#I think almost every poll in this round is difficult | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

snkpolls · 5 years ago

Text

SnK Chapter 126 Poll Results

The chapter 126 poll closed with 1,647 responses. Thank you for your support! This month’s poll results were compiled by @shifter-lines , /u/alooulla, /u/_Puppet_, @manerein and @momtaku.

RATE THE CHAPTER 1,514 responses

“Rate the Chapter” is a genuine bell curve this month instead of having its more typical overwhelmingly positive skew. While not terrible by any means, the response to chapter 126 was the most lukewarm since chapter 107, and it was the second worse performing chapter since we started the poll.

(Kazoo Avengers theme)

By far, this was the chapter I enjoyed the least, I just hope that the ending feels realistic

Definitely fast paced, but definitely needed to finally kick things into high gear. The Calm Before The Storm…

it was pretty disappointing by aot standards, but the last 15 chapters were amazing, so what am i even complaining for.... i just hope that isayama can write a decent ending.

I feel like this is either one of those chapters that will be more rewarding in hindsight when we have more info or was just straight up moving forward so we can get to the good stuff faster and we will have to suck it up and move on. All in all I think it was a good chapter even if a little rushed.

Easily the worst chapter in years due to the fast pacing, convenient plot developments and cliche and very cheesy and cringey ending page quote.

In the anime they could make a whole episode out this single chapter instead of using two chapters to make a single episode

ISAYAMA GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!! THE SAUNA AINT RUNNING AWAY FROM YOU

Haha pie

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT? 1,519 responses

After nearly a year of absence Levi and Hange were finally back in the story so it’s no surprise that “Everything with Levi and Hange” topped the list of favorite moments with 22.1%. “Avengers Assemble” was a distant second with 10.6%. Confirmation that Levi was alive came in third (10.2%).

ONYANKOPON CALLYING JAEGERISTS A BUNCH OF CHAUVINISTS

Pieck and Hange teaming up? Eren better watch out because those two together are gonna KICK SOME ASS!

Hange needs so much more appreciation, she is such a good person. I hope she and Levi both survive this shit.

I loved everything that happened, it just desperately needs some more detail filled in.

I loved Levi and Hange interactions

Annie eating pie is just perfect

It was so good to see Levi and Hanji again and together. They suffered so much, i need an end where they both survive and can have a restful retirement

Glad to see that Connie is still a good guy. Also that he is trying his best becouse of his Mother.

But what Pieck Pieck? The greatest tragedy is that Isayama took that from us, y'know not that Eren is destroying the world or something...

I really loved to see Armin and Annie together!

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE MOMENT? 1,507 responses

Talk about polarity. “Avengers Assemble” may have been the second most popular “Favorite Moment” but it was also the landslide winner for “Least Favorite” with nearly 22% of the fandom selected it as the worst moment of the chapter. “Floch’s Speech” (13.8%) and “The Ragako Subplot” (13.5%) rounded out the top 3.

everyone called them the avengers but lets get real they are a fuckin Suicide Squad

Why are we wasting time on Louise

Avengers Lowcost version

Didn't understand Magath reasons to join forces with his enemys. It felt like some story in between was missing.

Can I just say I hate what Isayama did with Connie's character? I've never seen a character as bipolar in his development

Floch was the only good part....

WHO WAS THIS CHAPTER’S MVP? 1,503 responses

Hange (23%), Jean (16.2%) and Armin (13.4%) were our top three favorite characters this month. It needs to be said that “Pie” came in at number four with nearly 10% of the fandom selecting it.

it WAS nice to see characters choosing to be their best selves for the sake of others. For that reason, it was difficult to pick an MVP -- but I gave it to Onyankopon because he crystallized so eloquently exactly what I had been thinking since Eren started the Rumbling.

Levi and hange tho

So much Erwin nods! Yesss <333

Still love my boy Jean!

Some characters are still acting consistent: Jean, Magath, Levi (still not over killing the BT and that's good), Onyankopon and Floch.

Connies growth, Jean's motivation, I'm glad these boys are reclaiming their almost-lost humanity!

Levi. That is all.

Oh, also, I want pie.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE HANGE AND LEVI CAMPSITE MOMENT? 1,494 responses

“Hange suggesting that they live in the woods together” (27.2%) was the favorite campsite moment, followed by “Levi’s words upon waking up” (23.3%). “Hange sniping while shedding a tear” was third (19.6%))

I'm giving this 5/5 solely for Yams finally feeding the LeviHan shippers some good fucking food after so long.

I ship Levi and Hange. It's so cute when Hange realized that Levi was listening to her/him while pretending to sleep.

Shirtless Levi round two! Wit, you better do the job correctly this time!

We need a Historia chapter but it’s great to see Hange and Levi being back.

PIECK… FINGER? 1,492 responses

Pieck Finger. Pieck Finger everybody. You know how a common response to trauma or awkwardness is humor? Well 42.6% of you are primarily concerned with how “Pieck Finger” will be memed. 24.7% of you accept the trauma and say you wish she would’ve just stayed “Pieck”, and 20.6% of you are glad she has a last name, but did it really have to end like this? 6.5% of you think it’s a “cool and realistic last name”, and I think you guys scare me more than the people who vote “Snapchat” on the last question every month. More on that later.

"pekfinger" is swedish for "pointer finger" too. oh lord

Back when Pieck was supposed to be a dude, the working name was "Oliver Pieck", at least from what I read on the AoT wiki. I feel like Isayama could have just switched the first and last name around to make it "Pieck Oliver." That would've sounded far less weird.

I know a guy named Buck Ramming. Pieck Finger is fine by me lol

It's an instruction not a name.

Levi sure could use a couple of Piecks right about now heyoooooo

the fact that she got the worst titan and now also the worst name it’s so funny

What kind of a first name is Pieck?

AS PREDICTED, CONNIE’S ROADTRIP WITH FALCO ENDED AMICABLY. WHAT DID YOU THINK OF IT? 1,498 responses

The Ragako subplot did little for the readers with nearly one-third of the fandom calling it a complete waste of time. The majority (46.2%) were slightly more charitable selecting “It was ok. I’m glad it wrapped up quickly”. Only 17.5% loved the moment. The write-ins were pretty damning.

Good plotpoint, really bad execution

I cringed the whole time.

I liked the outcome, but it was handled too quickly

A complete waste of time: Connie's arc? Sharted over. The consequences about Falco? Sharted over. Possibility to exploit serumbowl or Ymir's memories? Glossed over.

All of this made no sense and it was solved so quickly it seemed unrealistic. YAMS WE NEED PROPER CLOSURE PLS DON'T WASTE MORE INK

Connie changed his mind a bit too quickly, but it was good nevertheless

Connie deserved better writing.

Felt too shallow for how quick it sprung up, needed more development. As it is now, it could've just not happened

I'm glad that Connie hasn't died yet because I appreciate him, but there's been wasted potential. Ymir's memories and Porco and Colt's deaths have been reduced to a single vignette where we can only speculate and write fics.

Missed opportunity to actually develop Connie's character. We didn't learn anything we didn't already know about Connie.

This feels like what the anime did to the Uprising Arc. It happened way too fast and honestly felt like Isayama was just checking it off a list, so to say. Which is honeslty a bit uncharactieristic of his writing. I really hope this doesn't start, or continue, a trend...

WHICH DENTAL HYGIENE MOMENT DID YOU ENJOY MORE? 1,494 responses

Before I talk about the numbers, I just want to shout out the one guy who responded “Other” and just said “why”. Anyway, a solid majority of you guys’ favorite dental hygiene moment was Hange asking Pieck rude lady questions, which frankly sounds much worse than it actually is. The next most common answer, getting just over 25% of the votes, was Connie’s Master Plan™, followed by “Both”, followed by “Neither!” I still like the guy who just said “why”.

I didn't mind it, but I heard that Isayama did this so he could get a toothbrush merch campaign going lol

Isayama has a teeth fetish confirmed

Holy Fuck what was Connies face doing when he was talking about titan teeth brushing.

Why, just why

Pie

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF HOW MIKASA ACTED TOWARDS LOUISE? 1,457 responses

The fandom is almost evenly divided over Mikasa’s actions towards Louise. By the narrowest of margins, Mikasa’s compassionate nature took the majority (26.8%). The other extreme, “Mikasa should’ve sucked it up and let the girl be happy”, was second with 26.2%. A quarter of the fandom instead chose to focus on Louise. “Louise was crazy and deserves the cold shoulder” was third (23.9%).

It's not surprising that Mikasa ran out of f*cks to give. There are only so many lives she can value, and right now she doesn't have the time to spare, or room in her heart.

I don't think Mikasa had any responsibility there, and the scarf is hers. Given its significance, and that she owes Louise nothing, it seemed like the moment was morally neutral.

I really didn't care. Louise is barely a character, and Mikasa had no duty to be nice to a person who enabled and supported a bloody coup just because she saved her life once.

I don’t blame Mikasa. I don’t like and want to spend time with my stalkers either

I felt bad for Louise. She’s dying, let her think you care about her, Mikasa

I felt like Louise is completely obsessional but Mikasa is just as much. To me these kinds of moments show that Mikasa has completely lost it recently

I'm concerned about what this says for Mikasa's character development thus far, and I felt kind of bad for Louise

I'm sick of the scarf back and forth

It actually seems quite obvious to me that Mikasa pitied the poor girl, but there was nothing she could have done for her. Because she simply lacks the time necessary to care for Luise, or change her mind or make sure that she's ok.

That this is about Mikasa’s compassion or lack thereof I think says more about how we feel women should feel. I think it was fine, she barely knows Louise and there is a lot more going on. Louise is a grown woman that made her own decisions.

the most interesting part about it is that Eren asked Louise to throw the scarf away. that's it.

Mikasa already did a good gesture by visiting Louise, no one would ask Jean to do the same with Floch, so I don't see the big deal. Both cases are "protagonist sees themselves in antagonist, and realise how they mustn't become like them".

WHY DID MIKASA DECIDE TO TAKE HER SCARF BACK? 1,482 responses

“Mikasa wants it back for other reasons” was the selection of nearly half of respondents, since “wearing it” and vague malice towards Louise were the other two options.

Eren wants her to throw it away, so she's making her own decision and going against his wishes on purpose.

I don’t know if she’ll wear it again, but it’s always been her scarf and she’ll decide it’s fate when she’s ready

I think she wants to give it back to Eren.

It's still important to her. She may let go of Eren but the scarf is always gonna be there to remind her of what was and the family she once had.

It’s just simply that it’s hard to throw away a possession you held dear for most of your life. It’d be more out of character for her to throw it away. I don’t think she ever planned on abandoning the scarf—setting it aside was rather Isayama’s way of showing Mikasa’s conflicted thoughts on her relationship with Eren.

Ultimately, Mikasa's the authority on the scarf and it's emotional weight, while Louise was trying to squeeze her own meaning out of it. It wasn't Louise's place to do so, and it wasn't her scarf to take. Whatever is to be done with it, to see it used again, given to someone else, or see it thrown out or destroyed, is a choice only the scarf's real owner, Mikasa, should make.

THEY FOUND ANNIE BY SITTING NEXT TO HER WHILE SHE WAS EATING PIE, THOUGHTS? 1,497 responses

The reunion with Annie was another chapter moment that fell flat for the majority with only 21.8% expressing approval with it. The majority (31.8%) thought it would’ve been ok if there was more time for conversation and reaction and 22% were primarily bothered by the coincidence involved in the reunion. The remaining 20% found the lazy writing unforgivable.

*sigh*

There was way too much build up just to have it end in a gag. It was cute, but it... just doesn't work?

Are you telling me that every time you talk about Robert Downey Jr. he doesn't just appear right next to you?

Humor was not appropriate in this situation

I fucking loved it

I think it's lazy writing but it made me laugh pretty hard so I'll give it a pass

It was a funny moment but definitely not how I had imagined nor hoped Armin/Annie's reunion would happen

Sitting together like nothing happened before and eat and laugh… are you serious?!! It’s not funny

SNK has always had funny moments like this woven into it, especially when the 104th were still trainee's, and it's nice to see a tonal flashback to the past like this.

Stranger things have happened. Floch's hair, for example.

WHAT SORT OF PIES DO YOU THINK THEY WERE EATING? 1,469 responses

Fruit. Definitely fruit.

...

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

What's the point of this question?? I'm confused

What the fuck is a meat pie?

We're missing PIEces of the puzzle still

WHAT PIE WOULD YOU SCARF DOWN THAT FAST IF YOU WERE ANNIE? 1,459 responses

Apple (23.9%), and chocolate (16.2%) are our favorite pies, with Meat and “I don’t like pie” tying for third (11.4%). Several respondents were rather vocal about this even being asked. To them I say Isayama is the one who started this :P

Apricot, you American heathens

Duh. Pineapple of course

I'd be more worried about getting home to my dad before he's crushed by a psycho

Marleyan organ pie made by the Usurper Chad himself!

nectarine pie.... you should try it

Rhubarb pie. Best Pie Ever.

Sweet Potato Pie!

There are so many interesting questions you could have asked in this poll yet didn't, but you're asking about pie? (A/N: There are so many interesting things Isayama could have drawn in this chapter yet didn't, but he's drawing about pie? )

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT HITCH BEING LEFT BEHIND? 1,479 responses

While the majority thought it was a good way to write her out (36.3%), there was plenty of disappointment (26.2%) and many who thought it could’ve been handled better (16.6%). A segment of the fandom (18.5%) thinks she’ll be back since there is more she has yet to do.

Perfect. She is always left behind throughout the series. The continuation of this makes sense.

Does the lack of Hitch means the lack of pies? Because this is unacceptable.

Glad that she'll survive probably, but she was such an interesting character

Annie and Hitch were my new otp, so just sad feels

Hitch is safe from now on. Ok for me.

I felt so sorry for her, because Annie's disappearance reminded me a bit of Hitch's relationship with Marlowe. Once more it seemed like the Survey Corps was taking someone precious away from her, off to an unknown and risky fate

I never had pie so Idk.

WERE YOU WORRIED THAT JEAN WOULD JOIN THE JAEGERISTS? 1,480 responses

For this question, 21.5% of you were a little nervous that Jean might join the Jaegerists, but a much more significant 69.2% understood the implied fact that the Jaegerists only accept humans, and Jean is a horse, and therefore there was never any threat of him allying with them. You’d think that with like four hundred years of this series being out, I’d think of a better way to make that joke, but here we are. Anyway, the last 9.3% of you think Jean would do more to help Paradis if he joined the Ab Church, which is an excellent parallel to the Wall Church in the beginning of the series, I might add.

I still wish more time was given to the subplots such as more time to stew on Jean joining the Yaegarists

LAST MONTH 75% OF THE FANDOM THOUGHT JEAN WOULD BE THE PERSON TO TAKE DOWN FLOCH. DO YOU STILL THINK THE HAIRBOWL WILL HAPPEN? 1,463 responses

Remaining in the strong majority, 72.6% of you guys think there will be some sort of confrontation between Jean and Floch, though whether that means you think Jean will be the person to “take down” Floch or not is beyond me. I don’t know. I didn’t write this question, I’m just writing the blurb for it.

I'm still betting on Floch shooting Jean in the head as a punishment for not going along with the flow

take down Floch please!!!! ..

FINAL WORDS. WHO DID IT BETTER? 1,479 responses

With 43% of the vote, Onyankopon’s... several... words? beat out Yelena’s strong and (mostly) silent type response (which got 33.1% of the vote, by the way) at their “execution''. 23.9% of respondents said “Both”, and while technically “both” couldn’t have done it “better”, I’ll let it slide, because they were both pretty cool, and semantics don’t matter.

Best boy was Onyankopon. We only used to get glimpses of him and finally he has rebelled, showing that he has more guts than some of our main characters.

JEAN AND HANGE’S PLAN TO ESCAPE SHIGANSHINA HAPPENED OFFSCREEN. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT? 1,473 responses

Three-fourths of the fandom expressed some disapproval of how the offscreen planning of the escape from Shinganshina went down calling it sloppy(18.1%) and confusing (13.9%). Of those, the majority (39%) will be ok with it if a future chapter provides more details. Only a quarter of the fandom completely loved the handling of this.

Even if flashbacks fill the gaps later, they won't make 126 a better chapter.

How did they even communicate? I thought it was all planned between Jean and Mikasa

on the page with the titans marching at night, you can see a figure standing outside jean's window. could be hange coming to discuss plans

I liked it, but I think I like it even more if it's explained in the next chapter(s).

I think he did it that way to add surprise. I feel like lately he has been in general illustrating with a more cinematic eye and by writing the scene this way it will play better in visual media. Lately I feel like he has been thinking this way, it’s been a trend for a while now.

This is why you shouldn't cram up 3 chapters worth of content into one. I don't care if Isayama has to end his volume on some goddamn awful page. You don't mess with certain parts of the narrative.

It was fine, it wasn't necessarily a scene that needed to be included so I'm fine with it.

WHO WAS THE PERSON IN THE WINDOW? 1,456 responses

Who was the person in the window? Was Chapter 116 the last time we’ll ever see Eren transform into his Attack Titan? How to turn into a titan without alerting the military police??? When will I stop asking questions? Right now!

Just under two-thirds of the votes for this question went to Shadis. Following Shadis at a clean 10% is Zeke, trailed by Zombie Erwin at 9.6%. Given the theories about Eren’s body at the end of 117 being a Warhammer clone, I never thought I’d see the day when Zombie Erwin beats Eren in a “who is the mysterious character who is not inside Eren’s Titan” question, but here we are!

CHADIS

Keith Lurkdis

Erwin never died! What even is that option 'zombie Erwin'???

Farmer-kun

Idk but whomever it is I hope they're a good guy.

Male adult figure... Must be my man Shadis. There's no way Zeke would wear so many clothes.

Ugh I have no idea. I’m not going to pretend I can predict anything anymore.

2Pac

WHY DO YOU THINK MAGATH DEMANDED THEY CAPTURE YELENA? 1,465 responses

Why did Magath bring Yelena back with Jean and Onomatopoeia? ~20% of you thought it was because she’s need for a plan involving Zeke, ~17% think he wants the details of Zeke’s plan from her, just over 14% said he wants information about Eren, 4.4% of you think he wants her as a prisoner, and the overwhelming majority, at 44.6%, think it’s all of the above.

My theory is that Yelena is Magath's daughter

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE FINAL PANEL? 1,478 responses

Another close one. If we disregard those who selected “Avengers Assemble”, which even though we added it I have no idea if it’s meant “Hell yes, can’t wait to see the Hulk and Black Widow together again” or “Please let Tony Stark’s legacy RIP.”, The “I didn’t like it” beat out the “I liked it” by 0.3%. However you look at the data, it’s astonishing that essentially one-third of the fandom did not like this ending.

*sigh*

Get in loser, we're going to save the world

A nice cringe to start my day with :)

The old gangs back together but with ADDITIONAL TRAUMA

I think it was supposed to be satirical. A lot of us expected that the warriors and the 104th would unite again so I think Isayama made it as cliché as possible to 1)offer the readers some comic relief, 2)maybe mock his own plot and show that he's aware that this alliance is kind of cliché.

At what point did Annie and Reiner deserve to be forgiven and taken in by the SC? And why do they think they actually can (or even should) stop the Rumbling?

Marvel copied the last panel

It is a reference to Reiner’s long time ambition, and an indication to his next role. Helos perhap. But I don't think isayama would let him save the world happily. Maybe he will save the world in an ironic and tragic way.

Brilliant !!! Finally it's Connie's turn to shine.

Can't wait to see this optimism crushed. Great moment, though.

I don't understand why people think it's such a cheap cheesy ploy when it's honestly kinda obvious that they're being set up for a fall. Optimism almost always meets at the very least a bittersweet reality in this story.

It's cheesy, but people don't consider it's Connie who's saying this who is an idiot

REGARDING THE LAST PANEL, DO YOU THINK THEY HAVE A PLAN? 1,475 responses

Nearly 70% of you believe that Final Panel Gang have a plan, while just over 30% think they’re just gonna wing it. Get it? “Wing it”?

For more serious commentary, we’re normally used to seeing “Yes/No” questions a little more perfectly split, especially the ones that involve Eren. It’s interesting to see a more unified response, even if it means that SOMEBODY on Reddit is going to say “Nice.” about the Yes vote.

Isayama will probably do a flashback of the plan, he likes doing this sort of thing lol. It was fine.

It's fine IF the planning is shown in the following chapters, but if not then it'll feel like Isayama couldn't come up with solutions and did everything off screen just because of that.

Telling the plan to the reader only works, if the plan fails.

I feel like the pacing of the chapter was this fast so that Isayama could end with the "Avengers Assemble" scene as the big volume cliffhanger for the next one, so he tried to get through the events quickly to give it that poetic ending. In that case, it's possible Isayama might show how some of these events unfolded in the next chapter or two; he usually does that kind of thing when showing big events for the first time. If the next chapter fleshes some of the scenes from this chapter more like showing Jean discussing the Avengers' plan with Mikasa and Armin, I think that could make this chapter better when we look back on it.

WOULD YOU RATHER THIS CHAPTER HAVE BEEN SPLIT INTO TWO? 1,468 responses

Remember what I said about being accustomed to more split votes? Well, 39.5% of you said that you would prefer this chapter have been split into two, citing a lack of development, while 39.2% of you said that you’re glad Isayama is, *ahem*, moving forward with the plot. The near-perfect divisions breaks off a little bit when we consider that another ~12% said no, blaming the plots themselves for the problems with chapter, and 6% effectively voting yes, saying that the chapter should’ve been split into three.

Ask me again in a few months when we see how the whole plot wraps up and if Isayama adds any additional details via flashback.

Honestly all of these plot points could have been arcs within themselves and i wish it had been given enough time to become that

I like that the plot is progressing but i don't like the subplots being rushed

I'm happy it's going forward and not dragging on, but I would've loved more of an interaction between the scouts and annie/reiner.

One and a half

𝜋

There are various holes (lack of reaction during Annie's appearance, poor coherency of when Eren managed to speak with many people) but Isayama is giving us cool alliances, so it's half okay.

IF YOU COULD DROP A SUBPLOT, WHICH ONE WOULD IT BE? 1,463 responses

A fairly close call here, with the trip to Ragako Village being out in front with 42.6 percent of you claiming this is the subplot you would drop; Louise and Mikasa’s plot about the scarf is close behind on 36.2 percent. Perhaps readers feel the time for small subplots is done, since there’s so much still to do with the main plot we do not understand? A lot of responses indicated Mikasa’s perceived ‘cruelty’ (you’re all wrong, just so you know!) towards Louise, so perhaps this is indicative of why so many people would choose this event to be the subplot to drop.

Mikasa is just dead inside atm, but i feel bad for Louise

Mikasa knew Louise wanted that scarf, but she knew she needed it more. Plus I can barely remember Louise lol

Mikasa's behavior isn't good, but it's understandable---there are numerous mentally taxing events occurring.

Ragako stuff kinda sucked.

Goddamnit, this chapter was smelly poo. Not only we spent 3 months for nothing with that stupid Ragako plot and now everybody is holding hands just like that. If you're bringing an alliance you're not gonna make it happen offscreen with no detail whatsoever?

Ah and the Ragako subplot missed addressing the serumbowl as well: all we got is Armin whining about not being like Erwin and that's it. No Bert, no Ymir being addressed.

IF YOU COULD HAVE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ONE SUBPLOT IN THIS CHAPTER, WHICH WOULD YOU CHOOSE? 1,466 responses

Another close one! “The Armin and Annie reunion” is the subplot the majority wished for more information about with nearly 30% selecting it. “The conversation with Hange and Magath” was second (25.2%) and “Escape from Shiganshina” (17.7%) was third.

I was just expecting Levi, Hange and the corps interaction would be more surprising. The same goes for Annie and Armin's convo.

The mikasa scarf submit definitely could’ve happened in another chapter. This was too rushed and I really hope no other chapters feel this way. This chapter should’ve just been the Tagalog subplot, and then Annie and armin reunion. Then another chapter with hange/levi, Jean/flock and how they all came together to join forces.

It's so obvious this mad lad Isayama wanted to break the tension from the Armin / Annie reunion scene. We never know where he's going to trick us, do we ?

I do think that many things were kind of glossed over to save time. I'd prefer that things slow down a bit, just so we can soak up all that context. For example, the conversation between Hange and Magath, Annie and Armin's reunion and others.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT HOW EASILY THE ALLIANCES WERE FORMED? 1,474 responses

A mere 17.5% enjoyed how easily the alliances were formed. The majority (43%) called it “OK” while a more than a third of the fandom (36.2%) hated it. Some folks seem to indicate it was expected and just needed to happen quickly so the story could move along. However, the amount of people who hated it was too large to ignore; and largely for similar reasons, that it appeared too easy. Maybe the mistrust and emotion will come as the story moves along? Some of your responses indicate trouble ahead, if not behind.

Also Hanji sides too many times with "benefactors". I'm expecting the alliance to be shaky, with probably backstabbings and double-crossings. They seemed to make an agreement over killing Zeke (since no side likes him), and I doubt characters like Mikasa, Armin or Jean would be ok with killing Eren.

I don't get all the madness over the alliance, It was obvious it would happen. Also it's obvious all the things glossed this chapter will be shown in Flashback if important, like what lead Annie join them, on how Hanji contacted Jean (although i think a lot of people didn't notice the shadow in the window on that panel of Jean in the bed).

It was warm and fuzzy and I really needed that, but the actual details of the new alliance will absolutely need to be expounded upon soon.

it wouldve been better if connie's mom plot didn't exist we could've got a better build up to the alliance

Overall, things were way too rushed, as if Isayama just wanted to get to the last page. I'm expecting to see how this alliance was made in flashback form, as is typical for Isayama, but that won't fix the inherent issues of this specific chapter.

Hange getting so along with Pieck, who fought against them when Erwin was killed, was a complete joke.

I don't get all the madness over the alliance, It's was obvious it would happen. Also it's obvious all the things glossed this chapter will be shown in Flashback if important, like what lead Annie join them, on how Hanji contacted Jean (although i think a lot of people didn't noticed the shadow in the window on that panel of Jean in the bed).

I love seeing them all but oh heckin it was just a little too fast

WHICH THROWBACK DID YOU ENJOY MOST CHAPTER? 1,465 responses

“Jean remembering Marco” (31.9%) narrowly edged out “Annie kicking Reiner”(30.3%) as our favorite throwback. Levi remembering his promise was a distant third (16.2%).

That Marco’s throwback really hit me . *SOB*

I didn't like the Erwin reference when Armin tried to sacrafice himself for connies mother, instead of falco being eaten.

Armin recognized a very important thing to himself (he can't stay trying to Erwin, he suck on that, he needs to do what he is good on it, but as his own person and not shadow of Erwin)

Where was Jean at the end there? I want him to confront Annie over Marco. Poor guy had the worst death in the series. He was murder in cold blood and then it got covered up. Plus, the only person trying to solve the mystery is Jean. Bless Jean he is such a good friend

It makes sense that Connie would say that to Reiner of all people (that line come back to his childhood trauma). Fandom freaking out and fearing a cheesy happy ending is ridiculous.

I didn’t think it was cheesy at all. It circles back to Reiner’s declaration to Keith back during the training arc.

I'm kinda sick of Reiner's Kick The Dog treatment too. I know Annie hates him but still...

REGARDING HOW THE AVENGER'S MISSION AND THE ENDING WILL GO, WHICH OF THESE IS PREFERABLE/ACCEPTABLE TO YOU? 1,465 responses

Fans proving as ever, that they are a divisive bunch! However, it's clear that the smallest amount of responses favour the rumbling being stopped and world peace occuring (hippies!). Some responses indicate that this chapter made them nervous for the ending being overly optimistic, even with Eren as the apparent antagonist. Endings where Eren achieves an extreme form of Brexit (Paradexit?) with a victory over the armies of the world have a fairly even spread of positive responses, proving that he still has a lot of fans on his side. However, most of you responded in the vague sense of feeling like Isayama knows best and at this point, just seeing where this wild ride takes us.

I keep seeing this popular prediction on almost every platform: Eren destroys the world outside Paradise, goes back to Historia and her newborn kid (in this sort of prediction it is always assumed that he's the father), tells his kid (who is also thought to be reborn Ymir) "you're free" and goes on to be a good dad - End of story. Honestly the thought of this type of ending pisses me off so much. Not only because its reeks of typical shonen ending, but because it goes against all the themes and ideas that Isayama has written into the story over the years.

I would not be upset with a 'golden' ending. Some part of me wants that to happen.

It setup the shonen cliche route and can ruin the ending

It was very unusual for this manga. I hope that the author will come to the most logical ending and will not use the power of friendship.

Least exciting chapter I can remember; it has me apprehensive about the ending.

I hope Eren's conclusion will end with him winning, however I do not him accepting his morality and to be shocked at what he's done but to come to terms with what he's done.

While I'm more supportive of Eren, I'm fine with whichever side comes out on top of this as long as it doesn't involve Eren being stopped through Power of Friendship or Talk no Jutsu. That would feel too cheap.

WHICH RALLYING CRY DID YOU PREFER? 1,445 responses

While the Ragako subplot wasn’t exactly loved, Connie’s rallying cry was the fandom favorite (28.4%). Hange’s plea to Magath was a close second (26%) while Floch’s message of freedom was third (25%).

AT THIS POINT, AROUND WHICH CHAPTER DO YOU EXPECT THE MANGA WILL CONCLUDE? 1,472 responses

The pacing of this chapter and the way its implications relate to the entire manga was, if I may be so bold, one of the more talked about meta points this month, from what I’ve seen. Maybe that was the thought process behind this question. I don’t know. I didn’t write this one either. That’s a good thought process though.

Anyway, a borderline overwhelming majority of you said that the manga will end around Chapter 134 (48.4% of you). The next most common answer was Chapter 138, which would give us 12 more chapters. Chapter 130 got the least amount of votes, at 7.3%. The remaining votes went to Chapter 142+, and I appreciate that optimism, because I for one hate thinking about this question.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST HOPING TO SEE NEXT CHAPTER? 1,475 responses

“Historia when?” (26%) tops the list followed by the long awaited Eren POV (23.5%). “Details on things glossed over this chapter” was the third pick (22.7%) followed by “Zeke, Eren and OG Ymir” (11.6%).

I can't wait to see Zeke's reaction at seeing Levi AGAIN ready to fuck him up.

Historia when?? Also, Hange needs a hug, Levi needs sleep, Armin and Annie need to talk, Falco needs to deal with his brother's death some more, and we all need Erwin to come back :(

I hope we get flashbacks to explain all this off screen development.

Isayama please for the love of god remember that Historia exists.

Where is HISTORIA

where is zeke?

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 1,401 responses

Reddit continues to dominate this question, pulling 44.9% of the vote. “I don’t” actually takes second place this month, with Tumblr coming next, followed very closely by Twitter, which is in turn followed closely by Discord. In descending order from there, we have real life, 4chan, Youtube, a two-way tie between Instagram and Facebook, and everything else has less than 10 votes.

Before I move on though, it’s absolutely critical that I draw your attention to last month’s poll. Last month, I said, and I quote,

“Lastly, something ominous is going on in the Snapchat cult, because there were only two of you this month, down from five last month. That’s still enough to reproduce though and it makes me uneasy.“

“Why are you bringing that up?” you may be asking yourself. I’m bringing it up because Snapchat got SIX votes this time. “Why does that matter?” you ask yourself next. I’m glad you asked. That’s a 300% increase. If that rate continues, in just five month’s time, there will be more members of the Snapchat cult than the rest of you COMBINED.

That’s not to say anything more than it says, but I should add that I was totally vindicated on the Snapchat cult reproduction theory. Having done the math, you guys DEFINITELY scare me more than the people who liked “Pieck Finger”.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE CHAPTER? 375 responses

Remember kids, the world is currently supposed to be ending

I know most people hated how rushed it felt, but honestly, I'm glad this wasn't split into 2 months. This leaves more time for the conclusion, and would much rather the alliances be rushed rather than the ending.

While it's certainly sad that Louise may not be long for this world, I also don't think Mikasa owes her anything. Mikasa seems to see a lot of traits she dislikes about herself cranked up to 11 in Louise, and I think it's understandable to need to distance oneself from toxic ideas or people. Mikasa and Louise were never friends, they never really knew each other, and never really cared about each other. Sure, Louise idolized an idea of Mikasa, but she put herself as separate from the real Mikasa, lesser. These two strangers never had a real chance to truly know each other, and that's okay, sad but okay.

While the panel of Annie with a face stuffed with pie is a gem, I think it seemed almost too good a coincidence. Both parties (Armin, Connie and the kids and Hitch & Annie) happen to be taking a break from their travels at the same time in the same city at the same festival. Seemed a bit too lucky.

Isayama has a bias against the yeagerists too. Portraying them as mindless dumbasses that are evil for no reason. Look at Floch everytime he has a moment it gets cut short for a "oh look at this dumbass" type of conclusion like him missing the shot at Shadis and getting duped by Jean and the 104th.

my dumb shipper’s heart wants Pieck’s reaction to Porco’s death.

this chapter felt too 'super hero movie' to me, in the sense that it was way too optimistic and cheesy, nothing like the Attack on Titan I know and love. Isayama's been watching too much Marvel.

A rushed chapter, Isayama may have messed up some timelines (e.g. Louise's talk with Eren, the changes in day and night), maybe Isayama was too focused on SAUNA SAUNA SAUNA when he was drawing the chapter but anyway, if the chapter was rushed because he wants to move to next plots (eee....east...eeeek...Ki....), I'm fine with it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Chapter Would've been terrific if it weren't for the rushed forced alliance. Mikasa's character also seemed out of place this chapter.

is not a bad chapter but at the same time is not a godly chapter like others but i have faith on isayama that he will blow our minds

Felt very disappointed and it is as if this story is moving to black and white territory again.

Good fast development, optimistic that what was glossed over will be addressed. A bit antsy that this is a setup for some tragedy but I don’t expect total senseless ruin for the characters.

I don't really see where all the complaints are coming from, to me the chapter must be one of my all time favorites ever since I've started reading the manga at the regular monthly pace. I think the build up and the tension have been steadily increasing slowly enough up to this point, and now we've finally reached the top of the roller coaster tracks, and it's time for the ride to the conclusion. I loved the mysterious plan, it reminds me of the uprising arc (ah the good old times).

I hope the author just got a bit lost and had to put things back on track quickly. I want to feel for these characters, not find out that I followed their struggles for chapters to see them dissolve for the sake of the plot.

Eren has suffered a lot over the years and a lot of things have been TAKEN from him - but do you remember "In order to achieve something, you have to give up something important"? I don't think Eren has ever GIVEN up something of his. He's always been a little maniac intent on killing the enemy (which is what he is doing right now). There have been so many characters in the story that have given up their dreams and finally their lives, why is Eren the one that gets to have his cake and eat it too?

I love it cause we need some time of just relax and be happy before the sad ending

I’m hoping the next chapter will make this one better by fleshing things out. Also seeing Annie and Reiner reunite made me deeply miss Bertolt this month.

JE VEUX PAS QUE CE MANGA FINISSE OMG

Reiner getting kicked in the face to wake up and understanding nothing is all of us

The more things don't seem to add up, the more you have to pay attention, that's what I learnt reading this series. And a whole lot didn't seem to add up in this chapter so I'm super hyped!

This is easily one of the weakest chapters Isayama has ever written. After creating all of these subplots that we were expecting to go somewhere and hold emotional weight for the characters were written off into cheap one-liners, off screen reactions and discussion, and just overall completely weak subplots that left us with no emotional payoff.

Boii I'm glad the development on the characters matters only when its relevant to the plot, I almost forget that I used to like them. If Reiner of all people doesn't point out how creepy and disgusting it all is I don't know what to say, what a waste of time of a series.

Connie mentioning Sasha made me cry! Actually makes me wish Eren pulls some time travel shit so that we can have our girl back.

Can I just say I find it funny, and I really love Pieck regardless, it is just a last name after all.

Good, but the former-enemy to friendly-pie-eating turnover rate was wayyyyy too fast!

I thought this chapter was it for Connie, who has been one of my favorites since the beginning. It was a bit sudden but I'm glad him not feeding Falco to his mom is Canon AND that it strengthened his bond with Armin.

It feels like none of the Jeagerists really see clearly what the situation is, or at least don't have an ounce of understanding or sympathy why everyone else is scared and freaked out by what has happened. That in turn makes it harder for non-Jeagerists to act with sympathy, what a vicious cycle.

What bothers me the most is not the way Mikasa interacted with Louise, but the fact that she wanted the scarf back. On a symbolic level, she left it behind a few chapters ago, which meant that she no longer put Eren first and started thinking about herself. She recognized that her bond with Eren was severed. So why take that scarf back now, when it's not supposed to have that much importance anymore?

I can see either the next chapter or the one after showing a flashback of Jean, Armin, and Mikasa discussing that plan. Cutting some parts of a scene and showing it in the following chapter or two is usually an Isayama thing to do.

I don't know why everyone's expecting every single piece of exposition to be laid out for them like meeting minutes. This isn't the first time we've understood what's been going on behind the scenes after the fact.

At the start Connie struggles to hold his emotions, and suddenly he's a hero, cheesy and cliche

Excuse me but can we stop making Gabi involved in everything? Shes so OP at this point

I loved the mockery of the cliche superhero assemble bullshit

STARDUST CRUSADERS

The cringe made me develop a permanent seizure. Also both my eyeballs are still stuck in the back of my head because of the excessive force I used trying to roll my eyes.

The team-up should have been given more time to develop. It wasn’t all bad though.

X-Men on their way to stop Magneto (Eren)

The problem does not lie so much in the pace as in the script tension, which Isayama killed a little in this chapter but intentionally I think. I mean the guys are literally sleeping and eating like it was a party during the freaking end of the world, do you really think he would have let such a thing slip out of clumsiness?

I'm pretty sure that Levi will have the role of "Helos", and Hange his 'Tybur' collaborator, because she's holding a hammer like the guy/girl next to Helos during the play (ch99).

Not the usual quality.

8/10. I liked annie's reunion the best, but wish that hitch had more characterization and wasn't written out so quickly. Ragako subplot was fine but predictable. Louise subplot kinda boring. Avengers assemble at the end was very anime and I liked it.

A peaceful chapter before the storm

A thought: What if Ackermans are the only ones able to actually kill off the Nine Titans? We know they’re byproducts of titan science, maybe they were created to annihilate them? That’d be devastating to see Levi or Mikasa kill Eren and Armin. I’d love it. 😂

Annie is the best girl

Anyone pretending this chapter wasn't utter shit is in hardcore denial.

Did not like the assemble. Nobody can forget what happened in the recent past of Paradis and what the warriors did. But have hope in Isayama

Do Gabi and Falco know that Armin is the Collosal Titan? I thought Connie might let that slip to them and it might create tension between Gabi and Armin but.... No. Everything about that subplot was insanely rushed, there were a lot of ways it could have played out.

Aforementioned last page quote that is so unlike SnK up to this point. Cringey and straight out of an Avengers movie, I can't believe there are people who actually like this development.

I hope Isayama isn't overworking and rushing himself to finish the manga just for the sake of finishing it this year, but I still believe he will finish SnK in a satisfactory manner that will be memorable for decades. However, this chapter as well as 125 were very disappointing and lowered my expectations considering how good the entire final arc had been up to this point.

Errrwiiiiiiiinnnn!!!!!

game of thrones level of trash, i hope for god that the aot ending isn't as bad as final season game of thrones

I didn’t like the Ragako subplot, but I did like Connie saving Armin and their heart-to/heart afterwards.

I don’t think the chapter was rushed. Glad to see Armin finally doing SOMETHING, and I hope it was more a gamble than him wanting to die. Hange’s monologue was so out of character, everyone knows Hange would never want to live in the woods, yet it looks like Hange always gets discouraged and needs encouragement from somebody else. Seriously, that’s not the Hange we all know. Where’s the ‘defeat is all the Survey Corps ever knew, let’s kick asses!!’ Hange?? that interaction with Pieck brought some of it back thankfully

I don’t understand why everyone is complaining lol

I enjoyed how quickly it moved. We’ve been down in the doldrums since December, so I’m glad to see the characters & the pace picking back up again.

I hate how quickly Hanji becomes depressed. Armin, Jean - they overcame their doubts by themselves. Yet Hanji always needs someone else to tell them to stop being ridiculous. It’s like Levi is babysitting Hanji :/ I miss good, old, badass Hanji

I miss hitch already

I noticed that the way Floch gesticulates during his speech was very reminiscent of how Hitler gave his speeches

I really like Hanji and Levi’s friendship and how Levi always knows what to say to encourage his friends but can we please stop with Hanji being so emotionally weak? I love Hanji, but c’mon- Levi was seriously injured and still needs to treat Hanji like she’s a wounded kid. Jean came to his senses on his own, same for Armin and Mikasa. All they needed was to remember people who died, did Hanji not lose enough comrades to find her strength from? Hanji is one of two veterans left and the commander(!), it really hurts to see her so pathetic, that was hard to read. Glad she looks more like old Hanji at the end of the chapter

I wanted more Annie and Hitch adventures and feel deprived.

i wish there was more to the reunion of Annie & co, but whatever, let’s just move on with this plot.

I'm in the minority here, but I actually liked the chapter. Sure the pacing was a bit off, but this may be because we're getting a detailed explanation for it in an upcoming chapter. Other than that I find it somewhat amusing that so many people that a team-up wasn't happening. Like there was so much goddamned FORESHADOWING about it. Plus the fact that Isayama basically flat-out admitted that he was going to create a team-up a-la Guardians of the Galaxy. I'm not expecting roses and fluffiness at the end of the road, I see a lot of people dying. And I still don't know who's gonna be the victor at the end. It just seemed really clear to me where these character arcs were/are heading. I still have faith in Yams. He hasn't disappointed me yet, so let's just see what he has in store for us.

It feels like Isayama is rushing to finish it off just like Kishimoto did with Naruto Shippuuden and that makes me very sad. I'm worried he'll destroy everything he did until now.

It felt incredibly unrealistic. What I have appreciated most about SnK is its narrative integrity and ability to produce results proportional to the protagonists' abilities. Currently, this feels rather forced. When did they come up with these plans? How could they possibly have alerted Jean ahead of time without anything being shown? It feels like a cheat. Also, I don't like that its just them going after Eren. Realistically, in SnK, a small group of characters, even with their level of power, shouldn't consider going after him how they have. If anything they need to face reality and prepare for the world to come after the rumbling, since if I think anybody in their position would think it is utterly impossible to stop it.

It was warm and fuzzy and I really needed that, but the actual details of the new alliance will absolutely need to be expounded upon soon.

It was...fine.

It wasn’t so bad, the hate is really annoying.

It's clear SNK is ending soon so before we see Eren and what else is going on with the rumbling Hisayama wants to close plots with other characters BUT IMO the price of this is giving us less hyped chapters since the walls broke and we still have to see the new Eren titan form…

Just to clarify, "Which throwback did you enjoy most chapter" is intended to be an English sentence, yes? Quality work here as usual, tumblr/reddit big-shots. I hope no one lets you guys near an actual workplace where what you do matters. (A/N: Well you didn't capitalise Tumblr or Reddit so who is the real villain here?)

Let Levi kill that ape. Please. He’s gone through so much and lost everything. Give him just this one little thing

Let's say we generally agreed that this chapter is bad.

Not nearly as bad as people say it was like Jesus heck calm down. I mostly feel bad for isayama tbh he’s probably being pressured to wrap it up and he’s not usually one to not give moments like this chapter proper time.

It's hard to say why Isayama decided to wrap up things fairly quickly, whether he has later flashbacks planned or whether he was overwhelmed with time pressure/suffered a writer's block of whatever. I think, in the end, if the rest of the story wraps up strong, it doesn't matter much.

I'm happy with what happened in this chapter, except the fact that it was rushed and Levi's plot armor, I mean Ackermann blood. He should have lost at least a leg...

The only solace I take in all of this is that the plot can finally move forward. This has been an entire volume of seemingly pointless side quests and I'm ready to focus again on the main story. Frankly, I'm exhausted. I just want answers and I want to know how the story finds resolution.

We had several excellent chapters recently, a subpar one is understandable. Hopefully the Anime will expand on it a bit

#snk poll #snk polls #snk 126 #snk chapter 126 #snk poll results

57 notes · View notes

theliberaltony · 5 years ago

Link

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

Should you wear a mask when you go out in public? Yes, according to revised guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But at one of President Trump’s daily press briefings, he said that “It’s only a recommendation,” adding, “I don’t think I am going to be doing it.” What about taking hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug, to fight COVID-19? The Food and Drug Administration hasn’t approved it, but that hasn’t stopped Trump from encouraging its use despite inconclusive scientific evidence regarding its effectiveness.

When the president contradicts agency officials and medical experts (oftentimes from behind the very same podium), it can be difficult for Americans to keep the facts straight. That is why the media’s role as a watchdog is vital to democracy — its job is to hold government officials accountable and investigate the veracity of the administration’s claims, especially when they are in response to rapidly evolving events.

But the media has come up short in previous times of crisis, deferring too much to the administration to dictate the terms and frame the events, at the expense of including critical viewpoints. And the notion of a watchdog press has taken on a new meaning. In our fragmented media environment, viewers increasingly choose their news based on their politics and news outlets are incentivized to pick a side — tout the president’s message uncritically to cater to a conservative audience, or criticize the administration’s every move in order to appeal to a more liberal audience. This, in turn, creates a misinformed public. We see this play out with the coronavirus — Republicans and Democrats view the basic facts differently, and that threatens a functioning democracy.

Studies from political communication suggest that the press tends to be more deferential to the administration when the country faces a crisis, a byproduct of the “rally ’round the flag” effect, a phenomenon in which political differences are set aside during times of crisis while the public, politicians and media rally behind the government. It’s also a consequence of a norm of reporting, which is to rely on official governmental sources for interviews and as guests on news programs, because they are viewed as credible and reliable authorities.

But as a crisis unfolds and conflict appears, the press usually broadens its coverage, poking holes in the administration’s messaging. As Daniel Hallin, a communications professor at the University of California, San Diego, documents in his book “The Uncensored War: The Media and Vietnam,” the national media initially accepted the administration’s view that the conflict in Vietnam was part of a broader struggle against communism. But over time, Hallin writes, that narrative grew difficult for the administration to sustain, due in part to reporters’ access to soldiers, who had a different story to tell. Reporters viewed these soldiers as equally authoritative on the war, and thus included more of their perspective in their stories, even as it deviated from the administration’s own version of events.

Or take what happened after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Bush administration falsely claimed that there was a link between al-Qaida, the terrorist group responsible for 9/11, and Iraq President Saddam Hussein, and that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), which the administration then used to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq. These claims were then repeated by top government officials and amplified by the media to such a degree that, according to a CNN/Time poll conducted a month before the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, 76 percent of Americans believed that Hussein was working with al-Qaida. And according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll conducted the month of the invasion, almost 9 out of 10 believed that it was at least somewhat likely that the U.S. would find conclusive evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or the facilities to develop them.

It would take months of reporting before the media identified cracks in the administration’s story, such as disagreements between intelligence agencies and the U.S. Departments of State and Energy about Iraq’s nuclear capacity. But media coverage of the Iraq War also grew increasingly partisan over time, with outlets like Fox New remaining more sympathetic to the war effort than other networks, and featuring more Bush administration officials as sources.

The consequences of this difference were noteworthy. One study found that people who named Fox News as their primary news source were actually more likely to hold misinformed views. In other words, although studies have also found that those who pay less attention to the news are generally more misinformed, in this case more attention to Fox News also meant a higher level of misinformation.

A similar partisan misinformation gap might be developing around Democrats’ and Republicans’ understanding of the coronavirus, which may have to do with where they get their news. The initial differences between Democrats’ and Republicans’ attitudes on the coronavirus were quite large, and while there is some evidence these partisan differences are overblown or have shrunk, signs also point to a gap in knowledge of basic facts about the coronavirus. According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted March 10-16, there are notable differences in Americans’ knowledge of the coronavirus among those who identified Fox News, MSNBC or CNN as their main source of political news. For instance, 78 percent of MSNBC and 57 percent of CNN viewers correctly answered that a vaccine will not be available within a year, compared with only 51 percent of Fox News viewers. And according to a Data for Progress poll conducted April 11, Fox News viewers are more likely to believe that hydroxychloroquine is a proven treatment for COVID-19 (25 percent) than CNN viewers (6 percent) and MSNBC (4 percent) viewers. Data for Progress also found Fox News viewers were more likely to say that the flu is more deadly than coronavirus (19 percent) than CNN (8 percent) and MSNBC (3 percent) viewers. These different views of the facts could spell trouble.

While there isn’t yet evidence of a partisan gap when it comes to support for social distancing measures (just 8 percent of Republican voters and 4 percent of Democratic voters said such measures were not effective), there are signs that Republicans are more eager for these measures to end and to get back to work. When asked if it would be safe to end social distancing measures before or by May 1, 30 percent of Republicans said yes, compared to just 4 percent of Democrats, according to a poll from The Economist/YouGov conducted April 12-14.

The partisan split doesn’t appear to extend to public opinion on medical institutions. A March 24-29 Pew poll found large majorities of Democrats and Republicans have a favorable opinion of the CDC, and a Quinnipiac poll conducted in the first week of April found 77 percent of Republicans and 81 percent of Democrats approve of how Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has handled the response.

However, public opinion could change if the timeline to “reopen” the economy becomes a big political fight in the coming weeks, especially if Trump renews calls to fire Fauci or questions his medical expertise. These signals from the president are crucial, too, because studies have found that conservatives have become increasingly distrustful of science, and that distrust is greatest amongst consumers of conservative media. The consequences of a growing misinformation gap might vary from the immediate, such as a shift in adherence to preventive behaviors like avoiding large gatherings, to the long term — such as a difference in who is believed to be responsible for the economic and public health fallout. And all this might hinge on editorial decisions by media outlets in how they choose to cover this ongoing crisis.

#IFTTT #Politics – FiveThirtyEight #politics #538 #Meredith Conroy

3 notes · View notes

natures-cunning-ways · 6 years ago

Text

The Great Kiss Poll results are in...

Thank you to all 266 people who voted. I don’t think there are many surprises here, so let’s just get straight to the results. The winner, with 27.8% of the vote, was Bergamo. It is therefore crowned the most popular kiss. If you’re forgotten it, it looks like this:

It was very closely followed by the first kiss/the berm with 27.1% of the vote. Yes, you read correctly, there was less than 1% between them.

Most people gave a second and third choice. I had a play around with giving the different choices points and adding them up (e.g. 3 points for a first choice, 2 for second, 1 for third) but however you look at it, you end up with basically the same results.

The only slight difference in order is if you add up every vote- so first, second or third choice all get 1 vote. As you can see below, the first kiss gets very slightly more overall votes than Bergamo- therefore the highest number of people have the first kiss as one of their top 3 kisses compared to the others.

(The after midnight kiss is the least popular whichever way you look at it. I don’t like to judge but what’s wrong with you all? It’s not my absolute favourite but everything about that kiss is gorgeous. Call me by your name and I’ll call you by mine, Elio, Oliver, Elio, Oliver, Elio... let’s seal this deal with a kiss, Elio grabs Oliver, Oliver with his eyes closed, blissfully happy, Elio with his eyes open, rolling onto Oliver... Anyway. Back to the point. Got distracted there for a moment.)

And there were a lot of comments. They’re below the cut if anyone’s interested!

Comments- alphabetically, just because that’s how the spreadsheet organised them.

((cries internally))

Actually my fav is the one i havent seen yet!!!

All of them make me cry and but at the same time

All of these are legendary but I guess the hip rolling really did me in and I chose that (Midnight) as my fave. Peach is the second because it's SO intimate, they are the most naked here emotionally and literally. I chose garden to finish my top3 because it's just so tender and lovely. I mean that could be said about each of these but since u made me evilly choose.... And I've got no idea how much I've written here because I only see this one line so I'll stop here. Have a lovely weekend and can't wait to see what is the fandom consensus

Bergamo is still the hottest

Choosing was the hardest thing ever

Cruel to make us choose!!!!

Gahhh the amount of sheer love in these gifsets makes my heart lurch

I can watch a 2 hour movie with those 2 just kissing. You think Luca could give that to us? Seriously, though, thanks for doing this!

I could watch the Bergamo kiss until the day I die

I like the garden because Timmy/Elio is so thirsty for his boy.

I love all the kissing!

I love them. Love to see how they touch each other, how they kiss, how they want to eat each other. I adore them.

I love you for this poll but I hate you for making me choose!!

I surprised myself by not picking Bergamo which is supposed to be THE kiss...

I'm in love with this survey, keep it up!

Im pretty sure this is the most difficult poll ive ever taken

It's really hard to choose all of them so so good. Thanks for this research and stay peachy!

Just love em

My fave is the Garden that evening. Timmy leans in and is controlling the kisses - maybe 1st tongue??

Not nearly enough kisses

Now I live here! Do I have to send or can I watch some more? Fuck! Ok bye!

Out of all the polls I’ve taken in my life this one is the best by far.

Peach scene because a) raw emotion and tenderness b) skin

Such a hard decision

Thank you for this heaven!

That little foot rub scene and how close they seemed even then, rubbing his hands on elios legs so lovingly and the little foot kiss afterwards

The first kiss scene is going to be remembered in film history as one of the most iconic kissing scenes ever.

The garden is the best but couldn’t see jt

The kisses feel so different to me. I find myself watching different ones at different times depending on what mood I’m in. The peach scene kiss makes me tear up. Bergamo almost makes me gasp for breath. With midnight/after midnight their being together just feels so right, after waiting so long. For weeks the garden scene was my favorite for the way Elio falls in to Oliver. And you can’t beat the anticipation from the first kiss. I love them

the peach kiss isn't the prettiest, but it's the charmiest

They are all perfect

They're all amazing but I'll never get over that kitten lick. The Post Midnight, Garden and Bergamo kisses all ended too soon.

They're all ridiculously well-done. This is impossible. Kinda have to vote by emotional weight instead of the kiss itself because the chemistry is off the charts in all of them. First, Peach, Midnight, Garden, Bergamo, After

This film singlehandedly revives the Art of the Kiss. Thanks so much 4 the poll!!

THIS IS CRUELTY I LOVE THEM ALL

This was impossible. I may have already changed my mind.

This was really hard to choose!

Toughest poll yet.

Unpopular opinion: I think Armie chickens out of the Bergamo kiss by wrapping his arm round Timmy in the classic Hollywood fake kiss fashion way... so we can't see their mouths anymore.

you're doing the lord's work, thank you

#the great kiss poll #kisses #cmbyn #cmbyn fandom #science #statistics

170 notes · View notes

minyoongijjangjjangmanboongboong · 6 years ago

Text

Penumbra: An Interactive BTS Horror Story Part III {Reupload}

Premise: Seven friends return to their old high school for one last night of mayhem before the building is condemned. But everything is not as it seems… What will the group do when they find themselves trapped in a warped hellscape with no means of escaping?

That…is up to you.

The Rules: To participate in this story, all you need to do is vote. At the end of each chapter, you will have five hours to make a decision via the poll provided. Do this or do that: you decide. Whichever option receives the majority of the votes is the path we will all follow together so please…choose wisely.

Well, well, well. Here we are again with another surprising result. It seems you don’t like taking risks. I wonder what will happen now. Jimin chooses to keep the group together.

DISCLAIMER: THIS WAS ALREADY POSTED, BUT WAS BLOCKED FROM BEING SEEN ON THE DASHBOARD DUE TO A TECHNICAL ERROR. THIS IS A REUPLOAD OF THE CHAPTER.

What will Hoseok decide now? A very critical choice lies ahead. Please vote carefully. Vote here. Want to know more about the characters before you vote? Read this.

Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

Masterlist

WARNING: This story contains material that some readers may find frightening, disturbing, or unsettling. If you are sensitive to graphic imagery or dark situations, proceed with caution. Please read at your own risk.

“I vote stay together,” says Jimin, voice shaking. He knows what’s best for the group is to split. He knows it’s dangerous to have Hoseok tagging along, possibly injuring himself further.

But he also knows just by looking at Hoseok’s desperate eyes that he can’t bring himself to make that choice. Jungkook stares at him, worry etched into his features, and Jimin tries not to look at the rest of the boys, fearful of their reaction. For a long moment, nobody says anything. The decision sits heavy in the air and ominous like a curse. Under normal circumstances, there would be no question of splitting up or staying together. Of course, staying together would be the only option. But this place…it’s not safe. And all of them are acutely aware of the implication of that.

“Alright,” says Namjoon with a sigh, dusting off his pants as he stands to his feet. It’s clear he’s unsatisfied. Jimin knits his brows as his throat constricts. Namjoon is the smartest person Jimin has ever known. He’s certain that if Namjoon thinks he made the wrong choice, he did.

Nonetheless, he can’t erase Hoseok’s glassy, pleading eyes from his mind. Even if it means moving slower, he doesn’t want to abandon his friend. “We’ll start moving down the hall and see if we can find the entrance. That’s probably our way out,” says Namjoon, ever the sensible one.

Jimin admires him, perhaps more than he admires his own parents. And in this hellish nightmare of a building, Namjoon has become the de facto leader. None of the boys seem to oppose this, and Jimin suspects that everyone is just relieved that someone is willing to take on such a difficult job. Jimin shakily stands to his feet and finally meets Namjoon’s eyes. The two share a loaded look before Namjoon offers the barest of smiles and nods his head.

Relief.

Namjoon understands. Of course he does. Jimin had been foolish to expect Namjoon to blame him for making the choice.

He was not, however, a fool to expect the others not to. He turns to see Yoongi staring at him with a heavy glare, eyes icy and arms crossed as Seokjin heaves a heavy sigh, not even sparing Jimin a look. He can feel his chest beginning to burn with tears. Why did it have to be him anyway? He hates that the weight of this choice is his to bear all alone. He wants to go home. He wants to disappear. He wants to cry.

Taehyung leads the charge at Namjoon’s side, the group of seven wandering in near-silence through the crooked, rotting hallway. Namjoon’s flashlight survived the collapse-or…whatever it was, and he stands just a half-pace in front of Taehyung, shining his light down the hall. With each pass of Namjoon’s flashlight, Taehyung’s visibility is allotted in bursts, brief flashes of scenery emerging before disappearing into the darkness once again. There seems to be something dark and dripping on the walls in this area: smeared on the peeling wallpaper, sweeping in semi-circles or splattering in handprints. Taehyung tries to stand so Jimin can’t see it, but he knows his friend will be rattled regardless. For someone so tough and thick-skinned watching horror films or reading Junji Ito novels, poor Jimin is succumbing minute by minute to this place. Taehyung is most worried about him, especially after the debacle in room 104. Taehyung casts a glance over his shoulder and sees Jimin walking close to his back, eyes on his shoes and arms crossed over his chest like he is holding himself together with the sheer force of his will. His nose and eyes are red, and his face is swollen all over.

Taehyung edges a little to the side, blocking Jimin’s view of a corpse slumped against the wall, gripping a backpack in its decomposing hand. “I think we’re getting close,” says Namjoon, sweeping his flashlight across the hallway as it turns sharply to the right.

The gang follows it quietly and emerge in a large entryway, old lockers tipped over on their sides or standing lopsided, small shoes littering the floor. Taehyung’s body collapses with relief and he falls against the shoe lockers, holding tight to the cold metal with a breathless laugh. He hadn’t realized he’d been holding his muscles so rigidly, but now he feels like his bones are made of gelatin. Just before him is a massive double door, shut tight, but there. The relief is palpable as little chuckles or exhalations emerge throughout the group. Jin places a hand on Taehyung’s shoulder and the two smile at each other.

“Alright,” says Namjoon, a smile clear in his voice. He approaches the exit and the group watches his back, small juxtaposed against the massive front doors. “I mean…it seems too easy doesn’t it?” he asks over his shoulder with a grin.

Taehyung chuckles. “Don’t you know Occam’s razor?” he asks.

Namjoon smiles. “You’re right,” he says, placing his palms against the doors.

As Namjoon works, Jungkook furrows his brows. “What’s Occam’s razor?” he asks Taehyung quietly, moving to stand beside him.

Taehyung hums. “Well,” he begins, “it’s the idea that the right answer is usually the easiest one. That the answer that assumes the least is correct.”

Jungkook nods, humming in understanding. “Cool,” he says. “I’ll remember that.”

Namjoon pushes hard against the doors, shoving them with audible effort. He huffs and grunts, planting his feet in a wide-legged stance and bracing himself with a deep breath before exerting once more. When that doesn’t work, Namjoon raises the crowbar to the doorjamb and works it under the lip. Worry begins to crawl up Taehyung’s spine. Perhaps this really is too easy. That ghost that Jungkook spoke with had mentioned that there is no escaping this place. Why would they be able to just…walk out the front door? Taehyung shakes his head and slaps his cheeks. Just trust Namjoon, he thinks to himself. We’ll find a way out somehow.

“Uh…,” says Namjoon, puzzling over the door with a hand on his chin. “I…I don’t think it’ll budge.”

Jimin sits on one of the old wooden benches and rubs the sides of his face. “This is a nightmare,” he says.

“Hey,” says Namjoon with a gentle smile. “This was just our first try. It would’ve been more surprising if it actually worked.”

Jimin glances up at him with teary eyes and forces a smile, nodding. “If you say so.”

God. Jimin’s blaming himself. Taehyung can tell from the quiver in his bottom lip. Jimin has always been that way, ever since they were kids. Taehyung can still see Jimin’s ruby-cheeked, cherubic face stained with summer tears, the hot, humid air forcing his hair to sit frizzy against his head, sitting on Jungkook’s lawn clutching one of the three action figures Jungkook’s mom had given him for his seventh birthday. Back when the sky was endless and blue and the sun beat down on their skin but none of them minded. Back when the world was a merry-go-round of possibilities and their fresh, young minds were hopeful enough to believe in them.

Taehyung and Jungkook had desperately tried to help Jimin understand that it wasn’t his fault, that Taehyung had pushed him too roughly and caused him to fall especially hard on the action figure. But Taehyung could see it then, clear as the cloudless sky. That sense of blame. Even after Jimin had stopped crying and the three boys had recommenced their playing, every now and again Jimin would look at Jungkook and Taehyung who now had to share an action figure and a sad sort of blankness would come over his face. Whenever Taehyung of Jungkook seized Jimin’s attention from his thoughts again, he would offer a bright smile. But it was almost too obvious.

Just like it’s almost too obvious now. Even though he has no control over those two metal doors, stuck together and unyielding to any force Namjoon can exert, Taehyung knows what Jimin is thinking. That somehow it’s his fault that those doors won’t open. That somehow, it’s because of his decision that this exit is a bust.

Carefully, Taehyung drops beside where Jimin sits and watches his profile. “What is it?” asks Jimin quietly, glancing at his friend with watery, bloodshot eyes.

Taehyung quietly places a hand around Jimin’s shoulders. Startled, Jimin jumps and looks at him. Wordlessly, Taehyung simply gives him a soft smile and rubs his arm. There is a subtle exchange between them as Taehyung’s smile remains steady. Jimin quietly lets his expression fall and he sniffles a little, leaning slightly into Taehyung’s side.

“We should keep looking for an exit,” says Namjoon with a sigh. “There’s plenty of ground left to cover.”

Hoseok limps forward, running his fingers over the cold metal door. “Maybe there’s an exit in the cafeteria,” he says, glancing at Taehyung. “Didn’t you and Yoongi wake up there?”

Taehyung stiffens and nods, but he can’t remember seeing an exit in that massive room. “Yeah…,” he says slowly, thinking. Had there been an exit at all?

The group mobilizes again, but something is strange with both Jimin and Hoseok. Perhaps what the two saw before they reconnected with the group is still haunting them, but Taehyung suspects that their issues are more mental than anything. Hoseok hangs in the back of the group, his step faltering and growing slower. Taehyung watches him keenly. He knows Hoseok well. In a lot of ways, he’s very similar to Jimin. It seems Hoseok is having trouble keeping pace with the rest of the boys but, Taehyung reckons, doesn’t feel like he can ask them to slow down after they agreed to stick together for his benefit. Likely he figures he’ll be a burden.

But with his eyes on the warped floorboards and his breath escaping in labored huffs, it’s hard for Taehyung not to notice his deteriorating state. His limp is more pronounced from forcing himself to walk faster than he should and his skin is going pale from exertion. Taehyung pauses for a moment and opens his mouth to speak, about ready to suggest a brief break to care for Hoseok’s leg, but as he does the building begins to rumble. Not quite like it had before, but still it feels as if the walls may collapse.

“Get down!” screams Namjoon from the front, already dropping flat onto his stomach.

The rest of the boys are quick to follow suit, gasping with fear as patches of the floor begin to shake and fall away. Beside Taehyung’s thigh, a wood plank trembles and splinters, disappearing into the darkness below the floor. A basement perhaps? As Taehyung peers over the jagged edge, a blast of icy air pushes his hair from his face and he winces, lurching away from the pit with furrowed brows.

“It’ll pass! Just wait it out!” Namjoon shouts, but the group has become disjointed.

Yoongi lays, limbs splayed awkwardly to avoid the holes in the floor, Jimin is pressed against the wall on his side, the tears he’d been fighting finally winning over his will. Jungkook’s eyes are like saucers as he lays on his stomach, facing Taehyung with parted lips as if he is perpetually releasing a silent scream. He can’t see Seokjin or Hoseok, but he assumes they are equally displaced. The hallway continues shaking, tremors running through the ground from every direction.

Taehyung squeezes his eyes shut.

And then, as if nothing happened at all…

The hall is deathly silent save for the boys’ ragged breathing. Taehyung peels his eyes open one at a time, glancing around the hallway with a wince. He brushes debris from his back and sits upright.

And that’s when he sees it.

His eyes go wide and he stares at Hoseok, horrified.

Between Hoseok and the rest of the boys is a chasm of missing floor that nearly spans the width of the hallway, only thin strips of wood clinging to the sides of the walls. The gash is far too long to jump, and they’re unlikely to find a plank strong enough to bridge it before more patches of floor fall away. The group exchanges worried looks and Hoseok sits up halfway, clearly shaken as he stares at the chasm with a gape.

“Hoseok!” screams Jungkook, rushing toward the gap and standing dangerously close to the precipice. He grips the broken floorboards with white knuckles and leans out across the space, shaking his head. “Hoseok, are you okay?!”

Hoseok blinks, staring down at his legs and then up at the group across from him. “I’m…I’m fine…,” he whispers, voice like a ghostly wind.

Taehyung takes up Jungkook’s side and blinks at the massive, depthless hole before them. “There’s…there’s no way we can get you across, Hoseok,” he says quietly, meeting his friend’s eyes on the other side.

Hoseok nods, running his shaking hands through his dirty hair. “Um…yeah, I can’t shimmy along those,” he pauses to point at the scarce floorboards on the sides with a shake of his head, “those planks. Not with my leg like this.”

Namjoon coughs up dust and crawls toward where Taehyung and Jungkook sit. “Hoseok…,” he says. For once, he doesn’t immediately offer a solution…

Hoseok nods and struggles to his feet, holding his thigh so as not to put too much weight on it. He smiles at the rest of the boys and nods his head. “Um…,” he says, his voice thick with impending tears. “I’ll go back to the classroom and wait for you guys to come back.”

There’s a silent worry in his voice.

What happens if they don’t come back?

Taehyung shakes his head. “Absolutely not. You can’t go wandering around alone, Hoseok. Not in here,” he says, surprised by how even his tone is.

Jin approaches from behind and stares with wide eyes at the massive chasm. “It’s…it’s way too big,” he murmurs. In a different reality, Jin himself would be the first to make a stupid joke about what he just said. But now, there is nothing but severity in his voice.

“If we’re careful, we can get across to you Hoseok,” says Taehyung with a nod, appraising those flimsy floorboards.

Hoseok stiffens and shakes his head. “No, it’s dangerous. You can just…find a different way back to the classroom after you find an exit or something,” he says, but there’s a resignation in his voice that worries Taehyung. “It’s my fault we stuck together anyway. None of this would’ve happened if I’d just-,”

“Stop it,” says Jimin quietly from somewhere behind Taehyung. “If anyone’s to blame it’s me.”

“Now’s not the time,” says Taehyung, glancing at each of the boys carefully. “Right now, we need to figure something out.”

Namjoon, as if emerging from some trance, blinks and nods. “W-We can, um…we can send half of us to look for an exit, and the other half can wait here with Hoseok,” he says with a nod.

But Hoseok’s eyes go wide and horrified. Taehyung knows that look. Hoseok doesn’t want to burden the group any further. He doesn’t want anyone to have to wait in such a dangerous place with him. “No,” he whispers, staring at each of the boys. There’s a gruesomeness in his eyes, a frightening darkness that Taehyung doesn’t miss. “No,” he repeats, stronger this time. “Find a way out.”

“No, Hoseok we won’t leave you-,”

“Go!” he screams, squeezing his eyes shut as his tears finally fall. His lip is quivering as he glances up at the group again, sniffling slightly as he fixes his pant legs. “Go!” he shouts again, this time turning on his heel and hobbling as fast as he can down the hallway.

“No! Hoseok stop, stop!” screams Jungkook, reaching out fruitlessly across the gap. “Please STOP!!”

Taehyung panics and looks around the group, eyes wide. Everyone has assembled in front of the chasm. Everyone sports similar expressions of terror. What in the world does Hoseok think he’s doing? Sacrificing himself for the good of the group? What if he gets hurt by himself? What if he can’t defend himself?

Taehyung shakes his head and rushes toward the side of the gap, readying himself to shimmy with his belly to the wall. But as he does, a cold, pale hand grips his shoulder and he turns with wide eyes.

Yoongi stands beside him, looking at him with worry etched into his features. “I’ll go after him,” he says quietly.

Taehyung shakes his head. “No. No, Yoongi you’re not fast enough,” he says.

“Hoseok’s injured. He can’t go anywhere that fast,” he said quietly, glancing at the rest of the group. “You guys go on ahead and find an exit or something. Hoseok and I will wait in room 104. I’m sure there’s a way to access it if you go upstairs and find the east wing staircase. Avoid this area entirely.”

Namjoon nods, rubbing his jaw. “I don’t like it, but…,” he begins with a sigh.

“But we don’t have any other choice. I’m the thinnest one of us, Taehyung,” he says, glancing at the boy with a nod. “You’re more likely to fall than I am.”

Taehyung stares at Yoongi for a long moment, trying to decipher why this guy who, only hours before, was too self-serving to even look for the other boys was suddenly brave enough to cross a chasm for his friend. Taehyung is about to ask when Yoongi simply offers a dry smile and a nod.

“Someone’s life is on the line here, Taehyung,” he says. At first, Taehyung thinks Yoongi is urging him to let him go after Hoseok, but as the thin boy begins to shuffle with his hands flat on the hallway wall, he realizes it’s his explanation.

And his apology.

Taehyung swallows his tears and smiles after him. Yoongi turns once he has reached the other side and gives a wave, forcing a half-smile that belies his fear. He doesn’t want to be running around this place alone either. None of them do. But he’s right. Hoseok’s life is on the line.

Taehyung returns the smile and lifts his hand in a wave. “We’ll come back for you in an hour,” calls Taehyung, cupping a hand around his lips.

Yoongi’s forced smile grows genuine and he nods. “We’ll be waiting,” he says before turning and jogging, his back quickly swallowed by the darkness.

“Let’s split,” says Jimin, his voice stronger than before. He stares at the group seriously. Everyone peers at him like he’s spoken a foreign language.

“Why?” asks Jin, furrowing his brow.

Jimin swallows. “Hoseok and Yoongi will be waiting. We can’t afford to waste any more time,” he says. Suddenly, he’s assertive. He crosses his arms and points at Namjoon. “Me and Joon will go one way, you three will go the other.”

Namjoon blinks and clears his throat. Everyone awaits his decision. He stares down at Jimin, at the determination in his jaw, and inhales sharply. “Um…I think that’s an excellent idea.”

Jungkook and Seokjin approach Taehyung’s sides and the three of them exchange a look. “We’ll go to the cafeteria,” says Taehyung with a nod.

Namjoon nods. “We’ll follow the exit signs. I’ve seen a few on the ceiling,” he says.

“Meet you guys back at the classroom in an hour?” asks Taehyung, the groups already splitting in their own directions down separate hallways.

Namjoon offers a smile and a nod. “Take care of yourselves, okay?”

Hoseok doesn’t know where he’s going. The halls are disorienting and frustratingly similar to one another, and he can’t pause long enough to read room numbers for fear of the others catching up to him. He’s been tortured from the start. His friends waiting for him, tending to him, asking him if he’s okay and keeping an eye on him. All of it is suffocating and as Hoseok cries through the hall, he can’t help but become irritated. Not with the boys, but with himself. If he’d only been less selfish before, if he’d only encouraged the group to split up, he wouldn’t be alone right now. He’s a burden to everyone, even himself.

He won’t blame the boys if they hate him now…

If they want to leave him behind now…

He walks as fast as he can, but he’s been pushing himself too long. His leg feels weak and wobbly and with each step his strength grows lower. He pauses beside an old nurse’s office, resting his hand against the doorframe, and catches his breath. His panting halts as an idea hits him. Perhaps he can find some proper medicine in there to help his leg. If his leg gets better, he can keep up again.

He jangles the doorknob, but it seems the door is locked. If only he had the crowbar. He sighs and heaves his body against the door, using his shoulder to push against it. He hears the wood splinter slightly. This door doesn’t seem like the other one, like Seokjin’s. This one isn’t supernaturally bound shut. It’s just…stuck. Hoseok smirks and nods. Alright, he thinks, it’s on.

He limps back against the far wall before rushing forward and hurling himself shoulder first into the wooden door. The thing splinters again, yielding to his force and bending in the center. With one more hard shove, the door is broken just enough for Hoseok to kick it in with his bad leg and a shriek of pain. Carefully, with sweat beading along his hairline, Hoseok tiptoes over the broken door and enters the office. By far the least disastrous room he’s seen, the office is in relatively good health. One dusty wooden desk sits in the center and several cots. Nothing seems to have been overturned, and even the medicine cabinet, though coated in dirt, doesn’t seem broken.

Relieved, Hoseok approaches the cabinet and pries it open. Inside are several old bottles of painkillers and antibiotics. Hoseok pockets them and sighs, searching for gauze. Instead, he finds an antiseptic cream and some hydrogen peroxide.

“Thank God,” he breathes to himself, sitting down on one of the cots, lifting his leg to rest on another, and removes the dirty bandages Namjoon applied.

He bites his lip as he stares at his wound. He’s never been injured like this before. Likely caused by a sharp piece of broken wood during their fall, the gash is deep. Frighteningly deep. He can see walls of flesh on either side and, if he looks hard enough, he can nearly see his shin bone. He heaves slightly, worried he may puke if he looks at it too long, and shakes his head. At least it’s not that big or wide. If he can manage to patch it up, he can easily recover in time to at least try to be of help to the others.

He exhales long and slow before pouring the peroxide over his leg. But despite his best efforts, the pain is too much and he screams, his vision going splotchy with black spots. He whimpers and shakes his head, sobbing slightly as he takes the antiseptic cream and spreads it across the wound. That should kill any bacteria starting to cluster in the wound. He nods and hops to the nurse’s desk, rifling through it until he finds a first aid kit. He opens it and grabs the gauze and wrap, sitting down once more. He applies both to his injury, carefully setting it before pulling his pant leg back over.

Cautiously, he stands to his feet. With one tentative step, he puts some weight on his bad leg. It aches, but it’s much more bearable than before. He exhales in relief and nods his head. Thank goodness he found this room.

Footsteps.

Hoseok’s hear begins hammering. It’s just like before, only this time he’s certain it’s not Jungkook. These footfalls are heavy, leaden. Uneven, as if walking with a limp. Hoseok scrambles backwards toward the cot, his breathing ragged as he watches the doorway for any sign of movement. Any shadow.

“Come out…,” beckons a deep, garbled voice. It shivers through the hallway, distant but growing nearer with the footsteps. Whatever is out there, it’s gonna find Hoseok soon.

Panicked, he rushes beneath the cot, yanking the blanket off the side so it dangles just enough to cover him. He shakes as he watches through a thin slit in the blanket. He can still see the door, and the footsteps are getting louder. With them, the acrid scent of rot seems to grow stronger and stronger. He can see a black figure standing in the doorway. He cannot see its face, but it appears the figure is examining the broken door. The figure is silhouetted against the hall lights, but nonetheless, Hoseok can see its tall, broad-shouldered with shaggy dark hair and yellow eyes that glow. And, dragging beside its big, booted feet…

An axe.

Hoseok shivers and begins to pray. There’s no way he’s getting out of this. His mind recites the only prayer he can remember. Now I lay me down to sleep…I pray…I pray…FUCK. Hoseok’s eyes water as he watches the figure step easily over the broken door and enter the room. He can’t even remember the rest of the stupid prayer. He holds himself together, laying on his side in the fetal position, terror rendering him paralyzed.

The figure begins slowly and meticulously examining the room. Behind it, a low-hanging plume of pitch-black smoke. Even with the light of the hallway now shining against him, the figure is still too dark to distinguish, as if it doesn’t have a face at all. It releases a deep, guttural growl which slinks and slithers through the room, making Hoseok’s hair stand on end. He clamps a hand over his lips to keep from crying out in fear and squeezes the tears from his eyes.

“Come…,” mumbles the warped, growling voice, “out…”

Hoseok shakes his head and his chest begins heaving with silent tears. Whatever this figure is, it looms several heads higher than Hoseok and several inches wider. Its arms are massive and the closer it gets, the more that rotten smell forces bile up his throat. It begins lifting cots up with one strong hand, peering beneath them, then releasing them with a clatter. Whatever this thing is, it’s dangerous and it’s looking for him.

“Can’t…,” the voice begins again, “hide…” As it speaks, the figure doesn’t seem to move its mouth at all. It’s as if the voice simply…exists in the smoke.

Hoseok shivers as tears flow freely down his flushes cheeks. He can’t stop the tears. He wishes, begs, pleads with the universe to let his family live happily without him. His older sister, his parents…he wants them to live on. And, according to what Jungkook said about that girl spirit…they might.

The figure gets closer and closer until the blanket keeping Hoseok hidden from it is suddenly ripped away. He lays on his side, staring at the figure’s dark legs, the blade of his axe gleaming in the dim yellow hallway light.

“Hey,” says Taehyung as the trio walks toward the double cafeteria doors, pulling Seokjin from his thoughts.

Taehyung has paused in front of a rotting bulletin board and is staring at it, puzzled. “What is it?” asks Seokjin, but the closer he gets to the thing the more troubled he becomes. Not only does it feel like the board itself is charged with negative energy, the papers plastered over it don’t bode well either.

Splattered on all the thin pieces of jaggedly cut papers are drops of red blood, drying into grotesque shades of brown. “Ew,” says Jungkook, recoiling away from it.

Taehyung shakes his head. “It’s not that,” he says, reaching his index finger out to touch the papers. “It’s newspaper clippings.”

Seokjin raises his brows. “Huh…,” he says. He gets a bad feeling from it. If there’s newspaper clippings, that means someone’s placed them there. Taehyung begins working his finger beneath the corner of one of the clippings and Seokjin quickly grabs his friend by the wrist, meeting his startled eyes. “Don’t,” he says.

Taehyung furrows his brows. “Why not? I wanna show it to the rest of the guys,” he says.

Seokjin levels his eyes with Taehyung and shakes his head. “Whatever put those clippings there did it on purpose,” he says. “You don’t wanna mess with talismans of the dead.”

Taehyung shrugs. “Isn’t this whole place kind of…a talisman of the dead?” He squints at the bulletin board. “Besides, what if it’s important?”

“It’s precisely because it’s important that you shouldn’t mess with it,” says Seokjin. “I mean it. I’m getting a bad feeling.”

“You should listen to him, Tae,” says Jungkook with a fearful glance at the bulletin board.

Taehyung sighs and nods his head. “Alright,” he says, but continues scanning the papers. “It’s weird though. Seems like all the clippings are from 1976.”

“Let’s just keep moving,” says Seokjin, a shiver climbing up his spine. The three push open the cafeteria doors and walk slowly inside.

The room is cold, but it doesn’t feel malicious like other places in this cursed school. And besides, there’re no corpses or glowing red orbs or blood splatters in here. Seokjin relaxes slightly as the three disband to search for an exit along the exterior walls. They all run their hands along the strange windows, push against the panes to no avail. After a few moments of wandering around, they reconvene at an overturned table.

“Nothing,” says Jungkook with a sigh.

Taehyung nods and wrings his hands. “I didn’t remember there being an exit here anyway,” he says with a shrug. “It was worth a try at least.”

Seokjin peers over Taehyung’s shoulder into the kitchen. “Isn’t that where you found that crowbar?” he asks, glancing at Taehyung.

The younger boy nods his head, but it’s clear he’s still disappointed about the door. Seokjin, however, is already thinking of their next move. Quietly, he moves toward the near-dark kitchen and begins turning over old platters and baking sheets, searching for anything that might help them.

“What’re you doing?” asks Jungkook from the doorway, Taehyung lingering at his side.

Seokjin huffs and smiles. “Tryin’ to find a weapon or something,” he says, then laughs. “Never know when you might need to slash someone.”

Jungkook and Taehyung prickle at his words and Seokjin curses his stupid mouth. “But we’re the only ones here,” says Taehyung.

Seokjin sighs and turns to them, hand on his hip. “I was making a joke. I’m sorry,” he says. Normally, Jungkook would be the first one laughing at his jokes.

It seems that in here, everyone obeys different rules.

Jungkook offers a chuckle and joins Seokjin in the kitchen, crouching and rifling through old rusty drawers and cabinets. “Are you sure we shouldn’t just go back to the room? Find a way to Hoseok?” he asks.

Seokjin shakes his head. “We agreed on an hour. No way Yoongi and Hoseok found their way back yet. If we go now we’ll just be wasting time.”

Taehyung sighs and rests against the doorframe. “You’re probably right,” he says, then purses his lips. “Hey, wasn’t Yoongi kinda cool before? When he went after Hoseok?”

Seokjin smiled and laughed lightly to himself. “He pretends to be so tough, but I think he’s a lost softer than he seems,” says Seokjin.

The two had been living together for ages, and they get along better than Seokjin gets along with his own family. Although Yoongi pretends to get annoyed with Seokjin’s near-constant antics, Seokjin knows better. He likes to present himself as a lackadaisical, devil-may-care sort of guy, but Yoongi is a marshmallow at heart. If nothing else comes out of this experience, Seokjin is glad at least that Yoongi is slowly learning to let people see that.

“Uh…guys?” says Jungkook quietly from deeper in the kitchen, beside the ovens. Taehyung and Seokjin are quickly at his sides as the youngest turns around. In his hands, a massive butcher’s knife glints eerily in the dark. “I found something.”

“Are you scared?” asks Namjoon quietly.

Jimin says nothing.

“Did the vote get to you?” he asks.

Again, Jimin says nothing.

“Are you worried about Hoseok?” again he asks.

Jimin simply stares at the ground, eyes glazed over hands limp at his sides. The halls stretch on around them as the two follow the emergency exit signs. “Jimin?” asks Namjoon with a little shake to his shoulder.

Jimin snaps out of his daze and he turns to face Namjoon, eyes alert. “Hm? What was that?”

Namjoon sighs and gives Jimin’s shoulder a soft squeeze. “I’m really worried about you, Dooly,” says Namjoon softly.

Jimin winces and pinches his face in a sour expression. “Haven’t heard that nickname since middle school,” he says, sticking out his tongue in distaste.

Namjoon chuckles. “It’s because your cheeks are too small these days,” he says with a teasing grin, grabbing one of those cheeks between his fingers. Jimin laughs and shakes him off with a grunt.

Jimin smiles and sighs slightly. “Thanks, Joon,” he says as the boys slow their pace slightly.

Namjoon pauses and glances at his small friend. “What for?”

Jimin turns to him with a smile. “For trying to make me feel better,” he says, then nods and crosses his arms. “I realized when Hoseok ran off and Yoongi went after him…this is really serious. I can’t keep letting my feelings get in the way of my judgement. If we’re gonna get out of here in one piece, I’ve gotta start using my head instead of just getting stuck in it.”

Namjoon is about to respond when the two arrive at the end of the hallway, a stout emergency door standing before them. Whether it is their salvation or not is impossible to know. But it’s a lot like Schrödinger’s cat. Right now, in that delicate space between stillness and action, that door is both a way out and a false exit.

And, just like Schrödinger’s cat, they won’t have an answer until they look.

Namjoon is the first to approach it, crowbar still in hand. He pushes hard against the metal bar, heaving against it like he had at the front doors. But it seems like the more he pushes the more the door resists. Frustrated, he raises the crowbar and jimmies it between the jamb and the door. He yanks it as hard as he can, but only the doorjamb reacts with the sound of breaking wood. The door itself remains steadfast. Panic begins to ensnare Namjoon’s steady mind. What if that spirit Jungkook spoke with was telling the truth? Even Seokjin is capable of making mistakes when it comes to stuff like this. What if it wasn’t a bluff?

What if there’s really, truly…no way out?

Namjoon is too nervous to turn and face Jimin. He knows how his friend reacts to setbacks like this. He tumbles into a downward spiral of negative thoughts. He begins growing despondent, like he did after the vote. He shuts down and loses hope. Namjoon can’t handle keeping both of them afloat when his own nerves are completely shattered by this disappointing blow to their plans.

“Well,” says Jimin and, to Namjoon’s utmost surprise, the boy pats his back and begins walking back down the hallway. “Better keep looking then. We’ve still got time before we need to get back to the guys.”

Namjoon turns and sees Jimin’s back disappear as he turns downstairs and without even a second to spare for his melancholy thoughts, he jogs to catch up to his friend.

The two walk down the stairs together, Namjoon’s flashlight offering little in the way of sight. Jimin keeps close to Namjoon, but leads the charge nonetheless. It stuns Namjoon to see him this way, so brave and capable. This change is undoubtedly positive, but Namjoon can’t help but wonder how strong his new resolve truly is. He wonders what it’s going to take to shake it up again…

The temperature drops rapidly as they descend the stairs to the basement. Namjoon shivers slightly as his breath begins turning to white puffs the further they go. The two emerge on the basement landing, facing an old door that seems to be locked from the inside. Namjoon blinks at it. Something about that old white door feels…eery. Like it’s telling them not to go inside.

“Let’s turn back. I doubt there’s an exit down here,” says Namjoon.

Jimin turns clear eyes toward him and raises his brows. “Maybe there’s something else,” he says.

Namjoon blinks at him. “Like what?”

“Like a clue.”

Namjoon sets his jaw and lowers his brow, thinking. Jimin is right. There might be something important down there. The fact that the door is locked says something in itself. But…Namjoon is frightened. He hates to admit it, but the feeling down here is just too oppressive for him. He feels uneasy, and the very soles of his feet are protesting any forward motion.

But Jimin scans his face with such earnest determination, Namjoon can do nothing but sigh and angle the crowbar just so, heaving against it until the door splits open with a loud crack and a plume of dust. The dirt coats Namjoon’s throat and his eyes for a brief moment, but Jimin spares no time diving into the room. Namjoon has to struggle to even keep up with him so the kid doesn’t stumble in the dark.

Namjoon guides the beam of his flashlight around the cramped, dank basement. The ceiling is low and there are no walls, but the space seems to extend forever with only thick poles punctuating the endless grey cement floor. The place reeks of mold and standing water and, distantly…something else. Namjoon’s uneasiness doesn’t settle as the pair ventures deeper into the dark. Wordlessly, they walk with Jimin leading the way into the pitch blackness.

After a few moments of walking, something catches on the toe of Namjoon’s boot, sending him flying onto the floor, sliding on the cement as the ground peels the skin of his palms back. He winces in pain and groans, rolling onto his back. His flashlight rolls to the side, illuminating the ground where they’d just been walking.

Jimin quickly slides to his knees beside Namjoon and his eyes are wild. “Shit! Are you okay?” he asks.

Namjoon coughs a little and sits up. “Mhm,” he says quietly. “I’m fine, just tripped.”

Jimin chuckles. “Even here, you’re clumsy,” he jokes.

Namjoon laughs with him and nods. “Some things never change, I guess.”

Jimin smiles and glances back toward the flashlight, back the way they came. He raises his brows. “Joon…I think something’s back there,” he says, voice low and quiet.

Namjoon’s heart kicks up and he stands to his feet. “What do you mean?” he whispers.

Jimin shakes his head and stands as well. “No, not like a person. Like…an object,” he says, pointing at the ground beside the flashlight. Sure enough, the sharp corner of something sits in the corner of its beam, cutting a geometric shape from the light.

Namjoon approaches quietly and picks up the flashlight, casting it downward. “Huh,” he says, tilting his head to the side. He purses his lips. Sitting on the floor is a damaged, red, leather-bound notebook, about the size of a tablet. Almost like a diary. Namjoon bends down to pick it up and turns it over in his hands. “Weird,” he remarks.

Jimin blinks at it. “You think it’s important?”

Namjoon shrugs, but he can tell just from holding it. The thing feels weird, heavy and not just physically. There’s something to this notebook. “Yeah,” he says quietly.

Jimin nods. “Let’s take it back to the others then. Maybe it’ll help us figure this all out,” he says, remarkably collected for someone who’s spent the last few ours with his head in his knees.

Namjoon glances at him. “You sure?” he asks. “What if it belongs to someone?”

Jimin stares at it and shakes his head. “Maybe it has information we need.”

Namjoon is quiet for a moment, then sighs and nods, sliding the thing under the waistband of his jeans so it sits flush against his torso. He jerks his head toward the door, growing chillier and chillier by the minute down in that basement. “Let’s get going now. We’re gonna need some time to figure out a route back to room 104.”

Yoongi pants as he sprints down the hallway, pausing to rest his hands on his knees and catch his breath. This school is so confounding. It’s a miracle he hasn’t gotten too lost yet. Distantly, he hears a shriek he recognizes as Hoseok’s and heaves a sigh. He begins running once more, every now and again calling Hoseok’s name. But there’s no response. Another shout alerts him and he rounds a corner without stopping, following the voice.

“Jung Hoseok!” he screams at the top of his lungs, stopping in his tracks to give all his effort to his shout. Why in the world had he offered to do this again? Is he some sort of hero?

The screams have stopped, and the hallway is eerily quiet. Yoongi’s pulse begins to race. He hears it in his ears like deafening rushing water. He rakes his fingers through his hair and shakes his head.

“Hoseok!!” he screams.

There’s the sound of shuffling coming from a room nearby and he is quick to follow it. He comes upon a broken door and approaches, but as he does, a tall, looming figure lumbers out and he presses himself back against the wall so as not to be seen. The figure spares no time to look Yoongi’s way, simply moves heavy and slow out of the room and down the hallway in the opposite direction. Smokey fog hangs low around his feet and his body looks like nothing more than blackness in human form. Yoongi swallows hard and covers his mouth with his hand. The figure drags an axe in his right hand, the metal scraping horribly against the floor.

A horrible thought occurs to Yoongi and he sprints into the room past the broken door. It’s a nurse’s office, and as he frantically looks around he doesn’t see Hoseok anywhere. Tears spring to his eyes that he tries desperately to banish, but as he falls to his knees in grief the tears fall too. He drops his head to his hands and cries for a moment.

“I’m too late…,” he whispers to himself, inconsolable.

He cries for a long while until, softly, a voice calls from somewhere on the floor. “Y-Yoongi?”

Yoongi’s eyes flash open and he scoots across the linoleum toward the voice. He bends down to ground level and sees, cowering beneath an old cot, cotton blanket strewn haphazardly to the side, is Jung Hoseok, holding his knees as he cries.

Before either of them have time to speak, Hoseok is crawling out from beneath the cot and has thrown his arms around Yoongi’s waist, crushing his head against his friend’s chest as he sobs, loudly enough for anyone nearby to hear.

Yoongi shushes him and pats his head. “Hoseok, quiet down. That person…that…thing might still be around,” he says in a whisper.

Hoseok shakes his head, eyes squeezed shut. “No,” he sobs with a hiccup. “As soon as he heard you calling for me, he left.”

Yoongi raises his brows. “What?”

Hoseok nods. “Not a fucking second too soon either.”

Yoongi sighs and leans back, relief flooding through him. Hoseok backs away and sniffles, wiping his eyes as he gazes at Yoongi. “Why…why did you come after me?” he asks.

Yoongi rolls his eyes and gives Hoseok’s good leg a kick. “Stupid,” he says. “How could I let you run off on your own in a place like this?”

Hoseok’s expression goes soft, like he may cry again. It seems that the stupid boy is really touched. Yoongi glances away and clears his throat. “Yoongi-,”

“Anyway, we’d better get back to room 104. The guys are gonna meet us in like a half hour or so,” he says.

Hoseok raises his brows. “Really?” he asks softly, his voice a bare exhale.

Yoongi shrugs. “Yeah,” he says, examining his fingers as an excuse not to meet Hoseok’s wide, vulnerable eyes. “We aren’t leaving anyone behind, got it?”

Hoseok sniffles. “Okay,” he says. The two stand to their wobbly feet and Yoongi notices with a chuckle that Hoseok seems much sturdier now. Hoseok frowns. “What are you laughing at?”

Yoongi shakes his head and smiles. “You’re the only person who can wander off on their own with a broken leg and come back healed,” says Yoongi with a laugh, tossing his head back before leading the way out into the hall.

The two walk quietly for a moment, Yoongi in front. It seems Hoseok has forgotten his way in his panic, but Yoongi is level enough to remember the blood on the walls, the corpse slumped in the corner. But as they pass the corpse, Yoongi notices something he hadn’t before. In the body’s pale, grayish fingers is the strap of a backpack. Just how young was she? He pauses for a moment, staring at the body, and furrows his brow. She must have been in high school, looking at her. Black strands of hair dangle listlessly over her shut eyes, and her skin is growing tighter around her cheekbones and joints. This girl hasn’t been dead that long either. He examines her for a moment, searching for any wounds that would point to her cause of death. But he sees only a young girl in a school uniform, jaw slack and legs extending into the hallway.

Hoseok creeps closer to Yoongi’s side, holding on to his arm tightly as the two boys stare at the downed body. “What do you think killed her?” asks Hoseok quietly.

Yoongi shakes his head. “Can’t figure it out,” he says.

“Rat poison.”

Yoongi and Hoseok each scream and jump away from each other, but as Yoongi opens his eyes, he notices a pale blue orb hovering in the girl’s lap that wasn’t there before, hopping from knee to knee as if it has all the energy in the world. Yoongi swallows hard. Even though Jungkook said he saw the very same thing, Yoongi hadn’t ever really considered it true until he saw it himself. Just like the dire straits of the group that Taehyung had known by intuition. It seems Yoongi always requires physical proof. He worries for a flashing moment if that might harm him in here…

“Y-Y-You’re…you’re a ghost?” asks Hoseok.

The orb chuckles and it echoes through the hall. “I wish,” she says dryly. “Ghosts don’t feel pain.”

Yoongi swallows hard and stares at the pulsing ball of light. “Rat poison killed you?” he asks.

“Nope,” she says. “My friend killed me.”

Yoongi’s eyes go wide. “Excuse me?” he asks, stunned.

“Don’t be so surprised,” she says, and there’s an air of bitterness in her tone. “This place makes you crazy.”

Yoongi shakes his head. “But to kill your friends…?”

“She got it in her head that I was the reason we got stuck in here,” she says with a sigh. When neither boy responds, she grunts with frustration. “I wasn’t. For the record.”

Yoongi clears his throat and crouches in front of the corpse. It’s creepy to look at her so closely, but he’s not so scared anymore. This spirit, although dry and sarcastic, doesn’t seem cruel like the one throwing things around in Jin’s room. The one he hadn’t quite seen properly in the frenzy. He examines this spirit now like a scientist, trying to make sense of it as it glows steadily and silently before him.

“What? You think I’m pretty, Old Man?” she asks with a cackle. “Sorry, but you’re not my type.”

Yoongi scowls and takes a crouching half step back. “You’re not my type either,” remarks Yoongi with a smirk. “I prefer my partners living.”

“And legal,” adds Hoseok behind him, nodding.

The spirit laughs a little before settling above the corpse’s knobby right knee. “You guys are funny,” she says. “Try to die near me so we can hang out.”

Yoongi bristles and stands to his feet. “What makes you think we’re gonna die?” he asks.

The girl laughs again. “You don’t seriously think you’ll get out, do you?” The two stay quiet and the spirit once again cackles. “Stupid.”

“Why’s that?” asks Hoseok quietly, fear in his voice as he holds on to Yoongi’s arm once more.

“Like I said,” she says, “this place makes you crazy. If Hedoesn’t kill you, you’ll kill each other.”

“He?” asks Yoongi, but he doesn’t need an answer. This girl has seen that man with the axe too. Yoongi lowers his gaze. “We won’t kill each other. I can guarantee that.”

“That’s what I thought too,” the girl says, her voice going softer. She seems more troubled now, younger too. “I thought we’d stick together. Forever. Even in a place like this…a dimension that takes you to your darkest places and breaks everything you hold close…I thought we could stick it out,” she says, then her light goes darker. “But I was wrong. We did…unspeakable things.”

Yoongi is quiet, but Hoseok speaks. “I’m sorry you had such a painful life,” he says. There is nothing but tenderness in his voice.

“Well, it wasn’t all that bad,” she says. “What’s worse is what comes after life.” The orb pulses a little. “Do you know how much it hurts to drink rat poison? What it’s like to feel the fire burning down your throat, constantly? Even when you don’t have a throat anymore?” She pauses. “Listen…just…take this piece of friendly advice, okay?”

The boys inch closer, Hoseok crouching beside Yoongi as they stare at the orb. “Sure.”

The orb grows brighter, more intense. “Don’t trust anyone in here,” she says, strong and stern. “Not even each other.”

“What?” sputters Yoongi with a cough. “But if we can’t trust each other, then-,”

��Then you’ll stay alive long enough to starve to death at least,” she says. “Listen, the people you think you know…the person you think you are — none of it means anything in here. The fewer people you trust, the safer you are and that’s just the truth.”

Yoongi stiffens and stands to his feet. “That’s not true.”

“Think what you want, but it’s your life you’re gambling, not mine,” she says before disappearing into nothingness. Yoongi can’t fathom where the orb has gone off to, but in its wake is nothing but cool air and a stiff corpse.

Yoongi scoffs. “She’s just saying that because of how she died, Hoseok. Don’t pay attention to it,” he says, rolling his eyes. When he glances down, Hoseok is simply staring at the corpse, brows furrowed, expression slack. “Hoseok?”

He snaps out of his daze and stands up, staring at Yoongi. “Hey…don’t you think what she said makes a little sense?” he asks.

Yoongi shakes his head. “No, I don’t,” he says. “And you shouldn’t either. If you have enough time to think about that ghost’s advice, you have enough time to think of a way out of here.”

“Yoongi-,”

“Let’s get back to the classroom so we can tell the boys about that guy with the axe,” says Yoongi, crossing his arms as he makes his way down the hall.

Hoseok stays behind a moment, standing still in the middle of the hallway, feet equidistant and eyes locked on Yoongi’s back. “Wait,” he calls quietly. “Do…do we need to tell them?” he asks, eyes glazed like he’s somewhere else.

Yoongi stiffens and stares back at his friend. Something about his shaking frame makes him nervous. Yoongi doesn’t want to push Hoseok, especially when he’s this rattled. So, carefully, he approaches and places a placating hand on his shoulder. “You know where I stand,” he says, then sighs as Hoseok slides his glassy eyes toward him. “But…I’ll let you decide.”

Hoseok blinks at Yoongi and swallows hard. Yoongi can’t begin to understand what’s going on in Hoseok’s head. The kid has always been more sensitive than Yoongi, more vulnerable. Whenever he heard a rumor when they were younger, Hoseok would naively believe it without even considering that the person spreading it may be lying. He’s always been a gullible sort of guy. Yoongi knows that not telling the group might put them in danger. And he knows that once the seeds of doubt and deception are sown, they’re impossible to remove.

But Hoseok seems to be thinking at a mile a minute. What if the girl really got to him? Or worse…

What if the girl is right?

This suspicion will only grow if the two let it. But what if they truly can’t trust the other boys with such important information? Maybe letting them know will give them more ammunition to use to betray them later.

Yoongi shakes his head. That’s crazy. He’s not susceptible to such petty psychological attacks. He is quick to right his path of thinking, and he can only hope that the doubts that briefly entered his mind aren’t plaguing Hoseok’s.

What Yoongi can quickly and easily write off as a moment of illogical panic, Hoseok may dwell on and eventually succumb to. The offer to let Hoseok choose is less a matter of the choice itself, and more a matter of what will help preserve Hoseok’s fragile mental state. What will make his doubts worse: telling the boys or keeping it secret? Yoongi isn’t so sure.

And as he looks at his friend, a hand on his shoulder, he can’t read his distant expression for the life of him.

Reblog. Opens in new window

#bts #bts fanfic #bts fanfiction #bts horror #bts horror au #bts au #bts reactions #bts scenarios #bts imagines #bts ot7 #bts oneshot #bts halloween

15 notes · View notes

classyfoxdestiny · 3 years ago

Text

'Amitabh Bachchan does bully a lot'

‘He will keep saying, ‘I won’t do it,’ but he still comes and does it; that’s part of who he is.’ ‘He is certainly a prankster.’ ‘He is a director’s delight.’

IMAGE: Director Arun Sheshkumar with Amitabh Bachchan on the sets of Kaun Banega Crorepati. Photograph: Kind courtesy Arun Sheshkumar/Instagram

Arun Sheshkumar has been directing Kaun Banega Crorepati for seven years.

“The TRPs are saying it all. Viewers are back,” says Arun, talking about the reception to the latest season ofn KBC.

“For Mr Bachchan, the beauty of KBC is that he gets to meet the common man. He gets to know their stories in their own words, gets their reactions instantly. That’s what makes it very special for him. As a result, his energy has increased fourfold over the years. When we take a break of about 6-8 months between seasons, he’s looking forward to the next shoot,” Arun tells Rediff.com Contributor Prateek Sur.

You’ve been directing KBC for over half the show’s life. How has your life changed since you took on KBC?

I think life has been pretty good.

It changed for the better after KBC.

It is one of the most professional shows on Indian television in terms of the shooting process. It is up to world standards.

It is great to be associated with the show.

Every director dreams of being a part of one big show in his life and, for me, that happened with KBC.

I had done almost all the properties across non-fiction in Indian television. My parents would ask me, ‘When are you going to direct KBC?’

It was more like a status symbol within my family and friends’s circle. After that day came, there was no looking back. It’s a great feeling.

What’s your first memory of meeting Amitabh Bachchan for KBC?

There is a little story that dates back to a seven-year-old Arun Sheshkumar who is a mad, mad fan of Mr Bachchan. In fact, my study room was full of collages of Mr Bachchan’s magazine cutouts. I was a typical fanboy. I still have those photographs with me.

My friends too were mad fans of Amitabh Bachchan. Every October 11, we would wait outside his bungalow from 7 am for a picture, for that darshan he gives everyone on his birthday.

A couple of years later, I became one of the privileged few who got a chance to meet him on his birthday every year. I used to give him flowers. He used to send a note thanking me for the flowers and for reaching out to him. Then, one day, I actually got the chance to actually work with him at an event. I was stumped!

Finally, when KBC came along, it was a dream come true even though, by then, you’re a much more seasoned and mature person.

Now, you’re in the director’s chair, so the command is different. Yet, it was an absolute pleasure. It took about 30 to 60 minutes to break the ice with him and it took a couple of days for us to get comfortable with each other.

Till then, he was being directed by Siddharth Basu on KBC. One day Mr Basu told Mr Bachchan that he was going to hand over the reins; that was the kind of introduction I got.

The respect came right there and my work, I believe, has earned me more respect over the years. Mr Bachchan calls me Arun and that itself is a lifetime achievement. It’s like winning a national film award.

IMAGE: Amitabh Bachchan shoots for Season 13 of KBC. Photograph: Kind courtesy Amitabh Bachchan/Instagram

It’s Season 13. Are there any additions to the game format?

Every year, we try to reinvent ourselves. This time, there are two changes. The fastest finger first round has changed completely. And the response we have got for the revamped process after the initial episodes aired has been brilliant. People have loved the new format.

Earlier, those competing in the fastest finger first round had four options that you needed to present in the correct order. Needless to say, you needed to be the fastest to do so.

The pressure to answer in the right order in order to reach the hot seat was too intense. We felt a lot of people were not getting the right opportunity to reach the hot seat.

The new format levels the playing field for contestants who are not technologically savvy.

This year, we have returned to the original format of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Season 1, which too has changed over the years. But the original fastest finger first format was on Mr Siddharth Basu’s mind for the longest time.

In the format we are using now, contestants have to answer three rapid-fire questions. Whoever answers correctly, in the least amount of time, will reach the hot seat.

As far as the set goes, we haven’t disturbed it too much.

We have retained the classic set, but we brought in more technology like augmented reality.

We now have LED flooring with an AR mapping projection system, which gives you the illusion that it’s a well.

We’ve also got a virtual ceiling.

So, a lot of technology has come in.

Will the ‘audience poll’ lifeline return this season?

We had discontinued this lifeline last year.

But now, the audience is back and so is the audience poll.

After all, that is one of the USPs of the show.

What sort of changes have you made to the shoot process, considering the current pandemic situation?

There is nothing that has changed since last year; that was our test run as we were shooting in the midst of the pandemic.

The only difference, this time, is that the audience is back.

We have ensured that everybody who comes onto the set is vaccinated. RT-PCR tests are done, antigen tests are done; everybody is tested on a daily basis.

Social distancing is strictly maintained. We all wear our masks.

The audience is watching from a distance.

We’ve got bucket seats for them. They’re seated in an appropriate manner so that there is zero interactivity among them.

Last year, when we were shooting amid the pandemic, we were very lucky that we didn’t have a single case, unlike other shows.

This year too we’re hoping it will be the same.

IMAGE: Amitabh Bachchan promotes KBC, Season 13.

Considering Amitabh Bachchan is almost 79, is the unit following any special Covid-related precautions as far as he is concerned?

Yes, we have to. He is extra fragile.

Mr Bachchan is the most protected personality on the set. He has a separate entry-exit door, which we introduced last year.

He is always up and running and a super fit man, but we want to be extra cautious. We don’t want anything to go wrong because of us.

His rooms are isolated. Even if the team wants to chat with him or brief him, we do it through a glass screen.

He’s completely guarded. All Covid practices, including social distancing, are in place.

Is it difficult to shoot in this ‘new normal’?

I won’t deny it. It is suffocating. It is difficult.

But, as they say, life has to move on. This is the new normal and we have gotten used to it now, but it is uncomfortable.

We all crib. We don’t like the partitions in between us. Even when the team is having lunch together, there are partitions on our tables.

We can’t have interactions with our fellow crew members.

But all these precautions are for our safety.

We are hoping this will go away soon. Most of us are double-vaccinated. I am. So is Mr Bachchan. And many people in our crew. But we are still taking all the precautions that are required.

Amitabh Bachchan is known to be a director’s delight. Are there any instances where you and he don’t agree and you have had to put your foot down?

Very rarely. He is a thorough professional and he has seen more Deepavalis than I have. He knows exactly (what needs to be done). He is a no-nonsense person. He trusts his director.

If I tell him, ‘Sir, we have to do this in this way,’ he does resist sometimes and say, ‘Why do you want to do it this way? Let’s continue to do it this way only.’

But if I reason it out well, he does agree and do what I say.

He does bully a lot. He will keep saying, ‘I won’t do it,’ but he still comes and does it during the take; that’s part of who he is. He is certainly a prankster. At the same time, he is a director’s delight.

You ask him to be at a certain mark and, even without seeing the mark directly, he hits it perfectly. That’s a great help to the cameraman as we shoot in a multi-camera set-up.

IMAGE: Amitabh Bachchan on KBC.

When the show began, Amitabh Bachchan often spoke of being uncomfortable because, for the first time, he had to be himself on screen. How much has he changed as host over the years?

For Mr Bachchan, the beauty of KBC is that he gets to meet the common man. He gets to know their stories in their own words, gets their reactions instantly. That’s what makes it very special for him.

As a result, his energy has increased fourfold over the years. When we take a break of about 6-8 months between seasons, he’s looking forward to the next shoot.

We’ve all become like an extended family to him.

Apart from that, when it comes to work, he’s a professional and knows what he’s doing.

What has got added over the years is a lot of emotion on his part. He looks at KBC as his property and has become more personal.

He has started opening up a lot more. He started speaking a lot more. He has started sharing anecdotes.

When it started, KBC was purely a quiz show. When and why did you decide to focus more on the contestants’ backstories?

I deny this completely.

To be honest, you’re not the first one asking me this question.

KBC was originally a quiz show and will always be a quiz show. It’s a show where you can win money. It’s a show about sharing your knowledge. It’s also a show that entertains its audience not just with general knowledge questions but also by telling stories.

Over the years, television has evolved. There is so much content available in the market.

In KBC, we are just getting to know the contestants better. We are not telling them ‘Talk about this’ or ‘Do this’. They are doing it on their own.

They are asking Mr Bachchan their own questions and sharing their personal stories on their own. You know there is no structure to that.

What we are basically telling the viewers is that this is the person’s background, this is their life, they have reached the hot seat because of luck or hard work and they are here to win the game with their knowledge.

This is purely because we want the viewer to connect with the contestant, get associated with the contestant’s story and relate to it. It’s still the same plate that we are serving; probably, the items are arranged a little differently.

Is there anything that’s sacrosanct and will never change?

I think the uniqueness and the classic look of the show and the way that Mr Bachchan conducts it… that’s never going to change.

Those are the two strong pillars of the show.

The way he asks a question, the way he locks the answer, the way he looks into the eyes of the contestants… that’s all him. He owns it and we don’t want to ever change it.

Then, there’s the look of the show which is identified (everywhere).

I would like to give credit to the music of the show as well.

Even though we re-did it two years ago with Ajay-Atul, we retained the signature tune. We just added new instruments to it. It boomerangs and you associate yourself with that sound.

These three things will never change.

IMAGE: Amitabh Bachchan in the first season of KBC.

When KBC began in 2000, there was a boom in Indian television. Do you think television has changed since then? Have audiences grown with time?

Television is evolving. There is so much competition that everybody, including the viewers, is trying out different things.

Due to restrictions during the pandemic, there was a point in time when television shows had to take a break and were not able to shoot. So many viewers moved to OTT platforms.

But television has its own unique appeal. People did come back to watching their daily soaps and their non-fiction shows. The TRPs are saying it all.

Yes, viewers do like newer things but they like their old favourites as well. How much we evolve, the core has to be maintained. And if the core is right, the extra frills really don’t matter to the viewers.

I’m saying this from experience.

This is what I’ve noticed in my 22-year stint in television — the core must be the same. It does not disturb the viewer when you add or subtract frills. But the moment you start changing your core drastically, it puts off the viewers. People tend to switch channels then.

Lastly, you’ve worked on some of the biggest non-fiction shows. What does it take for a show to become popular?

A lot of hard work.

Whenever my friends, relatives or acquaintances return from watching a shoot on the sets, the first thing they say is, ‘Oh, it just takes half a second to switch channels if you don’t like something, but there’s so much hard work that goes behind putting this up.’

There’s a lot of hard work that goes into the making of a show. Don’t judge a show in the first 30 seconds. We are trying our best to entertain our viewers with the best entertainment, information and knowledge.

There’s a lot of pain involved. Then, there’s also luck.

We don’t make KBC, the contestants make the show. They make it interesting. That’s why every episode is so different. And every season is so different.

. Source link

0 notes

mcmansionhell · 7 years ago

Text

50 States of McMansion Hell: Hillsborough County, New Hampshire

Hello Friends! Happy Labor Day (or as one of my college professors humorously called it, Socialist Christmas)! I hope you like freedom because this week’s McMansion definitely has...some of that!

This 1996 beauty features 4 bedrooms and 3 baths, but somehow ends up totaling almost 5000 square feet. For under $1.3 million dollars you’d think you’d get at least 5 baths.

Onwards!

Foyer

Friends, I’ve found the Jaws theme window, and, of course it’s an awkward stairwell window. Best not slam the front door too hard, lest you send those vases tumbling to the ground, where they shatter into a million pieces coating the foyer in 21 years worth of dust bunnies.

Gr8 Room

I will never not make a joke about Bullwinkle upon seeing a cruelly beheaded moose used as a centerpiece. Also that tiny little stove is negated by the tall ceilings and wall of windows. New England Winter: 1, McMansion: 0.

Dining Room

(extremely Lemony Snicket voice:) If one spends a long period of time anxiously waiting in a particularly dreadful place, such as a dentist’s office or tucked away in a municipal post office crawling with several enemy spies, one fixates on the details of said place. In the case of the dentist’s office, one might seek refuse in a particularly bawdy floral painting, or, in the case of the municipal post office crawling with several enemy spies, the increasingly heinous price of postage stamps in a desperate attempt to distract oneself from one’s dire situation.

Sitting Room

Alexa can never truly replace the hole in Jerry’s heart left by his eldest daughter’s running off with an artist.

Kitschen

Did every rural working class family get one of these catalogs or was it just mine?

Also, in case you were wondering, they’re still around and they’re still selling the same stuff from 2001.

Nook of Glory

This blog was looong overdue for one of my pithy generational political jokes. Also shoutout to my wealthier girl-friends growing up in the South who had to hear “how do you expect to find a husband when you [insert nonconforming behavior here]” as a method of policing deviation from the norm.

Master Bedroom

Uncle Jerry is the guy who DVRs football games and doesn’t fast forward through the commercials.

Master Bath

old twitter joke context: https://twitter.com/pixelatedboat/status/741904787361300481?lang=en

The minstrelsy sun wins the worst ‘an art’ on mcmansion hell dot com award, one I think it will hold onto for a very, very long time.

Bedroom 2

Imagine listening to The Cure in this room before answering the reader poll thanks

Basement

Folks, I’ve seen more inviting tax offices.

Anyways, we’re coming to the end of the post, which means its time for our favorite part:

Rear Exterior

Time for a McMansion Hell Personality Test: Which “feature” window are YOU??

Left Window: you are passionate and intelligent, yet neurotic. Your friends worry that you won’t be able to handle the punishing amount of work you force yourself to do because you would rather be physically exhausted than have to spend ample amounts of time alone with your own insecurities.

Middle Window: You are confident and idealistic, yet neurotic. You think that your problems can be solved by yelling louder than the person you’re currently arguing with. You may have been poor at sports as a child and also have an energy drink dependency.

Right Window: You are kind and dependable, yet neurotic. You enjoy spacing out while reading difficult books, liking but never reblogging, and earnestly avoiding cable news. You may have a penchant for emotionally unavailable romantic partners and ignoring your newly bought cookbooks in lieu of a good old-fashioned round of takeout (your fifth this week.)

I got..all three of these, wow!

That’s it for this week’s post folks! Be sure to stay tuned tomorrow for our special NEW JERSEY McMansion, and this weekend for another installment of Looking Around!

OH AND ONE MORE THING

Are YOU in the Baltimore metro area?? Do you want to witness me give a live diss on McMansions and talk about my rad as hell politics in one of the 3 coffee shops I write this blog in? Well you’re in luck because Thursday, September 7th, I’ll be doing a McMansion Hell LIVE event at Red Emma’s Bookstore & Coffeehouse. More info here, if you’re up to it.

If you like this post, and want to see more like it, consider supporting me on Patreon! Also JUST A HEADS UP - I’ve started posting a GOOD HOUSE built since 1980 from the area where I picked this week’s McMansion as bonus content on Patreon!

Not into small donations and sick bonus content? Check out the McMansion Hell Store- 100% goes to charity.

Copyright Disclaimer: All photographs are used in this post under fair use for the purposes of education, satire, and parody, consistent with 17 USC §107. Manipulated photos are considered derivative work and are Copyright © 2017 McMansion Hell. Please email [email protected] before using these images on another site. (am v chill about this)

#architecture #design #1990s #90s #90s decor #interior design #home decor #mcmansion #mcmansion hell #ugly houses #bad architecture

1K notes · View notes

blackmaylovesfries · 5 years ago

Text

"My instinct is to hug" - Taking him in

Asked: No

Words: 1203

Sinopse: Seventeen Hybrid AU - Choi Seungcheol is an Brown bear hybrid that wants to take care of someone. So he was really surprised when she decided to take care of him instead.

Notices: guns (not fired) and mention to violence (not consummated). The italic is ‘you’ telling a story.

URGENT - BIRTHDAY POLL - Wonho’s B-Day is getting closer, help me!

Masterpost

Previous / Next

The Strike team was taking too long to find you. You were worried sick seeing the days passing by and not a sign of your teammates. Sure, you were being spoiled by S. Coups but you couldn’t rest your mind… After all, they never took a week to find you before, let alone almost 10 days.

During that time, your injuries started to get better with Seungcheol’s cares. He was actually really good! He explained to you that he had to take care of himself after he arrived at the florest, he had to fight for territory and tender his own injuries. Your heart hurted listening to his story.

To distract him, you lost yourself on stories of your job, how your team saved hybrids and all the scumbags you encountered. Seungcheol listened to all with great interest and sometimes would do his own inputs and say his opinions. You were doing a great job distracting both of your minds.

Because at the first nights you had had some nightmares, Coups made it a habit to sleep with you, hugging you so you could feel safe. You weren’t complaining but you could already hear hybrids voices screaming in agony just with the thought of someone they didn’t know hugging you.

“Y/n…?” In the 10th day, Seungcheol entered slowly into the cave. You smiled to him and waved. “Y/n, I was thinking… I can’t force you to tell me but I need to ask…”

“Go ahead” Your tone was sweet most of the time with him.

“What happened to you?”

---

S. Coups didn’t know if he had hit a nerve but he could see that after he asked the question that was eating him for days her eyes lost their focus. The bear hybrid waited patiently for some answer of the little human for few minutes. He was ready to tell her that she didn’t have to answer him when she smiled bitterly.

“It’s not a happy story, are you sure you want to hear it?” Seungcheol nodded. Although the girl seemed to think he was somewhat innocent, Seungcheol had already seen some quite grotestic things. She sighed.

“Well… Okay… So, I was at a mission with two of my teammates, JB and Mark, when…

We ran into a trap. Someone had heard about us and knew that we were coming for them. It was our neglect, since we didn’t even know that someone from the previous operation was alive and on the run.

They had prepared themselves to receive 8 of us, so when they saw that only 3 of us were there it was clear that they had already outnumbered us by a far margen. Actually there were 4 of us but I guess The8 don’t really counts since he was long gone when he noticed the ambush. He just took the time to warn us and fled.

It was not pretty at all. There were bullets and screams flying everywhere from every direction. Me and my team were cornered at something like a balcony. The boys jumped down and just as I was about to follow them, I was hitted by a bullet. By two actually, one on my arm and other on my ribs. Luckily they passed through but I don’t know what happened after that… I just woke up in the cave, already with you.”

“Oh… That’s why…” The hybrid could just imagine what was like for her to be in that situation. He noticed the way she talked about her teammates with such adoration and love that made him a little jealous. “You shouldn’t worry much… I mean… By what you told me, they are really good and they will be able to track your traces soon enough.”

The girl smiled, seeming tired. She and the boy had walked round his territory leaving marks and signs to her team find. Seungcheol couldn’t help much so he just comforted her. He wanted to do something more for the human but there was nothing much… After all, when the other humans arrive, she would leave him.

---

On the next morning, you woke up to a lot of noises. For a moment you forgot where you were but the instant you identified the noise as being the Strike team jeep you shot up and ran outside the cave. S. Coups was quick to follow you and grab your shoulders. You could tell that he was scared.

Just as you got out, you were welcomed by a dream vision. Jackson was driving to your direction, taking care to stay on the weak trail between the trees so he wouldn’t damage the forest too much. Mark and JB were on the back, with their guns, ready to react to the minimum sign of danger.

“MARK! JB! JIAER!” You couldn’t hold back. As soon as they heard your voice, they stopped the car. Also, hearing you calling the names, Seungcheol relaxed a bit, he was quite familiar with your team’s names.

“Y/N!” The 3 of them came running to you “For goodness sake, girl! Were you trying to kill us all?!” JB was faster than the others two, at least when it comes to you and your safety. He grabbed your shoulders that Coups had just released and… just nagged.

“Do you know how worried we were? How difficult was to find you? You freaking drift away more than 1000 miles and then you just leave pools of blood and disappear!”

“Now now… I also was worried. How did you guys scape? what took you all so long!?” JB just stared at you for a minute before hugging you. You smiled.

The other two also were quite worried and nagged at you, not as much as JB nor as much as Jinyoung was preparing for you when you go back. When they were done, you heard a little noise behind you.

“And who is this?” Although his voice wasn’t friendly, Mark didn’t had any intention of being rude.

“Ah, this is Seungcheol, he is the one who saved me and took care of my injuries.” You showed the boys where the bullets had entered. They looked at the hybrid again with some admiration on their eyes now.

“He did a good job.” Mark smiled. “We will still be checking with Namjoon and his team but he did a really good job.” You coaxed the hybrid to near your group.

“Thank you…” Seungcheol’s voice was low. Jackson smiled to him.

“Well, we won’t be perturbing your territory anymore.” He indicated the car with his head. The other humans understood and the boys started to walk in its direction. He turned back when he noticed that you weren’t following them. “Are he coming too?” After all, they all knew very well that look you had in your eyes.

“If he wants to…” You turned to Seungcheol and waited. The hybrid then understood what you were implying. With a huge smile, he nodded. So, you took his hand and both of you got in the car.

“So, to the center?” Jackson looked at you.

“No…” You looked to the hybrid besides you that were playing with his own furry clothes selfmade. “Let’s go home.”

Tag: @hopsiclesposts ; @woohoney ; @warm-smiles-and-blue-skies ; @childfmoonn ; @moonmin-miya

#Seventeen #seventeen scenarios #seventeen x reader #seventeen imagines #seventeen hybrid au #seventeen s.coups #bear #bear s.coups #s.coups #hybrid s.coups #hybrid au #kpop #kpop imagines #kpop x reader #kpop hybrid au

141 notes · View notes

snkpolls · 5 years ago

Text

SnK Chapter 125 Poll Results

The chapter 125 poll closed with 1,469 responses. Thank you for your support! This month’s poll results were compiled by /u/alooulla, /u/_Puppet_, @shifter-lines and @momtaku.

RATE THE CHAPTER 1,387 RESPONSES

While still overwhelmingly positive, and slightly improved over Chapter 124, the “wow” factor still wasn’t there for many. Those selecting a perfect five was less than half of respondents (49.3%).

Transitions were unbelievably good, hardly noticed we were at 5 different scenes this chapter.

Not really hype like some chapters have been, but it was wonderful to see all the character and story development.

Created a number of different plot threads, but was not as satisfying as recent chapters

Everyone in this chapter (except Flock) deserves love

Good chapter, juggles lots of POVs excellently and opens up multiple opportunities for where the story may go. I love how desperate everything is.

Beats gonna drop soon

Jean honey if you push Floch out the hole in the wall everyone will swear it was an accident

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT? 1,421 RESPONSES

They only appeared on two pages, but “Levi and Hange are back” was the top pick out of a long list of options with nearly one-third (27.7%) selecting them. “Armin and Mikasa’s argument” secured second (14.3%) and “Annie and Hitch together” (12.6%) round out the top three.

LEVI AND HANGE ARE BACK! OMG!!!

I loved Annie's backstory, the conversation between Floch and Jean, the talk between AM, Shadis, mr Leonhart, literally everything.

I loved hearing Annie and Hitch talk, and the Levi and Hange situation finally got addressed :)

I'm so happy to see Levi and Hange, and so happy that they've run into Pieck and Magath. I hope they can reach some kind of truce and work together.

Floch is the Queen of Paradis confirmed.

Shadis once again made this chapter for me. What a great, deep speech. He is a true hero.♡

WHO WAS THIS CHAPTER'S MVP? 1,416 RESPONSES

While denied the favorite moment, Annie was the favorite for chapter MVP with more than one-quarter of respondent (26.6%). Hitch, the other half of the girl power duo, made a strong showing (19.6%) for number two. Most shocking perhaps is that Hange (13.6%) squeaked out a narrow victory over Floch (12.6%) for third.

Annie is the best girl

Floch did nothing wrong

Hitch nipping at Historia's best girl-crown

HAAAAAAAAANGE

ANNIEEEEE A AAAAA AA A AA A A A A A A MY GIRL

Floch is such a crazy piece of shit, I love him, he's a great villain and I'm glad that Isayama added a character like that to the story. Also, funny with how he represents the rabid Eren stans, parroting the bs they keep saying ("we're free now reeeeeee").

S H A D I S T H E C H A D I S

Hange my queen how the hell did you save Levi, I wanna know!!

Hitch yeeting Annie made me scream, I love them together so much.

My babes Shadis and Magath are BACK!! 😍

So happy to see Hitch back. She is such a fun character and so underrated!

THE CHAPTER OPENS WITH RESIDENTS OF STOHESS REACTING BOTH POSITIVELY AND NEGATIVELY TO EREN’S ACTIONS. WHICH EXPRESSION OF THE CROWD ARE YOU MOST SYMPATHETIC TOWARDS? 1,416 RESPONSES

The citizens of the walls are as divided as the fanbase over Eren’s actions. 36.7% are on the side that says the Eldians on the island would all be dead without Eren, while 34% respond with the fact that he’s responsible for many of their deaths himself. 25.1% don’t want to side with either faction.

“You can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs”

Both are right and wrong at the same time…

Both sides are ignorant as to what is actually happening so it is difficult to gauge who actually feels what they do considering their limited knowledge but I'm edging towards the justification of it.

Eren has planned this all along, he knows there will be no true peace by doing the rumbling and has some kind of third goal

Even if the first expression is true (and no one can say if it is or not for sure) it doesn't make the belligerents right, or mean that Eren shouldn't be held accountable for his actions

Both sides are justified. Both sides reacted according to their personal views in response to an outside force they had no control of.

I sympathize with both. One on hand, it seems as though the wall titans were the only effective retaliation the island had left, but on the other hand, Eren did kill many of his own people and aiming to wipe out the rest of the world is definitely pretty extreme for even Eren. That's why I think there's still a HUGE part of his plan that we haven't been made aware of yet.

There's no real right answer here. Obviously genocide is bad and no one can deny the fact that Eren killed his own people but, what other options were available in the limited time they had?

Whatever your thoughts on The Rumbling, Eren is being extremely reckless and it's going to backfire like crazy. Member when Erwin pulled off an almost-bloodless coup? I have a feeling Ereh is too preoccupied with thoughts of PATHS and FREEDOM to really consider the consequences of stuff like civilian casualties or letting a fascist cult take over the government.

What the tic tac patty wack snick snack quarterback big mac heart attack race track double back guy named jack did he just do?

Sasageyo

ANNIE BACKSTORY! WHAT DID YOU THINK? 1,420 RESPONSES

Annie’s finally back! And she sure got a lot of page time, finally getting her chance to speak her story. The majority thought seems to be that it was okay, at 60.3%, whereas 33.2% absolutely loved it, and 6.5% thought it was a waste of time.

Develops her character a bit but otherwise not too important

we got an entire Annie backstory and it answered NONE of my questions about the crystal. If its purpose was just to protect her like the Warhammer's crystal, and she was semi-conscious -- why couldn't she escape it on her own? Is there something unique about the Female Titan? Was it a chrysalis? Has she undergone a metamorphosis?

I'm just glad Annie's back

I really liked it and especially the Annie focus although I expected more from her justifications.

Don't care for her this late in the story tbh it's just a waste of pages

this chapter confirmed that Annie is the best character of SNK !

It was pretty much exactly what I expected, fairly boring and didn’t change my perception of her character at all

This puts so much context on the murders she committed back in the female titan arc and her personality in general. This is so great! Waited forever for this

I especially liked learning Annie's entire backstory, and her interactions with Hitch in this chapter were great.

Lil' Orphan Annie deserves more spinoffs. We need one about her awkward preteen years trying to fit in with the popular girls while continuously kicking them in half by accident.

MY GIRL ANNIE DESERVES MORE.

AFTER CONSIDERING HER STORY, WHICH THOUGHT MOST CLOSELY MATCHES YOUR OWN? 1,410 RESPONSES

There sure was a lot to consider in all Annie said, and the two primary thoughts seem to be a feeling of tragedy that she never felt that anything mattered, and a hope that she’ll see her father again, at 23.7% and 22.6% respectively.

Can't forget what she has caused, but glad she found meaning in life.

I hope she can find peace

I understand her reasoning, but her saying she'd do it all again hurt a lot.

Interesting plot point, but was it really necessary? Kinda felt like forced drama to add this "adoptive child" thing.

Is it wrong to wish for her happiness?

It may mirror Eren's motives. To her, nothing else matters except returning to her father, not even other people's lives. If Eren is intent on protecting his friends, then other lives wouldnt even matter.

It's interesting how seems similar she is to Reiner but how different they actually are. Annie is nihilistic and realistic because the lack of love, Reiner is idealistic and longing for love in a tragic way because he fantasize the love which doesn't exist

Annie has always been, in my opinion at least, one of the most honest characters, and I'm glad we can see that her core hasn't changed (but I’m so happy we can hear her talk and that we are finally getting some character development). Unlike Reiner and Bertolt, Annie never pretended to be friends with the Shinganshina trio, she never acted more nicely than she felt she should. She kept to herself and did what she knew she had to do. But this does not make Annie cold or resilient to atrocities; when she was manipulated by Reiner to take off Marco’s 3D maneuver gear, we can see she doesn’t do it easily and she does show remorse, in spite of everything. All of the SnK characters are tragic, some more than others, and for me, Annie is probably one of the most tragic ones. Adopted, trained to become a killing machine, completely alone with no one to really rely on once she joined the army, Annie goes towards her goal, stripping every bit of romanticism from the notions of peace, good vs bad governments, Marley, Eldia, humanity, etc. Annie does not fight, or pretend to fight, for the greater good; as perceptive as always, she sees the situation for what it is, just like she sees people for who they really are. I hope this brave young woman gets a happy ending with her dad.

DO YOU FIND IT REASONABLE THAT ANNIE HAS BEEN SEMI-CONSCIOUS IN THE CRYSTAL ALL THIS TIME 1,411 RESPONSES

Hitch sure was surprised that Annie had actually been listening to her all that time, but the fandom wasn’t. 86.3% found it reasonable, but 10.7% still aren’t convinced it makes sense.

Considering we had Ms. Tyber being aware of her surroundings in her own crystal, looking back on that it's like "oh yeah that seems legit". Granted I'm sure Ms. Tyber had practiced the technic to use it in battle proficiently. But it doesn't seem too out there for Annie to be at least semi-conscious

Honestly no. But this story has people transforming into giant monsters so I can't really complain.

I find hard to believe she is not crazy. Being unable to move in darkness for 4 years with only voices to keep her company is pretty brutal.

I'm wondering how her body condition is near to normal.

It reminds me of ymir being a mindless titan for 60 years

Wall titans also seemed to be semi conscious if I remember the original scene with eye movement and fear of light energizing them.

P A T H S

ANNIE WAS COVERED WITH SOME SORT OF FLUID THAT DOESN’T SEEM TO BE EVAPORATING. WHAT DO YOU THINK IT IS? 1,408 RESPONSES

We ended last chapter on Annie in a pool of this liquid, and this time we see Hitch follow it to where Annie is. But… what is it? 66.2% think it has something to do with the crystal’s hardening, 15.2% DO NOT want that knowledge, and 11.6% think it’s a human bodily fluid.

A fluid to keep her alive (something like the lcl in evangelion)

Amniotic fluid is the warm, fluid cushion that protects and supports your baby as they grow in the womb.

a liquid that makes her body hibernate so she can stay alive

I think it's a weakened form of the hardening. Perhaps it was also this fluid around the creature in the well from Ymir's backstory.

If I recall correctly, some crystals do have water in the form of “hydrates” so in theory, the fluid in Annie’s crystal is what kept her alive by supplying nutrients and and water to her body. Because of this, the fluid may have possibly come from Annie’s Titan as it formed the crystal around her.

amniotic fluid - some unique property of the Female Titan

Tears of readers who waited too fucking long for Annie to break through

Armin juice

WHERE DO YOU THINK HITCH AND ANNIE ARE HEADING? 1,408 RESPONSES

So many groups in so many places! Where is this one going to end up? A little over half, at 55.9% think they’ll run into another group before they get to a specific destination, about a quarter at 23.4% think Shiganshina, and 19.2% think the port.

Following the Colossal Titans

Honestly it was very reckless of hitch to let Annie go. If she causes more trouble for Paradis then what will she do

Based on them leaving Stohess in the same direction as the colossal titans it is likely they will pass through Trost. They will continue south towards Shiganshina and maybe the port but on the way they will likely run into Hange, Levi, Pieck and Magath, or Connie, Falco, Armin and Gabi.

Kiyomi's plane

Marley, to Annie’s father

To Historia

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE STATE OF THE ELDIANS IN LIBERIO? 1,399 RESPONSES

We jump across the ocean, only to find Mr. Leonhart starting a rebellion in Liberio! About half feel there’s going to be an absolute bloodbath, 32% are glad they’re finally rising up, 11% are focused on Mr. Leonhart being a badass, and 6.1% are scratching their heads as to how this is relevant.

I feel it's setting up for eldians in all internment zones rising up, although i don't know what significance that would hold if they're gonna be flattened like pancakes anyway

I'm actually glad because while I have still and always despised the Warriors, Annie's dad felt relatable to me, good to see non-powered, regular citizens rise up against the enemy

Isayama stop trying to be clever with names is there a single part of this series you haven't put thought into?

It is rather unsettling to see since it all seems to head towards a massacre although the reactions of the Eldians are understandable and sound.

It makes sense why they'd rise up: they know what's coming, and they just want to get to safety. After all, they should be spared from the Rumbling because of their race. As expected of the Marleyans though, they won't listen to the Liberio Eldians' current plea, and it will surely cost them (the Marleyans).

The Marleyans are comically dumb it's not even funny; I mean why would they orchestrate a revolt now

This was Eren's plan all along, he wants Eldians everywhere to rebel under the threat of the wall titans.

Why should we care about what happens to anyone outside the Walls? This scene was totally unnecessary.

Worldwide Eldian Rebellion I am excited

I'm worried about them! :(

WILL MR. LEONHART SURVIVED THE SCUFFLE WITH THE GATE GUARD? 1,408 RESPONSES

A somewhat interesting split here; though most responders think there’s more to come with Annie’s father and being killed by the gate guard wouldn’t be the right way for him to go, especially with unfinished business with his daughter. The next highest response was ‘I am not sure’ followed by ‘No he won’t survive’ with a still respectable 24.7% of the vote. One to keep an eye on, here.

Weird that she wants to return home so much just because her dad was nice to her for a few minutes (he's been torturing her all her life).

It had some very much needed character development for A LOT of characters. I can't wait to see how certain plot points like Connie's mom and Annie's wish to see her dad will be resolved.

I saw some parallels between Mr. Leonhard vs. the guards and volunteers vs. Floch. Anarchy reigns; power struggles everywhere, yay! I want to see Mr. Leonhart leading a rebellion. I want to see Eldians all over the globe rising up and busting out of internment zones. Also - we got an entire Annie backstory and it answered NONE of my questions about the crystal. If its purpose was just to protect her like the Warhammer's crystal, and she was semi-conscious -- why couldn't she escape it on her own? Is there something unique about the Female Titan? Was it a chrysalis? Has she undergone a metamorphosis? Will it even matter if Ymir is freed from her sand slavery and refuses to transform any more titans? Still -- it's interesting that Annie was adopted, and I have to wonder if her lineage is important. Final thought: I'm growing tired of Isayama sidelining people by having them unconscious/uncommunicative. I get why he may want to render some characters unable to affect the plot at certain points but 'unconscious' is his go-to and I'm losing patience with it. Okay, Historia got stuck with 'pregnant' but I lost patience with that ages ago. Wake up already, Reiner. Say something, Levi. At least Falco's awake again. And Annie, for the love of Eldia, please explain your crystal.

Speaking of Mr. Leonhart, he may be crippled and defeseless against the Marleyan guards, but at least he wasn't swayed by fatalism against his current government unlike Jean/Armin.

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF KEITH’S ADVICE TO THE TRAINING CORPS MEMBERS? 1,394 RESPONSES

Instructor Shadis is still instructing, and 46.1% of you are still chanting SHADIS THE CHADIS. 23.5% loved his advice, 16.5% enjoyed the callback to being a bystander, and 12.1% wish he’d encouraged them to rise up.

Foreshadowing that they‘ll overthrow Eren and Floche.

He gives up too easily. I don't like this.

I'm glad he told them not to fight the Yeagerists but for the wrong reasons

Shadis doesn't want them to risk their lives, understandable, but giving Floch&Co time to gain even more power is not a good idea.

He's being smart and cautious because they've had enough losses for now

By far the best piece of advice he could have given them. Not is it only the most reasonable thing to do in the current situation, but it also goes to show how much Shadis values life and how well, thanks to his experience, he can see what the future might bring. When he thought fighting was a viable option, he wanted the trainees and soldiers alike to dedicate their hearts (and he dedicated his own as well), but now when he sees that they’re clearly getting overpowered and that any form of resistance would inevitably lead to death, he advises them to stay put, but not lose sight of themselves. That’s what a good leader/ elder/ parent does. Despite the fact that he failed as commander and that he was usually the only one to come back from his missions outside the walls, he shows that he has learned a lot and can strategize and draw the right moves. And it even reminded me of Levi, this desire to not waste lives. And Shadis is special, I just wish he’d realize that along with many others. Unfortunately, a very underrated character.

I am hyped to see these characters actually amount to something because of chadis!

A giant death flag.

WAS ARMIN IN THE RIGHT TO RAISE HIS VOICE AT MIKASA? 1,402 RESPONSES

Armin has returned to being shell-shocked like he was in Shiganshina, and he took it out on Mikasa, but was he justified? Just over half don’t think he was justified, but don’t blame him for snapping. 23.9% believe it was the right choice to try to make her more independent. The last two options are tied at 10.3%, saying he was completely in the wrong, and the other saying he was justified in that Mikasa needs to focus on more than Eren.

Armin has been the one others rely for guidance, however at this point he seems stressed and probably over thinking (when he refers back to Erwin).

Armin just reached his breaking point. So much has happened in one day, and he needed to rant.

Asking ANYONE to stop thinking about Eren right now is pointless, let alone Mikasa. He was wrong, but stressed out.

Both. She needs to be encouraged to make her own decisions, but he didn't need to be mean about it. She has always been nice to him.

Feel like many are misunderstanding mikasa's comment about eren. He is the biggest concern so why shouldn't she mention him? Personally I don't think she was still in eren obsessed mode.

That's a complex question. Everyone is stressed right now, especially Armin, feeling guilty for being brought back and feels so much weight on his shoulder to be a leader so to say. So it reasonable for him to yell and it might spark something in Mikasa as well.

Armin needs a nap, a warm bath, and a foot rub.

WILL MIKASA START ‘THINKING FOR HERSELF’ NOW, AS ARMIN SUGGESTED? 1,395 RESPONSES

Mikasa’s character development is being pushed to its tipping point now, will Armin’s words make her start thinking for herself? The majority, at 56.3% think that leadership isn’t her style, but she’ll step up and support what she feels is right. 18.6% feel that she’s already made the step into thinking for herself, and the last two options are split at 11.3% between a full ‘yes she’ll finally step up’, and a full ‘she’s always thought for herself.’

Armin: think for yourself! Mikasa: Where is my scarf?

Hopefully, I want to see more independence. Assertive and confident in her actions.

I don't know if she'll able to think for herself. maybe she will do something, but I guess whatever she will do on her own, I don't want to expect much from her. Anyway I have the feeling that Mikasa's own decision could be that she accepts Kiyomi's offer and leaves Paradis because the whole situation is obviously killing her.

I hope Isayama has something special planned for Mikasa's development

Mikasa has always thought for herself. She’s never been a leader, but she’s always followed her own hearts desires. Nobody knows what to do and for once it was actually reasonable for her to ask about eren, given what he’s about to do to the world.

Mikasa isn't wrong to look to Armin for leadership, but when she brings up the elephant in the room, he flies off the handle at her. But ultimately, I think that Armin is right. She'll have to make decisions based off her own judgement and I'm excited for it.

I kinda doubt that. She went to Jean, because Armin told her so and I don't think that she would do anything in the situation between Jean, Floch and the Volunteers. If she would be able someday to make her own decision, I'll think that could be to do with Kiyomi's offer to go on one of her ships, but we will see.

I think she will be an impromptu leader, similarly to what she did at Trost after eren got eaten by the santa titan

Mikasa did nothing wrong, she tried to take advice instead to run somewhere else like Connie or give up like Jean.

Yes she’ll become more independent. I think itll lead to “see u later eren”

AT THIS POINT, ARMIN STILL THINKS ERWIN WAS A BETTER CHOICE TO REVIVE. DO YOU? 1,391 RESPONSES

The question of whether Armin or Erwin should have been revived in Shiganshina proves to be one of the most contentious issues in the series, nearly on par with when we asked you guys what you think of Eren’s (stated) plan. 52.2% of you are Team Erwin, and 47.8% are Team Armin. Regrettably, I can’t make a good joke out of either of those numbers.

I've said it before, but I think Armin was the best person to revive from a story telling point of view. Erwin was the better leader, no doubts there, but it is the lack of him that has pushed all these other characters to develop more. I believe the relationships between characters and the characters themselves would've remained more static if he had still been there. So therefore, Armin was the right choice

Erwin wouldn't have let any of this happen

WHO TOOK THE SCARF? 1,403 RESPONSES

There could only ever be one winner of this question; given the girls fandom of Eren in general and Mikasa in particular, 72.5% of you picked Louise as the scarf thief, particularly since she knew it was there and gave it a look after Mikasa left. The next highest answer was Eren having sent someone to retrieve it, at 13.8%, followed by ‘someone else at 9.1%, with Floch and Jean respectively taking up other minor answers. I look forward to the questions in the future of why the scarf was taken, and how will it affect the story?

Oh, and Louise definitely has the scarf. I think there will be a confrontation over it and Mikasa will Realise Things, so that's cool.

Louise totally stole that scarf.

WHICH NAME IS BETTER? 1,395 RESPONSES

808 of 1,395 of you came out to represent Gabi Gang, while the remaining 587 of you like Mia better. Mia Myriad? Eh. Mia Myriad’s weird. I like Gabi Gang better.

WHAT'S UP WITH JEAN WHEN FLOCH IS TALKING TO HIM? 1,399 RESPONSES

Floch tells Jean he can finally have the life he always wanted, what was Jean feeling at that moment? 40.5% think he was just totally shell-shocked, 30.4% think he;s faking weakness for a plan, 16.4% think he had an epiphany about Eren based on what Floch said, and 10.7% believe him to be considering what Floch has to say.

Definitely debating whether or not to kick his head in-- once he's decided I think he'll pounce

he has been asking over and over for how long they would have to keep fighting. So Floch telling him is over has a great effect on him. Although he will chose to keep fighting.

He is bothered that the Yeagerists consider him a “hero”

He is in disbelief over how AWFUL Floch is and once his brain processes it he will snap and punch the bastard in the face

He's both in shell shock and trying to fake weakness.

I think he's coming up with some sort of plan to finally rid the world of Floch.

Jean looks so tired in these panels, as in physically tired and mentally. He probably wants this all to be over, and Floch is giving him a way out. But Jean has come too far to give up, I think, so I hope he turns his brain back on.

ARE THE ROCKS THAT GO MISSING WHEN FLOCH TURNS HIS HEAD AN ARTISTIC OVERSIGHT OR DOES IT HAVE FUTURE SIGNIFICANCE? 1,406 RESPONSES

THE ROCKS ARE GONE. About half of the fandom, at 46.2% are pretty sure Jean pocketed them to use as a weapon. 29.7% did not notice the disappearance, and 24.2% think it’s just Isayama overlooking an inconsistency.

Bitch boutta throw some rocks

I hope Jean can something do too otherwise the Volunteers would get forced to fight for Eren and to help him destroying their own motherlands (oof) or get killed. I hope the theory about the pocket rocks get relevant and true in the next chapters

Floch be a bitch with a nest boutta get moulded by rocks

Getting ready to bash floch

there was a gun next to him and then it was gone. The boy boutta blooooow

FLOCH CLAIMS THAT EREN TOLD HIM THE ENTIRE PLAN. IS HE TELLING THE TRUTH? 1,399 RESPONSES

Eren doesn’t seem to have confided his plan in anyone, but Floch says otherwise. 60% confess Eren likely told him a fair bit, but not everything, 32.9% think Floch’s just BSing his way through things to look better, and 5.6% truly believe Eren told Floch everything.

Eren is the only one who knows his true plan, anyone that claims to know what Eren is doing was just a pawn that Eren used.

Eren probably forgot who Floch even is

Considering how Eren is acting now, I fear he did tell him everything after seeing his extremism.

Floch believes Eren told him everything, but he probably didn't.

floch is an arrogant bitch who thinks eren and him are best buds

I mean, the plan so far seems to be 'let's retrieve Zeke, overthrow the government and unleash the Rumbling', so why won't he tell Floch all of it? He seems to be fully on board. If there is more to the plan, then Floch doesn't know it.

I'm still not sure how much of Eren's betrayal of Zeke he was in on, but I'm damn sure Eren didn't task him with any 'removing internal resentment' job.

Jean knows he has more of Eren's trust than Floch does. From this, Jean figured out either Floch is lying for his own gains, or is being used by Eren.

Floch is just a dumbass and Eren is using him to get the necessary pieces into place without him doing it all himself

Something tells me Floch actually just overheard Yelena talking with Eren about Zeke's plan during the railway opening ceremony. I could've sworn that in the chapter Floch mentioned that he "heard" Eren's plan, and the way he uses that word gives me the impression he only listened to parts of what Yelena told Eren without knowing what Eren's ulterior motive was when learning Zeke's plan.

That’s certainly what he *thinks*

Eren is manipulating Floch's ass six ways to sunday and I'm here for it

WHO DO YOU THINK WILL BE THE ONE TO TAKE DOWN FLOCH? 1,398 RESPONSES

From previous polls, Floch seems like a popular choice to die next, but who would do it? Nearly ¾ of that fandom believe Jean will end him, though 6.5% don’t believe Floch’s dying anytime soon. Eren, Mikasa, Shadis, and Yelena were other popular options.

Could be anyone at this point, really. Would be cool if it was just some random volunteer and the death would be meaningless.

Better not be anyone, Floch is making way more sense than Armin

Armin

I hope no one does, he's the most entertaining character at the moment

I really hope all of the above and I hope it'll be a gruesome death.

King Floch is the father and will outlive the rest of the 104th.

Let him be squashed under a Titan foot, pls

Nobody, Floch will be the only survivor of the rumbling

HISTORIA! QUEEN!!!! How is the rightful ruler of Eldia not a choice here?!

I hope he doesn't die at least next chapter, because him dying is too predictable. But if he does it should be Jean.

I HOPE IT'S EITHER LEVI OR HANGE. But I think it's probably going to be Jean.

I think floch is going to have an utterlessly meaningless death. Just to show the irony that surviving that day didn't change shit.

I think since he survived on pure luck and destiny up until now, I could imagine his death will be more by accident or by unfortunate circumstance then someone else succeeding to kill him

SHADIS THE CHADIS no but actually probably Yelena or Mikasa.

The 109th Recruits

Onyankopon, Jean and Mikasa, I hope.

Who knows. Hope he dies.

ZEKE JAEGER

Isayama

It'll be a team effort

CONNIE AND FALCO ARE EN ROUTE TO RAGAKO. WHAT DO YOU THINK THE OUTCOME WILL BE? 1,398 RESPONSES

Bets for the Return to Ragako arc are placed, and the majority (~43%) of you think that the overwhelming scent of cinnamon wafting from Falco will entice Connie to spare him. Not far behind, with 30.5% of the votes, is the prediction that Armin and Gabi will swoop in and save the day. The next most popular option was Falco feeling the sudden urge to die for Reiner, causing him to transform and escape. Following that was Falco realizing his predicament without getting his memories back, and after that, a very small amount of you guys (18), think Falco’s gonna get chomped.

Connie finna die

I can't think of how bringing back Connies mom will save Reiners life, so it won't happen.

Is it weird that I think Connie's mom has already turned back to human?

WHICH UNLIKELY TEAM-UP IS THE MOST EXCITING? 1,391 RESPONSES

An overwhelming majority of you guys are most excited to see the Magath/Pieck/Hange/Levi squad team up, while the distant runner-up is Hitch/Annie, followed by Armin/Gabi, and then Connie/Falco. I can’t imagine why Connie/Falco got the least votes here.

WHICH TEAM, IF ANY, DO YOU THINK WILL MEET WITH HISTORIA? 1,384 RESPONSES

With a 31.6% majority, the… quad...duo… quaduo? That’s definitely not a word but it should be, technical definition pending. What I’m trying to say is that Team Magath/Pieck/Hange/Levi got the most votes for “Who’s going to meet up with Historia?” Following that was… uh, nobody. As in the next most common answer is “nobody”. You guys are not making this write-up easy for me. After that was Team Hitch/Annie, followed by Armin/Gabi, and then Connie/Falco. The graph is proportional enough that you can see all the percentages, so that’s cool.

Historia is the key to ending this story and getting all the context we need. Which means we probably won’t see her again for awhile.

SLEEPING THROUGH THE APOCALYPSE. WHO DID IT BETTER? 1,399 RESPONSES

We didn’t ask for a reason behind this selection, but Reiner’s rather ill-timed cozy cottage snooze (58.5%) trounced Levi’s “return of the mummy” slumber (41.5%). Maybe it was the appeal of the fruit and snacks?

DO YOU THINK LEVI WILL BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE UPCOMING BATTLE? 1,400 RESPONSES

Nearly 60% of you think Levi will recover enough to encourage the others to fight, 20% think he’ll recover enough to fight, and 15.3% think he’ll be unconscious for awhile. The white space on the graph is what happens when there are too many single-voter responses, but we can read them behind the scenes, and one of them suggested that we’re about to learn how titan serum affects Ackermans, and I just want to say that I appreciate your devotion to Titan Science™, anon.

TITAN LEVI INC

Crack theory: he‘ll eat Zeke after Zeke offers himself up because he lost his will to live. So yes, he‘ll be fully healed and badass again.

He is going to become a shifter by eating Zeke with the cooperation of Pieck/Magath, fulfilling his promise to Erwin.

He won't be recovering but he'll fight all the same, with his teeth if necessary

He'll recover enough to make one last heroic action before dying

I don't really know. I hope he can still fight. I think Isayama-sensei didn't let Levi live to be a useless soldier.

i don’t want him to participate. i just want him alive

I think that Levi will not be able to fight, but he'll be awake, and I'd like to him take on a mentorship role. I would love to see him make a full recovery by the time the manga concludes.

Some unforeseen magic will happen

HAS THIS CHAPTER AFFECTED YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT THE RUMBLING? 1,385 RESPONSES

The destruction on the ground, Floch’s reign of terror, and the 104th’s horror at what’s unfolding seems to have shaken some in the fandom with one quarter of respondents indicating that their support has lessened somewhat (20.6%) or significantly (5.7%). The remaining 75% are staying the course with close to 40% completely opposed to the rumbling and 35% in full support of it.

HAS THIS CHAPTER AFFECTED YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT EREN? 1,387 RESPONSES

The responses here are about what we might expect; a fairly even split between those who support Eren fully (or at least think he’s got some mysterious ace up his sleeve) and those that do not support him/are losing faith in him. Interestingly, the smallest response was from those who have lost a significant amount of faith in Eren, indicating the battle lines are still drawn at this point.

Eren did nothing wrong

Eren Yeager is GOD! Bow Down!

We're left in the dark of what Eren is really planning and so I can't judge this consequence too much. It is very extreme and I'm skeptical of it all.

Another aspect of the continual violence and really justifies Eren's position.

The inner fighting among themselves is going to get worse and they all will turn on Eren.

They should support eren, and the yeagerists, not plan to overthrow them

I DONT GET WHAT IS EREN TRYING TO DO? How is he gonna claim he wants to protect his people then end up killing him ??

I hope that among his friends there are on the eren side, eren's decision was correct, although it was too cruel, but it was all for the people he loved. why his friends no one sided eren , I'm sad to think about it.

I love eren but :(

AT THIS POINT, AROUND WHICH CHAPTER DO YOU EXPECT THE MANGA WILL CONCLUDE? 1,406 RESPONSES

As much as I hate to think about the end of the manga, and the subsequent never-ending feud over the serum bowl and the Rumbling, we’re bound to become the next NGE at some point. It can’t be stopped. The majority, at 45.7%, think we have until around Chapter 134, which gives us about nine more months. Following that, 30.2%, think we have until Chapter 138, which gives us more than a year. A lesser but still significant quantity of votes say we have until Chapter 142+, and I feel a little bit like the Vince McMahon meme typing this. You know the one. Lastly, 8.7% of you think there are only 5 chapters left. Why anyone would even entertain such an idea is beyond me.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST HOPING TO SEE NEXT CHAPTER? 1,409 RESPONSES

Wow! A huge split of opinion here regarding hopes for next chapter, as might be expected; but out in front with 27.8% of the vote is a wish to see more Hange, Levi, Pieck and Magath; no doubt because we haven’t seen them for a while. Coming up in second place is Jean and Mikasa, with a number of fans hoping they will fight back against Floch. And of course, third place is the everpresent wish to see Historia once more. What on Earth is she up to???

Historia hopefully

A solid chapter with a lot of great character development. Who wants to bet that Connie and Falco are going to run into Historia at Ragako?

Give me Historia

Jean has an epiphany about himself and Eren's actions (since Floch is Eren's fanboy, like Jean was to a certain degree))

Jean and Floch will fight!

If Floch doesn't make Jean react, I don't know who else will. Their relationship has always been complex, so it would be beautiful to see Jean killing him. But as long as it's not a Jaeger, I'll be fine.

I can’t help but feel that there was something odd about the way Hange spoke about Levi to Magath and Pieck. “Rest assured, he’s just a harmless man who failed to die”. Harmless? Levi? Really? And Hange doesn’t speak like that, so to me this looks like strategizing and covering something up. I don’t think Levi is 100% okay, far from, but I don’t think he’s on the verge of death. And even if Levi will physically be unable to fight, he still isn’t harmless. He wasn’t dubbed Humanity’s Strongest only for his physical strength; Levi is smart, he’s an excellent leader, he’s compassionate and experienced. So, even if we don’t see him engage in fights as a soldier, I believe we will get to see him devise plans and strategies, negotiate, etc. After all, we still don’t know what the Ackermans are capable of. We know they have superhuman strength, so I believe we’re all in for a surprise (or not so much of a surprise) when it comes to Levi. He’s played an enormous part in the story already, but his story isn’t over. Best boi love him yes.

I hope he can still fight. I think Isayama-sensei didn't let Levi live to be a useless soldier.

All aboard the ship! Ms. HanjiXMagath is setting sail! (???)

HISTORIA BACKSTORY, OR I WILL END THIS WORLD

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 1,328 RESPONSES

Reddit continues to dominate the responses to this question, and this month there were literally more people who don’t discuss the series than people who discuss it on Tumblr. A direct consequence of banning Titan-presenting nipples, surely. Lastly, something ominous is going on in the Snapchat cult, because there were only two of you this month, down from five last month. That’s still enough to reproduce though and it makes me uneasy. Regardless of where or whether you discuss the series though, we appreciate all of you guys’ participation in the poll. We literally couldn’t do it without you!

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE CHAPTER?

hE dID nOtHing wrOnG

I mean it's not like Eren could be like "wait while you're breaking out of the wall, can ya be clean about it?" but also....yeahhhhh umm I'm not positive that Eren cares for the majority of Paradisians

Petra's death still burns... Yet I can't really hate Annie.

[Annie’s] story kinda looks like a copypasta of Zeke's but I'm glad it's established she doesn't care for her grand goal and would sacrifice everything to achieve hers if it needs to be brought again

I feel for the wall Titans, they've been conscious for the last century, just chilling there.

Isayama couldn't have made the parallel between Annie and Eren any more blatant if he tried.

I don't know why people are so surprised with Eren being in cahoots with Floch. He is already killing billions to secure peace for Paradis, installing an authoritarian government for the same reason is not unlike him. He already said, he is going to take the freedom from people if they threaten his even innocents.

0/10 no Reiner. jk, the chapter may not have "action" per se, but i love the focus on how the rumbling affects all the characters, including the eldians in the camps. also, all the pairings are really interesting. i hope the HLMP combo leads to good things for the future. i wonder if Armin & Gabi'll talk, and whether she'll learn that he is the Colossus titan, or if she'll catch onto Reiner's great familiarity with these people…

another average chapter in SNK standards (awesome in manga standards)

Another set-up chapter - would be good to see some major events occur to keep the momentum going. Also want Eren/Zeke POVs

After 10 months of wondering where Levi was and if he was alive, i fully sympathise with Annie stans, who had to wait the better part of a decade. But I'm glad to know Levi's alive for now.

Seeing almost everyone other than the Jeager brothers was so damn fresh. Now everyone's gotta work together to stop the total downer ending.

Felt like this a needed chapter to see where all the characters’ directions are headed. Whether we see more compromise or more tension between characters. It creates more anticipation and excitement for what’s to become of Eren and his plan.

Isayama been sleepin on some important characters 💤

Very interesting seeing so many different perspectives, if only we could get Historia some day

Great chapter. But if hange teams up with Pieck and Magath I am going to be very disappointed. They have no reason to rely on the the people who have been trying to exterminate them for years. I get they need to stop eren but they cant let forget the atrocities Marley has done to them. Regroup with the rest and figure out another goddman way.

A very interesting chapter. I fully expect an emotional outburst from Mikasa any time now. Maybe directed at Eren himself.

aaahh I just want Zeke

Give me Eren

Give me Historia

How the hell will Isayama cover all these separated smol groups in only 12 chapters??? Can he rly end the manga this year cos I have doubts!

All pieces are on the move, time to wrap things up, Isayama-sensei! Though I don't see any way to stop Eren, unless they maybe use Historia and her royal blood? Can't wait to see how Isayama will solve all of this.

I love the setting of the rumbling as a slow moving mass of dust and meat that we’re all powerless to stop. I love how we’ve seen it from the perspective of people on the receiving end of the destruction, from people that support it and most of all, people who would never support it but are still benefiting from it. Regardless, none of them could stop even if they wanted too. It makes the issue seem so much more real.

Annie is pretty much like Eren right now, knowingly doing terrible things for the people they care about, both have accepted the cruelty of the world and acted accordingly and is not like the world has given them reasons to think otherwise. But this mentality has only brought pain and suffering around them and to themselves, I hope in the end she changes her outlook in life and finally goes against the "current" of the way things are as she described and do the right thing.

Annie needs to get Armins head out of his ass. Floch was executing people next to his friends and he just runs off wtf

I DONT GET WHAT IS EREN TRYING TO DO? How is he gonna claim he wants to protect his people then end up killing him ??

Armin did nothing wrong. I've seen people complaining about he "yelling with waifu" and even comparing with Eren, even tho what Eren did was totally intentional, while Armin wasn't he didn't mean to hurt her, he snapped under stress, but when he saw he hurt her he regretted so much that even brought Erwin to the picture. But apparently his feeling and emotions are nothing compared with Mikasa's...

Armin made the right choice to go after Falco. His strategy is to ally with the Warriors and Marley. His tactic is to use Falco as barter. It is the best move he can make with the situation as it is. If he succeeds he gains Connie back in the fold, Falco, Gabi, Reiner, Pieck, and Magath. This type of quality help will raise morale and lessen the pressure that everyone feels. Hopefully they work as a team and communicate with each other. Don’t be like Eren who has no fog of war because he knows how it ends and, yet, doesn’t tell anybody about it.

As long as the rest of the world is unwilling to negotiate peacefully I’m not sure what other options were on the table. Obviously eren’s actions are irredeemable, but I feel that he’ll have the same sentiment Annie expressed: if this is the only way his friends make it out alive then he’d choose this path every time. I don’t think all of the blame is on eren(though he is still responsible for his own actions). Every side played a role in this and it should have never come to this to begin with.

I really appreciated the scenes with Armin, Mikasa, and Jean. The rumbling is a world-changing/ reality altering event and Armin said as much, but I'm really hoping these three can manage to salvage some peace for themselves despite the chaos.I think Eren has already accepted his own mortality re: the Curse of Ymir and has fully resigned himself to doing whatever he deems necessary for Paradis, I'm interested to see his end. I also enjoyed seeing Levi and Hange, I never doubted their survival; it also might be a further indication that Floch is BS'ing his way with his power grab when he said that they were killed...This series is excellent.

Wake up already, Reiner. Say something, Levi. At least Falco's awake again. And Annie, for the love of Eldia, please explain your crystal.

Can't wait to see Jean snap at Floch

It was great but isayama please let us see eren...

I just really hope Connie doesn't die but I'm not feeling too optimistic... I can't believe Annie's back and I'm really looking forward to whatever her and Hitch do next.

The reaction to the Armin and Mikasa scene initially drove me up the wall, because people's readings of Mikasa are just so fucking bad--she's literally right??? LMAO. Mikasa and the 104th have always followed Armin's guidance, so she isn't even wrong when she asks how to make herself useful. But the reaction to her question about Eren is just...

Levi surviving the thunderspear was bullshit. Hopefully he stays permanently injured and not overpowered again. Isayama give us Historia please. I hope we get to see my baby Reiner wake up next chapter. I wish that Reiner and Annie meet again please

I got emotional when Falco was starting to "remember" Connie. While Sasha's scenes after her death could have been written better, every time I see a Ymir reference, something interesting happens. We need to remember best girl, and finally we get to see that Connie was an important comrade of hers.

I hope Connie makes the right choices, my boy has suffered enough!

It somehow gave positive vibes despite the apocalyptic setting, and I was extremely happy we got to see almost everyone again.

I want to see more about what happened to Ymir Fritz after she gained her freedom.

I'm glad Levi is ok but i gotta know: how is he able to breathe when HIS ENTIRE FACE HAS BEEN BANDAGED UP

It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fiiiiiiiiiine

Lame ass chapter, everything feels pointless and forced and the ambiguity and moral grayness of the story is gone.

Levi has to give meaning to those deaths. It's what will give peace to his heart. He deserves to fight one last time.

mikasa let me hug you and protect you

Can we agree Keith is badass? He advised trainees to not lose themselves despite the government. It's such a stark contrast with Floch in this chapter. He was so traumatized by his first mission as a SC, losing his comrades, watching them die meaningless deaths and seeing the SC fighting over who should be lived other than the commander. As he shot that voluteer he made it clear he casted his values aside for survival. In the end he learned they were just as meaningless as Marlowe's death.

More Yelena pls

This chapter was a lot of scenes I had been waiting for put together. We had Annie and Hitch interaction, an update on Connie and Falco, Gabi and Armin now heading their way, and Levi and Hange are finally back. Now all we need is Historia. The wait for her stopped being funny a LONG time ago...Actually scratch that, it wasn't funny to begin with. 😒

Levi is alive bitches

Really glad it's not all wrapping up with Eren activating the rumbling. Seeing how everyone is handling the chaos has been incredible. I was telling my friends that I honestly don't think the final battle will be against Eren. It's just everyone versus the pure chaos of the situation. I don't see Eren getting beat

The EMA trio was never my favorite, but it still kinda hurt to see them all split up.

The Erwin references were amazing!! Both in the manga and the end text!!

With all these relatively slow-paced, character-driven chapters recently, it seems as if the ending will be very rushed. I have faith in Isayama’s writing skills, but I just hope he will be able to pull off an ending that will do justice to all these wonderful characters he has built up, while rounding out the plot in a satisfying way. This story, in my opinion, is a masterpiece so far - and an ending could either make or break it at this point. Either way, I look forward to seeing the coming chapters very much.

Where is Kiyomi ? (2nd edition)

#snk polls #snk poll #snk 125 #snk chapter polls

43 notes · View notes

newstfionline · 4 years ago

Text

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

From Florida to ‘Frisco, Americans flock to movies, bars and ballparks after winter of worry (Reuters) From the crack of the baseball bat in Florida to clinking of cocktails in San Francisco bars, the sounds of spring are in the air as Americans start to return to many of the beloved pastimes they were forced to abandon 12 months ago. With cities and states loosening restrictions as new COVID-19 cases recede and the rollout of vaccines accelerates, people are enjoying a taste of their old lives again. Over the past weekend, New Yorkers watched movies on the big screen, San Franciscans dined indoors, and baseball fans cheered on their favorite big-league players as spring training resumed in Florida. In just one month, the mood in the United States has rebounded from an eight-year low to the highest level recorded by Reuters/Ipsos polls that date back to 2012. To be sure, the pandemic, which has killed more than half a million Americans, is far from over. In fact, some health experts are warning that a decline in new cases is leveling off and potentially more virulent variants are spreading just as restrictions ease.

US child benefits? (NYT) Obscured by other parts of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package, which won Senate approval on Saturday, a mold-breaking child benefit plan has the makings of a policy revolution. Though framed in technocratic terms as an expansion of an existing tax credit, it is essentially a guaranteed income for families with children, akin to children’s allowances that are common in other rich countries. The plan establishes the benefit for a single year. But if it becomes permanent, as Democrats intend, it will greatly enlarge the safety net for the poor and the middle class at a time when the volatile modern economy often leaves families moving between those groups. More than 93 percent of children—69 million—would receive benefits under the plan, at a one-year cost of more than $100 billion.

Mexican camp that was symbol of migrant misery empties out under Biden (Reuters) A sprawling camp in the Mexican city of Matamoros, within sight of the Texan border, has since 2019 been one of the most powerful reminders of the human toll of former President Donald Trump’s efforts to keep migrants out of the United States. The camp has dwindled to just a few dozen in residents in recent days, after hundreds of asylum seekers living there were finally allowed to cross the border to press their claim to stay in the United States. President Joe Biden last month rolled back the program—known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP)—that had forced asylum seekers to wait in Mexico. Biden’s wife, Jill, visited the camp during last year’s presidential campaign to witness the difficult conditions first hand. “If it hadn’t been for this camp, I don’t think they would have ever ended MPP,” said Honduran asylum seeker Oscar Borjas, one of the last remaining residents.

Meghan accuses UK royals of racism, says ‘didn’t want to be alive’ (Reuters) Meghan, the wife of Prince Harry, accused Britain’s royal family of raising concerns about how dark their son’s skin might be and pushing her to the brink of suicide, in a tell-all television interview that will send shockwaves through the monarchy. The 39-year-old, whose mother is Black and father is white, said she had been naive before she married into royalty in 2018, but that she ended up having suicidal thoughts and considering self harm after pleading for help but getting none. Meghan said that her son Archie, now aged one, had been denied the title of prince because there were concerns within the royal family about “about how dark his skin might be when he’s born”. Meghan declined to say who had aired such concerns, as did Harry. He said his family had cut them off financially and that his father Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, had let him down and refused to take his calls at one point. Buckingham Palace was not expected to give an immediate response to the interview, which aired in the early hours of Monday morning in Britain.

UK schools to reopen, backed by frequent virus testing (AP) British students, backed by a robust coronavirus testing program, are gearing up to return to school Monday after a two-month closure, in what Prime Minister Boris Johnson says is a plan to get the country “moving closer to a sense of normality.” The reopening of schools is the first step in the U.K. government’s plan to gradually ease COVID-19 restrictions as the country’s vaccination drive gains critical mass, with all restrictions lifted by June. As part of the plan, millions of high school and college students coming back to U.K. classrooms will be tested for the virus for the first few weeks. Authorities want to quickly detect and isolate asymptomatic cases in order to avoid sending entire schools home. High schools and colleges will be allowed to reopen in phases to allow for three rounds of testing. Students will then get kits so they can test themselves twice more at home.

US proposals on Afghanistan (Washington Post) Worried that Afghan peace talks are going nowhere, and facing a May 1 deadline for the possible withdrawal of all U.S. troops, the Biden administration has proposed sweeping plans for an interim power-sharing government between the Taliban and Afghan leaders, and stepped-up involvement by Afghanistan’s neighbors—including Iran—in the peace process. Along with the proposal, shared with both sides over the past week by U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Afghan President Ashraf Ghani that a U.S. departure remains under active consideration and could lead to “rapid territorial gains” by the Taliban. “I am making this clear to you so that you understand the urgency of my tone,” Blinken wrote in a three-page letter to Ghani sent to coincide with the proposal.

After historic whirlwind visit, Pope leaves Iraq for Rome (AP) Pope Francis on Monday wrapped up his historic whirlwind tour of Iraq that sought to bring hope to the country’s marginalized Christian minority with a message of coexistence, forgiveness and peace. The pontiff and his traveling delegation were seen off with a farewell ceremony at the Baghdad airport, from where he left for Rome following a four-day papal visit that has covered five provinces across Iraq. At every turn of his trip, Francis urged Iraqis to embrace diversity—from Najaf in the south, where he held a historic face-to-face meeting with powerful Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, to Nineveh to the north, where he met with Christian victims of the Islamic State group’s terror and heard their testimonies of survival. In Iraq’s south, Francis convened a meeting of Iraqi religious leaders in the deserts near a symbol of the country’s ancient past—the 6,000-year-old ziggurat in the Plains of Ur, also thought to be the birthplace of Abraham, the biblical patriarch revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims. The gathering brought religious representatives across the country rarely seen together, from Muslims, Christians, Yazidis and Mandaeans. The joint appearance by figures from across Iraq’s sectarian spectrum was almost unheard-of, given their communities’ often bitter divisions. The pope called on them to work together and make peace.

Lebanon’s deadlock fuels seventh day of street protests (Reuters) Demonstrators burnt tyres to block main roads all over Lebanon for the seventh straight day on Monday in anger at more than a year of economic crisis and seven months of political paralysis. “We have said several times that there will be an escalation because the state isn’t doing anything,” said Pascale Nohra, a protester in Jal al-Dib.” Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai hit out at the politicians in his Sunday sermon: “How can the people not revolt when the price of one dollar has surpassed 10,000 Lebanese pounds in one day, how can they not revolt when the minimum wage is $70?”

Saudi oil terminal targeted (Foreign Policy) The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said it launched a number of airstrikes on the Yemeni capital Sanaa, in retaliation for an attempted strike on a key oil port. Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a missile and drone attack on the major Saudi oil port of Ras Tanura on Sunday, although Saudi authorities reported no damage to the port’s facilities from the strike as missile defenses were engaged. Saudi state media blamed the attempted Houthi strike on the softer approach the Biden administration has taken to the Iran-aligned group, after it recently removed a terrorist label previously put in place by the Trump administration. Oil prices rose above $70 per barrel for the first time in 14 months as a result of the attack, with fears rising over threats to global oil flows.

At Dubai airport, travelers’ eyes become their passports (AP) Dubai’s airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, can already feel surreal, with its cavernous duty-free stores, artificial palm trees, gleaming terminals, water cascades and near-Arctic levels of air conditioning. Now, the key east-west transit hub is rolling out another addition from the realm of science fiction—an iris-scanner that verifies one’s identity and eliminates the need for any human interaction when entering or leaving the country. It’s the latest artificial intelligence program the United Arab Emirates has launched amid the surging coronavirus pandemic, contact-less technology the government promotes as helping to stem the spread of the virus. But the efforts also have renewed questions about mass surveillance in the federation of seven sheikhdoms, which experts believe has among the highest per capita concentrations of surveillance cameras in the world. In recent years, airports across the world have accelerated their use of timesaving facial recognition technology to move passengers to their flights. But Dubai’s iris scan improves on the more commonplace automated gates seen elsewhere, authorities said, connecting the iris data to the country’s facial recognition databases so the passenger needs no identifying documents or boarding pass.

An Island Stuffs Itself With Pineapple Smoothies, Pineapple Burgers and Pineapple Cake (WSJ) Like many people in Taiwan, Allen Hsueh has a newfound fervor for pineapple. The 38-year-old chef has come up with at least a dozen new recipes for his restaurant in Kaohsiung, called Pomme de Terre, including pork-wrapped pineapple with mozzarella cheese, red curry seafood with pineapple and spiced chicken breast and pineapple salad. The 20 spots for a special five-course, pineapple-inspired meal, scheduled later this month, filled up in a day. It’s not just an act of culinary bravery. These days, pineapple consumption is seen as an act of patriotism. Taiwan residents have been gobbling up the fruit since China—by far the island’s largest outside buyer—banned imports of their pineapples starting March 1, citing dangerous pests detected in recent shipments. The government of Taiwan—a democratically-ruled island that Beijing considers part of China—denied any infestation, saying 99.79% of its imported pineapples to China last year passed inspection. Instead, it issued a challenge to the island’s 24 million citizens, as well as its overseas friends, to snap up “freedom pineapples” as a form of protest and said it would support pineapple prices. The voracious response is now raising questions about whether there’s such a thing as too much of a good fruit.

Myanmar strike (Foreign Policy) At least 18 labor organizations have begun a nationwide strike across Myanmar, calling all workers “union and non-union alike” to join in work stoppages to protest the military coup. Local media report that troops have begun to occupy universities and hospitals, raising fears that wounded protesters may be subject to arrest.

Nun stands in front of Myanmar security forces to block them from shooting protesters (Reuters) A nun seen walking toward the police and begging them not to shoot has been hailed as a hero in Myanmar. Footage filmed by the Myitkyina News Journal on Feb. 28 showed a nun—whom local media identified as Sister Ann Roza—begging for police not to fire. She was later photographed on her knees, stopping the police from advancing. The nun told Myitkyina News Journal that she decided to risk her life for Myanmar’s citizens. “I can feel pain in my heart when protesters get hurt,” she said. “I can’t stand seeing them in pain.” More than 50 people have been killed since the military overthrew elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, according to the United Nations.

At least 20 dead, 600 wounded in Equatorial Guinea blasts (AP) A series of explosions at a military barracks in Equatorial Guinea killed at least 20 people and wounded more than 600 others on Sunday, authorities said. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema said the explosion at 4 p.m. local time was due to the “negligent handling of dynamite” in the military barracks located in the neighborhood of Mondong Nkuantoma in Bata. “The impact of the explosion caused damage in almost all the houses and buildings in Bata,” the president said in a statement.

#headlines #news

0 notes