place cavalry team so we have enough contestants.”

The orange-haired girl from class B spoke up. “We were frozen most of the time. Honestly, we barely did anything in the cavalry battle. Isn’t that right, girls?” She looked at the three standing on either side of her, who nodded in agreement. “You should choose from the group that kept fighting the whole time – team Tetsutetsu.”

“Kendo!” The silverette spoke up, surprise lacing his voice.

She smiled. “I’m not doing this as a favor. It’s just fair.”

“Seriously, you guys… thank you!!”

“And so, Tetsutetsu, Shiozaki, Honenuki, and Reggian have advanced to the finals. Take a look at the bracket, my dears! These are your opponents!”

Let’s see, I’m fighting some bitch named Regina Reggian? The fuck kinda name is that, fam? That’s almost as bad as Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu…

“Hey, you’re Winchester, right?”

I glanced over my shoulder to see the black-haired guy with the air chain. “Depends on who’s askin’.”

“I’m your opponent,” he grinned. “The names Regina Reggian, but you can just call me Red.”

“Isn’t Regina a chick’s name?”

He sweatdropped, rubbing the back of his head. “Ah, well, my creator thought it would be funny. Pretty sure they hate me.”

“Right…” This bitch is definitely nuts.

“Listen up!” He pointed his finger in my face, pink eyes flashing as he grinned. “I’m gonna beat your ass like Jotarou beat Dio!”

“I don’t know who either of those people are, bro.”

“Whack.”

“Okay! Let’s press pause for a momentary interlude! Before the battles begin, it’s time for some pulse-pounding side games! First, how about a scavenger hunt?!”

Cards were handed out to those wanting to participate.

I flipped mine over and my eye twitched. Where the fuck am I supposed to find this shit? I glanced around the field, eyes stopping on Bakugo who was leaning against the wall looking pissed off at the world. Oh… Well, then.

I grinned as I approached him. “Oi, Bakuhoe. I need you for somethin’.”

“Huh? What for – What the fuck are you doing, bitch?!”

I ignored his protests as I threw my arm around his upper thighs and hoisted him over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Fuck, you’re heavier than I thought. Go on a diet.”

“Fuck you!” He smacked the back of my head. “Put me down or I’ll kill you!”

“Quit squirming, you fuck.” I scowled, coming to a stop in front of Midnight and dropping him onto his ass, holding out my card that read ‘犬 Dog’.

“I’m not a fucking dog!!” Bakugo screamed.

I scoffed. “You sure fucking yap like one, chihuahua.”

“Die!!”

Midnight smacked the top of my head with her whip. “Denied!”

“Che, that ain’t fair, Midnight!” I scowled. “Where the fuck am I supposed to find a dog, huh? Am I fucking game to you?” I pointed at Bakugo’s face. “This is the closest fucking thing to a dog in this stadium! I demand a different card.”

“Denied!”

“Son of a -”

Bakugo shoved his hands in his pockets, glaring at the side of my head. “Instead of doing this stupid shit, you should be getting ready for your match! I won’t fucking forgive you if you lose to anyone but me!”

“Yeah, yeah, whateva.” I sighed, deeply, turning and walking away from them. I was a few feet away when I heard a high-pitched voice.

“Hey! Miss!”

I glanced up at the stands, seeing a young boy about nine or ten leaning over the railing and waving frantically. “Uhh…”

“Catch me, ‘kay?”

“Wait, what, OI -!” He jumped over the railing, making the nearby spectators cry out and try to grab him. His aim was pretty on point, not gonna lie. His body slammed against mine and I lost my balance, falling back onto my ass with him in my lap. “What the fuck were you thinkin’, huh? You coulda got seriously hurt, kid!”

He grinned brightly, showing off a gap where he was missing a top tooth. “I had faith that you’d catch me, big sis!”

Sis? What, is he a fan of James Charles or somethin’? “You shouldn’t be down here, your parents are gonna be mad.”

“Mom’s at work and dad left us when I was three.”

I sweatdropped. “Who brought you here, then?”

“My big brother! But he’s too busy getting rejected by Mt. Lady!” He giggled.

“For fuck’s sake,” I slapped my forehead. He giggled again and I narrowed my eyes. “Do not repeat anything I say. Clear?”

“Kay~” He grinned. “You need a dog for the scavenger hunt, right?”

“Yeah.”

His body started to shift in my arms, getting a bit smaller as his skin and clothes were replaced by fur. The boy was now a dog, his legs and belly white while the rest of him was a soft orange. Now, I’m not a dog person at all, but he’s pretty fucking adorable. What is that, a corgi?

He licked my cheek, making my eye twitch in annoyance. “Sorry, I can only talk to people I’ve licked!”

“…alrighty then.” I returned to Midnight, holding the kid up like I was holding Simba.

She raised a brow but didn’t question where I had gotten him from. “Approved!”

“Dope.” I brought him back to my chest. “What’s your name, kid?”

“Riku Reigen!”

“Alright, Riku. Let’s find that idiot brother of yours.”

He tilted his doggy head to the side, ears flicking. “But what about the other events, big sis? You’re gonna miss them!”

I shrugged. “I was only doing it because it was easy and I had nothing else to do. Plus, I’m in the finals so I don’t have to participate.”

“Okay, if you’re sure!” He barked happily. “Let’s go~!”

⊱ ────── {⋅. 🔥 .⋅} ────── ⊰

▸ Forward

📜 Read more by checking out my masterlist 📜

[unproduciblesmackdown]

My only problems with that bmc theory you mentioned is that 1) bmc was already really popular and 2) that’s kinda body shaming Roland :/ but yeah I agree that he can’t really sing for shit lol. And I hate how his go-to thing when he’s singing (it’s super evident in loser geek or whatever) is to just throw his arms out in a t pose

you should have problems with every part of that theory because everything in that post is about how the arguments are terrible and absurd, and i’m gonna use this opportunity to straightforwardly lay out why all that is, but first let me talk about the problems you did find with it

1) yes 

the off-bway run of bmc is unusual because it did (and existed because) already have popular support/demand. they absolutely had no motivation to try to increase its popularity. they already had that fully covered. 

2) yes

nothing wrong with having a preference or an attachment to the first portrayal you saw but there is no real reason to legitimately dislike or resent will roland’s performance to the degree that anyone wants to act like they have objective justifications for this. i will freely blame a ton of this on the fact that will r is not a super lanky guy who sort of looks like elijah wood’s fey woodland cousin or something, and he has a nasal voice, and the fact people find this less attractive leads to this extra resentment that gets rationalized as some kind of problem they have with his performance. surely i will come back to this but for now i’m going to argue against my own fake arguments

they didn’t approach will only because he was in deh and thus ~famous~ or famous by association or whatever. like i said in an earlier post, they were considering will for the part of jeremy even before will was considering himself for the part, as he said he didn’t consider auditioning for that role until it was suggested to him. and then he made it to callbacks, which means he was seriously considered and they already saw merit in the idea of casting him for the part. the fact that he didn’t get it doesn’t mean he wasn’t good enough: people Don’t Get The Part all the time and it isn’t for any certain reasons. for example, earlier will got cast in the black suits, while george salazar also auditioned and didn’t get cast, and yet we wouldn’t use this as evidence that george wasn’t necessarily good enough. not to mention that will would’ve been getting involved in deh at around that time of the bmc auditions, so evidently he was already good enough to be involved in like, any production.

also, the part of jeremy wasn’t the only change in cast between the productions. and they didn’t seem to leap on the opportunity to get Big Names involved, and in fact, they’ve said they didn’t want to do that. and, again, they did not need a popularity boost, they were in the unusual position of already knowing they had an audience. thus there’s no reason to believe that will’s casting, and will’s casting alone, was some sort of grab for increased attention on the production.

joe iconis had worked with will for years prior to 2018 and it’s just kind of ridiculous to suggest that will auditioned for his play and got turned down because he was terrible, and it’s only due to the fact that he was then cast in deh that made joe go “hm that roland guy can’t sing for shit and i’ve just been too polite to Not cast him in a previous musical of mine and work with him dozens of other times but he’s in a Popular Broadway Musical now so hmmm, maybe we’ll make a sacrifice to the quality of this show to get a popularity boost we don’t need” like

obviously it does not make sense. will was not Only offered the role because of being in deh. and, by extension, he was not offered the role in spite of any kind of inadequacy on his part. or in spite of anything at all.

also there is no indication that will connolly was just like, ditched or something. initial castings and casting changes are done for any number of reasons. and it’s not like joe iconis exactly has a reputation for ruthlessly screwing over people he works with, nor does will roland…and casting changes are basically inevitable if a show goes beyond one run or has a particularly long one. and it’s not unlikely people will have a preference or consider the first performance they see to be kind of the standard in their eyes, and there’s nothing wrong with the end of someone’s run / a casting change being bittersweet, cuz all of that is just how it’s gonna go. but like there’s no reason for animosity towards the replacement cuz then you’re gonna always hate everyone but the o(b)c

again like. maybe people really aren’t aware that will roland was cast in a musical of joe iconis’s back in 2012? the black suits? ben platt was there? george salazar wasn’t? will was 1/6th of the cast and did plenty of singing. and that was 3-4 years prior to him auditioning for bmc and getting the part for the off-bway performance, and as people tend to backhandedly point out, he only gets better with time and experience, and he was already doing great vocally in the black suits. he did that 2012 run, and then the run tbs had in 2013 as well. like, joe had plenty of experience working with him there. why would he think will is bad at singing.

also will was involved with joe’s work even prior to his graduation

will was also involved with bmc producer jen tepper’s work prior to his graduation. had a solo in the “if it only even runs a minute” show

they’d know how good will is. they had already been willingly involving him in various works for years, over and over, prior to will auditioning for bmc. the fact he didn’t get the part the initial time wasn’t due to them thinking he can’t sing, okay. and already right there you have the issue that apparently a bunch of randos figure they just have better judgment than the industry professionals. 

also, you can prefer will connolly’s voice, but it’s not even A Valid Argument to say that will roland is a bad singer. like, this isn’t even about opinion. he is a good singer and this is an objective statement. He Is Very Skilled. his vocals Are Good. this is not opinion it is essentially fact. you may not like them but to say he’s bad is just to say either you don’t have the first clue what you’re talking about or are willing to skew your own perspective or just say whatever to pretend to justify this preference as “one of these is the performance i like better and the other is a performance that is inarguably Bad and Incompetent”

one thing is that will is so good that he makes it seem easy. he pulls off shit that you don’t even have to recognize as taking a crapton of skill. there’s all sorts of performances of his available and the way he’s able to emote during his singing isn’t just his also-strong acting, but it also requires the vocal ability to deliver quick shifts and jumps between differences in volume and pitch and soft/fragile vs forceful/angry and that requires a ton of skill and control. speaking of control and the stuff i’ve just said, there’s also a lot of smoothness to his vocals and consistency which reflects not only the quality of his vocals but also the control and endurance and knowledge of how to handle a performance within individual songs but also an entire show and also a string of shows.

like, dunno what to tell you. like i said before, these industry professionals think he’s good enough. the people he work with think he’s talented. i put myself through reading bmc reviews and i don’t remember anyone saying anything suggesting will’s vocals weren’t up to par, but i do remember a lot of acknowledgments about the opposite and how his performance is stellar and showcases great vocal talent and ability, whether or not the reviewers took to the rest of the show as a whole. and yet people who are mad about him not being will connolly have the take that he can’t sing. pretty wild how the people who would probably know better than you or me all consider will roland to be a very strong singer!! must be because they don’t know as well as various random people who resent will r.

it’s just a bonus when people argue he can’t sing the high notes. i’m guessing i need to say it’s called a falsetto? he has a gorgeous one and the way he’s able to snap right into it is kind of breathtaking? and the fact that joe iconis wrote lgw Specifically For Will Roland’s Voice, specifically designed to showcase and play to his strengths? and that this song, written by a professional composer to be ideally paired with will roland’s voice, features that falsetto so generously? hmmmmmmmmmmm

like, there’s so many amazing and beautiful performances of his online and like every available performance kicks ass and is certainly Vocally Competent but like, if you listen to this and think “he can’t really sing for shit” then you’re just telling on your own flawed judgment n Shit Taste lol…..like, again, to say he can’t sing is objectively incorrect.

also, there’s this. 

i’m also very suspicious of people just interpreting his singing as “bad” because of the fact that his voice is just nasal. or suggesting that he can’t have as ~serious or dramatic~ impact. for unspecified reasons. but what i am going to specify as “because he has a nasal voice and i have an automatic association with this meaning that the character is unsympathetic and a joke”

i now slowly turn around and pull down a slide reading “jared kleinman”

again, not like the “will roland was only cast for clout” idea holds any water in the first place, but it’s just extra good how his character in deh seems to be written off by like, everyone, from reviewers to casual audiences to most more-involved fans of the show alike, and largely overlooked or maligned, despite all characters getting an equally sympathetic treatment, and all of the teenagers being very similar in what their flaws and weaknesses are and what their desires are. 

like i and other people and mike faist will tell you, yeah jared’s character provides a break from Heavier scenes into lighter tone, which is necessary for good pacing, but that doesn’t mean that the character and the things he says aren’t serious or genuine. watch me avoid going off into a longer tangent about jared and bringing it back around to will roland: it just Sure Is Interesting that the character is one that tends to be seen as unimportant or even dispensable despite being absolutely crucial to multiple elements of the play. hmm

and anyways it’s kind of funny that you’d really have to already be a fan of will’s to like, make his casting in bmc make you care about bmc if you hadn’t already (#me, lol) and like. otherwise it’d be like “hey this guy who’s in bmc was in deh” “oh really that’s neat” and maybe it’d make some new people pay attention, but not to the degree that it would like, be expected to carry the show’s sales or anything lol. plus uhhhhh haven’t noticed the marketing saying anything about WILL ROLAND of DEAR EVAN HANSEN and you’d think that if they’d deliberately cast someone who sucks just cuz he had a part in a well-known show, they’d uhhhh take advantage of that? and yet. 

that theory’s total shit is what i’m saying

and it’s interesting that will has a nasal voice and isn’t Serious Enough and his Singing is Bad

by interesting i mean total shit

i’m also totally gonna say that people are mad at will for not being super tall and super skinny and seeming attractive to them.

absolutely gonna say that. there is a real, documented bias towards considering someone seen as Attractive as being more sympathetic than someone who isn’t. for example i am tilting my head 270 degrees when anybody decides jeremy is an unsympathetic character. i am tilting my head 583 degrees when anybody decides that will roland’s performance as jared is the Unsympathetic one. my eyebrows are so raised they’ve just graduated college. 

just yknow people are mad at will roland b/c they don’t find him as hot as will c and resent him for not seeming attractive enough and like, there’s the people who will at least own this and insult him for being too ugly for their tastes and their inability to keep their shit to themselves, and then there’s people who also have this inability to keep their shit to themselves but don’t wanna say they think he’s too ugly for their tastes and will instead be like mmmm dunno the way he follows the written changes to the script is bad………mmmmm idk he just can’t sing ://…………mmmmmmm his performance isn’t the same so uhh fuck him for not being will connolly………………://///……….

i don’t know if anybody sees him as fat rn, there’s this window of being Average where i truly cannot see it even though its supposed to just be Objective Judgment territory. but that sure never helps. also he just doesn’t have the willowy fragile body type of will connolly’s at all, no matter what. and that also cannot ever help. couldn’t’ve helped when he played jared either.

maybe it’s an utter coincidence that the majority of his film roles, where your body and face are always gonna get hq closeups, and in which we also have audio of one’s nasal voice, have him as Nerd Types who aren’t meant to be particularly sympathetic. not saying this is all him being typecast based on being written off from certain types of roles as characters meant to appeal to the audience / win sympathy, except, my eyebrows have now finished grad school.

in fact, although the realm of live theatre may be more “”forgiving”” of these superficial traits, it’s not as though will’s roles haven’t been largely uncool losers in various ways lol…but all of them have been sympathetic. he’s even mentioned how being cast as a romantic lead way back in school changed how people saw him. and here he is in a role where he feels like he isn’t allowed to be the main character even in his own life, and where he feels that he can be treated Like a well-liked, attractive person, but not necessarily be one. will roland is out here just outright saying how lgw is about himself and about you and about me (and for trans and non-hetero fans) and people are really out here going “he’s ugly he shouldn’t have this role” like, i’ll freaking slap you, lord

again. loser geek whatever alone is evidence that the take that He Can’t Sing is objectively false. and it is. move on. love yourself

also just thanks for mentioning the thing about throwing his arms out. that’s just like, one of the peak examples of “i resent will roland for not being will connolly but i need to invent justifications for this” and deciding that totally arbitrary things about him are reasons to be annoyed by him, and thus to think that there’s anything actually wrong with it. like, so he has a tendency to gesture with both arms out whereas other people don’t always do this? you’re mentioning loser geek whatever and it’s pretty crazy how when you watch him perform the song he actually employs a variety of gestures and you’re just picking out the one thing he does and going “ugh god you’re killing me will roland” like god….of all the arbitrary inconsequential things to focus your dislike on and pretend it’s a Legitimate Critique, this one’s a classic. if anything it’s a quirk that puts an individual stamp on things in the midst of all the other ways he moves and gesticulates during songs, but yeah, i suppose you could just decide you hate it. truly, between will roland putting his arms out and the people who see this as some kind of real flaw, whose reach is greater……..

anyways the point is none of you have any real reason to be bothered by will roland, and every “oh my god he’s so incompetent” take is ridiculous, and at least the people who outright insult him based on appearance are being honest about their bullshit since it’s all insults anyways. the oc album is right there. the performance with will connolly also continues to be right there. everybody just might consider why they’re so resentful of will roland for having the part, and also consider getting over it.

[zdbztumble]

“Reverse/Rebirth” revisited

I’ve mentioned a few times now that, in this look back at the Kingdom Hearts series, I’ve finally come to like Riku as a character. That’s in part due to seeing everything in context again several years after my last play-through, but another thing that helped put things into perspective was a LP by YouTube’s Frustrated Jacob. He worded Riku’s story in a way I could finally grasp: that Riku sees himself, and is treated, as mature and trustworthy, but ultimately proves himself to be selfish, insecure, and childish, while Sora is a more childlike underdog who ultimately proves to be mature, responsible, and heroic. Riku does, of course, redeem himself after realizing to what end he’s being used for, and with the context straight in my head, I could finally appreciate that story on an emotional level, instead of conceding its technical merits but remaining cold to Riku himself.

Given all that, I was curious to see if my opinion on Reverse/Rebirth would change after playing though it again. As it turns out, it did change - for the worse.

My issues with the gameplay remain. I just couldn’t enjoy the card-based battle system without having the option to customize. Besides taking a lot of the fun away, it made troubleshooting against challenging bosses (which, I’ll admit, there aren’t many) more hassle than it needed to be. Riku’s lack of magic or summon abilities is another thing that just makes for a less fun game. The limited number of sleights available in Dark Mode gave some little bit of variety, but I so rarely needed to use Dark Mode that it wasn’t worth dragging out battles to build up the meter.

Riku does pack a lot of power in his attacks - that was the reason I hardly ever needed Dark Mode. This makes much of the game a cakewalk, even compared to the later stages of CoM proper, but the difficulty spike in the boss battles with Zexion and Ansem are ridiculous. The decks you get against them are pathetic, and their abilities are overwhelming. Having a real challenge was a nice change of pace at first, but the disparity is too great.

And I still can’t get over the way this game’s “worlds” are structured. My memory of this game was that Riku got all the same world cards as Sora, in reverse order (except for the last three floors), which would at least make some sense, tying into the “reverse” of the title. But they aren’t strictly in reverse order; some of the Disney worlds aren’t even in the same set. And Riku wasn’t in most of those worlds. There shouldn’t be any memory cards of those places for him. The game does acknowledge this, in a sense, by leaving out any Disney characters from these worlds. But that’s another problem with R/R: nothing happens for most of it. If the Disney worlds in CoM didn’t tie in to the larger story except in a thematic sense, they at least had self-contained plots that gave you something to follow. Riku just wanders through rooms here, to no aim.

Like with CoM, there was a missed opportunity to give the Disney worlds more connection to the plot. Riku was in Monstro, Neverland, and Hollow Bastion, after all, and spent most of KH I in Maleficent’s thrall. Having him deal with the memories of that - of his actions, of his alliance with a confederation of Disney villains - would have provided story material and illustrated his dilemma more effectively than cutscene after cutscene with blather about the darkness (and yes, I know this series is notorious for this - but even by KH standards, the word “darkness” is abused to all hell in this game. I’m not sure how they could have avoided that, given what Riku’s story is here, but it was still excessive). At the very least, Maleficent should have been a recurring character in Riku’s memories. Wasting her as the start-up boss is still an unfathomable decision to me.

Really, the lack of content is enough to make one wonder if this story warranted its own title. To call it the “B side” to Sora’s story in CoM suggests more than it can provide. If it had been cut down to just those three Disney worlds Riku actually visited, with more story content for them and cleaner writing for the larger story, the ten hours the game took (compared to just under 40 for CoM proper) might have felt worth it, instead of rushed and empty. But at that length, I would’ve just presented it as a bonus mini-game to be unlocked after a certain level of completion, not as a B-story you get to play no matter what.

As with CoM, I have to take issue with the villains here. I’m convinced now that his battle in this game is the only reason anyone remembered Zexion well enough to justify giving him a backstory, because there’s nothing else to his character, or to Lexeaus. I may not have liked the villains of CoM, but I can concede that Axel, Vexen, and Larxene are memorable (and no, I didn’t forget Marluxia - he’s off the memorable list for a reason XP). These two are devoid of even one major identifiable personality trait (and I would note that Zexion’s backstory hasn’t solved this problem). I suppose Zexion staging an elaborate illusion of Sora to torment Riku rather than killing him outright might qualify as sadism - if it were played as such, and if Larxene hadn’t claimed that territory, so that whole sequence doesn’t have a lot of foundation. Though I will concede that, prior to the realizing it made no sense, I found the impersonation of Sora an effective story beat that fed well into Riku’s fears.

Of course, the ultimate antagonist in R/R isn’t anyone from the Organization, but the darkness still within Riku, and the trace that “Ansem” left on him. Whether this Ansem is meant to be the real deal, or some residual trace or memory, I was never quite clear, but in any event, the solution to the conflict turns out to be that Riku chooses neither to reject the darkness nor succumb to it, but to straddle the line between light and dark, a trait unique to himself in this series. That’s been criticized as an idea, but I don’t object to it in principle, the same way I don’t reject efforts to move Star Wars beyond a black-and-white conception of the Force. But in execution, there’s a lot wrong with it.

1. With hindsight, we can see that it was never really followed up on. Darkness = evil in the first KH game, and that’s been true for the games that have followed R/R. For this idea to really work, it would’ve needed follow-up that it never got.

2. That this idea comes to Riku from Namine of all people feels extremely abrupt. Granted, if I were writing a story about someone learning that light and dark sides to their soul could co-exist extrapolated into a fantasy setting, I would want the revelation to feel abrupt at first glance, with hindsight showing seeding throughout the story. That seeding isn’t here, and Namine is an awkward choice to deliver the message to Riku given that they have no connection prior to this point in the story.

3. Namine’s line about how “no power can defeat [Riku]” makes no sense to me. He’s defeated throughout these games by light and dark powers. A lot of the wording of the dialogue on this plot point just seems designed to try and make Riku seem more special and marked by destiny. Of course, this ignores the element of the first game where Riku appearing to be the person suited to a great destiny was part of the problem.

4. On that note - as has been pointed out to me by @themattress​, Riku declaring himself unafraid and accepting of the darkness, and using it to ends he found right, was what led him down the path to possession in the first game. Now, I do think there’s reason to doubt his bravado in that scene in KH I; his pretense at maturity and confidence both fall pretty quickly when his jealousy and paranoia of Sora set in. But it is true that Riku accepts, embraces, and abuses the darkness in KH I, and what fears he does have aren’t tied to that. I still wouldn’t say I object to R/R trying to twist that idea around in principle, but just as it needed more follow-up to work properly, it needed more set-up than this game provided to work properly.

In a way, though, the biggest fault with this plot point is that it doesn’t really impact Riku’s behavior all that much. I’ve seen some critiques that praise Riku’s development in this game over Sora’s, and I can’t say I understand that. You can like Sora’s story in CoM or not, but he experiences a lot and undergoes dramatic changes over the course of that story. Riku here is pretty static. While I’m now fully on-board with his arc in KH I, I’m afraid I still find him rather bland here.

To be honest, the best bit of story content in R/R IMO isn’t even concerned with Riku; it’s a cutscene that expands on Sora’s story. It’s the scene I wanted in that story, where Namine calls herself “the shadow of Kairi” and explains how her messing with Sora’s memories of Kairi can’t truly erase them. When the best story beat in the B-story is an expansion on the A-plot, you know you have trouble.

And then there are the things about R/R that are just weird - turning Riku and Zexion into bloodhounds comes to mind. Has that whole “scent” business ever really come up sense?

So, that’s where I stand with R/R now: it’s unimpressive fare and wasted potential. Playing through it again has actually forced me to give some new credit to Dream Drop Distance. I still consider that game a worse story, and more damaging to the series overall, but there are two points I must concede to it: 

1. It handled two player characters much better than CoM and R/R did. Whether they were any good or not, the game gave Sora and Riku each stories to follow in the Disney worlds, enough content to fill out a full game, and tied them together in such a way that one didn’t feel like the superfluous B-side to the other.

2. I thought DDD was where the retconning of Sora and Riku’s friendship began, but it was here in R/R, with Riku describing Sora as someone who “always did as he pleased” and setting up the idea of he, Riku, being the responsible one. Granted, he’s being rather jokey when he says this, but accusing Sora of being the lazy one while he does all the work just rubs me the wrong way. When I thought that DDD was the one to introduce this change, I could at least credit it that such a retcon helped explain their dynamic in that game. But now I just can’t understand why they went down this road. Everyone who played the first game spent the first few levels on Destiny Islands, working on the raft as Sora. And Riku complaining about anyone else “doing as they please” at this point in the series, when we’re only one game removed from him plotting to run away and never come home (embracing the power of darkness to do so) while Sora took on the responsibility of being the Keyblade Master without protest is really pushing it.

Well, that’s that. No need to revisit that game for a long time. Now, on to KH II - the one I’m most interested in replaying. Will it hold up as well as KH I did? Only time will tell...

[topicprinter]

Hey guys, a few weeks back I started a series to share some of what I’ve learned throughout the years at Fiix, the company I now run along with some of my closest friends. I love to see other people innovating as well as finding and following their passions, and also watch them on their journeys – brings me back to my early days. It’s been an amazing ride and I’m glad a lot of people found what I talked about last week helpful (Here was last week’s on “How We Came Up With The Idea"). The support was amazing so I’m really happy to continue this, and I’ll try to focus my advice on what you guys want to hear. That being said, if you have feedback or comments, please let me know! Without further ado, let’s get started.Validate or FailYou might have heard that ideas are a dime a dozen. As you saw last week with our “An Idea A Day” Brainstorming model, you can see that coming up with over a dozen ideas can cost you less than a dime. Not to say that they aren’t important (the entire foundation of your market, company, and future potential all rely on it), but coming up with business models in theory often will fail for counterintuitive reasons. For example, in the early 2000s, a huge wave of cleantech startups were being built. I remember watching one founder say they spent hundreds of millions getting funding and resources for technology, and then against all odds, the consumer adoption plan failed. As number of recurring customers are probably one of the most important metrics for companies, testing out whether those customers will actually buy into your business is the most important thing you can do. At no stage of your business do you stop this – Google, Facebook, Amazon and any other successful company still constantly validate their current products and new expansion ideas. It is this focus on appealing to customer desires that makes companies so successful. So, how do you validate without deluding yourself into thinking your idea is good?Don’t Forget Your Targets!Remember your product should be for a very small niche group. This was the case with Facebook, Paypal, Amazon, etc. Once this niche group of early adopters love your product, their word of mouth will carry you to success as you expand your verticals and meet needs of more market segments. But remember, start with one – I’m reiterating this from ideation because it’s so important. Do everything you can to make this niche group in specific love your product to death. Now onto validation.Early ValidationsRight after you have the idea, you want to validate as much as you can as soon as you can. Obviously, this is highly dependent on your product’s market – if you are racing to innovate some new technology and you know competitors are leading the race in an opportune market, maybe you want to start off with building the product before you validate as much. For example, if you were looking to develop a competing product for Google Home that is far better (it has augmented reality for example – something really out there) and you know there is already demand for this innovation, spending your time getting to market faster will be better than verifying demand exists. You need to make a decision for your business, but usually validation is first priority. How do you do this without a product though?Unless you have huge backing or the product ready, this a tough balance (for I’d say 90%+ of all startups). You need to build something to show, but you don’t want to spend so much months of effort building just to find out it was all for nothing either. This is why the nature of startups are so delicate and iterative. You need to build a simple iteration that clearly solves the foundational problem you want to solve. Screw the other features and your incredible long-term plans – what does its most crude version solve. I’ll use Fiix as an example.How Fiix Got Initial TractionOur long-term plans were grand. From day one, we wanted to be the Uber for auto-repair, helping make safe and smooth driving (done through maintenance and repairs) very convenient and remove the hassle of visiting a repair shop for every little thing. We wanted to be used across the country, and offer servicing on virtually all parts of cars. But we knew that would be ridiculous to start off with – we didn’t have connections with manufacturers to buy parts, hired mechanics who could work all day or customer support who could source clients and handle calls. We thought people would love the idea, but we didn’t know for sure. All we had was ourselves in the cold winter, plus an idea. At this phase, you must bootstrap – do literally whatever it takes to validate your idea.For us, we built a prototype website, and asked our friends and family to try it out. Since two of us had a background in coding, we could do a job that otherwise would've cost a lot money. I highly recommend learning and leveraging your own skill set as much as possible and paying as little as you can out of your own pocket (however, using a service that is a few dollars a month to build a website for example is reasonable. What isn't reasonable is hiring someone to make it for $1000 if you're early stage). When starting, there was just 1 service: tire changes. And we did that ourselves. After each interaction, we got valuable feedback on pricing and real customer opinions, which is extremely important in your local area where you begin to start your business (remember, this group needs to love whatever you're doing. After that, we slowly added services that we could buy the parts for, improving our website and adding new marketing streams. It was cold, hard and gritty, but each paying customer meant another validation.Takeaways from Our ExperienceDream big and start today. Don’t expect your big plans to come unless you make incremental progress each day, so assess where you are now and just focus on that. Build whatever you need for customers to try out your basic idea, and nothing more until you have that validated.Get them to pay/use the real product. Whatever your monetization model is (how you’ll make money), make sure you test that. Sure, giving away that augmented reality product that you made is amazing (send me one if you ever do), but you don’t actually get to see what value a real customer gets from it. The best proxy is willingness to pay, so you can get feedback on the price.Ask for tons of feedback from every single customer. That is the best thing you can do when iterating, trying out a new feature, or testing a part of your business model. Even pay customers for feedback. We recommended doing survey contests/giveaways and asking your network to fill out a survey on something like Survey monkey. Or do one-on-one interviews with them for more detailed info, and offer rewards ($10 for the interview, $50 for the giveaway winner for example). These few hundred dollars will go a long way incentivizing people to actually do your survey, and hopefully give quality feedback.Continuously zone in on problems and add in new features to solve them, then validate those. Repeat. After you get sufficient feedback, go straight back to the product, fix things up and return. As we saw customers liked the service, but hated that weren’t enough servicing options, we decided to expand the types of jobs offered. Sometimes you may get conflicting feedback, so you need to make judgement calls of what fits the style of your product more. Ie) One customer prefers an app, another prefers a website – you need to figure out what’s better for your vision, but in general let customer opinions lead the way.Put some money into it. This is more for startups, but goes for any small business. Nowadays, it is extremely easy to develop the software, make a financial model, come up with an idea and research market opportunities and evidence for why your idea will have a great product-market fit. Investors and lenders realize this, and are very aware they or any competitor can achieve this themselves. What you need is some personal investment to show you believe in your idea, and are willing to stake more on it as time goes on. Most investors don’t want a founder who will exit at the first offer of a buy-out, so showing you’re putting your own stake in the game is a great way to A) show that this isn’t just a hobby and you’re in this product for real B) actually expand your validation and early prototype development capabilities.Bootstrap and never assume you’re above doing a certain type of work. Starting a business is HARD – life will smack you down over and over and over. Trust me. If you have already created more obstacles for yourself via a closed-mindset on what you’re willing to go out there and do (not like risk all your personal assets, but the time/labour aspect), then you will have a high chance of failing. No one on your team should feel comfy – you should always be robust and willing to do any job they can that your early-stage company requires. Answering customer phone calls, stay up all night coding, building new designs or even going door-to-door to ask about your idea – if you aren’t willing to do all that right now, find a reason to. It’ll do you a lot of good when things get hard, so find those reasons to push your limit and do what it takes.Formulating the StepsWith all those lessons, I’ve pretty much covered it, but here’s the steps in summary:Get your most basic product ready that solves the foundational problem and starting validating that.Do market research via paid surveys and interviews and asking the customers or people you reach out to for feedback. Leverage your network.Once you get enough validation on the foundational idea, then examine problems or areas where you could better meet desire. There is always something more you can do.Fix those problems up to the next stage and add in any new ideas/features that add to solving that foundational use-case or other highly-likely use cases. Make incremental progress – for example, we wouldn’t move from tire changes to replacing a head gasket (needs more professional work, better part sourcing, much too niche – we offer it now, but never would have at the beginning).Repeat this validation process as you grow more traction.One last thing – If your current strategy isn’t getting good responses already, after you already targeted a specific demographic and have a good amount of reviews, then it can be concerning. Constantly receiving “meh” responses is a good indicator that it may be time to consider pivoting. The nature of a startup is iterative because of pivoting – adapting rapidly with each new cycle to better and more closely meet all consumer needs. Always try to strive for that, and keep validating.Next time I’ll focus on picking a solid team and discuss how Fiix chose its founding members and first few employees. It’s definitely essential that this group is extremely driven, has complimentary skills and shares values – a great team can sometimes will a product into the realm of success. Investors even sometimes purely invest on the quality of a team, so picking a good one is nothing short of potentially receiving hundreds of thousands to start your dream firm. Even if you don’t need investment, you’re going to be working with them for years, so you better like seeing them every day. I’ll try my best to get it up early January – hope you’ve enjoyed part 2!Heads up: I posted this last week but after posting a team member said he wanted to talk to me about the post and preferred if it was removed. After a few days we worked out that it was a part of our early days he didn’t feel comfortable having public, so it’s now removed. Don’t worry, it didn’t hurt the message of the guide too much – I spent time adding other details and a new example that should bring the same idea home. I’ve been really swamped though before the holidays, otherwise I would’ve put this up sooner with the new content. Really wanted to get it up before Christmas for you guys, so hope you enjoy it and best of luck with your dream in 2018!