#January 2019 releases
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
Visit Tumblr Blog
Explore Tumblr blogs with no restrictions, modern design and the best experience.
Last Seen Tumblr Blogs
Fun Fact
Tumblr has been banned in Indonesia for providing people with access to pornographic content.
Note
hi devon! im rereading unmasking autism after reading neuroqueer heresies by nick walker earlier this year. i am trans and audhd and get so much from both your and nick's work. i realized while reading that i was surprised her work wasn't mentioned in unmasking autism. is there any particular reason for that? i feel like your frameworks dovetail well. im curious if there's something im missing.
thanks!
That book came out in November of 2021. The final draft of Unmasking Autism was due to the publisher on April 2021.
#what people should always keep in mind is that it takes a year or more for a book to be released *after it is finished being written*#unlearning shame? i finished that in JULY of 2022. it comes out feburary 2024.#my fourth book? done this month. wont be out until 2025.#laziness i finished november of 2019#it came out january of 2021#etc
20 notes
·
View notes
Text
Daddy Yankee - Gasolina 2004
"Gasolina" was released as the lead single from Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee's 2004 album Barrio Fino in the US in October 2004. By November 6, WSKQ-FM in New York City reported "Gasolina" in their top 10 rotation, and WRTO-FM in Florida said the song was their number one most-played track. It entered the US Billboard Hot 100 chart a week later, rising to number 32 in January 2005. "Gasolina" was a hit in North America and the Caribbean, gaining Daddy Yankee popularity among Latino mainstream music fans. In July 2005, "Gasolina" was released as a single in the UK, eventually earning a Silver certification in March 2019. Australia saw the single enter their charts in late January 2006 during their summer season, rising to number 12. "Gasolina" was the first reggaeton song to be nominated for the Latin Grammy Award for Record of the Year. Puerto Rican reggaeton singer Glory sings the line "dame más gasolina", although she is not credited.
In 2015, the song was ranked number nine on the "50 Greatest Latin Songs of All Time" list according to Billboard. In 2018, it was ranked number 38 on Rolling Stone's 50 Greatest Latin Pop Songs. In 2017, it was included on Billboard's "12 Best Dancehall & Reggaeton Choruses of the 21st Century" at number eight. In 2021, it was ranked number 50 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time", and a year later it was ranked at the first place on their 2022 "100 Greatest Reggaeton Songs of All Time" list. In 2023, "Gasolina" was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The song was used in the 2023 movie Fast X / Fast & Furious 10.
"Gasolina" received a total of 77,4% yes votes!
youtube
2K notes
·
View notes
Text
A Guide to Red - The Quintessential Taylor Swift Album
After the release of The Manuscript, the role of Red and Red (Taylor’s Version) in Taylor’s life and discography has been highly discussed. A lot of people have referred to it as her magnum opus and most formative album. I have decided to compile a condensed list of about a dozen key interviews, performances, speeches, posts, and videos from 2011 all the way until 2024 that illustrate the importance of this record for Taylor’s personal life and career. I’m putting the list under a cut because it got pretty long. You don’t have to go through all of these, obviously, but I would suggest at least one per era. The bolded ones are essential in my opinion.
Pre-Red - These interviews hint at Taylor’s emotional state at the time and thus the content that will be explored on the Red album
2011 The New Yorker profile
Taylor Swift reveals new album is all about heartbreak - Extra TV
Bonus: an article going through Taylor’s arm lyrics on the Speak Now World Tour, which she described as mood rings for any particular show
Lover diary entries from the making of Red (credit to @cabincreaking for the scans)
- All Too Well lyrics first draft (February 2011)
- Random bursts of happiness and anxiety during the Speak Now Tour (June 17, 2011)
- Red (September 8, 2011)
- Holy Ground (February 2012)
- Nothing New (March 2, 2012)
- Working with Max Martin (June 10, 2012)
Red era - Listen to the original sixteen songs on the Red album at this point.
Red announcement livestream + Q&A
Red prologue
2012 Rolling Stone interview
2012 The Guardian interview
2012 Billboard interview
2012 Esquire interview
Sirius XM Town Hall - an hourlong interview from the day Red came out
Good Morning America - this is the first mention of the ten-minute version of All Too Well
Red track-by-track descriptions
Random interview where she discusses the connection between writing Speak Now and Red
I Knew You Were Trouble music video
Diary entry about how love is fiction and she might move to New York after all (January 6, 2014)
Diary entry from Grammy night (January 25, 2014)
Red Tour London performance of All Too Well - any performance of this song from 2013-14 will work here, but this one has a pretty comprehensive speech
Final performance of All Too Well on the Red Tour - just listen to the speech here
Post-Red era - Over the course of these interviews, you’ll see her relationship to the album evolve.
Taylor’s description of Clean (skip to 11:18)
2014 BBC Live Lounge interview
1989 World Tour interview where she mentions thinking she’d never sell as many albums as she did with Red before 1989 came out
Clean speech - a lot of these will work, but these two best describe her relationship with the Red era and heartbreak in general
All Too Well (The 1989 World Tour live)
2015 GrammyPro interview
All Too Well Super Saturday Night performance
Reputation Tour All Too Well speech
Red into Daylight performance - 2019 City of Lover concert in Paris
Re-recordings era - at this point, listen to the red vault
2020 Rolling Stone podcast
Red (Taylor’s Version) prologue
2021 Saturday Night Live performance
All Too Well: The Short Film + Behind the Scenes
Seth Meyers interview
2022 Tribeca film talk OR TIFF (both are equally good. I have a slight preference for the former, but there are some interesting new details in the latter). You could also watch directors on directors from the same year as a bonus, but it’s less comprehensive.
2022 Graham Norton - How All Too Well (10 Minute Version) came about + how the re-recordings inspired Midnights
Also listen to Midnights
The Eras Tour
All Too Well speech (Glendale Night 2 & Atlanta Night 1) - any of the speeches from March and April 2023 will work, but these two really illustrate how she feels about this time in her life now and how the fans changed the Red album for her. Obviously credit to @cages-boxes-hunters-foxes for the transcripts!
Maroon first ever live performance (‘This is a song about something that happened a long time ago, but it took place in New York’)
Aaaand finally listen to The Tortured Poets Department, especially The Manuscript
This is a lot, but it’s worth it. Enjoy!
#I really think this is just key to understanding taylor swift as an artist and a woman#red era#red tv#midnights#ttpd#maroon#old interviews#the manuscript#red#all too well 10#all too well short film
508 notes
·
View notes
Text
History of “Lout of Count’s Family”
This compilation lists all real-life events related to the Korean novel, 백작가의 망나니가 되었다 (Lout of Count’s Family), in chronological order, but limited to the Korean and English-reading audiences.
==========
2018
April 9, 2018
The novel was first released as a free-to-read series on Munpia, a Korean web novel platform, under the title, 백작가의 망나니가 되었다 (I Became the Trash of the Count’s Family) by the author, Yoo Ryeo Han, under the Korean publisher, Chungeoram. It had a Mon-Sat release schedule of 6 chapters per week.
May 29, 2018
The novel became a pay-to-read series, owing to its popularity, as announced by the author on May 25. Its first cover illustration featured Cale and Raon.
Image 1. The first cover illustration of the novel.
July 26, 2018
The novel won both the Grand Prize and the Popularity Award at the 4th Korean Web Novel Contest co-hosted by Munpia and the Korean Popular Literature Writers Association. The author received a total of 105 million KRW (~$76,000), a plaque, and other special benefits.
Image 2. Yoo Ryeo Han (right) posing for the Grand Prize winner photo. The old woman in the left is either the author's relative or a contest holder representative.
“When I first started writing, it was a very difficult time for me, both physically and mentally, so when I heard about this contest, I decided to participate,” said Yoo Ryeo Han, the author of “I Became the Trash of the Count’s Family”, the grand prize-winning story, ”I won a great prize through this contest and it was a turning point in my life. I am grateful to Munpia for providing such a great opportunity.” Source: Munpia. (2018, July 31). Munpia Holds the 4th South Korean Web Novel Contest Award Ceremony. NewsWire.co.kr.https://www.newswire.co.kr/newsRead.php?no=873212
July 30, 2018
The novel was serialized on Naver Series, a Korean web novel platform.
September ??, 2018
WuxiaWorld, an English web novel translation publisher, began an English fan translation of the novel under the title “Trash of the Count’s Family” with MiracleRifle as the translator.
October 2, 2018
The novel was serialized on RIDI, a Korean web novel and ebook publisher.
October 15, 2018
The novel was serialized on KakaoPage, a Korean web novel platform.
October 18, 2018
The author announced a temporary hiatus because her mother had an accident, so she had to take care of her mother who would be undergoing surgery.
October 26, 2018
The novel was serialized on Joara, a Korean web novel platform.
October 29, 2018
The author announced a temporary change of the release schedule from 6 chapters per week (Mon-Sat) to 5 chapters per week (Mon-Fri) for 3 weeks. This was because she wanted to devote more time to taking care of her mother whose surgery went well. She also thanked her readers who left well wishes for her and her mother.
November 29, 2018
The author announced a 1-day hiatus because she had to take care of her mother’s hospital paperwork and stuff.
2019
January 2, 2019
The author announced a 1-day hiatus because she caught a cold. She also wished her fans a Happy New Year.
January 22, 2019
The author announced a temporary change of the release schedule from 6 chapters per week (Mon-Sat) to 5 chapters per week (Mon-Fri) for the next 2-3 months. She stated it was because of a temporary change in her work environment.
March 8, 2019
The author posted a brief character profile on Munpia.
Link: https://novel.munpia.com/113612/page/1/neSrl/2290020
April 1, 2019
The author announced that she would maintain the 5 chapters per week release schedule. She said that her mother’s full recovery and rehabilitation kept getting delayed, and there were also some personal matters, so she needed 2 days off a week.
May 29, 2019
The author announced a 1-day hiatus because of health reasons.
June 14, 2019
The author announced a 5-day hiatus because of headache and fever. She went to the hospital to get herself checked, and was diagnosed with meningitis.
July 4, 2019
The release schedule was permanently changed from 6 chapters per week (Mon-Sat) to 5 chapters per week (Mon-Fri). The author said that she wanted to improve her health as the previous release schedule tired her out.
August 13, 2019
The author announced a 1-day hiatus because of health reasons.
September 16, 2019
The author announced a 4-day hiatus because of health reasons.
November 11, 2019
The author announced a 3-day hiatus because of personal reasons and body aches.
December 17, 2019
The 2nd cover illustration of the novel was released, featuring Cale, Choi Han, Raon, Ohn, and Hong.
Image 3. The second cover illustration of the novel.
December 31, 2019
The author greeted her readers a happy new year, and also joked about her wrong estimation of the novel ending soon in 500 chapters.
2020
January 17, 2020
The author posted a note in celebration of the novel’s 500th chapter. She answered a few fan questions, and insisted that her dream was not to be a slacker.
January 29, 2020
The author announced a 1-day hiatus because of a stomach ache. She also greeted her readers who recently celebrated the Lunar New Year holiday.
February 19, 2020
The author announced a 1-day hiatus because of health reasons.
April 17, 2020
The author announced a 1-day hiatus because of difficulty in writing. She said that she was suffering from pain in her lower back, wrist, and fingers, making it hard for her to type on her right hand.
April 24, 2020
The author announced a 5-day hiatus because of health reasons.
June 2, 2020
The author announced a month-long hiatus because of family circumstances, which left her in not a good mood for writing.
June 29, 2020
The author announced a 1-month hiatus because of family circumstances. She stated that one of her family members was sick, and this was a very long-term battle, so she wanted to stay by their side until they had fully recovered.
August 5, 2020
The release schedule was permanently changed from 5 chapters per week (Mon-Fri) to 3 chapters per week (MWF). This was in relation to her sick family member’s situation last June 29.
August 26, 2020
Copin Comics, a Korean webtoon publisher and studio, first announced its webtoon adaptation of the novel.
August 31, 2020
Season 1 of the webtoon adaptation of the novel was released on KakaoPage and Copin Comics’s own website, with PAN4 as the artist.
October 28, 2020
The official English title, “Lout of Count’s Family”, made its first appearance in the event prizes given by RIDI. These prizes were stickers and cell phone ring holders featuring Raon, Ohn, and Hong. One needed to purchase 30,000 KRW worth of chapters to qualify for the event.
Image 4. The stickers and cell phone ring holders given in the event.
November 5, 2020
WuxiaWorld announced that it would cease its fan translations of the novel because the author herself turned down their offer to officially translate the novel in English, despite the fact that WuxiaWorld and Chungeoram were in the middle of negotiations.
Eat Apple Pies, a fan translation site, continued the English fan translation of the novel, with permission from MiracleRifle to host in their site the already-translated chapters that were in WuxiaWorld.
November 6, 2020
Adar Terra, a personal blog, began posting English chapter summaries of the novel starting from Part 1 Chapter 630.
December 15, 2020
Copin Comics released the official English translation of the webtoon adaptation under the title, “Lout of Count’s Family” on its English website.
2021
January 4, 2021
The author announced a 1-day hiatus because of personal reasons.
January 11, 2021
The novel won 2nd place in the 2020 Best Awards of Munpia.
Link: https://www.munpia.com/page/bestawards2020f
January 26, 2021
The author announced a month-long hiatus because of family, health, and personal reasons.
April 4, 2021
TappyToon, an English webtoon publisher, also released the official English translation of the webtoon adaptation on their website.
April 30, 2021
The author announced a 1-day hiatus because of personal reasons.
May 3, 2021
The author announced a 1-day hiatus because of personal reasons.
May 14, 2021
The 3rd cover illustration was released for the novel, featuring Cale and Kim Rok Soo.
Image 5. The third cover illustration of the novel.
May 28, 2021
Season 1 of the webtoon adaptation of the novel ended.
May 31, 2021
The author posted a note in celebration of the novel’s 700th chapter. She also hinted that she was working on a paperback version of the novel.
June 14, 2021
COWON started a crowdfunding event on Tumblbug, a Korean crowdfunding platform, for a Korean mobile game adaptation of the novel, with the game title of “Plop”. Various official merchandise could also be obtained, depending on which item set the sponsor would purchase. Merchandise included in-game coupons and items, stickers, postcards, and acrylic stands.
Image 6. Preview of the mobile game adaptation.
Image 7. Acrylic stands of Alberu, Cale, and Choi Han given to sponsors who sponsored more than 65,000 KRW ($47.10).
Link: https://tumblbug.com/plop_story
June 15, 2021
The author announced a 3-day hiatus because of health reasons.
July 26, 2021
The crowdfunding event ended with 376 sponsors, raising 33,763,000 KRW (~$25,500) and surpassing its funding goal of 20,000,000 KRW.
September 17, 2021
Season 2 of the webtoon adaptation of the novel began.
October 7, 2021
The author announced a 4-day hiatus because she lost her laptop while outside and spent her time looking for it. Fortunately, she recovered her laptop back.
November 1, 2021
The Korean mobile game “Plop” was released by COWON. It followed a Visual Novel (VN) approach with dating simulation elements. Players could select different stories to play with, and these stories were mobile game adaptations of popular Korean novels. Lout of Count’s Family was one of the stories a player could select. Plop could only be downloaded on QooApp, and was Korean-only.
November 29, 2021
Part 1 of the novel ended at Chapter 776. It was also announced that 7 side stories would be released at the end of every month, and Part 2 of the novel would begin on July 1, 2022.
December 31, 2021
The 1st of 7 side stories of the novel was released.
The novel won the Grand Prize in the Fantasy Web Novel category at the 2021 RIDI Web Novel Awards. Link: https://ridibooks.com/event/37133
2022
February 2, 2022
An English version of the mobile game “Plop” was released under the title, “IFyou:episodes-love stories”, by PIER Corporation. The English mobile game adaptation of the novel could be played if one selected the “Lout of Count’s Family” story.
Image 8. Promotional image of the game showing the multiple stories one could play with.
February 4, 2022
Pocket Comics, an English webtoon publisher, released the official English translation of the webtoon adaptation on their website.
February ??, 2022
Bilibili Comics, an English webtoon publisher, released the official English translation of the webtoon adaptation on their website.
April 9, 2022
A special side story was released to celebrate the 4th anniversary of the novel’s serialization.
May 11, 2022
Chungeoram announced a crowdfunding event for the Korean hardcover books of the novel, beginning on June 13 and covering Part 1 Chapters 1-200 in 5 volumes.
Link: https://blog.naver.com/chungeoram_book/222726296248
June 13, 2022
The crowdfunding event began on Tumblbug. Various official merchandise could also be obtained, depending on which item set the sponsor would purchase. Merchandise included posters, postcards, washi tapes, etc.
Image 9. Preview of the hardcover versions of the novel, and two posters featuring Cale and Choi Han.
Link: https://tumblbug.com/henituse
July 1, 2022
Part 2 of the novel began.
July 15, 2022
The crowdfunding event ended with 4,785 sponsors, raising 788,666,000 KRW (~$596,000) and surpassing its funding goal of 15,000,000 KRW.
July 19, 2022
Copin Comics renamed itself as Terapin Studios. Their English branch continued to be called Copin Comics.
August 4, 2022
Season 2 of the webtoon adaptation of the novel ended.
August 31, 2022
Sponsors of the crowdfunding event began to receive their hardcover books and official merchandise.
October 14, 2022
Copin Comics, the English branch of Terapin Studios, announced that it would be shut down by November 30. The official English translation of the webtoon adaptation would be continued by TappyToons.
November 30, 2022
Copin Comics officially shut down. Terapin Studios continued its service as the Korean webtoon publisher and studio for the webtoon adaptation of the novel.
December 20, 2022
The author announced a week-long hiatus because of health reasons.
December ??, 2022
Plop, the Korean mobile game adaptation of the novel, was terminated.
2023
January 27, 2023
LaLatoon, an English webtoon publisher, released the official English translation of the webtoon adaptation on their website.
March 29, 2023
The author announced an almost 2-weeks long hiatus because of personal reasons.
March 31, 2023
IFyou:episodes-love stories, the English mobile game adaptation of the novel, was terminated. PIER Corporation stated that it was because they could no longer afford to pay server maintenance and labor costs.
April 18, 2023
Adar Terra announced that it would discontinue posting summaries for the novel after receiving a DMCA notice from RIDI who asserted that writing summaries itself was illegal.
June 5, 2023
The author announced a week-long hiatus because of personal reasons.
July 13, 2023
Season 3 of the webtoon adaptation of the novel began.
July 31, 2023
RIDI announced that it would release a Korean ebook adaptation of the novel on August 21. They also held a RIDI-exclusive event on July 31 to August 2 where fans could ask the author their questions.
Link: https://ridibooks.com/event/57453
August 21, 2023
RIDI released Volumes 1-5 of the Korean ebook adaptation, covering chapters 1-117 of Part 1. They also had a limited-time event where those who purchased Volumes 1-5 as a set would get discounts plus an Author Q&A as exclusive content. The Author Q&A had 26 questions answered by the author, and was based on the fan questions they gathered in their past event on July 31.
Image 10. Cover of the Author Q&A released as a RIDI-only exclusive content.
August 31, 2023
The author announced a 1-day hiatus because she caught COVID-19.
September 3, 2023
Tapas, an English webtoon publisher, released their official English translation of the webtoon adaptation on their website.
September 15, 2023
RIDI released Volumes 6-9 of the Korean ebook adaptation, covering chapters 118-200 of Part 1. They also had a limited-time event where those who purchased Volumes 6-9 as a set would get discounts.
October 20, 2023
The author posted a note in celebration of the novel’s 1000th chapter. She thanked her readers and also joked about the novel reaching 2000 chapters.
December 29, 2023
The Korean ebook adaptation of the novel won the Grand Prize in the Fantasy ebook category at the 2023 RIDI Awards.
2024
January 24, 2024
Bilibili Comics announced that it would be shut down by February 29.
February 29, 2024
Bilibili Comics officially shut down. The official English translation of the webtoon adaptation remained on the other webtoon publishers.
March 3, 2024
DAYcomics, an English webtoon publisher, released the official English translation of the webtoon adaptation on their website.
March 8, 2024
Lezhin, an English webtoon publisher, released the official English translation of the webtoon adaptation on their website.
March 18, 2024
RIDI released Volumes 10-18 of the Korean ebook adaptation, covering chapters 201-398 of Part 1. They also had a limited-time event where those who purchased Volumes 10-18 as a set would get discounts plus an LCF Modern AU Character Checklist as exclusive content. The checklist had 39 situations that described which character would likely be fit or do something in that situation, but in a modern alternate universe (AU) setting. Two new cover illustrations for the ebook adaptation were also included.
Images 11 and 12. On the left is the new cover illustration for ebook volumes 1-9, featuring Cale alone. On the right is the cover illustration for ebook volumes 10-18, featuring Cale and Raon.
March 27, 2024
Seven Seas Entertainment, an English novel publisher, announced that it had acquired the license to officially translate the novel in English, under the title, “Lout of Count’s Family”. It would be released in September of 2024 in paperback and ebook versions.
July 11, 2024
Season 3 of the webtoon adaptation of the novel ended.
August 24, 2024
Seven Seas Entertainment announced that it would release an English audiobook version of the official English translation of the novel. No release date had been given.
September 3, 2024
Seven Seas Entertainment released volume 1 of the novel's official English translation in paperback and ebook versions. It was also revealed that Seven Seas bought MiracleRifle’s fan translation to use in their official translation, and credited MiracleRifle in their print details.
Image 13. Cover illustration for volume 1 of the English adaptation of the novel.
November 7, 2024
Seven Seas Entertainment released Volume 1 of the official English audio book. It was narrated by Nick Martineau and produced by John Marshall Media.
==========
Coming Soon:
December 3, 2024
Volume 2 of the official English novel translation will be released on this date.
March 4, 2025
Volume 3 of the official English novel translation would be released on this date.
==========
Personal Remarks:
Creating this list was quite a huge task for me. It also made me appreciate the author's hard work, given that she had to write the novel while having family and health problems.
This list was limited to the Korean and English-speaking audiences because finding information about official translations of the novel or webtoon adaptation in other languages was difficult, especially researching the exact dates.
Some personal bias was also involved in the creation of this list. Adar Terra should actually not be included here because it was a fandom thing and not an official one. Unless you count me getting the DMCA notice from the official publisher as an "official" thing. 😂
And that's it. This list will continue to be updated as more official events happen. If you know of other official events related to the novel that I missed, please share it in the comments! Thank you! 🥰
#lout of count's family#lout of the count’s family#trash of the count's family#lcf#tcf#백작가의 망나니가 되었다#lcf history#tcf history
224 notes
·
View notes
Text
Crocodad analysis~
I've finished my reread of Impel Down and Marineford and spent most of today typing up this Crocodile analysis applying Crocodad theory ;3
Under the cut I went through Iva's threats, what info we have on when they met and what Iva might have done for him, then I go on to track Crocodile across the battlefield of Marineford. It's just text, no images, but it does have the chapters mentioned so you can go check it out.
I tried to structure these 3000 words a bit but don’t expect a clean essay.
Also, there is nothing new under the sun, I'm sure all of his has been said before by Crocodad scholars, I'm just sorting through it for myself.
(Disclaimer: I read an English scanlation so there’s a chance that there is a mistranslation or missing nuance.)
Iva’s powers
I'm generally someone who likes to work within the parameters provided by canon. But in terms of Iva's power I have been letting fandom (which displays an interest in a more real world depiction of transitioning) guide me more than canon. But Iva’s powers are not a reflection of the real world (other than maybe wishes that it could be so easy), neither do they even try to be.
Iva says that they can rework a person from the "inside out" (chapter 538) and there doesn't seem to be much of a limit to what they can do to someone’s body, apart from the cost of the healing powers.
If we go with the idea that Iva used their powers on Crocodile, it's likely that it would have been an instant effect. Therefore, the potential switch from female to male would have been complete and it would have been a one time application of Iva’s powers. Since we know what Crocodile looked like as a child, we know that they did not completely change his appearance.
The blackmail
When Luffy protests the suggestion that they free Crocodile, Iva says that they knew Crocodile “a little (…) back when you could still call him a rookie” (chapter 540) and that they are aware of one of Crocodile’s weaknesses which they will use against him/ reveal if he betrays them. Let’s first look at this secret weakness.
Since I have seen it mentioned before, I checked out the vivre card information that has been provided by thelibraryofohara (https://thelibraryofohara.com/2019/01/12/vivre-card-databook-vol-5-all-the-new-information/) in the January 2019 card releases. I quote:
“[Crocodile]’s got a “weakness” when it comes to his past that he can’t oppose. He definitely owes something that Ivankov gave him.”
I don’t know if the word choice is a matter of translation but it is rather ambiguous. That weakness is in quotation implies that it is most likely not an actual physical weakness like his weakness to water. Instead, it might be comparable to how Dragon calls Luffy his weakness. Additionally, what does “oppose” mean in the context of a weakness? Does it mean that if Iva revealed it, he would have no chance to refute it. Does it mean that the weakness is of such a nature that Crocodile would do what he can to avoid Iva from saying it? Maybe both? Considering the context the threat was uttered in, this would mean that he will not betray Iva and Luffy’s interests. (Which he doesn’t. When he goes off to attack WB and Luffy stops him, he calmly states that they had an arrangement (chapter 557). While Luffy forbids him from touching WB, Iva doesn’t threaten him into obedience, so Crocodile does pursue his attack on WB once Luffy is gone.)
Continuing with the vivre card quote, there’s also the fact that Crocodile owes something that Iva gave him – which can either mean that Iva gave him something that he’ll have to give back or that Crocodile has something that he only has thanks to Iva. I assume it’s the latter. What could Iva possibly have to give to Crocodile more than 20 years ago that Crocodile doesn’t want to be known (and can expect not to be known unless Iva shares it)? And, maybe more importantly, is it something that Iva can take back?
I am going to say yes, a reveal of the secret might as well come with Iva taking back what he has given Crocodile. Considering that Crocodile in prison has pretty much nothing but his hook, we can assume that what Iva gave this young pirate just starting out, was something to do with their powers. A change to his body in one way or another which of course means that Iva can undo it, revealing things about Crocodile that he doesn’t want to be known.
Considering what we’ve seen Iva’s power do, it does not take a big stretch of the imagination to wonder if he might have been a girl in the past. There’s of course the option that Crocodile has always been a boy, aware of his transness from the beginning. But even if that wasn’t the case, there are other reasons to want to change. The seas of One Piece are tricky to navigate and while there are successful female pirates, we have also been shown certain limitations and prejudices. How was it nearly 30 years ago, when Crocodile was just starting out? When there were pirates such as WB who would not have women on his crew? What did other men’s limited faith in a girl’s capabilities do to a teenager who wanted to chase her dreams? But that’s another layer of speculation. Let’s just assume that Iva gave Crocodile the body he now has.
Timeline
The complete female to male switch makes sense with Iva’s skills as I’ve mentioned above, but the timing is arguably tricky for Crocodad purposes. To repeat: Iva knew Crocodile “a little (…) back when you could still call him a rookie” (chapter 540). It’s unclear to me whether Iva’s comment that they know Crocodile “a little” is meant to be taken as an understatement and they do know each other well or if we should take it at face value. But even the offered time “when you could still call him a rookie” is very vague.
If they only knew each other when Crocodile was a rookie, then Iva would most likely have used their powers on Crocodile back then, turning him before he had properly ended up on the marine’s radar and before he could have had Luffy. What exactly counts as Crocodile’s rookie years isn’t particularly clear. At this point in the manga we do not know anything about Crocodile – his age, how long he’s been a Warlord, when he used to be a rookie, etc. However, we do know now that he became a Warlord in his 20s and challenged Whitebeard and lost to him shortly after (SBS, Volume 78). So his rookie years must refer to the time before that where “similar to Luffy (…) Crocodile's name spread across the seas with incredible momentum.” (SBS, Volume 78) It’s possible that at that time, due to the vastness of the ocean and the slower spread of news, people in general did not know what he looked like (even 30 years on it took a while for all the Strawhat crewmembers to get recognizable bounty posters). Due to that it’s possible that the meeting with Iva could have taken place during the time that he was gaining fame, but before he really got on he marine’s radar enough to make him a Warlord in his early 20s.
Interestingly (for me), around the same time as Crocodile’s was starting out, Iva and Dragon gained notoriety with their Freedom Fighter group (according to the Wiki’s timeline, it became the Revolutionary Army after the Ohara Incident, when Crocodile was 24), so it is likely that when Iva and Crocodile knew each other, Crocodile also met Dragon. (He might even have been part of the Freedom Fighters, but I think if his name was spread across the sea in connection to the Freedom Fighters, a link between Crocodile, Iva and Dragon would have been mentioned or taken into consideration by Sengoku. Sengoku did know of the history between Crocodile and WB and thought it would work in their favor. If he knew about a potential connection between Crocodile and Luffy – via Iva and Dragon – he would have been more wary I assume.)
As an aside, how did they even meet? Did Crocodile hear about Iva’s powers and seek them out? Was their meeting purely by chance and Crocodile seized the moment?
Long story short, if Iva only knew Crocodile while he was still a rookie and used their powers on him then, it would have been years before Luffy was conceived.
However! One could argue that Iva did not have the same control over their powers 20 years ago as they do now, so that the change was mostly external, affecting how Crocodile presented without changing him “inside out.” Which would still have meant that he could get pregnant if Dragon and Crocodile continued seeing each other (or at least saw each other one more time, 19 years ago.)
Now, since Crocodile at Marineford is somewhat of a part 2 of the Crocodile theories, I kept my Crocodad goggles on.
A look of Crocodile’s movement across the battlefield
One of the main arguments for Crocodad are his actions on the battlefield. Judged by the reactions of the other characters, all of Crocodile’s actions on the battle field of Marineford apart from his attack on WB are surprising.
The reason we are given by Crocodile for joining the prison break is that he wants to take Whitebeard’s head. (Crocodile could have escaped from the holding prison, but chose to go to Impel Down instead. However, Iva claims in chapter 538 that Crocodile isn’t too happy about ending up in level six.)
We know from the above mentioned SBS that Crocodile challenged WB shortly after he received his Warlord title. During this battle Crocodile was “completely and utterly crushed by him.” Whether that defeat is the main motivation to challenge him is unclear.
Just like he announced, the first thing that Crocodile does after posing for a group shot, is to go straight for Whitebeard’s head.
So far so predictable.
What are often seen as hints for Crocodad is a series of events that go like this: Dragon is revealed to be Luffy’s father (chapter 558). Everybody and their pet clown gets to have a reaction shot to that, but Crocodile does not. Crocodile is one of the first after Luffy to charge into the plaza after they’ve got the siege walls up and stops Ace’s execution (chapter 566.) He orders Daz to protect Luffy and one Daz is down he himself stops Mihawk from attacking Luffy (chapter 570). After Ace’s death he steps in between Akainu and Jinbei, making Luffy’s escape possible (chapter 578). He eventually joins a line of Whitebeard pirates to protect Luffy.
Now, Crocodile’s change of plans doesn’t present as an instant switch the moment Sengoku announces who Luffy’s father is. While he might have had an off-screen “oh shit, that’s my baby” reaction, it didn’t immediately make him drop everything to protect him.
I do of course believe that Luffy IS his baby because I find joy in that, but I generally see Crocodile as a pragmatic character. On one hand there is Luffy, a reckless but resilient kid that shares his blood (that he spilled and Luffy used against him) that is charging across a battlefield with a group of people protecting him. On the other hand here is Whitebeard right in front of him and other than the baby that has slipped out of his fingers, he held on to that grudge for 20 years.
Tracking Crocodile across the battlefield leaves plenty of gaps, but it still offers insights into why he changes direction. I’m presenting it here and then we can think if this hurts or helps the Crocodad agenda.
Tracking Crocodile
As mentioned the first thing we see him do on the battle field is to go for Whitebeard who is on the ship next to them. Luffy stops him and then he is approached by Whitebeard pirates, their weapons drawn. Luffy then leaves and takes the point of view away with him. When we see Crocodile again, two chapters after the reveal that Luffy is Dragon’s son, he is on the ice in front of Whitebeard’s ship. He must have been pushed back or retreated to join up with Daz, as they are fighting off masses of WB pirates, trying to get closer to the man himself. After he sends a lot of them flying with a sandstorm he is stopped by Yozu. The force of the attack makes him fly back (he is injured and loses his cigar) where he lands right next to Doflamingo. The man is of course not passing up the opportunity to be chaotic – he stops Yozu and asks Crocodile to join up with him which Crocodile rejects (chapter 560 – 561). When we next see him he is fighting off some invisible force (most likely more WB pirates) but at least he has a new cigar.
When WB is stabbed in chapter 563 he is still on the ice in front of WB’s ship. He has an agitated reaction, revealing that he has lost to Whitebeard in the past (“I didn’t lose to such a weak man!!!”)
Even though Sengoku tries to get the other fleets under WB’s command to turn against him, WB proves his integrity and power. And he also gives a speech about how even if he is attacked by his son, he still loves him and he also explains that the son does not bear the sins of the father. It is either this absolute display of love and appreciation of his sons no matter whose blood they have and what they do OR it is his display of power and integrity that Crocodile reacts to, visibly distressed, but no longer showing the explosive shock and anger of his previous outburst (I’m not horrible at reading facial expressions but I’m not great at describing them. Look for yourselves in chapter 563). Also, following right after the panel showing Crocodile’s face we get Whitebeard thinking to himself: “A “weak man,” am I…? What an insolent man… I’m only one man, with one heart… And you’re the same… They call me a demon and a monster… But I won’t always be the “strongest” out there…!!! If I can bring one young life into the future, isn’t that enough…!?” And then he joins the battle.
He now focuses on bringing that young life into the future (saving Ace) and this is the point where Crocodile’s unusual actions start. After a talk about unconditional love for his sons and the statement that protecting a son is worth much more than being the strongest. Could Crocodile too have decided that protecting Luffy (his son?) and Luffy’s interests is more important than his grudge against Whitebeard?
The answer seems to be yes, because in chapter 566 he is the first one to follow Luffy across the siege wall and into the plaza where Ace’s execution was supposed to happen. And he stops it after Luffy is pushed back by the Admirals. The reason he gives to Sengoku for his unexpected action is that he “wants to wipe the smile from your faces.” After Doflamingo chops off Crocodile’s head they engage in a fight.
It is after Luffy uses conqueror’s Haki, which again seems to confirm his relation to Dragon, WB gives the order for everyone to support Luffy in chapter 570. Whether Crocodile has chosen to follow Whitebeard’s lead or if he is acting for himself, he gave Daz the order to protect Luffy. Daz stops Mihawk’s attack and once Mihawk cuts him down and goes for Luffy again, Crocodile is there to stop him and allow Luffy to continue one. He must have shaken off Doflamingo in the meantime.
And then Ace and Whitebeard die (chapters 574 and 576 respectively).
And while the battlefield descends into further chaos and Luffy is unable to protect himself, we get a panel of Crocodile (chapter 577), apparently standing still in the chaos that is around him. He does not seem to face the same way as the retreating WB forces or the Warlords and Pacifista in pursuit of the retreating pirates. Maybe he is looking at Whitebeard one last time.
And then he’s off, apparently crossing the entire battlefield in an instant to stop Akainu from dealing Luffy the killing blow. And after that he gets physically between Akainu and Jinbei and Luffy before he sends them flying out of reach with his sands (chapter 578.) He yells the order for someone to grab them and get them to a ship, followed by one of my favourite lines directed at Jinbei who has tasked himself with protecting Luffy: “If you want to protect something, do it right!!!” Since we generally speculate that Luffy’s parents (or Dragon at least) chose to sacrifice their chance of raising Luffy in order to protect him from exactly what is happening on this battlefield, that line suits the Crocodad theory well. Whether Crocodile left behind his child to protect it from being punished for the sins of his fathers or if he left him behind because a child would get in the way of his ambitions, right in this moment protecting Luffy is all that matters.
He then joins a group of Whitebeard pirates, forming a protective barrier against Akainu. Akainu taunts them that all of them are willing to give their lives for Luffy. Marco repeats what Whitebeard thought earlier: they will see this boy off into the new age.
All of these actions could also simply point towards Crocodile maybe having been part of Whitebeards crew at one time, but the timeline has some difficulties. It does not seem like anyone who is on the crew now treats him like they knew him or at one point cared about him like a brother. We have also not seen Crocodile or someone who looked like him in the Wano flashbacks. Teach, who joined when he was 12 (and Crocodile would have been 18) doesn’t seem to know him as a crewmate either. If he ever was on WB’s crew, he would have left as a young teenager. (And as a sidenote, WB was an old-fashioned guy, he did not want any women on his crew apart from medical staff. This would not have been a good environment for Crocodile if he had been a girl before meeting Iva. And he clearly was making a name for himself as a rookie without being attached to WB’s crew.)
It could also symbolize how great of a pirate Whitebeard was that even Crocodile, bearing a grudge against him, shows him respect by following his orders. But that seems a little bit boring to me.
That said, I do think a Crocodad reading of his actions is rewarding.
After this battle we also get to see Crocodile read about Luffy’s actions so he clearly is interested in him now. And there’s this great exchange between Daz and Crocodile in chapter 593 where Daz comments that Luffy’s scars take a while to fade which Crocodile takes as a comment on his own (old) wounds. Crocodile insists that his scars are “fully healed” and that he’s ready to return to the New World now. He has put the old wounds of his youth to rest, he is ready to return to tackle the New World once again.
And maybe any wounds and scars left on him regarding Luffy’s birth have started to heal too. The kid will be fine.
If you read through all of this you have my respect X’D
And if you have comments, additions and objections let me know~
187 notes
·
View notes
Note
Dear Kanmon I'm writing to you because you know how to count and because I miss good jikook analyzes. after AYS they seem unnecessary, but they are satisfying. like putting together a puzzle. When I watched Jimin's choreography for Stuck with you for the hundredth time, I wondered if the part of the song he was dancing to was chosen on purpose. And I discovered that the dance starts exactly at 1:18 minutes into the song.
Hey love.
JM's dance to Stuck with you was just wow wow wow.
youtube
Your ask got me looking. And at first I went to the MV and lyrics YT clips and it just didn't align, so I was ready to give up.
But then I went to the actual streamed song on Spotify, and low and behold, you are so right.
Like wtf?
I am lost for words.
But you know what, if we're already doing this, then let's go down this rabbit hole...
I'm just going to throw myself down there, because you got me looking @jimjunkgfc.
Let's do this. Hold on to your seats, because this is going to be a bumpy ride folks.
The clip was released by JM on his IG account on 18.11.23.
Hmm.. do you see what I am seeing?
We have a combination of very interesting numbers here.
Just looking at the numbers, no math required.
If you take the 1,1 and 8 out of it you are left with the also very known Jikook combination of 123.
So, in the date alone we have 11-8 and 123.
The whole thing with the 123 theory is that we think we know where it originated (might have meant something to them way before but that's the first time it's mentioned) - Festa 2014 JM's profile Just one day MV at 1:23 min. represents him best. JK was by his side while filling out that profile. Since then we have had song recommendations ending at 1:23 min., posts timed at 12:30 or 1:23 am, posts on January 23rd etc. We know there is very possibly something going on with that sequence of numbers, but what it is exactly or more so, what it means to them exactly, we don't know.
Songs stopped at 1:23 min.
Post dated Jan 23 - 123
2017
2019
Using time stamps:
Posted 31 Jan 2019, time stamped 12:30 am KST.
18 Feb 2019 1:23 am KST
Again, the time stamp on going live - 12:03 am KST.
Bonus...
Like I said, we don't know exactly what it means, but it sure does mean something because it just keeps intentionally re-appearing.
And it somehow made it's way into this one once more.
Interesting.
Rabbit hole I said?
Let's continue then...
How long exactly is JM's dance clip, you ask?
1:23 min.
What in the actual fuck?
So, let's sum it up, why don't we?
We have a clip released on a date that gives us the combination of all the numbers for us to easily see 11:8 and 123.
And then we have JM dancing to a song that starts at the 1:18 min. mark and dancing for 1:23 min.
11-8
123
Yeah, clearly all a coincidence.
160 notes
·
View notes
Text
I too watched the hbomberguy video and went straight to Twitter, whereupon I found that James Somerton had mentioned danmei in one of his videos and it made everyone mad, so I went looking and. yeah here's a full transcription of his just completely incorrect coverage of cql and mdzs from "Hollywood's (Gay) China Problem" so you don't have to watch it and give him views:
"The 2019 fantasy series The Untamed, featuring an unlikely bond between a man with magic powers and a stoic prince, started an online craze over the pair's implicit romance, but the show's promotion focused on its portrayal of Chinese traditional culture, a push consistent with Chinese communist party propaganda.
The show was... Queerbait-y. But the novel on which it was based [shows a picture of the fanmade cover for The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation made by fan translator team Exiled Rebels] certainly was not. That featured a very explicit love story between the two main characters, but was self-censored when adapted to meet the censorship guidelines of the Xi Jinping government. But it didn't matter. Like so much queerbaiting before, people saw through the weak veneer of heterosexuality. They "took the bait", so to speak. The series has accumulated a total of 9.5 billion views in China as of this summer, and had also received an international release via Netflix. It was described as a global phenomenon, taking off like no BL series before it, making its way all around Asia and with the Netflix deal, all across Europe and North America as well.
Tencent, the Chinese streaming platform it originated on, saw 2.6 million new subscribers to the service when it was released. And WeTV, an app that lets you watch BL content anywhere in the world, saw growth of 250% while the show was airing. In January of 2020, the cast members planned to embark on a multi-city, worldwide fan meeting tour. Cities included Bangkok, Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, Macau, Kuala Lumpur, Toronto, Los Angeles, New York... But it was cancelled due to COVID-19.
Even the Chinese government has endorsed it. The overseas popularity of these romantic sword-wielding heroes is often highlighted in Chinese media coverage focusing on the massive overseas streaming numbers and its ability to build a growing appreciation of the charm of Chinese culture."
763 notes
·
View notes
Text
make my dawn interview ~ 2019 special cut ᰔᩚ
cyana's masterlist
make my dawn special release interview
interview format / comments might be wonky on phone
INTERVIEWER: Hello everyone, today we're joined by Korean Boy Band SEVENTEEN! How are you guys feeling today?
S.COUPS: We're feeling great!
DK: Yes~ Very good.
INTERVIEWER: That's good. We're here today because you're releasing your sixth mini album You Make My Dawn! (claps) Congratulations!
SVT (as a whole): Yes~ Thank you!
INTERVIEWER: Please introduce the album to our viewers -
JOSHUA: (raises his hand quietly) I can do that - Our sixth mini album titled You Make My Dawn will be released in January, and it had six tracks with unit tracks as well! Please show it lots of love~
INTERVIEWER: And I noticed we have a new addition to the group since last comeback, would the new member please introduce herself?
CYANA: (flushed) Hi everyone~ My name is Cyana, I'm part of the vocal unit for SEVENTEEN. (smiles and waves)
INTERVIEWER: Having a female member is new for the industry, what are your thoughts on being the first ever female idol in a boy group?
CYANA: (pauses, looking at the others for help) Well... I'm happy to be able to break boundaries, I think it's an interesting idea that's worth pursuing. SEVENTEEN's an amazing group already and I hope to be able to add that that.
S.COUPS: Cyana's been a valuable member of our team as we prepared this upcoming album. She's earned her place here.
INTERVIEWER: And how did the rest of the group feel at the sudden change? I'm sure it was a shocking thing to adjust to.
HOSHI: We were all surprised, but excited. SEVENTEEN's known for being experimental when we need to be, and we thought this opportunity would add to our group even more.
INTERVIEWER: (nodding) And Woozi, how do you feel with Cyana's addition as the group's main producer? How has her addition changed the way you guys work?
WOOZI: (hesitating) It was an adjustment we all had to make, like any other circumstance where you work with new people. She fit well in our songs and I was happy to try out new combinations for harmonies. Her addition unlocks a whole new area of possibilities.
INTERVIEWER: I see. (flipping her script) Fans have showed much discourse over the new addition to the group, going as far as saying Cyana will bring bad publicity to SEVENTEEN. Cyana, what's your reaction to all this?
CYANA: (frowning slightly) I- um, I haven't been online much while preparing for my debut and comeback, but I suppose any negativity is expected. People are often skeptical of new things.
INTERVIEWER: And does that deter you in any way?
S.COUPS: I think we can move on to another-
CYANA: (putting a hand on his knee) It's okay. No, it doesn't deter me in any way. I'm only working harder to prove that new things can be great things as well.
DK: Ya! SEVENTEEN will be even greater with Cyana.
INTERVIEWER: That's very brave of you. Now, we'll enter into a rapid fire question segments of questions fans have left on our online forum. Dino, who would you pick - Jeonghan or Mingyu?
DINO: Jeonghan.
MINGYU: Wow, not even a moment's hesitation, huh.
INTERVIEWER: S.Coups - favourite member?
S.COUPS: Jeonghan.
INTERVIEWER: Wow, Jeonghan's quite popular. Cyana, most attractive looking member?
CYANA: (caught off-guard) Umm... Vernon? I don't know. (panics)
INTERVIEWER: Another one for Cyana - what's it like living with the boys? Any TMIs?
CYANA: It's all very normal. (lowkey judging the questions) It's like we're roommates. No TMIs.
INTERVIEWER: Another one for Cyana - who would you date out of-
S.COUPS: (cuts her off) I think that's enough for now- (pointing behind the camera at staff) They're telling us that time's up.
JOSHUA: So sorry~ (waves at the camera) We've got to do our goodbye, hyung.
S.COUPS: Say the name!
SVT (as a whole): SEVENTEEN!
S.COUPS: This has been SEVENTEEN, thank you so much for watching.
INTERVIEWER: (just a bit pissed) Yes, this has been SEVENTEEN, their new mini album You Make My Dawn comes out soon, please look forward to it!
︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶︶⊹︶︶୨︶
COMMENTS:
wonwootiddies why'd they focus more on cyana then the album?? fatherscoups they all look so uncomfy wtf dksunshine look at scoups tryna do damage control cyanagotu shouldn't they ask more questions about the album? ⭒ woowwow no fr we got nothing but sexism ⭒ milkcans everything was good until she brought up the hate comments like ik this was filmed awhile ago but caratland is basically over the hate now? svtfan123 as a fan i hate cyana but as a girl- she doesn't deserve this just ask abt the bloody album bro
author's note: short cute (not so cute ig) interview post today! at least majority of caratland is (kinda) on her side now... bigger update soon!
#seventeen ot13#seventeen x reader#svt x reader#seventeen imagines#svt imagines#svt#svt fluff#seventeen#seventeen 14th member#idol oc#idolverse#female idol#seventeen blurbs#svt carat#cyanawritings
79 notes
·
View notes
Text
Dragon Age: The Veilguard GameInformer Article Transcribed
I saw some people lamenting that they had no way to read the GameInformer article, and while MVP dalishious posted screenshots of the article here, I figured that might be a little difficult to read, plus people with screen readers can't read it of course. So I've gone ahead and transcribed it! Full thing below the cut!
As a note, I transcribed it without correcting any typos, capitalization errors, etc. that the article itself had (as much as it pained me, omg the author capitalizes so many things that shouldn't be and vice versa). There may be some typos on my part as I did this as quickly as I could, so apologies in advance for any you might encounter.
I have also created a plot-spoiler-free version of the article for those who would like to learn more about the mechanics of the game without learning more plot info than they want!
Throughout my research and preparation for a trip to BioWare’s Edmonton, Canada, office for this cover story, I kept returning to the idea that its next game, Dragon Age: The Veilguard (formerly subtitled Dreadwolf) is releasing at a critical moment for the storied developer. The previous installment, Dragon Age: Inquisition, hit PlayStation, Xbox, and PC a decade ago. It was the win BioWare needed, following the 2012 release of Mass Effect 3 with its highly controversial and (for many) disappointing ending. Inquisition launched two years later, in 2014, to rave reviews and, eventually, various Gameo the Year awards, almost as if a reminder of what the studio was capable of.
Now, in 2024, coincidentally, the next Dragon Age finds itself in a similar position. BioWare attempted a soft reboot of Mass Effect with Andromeda in 2017, largely seen as a letdown among the community, and saw its first live-service multiplayer attempt in 2019’s Anthem flounder in the tricky waters of the genre; it aimed for a No Man’s Sky-like turnaround with Anthem Next, but that rework was canceled in 2021. Like its predecessor, BioWare’s next Dragon Age installment is not only a new release in a beloved franchise, but is another launch with the pressure of BioWare’s prior misses; a game fans hope will remind them the old BioWare is still alive today.
“Having been in this industry for 25 years, you see hits and misses, and it’s all about building off of those hits and learning from those misses,” BioWare general manager Gary McKay, who’s been with the studio since January 2020, tells me.
As McKay gives me a tour of the office, I can’t help but notice how much Anthem is scattered around it. More than Mass Effect, more than Dragon Age, there’s a lot of Anthem - posters, real-life replicas of its various Javelins, wallpaper, and more. Recent BioWare news stories tell of leads and longtime studio veterans laid off and others departing voluntarily. Veilguard’s development practically began with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. When I ask McKay about the tumultuousness of BioWare and how he, as the studio manager, makes the team feel safe in the product it’s developing, he says it’s about centering on the creative vision. “[When] we have that relentless pursuit for quality, and we have passion and people in the right roles, a lot of the other stuff you’re talking about just fades into the background.”
That’s a sentiment echoed throughout the team I speak to: Focus on what makes a BioWare game great and let Veilguard speak for itself. Though I had no expectations going in - it’s been 10 years since the last Drag Age, after all, and BioWare has been cagey about showing this game publicly - my expectations have been surpassed. This return to Thedas, the singular continent of the franchise, feels like both a warm welcome for returning fans and an impressive entry point for first-time players.
New Age, New Name
At the start of each interview, I address a dragon-sized elephant in the room with the game’s leads. What was Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is now Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Why?
“These games are reflections of the teams that make them, and as part of that, it means we learn a lot about what the heart and soul of the game really is as we’re developing it,” Veilguard game director Corinne Busche tells me. “We quickly learned and realized that the absolute beating heart of this game is these authentic, diverse companions. And when we took a step back, as we always do, we always check our decisions and make sure they still represent the game we’re trying to build.”
Dreadwolf no longer did that, but each member of BioWare I speak to tells me The Veilguard does. And while I was initially abrasive to the change - lore aside, Dreadwolf is simply a cool name - I warmed up to The Veilguard.
Solas, a Loki-esque trickster member of the Elven pantheon of gods known as the Dread Wolf, created the Veil long ago while attempting to free the elves from their slave-like status in Thedas. This Veil is a barrier between the magical Fade and Thedas, banishing Elven gods and removing Elven immortality from the world. But players didn’t know that in Inquisition, where he is introduced as a mage ally and companion. However, at the end of Inquisition’s Trespasser DLC, which sets the stage for Veilguard, we learn in a shocking twist that Solas wants to destroy the Veil and restore Elves to their former glory. However, doing so would bring chaos to Thedas, and those who call it home, the people who eventually become The Veilguard, want to stop him.
“There’s an analogy I like to use, which is, ‘If you want to carve an elephant out of marble, you just take a piece of marble and remove everything that doesn’t look like an elephant,’” Veilguard creative director John Epler says. “As we were building this game, it became really clear that it was less that we were trying to make The Veilguard and more like The Veilguard was taking shape as we built the game. Solas is still a central figure in it. He’s still a significant character. But really, the focus shifts to the team.
“[We] realized Dreadwolf suggests a title focused on a specific individual, whereas The Veilguard, much like Inquisition, focuses more on the team.”
Creating Your Rook
Veilguard’s character creator is staggeringly rich, with a dizzying number of customizable options. Busche tells me that inclusivity is at the heart of it, noting that she believes everyone can create someone who represents them on-screen.
There are four races to choose from when customizing Rook, the new playable lead - Elves, Qunari, Humans, and Dwarves - and hundreds of options to customize your character beyond that. You can select pronouns separately from gender and adjust physical characteristics like height, shoulder width, chest size, glute and bulge size, hip width, how bloodshot your eyes are, how crooked your nose is, and so much more. There must be hundreds of sliders to customize these body proportions and features like skin hue, tone, melanin, and just about anything else you might adjust on a character. Oh, and there’s nudity in Veilguard, too, which I learn firsthand while customizing my Rook.
“The technology has finally caught up to our ambition,” Dragon Age series art director Matt Rhodes tells me as we decide on my warrior-class Qunari’s backstory, which affects faction allegiance, in-game dialogue, and reputation standing - we choose the pirate-themed Lords of Fortune.
Notably, instead of a warrior class, we could have chosen mage or rogue. All three classes have unique specializations, bespoke skill trees, and special armors, too. And though our Rook is aligned with the Lords of Fortune faction, there are others to choose from including the Grey Wardens, Shadow Dragons, The Mourn Watch, and more. There is some flexibility in playstyle thanks to specializations, but your class largely determines the kind of actions you can perform in combat.
“Rook ascends because of competency, not because of a magical McGuffin,” BioWare core lead and Mass effect executive producer Michael Gamble tells me in contrast to Inquisition’s destiny-has-chosen-you-characterization.
“Rook is here because they choose to be, and that speaks to the kind of character that we’ve built.” Busche adds, “Someone needs to stop this, and Rook says, ‘I guess that’s me.’”
Beyond the on-paper greatness of this character creator, its customizability speaks to something repeated throughout my BioWare visit: Veilguard is a single-player, story-driven RPG. Or in other words, the type of game that made BioWare as storied as it is. McKay tells me the team explored a multiplayer concept early in development before scratching it to get back to BioWare basics. The final game will feature zero multiplayer and no microtransactions.
Happy to hear that, I pick our first and last name, then one of four voices, with a pitch shifter for each, too, and we’re off to Minrathous.
Exploring Tevinter For The First Time
Throughout the Dragon Age series, parts of Thedas are discussed by characters and referenced by lore material but left to the imagination of players as they can’t visit them. Veilguard immediately eschews this, setting its opening prologue mission in Minrathous, the capital of the Tevinter Empire. Frankly, I’m blown away by how good it looks. It’s my first time seeing Veilguard in action and my first look at a Dragon Age game in nearly a decade. Time has treated this series well, and so has technology.
Epler, who’s coming up on 17 years at BioWare, acknowledges that the franchise has always been at the will of its engine. Dragon Age: Origins and II’s Eclipse Engine worked well for the time, but today, they show their age. Inquisition was BioWare’s first go at Ea’s proprietary Frostbite engine - mind you, an engine designed for first-person shooters and decidedly not multi-character RPGs - and the team struggled there, too. Epler and Busche agree Veilguard is the first RPG where BioWare feels fully in command of Frostbite and, more generally, its vision for this world.
We begin inside a bar. Rook and Varric are looking for Neve Gallus, a detective mage somewhere in Minrathous. The first thing players will do once Veilguard begins is select a dialogue option, something the team says speaks to their vision of a story-forward, choice-driven adventure. After a quick bar brawl cutscene that demonstrates Rook’s capabilities, there’s another dialogue choice, and different symbols here indicate the type of tone you can roll with. There’s a friendly, snarky, and rough-and-tough direct choice, and I later learn of a more romantically inclined “emotional” response. These are the replies that will build relationships with characters, romantic and platonic alike, but you’re welcome to ignore this option. However, your companions can romance each other, so giving someone the cold shoulder might nudge them into the warm embrace of another. We learn Neve is in Dumat Plaza and head into the heart of Minrathous.
Rhodes explains BioWare’s philosophy for designing this city harkens back to a quick dialogue from Inquisition’s Dorian Pavus. Upon entering Halamshiral’s Winter Palace, the largest venue in Dragon Age history at that point, Dorian notes that it’s cute, adorable even, alluding to his Tevinter heritage. If Dorian thinks the largest venue in Dragon Age history is cute and adorable, what must the place he’s from be like? “It’s like this,” Rhodes says as we enter Minrathous proper in-game.
Minrathous is huge, painted in magical insignia that looks like cyberpunk-inspired neon city signs and brimming with detail. Knowing it’s a city run by mages and built entirely upon magic, Rhodes says the team let its imagination run wild. The result is the most stunning and unique city in the series. Down a wide, winding pathway, there’s a pub with a dozen NPCs - Busche says BioWare used Veilguard’s character creator to make each in-world NPC except for specific characters like recruitable companions - and a smart use of verticality, scaling, and wayfinding to push us toward the main attraction: Solas, attempting to tear down the Veil.
All hell is breaking loose. Pride Demons are rampaging through the city. Considering Pride Demons were bosses in prior games, seeing them roaming freely in the prologue of Veilguard speaks to the stakes of this opener. Something I appreciate throughout our short journey through Minrathous to its center below is the cinematography at play. As a Qunari, my character stands tall, and Rhodes says the camera adjusts to ensure larger characters loom over those below. On the flip side, the camera adjusts for dwarves to demonstrate their smaller stature compared to those around them.
This, coupled with movie-liked movement through the city as BioWare showcases the chaos happening at the hands of Solas’ Veil-break ritual, creates a cinematic start that excited me, and I’m not even hands-on with the game.
Eventually, we reach Neve, who has angered some murderous blood mages, and rescue her from danger. Or rather, help… barely. Neve is quite capable, and her well-acted dialogue highlights that. Together, Varric, returning character Lace Harding, who is helping us stop Solas and is now a companion, Rook, and Neve defeat some demons. They then take on some Venatori Cultists seizing this chaotic opportunity to take over the city and other enemies before making it to Solas’ hideout. As we traverse deeper and deeper into this hideout, more of Solas’ murals appear on the walls, and things get more Elven. Rhodes says this is because you’re symbolically going back in time, as Minrathous is a city built by mages on the bones of what was originally the home of Elves.
At the heart of his hideout, we discover Solas’ personal Eluvian. This magical mirror-like structure allows the gang to teleport (and mechanically fast-travel) to Arlathan Forest, where Solas is secretly performing the ritual (while its effects pour out into Minrathous).
Here, we encounter a dozen or so demons, which BioWare has fully redesigned on the original premise of these monstrous creatures. Rhodes says they’re creatures of feeling and live and die off the emotions around them. As such, they are just a floating nervous system, push into this world from the Fade, rapidly assembled into bodies out of whatever scraps they find.
I won’t spoil the sequence of events here, but we stop Solas’ ritual and seemingly save the world… for now. Rook passes out moments later and wakes up in a dream-like landscape to the voice of none other than Solas. He explains a few drops of Rook’s blood interacted with the ritual, connecting them to the Fade forever. He also says he was attempting to move the Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain, part of the Evanuris or Elven gods of ancient times, to a new prison because the one he had previously constructed was failing. Unfortunately, Solas is trapped in the Fade by our doing, and these gods are now free. It’s up to Rook to stop them; thus, the stage for our adventure is set.
The Veilguard Who’s Who
While we learned a lot about returning character but first-time companion Lace Harding, ice mage private detective Neve Gallus, and veil jumper Bellara Lutara, BioWare shared some additional details about other companions Rook will meet later in the game. Davrin is a charming Grey Warden who is also an excellent monster hunter; Emmrich is a member of Nevarra’s Mourn Watch and a necromancer with a skeleton assistant named Manfred; Lucanis is a pragmatic assassin whose bloodline descends from the criminal House of Crows organization; And Taash is a dragon hunter allied with the piratic Lords of Fortune. All seven of these characters adorn this Game Informer issue, with Bellara up front and center in the spotlight.
The Lighthouse
After their encounter with Solas, Rook wakes up with Harding and Neve in the lair of the Dread Wolf himself, a special magical realm in the Fade called the Lighthouse. It’s a towering structure centered amongst various floating islands. Epler says, much like Skyhold in Inquisition, the Lighthouse is where your team bonds, grows, and prepares for its adventures throughout the campaign. It also becomes more functional and homier as you do. Already, though, it’s a beautifully distraught headquarters for the Veilguard, although they aren’t quite referring to themselves as that just yet.
Because it was Solas’ home base of operations, it’s gaudy, with his fresco murals adorning various walls, greenery hanging from above, and hues of purple and touches of gold everywhere. Since it’s in the Fade, a realm of dreams that responds to your world state and emotion, the Lighthouse reflects the chaos and disrepair of the Thedas you were in moments ago. I see a clock symbol over a dialogue icon in the distance, which signals an optional dialogue option. We head there, talk to Neve, select a response to try our hand at flirting, and then head to the dining hall.
A plate, a fork and knife, and a drinking chalice are at the end of a massive table. Rhodes says this is both a funny (and sad) look at Solas’ isolated existence and an example of the detail BioWare’s art team has put into Veilguard. “It’s a case of letting you see the story,” he says. “It’s like when you go to a friend's house and see their bedroom for the first time; you get to learn more about them.” From the dining hall, we gather the not-quite-Veilguard in the library, which Busche says in the central area of the Lighthouse and where your party will often regroup and prepare for what’s next. The team decides it must reach the ritual site back in Arlathan Forest, and Busche says I’m missing unique dialogue options here because I’m Qunari; an Elf would have more to say about the Fade due to their connection to it. The same goes for my backstory earlier in Minrathous. If I had picked the Shadow Dragons background, Neve would have recognized me immediately, with unique dialogue.
With our next move decided, we head to Solas’ Eluvian to return to Arlathan Forest and the ritual site. However, it’s not fully functional without Solas, and while it returns us to Arlathan Forest, it’s not exactly where we want to go. A few moments later, we’re back in the Arlathan Forest, and just before a demon-infested suit of mechanized armor known as a Sentinel can attack, two new NPCs appear to save us: Strife and Irelin. Harding recognizes them, something Dragon Age comic readers might know about. They’re experts in ancient elven magic and part of the new Veil Jumpers faction. The ensuing cutscene, where we learn Strife and Irelin need help finding someone named Bellara Lutara, is long, with multiple dialogue options. That’s something I’m noticing with Veilguard, too - there’s a heavy emphasis on storytelling and dialogue, and it feels deep and meaty, like a good fantasy novel. BioWare doesn’t shy away from minutes-long cutscenes.
Busche says that’s intentional, too. “For Rook, [this story’s about] what does it meant to be a leader,” she says. “You’re defining their leadership style with your choices.” Knowing that Rook is the leader of the Veilguard, I’m excited to see how far this goes. From the sound of it, my team will react to my chosen leadership style in how my relationships play out. That’s demonstrated within the game’s dialogue and a special relationship meter on each companion’s character screen.
Redefining Combat Once More
Bellara is deep within Arlathan Forest, and following the prolgoue’s events, something is up here. Three rings of massive rocks fly through the air, protecting what appears to be a central fortress. Demon Sentinels plague the surrounding lands, and after loading up a new save, we’re in control of a human mage.
Following the trend of prior Dragon Age games, Veilguard has completed the series’ shift from tactical strategy to real-time action, but fret not: a tactical pause-and-play mechanic returns to satiate fans who remember the series’ origins (pun intended). Though I got a taste of combat in the prologue, Veilguard’s drastic departure from all that came before it is even more apparent here.
Busche says player complete every swing in real-time, with special care taken to animation swing-through and canceling. There's a dash, a parry, the ability to charge moves, and a completely revamped healing system that allows you to use potions at your discretion by hitting right on the d-pad. You can combo attacks and even “bookmark” combos with a quick dash, which means you can pause a combo’s status with a dash to safety and continue the rest of the combo afterward. It looks even cooler than it sounds.
Like any good action game, there is a handful of abilities to customize your kit. And, if you want to maintain that real-time action feel, you can use them on the fly, so long as you take cooldowns into effect. But Veilguard’s pause-and-play gameplay mechanic, similar to Inquisition’s without the floating camera view, lets you bring things to halt for a healthy but optional dose of strategy.
In this screen, which essentially pauses the camera and pulls up a flashy combat wheel that highlights you and your companions’ skills, you can choose abilities, queue them up, and strategize with synergies and combos, all while targeting specific enemies. Do what you need to here, let go of the combat wheel, and watch your selections play out. Busche says she uses the combat wheel to dole out her companions’ attacks and abilities while sticking to the real-time action for her player-controlled Rook. On the other hand, Epler says he almost exclusively uses the combat wheel to dish out every ability and combo.
Busche says each character will play the same, in that you execute light and heavy attacks with hte same buttons, use abilities with the same buttons, and interact with the combo wheel in the same way, regardless of which class you select. But a sword-and-shield warrior, like we used in the prolgoue, can hip-fire or aim their shield to throw it like Captain America, whereas our human mage uses that same button to throw out magical ranged attacks. The warrior can parry incoming attacks, which can stagger enemies. The rogue gets a larger parry window. Our mage, however, can’t parry at all. Instead, they throw up a shield that blocks incoming attacks automatically so long as you have the mana to sustain it.
“What I see from Veilguard is a game that finally bridges the gap,” former Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah, who left BioWare in 2021 before joining the Veilguard team last year as a consultant, tells me. “Uncharitably, previous Dragon Age games got to the realm of ‘combat wasn’t too bad.’ In this game, the combat’s actually fun, but it does keep that thread that’s always been there. You have the focus on Rook, on your character, but still have that control and character coming into the combat experience from the other people in the party.”
“This is really the best Dragon Age game that I’ve ever played,” he adds, noting his bias. “This is the one where we get back to our roots of character-driven storytelling, have really fun combat, and aren’t making compromises.”
Watching Busche take down sentinels and legions of darkspawn on-screen, I can already sense Veilguard’s combat will likely end up my favorite in the series, although admittedly, as a fan of action games, I’m an easy sell here. It’s flashy, quick, and thanks to different types of health bars, like a greenish-blue one that represents barrier and is taken down most effectively with ranged attacks, a decent amount of strategy, even if you don’t use the pause-and-play combo wheel. Like the rest of the game, too, it’s gorgeous, with sprinkles, droplets, and splashes of magic in each attack our mage unleashes. Though I’m seeing the game run on a powerful PC, which is sure to be the best showcase of Veilguard, Epler tells me the game looks amazing on consoles - he’s been playing it on PlayStation 5 and enjoying it in both its fidelity and performance modes, but I’ll have to take his word for it.
Pressing Start
The start or pause screen is as important to a good RPG as the game outside the menus. Veilguard’s contains your map, journal, character sheets, skill tree, and a library for lore information. You can cross-compare equipment and equip new gear here for Rook and your companions, build weapon loadouts for quick change-ups mid-combat, and customize you and your party’s abilities and builds via an easy-to-understand skill tree. You won’t find minutiae here, “just real numbers,” Busche says. That means a new unlocked trait might increase damage by 25 percent against armor, but that’s as in-depth as the numbers get. Passive abilities unlock jump attacks and guarantee critical hit opportunities, while abilities add moves like a Wall of Fire to your arsenal (if you’re a mage). As you spec out this skill tree, which is 100 percent bespoke to each class, you’ll work closer to unlocking a specialization, of which there are three for each class, complete with a unique ultimate ability. Busche says BioWare’s philosophy here is “about changing the way you play, not statistical minutiae.”
Companion Customization
You can advance your bonds by helping companions on their own personal quests and by including them in your party for main quests. Every Relationship Level you rank up, shown on their character sheet, nets you a skill point to spend on them. Busche says the choices you make, what you say to companions, how you help them, and more all matter to their development as characters and party members. And with seven companions, there’s plenty to customize, from bespoke gear to abilities and more. Though each companion has access to five abilities, you can only take three into combat, so it’s important to strategize different combos and synergies within your party. Rhodes says beyond this kind of customizable characterization, each companion has issues, problems, and personal quests to complete. “Bellara has her own story arc that runs parallel to and informs the story path you’re on,” Rhodes says.
In Entropy’s Grasp
As we progress through the forest and the current “In Entropy’s Grasp” mission, we finally find Bellara. She’s a veil jumper, the first companion you meet and recruit in-game (unlike Neve, who automatically joins), and the centerpiece of this issue’s cover image. Because our mage’s background is Veil Jumper, we get some unique dialogue. Bellara explains we’re all trapped in a Veil Bubble, and there’s no way out once you pass through it. Despite the dire situation, Bellara is bubbly, witty, and charming.
“When designing companions, they’re the load-bearing pillars for everything,” Rhodes says. “They’re the face of their faction, and in this case [with Bellara], their entire area of the world. She’s your window into Arlathan Forest.” Rhodes describes her as a sweetheart and nerd for ancient elven artifacts. As such ,she’s dressed more like an academic than a combat expert, although her special arm gauntlet is useful both for tinkering with her environment and taking down enemies.
Unlike Neve, who uses ice magic like our Rook and can slow down time with a special ability, Bellara specializes in electricity, and she can also use magic to heal you, something Busche says Dragon Age fans have been desperate to have in a game. Busche says if you don’t direct Neve and Bellara, they’re fully independent and will attack on their own. But synergizing your team will add to the fun and strategy of combat. Bellara’s electric magic is effective against Sentinels, which is great because we currently only have access to ice. However, without Bellara, we could also equip a rune that converts my ice magic, for a brief duration, into electricity to counter the Sentinels.
As we progress through Arlathan Forest, we encounter more and more darkspawn. Bellara mentions the darkspawn have never been this far before because the underground Deep Roads, where they usually escape from, aren’t nearby. However, with blighted Elven gods roaming the world, and thanks to Blight’s radiation-like spread, it’s a much bigger threat in Veilguard than in any Dragon Age before it.
I continue to soak in the visuals of Veilguard with Arlathan Forest’s elven ruins, dense greenery, and disgusting Blight tentacles and pustules; it’s perhaps the most impressive aspect of my time seeing the game, although everything else is making a strong impression, too. I am frustrated about having to watch the game rather than play it, to be honest. I’m in love with the art style, which is more high fantasy than anything in the series thus far and almost reminiscent of the whimsy of Fable, a welcome reprieve from the recent gritty Game of Thrones trend in fantasy games. Rhodes says that’s the result of the game’s newfound dose of magic.
“The use of magic has been an evolution as the series has gone on,” he says. “It’s something we’ve been planning for a while because Solas has been planning all this for a while. In the past, you could hint at cooler magical things in the corner because you couldn’t actually go there, but now we actually can, and it’s fun to showcase that.”
Busche, Epler, and Rhodes warn me that Arlathan Forest’s whimsy will starkly contrast to other areas. They promise some grim locations and even grimmer story moments because, without that contrast, everything falls flat. Busche likens it to a “thread of optimism” pulled through otherworldly chaos ravaging Thedas. For now, the spunky and effervescent Bellara is that thread.
As we progress deeper into the forest, Bellara spots a floating fortress and thinks the artifact needed to destroy the Veil Bubble is in there. To reach it, though, wem ust remove the floating rock rings, and Bellara’s unique ability, Tinker, can do just that by interacting with a piece of ancient elven technology nearby. Busche says Rook can acquire abilities like Tinker later to complete such tasks in instances where Bellara, for example, isn’t in the party.
Bellara must activate three of these in Arlathan Forest to reach the floating castle, and each one we activate brings forth a slew of sentinels, demons, and darkspawn to defeat. Busche does so with ease, showcasing high-level gameplay by adding three stacks of arcane build-up to create an Arcane Bomb on an enemy, which does devastating damage after being hit by a heavy attack. Now, she begins charging a heavy attack on her magical staff, then switches to magical daggers in a second loadout accessed with a quick tap of down on the d-pad to unleash some quick attacks, then back to the staff to charge it some more and unleash a heavy attack.
After a few more combat encounters, including one against a sentinel that’s “Frenzied,” which means it hits harder, moves faster, and has more health, we finally reach the center of the temple. Within is a particular artifact known as the Nadas Dirthalen, which Bellara says means “the inevitability of knowledge.” Before we can advance with it, a darkspawn Ogre boss attacks. It hits hard, has plenty of unblockable, red-coded attacks, and a massive shield we must take down first. However, it’s weak to fire, and our new fire staff is perfect for the situation.
After taking down this boss in a climactic arena fight, Bellara uses a special crystal to power the artifact and remove it from a pedestal, destroying the Veil Bubble. Then, the Nadas Dirthalen comes alive as an Archive Spirit, but because the crystal used to power it breaks, we learn little about this spirit before it disappears. Fortunately, Bellara thinks she can fix it - fixing broken stuff is kind of her thing, Epler says - so the group heads back to the Veil Jumper camp and, as interested as I am in learning what happens next, the demo ends. It’s clear that even after a few hours with the game’s opening, I’ve seen a nigh negligible amount of game; frustrating but equally as exciting.
Don’t Call It An Open World
Veilguard is not an open world, even if some of its explorable areas might fee like one. Gamble describes Veilguard’s Thedas as a hub-and-spoke design where “the needs of the story are served by the level design.” A version of Inquisition’s Crossroads, a network of teleporting Eluvians, returns, and it’s how players will traverse across northern Thedas. Instead of a connected open world, players will travel from Eluvian to Eluvian to different stretches of this part of the continent. This allows BioWare to go from places like Minrathous to tropical beaches to Arlathan Forest to grim and gothic areas and elsewhere. Some of these areas are larger and full of secrets and treasures. Others are smaller and more focused on linear storytelling. Arlathan Forest is an example of this, but there are still optional paths and offshoots to explore for loot, healing potion refreshes, and other things. There’s a minimap in each location, though linear levels like “In Entropy’s Grasp” won’t have the fog of war that disappears as you explore like some of Veilguard’s bigger locations. Regardless, BioWare says Veilguard has the largest number of diverse biomes in series history.
Dragon’s Delight
With a 10-hour day at BioWare behind me after hours of demo gameplay and interviews with the leads, I’m acutely aware of my favorite part of video games: the surprises. I dabbled with Origins and II and put nearly 50 hours into Inquisition, but any familiarity with the series the latter gave me had long since subsided over the past decade. I wanted to be excited about the next Dragon Age as I viewed each teaser and trailer, but other than seeing the words “Dragon Age,” I felt little. Without gameplay, without a proper look at the actual game we’ll all be playing this fall, I struggled to remember why Inquisition sucked me in 10 years ago.
This trip reminded me.
Dragon Age, much like the Thedas of Veilguard, lives in the uncertainty: The turbulence of BioWare’s recent release history and the lessons learned from it, the drastic changes to each Dragon Age’s combat, the mystery of its narrative, and the implications of its lore. It’s all a part of the wider Dragon Age story and why this studio keeps returning to this world. It’s been a fertile franchise for experimentation. While Veilguard is attempting to branch out in unique ways, it feels less like new soil and more like the harvest BioWare has been trying to cultivate since 2009, and I’m surprised by that.
I’m additionally surprised, in retrospect, how numb I’ve been to the game before this. I’m surprised by BioWare’s command over EA’s notoriously difficult Frostbite engine to create its prettiest game yet. I’m surprised by this series’ 15-year transition from tactical strategy to action-forward combat. I’m surprised by how much narrative thought the team has poured into these characters, even for BioWare. Perhaps having no expectations will do that to you. But most of all, with proper acknowledgement that I reserve additional judgment until I actually play the game, I’m surprised that Veilguard might just be the RPG I’m looking forward to most this year.
153 notes
·
View notes
Text
the halifax mass shooting plot or der untergang
what was this? who planned it? where?
the halifax mass shooting plot was the idea that lindsay souvannarath, james gamble, and randall ’randy’ shepherd came up with to commit a mass shooting at a shopping centre in halifax, nova scotia, on valentine’s day.
more on who
lindsay souvannarath was 23 years old when she was arrested. she was born in chicago, illinois, on january 9, 1992, and lived there up until the time of the planned shooting. she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. she’s still serving her sentence, and her most recent request for appeal in 2019 was denied.
james gamble was 19 years old at the time of his death on february 12, 2015. he was born in halifax, nova scotia, on august 6, 1995. there doesn’t seem to be much information available about what was done with his remains after death.
randall ‘randy’ shepherd was 20 years old when he was arrested on february 13. he was born in victoria, british columbia, on july 4, 1994. shortly after his birth, he and his family moved to halifax, nova scotia. he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to 10 years in jail. he was released due to statutory release in 2021 after serving seven years and four months; however, he was ordered to stay off the internet and was to live in a halfway house in nova scotia.
how did randy and james meet?
both randy and james attended a high school located a short distance outside of halifax, which is where “they met and bonded over metal music, horror movies, marijuana, and a shared fascination with death and morbidity, often focusing on school shootings and mass murders.”
both were described as having increasing mental struggles following up to the incident.
as time passed, james considered committing a mass killing in halifax. he asked randy to be his partner in crime, who refused but continued to be a willing audience to his ideas.
how did lindsay meet them? what was her relationship with james like?
on december of 2014, james began to follow lindsay because of a “justgirlythings” meme she had posted onto her tumblr. it was captioned “not being able to live without your best friend” and was edited to have the columbine library photo underneath. they started messaging on facebook after this and formed a friendship quickly.
court documents state lindsay and james would repeatedly claim that they were adopting the personas of eric harris and dylan klebold, respectively. lindsay even said she felt the spirit of eric harris was taking over her body at times. they would refer to each other as reb and vodka and often speak of going “nbk” and quote passages to each other from the journals of the columbine shooters.
they also had a similar taste in music and lindsay introduced him to national socialist black metal.
their friendship blossomed into something more sexual that included sending nudes and sexting as they began to plan the shooting and then into something romantic as james began to show a lot of affection and attachment.
they expressed that they believed they were fated to each other and that their destiny was to commit this massacre and to die together. they “just felt like their relationship was destiny.”
the preparation
one of the first things they did was start thinking of possible locations. lindsay left most of that up to james. he came up with various ideas, such as a hospital, a library, and an elementary school, all of which lindsay disagreed with because she thought they would send the wrong message.
one location she ended up agreeing to was a mall.
“it was kind of this symbolism of western decadence and the modern world in general. just the idea of this place where people go to consume. it seemed like it would be a protest against capitalism, against consumerism, against greed.”
“i believe it was the film dawn of the dead that had zombies attacking the shopping mall, and it was supposed to be like this metaphor for our modern society and how obsessed with consumption it is. so i thought that would be perfect.”
in february of 2015, james and randy went to the halifax shopping centre and filmed videos of where the shooting was planned to happen. these were referred to as their “basement tapes.”
in one of these videos, they discussed how the temporary walls in the food court might block some of the shots, and randy stated that if at least one person from his high school was killed, the attack would be worth it. in another one of these, james calmly stares into the camera and says, “you're lucky i couldn’t get any more bullets.”
the plan
the mass shooting was to take place on valentines day, february 14, at the halifax shopping centre food court. the shopping centre was chosen with the intention to cause “mass panic.” (the date of the shooting was switched due to price increases on tickets. the original date was february 1st. james had the idea to change the date to valentines day because there would be more people in the food court and the time and he believed it would be more shocking.)
lindsay would travel by air to halifax to meet james on february 13.
james was to shoot both of his parents before lindsay arrived.
they would both then spend the night together in the gamble residence.
randy hoped to be shot and killed by james the same evening as a form of assisted suicide. (lindsay was not involved with this part of the plan). james wanted randy to make a video recording of the shooting instead of committing suicide.
the next day they would begin the shooting in the food court, which was the area they believed would provide them the most cover.
they were going to go into the food court bathrooms, change outfits, get their weapons and come out and open fire.
they were going to start the shooting by throwing molotov cocktails into the food court. (randy was to provide six bottles for the molotov cocktails.)
james was to arm himself with his father’s lever-action hunting rifle along with a hunting knife.
lindsay would be armed with his father’s single-action 16-gauge shotgun.
each was to wear previously selected death outfits that, in many ways, were chosen to pay tribute to the columbine shooters.
they wanted to shoot as many people as their ammunition allowed.
they were going to save their last bullets for themselves and “just like columbine” they would kneel facing each other and shoot themselves on the count of three.
what actually happened
the morning of feburary 12, 2015, lindsay snuck out of her family home and began the trip to halifax. she described herself as “very eager, very excited, very very thrilled to be leaving home.”
james then faltered in his plans to murder his parents and sent lindsay a facebook message that read, “i’m going to have to wait until tomorrow to kill them” and “you’ll have to stay at randy’s for the night.”
the same day of february 12, crime stoppers received an anonymous tip. a summary of the tip is as follows:
two people are posting on social media sites that they plan to shoot up the mall in halifax, nova scotia.
the two people are obsessed with school shootings.
a female is to leave chicago on a delta airlines flight to meet up with a male who has weapons for them to use.
the female is asian, known as lindsay, last name unknown but begins with “s”, she is approximately twenty-three years old, born 01-16-92 and is 5’3’’ tall and weighs 90lbs. lindsay has black shoulder length hair, which is dyed red right now and she wears brown framed glasses;
lindsay is friends with the male, james gamble;
lindsay has multiple social media accounts such as a facebook under the name “lindsay shubniggurath”, a tumblr account under the name “cockswastika”, and skype account under the name “thenewheresy”.
the male is james gamble, white male, nineteen years old, born 08-06-95, and is described as very skinny with dark brown hair parted to one side;
james gamble lives in halifax, nova scotia;
the anonymous source has not met james gamble in person;
james gamble is lindsay’s friend from online;
james has several social media accounts such as a facebook account under the name “james gamble” and a tumblr account under the name “shallowexistences”.
the canadian border services agency was contacted and issued a lookout to their agents to identify anyone who might match the description of the female.
soon officers arrived at the gamble residence in timberlea, nova scotia. james was contacted by telephone and suggested to exit the residence, which he agreed to do. instead, he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a single bullet from his father’s hunting rifle.
as previously agreed on, shepherd arrived at the stanfield international airport by city bus to pick up lindsay. he messaged lindsay and reiterated that james was behind on schedule killing his parents and that she would have to stay with him for the night.
lindsay landed in halifax at midnight, february 13th. at 12:10am she presented herself to primary immigration and spoke to a CBSA agent. the national lookout did not raise a flag at the time.
the CBSA agent was concerned by lindsay regardless. she communicated to him that she flew to canada on a one way ticket, had only $33, and did not know where her boyfriend lived. the agent thought that she may have been attempting to bring drugs into canada and noted that “she had very bad teeth and her complexion was very bad with scars on her face. this made me think that she may be on drugs.”
the agent directed lindsay to a secondary immigration examination as well as a secondary customs inspection.
she was questioned at secondary immigration by an agent. the agent questioned lindsay and confirmed that she didn’t know where she was going, had a small amount of money, and did not have a return ticket. lindsay communicated that she was in halifax to have a “memorable” valentine’s day weekend with her boyfriend who she had previously met online. she further communicated that randy was at the airport to pick her up, which was confirmed by CBSA officials.
the contents of her luggage were searched. she had little with her, aside from some makeup, her death outfit, and two books on serial killers.
while she was being dealt with by agents, officials reviewed the national lookout and determined that lindsay may be the person of interest.
police soon arrived at the airport and quickly arrested both randy and lindsay.
their online trail
they left a steady trail of posts referencing the planned shooting. there was a playlist posted on lindsay's tumblr blog to “cement the aesthetic” along with countless other posts hinting towards their plan. lindsay also queued her manifesto to post on her blog after the shooting.
my main source
74 notes
·
View notes
Text
Why are we afraid of a Trump presidency? Well, here's the beginning of political historian Heather Cox Richardson's daily writeup:
April 30, 2024 (Tuesday) This morning, Time magazine published a cover story by Eric Cortellessa about what Trump is planning for a second term. Based on two interviews with Trump and conversations with more than a dozen of his closest advisors, the story lays out Trump’s conviction that he was “too nice” in his first term and that he would not make such a mistake again. Cortellessa writes that Trump intends to establish “an imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world.” He plans to use the military to round up, put in camps, and deport more than 11 million people. He is willing to permit Republican-dominated states to monitor pregnancies and prosecute people who violate abortion bans. He will shape the laws by refusing to release funds appropriated by Congress (as he did in 2019 to try to get Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky to smear Hunter Biden). He would like to bring the Department of Justice under his own control, pardoning those convicted of attacking the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and ending the U.S. system of an independent judiciary. In a second Trump presidency, the U.S. might not come to the aid of a European or Asian ally that Trump thinks isn’t paying enough for its own defense. Trump would, Cortelessa wrote, “gut the U.S. civil service, deploy the National Guard to American cities as he sees fit, close the White House pandemic-preparedness office, and staff his Administration with acolytes who back his false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen.” To that list, former political director of the AFL-CIO Michael Podhorzer added on social media that if Trump wins, “he could replace [Supreme Court justices Clarence] Thomas, [Samuel] Alito, and 40+ federal judges over 75 with young zealots.” “I ask him, Don’t you see why many Americans see such talk of dictatorship as contrary to our most cherished principles?” Cortellessa wrote. No, Trump said. “‘I think a lot of people like it.”
259 notes
·
View notes
Text
The Sweet - The Ballroom Blitz 1973
"The Ballroom Blitz" is a song by British glam rock band The Sweet, written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. The song reached number one in Canada, number two in the UK Singles Chart and the Australian Chart, and number five on the US Billboard Hot 100. It remains an enduring favourite, with more than 90 million streams on Spotify alone by the end of 2022. "The Ballroom Blitz" was inspired by an incident on 27 January 1973 when the band were performing at the Grand Hall in Kilmarnock, Scotland, and were driven offstage by a bottling. The song appeared on the US and Canadian versions of Desolation Boulevard but never appeared on a Sweet album in the UK, other than hits compilations. The initial guitar and drum riff of the song has similarity to a 1963 song by Bobby Comstock called "Let's Stomp".
An early cover of "The Ballroom Blitz" was by the Les Humphries Singers in 1974, the first German single to reach #1 in New Zealand. The Damned covered it in 1979, which featured Lemmy from Motörhead on bass guitar, and Tia Carrere did a cover on the soundtrack to Wayne's World in 1992. In 2020, industrial metal band 3Teeth released Guns Akimbo, a two-track set that included a cover version of "The Ballroom Blitz", which was previously featured in the 2019 action comedy film Guns Akimbo.
"The Ballroom Blitz" received a total of 84,2% yes votes!
youtube
1K notes
·
View notes
Text
it just really makes me feel a certain kind of way on tonight of all nights, when pete said this was the best tour ever, when patrick decided to do this exceedingly vulnerable thing and play a song they've never done live (and that pete said they wouldn't ever do live), dark alley and then following it up with what a catch and then transitioning into don't stop believing with the whole band - what kind of 8ball could compare to that?
bob dylan was the last song we really got from fall out boy until so much (for) stardust. they wrote it back during abap era but scrapped it. it was joe that pushed for its inclusion on believers never die volume 2, making it one of two tracks that were exclusive to that record. the second was dear future self, which was released as a single ahead of time to promote hellamegatour, so when we got the full bnd2 record...fob dylan was basically the last new music we got from fall out boy for a good five years. bnd2 was released in november 2019. it wouldn't be until january 2023 that we got "love from the other side". and it didnt feel like a potential "end" the way the hiatus did, at least not to me, but i did go into bnd2 knowing it'd probably be a while before we'd get new fall out boy music. so as much as i adored the song, there was a bittersweet tinge to it.
there's just something in that. something in beginnings and endings and "what ifs" and "never coulds." dark alley was a song that could've been left as a quiet footnote to a deeply unhappy time in pete wentz's life, but wasn't. what a catch could've marked the formal end of fall out boy's career and trajectory, but didn't. bob dylan could've been the last song we got from fall out boy ever, but it wasn't.
believers truly never die, do they?
#*making poasts#tourdust#im having trouble articulating im just still floored that They Just Did That#and THEN followed that up with 8-ball 2 i am my own muse#which is THEE most proud declaration of 'im still fucking here and i dont need anyone else to define me'#just!!!!!! motherfucking fall out boy man. what the fuck!
437 notes
·
View notes
Text
Clarification regarding MHA’s final chapter being published in a double issue
Weekly Shonen Jump’s annual publishing schedule plans for 52 issues. However, it might confuse you to know that those numbers begin in December, not January. For example, Issue #1 of the 2024 run was actually published in December of 2023, following 2023’s Issue #52 which was published in November.
WSJ also accounts for holiday breaks in this scheduling. Since 2016, they have released at least four “double issues” per year in accordance with Japanese holidays: Christmas, New Years, Golden Week, and Obon Festival, which fall in December, January, April, and August respectively.
As a result, you get back-to-back double issues in late December/early January, then a double issue in the last week of April and the first week of August.
Despite what you might think, double issues do not contain twice the amount of content.
Indeed, they occasionally have a couple extra color pages or two-page spreads than usual, but the main thing that is special about them is the “JUMP cast photo” covers. Weekly covers may highlight 2-3 characters from a couple series, or go for a bigger “splash page” look incorporating different series and more characters.
But double issues, without fail, cram absolutely everybody in there—the protagonist from nearly every series currently running in the magazine gets a spot on the cover, often with each of them matching in theme, as with this Christmas-themed one from the 2019 serialization:
And this year’s own Year of the Dragon New Years cover!
Obon’s double issue tends to have the summer theme, obviously, as we can see here with 2020 and 2022:
I even researched the last few times a series ended in the Obon double issue, and that would be Act-Age in 2020 and Nisekoi in 2016. From some light reading, Nisekoi typically had 16-17 pages per chapter, while the final chapter had 24. Act-Age, on the other hand, pretty consistently had 19-21, and its finale had 20 pages.
I researched how many pages MHA typically has for the Obon issue.
I also researched these numbers for the Golden Week double issue and it was similar, don’t question me, okay, I’m a freak.
These aren't noteworthy numbers; My Hero Academia has always varied between 15-21 pages, ebbing and flowing. Horikoshi said shortly after the Uraraka vs. Toga finale that his editor arranged for each chapter to be 15 pages because that was the number he could consistently complete, since sudden deviation or incomplete pages can cause serious stress to the rest of the publishing staff who have to arrange new chapters from around twenty different series every week.
From this information alone, we have no reason to believe the final chapter of MHA will contain double the typical number of pages.
However, we do have some tankōbon math to do here.
Volume 41 is being released a few days before the final chapter. We don’t have official confirmation, but most of the recent volumes have had 12 chapters and ended on a cliffhanger. In light of this, I suspect volume 41 will cover 411 through chapter 422, thus beginning the final volume, volume 42, on chapter 423.
The longest MHA tankōbon release has been 216 pages long, while the shortest is 184 pages.
We know we will get five more chapters from now, ending on chapter 430.
Every tankoban has at least 4 pages of table of contents and copyright, so the math works out this way:
4 pages + 45 pages with chapters 423, 424, and 425 = 49 pages Longest outcome: 216 – 49 = 167 167 divided into 5 new chapters: 33.40 average pages per chapter Shortest outcome: 184 – 49 = 135 135 divided into 5 new chapters: 27 average pages per chapter
This average is quite shocking to think about and begs the question, “what the fuck is UP, Horikoshi-sensei!?”
The recent trend of 15 pages per chapter for all eight chapters plus the four for table of contents/copyright would yield only 124 pages, which is definitely too few for release. I think there is a strong possibility we will get that upper range of his page count average, 20-21, until the end, which would yield about 154.
I said 184 was the shortest, but technically volume 7 had a unique release with 169 pages plus a drama CD and booklet, which makes me wonder if the final volume might have some sort of special content?? Or possibly volume 41 will end at 421, making it 11 chapters long while volume 42 is 9??
This answers some questions while raising a whole bunch more. I can't wait to find out~!!! <3
Note: I gathered most of the precise numbers-and-dates information referenced in this post—and my Jump GIGA post—from a fan-made Jump Database. Special thanks to the very dedicated people who maintain it.
#mha finale#idk what to tag this#bakuhatsu numbers freak?#bakuhatsu shonen jump guru?#I feel like I'm accidentally becoming very knowledgeable about WSJ#just thought I would share the forbidden secrets
95 notes
·
View notes
Text
Actress!Y/n Talking About Harry in Interviews Over the Years(2018-2022) Part II
A/n:so, this is the second part, and I really hope you guys like it .
PART I | MASTERLIST
Jimmy Kimmel Live!, September, 2018
“I am so happy to have you here again.” Kimmel said, as they sat down. “You’re no longer my neighbor.”
“Unfortunately.” The woman agreed. “I miss you, Molly and the kids, we don’t have neighbors anymore.”
“You mean the house next door isn’t ready or…”
“We literally have no neighbors, we bought fourteen acres ‘next door’ to a preserve, so it’s amazing views and a huge amount of privacy.” She explained. “Which when you have a job in the industry, and two young children is amazing.���
“That’s right, you had another baby!”Jimmy said as if he didn’t already now. “How far apart are they?”
“So, we had Atticus in January last year, and eleven months later we had Talulah,” She paused giving the audience time o cheer, “we wanted them to be close in age, which is a decision a lot of parents make, we didn’t know it would happen so fast, but apparently we are very fertile people,” She paused again, letting the people go crazy, “Yeah, so of course, we didn’t factor in our decision Harry’s tour, my album release, all my projects, and a very cranky baby, Atticus is physically all H, but he’s bad temper is all mine.”
“You went on tour pregnant and with a baby?” The host asked. “That must have been a crazy experience.”
“It was something.” She agreed. “But I was the boss’s wife, so everyone took good care of me, made sure I was comfortable, helped around with the baby, and H created an amazing environment with his whole team, it was lovely to witness.”
Met Gala 2019 With Liza Koshy| Vogue
“You co-chaired the Met Gala back in 2016, how is like to be back, and this year your gorgeous husband is co-chairing the event.” Liza asked Y/n as soon as they finished greeting each other.
The camera was zooming on the naked Gucci gown made of black lace, sequins and feathers the superstar was wearing, totally complementing her husband look.
“It is amazing, I am so proud of H, this is such an amazing honor, and is his first year, so I am happy we get to share this with each other.” Y/n said in a soft voice.
“What is ‘camp’ to you?”The you tuber asked.
“Just be yourself, whatever you want no matter what, be bold, be crazy, it’s camp.” The actress said moving her colorful feather boa/cape situation. “I think there is no limits.” She had almost Rapunzel long hair extensions and a spectacular floral and feathers arrangement on top of her head.
“What was your inspiration for tonight’s spectacular look?”
“I just wanted to match H, tonight is all about him, and have fun, so I let Alessandro do as he pleased, and Ale being Ale didn’t hold back.” she shared. “My youngest didn’t even recognized me.”
“You look one hot mama, it’s hard to imagine you have two babies, does Atticus and Talulah know they have the coolest mother?”Liza asked.
“H is the cool parent,” Y/n admitted with a found smile, “Atticus has some idea that his daddy is a rockstar, so Harry’s definitely the coolest in his eyes.”
The Late Late Show | Team USA v. Team UK- Dodgeball w/Michelle Obama
“I am here to support Harry,”Y/n said to he camera as the teams stretched in the background, “he’s not a very gracious loser, and I mean, he’s in James’s Team against Michelle Obama, there is just no way that they are going to win this game.”
“Babe, “ Y/n called from the sidelines after watching Harry be hit in the ‘1D’ “Are you okay, honey?”
“I want more kids… in the future,” the actress blushed slightly looking to the camera.
The Kelly Clarkson Show, Jan, 2020
“How old are your kids know?”Kelly asked.
“Atticus is three years old, and Lulah just turned two, the terrible twos, funny enough, Lulah doesn’t suffer from it, but Atticus haven’t got over it yet…”Y/n said with a smile as pictures showed up on the screen, her children faces always blurred or hidden.
“People say terrible two, but threenager is a real thing,”Kelly said seriously.
“Yeah, that’s what I heard,”The actress said. “But Lulah just turned two, and I think it might not have fully catch up with her yet, because as I was leaving the house today, she threw her first temper tantrum.” Y/n commented. “She was just, on the floor, crying her little heart out, and of course, Atticus didn’t like to be outdone, so he threw himself at the rug screaming bloody murder, and I just left them there for Harry to deal,” The young woman told Kelly. “I sounded so bad right now, but really, I am that mom that keeps trying to calm them down, and things just get worst because it becomes a competition between the two toddlers, while Harry is just chill, he sit on the couch and just watches them unamused until they organically stop.”
“They lay it on sometimes, like ‘why are you leaving me’”
“I thing is worst with Harry,”Y/n confessed, “I have no problem in admitting H is the favorite parent, like, they come to me for comfort and all the ‘mommy’ things, but Harry is their favorite.” She said with a smile.
“And you don’t feel jealous or anything…”
“No, because, to me, it just shows how much of na amazing daddy he is, and I just feel like: damn! I made a really good choice.”The crowd cheer. “It’s really validating and I am just proud of myself for my choice in partner and baby daddy.”
Hailey Bieber | Who’s in my Bathroom? April, 2021
“Do you get uncomfortable by the amount of female attention your husband’s get?” Hailey asked as they sipped their margaritas.
“So, I have two answers for those questions: I don’t get uncomfortable with his fans showing their love for him, it’s lovely to see the amount of love and devotion he inspires, and they have always been so welcoming to me.” She said looking at possible the only other woman in the planet that understood the level of craziness it was. “But I do get uncomfortable with women in the industry hitting on him, I am not even talking women our age, it’s like: cougar level, and very recently we had a very awful situation, where it was in a working environment with a power imbalance, and it just got too much, more people got involved, media attention happened, and at the same time we had to deal with this as a couple and as a family.”
“Does you ever wish you guys just had normal jobs and careers?”Hailey supports her face in her hand.
“Never, no matter what, I can’t imagine Harry not doing what he does, and I would never no make the career choices I did, I love acting, I love singing and songwriting, and I love directing.” She says with conviction. “For me it was life changing, I came from nothing, my mom was a single mother waitress, raising three kids on a small wage salary and tips, Disney changed my life, it paid for our first house, for the seed money in my mother’s organic company, it paid my sister college.”
“Is it surreal that your children have a childhood so different from yours?”The blonde asks with a smile.
“They’re extremely privileged, my four years old the other day was like: mummy, why do we have so many houses? And Lulah was complaining the size of the Jet, because she wanted the ‘big plane’, and H was like: sugarcube, you don’t know what your are asking for.” Y/n said with a soft smile. “My children…they have a lot of rich people problems.”
The Drew Barrymore Show, Aug, 2022
“Oh My God, you look even more gorgeous in person.” Drew said as they created each other.
“Thank you, thank you, have you look at yourself? I was obsessed with you growing up, it’s so amazing to be here.” Y/n said with a big smile, arranging the skirt of her dress as she sat down.
“You’re the face of a Dior perfume, a brand ambassador for Gucci, multi- award winning actress and musician, your under thirty with two Academy Awards, which is historical, you have two successful companies, you just came back a few months ago from a very glorious passage through Cannes where you debuted Top Gun: Maverick, your own movie and you own Camera d’Ore for your debut feature, also: 14 minutes standing ovation, for a movie produced, directed, written and starred by women,” she stopped for a moment to allow the crowd to applauded the guest, “and then, your also a mom, to three children, and you’re married to Harry freaking Styles, the world’s biggest rockstar, and most wanted man according to Rolling Stones.”
“You just made me sound so cool.”The younger woman said with a small smile and flushed cheeks.
“You are cool.”Drew affirmed. “How do you balance it all?”
“I have a great team working with me, and I have just the greatest partner, and this is really important.”Y/n said crossing her legs. “We plan things in a way that the children will always have one of us 24/7 and in a way that we can always be together, his career is never more important than mine and vice-versa, we’re on tour now, Harry’s Love on Tour, I am a non-touring artist, but H really loves touring, is his thing, and it was important for him to have me and the kids together with him on the road as his support system, and the children just love going to all the different museums, and seeing new things, and eating different stuff, but, during his tour break we’re moving to Australia because I have a movie that is going to be shoot there.”
“What is like going on tour with three young children under five?”
“It’s chaos, Atticus and Lulah have some understanding that this is daddy’s job, this is Atticus second tour, but for them is just fun, Riley is just a baby, she’s with me 24/7, shes our calmest child,” Y/n said. “She’s actually the same age that Atticus was during Live on Tour.”
“Riley is your quarantine baby…”
“I found out I was pregnant in February last year during Where the Crawdads Sing pre-production, so yeah, she’s kinda of my Covid baby.”
#harry styles#harry styles imagine#harry styles x actress!yn#harry styles x y/n#harry styles x singer!reader#harry styles x reader#harry styles imagines
1K notes
·
View notes
Text
Amazon has just put the first two seasons of The Legend of Vox Machina on YouTube for free ahead of the premiere of the animated show's third season.
The series, created by and starring the Critical Role cast, was initially funded by a Kickstarter campaign in 2019 and hit Prime Video in 2022. Before the show even premiered, Amazon ordered a second season, which hit the streamer on January 20, 2023, and once again ordered another season before season 2 even premiered. Season three is now set for an October 3, 2024 release. Prime Video has not yet announced how long both seasons will be free to stream (H/T IGN).
Vox Machina is set on the fictional planet of Exandria, created by Matthew Mercer in 2012 as part of a personal Dungeons & Dragons campaign which then went on to become the massively popular Critical Role web series. Per the official synopsis: "After saving the realm from evil and destruction at the hands of the most terrifying power couple in Exandria, Vox Machina is faced with saving the world once again-this time, from a sinister group of dragons known as the Chroma Conclave."
The voice cast includes Critical role mainplayers Mercer, Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, Liam O'Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, and Travis Willingham.
All 24 episodes of The Legend of Vox Machina are streaming free on the official Prime Video YouTube channel for a limited time. for more, check out our list of the best new TV shows coming your way in 2024 and beyond, or, check out our guide to the best Prime Video shows to add to your streaming queue right now.
87 notes
·
View notes