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mulders-too-large-shirt · 5 months ago

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s2 episode 13 thoughts

so i read the description of this episode and i was thinking to myself, yeah, this one seems believable. i keep loosely acquainted with the drama of the funeral world, and after learning of the harvard morgue scandal of last summer, i was like. well. the truth echoes art, i guess.

but that was the POINT of the episode- that the real world is scary, even without vampires and bigfoot!

so we begin with a funeral for a poor little girl. and it is an open casket, which is upsetting, and these little kids that i assume were her classmates are looking in. and then to make it even MORE upsetting, this creepy man working the event shows up and starts... touching her hair...

boy, i hope that child actress got a fat check for that very uncomfy bit part.

next we see a man eating an ice pop in the embalming room, to which i say: king. and he's hearing some weird stuff, and who emerges but... donnie!

(donnie's the guy who was stroking her hair... and he's holding scissors... and the girl's hair is scattered all over the floor...)

donnie briefly morphed into a demon, and ice pop man banishes donnie from his realm upon realizing he cut the little girl's hair. he says "i should report you" but i don't think he actually did.

(PRO TIP: if you are in a workplace where this type of event happens, please do file a report)

anyway. agent time. they're arriving in a graveyard. and i saw a gif this morning of mulder lifting the caution tape up so scully can get her umbrella in!!! it is suuuuch a cute moment. and a tiny consolation for the agony the rest of this episode produced.

the policeman is blabbering on about aliens and says to mulder, "you know andy" and he says "no i don't" "well, he knows you" which is sooooo funny. another example of mulder being famous amongst the nerd population.

poor scully looks absolutely horrified at this little girl's desecrated body...

and while the policeman thinks it's aliens, which may be a first, mulder does not, which again may be a first, because he says he's seen cases like this before

"you okay, scully?" he asks, noticing that she is Not Okay, but seeming unsure of how to approach the situation. she insists that she is, and perhaps he accepts this at face value.

they share an umbrella <3 but whilst doing this she's deeply shaken, and says she's surprised he isn't bothered. he says he prepared himself, and i thought he was going to elaborate on what preparing yourself for a case like this looks like, but he didn't

and she's shocked that they drove all the way here for a case that isn't aliens... why did we come here then?

because he got them tickets to a football game. LMAOOOOO this man........... football date night. it does not sound pleasurable to me but maybe watching his nerdy face light up would make up for the misery. i was giggling here. he wanted to take her out and show her his culture.

okay so now we're back to donnie. he's applying for a new job. he says he used to be a cosmetologist.

NOOOOO they had to miss their game because there are more bodies dug up and violated... and since this took place in the 90's they didn't even have facebook marketplace to try and sell their tickets beforehand... this is truly a devastating loss </3

and did they show a football player with the same name as the dude who runs this show... you can't sneak that stuff by me...

scully has to walk out after seeing the pictures of the crime scene and i'm already so deeply sad for her but oh boy, past me, wait a bit and see where all this goes!

mulder says that the police need to put an alert out NOW and the policeman is all "well we don't have a whole lot of guys on the squad so it might take awhile :(" THEN HURRY??? mulder says he thinks this dude is gonna kill someone and you're gonna complain about lack of resources???? WORK OVERTIME???

poor scully is sososo shaken and mulder pops his head out to where she was sitting... he says he'll cancel their plane tickets so they can stay longer and she's just staring out into the distance... SOMEONE HELP MY QUEEN PLEASE

then we get a glasses and takeout moment as the agents come up with a profile for a guy who steals body parts from dead people

donnie sees a woman on the side of the road- a working woman, if you will- and he takes her back to his place. and this woman is sooo pretty. but he's running her a bath and marty i'm scared.

(wait i just realized i can straight up insert the reaction images i'm referring to on here)

HE IS OBSESSED WITH HAIR... first the little girl's, and now he asks this woman if she needs shampoo for chemically treated hair...

he goes to take a phone call- congrats, you got the job- and she sees his room is FILLED with wreaths from funerals. and she might be naked but i was still yelling at the screen GIRL YOU NEED TO RUN!!!!!!

well. we cut to body time. so we know how that went. it is a spectacularly bloody body. and our freak has escalated from desecrating graves to killing real people.

mulder wants to go look at the body and asks scully to come but she can't bring herself to do it. WHY IS NO ONE NOTICING THE STRESS SHE IS IN. HOW CAN WE TAKE STEPS TO AID HER.

(i think that mulder is trying his best to Not Make A Big Deal out of her visible distress to make her feel better, and instead just gives her space and respects her lack of desire to discuss the whole thing. because there is no way he doesn't actually notice)

now donnie is on the job as a grocery deliveryman. which i am familiar with as i do use doordash occasionally. but the woman whose house he's delivering too just. LETS HIM IN??? to pack up the groceries. is this how the job worked at the time... can anyone confirm or deny... because i'm trying to imagine welcoming the doordash or instacart guy coming in and putting the food away for me... and i feel my skin crawl... what a textbook murder situation...

and if that isn't bad enough, the woman tells donnie they have 3 daughters and leave the backdoor open........ this does not bode well for the plot....

he asks to go to their bathroom and he digs through their trash to find a clump of hair and he SNIFFS it and then pockets it... we need someone to deal with this man with a QUICKNESS.

scully is in autopsy mode now, and unlike her usual very professional self, she looks like she is going to pass out conducting this one. which is remarkable because she has seen some nasty stuff, but this is what puts her over the edge.

in her report, she's writing about how every autopsy tells the story of a life, and that being killed for someone to take a piece of your body is perhaps the most dehumanizing death imaginable

someone who saw this freak donnie says that he looked like an ordinary guy, so this is gonna be a tough search. so mulder is going into deep psychoanalysis mode, saying it must be driven by a very intense hatred of women. which seems fair. i'll trust the oxford trained fellow.

now donnie is in class and he sees a woman and we know what's coming, but when he approaches her and tries to get creepy, she kicks him away and manages to run!!!! thank god honestly we could use a victory.

the phone wakes up scully from a nightmare where she sees the same demon we saw earlier and also SHE was the one on the autopsy table- but mulder says they have a suspect at the station. and i'm like, yes! they're gonna get him!

but it isn't him that they get! they brought someone else in, and we SEE donnie watching their interview moment and this was the narrative taunting me

mulder can no longer try and ignore scully being so on edge, and he says "scully, if you're having trouble with this case, i want you to tell me" and my first reaction was, king, do you have eyes, she has been about to collapse this whole time. but now i see he is doing the best he can to put the ball in her court, and yet she STILL denies it. lies straight to his face.

"i'm not having trouble", she says <- okay so we all see that this isn't true but i respect that he's trying to be mindful of her boundaries. however i would have been like hey queen let's get you out of here <3

"i just don't want you to think you have to hide anything from me", he says, and i kiss each of my fingers like i just savored a delicious meal, because that is EXACTLY what i wanted this man to say. mmm angst. just what i had ordered.

so donnie is asking the guy who DID get questioned what they were talking to him about, and what their names were, and he remembers scully's name because she has the same name as a baseball announcer i guess? and then they let the donnie go -_-

she goes back to DC to get a fingerprint read on the body but says something about maybe not flying back to the case that night... she did NOT want to be there!!!!!

at this point we learn that the FBI has an on sight therapist, which honestly makes perfect sense... but man. this scene.

she's referring to herself in the second person, talking about how you have to become used to seeing death in med school and in fbi, and she's distancing herself to try and cope. and the therapist brings up losing her father and her coma, and asks if she feels uncomfortable with her partner, and she's like no, i trust him with my life.

wow. that's incredible. but!

"i don't want him to feel like he has to protect me"

and i cannot imagine a world in which mulder, the protector, would ever NOT try and guard those he loves like some sort of snarling beast. but she must still feel horrible after just coming out of a coma, and he had been so scared to welcome her back, let her come on the missions, she had to PROVE herself, and she can't make herself feel guilty knowing he'll see her as something to protect.

(as if there was ever going to be another way)

so yeah i was basically barking at the screen here.

she says she's lost faith, and she needs it back. and where do you get faith these days?

but, while she was away, they found a print. she calls mulder to tell him this and decides that she'll fly back that night.

"anyway, you could use my help" "always" <- what if i started crying.

but someone called for her while she was away... and i knew it was that donnie freak........... foreshadowing....

so the agents trace the prints to donnie and bust into his house, where they find his endless funeral wreaths and even a FINGER in the fridge, but no donnie

and this is just as scully is arriving from the airport AND DONNIE IS STALKING HER. and i wrote, donnie, i will get u with my bare hands.

and he HITS HER CAR and DRIVES HER OFF OF THE ROAD and then mulder comes to the scene and they find her car but no SCULLY

back at donnie's place, he is running a bath and my screen was dark enough to see my face in the reflection and it could best be described as looking like that dizzy emoji. "oh girl i am UNCOMFY", i wrote, but in a sort of horror way that you expect from the genre.

she's tied up in his closet and sees him as a DEMON again which is more evidence that she has had to endure SO MUCH and i'm getting duane berry flashbacks with the gag in her mouth and i'm feeling a profound level of defensiveness for a person who does not exist

mulder is stressed, there are no witnesses, and he's pissed, he says "there are people that can videotape police beatings on darkened streets, they manage to spot elvis in 3 cities across america every day, but no one saw a pretty woman being forced off the road in her rental car"

AUGHHHH his bloodhound nature, need to find answers, is kicking in again.

(and also he thinks she's pretty)

so back at donnie's place, he is approaching rapidly with a knife, and mulder is sleuthing. the car they found was donnie's mother's car, so maybe they're at donnie's mother's place... but he is PICKING UP THE KNIFE AS MULDER SPEAKS

he ASKS ABOUT HER HAIR to properly shampoo it which is SO FREAKY but she manages to BREAK AWAY by shoving him into the tub. yes yes those FBI agent skills are kicking in!!!

shes hiding and he yells "there's no way out, girly girl" which briefly took me out of the scene because i just know that he would have said "girly pop" if the writers had their hands on that phrase and it was distracting but still. STILL.

she's hiding in the closet and he opens the door and she SPRAYS HIM WITH ROACH SPRAY and runs and they're tussling about when...

MULDER BREAKS DOWN THE DOOR and sees her!!!! he's calling for paramedics while the policemen take care of donnie

and the first thing she says to him is "i'm okay", reassuring him despite her awful situation, perhaps referring to her mostly uninjured body, but she's shaking like a leaf, and she just keeps saying that she's fine, she's fine, until he lifts her chin up to look at her face...

and she starts SOBBING into his chest. he's got his fingers in her hair and he's mumbling "it's okay" to her again and again and. i could feel my heart melting. i was a mere puddle of a human being at this moment. it's okay. it's okay.

there is something i think you will understand that is so rich about seeing characters hit their breaking point. it tells the audience so much about them- here we see that scully's biggest fear is the evil that lies in the ordinary, in the idea that anyone could be a monster, that this is a world of constant fear, and how do you try and rationalize the things that humanity is capable of doing? how do you walk down the street knowing that someone, anyone that passes you by could be a devil, metaphorically speaking? and she doesn't have the luxury of believing that it could be some outside force- some aliens, or evil vampires- manipulating people into doing their bidding, like mulder does. she knows that it is flesh and blood people that she sees everyday at the grocery store or next door or even those she autopsies, that do horrific things. and that there is a capacity for that in anyone, and no way to keep yourself or those you love entirely safe. what is there in this cold world of facts if there isn't faith? and again, where do you get more faith when you run out?

(and, of course, her deep and terrible fear of needing protection. needing to rely on someone that isn't just herself. of inadequacy. how scary that must be for a person who sees the terror in the rest of the world)

so yeah. love to see a character break. and i love it even MORE when we get to see someone they love comfort them. hurt/comfort trope remains undefeated.

the episode ends with mulder writing the case report and talking of very similar things as i just rambled on about- about humans being demons, and demons being what humanity comes up with to explain that- but this is delivered over a slideshow of donnie's childhood pictures to emphasize how he was just the boy next door, except that honestly he looked like young sheldon. so i was a bit taken out of the whole thing.

so yeah. this episode did not leave me with the warmest and fuzziest of feelings, but in terms of horror it was definitely one of the scariest so far, again because the entire lack of supernatural causes. i mean you could choose to interpret that this guy genuinely WAS a demon, but i think that defeats the purpose of the episode and scully's character study we get as a result. i was spooked, but we still had some good moments, such as attempted football date.

overall, i thought this episode was great. and we could talk about how the creepy killer was super queer coded, and discuss if this was done in bad faith, which could be an interesting conversation- but i find it not entirely relevant to the overarching theme. like, the scary part was that he wanted to keep your fingers, not that he called scully "girly girl", and i didn't get the sense that those two things were being equated in the episode.

now give me 10 beach episodes, or perhaps a journey to a museum, or a spa, or the mountains, or an ice-skating trip with matching scarves worn by our agents, or a day at the mall. really i don't ask for a lot!

#scully my beloved #and mulder also my beloved who is doing his absolute best #trying to think what i would do if i were in his situation because you KNOW scully does not want someone to feel bad for her #and trying to tell her to stay away from the case will only piss her off even if you genuinely have the purest of intentions #and she's too smart to try and trick by saying “oh they need you back at hq to do this certain thing”#so yeah i see why he did what he did. tried to let her talk about it on her own. why would she lie to him after everything?#sigh. but she does! they're so entangled within each other #can't tell him she's scared because he'll worry. can't tell her he can see she's scared because he'll come off overbearing.#hopefully after this they will COMMUNICATE in an honest manner #like y'all have seen each other shot and in comas and soaked in blood. feelings r gonna be okay i promise.#juni's x files liveblog #2x13 #the x files #txf

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hollowwhisperings · 1 year ago

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Blackfyre Conquest: An Autumn King

i've struggled to find any Meta on how Young Griff's conquest will go, politically & logistically, that don't immediately interrupt themselves with "...but then Dany will show up with Dragons".

A lot of fans are very pro-Targaryen and pro-Conquest: a lot of Westeros would probably be on board too, though for less romantic reasons. No one "loves" the commander of a foreign army & Ned successfully rallied a Rebellion with very good reasons. The Targaryens were never entirely welcome in Westeros but the War of the Five Kings certainly made a "return to stability" with a Targ King an easier sell than it would have been earlier in the series. That this Targ King is non-incestuous, seemingly sane, has a sizeable Army, has multiple houses already sworn to him... and seems to be an Actual Politician? The Lords might frown at exactly "how" legitimate their King really is but, overall, "Aegon VI" would be vastly preferable to who Westeros has currently:

1) an increasingly unpopular Queen-Regent whose family Did The Red Wedding & whose claim rests on a toddler-king of Dubious Parentage.

2) a King who's lost his Lands to the foreign invader, has a Pet Witch (called his "true" queen) who burns people alive, has converted to a Foreign Religion (& burned religious sites), is a rumoured Kinslayer, and was Never Very Popular in the first place (Stannis doesn't take bribes, keeps insisting his disabled daughter is his Heir, went to help the Night's Watch for Some Reason, wasn't as fun as his brothers, makes poor conversation at parties, etc) .

3) Euron Greyjoy.

4) a theoretical infant child of King Robb of the North & Trident... and the Treacherous Jeyne Westerling whom he Lost a war over.

5) Robb's legal heir as per his last Will, his "brother" Jon whom he legitimised as "Stark" but is currently busy being the 998th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch (it is unlikely that Jon's getting murdered by his men would be Advertised to the Realm & though Jon is almost certainly going to pull a Dany in WoW, he is currently a Ghost).

6) the allegedly sole surviving non-bastard Stark, Prince Rickon, who's spent the past few [books] entirely raised by [Freefolk] & is a toddler.

7) Some Targaryen Girl in Essos, last seen while... on fire & being abductes by her own dragon, apparently.

While most Lords will see Aegon's commanding the Golden Company as a Pretty Obvious allusion to his not actually being the miraculously surviving son of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen & Princess Elia Martell. The "truth" of Young Griff's identity is pretty irrelevant to his successfully conquering Westeros (which seems very likely, give or take a Kingdom). Robert Baratheon's kingship was won by conquest: his grandmother being a Targaryen princess was an afterthought, an extra touch of "legitimacy". Tommen's claim to the Iron Throne is through his legal status as King Robert's surviving Heir. Stannis's claim is through the illegitimacy of Joffrey & Tommen's claims making him Robert's heir instead.

Aegon's claim to the Iron Throne is not actually his alleged parentage: it's through Conquest (the same would be true for Dany, Euron and any Heir of King Robb). Most Lords would see the Golden Company, famously founded to make a Blackfyre king, and conclude that Aegon is a Blackfyre Pretender: this is, in the short-term, irrelevant.

Some might rejoice at the alleged survival of one of Prince Rhaegar or Princess Elia's children: Targaryen Loyalists, the Dornish, smallfolk out of the loop on why there was a Rebellion. Ned Stark Loyalists would know Ned mourned for Princess Elia & her children, that Robert became King because Ned wasn't interested & be more concerned about Winter than how recently incestuous the latest Southron King's family tree may be.

As far as most of Westeros is aware [going into Winds], its Key Requirements for a Monarch are: being Alive & (ideally) Sane, being Old Enough to reign unsupervised (15 at minimum), having a loyal Army (see: Euronpocalypse, the Red Wedding, the lawlessness of the Riverlands), being Male, not being the immediate product of incest (Tommen aside, Prince Rhaegar only had 2 great-grandparents), not being a blasphemous arsonist, & not being in debt to the Iron Bank.

Robb Loyalists, those still surviving, would Wisely stand back and allow the Golden Company to deal with the Bolton-Lannister-Frey alliance: even if Jeyne Westerling is found alive & with an infant son, few would accept her and most would be unwilling to replace one child monarch with another (that applies to Rickon too). Northerners are proud but, as one of those Dead Starks might say, Winter is Coming.

The Wars over the series have made the southern land route impassable: the Twins are held by the treacherous Freys, the Riverlands are a lawless hellscape, King's Landing is run by Lannisters & Tyrells, and the Reach is itself "Tyrell Territory". With such a dangerous land route, the North relies on itself & seatrade. While the North does have eastern ports that allow trade with the Vale, the Vale itself is currently held by Petyr Baelish, publically aligned with the Lannister Regime. The North's primary port, White Harbour (held by Lord Wyman Manderly, known Stark Loyalist) is on its western coast, along the Narrow Sea. Euron & rogue Ironborn aside, Aegon's Armies have already seized Storm's End after coming across said sea. Having already seized Storm's End and with Aurane Waters' having Absconded with the Crown's Fleet that would guard the Blackwater... The Golden Company can comfortably blockade all traffic from Westeros to Essos (give or take a Lys). Even assuming Aurane Waters isn't in cahoots with Team Aegon (he's a Velaryon bastard), he took the Crown's fleet to the Stepstones and thus holds control over naval passage between the eastern & western coasts of Westeros (& to Dorne).

So, unless Sansa usurps control of the Vale from Baelish within the first third of Winds; unless Prince Doran or seadragons take out Aurane Waters' pirate fleet; unless the Golden Company's AND Euron's respective fleets get taken out without ANOTHER navy taking their place... Westeros really, really needs Aegon to successfully conquer Westeros if only to quickly reestablish vital trade routes for Winter.

Speaking of Euron's fleet and Trouble at Oldtown... there is Trouble At Oldtown and no one is equipped to keep it contained: on land, the sons of Lord Hightower have been taking the Ironborn threat seriously (with Lord Hightower seemingly having Anticipated the supernatural threat Euron seeks to invoke though how successful his & his daughter's Efforts may be remains Unknown); at sea, the Redwyne Fleet is Worried & very probably in Cahoots with Aegon. It will be a Trip, going back to sea from the Stormlands & then South to Oldtown, but a Redwyne-Velaryon-Blackfyre Naval Alliance is the Best and Geographically Closest forces available to Oldtown.

There are a few characters who've been sent to seek aid from Essos, given the Ironborn threat & the general political instability: Prince Quentyn was one (RIP) and Lord Hightower's youngest son, Ser Humfrey, is another. If the Hightowers weren't Team Aegon before, they soon will be.

The Reach is an increasingly vital kingdom to the survival of Westeros: with the Riverlands in the state it is & with the ongoing socio-economic fallout of Dany's very sudden conquests of half the Free Cities, The Reach is the most reliable source of food for the entire continent. That's part of why the impending Euronpocalypse is so Worrying to those otherwise removed from the Oldtown plotlines: Oldtown is one of the most important ports of Westeros, exporting grain from the Reach & importing goods from Essos.

Oldtown is also the Headquarters for the Citadel, where maesters are trained to: manage rookeries, the interkingdom communication system; learn histories, including those of long Winters past & who survived to give tips on Resource Management; and study medicine (to varying degrees of competency but Still).

The maesters are imperfect, often outright incompetent (as much by accident as by any potential Conspiracy): they're still the ones in control of the [telegram] network, the meteorologists, the ones able to not only access the historic archives but how to read them & any knowledge therein. It is certainly more helpful to have scholars than to not have scholars, especially with Winter nearing and many surviving Lordlings having known only Summer (& never educated on "How To Lord" due to how far down the line of succession they were before the Wars).

For those in Westeros who hold to the Faith of the Seven, Trouble At Oldtown would be an apocalypse all of its own: Oldtown is the centre of their Faith and its destruction would greatly demoralize persons of all stations, especially with increased Magical Activity and rumours of [fire zombies, ice zombies, wolf zombies, dragons].

Team Aegon seems the most likely to "contain" the Euronpocalypse, having both method (naval power) & means (the Golden Company, 4 kingdoms' worth of vassal lords) to do so. Aegon's also one of the few "primary" characters who would even know that there IS a Euronpocalpse: Team Aegon, Prince Doran, Queen Cersei, Lady Olenna, Lord Manderly, Asha's faction of Ironborn, the Reacherlords, the Iron Bank, & (probably?) Brynden Rivers are the only ones who could plausibly know of a Euron Threat, let alone organize a Timely Response to it. Regardless of how successful said Response may be, Team Aegon helping with Oldtown smooths the way for his becoming recognised as a Legitimate Leader for Westeros.

I'm fairly certain that Team Aegon will conquer (most of) Westeros over the course of Winds, I doubt he'll have the time to be crowned King or even spend time on a throne: he'll be too busy.

Aegon's Conquest being successful is Pretty Dang Important to the greater scheme of things: it will introduce Key Characters to each other (Arianne & Dorne, Sam & thus the NW, "Alayne" through Baelish, Team Oathkeeper through Jaime's controlling the Crown's armies); restore supply routes; "consolidate" power to enable discussion of Continental Threats long neglected (through both Regional & Interpersonal Conflicts). Aegon's Conquest would act as a kind of "triage" for Westeros, a quick means of uniting different groups (for & against him) and he won't actually need to sit the Iron Throne to do it. It is most likely that, after securing the Reach & Stormlands, Aegon will find that the Frey Civil War had "taken care of" the North & the Riverlands, with Robb Loyalists willing to Play Nice but (understandably, thinketh Aegon) wary of bending any knees. Dorne, regardless of Prince Doran's personal opinion on Aegon's identity, would act "compliant" due to Arianne's involvement & the Rocky Dornish having been in Cahoots with the Blackfyre Regime from the get go. Even a false Aegon would be preferable to a Lannister, as far as the North & Dorne are concerned. The Ironborn post-Euronpocalypse would go back to battling themselves internally, likely while facing heavy [sanctions]: they'd be too busy licking their wounds to be much of a threat to anyone.

That leaves three kingdoms: the Westerlands, cornered at all sides & bereft of much of its Leadership through Wars & the Frey Civil War; the Crownlands, King's Landing likely being besieged for Cersei to later blow up; and The Vale.

Who runs the Vale? The worst, most consistently dangerous backstabber of them all: Lord Petyr Baelish. It will probably be Baelish who undoes all that triage work Team Aegon started, likely via assassinating the kid or "exposing" him to the Right Wrong Crowd (whether Petyr has actual knowledge or evidence against Aegon is irrelevant: this is not his first Smear Campaign).

Assuming it hasn't happened already (in great tonal dissonance with the Euronpocalypse), Little Lord Robert Arryn would get his Tourney at the Gates of the Moon just in time for Aegon to secure his "final" kingdom.

The Frey Civil War would have affected the Vale just as it affected the rest of Westeros (Dorne excluded) but, from the clues I've found in the Vale & Darry-branches of Freys, it's likely that the Vale Freys will have fared better than every other branch of their extensive family tree, likely due to their joining the Aegon Bandwagon prior to Lord Walder's death.

Others have drawn parallels between what we know of "Alayne's'" Tourney and the historic Tourney of Ashford Meadow: essentially, the Tourney is implicitly tied to the themes & character arcs of both Sansa Stark (in the role of "Lord Ashford's 13 year old daughter", defending Queen of Love & Beauty) and Brienne of Tarth (in the role of her ancestor, Duncan the Tall: knightly but never technically Knighted underdog). The Ashford Tourney is best remembered for being the Introduction of Ser Duncan the Tall, a Sudden Trial of Seven, a quietly averted Blackfyre Rebellion, and the tragic death of the greatly beloved Crown Prince Baelon "Breakspear" (& Some Guy from House Hardyng).

Yeah. Dany doesn't even need to leave Essos: Aegon's doom will come courtesy of Thematic Parallels and Foreshadowing.

Prince Baelon "Breakspear" was a living representation of a Westeros at peace: he was the product of one of two political marriages that peacibly joined Dorne to the Seven Kingdoms (the Second Marriage featured one of those Princesses Daenerys); he was a Competent ruler, becoming his Father's Hand at age 26; his nickname was gained when he bested Ser Daemon Blackfyre (yes, THAT Blackfyre) at a tourney (the Wedding Tourney of his Aunt Daenerys); he had two adult sons, presumably with a wife (the sons are the only proof of her existence); and one of Baelon's sons was healthy enough to score 7 victories at the Ashford Tourney!

Which he. Uh. Very unexpectedly died at. Baelon, that is. The Crown Prince. The People's Prince. The Golden Child who promised a Peaceful & Prosperous Future. The son of a Targaryen prince & a Martell mother. A character who Very Strongly Reminds One Of Young Griff, the hopeful Aegon VI.

Aegon is likely to attend the Vale Tourney in order to diplomatically add the Vale to his collection of Kingdoms: Baelish is likely to trade [Sansa]'s betrothal with Harry the Heir for the Shinier Prince Aegon (whether he dissolves the existing betrothal via Having Harry Killed By Tourney or by outing Alayne as Sansa "Key to the North" Stark-Lannister, who was, btw, Spared the marriage bed bc Child Bride so Totally Eligible my dude just Sign Here).

Then Brienne will show up, probably with Jaime, and Some Kerfuffle will Ensue (if only because Sansa & Brienne are Alleged Kingslayers) that leads to Robert Arryn's Tourney becoming Brienne's Trial of Seven for Sansa's Innocence, just as Ser Dunk's defense of the (common) maiden Tanselle so changed the Ashford Tourney.

There is a Rather Formidable enemy of Young Griff whom I have only hinted at: allow me to combine the Clues.

There exists in the ASOIAF series a Certain Character who Knows More than they Should, who has an implied past connection with a young Euron Greyjoy, who is infamously opposed to Blackfyres, who was present for the Ashford Tourney, whose Past & Present can connect just about every active plotline in the series: a disappeared Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, a Hand to two Targaryen Kings & the Master of Whispers to more (with his "thousand eyes and one"), one of the three Great Bastards born to Lady Melissa Blackwood by King Aegon IV, and current tree-wizard mentor to an entirely separate Kingly-coded character.

Brynden Rivers.

If Aegon survives Euron, Cersei, Jaime, AND Baelish? He certainly won't survive Brynden. Whatever Brynden may be right now (tree abomination, Old God Hivemind, puppet king to Feyfolk, Bran Stark's lunch, the distant Blackwood cousin of every surviving Stark), there is no reason to believe Brynden would allow a Blackfyre to go unchallenged, especially in the guise of a "true" Targaryen.

(not that i believe Brynden hopes for a Targaryen Restoration via Dany or Jon: it very much appears that Brynden & the Singers are grooming Bran Stark for kingship, though where & who exactly they expect him to rule is still Unclear)

I hope to do more exploration into what Aegon [Blackfyre]'s Conquest might look like, cobbling together clues from Quentyn's Doomed Quest and Queen Marge's Court (as "microcosm' to the Reach in macrocosm) and historically Targaryen/Blackfyre loyalist Houses. I'm fairly certain I can figure out how the Aegon Conquest will play into the resolutions of the Frey Civil War, (some) Winterfell Conspiracies, the specifics of the Euronpocalypse, & my "Dornish Spring" Theory as well. I'm much less certain on how Stannis would fare against Aegon: would he demand Legitimacy? would he sic Melissandre on him? would Stannis Get Over Himself in service to the Looming Winter? would he even have a leg to stand on the matter?

And would Aegon survive long enough to meet Daenerys, let alone Argue Legitimacy with her? (They'd both be rulers by conquest, not inheritance & it's not like Dany has any backing for her identity beyond "I look traditionally Valyrian" and "these are some dragons i hatched from stone mid-resurrection". The layyer it should be noted, is considered a Death Magic-induced Miracle, not some Secret Targaryen Blood Limit: it's Unique to Daenerys Stormborn, not to "House Targaryen")

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bigyikes97 · 2 years ago

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Storytime: This thumbnail image of Kim Jaejoong sparked a 15-year culture and language study with 0 regrets!!!

My first 11 years were spent in a rural town of 4,500 people where Bass Pro was a lifestyle and the 4-H fair was the highlight of the year. (I am, in fact, my county's 4-H Greased Pig Capture Champion of 2019.) It was awesome.

Then, Youtube recommended THIS thumbnail for TVXQ!'s song "Hug". It pretty much changed my LIFE:

(Kim Jaejoong in 2003 for "Hug")

In my home and in my town, men were big, muscular, and macho--stubble, sunburns, fishing rods and hunting rifles, Mossy Oak baseball caps with clip-on fish hooks and cowboy boots. This one image of a soft, fairy-looking boy blew open a whole new realm of possibilities for masculinity. His hair is fluffy, not buzzed! He's wearing JEWELRY! He's got EARRINGS! And bangs!! He looks soft and clean and gentle, ethereal even!! And wow, can he SING! Not hard alt-rock like my dad liked or with a heavy country twang like on the radio--he sang sweetly and kindly, beautifully, in the magical new-to-me language of Korean. I knew guys were "tough", but I didn't know they could be BEAUTIFUL:

I became the first and only 11-year-old in my rural town (so rural we tried to ride the dairy cows for fun) to be obsessed with K-pop...back in 2008!!

Fast forward: The passion stays strong. My dad always wanted me to join the military, and so at 13 I joined the Navy ROTC. Thanks to a special appearance from a Marine drill sergeant who had come to give us a taste of "real" bootcamp, I burst into tears and fell out of formation. When the captain tried to comfort me by saying this was preparing me for what I wanted to do, I blurted back that no, actually, I want to teach English in South Korea!! That was the end of my short military career and my first declaration of my goal.

Although I continued listening to Kpop (and watching Kdramas, thanks to Jaejoong once more), I wouldn't pick up a Korean textbook until after--plot twist!--I'd studied Japanese for 5 years. (The anime wave hit my hometown far earlier than Hallyu did, so the self-study materials were far more accessible.) People in my town said I was the only one crazy enough to try learning Japanese and Korean at once, but I knew better: for the past 10 years I had been hearing Jaejoong sing beautifully in both those languages. (It had somehow never occurred to me that hadn't had to learn Korean from 0--ethnocentric habits die hard!) I pressed ahead with my self-studies nonetheless.

In my early 20's, I began teaching ESL online. I quickly gained a number of Korean students. Most were parents, small children, or working moms. I quickly fell in love with the "ahjumma" crowd. While I had already studied the Korean culture (not just pop culture!) in-depth, talking with so many families at so many stages in their English learning journeys unlocked new dimensions of its depth and richness.

In my mid-20's, my university recommended that I apply for a government program that sends students abroad for the summer to study one of 16 "critical" languages. I applied for Korean, citing my ESL experience, and was selected. Those two months would become one of the highlights of my life so far!

While in Korea, I didn't meet a beautiful ethereal fairy boy--and I didn't need to. By that time, I didn't even necessarily want to. Because while Jaejoong had caught the eye of my young self and sparked my initial interest, my love for Korean grew up just as I did. Of the many friends I made during my 2-month stay, most were my parents' age and the rest were my juniors in the womens' dorm. I experienced a vibrant culture both ancient and modern whose draw was in its own existence, and in the warm hospitality I encountered at every turn. I have never been happier! And, as a lovely little full-circle moment, while exploring the area around our dorm, I heard "Hug" playing from the speakers of a café.

The saga continues. I just passed round one of a scholarship competition which would send me back for another year...at long last, as an English teacher. (I also have backup plans in place if that fails.)

These days, when it comes to Jaejoong, I definitely think about him differently than I did as a child: I recognize sadly that his long time in the limelight from an early age was harmful to his physical and mental health. While I saw him as a glowing, magical archetype of an ideal man (gentle, non-threatening, beautiful, sensitive, clean and kind), I now think his real life was quite different from what he was pushed to portray. All through his life, he was carefully molded into an ideal star, always with an eye to the camera and a foot on the scale. These days, a common feature in his interviews is concerns with weight. That makes me sad and makes me feel bad about participating in the idolization that created that kind of complex. I didn't mean it that way, of course: realistically, I had no impact whatsoever on the situation in Korea at the time. However, I don't want my attitude to mirror the kind of toxicity that sets these celebrities up to fall. I want to make sure I balance enthusiasm for craft with the kind of respect and moderation that lets them remain human. These days, I hope he lives his life meaningfully for himself. I hope he can find who he is apart from the image he was dealt. Now he's 37: I wish him luck.

(JaeJoong in 2022-23 era)

Anyway, for why I thought about all that, I heard some of TVXQ!'s more obscure stuff for the first time in maybe 15 years, saw those old pics and got teleported back to middle school🥲 It's really been a ride!! And now I can happily report back to my young self that, just as we hoped, we did indeed learn Korean (even if we're only low intermediate for now, we'll get there!). Furthermore, when we made it to Korea, it was even better than we had dreamed.

#personal #tvxq!#kim jaejoong #jaejoong #korean #language learning #korean study

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nellie-elizabeth · 2 years ago

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The Legend of Vox Machina: The Fey Realm (2x07)

If I've had one consistent complaint about this show all along it's been that I wanted a bit more downtime between the big, huge plot developments. And this batch of episodes gave me all the high-octane action and adventure I could want, and plenty of that slower character development stuff too! I'm so happy!

Cons:

This isn't specific to this episode, but I've been praising how all the various relationship dynamics have their little moments along the way, how impressed I am by the attention being given to all sorts of subtle dynamics in the background. For some reason, this episode made me realize that one relationship we've kind of lost out on in this season two is the Keyleth and Percy friendship. I hope we can get a moment or two with them coming up, or maybe some good stuff in season three.

For the most part I am really, really, pleased with the changes to Grog's story-line. However, from a pacing perspective, with regards to the fight to come with Kevdak and all that, I would have changed this around a bit. See, here what happens is that Grog makes his near-fatal error in stabbing Pike, and then immediately he overcomes the sword's influence and destroys it, then suffers consequences he needs to deal with in the aftermath. We know that coming up, he's going to have to face his evil and powerful uncle. In the stream, one of the things that was so cool about Travis's struggle with Grog was his desire to use Craven Edge during that fight: sort of a "one more time won't kill me" logic. In adapting it for animation, I think I would have kept the scene mostly the same, but not had Craven Edge actually destroyed: have it left somewhere, buried in rock or in a pocket plane or something. Then, when Grog is trying to muster up the courage to beat his uncle, have him reaffirm and hold to his choice to leave Craven Edge behind, because his strength lies elsewhere. It's a small thing, but I think the time between Grog realizing he needs to be rid of Craven Edge, and the time when Craven Edge is affirmatively destroyed/out of his reach forever, was too quick. There should have been one more step on that journey for him, in my opinion.

I've been praising the dragon animation, and I stand by that praise for the most part, but during the scene between Umbrasyl and Thordak, I noticed the 3-D meshing strangely with 2-D... Umbrasyl looked really odd and computer-y to me, while he was speaking with the Cinder King. That's the only time all season I've felt like the visual was jarring, so I thought I should mention it.

And a small thing that I've mentioned before but it's still true: I don't like that Pike calls Grog "buddies" in the plural. I think Ashley says that sometimes on the stream but they've really taken it and run with it and it's distracting and annoying!

Pros:

Let's start with our half-elf and human portion of the episode! I loved the vibes of the Fey Realm overall. Visually, it was so colorful and different and strange and sinister. I enjoyed how the very first thing we see there captures the duality beautifully. Keyleth sees a cute little creature, calls it a "floof," smiling in delight, and then immediately watches it get torn to pieces by vicious plants. That carries through, as we see the literally otherworldly beauty of this place, but also the violence and capriciousness.

I really thought we'd get straight to Syngorn and do the family drama stuff, but instead this episode's Fey Realm stuff has other narrative functions. We're establishing a vibe, we're introducing Garmelie, we're checking in with Vax's feelings about the Matron of Ravens and whatever pact he made with her. And more than all that, we've got his whole subplot basically dedicated to the Percy and Vax broken relationship. I'm... delighted by this? Of all the things I hoped they wouldn't drop from the show, it's the subtle, difficult bond between these two men who care about each other but can't always get on the same page. And here we get, if anything, an expansion on that theme from what's going on at this point in the stream! I'm very happy about it!

We start off with Percy's enthusiasm, trying to be helpful. All season long, that's the thing about Percy. He wants to prove that he has something to offer this group. Some recompence, I think, for the horrible trial he put them all through in season one with the Briarwoods. And at first he makes everything worse, getting Vex killed. And now here in the Fey Realm, all his book learning can't actually help them navigate the dangers. Vax is annoyed, and not hiding it, and poor Percy is just doing his damn best. Percy running after Vax during the swamp fight, and the exchange: "What are you doing here?" / "I wasn't about to give up on you" is such a perfect encapsulation of what's going on with Percy in this part of his journey. The thing is, he got his revenge, the thing he's been working for his entire life since his family was killed. And now what? Now, he wants to put the work in. He doesn't want to give up, even if he's not sure he'll ever earn forgiveness.

(Also, shout-out to Diplomacy getting its own buildup and moment of glory. Go Percy, we love to see his tinkering making a difference on the show!)

Then there's Vax. He's pissed at Percy, but he's also just in general really down about this Matron of Ravens stuff. I love Vax seeing the creepy undead vision in the water and just groaning and moving on. He's used to it, and more annoyed than frightened at this point. At the end, when he tells Percy thanks for trying to have his back, it's clear he thinks it's a useless gesture. "I'm moving in a different direction from the rest of you." WOW this breaks my heart. I hope we get more catharsis on the Percy and Vax front, even though I'm pretty sure I know what heartbreak we'll have to get through on the way. God, this show is good.

Garmelie! Billy Boyd sounds great, the lewd drawings were incredible, I loved how he kept popping up and offering to help, but clearly was having fun no matter the outcome. "Garmelie was merely the traveler on this journey." Yeah Garmelie, you sure are. Fucking amazing, I'm vibrating out of my seat about it all, just thinking about the future.

Lastly, loved the drug trip moment. Especially Vex's "oh heyyyy" as she flips over and stares at Percy. She sees a heart when she looks at him. And Trinket's voice, the two of them laughing... Keyleth crying and hugging the flowers... I mean, it's an easy laugh, but it was effective as hell. These characters are all so charming and beloved to me, I can't even tell you.

And if all that wasn't enough wonderfulness, I also really adored the Grog, Scanlan, and Pike stuff!

As I said, I might have adjusted the timing on the Craven Edge stuff, and instead of having his final defeat go here, leave it for another affirmative moment of rejecting the sword in favor of a different source of strength. However, I do adore the change overall, of Grog giving the sword up causing him to literally lose his physical strength! That's pretty genius. And Travis is KILLING it on the comedy front. His Grog accent, all the squeaky sad voice stuff, it's hilarious and charming and this is one of the funniest episodes of the show, between the Fey shenanigans and Grog's sad-sack weak routine.

And the Scanlan and Pike feels, holy shit. I will say that during the campaign I felt pretty neutral about Scanlan and Pike's romance arc, but I am very much endeared by the two of them here. Scanlan being sweet and soft and a caretaker for Grog, Pike clocking it, then Scanlan compensating with a dumb joke, and then realizing with shame what he's done... what a perfect, lovely setup for the two of them to actually start to capitalize on the vibe between them while working on Scanlan's character arc.

The makin' my way song was EVERYTHING to me. If you know, you know, and it's an added fun thing. If you don't, the song is still so fun, the whole traveling montage a good mix of levity and also moving the plot forward, showing exactly how helpless Grog is in this condition, and also how good Scanlan and Pike are as a team!

Y'all, I don't even know what else to say, this episode was everything to me, and despite my slight qualms about the Craven Edge situation, I am still so incredibly pleased with how it's all turning out.

9/10

#review #tlovm #the legend of vox machina #tlovm review #critical role

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mononijikayu · 2 years ago

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was talking to a pro-jaehaerys stan and when they brought up that jaehaerys was deserving of the throne and im just looking at things in a way too modern outlook

but like we have clear evidence of the importance of valyrian women in their society, pre-doom and after the doom. why do you think daenys the dreamer was quickly believed about her visions? had there been a gap between their upbringing, do you not think aegon the conqueror would see his sisters as lesser partners? the women of the targaryen bloodline was literally a deep importance to their success. as per this, it is not bias. it is the genuine set up of the damn valyrian society passed on to the remnants of valyrians like targaryens.

rhaena was first born and then married her brother, which combined their claims that passed on to their daughters. and like them going like, rhaena couldn't even declare war upon maegor. rhaena was literally IMPRISONED AND FORCED INTO A MARRIAGE???

how do you think she would be able to declare a war at this stage where she was WELL AWARE her kids could just as much end up with the same fate as her brother-husband and literally with maegor basically isolating her from the world and keeping her in constant watch - HOW WOULD SHE BE ABLE TO PLAN A WAR??? LITERALLY SHE WAS MORE CONCERNED ABOUT HER DAMN KIDS????

like the whole point of maegor making aerea his heir was less about keeping with the tradition of valyrian succession but more a form of control against rhaena, who again, imprisoned in a forced marriage. and her supporting jaehaerys was literally the only way to keep her daughters safe??? like compared to her uncle who killed her husband, forced her to marriage and is intimidating her by keeping her daughters, her brother was a safer bet. even if it meant giving up her crown to jaehaerys, her daughters mattered more.

and also like he declared himself king already??? compared to rhaena, he had managed to find time to make allies. he surrounded himself with lords of the realm and ready to take on their uncle. knowing her instinct as a mother FIRST, she decided to protect her children first and give her brother her support thinking that it would be the best idea. literally why she also was the rightful person to hand him blackfyre - she's handing over HER CLAIM to keep her daughters safe.

also jaehaerys naming of aerea as heir was also pretty much for his own agenda - that's why there was allegedly a switch that happened so that rhaena could protect her and her husband's main heir, while keeping the spare within the faith. this profound especially now that jaehaerys was now playing nice with the faith. if the faith had her, then jaehaerys wouldn't move against them, considering they just had a civil war with the faith. and with the destruction that shit caused - do you think jaehaerys wouldn't just kiss ass to the faith instead rather than risk another religious uprising???like thats the best way to keep her daughters safe. one way or another, one of her daughters gotta survive should something happen like???

also even when jaehaerys offered to give her a position in the small council, she knew he wasn't going to listen to her. i mean, if he couldn't listen to alysanne about making clean accessible water available for the sick citizens of his realm, why would he listen to rhaena about her outlooks in the realm??? like jaehaerys BYPASSED alysanne all the damn time. he was literally the reason that house targaryen started to bypass female authority, he was the reason for the loss of the valyrian succession rights and really made house targaryen near its downfall. the man lived so long, people forgot there was female presence for power in their house.

just look at the way he arranged marriages for alliances. he was pretty stupid about it, far more than alysanne and he was horrible to his kids. like he had no right to miss saera after what he did to her. many of the women in jaehaerys's life was his victims and that really includes his sisters and his nieces. rhaena was really right to do waht she could to protect her daughters.

#asoiaf #asoiaf meta #jaehaerys targaryen #rhaena targaryen #alysanne targaryen #house targaryen

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songbird-art · 2 years ago

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It has been a very long time since I actually had an outward expression of shock from watching something

Sitting in the kitchen at work on break with my very... Politically weird coworker and I straight up couldn't help myself from audibly gasping and giving one of those quiet "ha"s of disbelief at an ad I just got that said

"Roe V Wade is no more. And we as companies (Starbucks and some other company), are worried. Are we going to have to support a bunch of moms?"

Granted, I didn't watch the whole thing because I always spam click the skip button and it cut off before I registered.

But seriously?! Your concern is DO WE HAVE TO SUPPORT MOMS? AND YOU THINK YOU'RE THE GOOD GUYS? That's not pro choice! Because you're flat out saying being a mom is the WRONG choice! How is this even in the realm of good marketing?! I can't believe this

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fedorahead · 3 months ago

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for the record, the strawman they use to justify the dni*s is "proship means they're paedophiles and into incest and get turned on by necrophilia and bestiality and everything else problematic" or more specifically the implication that not wanting to censor other peoples' work (regardless of one's opinion on it) makes someone a sexual deviant and predator, and therefore both dangerous and morally corrupt.

this applies to zero percent of people who identify as pro ship, unless it's tangentially added on to something like map*, which is where the actual dangerous sexual deviance is and any further labels are just using communities as cover for their own personal problems. and pretty universally, anyone who is genuinely into those sorts of (specifically predatory/harmful) things in real life and away from the fiction of fantasy is not only disavowed by the fandom community, pro or anti, but also isn't really relevant to fandom in the first place because fandoms exist in the fictional realm and real world predation exists in meatspace*, and the two only overlap with rpf* which is a different discussion entirely.

dni = "do not interact" list of types of people or accounts that hold certain beliefs, belong to certain demographics, or post certain types of content that a blog or user does not want to interact with. infamously useless, as they require people to read the list, identify with it, and act in accordance with it rather than the op blocking people they don't want to associate with. trusting strangers to make those calls in good faith is really weird and it's funny to watch people get mad at reblogs from accounts that happen to align with their dnis who never went all the way to their blog to read it before agreeing with something they said or reblogging a good post

map = "minor attracted person" aka paedophile, feel free to look it up if you want to be depressed or get flashbacks to childhood, depending on your personal history

meatspace = an archaic term used to refer to the world outside of the digital realm

rpf = "real person fiction/fanfiction" or fic that involves real, usually living people, the ethicality of which is a separate and hotly contested debate

Uh- are you aware of the meaning of proship?

Proship has never meant anything except a combination of three ideas:

Ship and let ship (your ships don't harm me and vice-versa) and YKINMK (your kink is not my kink, and that's okay; my kink stories don't harm you and vice-versa)

Harassment over fiction is not acceptable

Censorship of fiction is not acceptable either

Any other definitions are made by antis, not proshippers, and are an attempt at revisionism to justify harassment based on false claims.

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outofthislaptop · 14 days ago

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The Ultimate Adventure Awaits: Conquer Middle-earth with The Lord of the Rings Strategy Board Game

Are you ready to don your cloak, grab your sword, and journey into Middle-earth? The Lord of the Rings Strategy Board Game by Fantasy Flight Games brings the epic tales of Frodo, Gandalf, and Aragorn right to your tabletop. Perfect for 1-5 players aged 14 and up, this cooperative adventure is your ticket to a 60+ minute deep dive into Tolkien’s legendary world. Whether you're a seasoned gamer or new to the realm of strategic board games, this adventure promises excitement, camaraderie, and maybe a little second breakfast.

But what makes this game worth embarking on an epic quest? Let’s explore.

Why ChooseThe Lord of the Rings Strategy Board Game**?**

1. Cooperative Gameplay – It’s Not All About You, Frodo

Unlike competitive games where alliances crumble faster than Isildur’s resolve at Mount Doom, this board game is about teamwork. Each player takes on the role of a member of the Fellowship, working together to thwart Sauron’s evil plans. If you think you can be the lone wolf like Aragorn, think again—this is Middle-earth, not the Wild West.

Cooperative gameplay means that Gandalf’s wisdom, Legolas’ accuracy, and Sam’s unwavering loyalty can combine to overcome the darkest challenges. Miscommunication, however, might leave you feeling like Pippin in Moria (hint: don’t touch the skeletons).

2. Faithful to Tolkien’s World

This game doesn’t just slap the name The Lord of the Rings on a board and call it a day. No, sir! Fantasy Flight Games poured love and detail into every aspect. Fans will appreciate the intricate illustrations of locations like Rivendell and Mordor, as well as the faithful character abilities that make you feel like you’re truly part of the Fellowship.

For example, Frodo’s strengths include resilience, while Gandalf wields his immense wisdom (and beard) to guide the team. Just don’t expect Boromir to resist the allure of the Ring—some things never change.

3. Perfect Balance of Strategy and Luck

This isn’t Monopoly. (Although, wouldn’t Hobbiton real estate be adorable?) To succeed in The Lord of the Rings Strategy Board Game, you’ll need brains, brawn, and a bit of luck. The game features a unique system where players must carefully manage resources and make pivotal decisions, often under pressure.

The random element comes from card draws and dice rolls, keeping gameplay fresh and unpredictable. Will Gandalf save the day with a clutch spell, or will a bad roll send the Fellowship spiraling into chaos? Only time will tell.

How to Play Without Feeling Like Gollum Lost in a Maze

At first glance, the board may look like Saruman’s to-do list, but fear not! The mechanics are simple enough for newcomers, while still offering depth for experienced players.

Setup: Choose your character and arrange the board, complete with locations, event cards, and Sauron’s looming presence.

The Journey Begins: Travel through Middle-earth, facing challenges, battling enemies like orcs, and resisting the temptation of the One Ring.

The Ring’s Burden: Manage corruption levels—too much greed, and you’re toast (or worse, Gollum).

Victory Conditions: Either destroy the Ring in Mount Doom and claim victory, or watch Sauron laugh maniacally as darkness takes over.

Pro Tip: Don’t let the Ring-bearer (probably Frodo) wander off alone. It never ends well.

What Makes This Game Stand Out?

1. Solo Mode: Be Your Own Fellowship

If your friends are busy binge-watching The Rings of Power, fear not. This game’s solo mode lets you control multiple characters, guiding them through challenges as if you’re directing your own epic movie.

Playing solo is surprisingly fun and immersive, offering a way to enjoy your own epic adventure even if the rest of your Fellowship is on a break.

2. Replayability – Endless Adventures Await

No two games are the same. With multiple characters, randomized events, battles, and a variety of paths to victory, The Lord of the Rings Strategy Board Game ensures hours of entertainment. It’s like rereading Tolkien’s books but with plot twists you didn’t see coming.

3. Gorgeous Components

Let’s talk about aesthetics. From the finely detailed miniatures to the vibrant game board, every piece feels like a work of art. You’ll almost want to frame the components instead of playing with them. (But seriously, play the game—it’s worth it.)

Who Will Love This Game?

1. Tolkien Fans

Are you the kind of person who can quote The Silmarillion in your sleep? Do you cry every time you hear “The Breaking of the Fellowship”? This game is your dream come true.

2. Strategy Enthusiasts

If you love flexing your brainpower and outwitting the odds, the strategic depth of this game will have you hooked.

3. Family and Friends

Looking for a way to bond with your Fellowship of the (living room) Ring? This game is a fantastic option for family game nights or a gathering of nerdy friends.

Tips for First-Time Players

Understand Your Role: Each character has unique abilities. Use them wisely, or risk becoming the weak link (ahem, Pippin).

Don’t Underestimate Sauron: The Dark Lord doesn’t take coffee breaks. Plan ahead to counter his every move.

Stay Corruption-Free: Keep an eye on the corruption tracker. Nobody wants to become Gollum—except Gollum.

Communicate: This is a team game. Share strategies and don’t hog resources. (We’re looking at you, Boromir.)

FAQs AboutThe Lord of the Rings Strategy Board Game

Q: Is this game suitable for casual players?A: Absolutely! While the strategy may seem daunting at first, the cooperative nature makes it accessible. Plus, the theme keeps everyone engaged.

Q: How long does it take to play?A: Most games last 60-90 minutes, though it can stretch longer depending on how much you channel your inner Gandalf while deliberating over every move.

Q: Can I play this game with younger players?A: The recommended age is 14+, but younger players familiar with the story may enjoy it with a bit of guidance.

Why This Game Is a Must-Have

Whether you’re a die-hard Tolkien fan or someone who just loves a good board game, The Lord of the Rings Strategy Board Game delivers on every front with its immersive campaign mode. It combines rich storytelling, strategic gameplay, and stunning components into an unforgettable experience.

Plus, where else can you face off against Sauron with a gang of friends (or solo, if you’re brave)? This game isn’t just an adventure; it’s a celebration of the heroes and one of the greatest fantasy stories ever told.

Conclusion: The Road Goes Ever On and On

In a world where countless board games fight for your attention, The Lord of the Rings Strategy Board Game stands out like a beacon of light in the dark land of Mordor. It’s cooperative, strategic, and brimming with Tolkien goodness.

So, grab your Fellowship, roll the dice, and remember: not all who wander are lost—some are just figuring out how to defeat Sauron. Adventure awaits!

Ready to join the Fellowship? Pick upThe Lord of the Rings Strategy Board Gametoday and embark on the journey of a lifetime.

(Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Click the link to support this quest while snagging your copy!)

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atplblog · 28 days ago

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Price: [price_with_discount] (as of [price_update_date] - Details) [ad_1] EDNITA 22mm SmartWatch Strap With Alpine Loop For Noise Colorfit Ultra/Oneplus 46mm/Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 45mm/Realme S/S Pro/ & With All 22mm Watches EDNITA 22mm SmartWatch Strap With Alpine Loop For Noise Colorfit Ultra/Oneplus 46mm/Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 45mm/Realme S/S Pro/ & With All 22mm Watches Soft nylon material & Stylish and beautiful, bring you a different visual experience Easy to replace and will not cause damage to the watch & comfortable to wear The length of the strap is easy to adjust to fit your wrist Note : The product only has the strap, not including the main body of the watch [ad_2]

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maabhagwatistatus · 5 months ago

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EDNITA 22mm SmartWatch Strap With Alpine Loop For Noise Colorfit Ultra/Oneplus 46mm/Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 45mm/Realme S/S Pro/ & With All 22mm Watches-Starlight-Pack Of 1

Price: (as of – Details) EDNITA 22mm SmartWatch Strap With Alpine Loop For Noise Colorfit Ultra/Oneplus 46mm/Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 45mm/Realme S/S Pro/ & With All 22mm WatchesSoft silicone material & Stylish and beautiful, bring you a different visual experienceEasy to replace and will not cause damage to the watch & comfortable to wearThe length of the strap is easy to adjust to fit your…

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alanqcooper · 2 years ago

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Twin peeks: A first look at Huawei’s new South Africa-bound flagships

Huawei's new P60 Pro will be available in South Africa from 1 June 2023. Image supplied

Introducing the P60 Pro and Mate X3

Chinese tech giant Huawei has unveiled two flagship devices, the P60 Pro and Mate X3 smartphones. Launched at an event in Johannesburg on 18 May, both phones will be available in stores from 1 June.

The P60 Pro, the successor to the highly regarded P50 Pro, boasts an impressive battery life, top-tier processing power, and a camera system that Huawei claims rivals professional DSLRs. The Mate X3, by contrast, claims to be the world’s slimmest and lightest large-screen foldable smartphone.

Cameras galore

Particularly notable is the P60 Pro’s camera system. It comes equipped with a 108 MP primary sensor, a 12 MP periscope telephoto lens, and a 40 MP ultrawide sensor, making it a real contender in the realm of smartphone photography. The camera also boasts optical image stabilisation and Huawei’s unique RYYB sensor, which enhances low-light photography.

The Mate X3, on the other hand, flaunts an 8 MP selfie camera and a 40 MP primary sensor on the rear. Furthermore, it carries a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, enhancing the device’s security without compromising on its sleek design.

Battery life is a standout feature for both devices. The P60 Pro offers a 4500mAh battery, while the Mate X3 brings an even beefier 5000mAh battery to the table. Both devices support Huawei’s SuperCharge technology, ensuring rapid charging without overheating.

Huawei has included an ample 8GB of RAM in the P60 Pro, making multitasking a breeze, while the Mate X3 comes with a hefty 12GB RAM. Storage is equally generous, with options for 256GB or 512GB in both devices.

The Huawei P60 Pro costs R24 999, while the Mate X3 will set you back R44 999. Both will be in stores from 1 June 2023, but they’re available now for pre-order with Huawei sweetening the deal for early birds with a limited freebie offer of a Watch GT3 SE and FreeBuds 5i.

Apps and partnerships

In the face of ongoing concerns about the absence of Google Mobile Services on its devices (a legacy of US-imposed ban), Huawei has put significant effort into enhancing its alternative, Huawei Mobile Services (HMS). HMS provides users with an array of apps and services, including Huawei’s AppGallery, which offers a range of global and localised apps.

Watch these

On the wearables front, the company unveiled two new smartwatch lines, starting with the Huawei Watch Ultimate. Positioned as a “luxury smartwatch”, it boasts a zirconium-based “liquid metal” body, giving it a premium and durable feel. Its glass cover is made of high-strength sapphire glass, ensuring protection against scratches and damage and Huawei claims it is capable of withstanding water depths of up to 100m.

The company showcased a number of these at the launch event, focusing on its partnership with Standard Bank and announcing a collaboration with radio station Jacaranda FM.

With a battery life of up to two weeks, 24-hour heart rate monitoring, all-night sleep tracking, and 90 minutes of daily exercise tracking, the Watch Ultimate offers a comprehensive range of health and fitness features.

Huawei also introduced two new additions to its laptop lineup. The Huawei MateBook X Pro is a lightweight yet powerful laptop weighing just 1.3kg. It is equipped with a 13th-generation Intel Core processor, ensuring fast and efficient performance for various computing tasks. The MateBook X Pro features a sleek and modern design, making it an attractive option for professionals and students alike.

South African prices and availability for the new watches and laptops have yet to be announced.

Power solutions

With loadshedding an ongoing concern for South Africans, Huawei used the event to announce its new Power-S seamless solar hybrid power and backup system designed for commercial and industrial scenarios to help businesses ensure continuous power supply.

The Power-S solution features an all-in-one design that supports simple installation, making it convenient for various settings. It allows users to flexibly expand the capacity of batteries and power modules, catering to different budgets and power requirements.

Huawei did not list any pricing for the Power-S solution, but it did announce a price drop on its home-focussed Power-M product. The recommended retail price for the Power-M now starts from R69,999.

#huawei #smartphone #p60 pro #mate x3

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gadgetsboy · 7 months ago

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Adobe Shows off its Latest Advancements with GenAI

Adobe's recent efforts towards integrating generative AI with its many software products has been a consistent affair, and the company recently announced the arrival of its new Photoshop version, which now features several useful GenAI components baked into the software. Adobe also unveiled its new Firefly Image 3, the latest version of its Firefly AI GenAI model. The company's new AI-focused unveilings were shown off during Adobe MAX, which was held in London on April 23rd - David Wadhwani, President of Digital Media Business at Adobe states: “Adobe’s steady stream of generative AI innovations are inspiring demand across the creative community – from students to creative professionals and Fortune 500 companies... With the latest release of Photoshop, the new Firefly Image 3 Model and the recent launch of Express mobile apps, we’re bringing the power of AI to creators whenever and wherever they need it.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrGup4411QM The company says that over 7 billion images have been created using Adobe Firefly since its arrival back in 2023, particularly across services such as Photoshop and Express. The GenAI revolution has been an interesting development to watch unfold, especially as more and more companies in different branches of hardware and software industries infuse the technology into their products. Photoshop and InDesign Adobe's new Photoshop software now features "Generative Fill" capabilities that works in tandem with "Reference Images," giving users a whole new realm of flexibility in terms of content creation and editing. A new "Generate Image" feature is also present, allowing users to fill in blank canvasses at a much faster pace. Adobe attributes these new features to its Firefly Image 3 model. For InDesign, Adobe has likewise directly integrated Firefly into creator workflows with a new Text to Image feature, which is currently in beta. With Text to Image, users can instantly generate pictures based purely on written prompts. Firefly and Express For Firefly, Adobe touts its latest Model as a game-changer, offering a significant leap in image quality, control, and creative freedom for users. As such, the upgrade promises sharper visuals, a deeper grasp of user prompts, richer details, and wider variety in generated images, allowing for better efficiency and productivity as well. Adobe says that Firefly 3's improved lighting, positioning, meticulous details, and improved text rendering allows for more photo-realistic images. Adobe also showcased its new Epxress app, which is available for both Android and iOS devices. The app works by giving users access to features powered by the Firefly AI model, including tools such as Text to Image, Text Effects, Generative Fill and Text to Template. Adobe for Enterprise Users Enterprise users can also use Firefly Image Model 3's capabilities in the latest edition of Adobe Creative Cloud for Enterprise, which includes features such as "Object Composites" that let users blend products and objects into high quality generative scenes, as well as "Style Kits" which allows teams to build templates for Firefly prompts, reference assets, common libraries and more to scale consistent generative AI content across the enterprise. Premiere Pro Updates https://youtu.be/6de4akFiNYM Just recently, Adobe also announced that its flagship Premiere Pro video editor will soon feature GenAI tools, which allow for improved workflows and versatility for content production and creation. This will provide editors with a suite of AI-powered tools such as “Generative Extend,” which adds frames to existing clips for precise edit timing and smooth transitions, “Object Addition & Removal” which allows users to select and track on-screen objects for seamless removal or replacements, and “Text to Video” which lets users create new footage based on text prompts and reference images. In addition to video, the new AI features also extend to audio production. Read the full article

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