#TEAM 9 HAVE SO MUCH VALUE IT'S INSANE

[sylhea-raemi]

hold on..... after that reveal how am i supposed to go on knowing this.......

[spar-kie]

9, 10 and 14 ^o^ !!!!!!

Putting all of these that have more than one question under the cut just to make sure I don't clutter up people's dashboards.

9. Is there something you felt should be talked about more? (Could be a character, a scene, anything really)

I got two, I think people are kinda sleeping on the Odessa sidequest. I don't see people talk about it a lot, which is a shame because I fucking love Odessa as well as her sidequest. She's such a good fucking character that doesn't get a lot of screentime and I think she should be appreciated more. There's also M2, who she gets talked about a lot but at the same time I think some people just kinda take her at surface value of funny woman who gets out funny'd by the Renegade!Interceptor when there's so fucking much to her it makes me insane.

10. Favorite villain/antagonist(s)?

Zetta. Dude has got some absolutely fascinating shit going on, and I cannot wait to see what v14 has in store for him. Shout out to Flora too, girl is cooking up some devious shit and we love her for it. I stand with the People's Front For The Liberation of Grand Dream City aka Team Bladestar.

14. What character(s) did you initially not care about or dislike that grew on you after a while?

This is very tough for me because I make snap judgements about characters and very stubbornly refuse to budge from them a lot of the time. But I fucking HATED Ren until he gave us our mom's Sylveon. Then I loved him to death.

[hushed-chorus]

15 questions | 15 tags

Thank you for the tags, @shrekgogurt, @artsyunderstudy and @johnwgrey! Let’s give this little baby a go.

1. Are you named after anyone?

A biker my mother once knew and a cricket player she fancied. Both dudes, even though I am “biologically female”. Interesting character, my mother!

2. When was the last time you cried?

I shed a few tears today, but it was a healthy cry

3. Do you have kids?

No

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Not as much as I used to—my humour is still dry, but my sarcasm can miss the mark so I’ve toned down on it.

5. What’s the first thing you notice about people?

Body language, I think. I vibe quickly on mood—mostly approachability and openness. These things don’t outright determine whether I’ll interact with someone, but will determine how. I think this is why I struggle with communicating by text. I can’t vibe check! But I literally won't remember a *thing* about how they dressed, their eye colour, etc, unless it's particularly noteworthy.

6. What’s your eye color?

DARK, DARK BROWN. Like, pretty much pitch black. I once NPC’ed as a wraith at LARP for a monster role (basically, my job was to fight/be beaten up by the players and be dramatic about it) and my skin was painted white for the role. I ended up with a swarm of other, similarly-attired people just staring at my eyes and being told I was spooky.

7. Scary movie or happy endings?

So, does the scary have to be a movie? If so, then I go for happy ending. Basically, I like horror stories but scary movies don’t tend to do it for me. However, happy endings that aren���t bittersweet feel like a rare commodity in modern storytelling, so I treasure them.

8. Any special talents?

I’ve been told that I’m a good storyteller. Most people say this in relation to the roleplay games I run. Only recently have I stared sharing my writing with others. I wouldn’t say I am a talented writer—specifically, I struggle with the craft (grammar, etc). I used to blame missed schooling, but given the insane difficulty I’ve had learning grammar, etc, as an adult, I suspect there’s something more at play.

9. Where were you born?

Cornwall

10. What are your hobbies?

Writing (specifically creating stories), reading, cooking, and seeing new places. Also, learning! I usually have a subject or two that I’m casually learning. At the moment, it’s Spanish (my first time with a language) and folklore. Previous to this it was maritime history and I dabbled in political theory.

11. Do you have any pets?

Nope, but I've had pets in the past and want to have some again! I love animals!

12. What sports do you play/have you played?

I loved playing football/soccer as a child. As an adult, I loved rock climbing and cycling until my health got too bad. I'm hoping to get back into ocean swimming, but I fear that would be a fool's errand. Is ocean paddling a sport?

13. How tall are you?

5’8

14. Favorite subject at school?

Music! Our teacher would leave us to just jam in the music rooms. I’d just play my bass guitar with whoever decided to drop in and join. I’d also sing, sometimes.

15. Dream job?

Ok ok, so this is super specific but here we go. If I didn’t have a disability and I was fully competent (and could afford the set-up costs), I’d love to own an old-fashioned ship. A simple-to-run two-master that performs well with minimal sailors on coastal waters. And I would use that ship to take underprivileged teens out onto the sea for a few days. Give them the opportunity to experience the ocean in a new way, to get the thrill of it, learn an exciting new skill and, most importantly, to give them a chance to feel like a valued and respected member of a team. Help them build their confidence and give them a treasured memory. (obviously voluntary—totally wouldn’t be everyone’s scene!)

I used to volunteer with youth groups in coastal settings before and I loved it. So many of the teens benefited from having an adult who would listen to them, treat them with respect, and give them a chance to feel like life can be special. I’m still in touch with some of them, ten years later!

I think lots of tags have already been issues so I will skip on tagging? Anyway, this was fun!

[midnightwins22]

Updated Rise of the TMNT Rankings List

After re-watching Rottmnt for probably like the fifth or sixth time now, I decided to update my rankings list because I have made some changes. If you see numbers besides the rankings, that is how many spots they have moved up or down since my last rankings

Top 10/S-Tier (aka the best of the best; the ones that made me laugh, cry or a combination of the two)

Rise

Lair Games (+1)

The Clothes Don't Make the Turtle (+1)

Anatawa Hitorijani (-2)

Mystic Library

Insane in the Mama Train (+5) (animation is so amazing and the boys in their Hamato outfits is just *chefs kiss*)

Hidden City's Most Wanted (+3)

End Game (-2)

The Evil League of Mutants (-1)

Battle Nexus: New York (+2)

Amazing/A-Tier (Not enough to make top 10 but ones that I would still rewatch over and over again and that I love and adore so much)

The Fast and the Furriest (+15) (I love this one so much and I can't really explain why it's just makes me laugh every time)

The Purple Game (-3)

Shreddy or Not (+1)

Shadow of Evil (-1)

The Purple Jacket (+6) (Donnie just being Donnie…need I say more)

Turtle-Dega Nights: The Ballad of Rat Man (+6) (Mikey and Donnie are amazing as always and that scene between Splinter and Donnie gets me every time)

Cloak and Swabgart (+10) (So wish we got more Sunita and April adventures because they work so well together)

Flushed but Never Forgotten (-2)

Bug Busters

Man vs Sewer (-2)

Pizza Puffs (-6) (Still a really funny episode and amazing just not as much as it used to be)

Great/B-Tier (Still love these episodes but not enough that they are my favorites. Great but not top tier)

Donnie vs Witch Town (+5)

Down with the Sickness (-4)

One Man's Junk (+4)

How to Make Enemies and Bend People to Your Will (+5)

The Gumbus (+32) (Leo and Mikey have made me love this episode so much; not to mention the animation in this episode is just straight up amazing)

Breaking Purple (+5)

Mind Meld (+5)

Stuck on You (+5)

Operation: Normal(+9) (It's the Disaster twins I had to include it in the great list)

The Mutant Menace (+9) (any adventures in the Turtle Tank are always a plus)

E-Turtle of the Spotless Mind (-10) (sorry but the other three parts of just better in my opinion, though I still love for what it did with Splinter's character)

Good/C-Tier (Episodes that are sort of middle tier and just only good but that I still enjoyed, sometimes)

Smart Lair (-3)

Mystic Mayhem (+3)

Repo Mantis (+8) (Donnie and Mikey aka PB & J duo make this episode for me)

Reparin the Baron (+14) (I love Mikey and Draxum in this episode)

The Ancient Art of Ninja Hide and Seek (+10)

Late Fee (-14) (sorry but this episode is just too silly for me now the more that I watch it)

Mystery Meat (+12) (April, Draxum, and Mikey are just the ultimate dream team)

Sparring Partner (+14) (Raph is just too much of a sweetheart)

Mrs. Cuddles (+11) (Mrs. Cuddles is terrifying and I love it)

Hot Soup: The Game (+7)

The Hidden City Job (-8)

Raph's Ride Along (-10) (again too silly and the hidden city police are just so dumb it's bothers me to no end. Raph is still amazing though)

Shell in a Cell (+3)

Bullhop (-10)

Snow Day (-7)

Fists of Furry (-7)

The Longest Fight (-5)

Donnie's Gifts (-5)

Origami Tsuanami (-5)

Always Be Brownies (+1)

Pizza Pit (-12) (Mikey is the only good part of this episode. Everything is is just...eh)

Sidekick Ahoy! (+16) (I don't know why but this episode has grown on me)

You Got Served! (+3)

Portal Jacked (+1)

Meh/Ok (D-Tier) (Bottom of the pack. Not necessarily bad episodes but just ones that are just simply ok and don't have much for rewatch value)

Air Turtle (+1)

Warren and Hypno, Sitting in A Tree (-4)

Todd Scouts

Bad Hair Day

Goyles, Goyles, Goyles

Jupiter Jim Ahoy! (+1)

Minotaur Maze (-1)

Mascot Melee (+3)

Nothing But Truffle (+5) (not as bad as it used to be but still kinda meh. I hate seeing my baby Mikey cry but he was also kind of a jerk in this episode)

War and Pizza (+3)

Hypno Part Deux (-3)

Al Be Back (-2)

Newsworthy (-1) (Just an overall boring episode and I really do not like Warren Stone. This is one of those episodes that I would definitely not be re-watching unless I'm just in the mood)

This was once again very hard to make as I like some of this episodes equally and my top 20 could honestly interchanged. They are all just that good and amazing. Safe to say that I miss this show so much and I am just hoping that we get some news soon regarding whether or not there will be a season 3. Or at least put season 2 on Netflix. If not, then I am satisfied with what was given to us and I am grateful everyday for this show and my beloved turtle babies.

[diseasedcube]

I just finished Edgerunners and:

Animation: 9/10 very pretty :D

Character design: 8/10 David's kind of ugly hgfhsjfg but yknow everyone else looks pretty neat

Character writing: 2/10 I couldn't tell you a thing about Kiwi if I tried, I don't even know the names of the other dudes on the team

Plot/story: 3/10 it was sort of interesting, but good fucking god you need to have an IQ of 150 or more to understand this simple plot, I had no goddamn clue what was going on the entire time

General aesthetic: 9/10 cyberpunk aesthetics are a total winner for me, but the setting is Night City yet most scenes are daytime scenes (I'm pretty sure there were never any true daylight scenes in akudama drive??? which definitely gave it good atmosphere)

Gore level: 8/10, lots of gore, very nicely animated, but so fast paced you could barely tell where blood was coming from, it's just blood without much detail beyond it

Dialogue: 3/10 it may have just been the subs I had but good god what's with this slang????

Cyberpunk values: 7/10 they definitely had a strong plotline of capitalism and corruption, and modifying your body to the extent you go insane

Total average score: 6.5/10

Not bad but I wouldn't recommend,

ANYWAYS GO WATCH AKUDAMA DRIVE IT'S THE SUPERIOR ANIME

[alolanroy]

2023 Media Thread Pt4

Lethal Company: There's not a lot of criticism I can throw at this game that doesn't bounce off as part of the intended experience. I do think that while the quick and cheap deaths make for good comedic value, I think it downplays the terror if you just die without having any clue what happened in the early game. But other than that, it nails the vision even if it isn't for me. Mad respect 7/10

Gundam Evolution Last Shooting: I already missed this game a few weeks after it shuttered. By the final season, the balance was just right and in the final days the group I was playing with started to 'click' with some of the units. I for one, was a monster at the Kampher, racking up insane kill streaks. It's a shame it couldn't have been in this state at launch. Another game killed by its live service model. The final hurrah of lost potential. 7/10

Lego Fortnite: Have you played and early-access survival crafting game before? Good, you can skip this. It sure is one of these. It has a lot of rough edges since it's running inside the framework of another game that doesn't mesh particularly well with it. Plus, fiddling with graphics settings requires relaunch so I couldn't tweak it to look good either. I think what kind of ruins the experience was the rigidity of the progression, which while heavily gated behind too many menus, isn't signposted well. 4/10

Half-Life Deathmatch (25th-anniversary update): What an event! I wouldn't necessarily say I had 'fun', perhaps because the social element has been atrophied by decades of modern multiplayer practices, but I had a blast. We found a server filled with quake weapons with no time limit so it was a high-killstreak, low TTK chaotic mess for like 20 minutes one round. 6/10

Plagiarism and You(Tube): Hbomb's career-ending adventures continue. 7/10

Half-Life Uplink: A neat little bite of HL2. Not a lot of meat on these bones, but it really is impressive how hard they pushed 'realism' in the environmental interaction withing the confines of the engine. 7/10

Into the Radius: Interesting worldbuilding and an ace solitary vibe. It took a bit for the cumbersome resource management to 'click' but the vibes are there. However, I do feel like quicker access to more diverse weapons might have helped hook me more. My strongest experience was doing one of the first missions at night and it went full horror in a way I hadn't experienced yet.

Lego Masters S4: On the positive side, the hosts are finally coming into their own and the challenges felt much more fresh in a way that actually engaged with their medium. However both me and my partner felt the hand of the producers in ways that made us actually angry. Certain teams were straight-up bad. Duckbricks deserved it 100 tho. 7/10

Skyrim - Clockwork: An interesting framing device for an interesting player home. I think it repeated the pitfall of making the open areas too big to be fun to comb over, but the story beats were effective. 6.5/10

Tintin: This is about as good an 3dcg animated Tintin could be. it didn't tickle my fancy but it was gorgeous and had some real inventive sequences. Since they don't really make adventure movies like this anymore, I think it called to mind the treasure-hunting antics of a Lupin movie. objective 8/10 but for me a 7/10

The Boy and the Heron: I don't blame anyone for having trouble following the narrative, since this type of semi-linear magical realism nonsense is a genre I have familiarity with. I remind them that these things work on an emotional axis that Marvel has taught people to ignore. Shoutout to all the Ghibli fans shocked to see their Ghibli movie isn't like those interpolated cooking compilations and cozy Totoro slippers. 9/10

Dragnet (1987): This sure is a late 80's buddy cop action comedy. I wonder if these fellas end up having a future in show buisness or high-quality vodka beverages? It got one good laugh out of me. 5/10

Babylon 5: The Road Home: Honestly, props to MJS and all the returning actors because for a decades-removed continuation, this feels like it didn't miss a beat. I imagine the casting director was sweating bullets trying to recast G'kar though. How can you? 8/10

Pokemon Concierge: Short, sweet, and to the point. I was agape at the technical proficiency of the stop motion, enough that I didn't notice the plot at all. 6/10

Ronin Mecha 2: Defenders of Space: This was made by the 3rd die-hard Autobot Inferno fan for the other two. It lacks that gonzo factor of the rest of the series so far and was pretty skippable. We did pop off when 'Pheonix King' actually turned into a fire truck though. -3/10

Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2: At times like these, I regret watching bad movies selected by a spinning wheel. How did this get made? This feels like a tv pilot that got a theatrical release. Theres a Nazi getting beat up by babies???? -5/10

Revenge of the Ninja: Solid ninja movie. A bit meandering but it had the right amount of gadgetry and stunts to keep the crowd's energy up. Shoutout ninja grandma. 6/10

Votoms: the Pailsen Files: At its best, it is alright. At its worst, it is kind of embarrassing. The initial foray into poorly integrated cg mechs is badly integrated that it makes the digital animation look right out of the early digipaint era at times. The OP and ED are sauceless. 5/10

[racingliners]

F1 Re-Watch 2013: Round 5 - Spain

Okay slightly longer than usual opening ramble bc this is a really sentimental race for me. As mentioned in previous posts, I grew up watching F1 with my Dad but stopped when he passed away in 2007, then at some point in early 2013 I heard one of my friends in High School talking about F1, and I mentioned that I used to watch it, and she insisted on dragging me back in (10 years later, I am indeed still here).

Because of the TV rights deals in the UK at the time, the BBC only had rights to show half the races live, with the rest being extended highlights programmes. So when I invited my friends up for a sleepover, we planned it for a weekend that the BBC had a live race, which just so happened to be Spain, and that ended up being the first F1 race I’d seen since 2007 with my Dad.

I remember almost nothing from it, apart from Alonso winning, because my friend spent almost the entire race telling me who everyone was since there had been a lot of team and driver changes for me to get my head around. So I’m looking forward to actually paying attention to all the on-track action! 😅

not gonna lie, for the above reasons this is one of the races I was most looking forward to, so I really hope this race wasn’t a flop dvdhfvuhdf

Starting grid time!

or more appropriately starting grid whiplash bc MERC FRONT ROW?! With a Rosberg pole?! My dudes how did you bottle that

Seb P3 (🥳), Alonso P5, Dan and Jev 11th and 12th and Jenson 14th (😭)

tag yourself I’m Seb pulling his helmet visor down when he realised the cameras were on him divhdfsu

[Formation Lap]: lol that shot of the Mercs with their yellow helmets, it really was a challenge every Merc onboard to figure out which driver was which 

Tyres: Mediums and Hards were the compounds for this race.

“They’re [Mercs] going ridiculously slow again, tell them to hurry up” asuvhsduvah I really do miss bratty team radio Seb

and after all that the rest of the grid are taking their sweet time to line up on the grid

F1 is a Serious Sport™️

[Start/Lap 1]: Lights out and away we finally go

ohhhh Seb takes Lewis into turn 1!

...ouch and then Lewis loses P3 to Alonso in the next corner

and Jenson dropped from 14th to 17th 😭

F1 giveth and F1 taketh away

[Lap 3]: Okay we had a spicy first 4 corners and then nothing

DRS please save us

sjdvjvahvh not the camera shot of the massive queue behind Rosberg encompassing 1st to 6th 😭

[Lap 4]: Seb’s gaining but not by that much

[Lap 5]: gap now 8 tenths of a second

I know I’m only a tenth in but I fear this will be my shortest liveblog post ever

[Lap 6]: ...anyone care to do anything???

ah so Lewis has some kind of brake issues due to the double lock up at the start, great

there go my hopes of a Lewis podium :(

[Lap 7]: DRS trains be DRS training... no overtakes

I love how I hyped this up for sentimental value and I have this

2013 me was clearly won over by the sight of F1 cars and F1 cars alone sdjkvdfjvds

ugh Raikkonen passes Lewis.

[Lap 8]: oof Webber makes his first stop. Comms are talking about a potential 4 stop race.

Four pit stops

That is highkey insane ngl

Anyway, the gap between Seb and Rosberg is still around 7 to 8 tenths

And Lewis drops down to 6th 😭

[Lap 9]: oh now the gap between Seb and Rosberg just over a second. great.

aw no Grosjean’s car’s broke :(

“I can see a car that’s not going back out again” Ted please know that I adore you

[Lap 10]: Anyway, Alonso and Lewis make their first stops

[Lap 11]: as do Rosberg and Seb

rats, no position change at the stops

argh and Alonso jumped Seb bc of the undercut

[Lap 12]: vsdvhadvh Gutierrez leading the race bc he hasn’t stopped yet

Sauber literally stay winning, good for them

and we’re once again back on the Rosberg DRS train, there’s about a second and a bit between 2nd and 5th

[Lap 13]: And Alonso takes P2 going into turn 1 and takes the effective race lead

Seb tries it around the outside at turn 5, no dice

...but he takes P3 at the next corner 🥳🥳🥳

[Lap 14]: Gutierrez pits from the lead (a sentence I did not think I would be typing today)

lol I wasn’t even paying attention to tyre compounds. Rosberg is on the hards while the cars around him are on the mediums, which explains a part of the pace difference.

[Lap 15]: Massa is somehow in P3, I’m pretty sure he already stopped so it must have been early

[Lap 16]: Man it feels so wild to hear comms and Ted talking about a 3 stop race vs a 4 stop race bc even in 2014 that didn’t happen. Like if a driver had done a 4 stop race in the 2014 regs you knew they’d had a very shit time 

Anyway, long story short Pirelli make better tyres challenge

[Lap 17]: Anyway, Checo is chasing Webber down, he’s on fresher tyres and seemingly having a much better time of it judging by his race engineer.

[Lap 18]: Dan up to 9th from starting in 12th, noice

meanwhile Mercedes have gone from having 1-2 on the grid to running 5th and 10th... ouch

the regs change glow up they had really was something else

[Lap 20]: Oh the duality of Dan in the Toro Rosso chasing Perez in the McLaren for 7th place. Great for Dan, not great for Perez

[Lap 21]: I did not even notice that Alonso’s gap was up to 4 seconds. oof.

ah, and he makes his second stop and comes out in 4th

“Alonso committing to a four stop, could be five but I doubt it” That’s a totally normal sentence to say Ted

as interesting as it is not quite knowing how things will play out, it’s frustrating for it to be down to tyre life as opposed to the actual pace of the cars

[Lap 23]: And van der Garde brings his Caterham into the pits on 3 wheels 😳

this is a totally normal race

[Lap 24]: and Seb makes his second stop, onto another set of hards

[Lap 26]: Lewis just dropping down the field like a stone this does not spark joy

and he finally pits again, though he comes out in 14th

*sigh* at least Seb’s up to 4th

[Lap 27]: Make that third now that Raikkonen’s stopped

[Lap 28]: Starting to wonder what kind of hex Fernando put on the rest of the field bc he’s driving off mostly unbothered while hardly anyone else is having a great time with simply trying to manage their tyres

[Lap 29]: Oh it’s a Ferrari 1-2, I swear I keep forgetting that Massa’s there

[Lap 30]: Bono asking Lewis to look after his rear left and Lewis going “I can’t drive any slower” ...and to think they’ve gone on to win 6 titles together

(also wow I just made myself emo about that 🥺😭)

[Lap 32]: oh my god finally a battle!

...it’s Raikkonen trying to get third from Seb though

[Lap 33]: and he gets past coming out of turn 2

meh

In Merc news their simulations are currently saying that Lewis will manage to finish in 5th so... that’s certainly something

(are they delusional? we’ll find out very soon)

[Lap 35]: also we’re FINALLY past half race distance

I’m starting to see why my friend was so happy to explain shit to me at the time bc this race is definitely not it

“This is worse than anyone expected” I know Brundle’s talking about tyre wear but it could also be applied to the race

aaand replay of Hulkenberg and one of the Toro Rosso’s having beef in the pitlane 🤦‍♀️

it was Jev too... is2g

[Lap 37]: Anyway the Ferrari’s have pitted again, there was a big enough gap for them to safely double stack

[Lap 39]: And Alonso retakes the lead

not Jev having a rear tyre delamination 😭 why did F1 hate him so much?!

Pirelli I know it’s been 10 years but you can and will meet my fists

[Lap 40]: Seb pits again, back down to 4th

[Lap 41]: a positive!!! Jenson takes P7 from Gutierrez

oh Jenson’s yet to make his third stop never mind 😭

I’m pretty sure at the time that I was so excited to see that Jenson was still racing that I decided to support him anyway regardless of where he finished, 2013 me was committed to suffering as a sports fan before I knew what that meant

[Lap 44]: Despite the fact I keep forgetting about Massa he’s 8 seconds behind Raikkonen and lapping about a second and a bit per lap quicker

[Lap 49]: welp I zoned out but the only meaningful update was Raikkonen’s third and final stop, and he’s catching both Ferrari’s who sound like they’re going to stop again

[Lap 50]: and right on cue in comes Alonso, he comes out in the lead, so the win is his

and Lewis is still in P11 😭

[Lap 52]: Seb makes his final stop and he’s in 4th so likely no podium

[Lap 54]: Jev being called in to retire the car, this race has not aged well for me 😭

[Lap 58]: I hate to say it but... I’m bored 😭

there’s no racing no battles it’s just a procession I cannot remember much past the first lap

[Lap 61]: The only tangible stuff going on is Massa trying to catch Raikkonen and a potential Button v Perez round 2 electric boogaloo

[Lap 62]: 5 laps remaining, finally

[Lap 63]: dfvbjkdfvbd GP getting a bit shirty with di Resta about using his DRS

oh and the McLaren’s were told to hold positions, so no McLaren on McLaren violence today.

[Lap 65]: Okay the Rosberg v Di Resta battle is actually somewhat interesting viudhvu

both fighting for P6 and for the right to be the first Merc powered car across the finish line

              2013 🤝 2023 Team Silverstone vs Mercedes 

[Lap 66]: Final lap, at last 😭

“It’s not been a great race” Oh you can say that again

[Finish]: And Alonso wins, it’s so wild that this is still his most recent F1 win.

P2 Raikkonen, P3 Massa, P4 Seb, P5 Webber, P6 Rosberg, P7 di Resta, P8 Jenson, P9 Perez, and Dan takes P10

Well, it’s interesting how time and sentimental attachment can change your view on things. When I watched this race at the time I was just so in awe to be watching F1 again and now I’m very, very non-plussed and can’t wait to go to bed jfvbfvhsh

Anyway, it was nice to see it again at least, for the above mentioned sentimental reasons. Next race - Monaco!

[darlingbudsofrae]

Neil Josten Appreciation Post

Foxes Appreciation Series : 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 || 10 ||

Alright, let’s just start this by addressing the big elephant in the room: everyone loves Neil Josten. EVERYONE.

If you don’t, you’re lying. 

Okay, first up- I’m glad this is getting addressed more on AFTG tumblr but Neil is literally so much smarter than the fandom gives him credit for.

Like yes, he’s a little dumdum on the social aspect of things (you could argue he kind of has a low EQ but also not really, I would argue that later)

but that doesn’t dismiss that he is smart af and that he can kill you and make it look natural if he wants.

For example, he literally outrun and hid from the mafia for years. Like, that in itself is an obvious point but we often forget that he did this at a very young age.

Like, he was presumably what? 16?? (when Mary kicked the bucket?) And kid was already playing hide and seek pretty well with a freaking mafia.

He does not get enough credit for this.

The survival skills it takes- the mental strength to survive as a runaway and technically he’s also homeless- at freaking 16, that’s just insane.

Also, let’s not mention the fact that it takes skills to forge official papers and all that.

We also do not talk enough about Neil and how he freaking have to relearn an entirely new position just to play exy.

I don’t think most remember that he’s actually a backliner, but have to play as a striker because it was the only available position in that local high school he attended in Millport, and that was how Kevin saw him so he was recruited as a striker.

We also additionally do not talk enough about how Kevin “literal and figurative Son of Exy” Day found potential for court in Neil “I’m a backliner but I’m playing striker because it’s the only thing available and I’m an exy junkie” Josten who only played it for like a year or less. 

Like yeah, Kevin said he needs more training but it’s not even Neil’s official position. 

The talent on this man- I cannot, he is such an icon. 

Aside from his great survival skills and being literally great at picking things up- he’s also like freaking academically smart.

Like that also doesn’t get enough credit- I mean, he does math for fun.

Frankly, I think if you did Kumon or if you had an awesome teacher you could also do math for fun (I know I did) but this should be noted with the fact that he didn’t have proper schooling.

He went on a run at a really young age so there is no way he received formal education.

Which means he is naturally like really smart.

He’s also a polyglot. And the languages he has under his belt are all freaking difficult to learn- like, no kidding: French, German, and he can assumingly speak intermediate Spanish, and we don’t even have an idea if this is all the languages he can speak.

Also, he and Andrew learns how to speak Russian, right? Like, that’s crazy.

The brain on this man and the power that he has- my son, I am so proud.

I mean, for all we know- there’s more than that and the fact that he’s like 18 at TFC screams supremacy.

This is where I argue about his EQ but Neil is crazy perceptive.

It took him like freaking 3 seconds to figure out the team dynamics the foxes have, and how to work against it.

He later figured out how to make it all mesh together.

Like the way he do things isn’t conventional but reading him analyze his team despite his lack of empathy really makes me shudder.

Like, this kid is so freaking smart. I remember reading his thought process for the very first time and being like, okay- I definitely did not think about that.

The main problem with his EQ though is that he doesn’t know how to process positive stuff when he’s involved, but when he’s the outsider- his perspective is so amazing.

Like again, he kind of lacks empathy but the way he understands things and is just so sharp is just noteworthy.

I’d argue he doesn’t understand social cues and “modern teen things” but he isn’t so completely clueless on the social aspect in general as to not manipulate an entire team of misfits with issues to work together.

He’s literally the key to unity in AFTG. Even Dan says so.

Also, the way he puts things into play- like he’s a master manipulator, and I love that for him.

We do not talk enough about manipulative Neil, like I just really love manipulative characters in general so much- especially if they’re just owning it. 

I mean, he freaking manipulated Andrew and Aaron into therapy. Kind of evil but also wow. (just a sidenote, please don’t force people into therapy lol)

Going completely dark for a second, Neil also has a freaking high pain tolerance.

The amount of horrible things he went through in the books were just so sad and the fact that he just kind of moves on from it? That’s just completely oh my gods.

My poor summer child, even if you can kill me at any given time, let me just hug you for a second with consent.

Everyone also gives shit about Neil’s fashion choices and granted it is said he kind of bags the homeless looks but the fact that he values utility above all else-

Yes, we stan a resourceful king. 

Lowkey though, am I the only one who appreciate Neil’s average style?

Speaking of style- I love the way Neil narrates. Like, the way he doesn’t give much attention to how the character looks- it’s just so realistic?

Because if I’m talking to a person in real life, there is no way I am noting how his blue polo makes him kind of casual but clean-cut and how his brown eyes is as warm as my morning coffee. Like, who even does that?

The thing with Neil’s narration is that it’s just so authentic- like it easily engages the readers and the way he gives importance to every thing the same way, it really makes it easier for the reader to discern things objectively, y’know what I mean?

He just has that quality in a main character and narrator- he’s laidback and sarcastic but not trying too hard, and he’s just really easy to love.

Like, I normally don’t like narrators/main characters in books because I favor a side character more or just because they’re annoying, but Neil Josten is legit lovable. 

At the same time, he’s also a really well-written character. Like, for all the technicalities I point out in AFTG, Neil is an asshole. He’s not perfect and I don’t 100% love everything that he does and I love that.

He’s a flawed character but he gives you something to root for- and I just really want to appreciate his characterization for a second. Most books make their characters’ flaws not even their fault to put a check to the flawed character but at the same time still have that perfect character. Eeww, no- give me real flaws to work with.

He’s one of the realest protagonists I ever read.

Like people give him shit for wanting to hide but also choosing to play a nationwide-discerned sport on an infamous collegiate team but for me it’s kind of realistic.

Because I think we, as human beings, also do things we love too much regardless of logic. I don’t know, like it’s kind of funny the way Neil is written but I honestly didn’t see him joining Palmetto as a loophole.

Like, just think of all those successful people who hid their identities via pseudonym or other necessary means to do things they weren’t expected to do or weren’t allowed to do.

For me, his character was really just looking for excuses to play his favorite sport a second longer and if anything, that’s just kind of sad.

But also, his dedication and love to exy is really admirable- like I never understood it but the way he literally does everything to stay on the court for a second longer just makes me want to root for him.

On a random note, Neil may not have an eidetic memory like Andrew’s but the way he memorize most phone numbers by heart? 

Bruh, I don’t even have my phone number memorized and I freaking have it for two years now. 

He also memorizes every twists and turns at every trip, every exits at a room he enters, and most people’s tics upon the first meeting, and other things and that’s just crazy perceptive but also really crazy on another level.

Also, we don’t get much ace/demi representation and out of the few I’ve consumed, demi Neil Josten validates me. He’s legit my favorite character that belongs in the ace spec in books.

I just really love Neil’s character so much- he’s just so amazing.

One thing I always appreciate about Neil Josten is that while he’s not a total angel (sadly), the way he loves the foxes- like he legit tried to mend the team and make sure everyone is going to be okay before walking straight to his death- like I’m with Andrew on this one, what a fucking martyr. Why are you like this and why am I crying?

Neil Josten is by all means not soft, that much is established, but the way he’s just still as precious and must be protected at all costs-

"You know, I get it," Neil said. "Being raised as a superstar must be really, really difficult for you. Always a commodity, never a human being, not a single person in your family thinking you're worth a damn off the court—yeah, sounds rough. Kevin and I talk about your intricate and endless daddy issues all the time."

I love him, your honor- where can I file this adoption papers and do I have anything else to sign?

[kinsey3furry300]

So how the heck do the Avengers pay for stuff, and how rich are they?

So, in the wake of “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” There’s a lot of debate about why Sam didn’t seem to get paid well for his work in the Avengers (at least in the MCU continuity), and this has got me thinking: we’ve got no evidence that the Avengers are, financially, anything but a hot mess. So lets break it down, Avenger by Avenger, using real-world pay scales for the ones who have jobs.

Tony: a billionaire, so clearly he’s a financial genius, right? Well….. his actions say otherwise. He’s shown to be wildly irresponsible with his money. He inherited a lot of wealth form his parents which was managed by the first Jarvis, Obadiah, and Pepper for him, he buys and then gives away not just woks of art, but entire collections by major 20th century artists on a whim, destroyed his own cars and home without concern, he tanks the value of his own company in the first Iron Man with a bad press interview, gets kicked of his own bord of directors, and ultimately, in Iron Man 2, gives control of his company to Pepper. He’s insanely rich, and insanely smart, but man, he’s not smart with his money. So all the cool stuff, his suits, the Avengers tower, the facility up-state: that’s all paid for by him, but Pepper is holding the purse-stings.  So, does he pay the others? We have no evidence for most of them… but we do with Spidey. Peter Parker is in the Stark Internship Program a euphemism to hide the fact he’s training and mentoring him as a super-hero, but I find the wording interesting: he refers to Spidey, his surrogate son and chosen heir, as an intern. I.E., Unpaid.  I’m guessing this is Howard’s influence over him, some sort of ‘make you own way in the world, son’ attitude, but  if he’s not paying Spidey, is he paying anyone else? He certainly pays for stuff super heroes suits and things, equipment, fuel, the base, but does he pay anyone a wage? No one ever mentions it. You think it would come up.

So, if he’s not paying them a wage, where do Avengers  (and thier allies) get their day-to-day money from, and are they rich? Using google and https://www.federalpay.org, lets find out.

Cap: Well, before Civil war, he’s a shield operative, and he presumably still holds his military rank: he’s a US Army captain, with (well) over 40 years service, so USD$88,142.40 per year, with $237.71  drill pay (pay per drill you have to do on weekends, on leave or outside of normal service) and $175.00 per month hazard pay (which I bet is interesting) on top of that. As a WW2 veteran, he’d be eligible for a war pension if he:

Was not discharged for dishonorable reasons; and,

Served 90 days of active military duty; and,

Served at least one day during wartime ("wartime" as determined by the VA); and,

Had  countable family income below a certain yearly limit; and,

Is  age 65 years or older; or

Regardless of age is permanently disabled, not due to wilful misconduct.

As he’s still receiving 90k per year, he’s ineligible for a pension as his countable yearly income is above the limit.  So if shield pays him in accordance with his rank and years of service, about $90, 600 per year incuding hazard pay.

After civil war, he’s a fugitive on the run, so presumably flat broke. I’d asume he gets his pension returened to him after the snap.

He’s also just gone from the 40’s to the present day, so 70 years of inflation probably makes buying things very confusing for him: everything would seem insanely expensive at first. He’d also not know what the correct prices are for anything invented after 45. You might get used to how much more expensive food and coffee is, but how much is a smart-phone worth? $200? $2000 $20000? Who knows? I bet the others have to facepalm a lot when he either refuses to pay for what he sees as clear price-gouging, and at the same time regularly pays insane amounts of money for goods and services because he doesn’t know better. He also has no known assets other than his pay: he rents an apartment making him one of the few American males in his age-group who isn’t a home-owner

Thor: Does Asgard even have currency? It’s depicted like a “Crystal spires and toga” type utopia with no poverty: even working class Asgardian’s like Scourge seem to be pretty well-off and want for nothing, so he’s from a post-scarcity society where actual magic is a thing. His “Another” coffee cup smashing and the fact he doesn’t have a computer of phone in Ragnarök might indicate that, no, he just doesn’t have, need or understand money. Splitting a bar tab with him must be a nightmare. His breakdown post snap indicates he’s got some cash, but not a huge amount, and is probably skiving of Valkyrie and the other Asgardians.

Banner: Okay, so a PhD could make you a lot of money from patents… in pharmacology or engineering. Theoretical physics? Not so good. And if Banner did have any patents, they’ve probably been seized under eminent domain by the US military.  At the start of The Hulk film, he’s working a entry-level factory job at a botteling plant in Brazil. The minimum wage in Brazil is 1069.62 Real per month, that’s 12,835.44 Real per year, or around $2437.79 US per year, before everything goes wrong for him! He then runs off to India, works for Tony for a bit and then gets shot into space. Spidey may actually make more in allowance than Banner does, and Banner is a gown ass man with bills to pay: I’d imagine he loses a lot in ripped clothing.

Natasha and Barton: Pre Civil-war, both are government spooks, so how well does that pay? The salaries of CIA Intelligence Analysts based in the US range from $25,838 to $685,701 , with a median salary of $125,340, so let’s assume that Shield pays in a similar range: $685,701 per year for Director Fury, around 125,000 for Natasha and Cliff, which explains Cliff’s nice, middle-class mid-western home. Post civil war, presumably not great: we know that Natasha spends a lot of her savings running and hiding all across the world, and Cliff takes a deal and presumably lives of his savings, pension and his wife’s income.

Rhodes: Full USAF colonel with over 10 years service? $105,562.80 per year, plus $293.23 drill pay per drill and $175 per month hazard pay, and because he’s team Stark and not Team Cap in Civil War, he’d not lose any of that. He presumably also gets an injury pay-out after his accident. After T’challa and Stark, he might be the best paid avenger.

Dr Strange: spends all his money he made as a surgeon on trying to cure his hands: spends literally his last dollars heading to Nepal to train. Wong even jokes with him about their lack of worldly money when asking for a tuna-melt. But, can use illusion to make people think he has money, and his home and clothes etc. come with the job, so in the same boat as Thor in that he has no money, but needs none AKA, he’s a bastard to try and split a restaurant bill with.

Wanda and Vision: No know source of income, just sort of live in Tony’s hose and eat his food, and on top of that Wanda goes on the run after civil war… yet they can stay in fancy hotels in Edinburgh, a relatively expensive city, and Vison apparently bought them a house to retire in, so one of them has some source of money. Maybe Tony gave Vision years of back-pay form when he was still Jarvis, or maybe the vison has a day job, which is, frankly, hilarious. Could you imagine him as a barista? I can, and it makes me very happy.

Scott Lang: I’d assumed he’d be super, super broke, but apparently the average pay for a private security consultant in the Bay area is $85,430 per year. Not bad. Pity he gets sucked into the quantum realm just as his business is taking off, so presumably, flat broke again.

Bucky: no known income, and I doubt Hydra paid him for being the Winter Soldier so he probably has no savings, but he should, technically, qualify for a military pension. As a single veteran, he’d be  eligible for federal tax-free pension of up to $1732 per month, or $20,784 tax free per year. Not much for someone who lives in NYC. He may also be eligible for medical benefits over the loss of his arm. Whether or not he got to see any of that money given how confused his life has been over the past 10 years is unclear, but on paper he’s eligible.

T’challa: He is, quite possibly, richer than Stark, and as an absolute monarch pays no tax and has access to his Nation’s vast wealth in vibanium. It’s good to be the king!

Captain Marvel: USAF captain, and a test pilot; the test pilot school only accepts applicants with a service length of less than 9 years 6 months (10 years six moths of helicopters) as they don’t want older applicants. With 8 years service, $79,538.40, plus drill pay and hazard.  However, no know (human) pay since 1990. Flat broke.

Guardians of the Galaxy: no data, but I’m assuming “Cowboy Bebop” levels of perpetual never-ending poverty given the way they choose to live. I’d also assume Rocket has taken all their cash into some sort of Ponzi scheme of his own creation, because just look at him, of course he has.

Spidey: he’s got about $10 of his aunts’ money at any given time, so he can buy lunch… which may in fact be more than Banner or Lang, and we know it’s more that Strange or Thor.

 So, here the big one: how rich or how broke is Sam?

Sam Wilson: annoyingly, we’re not directly told what rank Sam held in any MCU film. USAF pararescue “Maroon berets” are generally NCO’s (but there’ are officer-ranked pararescue) , and he’s seen working on his wings at one point, where as officers don’t generally work on or maintain airframes. He’s shown wearing a Nation Air guard grey while jogging at one point to confuse the matter further. The general consensus on redit is he’s a former USAF tech sergeant (E-6). But how long was he in the air force? With six years service (the minimum sensible time he could have served to work in pararescue based on his age), that would be $41,464.80 per year, plus drill pay and hazard. As Anthony Mackie, the actor that plays him, was 36 as of Civil War, and assuming the character is the same age, and assuming he retired from the air force that year, and he joined the USAF at 17, the youngest you can join, he’d have served 19 years, giving him a pay of $51,566.40, the maximum pay you can get at this rank before promotion to Master Sergent,  but meaning he left just before he’d qualify for the 50% final salary pension you’d qualify for after 20 years. Which seems weird. So let’s assume the character is one year older than the actor that plays him and served 20 years (ages 17-37), that means Sam has a military pension of $25,783.20 per year (20,784 of it tax-free), plus any injury benefits. He councils other veterans, but doesn’t get paid for that. He also chooses Team Cap in Civil War, so would become a wanted criminal, and so lose his income between 2016 and 2018, and then gets snapped and has no income for 5 years, which would destroy his credit rating. Like the rest of Team Cap, he presumably gets his post snap pardon, and goes to work for the US government at his former pay and rank. However, given how Captain John Walker treats him as an equal, it’s possible he’s been promoted to a captain when the  hired back, giving him a pay of between $54,176.40 to $88,142.40 (with 20 years experience, depending on if they take into account his prior service or not, and how much prior service he has), but either way, he’s just starting this as a new job after being legally dead for 5 years: no savings, and no credit.

Commercial fishing vessels cost about 10% of their total value per year in maintenance alone. I can’t identify what sort of boat the Wilson’s have, but some quick googling indicates that the cheapest  15m long wooden in-shore shrimp trawler costs around $140,000, so that’s $14,000 per year in maintenance costs alone, minimum. And that’s a lower estimate, assuming the rest of the business is sound, which we know it isn’t.

So, in concussion, yes, Sam is in some serious financial trouble until he can re-build his savings and credit, but the scary bit is he’s not alone in that: he’s probably better off than Lang, Banner, Danvers, Strange, Thor, Bucky, Wanda and Parker. Only Clint (if he gets a full pardon and gets his full pension), Rhodes, Stark and T’challa aren’t in some sort of potential financial problems. That asshole bank teller was right: despite the fact it seems to pay well on paper, with a few exceptions, the Avengers financials are probibaly a mess. EDIT: Rocket is running the Ponzi scheme, if that’s not clear from context. The others know they have money somewhere, but not where it’s gone. And It’s been pointed out to me that as he’s technically a POW while he’s the Winter Soldier, Bucky is owed over 70 years back-pay, equal to over 3 million dollars, details in the notes.

[steves-on-a-plane]

No Place Like Home (Part 33)

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3  / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10 / Part 11 / Part 12 / Part 13 / Part 14 / Part 15 /Part 16/Part 17 / Part 18 / Part 19 /  Part 20 / Part 21 / Part 22 / Part 23 / Part 24 / Part 25 / Part 26 / Part 27 / Part 28 / Part 29 / Part 30 / Part 31 / Part 32 / 

Words: 2492 Pairing: Ted Lasso x Reader                     Summary: Reader takes the day out of work to unpack in her new apartment when Roy calls to invite her to the Team’s training room cleansing seance. 

The conversation over breakfast flowed easily enough. So easy, you almost resented it. You wanted to give Ted another chance, but you also needed to protect yourself. You hated how easy it was to slip back into a routine with Ted. When you’d both finished eating you stayed and helped him clean up. Putting away the milk and butter and cleaning up eggshells. Ted commented that he looked forward to doing the same again tomorrow. You couldn’t stop yourself from agreeing.

“Maybe we could bring back movie night, too.” You offered as the two of you stepped out into the hall. “Like a weekly thing.”

“A movie night?” Ted pretended the think about it. “That sounds great. Your place or mine? Doesn’t matter. Name the time and place and I’ll be there.”

“I’ll find us something good.” You promised “Have a good day at work, Ted.” You told him, reaching for the doorknob of your apartment.

“Always do, [Y/N].” He smiled. “Try not to have too much fun here unpacking.” With a wink he stepped outside.

“What is it about him?” You mumbled to yourself as you stepped back into your flat. Trying to determine what exactly made him so irresistibly charming even when you wanted to still be upset with him.

You got to work unpacking. You started in the kitchen since that’s where the majority of your boxes were. You began to truly appreciate Keeley’s suggested that she put the boxes in the rooms they’d be unpack in because moving boxes with a broken arm was nearly impossible. You powered through though, getting most of your kitchen boxes unpacked by lunch time. That was around when you received a text from Roy.

“You picked the wrong day to skive off work.” The message read. “Rojas twisted his ankle and now Lasso wants to hold a séance in the Club House.”

“A séance?” You replied back. “Your story is missing critical info Kent. What does Dani’s ankle have to do with a séance?”

“Don’t you know? Treatment room is haunted.” He replied. You could hear his gruff voice making the comment as you read the text. You wanted to reply back that this did nothing to explain the situation, but another text came back from Roy. Gaffer’s given us all homework. We’ve gotta meet at the Club House at midnight. We’re supposed to bring something we value.”

“Oh yeah. He’s gonna burn it. Beard and I have tried talking him out of doing a team bonding burn barrel a few times. I guess Beard finally gave in.” You’d barely just pressed send when another Text from Roy came back.

“So this isn’t a cry for help because of the divorce? It’s just usual Ted Lasso insanity.” He wanted to know.

“Probably somewhere in between, but definitely something not out of the ordinary for him.” You confirmed before opening your text chain with Beard.

“Finally gave in on the team building burn barrel?” You added a quizzical emoji for dramatic effect.

“He needs an easy win this week. See you tonight?” You assured the assistant coach that you’d be there along with the rest of the team before putting your phone down and getting back to packing.

When you heard Ted return home later that night, you told him you’d been filled in on his ritual to cleanse the “haunted” treatment room. He sheepishly insisted it was a coincidence that he’d thought of the team building exercise on the one day you decided to take off work. You informed the Head Couch that you were inviting yourself to the event, if for no reason other than to prevent him from setting fire to all of Nelson Road. Ted conceded that it wouldn’t be the whole team without you and extended an invitation for you to walk with him and Beard later that night.

You met Ted roughly an hour before midnight in the hall of your building. You walked together, talking casually once again, until you met with Beard in the usual place at the bottom of your street. Beard smiled when you saw you and mentioned quietly that the morning and evening walks haven’t been the same without you. You asked him if anyone had told him the circumstances which had led to you once again residing close enough to join in the coaches’ walks. When he shook his head “no” you began to recount the tale of Keeley helping you find an apartment without knowing Ted lived just across the hall.

There wasn’t much time before midnight when the three of you arrived at The Dog Track. Most of the team had already arrived. You recognized several of their cars, including Roy’s all black vehicle parked next to Keeley’s, in the lot. You wondered where Beard and Ted had even found a steel drum on such short notice. Surely there hadn’t already been one tucked away somewhere on the property.

Still, there was one in the center of the treatment room and the entire Richmond team was packed into the treatment room like a can of sardines. Well, you told yourself it was the entire team but Jamie Tartt was, to no one’s surprise, missing. What was surprising, was Rebecca Welton standing amongst the players, doing her best not to look as if the whole charade was beneath her.

“Roy,” Ted nodded to the team Captain. “Why don’t you get things started for us?”

“I was nine, when I was drafted by Sunderland.” Roy told the room as he stepped slightly forward, inches closer to the steel barrel than he’d been before. “And, uh, I’d never left London before. My grandad drove me all the way there and it was freezing, and I was terrified.” This earned a low rumble of chuckles from a few people around the room who dared to laugh. “I was fucking nine. Say something.” He dared, but the room fell quiet in response. “When I got there, he gave me this old blanket.” Roy held up a small woolen throw blanket. It looked as it if had been well loved and certainly seen better days. “He said it was to keep me warm and to remind me of home. And that was the last time I saw him ‘cause he’d passed away by the time I got back for Christmas so...” Roy inhaled a deep breath before continuing. “That is why blankie means so much to me.” The room fell silent, until Isaac dared to ask,

“Did you just say blankie?” He teased.

“No.” Roy growled. “I said blanket.” He insisted before throwing the blanket in the barrel. “Conversation over. Sam, go.”

Sam stepped forward as Roy stepped back. His sentimental piece was a photo of the 1994 Nigerian World Cup team. The photo was important to him because Sam had told himself he wouldn’t take it down until he himself had become a member of the Nigerian team. He told everyone that was still his dream as he placed the photo in the drum atop Roy’s blankie.  

Players and staff continued to step forward one by one after that. Nate had brought with him a pair of sunglasses that someone had once told him made him look like Clive Owen. Richard Montlaur presented a sampling of sand he’d collected from a beach in Saint Barts. Apparently, it was the first beach where he ever slept with a supermodel. When Rebecca attempted to toss in that day’s paper, Ted probed her about it. The team owner explained there was something written in the paper about her and she was trying not to care.

“Fuck the haters.” She added before stepping back. Around the room the team whistled, nodded, and mumbled agreements.

Keeley and Moe both nudged your forward after a few of the folks around you had already had their go. You stepped forward with shaky hands as you removed a crumped piece of paper from your pocket.

“I wasn’t sure I still had this.” You told everyone as you tried to smooth out the edges. You were glad for the excuse to avoid eye contact with any of them. “It’s been about eightish years, and I’ve moved probably three or four time since then. There’s no reason for me to still have it, but this is my first contract with the University of Kansas. It’s the school that Ted and Beard and I worked at before we came here. It’s where I worked before I met them and it’s the school that Anna and I both went to. In America its common for students to do work study to help pay for college. Essentially you do odd jobs for the campus and they lob some money off your tuition or they give you checks every so often. Well at U Kansas, students get to pick their work study. When the Head of the Athletics Department asked if I was passionate about sports, I simply replied, ‘I come from a big sports family.’ Most of you have met my sister so it will surprise none of you that Anna played no less than four sports plus trained in multiple dance disciplines ever year.”

You’ve also probably figured out by now that I’m not coordinated enough to play any sport. At the very least we can put a big red mark through football.” This earned a light laugh from your captive audience. “But for whatever reason the Head of Athletics, looked past that very obvious flaw and hired me anyway. I think it’s important for all of us to remember that we don’t know we don’t always know what’s on the road ahead for us. So take a look around the room and just try to enjoy the time you have while you’re walking together because you never know when or where your paths will fork in different directions next.”

You balled up the contact in your hands before tossing it into the barrel. The room was quiet. The air had taken a somber tone. Some of the players had, like you and Roy, brought along more sentimental items. Two of three more heartfelt sentiments were shared until Collin placed the keys to the Ferrari he’d driven to work with into the barrel. After that the locker room’s usually tone of playful jesting had returned to the treatment room.

“Alright. Everybody go?” Ted asked when he was certain they had.

“No!” Jamie piped up from behind a wall of players near the door. It seemed that like you hardly anyone had noticed Jamie arrive. “I wanna go.” He added. The crowd parted and Jamie stepped forward holding an old pair of cleats. “These aren’t like my first boots or anything. Me Mum gave ‘em to me. She was the one who got me into football in the first place. Her and me dad split up when I was just a sexy little baby. She’s the reason I work so hard. I just want to make her proud. She doesn’t even care if I’m any good. Just wants me to be happy. Be a good lad. Once I got good though, me old man started showing up, didn’t he? You know bragging to all his mates every time I scored a goal. Calling me ‘soft’ if I didn’t dominate, you know. And I hated that. I actually fucking hated that. So I made a vow to be so tough that he could never call me ‘soft’ again. I wonder if sometimes I forget about making her proud. I don’t think that she would be lately.” Jamie tossed his boots into the bin and stepped back.

“Well, gentlemen and ladies,” Ted produced a box of matches from his pocket and shook them loudly to break the palpable tension in the room. “What do you say we burn this crap?” He lit a match and hovered it over the barrel.

“Maybe we should do this part outside!” Beard suggested before Ted could drop the match. All around the room players and staff expressed their agreement. Ted blew out the match and motioned for two of the players to carry the now very full bin outside. Once the barrel was out on the pitch, the Head Coach was all too happy to produce his matches and ignite its contents.

“I have to admit.” You said to Ted as he, you, Beard and Rebecca stood off to the side while the players gathered around the barrel drinking and chatting. “Team Building Burn Barrel worked better than I ever expected it to.”

“Yeah, I think you and Beard were right to have me hold off on it so many times though. I don’t think the lesson would have stuck with the college kids.”

“Would have been overshadowed by all the fire.” Beard agreed.

“Ted!” Higgins came jogging over to your little group. “The eagle has landed.”

“Alright.” Ted nodded before patting the man on the back in thanks. “I think the only way to know if the curse has been lifted or not,” Ted said loud enough for everyone on the pitch to hear. “We need to ask the spirits for a sign.” Ted closed his eyes and tilted his head upwards. “Oh spirits, speak to us…”

“Na-na-na…” Ted was interrupted but the sound of Dani Rojas’ voice. The footballer trotted onto the field, bother of his ankles appearing in perfect condition. “Dani Rojas! Rojas!” He chanted as he galloped towards his team. The crowd began cheering and clapping.

“I brought a bottle of Mezcal to throw into the curse fire!” Dani said when the group began to settle down.

“Hey-hey, Row-Jas look,” Jamie, who was closest to him, stopped him from feeding the bottle to the flames. “Whatever ghosts it were that made you trip over, they’re gone now, I promise, yeah? Crack that bastard open.” The sentiment again earned an exclamation of approval from the team.  

“Jamie’s not wrong.” Roy agreed. “Ghosts prefer empty bottles that we’ve all drunk. Fact.”

“That is a team united.” Rebecca remarked as Dani cracked open the bottle and offered Jamie the first swig. “you’re very lucky that everything’s fine with Dani’s injury. I just never had you pegged as a gambler, Ted.”

“Oh, I’m not.” Ted assured her. “We knew Dani was okay hours ago. In fact it was my man Higgins’ idea not to share that info with the boys until after the ceremony.”

“Hey Coach!” Jamie called out. “You joinin’ the party or what?”

“What do you say, boss?” Ted looked to Rebecca. “A lot warmer over there by the fire.”

“I’ll respectfully pass.” Rebecca declined.

“[Y/N]? Higgins?” The Head Coach looked to the two of you, as Beard had already begun heading towards the fire.

“Can’t leave without you, you’re my ride home.” You joked, heading towards the barrel yourself. You joined in on the raucous rendition of Richmond Till We Die that Jamie had begun to lead the team through.

TAGS: @ponyboys-sunsets / @writeroutoftime / @captain-starks / @garbinge / @darshs / @companionjones / @fanaticalfantasist / @svndancekidd / @uhohmando / @cedricscoffin / @hellohauntedturnstudent / @busybeingtrash / @avengerslover-yee / @stankface / @marjoherbo / @the-fanfic-fangirl / @illicitghosts / @cloudedbreath / @lovely----------------notlovely​ / @grippleback-galaxy / @marvelwasmadeforthebis / @lastpasttheposts​ /

[parachutingkitten]

Y'all suck at dissecting Kai's character, so I guess I have to do it.

And I'm not even a Kai stan. He's a bottom tier ninja for me, which I guess means you can trust me, cuz I'm not biased, but also why am I the one doing this? I don't know about y'all, but recently on my dash, the method by which Kai fans try to make him sound good is... saying the writers hate him, ignore him, and that he isn't written well? Which... I mean there is a little bit of truth to, but like yikes guys, is this the best you got? Kai is a wonderful character with plenty of attention from the writers, a meaningful piece of the cast when put in secondary rolls, fairly consistent character writing with actual progression and valuable qualities that help the team without having to be the smart one- despite what some posts might tell you.

Let's get one thing cleared up: Ninjago isn't the best written show. By high level Hollywood standards, most the character arcs are kinda weak or too heavy handed, character consistency can be iffy, and most things serve the plot rather than the characters. There is no character you can point to and say "wow, this character is written so well! No complaints!" Nya and Jay were butchered by their weird love plot, Cole's one season doesn't actually give him an arc, Zane's been nothing but the robot numbers guy for like 10 seasons now, and Lloyd seems to be incapable of doing anything but relive the same one piece of dad angst for depth. Sorry, it's true. All the characters suck when you look at it from a large scale writing perspective. So when I say Kai is well written, I mean by ninjago kids show standards- cuz that's the scale we're working on. No, you couldn't drop Kai into a well written drama, but as far as ninjago goes... he's got a lot going for him, and by no means is he the biggest victim of poor writing.

(fair warning, wall of text below)

The title is a bit disingenuous. There are plenty of good Kai character break downs. What I am presenting here is a more positive perspective. On the whole, I will tend to give the writers the benefit of the doubt, and credit for what they do right writing is hard guys. That's what I'm doing here. I don't see much sense in getting mad the writers on behalf of Kai, or any other character. Ninjago is a simplistic ensemble show that works because of the identifiable simplicity of its main characters with some deeper layers hidden underneath if you keep watching. They've given us a damn good show with some damn enjoyable characters, so here are some criticisms I feel are a little flawed:

First, let's get the 'focus' thing out of the way. Apparently there are people saying Kai doesn't have a season yet? Which... what? I mean, I get that the pilots aren't a full season, the first two seasons, though he is the central protagonist, aren't "Kai seasons" as we've come to define ninja focus seasons, season 7, though he gets majority focus, he shares with his sister. But like... did y'all just forget about season 4? You know, the season where he had the title card, was on the box sets, got the love interest, and the majority of the A-plot? not to mention it's the best season don't @ me Like... if season 4 isn't a Kai season, I can make a damn good argument that season 3 isn't a Zane season, and I doubt anyone wants to go down that rabbit hole. I really can't wrap my head around this one. And I get that the fandom hates season 11 for some reason, but like you can't just pretend it doesn't exist. Kai has a consistent arc across 30 episodes in which he takes his powers for granted, loses them, and learns that, not only does he have value within the team without them, but that his element is intrinsically a part of him that he reclaims, bringing them back more powerful than ever, and with new respect for them. That's one of the most solid arcs in the whole series- the location is even thematically connected to his element. That's some good stuff right there! (Quick plug for season 11 if you haven't watched it in a while. Give it a rewatch, you might be pleasantly surprised)

Not to mention the writers give him fun side stuff all the time. Lots of fears of tech and water to overcome, a deep protective streak with Lloyd, becoming a chancellor, having a true potential actually relevant to the plot as a whole, blacksmith responsibilities, befriending dragons, hanging out with his dad. Not to mention actual focus stuff we haven't talked about yet, like his whole "my dad is evil" phase, and his "I might be evil" phase with him and Skylor. And on top of that, even when he doesn't have an explicit side plot, he's always just a fun and dynamic side character to make jokes or give exposition.

Now, into character stuff. Let's start with Kai's hot headed-ness. Some people say he's been loosing this quality, and I will admit, that's true! But those that claim this makes him inconsistent... I strongly disagree. In early seasons, Kai's temper would lead him to snap at his friends or make stupid decisions that set the team back (see episode 2 Zane freak out)- these are bad things. These are character flaws, yes? Now, in newer seasons, people say that he's inconsistent, cuz sometimes he'll be hot headed, and sometimes he won't. I'd say, this is exactly how being hot headed... works? It flares up without warning, and as an individual gets control of it, it'll pop up less and less often because they're channeling it into productive things - like say directing the anger towards an enemy (see season 11 end freak out). Kai has gained control of a character flaw, and though it still pops up on occasion, the fact that it's a once in a while kind of thing speaks to his growth. I have a little brother who has this exact personality, and watching him grow up, I can tell you, this is how it is. He used to snap all the time, and he still does sometimes, but much less frequently, because he's a more mature person with better control of his emotions. This is a good thing. This is overcoming personal flaws. This is progression we're seeing.

And while you're hyper focused on this one aspect of him, things like his cocky confidence haven't changed a bit. I mean, that season 3 bit between him and Pixal, and his season 11 "fire maker" streak have the exact same energy. You can not convince me otherwise.

Another adjacent quality that hasn't been dampened is Kai's impulsiveness. This can be a good quality of his, he'll get into a fight without thinking, getting the jump on the enemy. Good stuff. But, this has become such a well defined trait of Kai's that it has been used in a comedic capacity. This is what happens when a character is extremely consistent to the extent that both the audience and the characters in universe would be able to predict their actions. Kai's impulsivity used to be a more serious quality that put himself and others at risk, and was a big power move whenever he did something rash, but it's become such a staple of the show that it's now being used for comedy. That isn't Kai's impulsivity going away, that's Kai's impulsivity being recontextualized for the sake of the show. The season 9 "Who's stupid enough to jump on that thing" isn't a joke at the expense of Kai just for being dumb, it's a joke at Kai's being so predictably impulsive that everyone already knows he'll be the one to put himself in an insane amount of danger without thinking twice (you know, something stupid that might get him killed). But because in this instance, the danger is warranted, this is bravery. It's a complement to his character- it's what ends up defeating the colossus. Why are some people so bothered by this joke?

Oh right, cuz for some reason people want to peg Kai as the smart one? Look, Kai isn't stupid, none of the ninja are. All of them have smart moments (all of them have dumb ones too) and Kai can certainly handle himself, but "smart" is definitely not one of his defining characteristics- I think some people are confusing smart for his actual strength. Connected to his impulsivity, Kai has very good simplistic instincts. He sees the big picture and looks at the most surface level solution- which when the situation calls for it, that does indeed make him smart. But the same logic that led him to think "This snake has a glowing target on its head, lets hit it" also led him to think "I'm in a video game, therefore I am immortal." Are you really going to look at me and say he figured out Lloyd was the green ninja through logical deduction and a careful consideration of the facts? No. He had a gut feeling, and he trusted it. Instincts- instincts paired with his impulsive following of said instincts is what leads him to solve problems- and sometimes, that can be extremely effective. This goes for other ninja too. Jay isn't the smartest ninja- I would really only classify Zane and Nya as having intelligence define them (hence their ship name). But Jay is extremely creative and crafty. He also knows his was around mechanics, and as such, this will lead him to come up with creative tech based solutions which are smart. But, idk about you, if I had to point to another ninja as being 'dumb' it would 100% be Jay. Kai is a lot of things. He's passionate and determined and confident and persistent. He's a good improvisor, he's powerful and he's charming! These are all wonderful qualities, he doesn't also have to be the smart one. I am the worlds biggest Pixal stan, and she's a smart, sassy, powerful character, but I'm not gonna sit here and tell you she's also hilarious and adaptable and strong willed. She's a straight man to all the ninja's antics, extremely tied to her samurai x suit, and lets people push her around all the time. That doesn't mean she can't be funny, or self interested, but when she does act these ways, it stems from her other more prominent qualities. That make sense?

And while we're clearing up what Kai isn't, please stop characterizing Kai as an overly protective brother - especially romantically. The only two times he's been romantically protective to Nya are in Wu's Teas which I mean, come on and in the pilots when Jay is literally a stranger. For crying out loud, by the end of the pilot, he's smiling when Jay and Nya hug. That's not overly protective, that's just normal, any reasonable person would react this way, protective. And it's such a great stereotype break for a kids show like ninjago, having an older brother who actually trusts his younger sister to be her own independent person who can make her own decisions. I mean, I guess it's fine if you HC differently but like... idk, I don't buy it.

Now, is there still room to criticize the writers? Yes. Hell yes. But not to an extent greater than any other character. Could he have had more of a defined reaction to events of the most recent season that I won't name for the sake of spoilers? Yes. But could Zane have reacted for more than .5 seconds at being an evil war lord for apparently 60 years? Yeah. Has Kai taken a back seat in the past 4 seasons? Yeah. But so has Lloyd- and he's literally the main character of the show. Not to mention two of those seasons have gone to people who had to wait over ten seasons to get one to themselves, and one of them is a 40 minute special. Kai's doing just fine.

Anyway. Kai is great. He's a fun, stereotype breaking, impulsively driven, ball of energy and confidence who gets a good amount of screen time and some fun side plots.

One last thing to clear up: no hate to anyone. This isn't targeted at anyone specific, this post has been a long time coming, I've just seen some weird overblown claims on various platforms over the past few months and I finally sat down to write about it.

I like the Kai content we have. After all, if the writers were really that bad at writing him, then no one would like him.

Wow this was so much longer than I thought it would be. Um... if you have other long winded rants you'd like to see from me... let me know I guess?

[kuroken-lovechild]

How haikyuu characters would play genshin impact:

//featuring me nerding out about mbti types 😔

Karasuno

Hinata

As an ESFP he would probably choose his main based on who feels good to use

Quick movements, lots of jumping, strong = XIAO MAIN (probably finds the flashiness and edginess cool and enjoys the button mashing too)

would aggressively compete with kageyama on who can beat spiral abyss the fastest and with the shortest time

unfortunately they’re both not very good (initially because kenma helps him out after)

Would try to follows the plot but dialogue goes over his head

Does not understand stats other than attack at first

Wish impulse is real and never has any primos

would attempt to talk to every npc

Kageyama

META SLAVE

Has no idea what wishing/gacha is at first and builds his starters really well

Then he found out and currently mains Ganyu, Zhongli, Hutao for the big numbers

gloats about his first 5 star to hinata

Does not talk to NPCs at all and barely digs into the story

only there for spiral abyss and to make his characters stronger

Tsukishima

Didn’t wanna play until yamaguchi dragged him in to have someone to co op with

Appreciates the story and lore more than the gameplay aspect

Eula, razor (cv uchiyama kouki) main—easy to build, easy to use

Doesn’t care about wishing either

Got Eula by accident and now holds it over kageyama’s head

Has really good artifact RNG that it infuriates kagehina (gloats about it to fan the flame 😚)

Yamaguchi

he’s infp he chooses based on characters he likes 🥺

Diluc, albedo, ayaka main

(i can’t explain why I think he’d like those three, it just Makes Sense)

Co ops with tsukki and yachi, plays both dps and support

Spiral abyss makes him anxious but he pushes through anyway!!

Daichi

Starter team king 😩

Feels bad about switching his regular team out FJDFJDJJDDJ DAICHI

Probably a casual player though

Plays to coop with suga and tanaka but they carry him through domains

he’s trying his best

Suga

Mains based on whoever’s fun to play too!!

but enjoys more of a challenge

Childe main

Waiting for Scaramouche to drop hAha 🥲 and harbingers in general

Appreciates the plot and is very interested in lore!!

Diligently does spiral abyss

Doesn’t quite wish on impulse, but if theres a character he likes he’ll spend everything on their banner

Asahi

Does not play, got too scared (see: haikyuu ova)

Nishinoya

Rolls VERY much on impulse

Similar to hinata in that he also likes playing playstyles that feel good

Xiao and/or yoimiya main

(xiao because he’s short jk)

Probably raised Rosaria and planned to use her

Plot who???? we only care about world exploration and fighting in this house

Tanaka

wished for all the women, raised all the women, uses all the women

valid

Primarily mains Rosaria, ningguang and Lisa though

sorry beidou you remind him of his sister too much

waiting for signora like many of us are

Coops with noya and has INSANELY bad rng luck

Yachi

Also chooses based on characters’ personalities

gay, mains sucrose and jean

isfj child and probably feels bad about the underrated characters :(

uses amber, xinyan and qiqi too!

Raises all characters but hasn’t raised anyone to 90

Coops with yamaguchi and uses jean (as healer, support, damage dealer)

Talks to NPCs and sympathizes with their sad backstories

Gets too anxious to do spiral floors 9-12 too (mood)

Seijoh

Oikawa

Oh boy

this ENFJ 3w2 guy? you KNOW he’s gonna be the best

As long as it doesn’t clash with volleyball of course

Very VERY competitive in abyss

Has one character hed get attached to but doesn’t limit himself to using them only

Incredibly focused on team synergy, carefully crafts teams to bring out the best in each character

Tests best damage output too

But also he’d probably use meta characters and secretly raise the ones he actually likes?

Current fave: Yoimiya

Uses strong characters for coop but uses his faves for single player domains (or coop with iwaizumi)

Likes characters but surprisingly wouldnt be too invested in the plot

does not whale out of pride

Iwaizumi

Geo user

Uses characters he finds respectable in the storyline + hard hitters

Razor, klee, jean main but unaware of the family relationship

Sometimes uses beidou although her burst takes too long sometimes

Pretty casual player, only started because of Oikawa

Hanamaki

obviously he and matsukawa would make zhongli pillar dick jokes

Kaeya and beidou main (he thinks they’re cool)

Not that impatient to wait for bursts to charge or has a lot of energy recharge

whale

Matsukawa

……. Hutao main

funeral home

Would use qiqi and hutao together for the meme then grows to genuinely like qiqi

Saves up for a really long time then spends it all at once

Kindaichi

Doesn’t play much tbh

Offline for a week, comes back to do commissions for one day, leaves

Kunimi

Hed be pretty good

but lazy and forget to do dailies

then buy welkin moon instead

Focuses more on the story too rather than gameplay and points out loopholes

Mains whoever he has in his team with good synergy (like chongyun xingqiu xiangling)

Kyoutani

Rage quits 5 minutes in after hearing paimon’s voice 😔

Throws his phone at the wall

Yahaba

Simps for jean

Mains jean

Dedicated to dailies and spiral abyss

But doesn’t wish that much

Was the one who tried getting kyoutani into it and suffered the consequences

Nekoma

Kuroo

ENTP king raises a whole arsenal of characters for spiral abyss

I cant see him really getting attached to one in particular ?

makes zhongli pillar dick jokes every chance he can get

but also uses him for utility

Wants to try using a whole bunch of characters and wishes on every banner

But uses the meta ones with good team comps

sparks twitter debates with ….. interesting takes

“_____ is completely shit”

Kenma

OH BOY HES A GAMER GAMER

Whale whale whale whale

He’s tony to

Best synergy teams, understands the value of elemental mastery, REALLY values good supports, calculates possible damage numbers

Kazuha, zhongli, bennett, venti are a staple in his teams

Helps hinata and kuroo until kuroo teases too much by deliberately playing horribly

mildom and youtube streamer like murase ayumu

Appreciates story and lore very much too

Yaku

he’d LOVE the children

Probably would use characters that remind him of family members and friends

Klee, diona, qiqi, chongyun, xingqiu, razor, bennett

does spiral abyss but not obsessively

Lev

KENMA-SAN!!! LETS PLAY TOGETHER!!!

I’m sorry he would not know how the game works

Doesn’t do the ascension quests and gets stuck at AR 26 with 500k extra points

Thinks he’s amazing but it’s because he’s stuck at world level 1

I’m sorry lev ily but ……. its the truth

Tries pulling for everyone too and mains the first 5 star he got

(childe because he’s russian AKSHDKDHSKSHS /j)

Wants diluc and xiao because they look cool but gets Mona instead (doesnt understand how to use her)

Yamamoto

Also raises the women like tanaka but + kaeya

Lev complained to him about getting Mona while he’s wanted Mona for months

Not really a dedicated intense gamer EXCEPT for during those battle events

Fukurodani

Bokuto

WANTS THE STRONG AND COOL LOOKING 5 STARS

Eula, zhongli, diluc, xiao

but doesn’t know how to build either

doesn’t understand stats

would feel really bad for qiqi

Wouldn’t like signora for hurting venti :(

Wouldn’t like childe too :( until he plays the story quest and sees the ruin guard cutscene

then starts sobbing because of what a good brother he is

“AKAAAASSHI I wanna do that too!!!” then he dies

Tries to use childe but doesn’t understand the cool down management

Mispronounces and misspells tartaglia (タルタリア)

for more info on how bokuto plays genshin see Kimura ryohei’s YouTube channel ✨

Akaashi

the true childe main (just like me)

Uses characters based on utility

but mains whoever reminds him of bokuto FJDHFJFJDKSJ

Very good supports but unlike Kenma, he chooses and builds supports around his main

also uses very good supports so people won’t realize he’s using childe for the cv kimura ryohei (everyone knows anyway)

Literature nerd appreciates the plot, writing and deep lore too

Konoha

Tries pulling for everyone but has REALLY bad luck

Has really good characters but never the one he wants

loses all 50/50s and has a c4 qiqi

Ends up maining qiqi as dps

sorry konoha i didn’t mean to slander you

Shiratorizawa

Ushijima

does not know how to play or build

Uses whoever he has (aka starters)

Only plays because tendou downloaded and made an account for him

Doesn’t know how to ascend characters or farm

Forgets about talents (me)

Weirdly good RNG and doesn’t realize it 😩

“Let me look at your account wakatoshi-kun”

“Sure”

“You didn’t tell me you had 6 of jean’s Stella fortuna???”

“What’s that?”

Tendou

this man pulls for the seiyuus

Mains childe, hutao, mona for 5 stars

childe and hutao’s instinct based quickswap playstyle works so well for him!

jokes about cosplaying mona then actually does

Knows how to build, grinds, and manages ushijima’s account for him

Probably whales too

Shirabu

Meta meta meta meta

But f2p meta

Loves setting up reactions

More into the lore too and researches theories

Remembers actual names of boss drops

Semi: so how many of those buttplugs do you have again

Shirabu: 💢stop calling them buttplugs, they have actual names 💢

VERY diligent with battle pass, dailies, achievements and spiral abyss full stars

Until he //SPOILERS gets into med school and has no time for shit

Inarizaki

Atsumu

Would have a crush on a character I just know it

Invests heavily on his faves and is great at utilizing each of them

fussy . complains about a certain unit and how they can improve

or complains about how the game can improve to osamu

Osamu: yer just saying that cuz you couldn’t get a high score

Archons main (already saving for the tsaritsa)

Wouldn’t have a main dps but several hard hitting supports

Whale and falls victim to the weapon banner

Osamu

More casual player than Atsumu but still tries to get higher than him in events and spiral abyss

If atsumu’s a whale, osamu’s a dolphin

Great at dodging

Catalyst user!!

Mains ningguang, klee, yanfei + other catalyst supports

Also uses keqing

Kita

the man appreciates routine aka VERY diligent with dailies, battle pass, farming

“if you do things properly results will follow” or whatever quote he said ✨

Starter team but raises other characters for abyss

Reads dialogue and appreciates the plot

Barely gachas

Aran

will defend TO THE DEATH the underappreciated characters

Has empathy for noelle 🥺🥺

Noelle, Barbara, xinyan, bennett, children user 🥺

Talks to every NPC and loves the backstories and lore

also would feel really bad for qiqi

Suna

Uses the tall men and women and builds them all as dps (childe zhongli diluc kaeya beidou ningguang jean lisa rosaria eula)

He’d probably make a support character a dps tbh

Disregards team synergy for the shits but somehow manages to do domains and abyss

Itachiyama

Sakusa

c6 everyone

leaves

[accio-victuuri]

The GG & Li-Ning & Xianjiang Cotton Situation

I was asked to give my opinion. This is also for other bxgs who may have the same sentiment. You don’t have to agree with me but i hope you respect whatever it is I choose to share here. This is my blog and my space. I maintain this out of my pure enjoyment of the fandom and all the good it has given me. So let me address some of the points.

Li-Ning boasts their use of XinJiang Cotton

My simple answer here is, of course they will. This is not something new. Li-Ning is a celebrated olympic medal winning gymnast. A billionaire. You don’t get to that place in CHN w/out supporting the government’s agenda. In this case, that there is no injustice and persecution going on in Xinjiang. This brand, boasting about China made cotton, in their terms, shows patriotism and support for their country. This brand’s literal goal at first was to provide a local brand for Chinese athletes to wear in the Olympics. This is also not the first time that Li-Ning had been called out along w/ other international brands due to questionable ethical practices.

I find it very hard to believe that the timing of GG’s massive Li-Ning ad campaign, coinciding as it has with these Western brand boycotts, was a coincidence.

Let’s get this out of the way. Whether the boycott happened or not, Li-Ning is guaranteed an insane amount of sales because they hired Xiao Zhan. This is the same man who always sells out products in seconds. Who took KXZ to 200% growth and so on. I can talk about stats all day but this massive campaign for him is a no brainer. GG is expensive and a guaranteed success. Any brand who hires him will be stupid to not launch an all out campaign across all cities. Li-Ning knows what they are doing by hiring him. For years, they have been trying to appeal to Gen Z. Especially now that youth in CHN are more and more into the “guochao” (国潮) - National trend. Integrating traditional chinese culture and fashion w/ domestic brands. This ties in with the whole movement of erasing the connotation that made in china is of inferior quality. GG was a good choice. He appeals to the younger generation (19-25) and the working class ( 26 and up ) who buys goods. I would imagine even GG’s team did their research and knows this trend is going on too. This will not be the last you will see of this type of endorsement from him or Web. The rumors on this collaboration was going around as early as, March 15 I think? I was literally asking another bxg if GG’s ad will be pushed back a day or two because of what was happening. or what will this all implies. He was always gonna come out and endorse this brand boycott or not.

I am not removing the possibility that these local brands have a hand in the boycott. It’s a very valid concern. or that, it was a convenient perfect storm for them. A perfect storm of EU, US & CAN sanctioning CHN. The sudden attack on brands’ statements against Xinjiang cotton from a year ago. The whole agenda of controlling the people’s view on what is happening. All of these are connected. sure. There are many things behind the scenes that we will not know but we can make an educated guess of. Li-Ning is not the only domestic brand that had a positive push because of this.

On 3/25 Li-Ning’s stock closed with a high of 10.74% , plus an added 9% on the 26th when GG was announced as ambassador. The same thing happened with Anta and others.

I find it very hard to stomach seeing Li-Ning ads on my dash, regardless of GG’s presence in them. Without condemning him for taking this endorsement deal, and without judging what he is or is not personally aware

I will just be addressing GG’s alleged part in all this. I say that cause we don’t live in his brain and won’t know what he’s thinking. You can all try and project your values on him but he is a whole person of his own. I have hopefully given some view on why GG accepted to endorse this brand in the previous point. GG has spent most if not all, of his life in China. He has repeatedly said that he was brought up traditionally. Tho his father was very encouraging in him participating in the arts and widening his knowledge. He had Foreign professors at CBTU. He is part of the generation that knows what’s going on outside by using the internet. He’s smart. I would guess that he is aware of the country he is living in vs what it’s like outside of it. But at the end of the day, his loyalty will always be with his country. I hate to break it to you all but he will continue to live and thrive as an Actor even without international support. Tho it is great that he is a source of National Pride with how people outside of China love him.

Now, about his support for Xianjiang Cotton. I wanna start by showing this:

It’s a post from People’s Daily wb which boasts all the c-ent top stars that voiced their support of XJ cotton. The sense is, hey people look at your idols supporting the cause. Look at their Patriotism. What do you think will happen if GG was not on this list? Knowing that he is a top star in CHN. Knowing he was just in hot waters post 22*? Knowing that he is actively being endorsed in CCTV which is a National Channel. Are we still surprised that he posted that support? I was just honestly waiting for him to post if anything. I talked before about how C-ent celebrities are expected ( and actually it’s in their law ) to be more morally upright than the lay people. This is prime example of that.

Another one is this from CCTV Wb. I’m including this for you all to have an understanding of how this whole thing is being played out in CHN. This is the type of online narrative that is going around and I would think GG is seeing. The sentiment is,

“No matter what hardships, ups and downs and blows go through in our country, her people will always come from all directions and stand up to speak justice and do just things.”

It’s also showing all the hot searches that is related in support of XJ cotton and defending CHN’s innocence.

Also this video that was heavily circulated showing mechanized picking of cotton vs the allegations of manual.

This is the kind of narrative that is going around, as expected. I don’t really fault GG or condemn him for doing what is best for him. What is the best for an individual does not always mean it’s the best for all. In talks like this, I always try and put myself in their position. I mean, who the hell are these people trying to attack my country? the country that has provided for me. I wanna say I understand where they are coming from but understanding does not mean agreeing. I see these A LOT. ALOT ON WEIBO. The China vs. Everyone story. It’s the notion of, they are attacking us and we must protect the country. Also keep in mind that news is heavily regulated.

You know what type of news the CCP would love for them to get a hold of? The rising attacks on Asians in the US. Oh boy they would fuckin love that! Making America the big/bad asian-hating boogeyman in the eyes of their people yet again.

Okay, now we’re down to the final part of this. Why do I share the promo pics for Li-Ning. Where do i draw the line.

To me it’s simple. It had GG in it. I was waiting for this to come out, and tbh, would you all even know about this brand’s practices if the boycott didn’t happen? No. This is a bjyx blog where i share things about them. That includes ad, dramas, pictures and videos. I understand if people don’t feel comfortable w/ Li-Ning ads and others, so just don’t like those posts. Did I buy anything from the collection? No. Did I buy multiple copies Web’s single Youth in Times ( like i do with his other singles )? No. That’s where I draw the line in this. I know we’re all gonna be put on a tight spot again once Faith Makes Great comes out. Once I saw that leaked pic, Ooohhh! I just know. Also if BAH adds some propaganda about CHN’s war on drugs. I am just waiting. I am ready. I know what my values are. I will not allow other people to dictate who I am. I know what type of content I’m only gonna be sharing.

I see this very forceful air of asking bxgs to take a stand on this ( always bxg, never the other side. always us of course even if we are the minority) and it really puts me off. I read someone say that they will not say anything because they don’t owe strangers on the internet an explanation. Which is true. I have separate spaces that I share my views on world/local issues. Accounts that show my actual name and around people I know in real life. That’s what I choose to do for myself. I started this blog for myself and i still find it very bizarre that people follow this account. I am not some sort of KOL, let’s get that straight. This is just a blog where I talk about things if i want to and SCREAM about GG and Web too much. I will probably not answer any follow up questions on this cause i feel like I have addressed a good chunk of it.

Just know that whatever I post on here in support of GG and his projects does not equate to my entire political/moral stand regarding this event or any. It’s really good that we have conversations like this cause it’s an important one.

Whew! That was a long post! 😅

[leahquark]

How to escape from a time loop

How to escape from a time loop

Prevent the causing event

Alright, so you’re stuck in a time loop. But maybe you know what caused it. Hey, if the causing event keeps happening, it’s obvious. Let’s say at the end of every day, you die. Easy peasy, just don’t die one day and you’ll escape the loop. Easier said than done, sure. Especially if the loop is short, or the event is out of your control (yea, 10 minutes really feels unfair to convince your aunt Sally on the other side of the country not to knock over her Egyptian flower vase). But hey, you get unlimited tries at this. Plus, a time loop means your money and resources reset, so feel free to go nuts and waste them. Just, don’t do anything you might regret if the loop suddenly breaks. Of course, after enough repeats, I doubt there’ll be much left in this category. If the loop happens when you go to sleep, then don’t go to sleep. Heck, chase the sun around the world if you have to. Rage against the dying of the light.

2. 

Make amends for the causing event

Okay, so maybe the event that caused the time loop only happened once. And maybe it happened on the day before the loop, or in the first iteration only. Well then, you can still make amends for it, hit the edit undo. Don’t believe me? The statistical probability that YOU would be the first person stuck in a time loop is so ridiculously close to zero. If you’re in a time loop now, that means others were probably in a time loop too, and maybe got in and got out the same way. And they kinda had to get out, in order for time to progress and trap you in your time loop today. So go track down that evil time witch and apologize to her, or find a scientist who can study the alien blood you’re covered in. Tell them to keep notes, then at the end of the time loop memorize them and regurgitate them back at the start of the next loop. Remember, you’re the only one who can retain information / make progress at the end of each loop. Only you can look out for yourself, but maybe medical science has an answer.

3.

Prevent and make amends for everything that could possibly be the causing event

Okay, so maybe you don’t know why you’re trapped in a time loop. Alright, then try this. Go through a list of everything you did the day before the loop, and during the first iteration of the loop. Focus on things you said, places you went, objects you saw, things you thought about. It’s important to do this before the time loops repeat so many times you forget what happened the first time around. One of those things, something as minor as not hanging out with a friend, could have been the causing factor… at least according to movies and TV. In reality, it’s probably as likely the time loop was caused by a passing black hole, or a scientist at the large hadron collider. But hey, if it’s something not related to your personal life and daily activities, then you’re kinda screwed. So just completely change your daily routine, do things you’d never think to do, break that habit that you do on every iteration of the timeline, and hope that the loop was just some catharsis for your morning coffee addiction. Now is the time to fix any regrets you may have, to make amends, to become a better person. 

4.

Binge watch time related tv

Also read some sci fi. Of course, if you’re reading this, you’re probably on track already, and getting into the more obscure sections. That’s good, a lot of those mainstream sci fi movies are more meant to make you feel good than actually discuss the repercussions of time loops. But hey, you never know, maybe you’ll get some inspiration for something. Heck, a lot of escaping from time loops is getting the right inspiration. So yea, take a break, and binge those bad tv shows. You’ve got all the time in the world to do what you love… assuming you love sci fi television as much as I do. Heck, I won’t judge if you just want to use the time loop to binge all day, enjoy yourself! (You are trapped in a serious science anomaly we don’t fully understand after all) Just, make sure you eventually take a television break if the time loop doesn’t show any sign of fixing. 

5.

Find a guide

Alright, so basic fact of logic, there’s only one person on the planet who knows the absolute most about time loops, and chances are it’s not you. At least, it wasn’t you when you got stuck. For all you know, that person walking down the street next to you knows more than you. Heck, maybe they were trapped in a time loop too. So go ahead and ask. What’s the worst that could happen? No seriously, what’s the worst that could happen? You’re trapped in a time loop, any social awkwardness you display will be forgotten by the next loop. Go up and talk to random people, find that person who knows a ton about sci fi. My DMs are always open, and I’m sure you can find some people in a sci fi discord server. Want a real kicker? Spend one loop learning all you can about a person, just talking to them friendly and nice. Then next time loop start the conversation with an announcement that you’re in a time loop, and prove it by reciting those same facts you learned about the person in the last loop. Get to know someone, make some new friends, or just reach out for help (its so hard to escape alone). 

6.

Convince the government

That trick I mentioned, in point 5… that’ll probably work for the government too. Imagine calling up the president of the United States on his personal cell phone, telling him you’re in a time loop, and backing it up with a whole host of personal facts. What they won’t see, is the hundred or so timelines you spend going from convincing the police, to the FBI, to the governor, to your local senators, etc, etc. At every step of the way, wasting one or two timelines to learn all their personal info, then regurgitating it to them in the third timeline as proof you really are looping. It’s exhausting. All to convince some bureaucrats and some scientists to look into it. Let’s hope they really do have aliens in area 51, or this will be a massive waste of time. But hey, time is something you’ve got too much of anyway. The effort may be exhausting, but you can’t give in, you need some professional backup on your team, and no matter how much you repeat yourself, its worth the effort.

7.

Number those timelines

Alright, so at this point, try anything. But you need a way to stop yourself from trying the same thing twice. And you need a way of prompting the people you are with to stop saying the same old ideas. If you wake up on the same day every morning, and ask the people around you to help you escape a time loop, then they’re going to be repeating a lot of their responses. But in my experience, people reply, think, and remember differently based on the prompts they’re given, and maybe those different prompts will jog your brain, and the brains of the people you’re around, into thinking of something new. One way to do it is get a dictionary, or some other book with a wide variety of words, and each day refer to the next word in the book as that day's prompt. Do something completely random, completely insane, but make sure it started with you and your time loop guides reading and thinking about the prompt. So you’re probably going out to go touch an aardvark then. Come back when you’ve ridden a Zambonni and I’ll know things are really desperate. Point is, keeping trying new things, and enjoy them while you’re at it. 

8.

Keep trying

Alright, it’s not really like you’ve got much of a choice here. Going about your day, or repeating the same day twice, or acting and pretending like you’re not really in a time loop, are all ways of experimenting with something new (though, frankly I think these will just lead to frustration). Heck, maybe instead of acting crazy, what you really needed was to act normal. Maybe it’s a sentient creature keeping you trapped in the loop, and it’ll sense when you’ve given up hope and then release you from the loop. Maybe. Really doubt that though. Technically, it’s impossible to give up. But hang in there. Keep yourself, and your joy. You get to live. You get to experience something no one else has felt. You can learn a hundred new skills, and master them all, and live frivolously every day. You get to meet every person on earth, and study them all in a single day. You are technically immortal. There is nothing you have to do, no responsibilities. There’s nothing new on television to keep you glued to the screen, and no point putting any of your dreams off until tomorrow. You’re trapped in time, but in a way free. Free of consequences except the ones you choose for yourself. So choose to be happy, choose to live. Choose to value this day with your friends and family, even if they won’t value or remember them. Maybe plan one million for escaping the time loop is to go down to a nice sunny beach and just relax. In a strange way, that’s got just as much chance of working as anything else. And it’ll make your eternity here a lot more bearable than moping around your house all depressed like.

9.

Don’t die

I have no idea what the religious implications are of being trapped in a time loop. And the thing with most time loops, at least the ones I’ve seen on tv, is that death doesn’t let you escape the loop. And frankly that’s a good thing, because death is something worse. I’m not going to go into this too much, though if you really are trapped in a time loop I’m sure these few words are tantalizingly short. (If you need more, there are plenty of resources out there) But no time loop has ever been solved by dying. Even if it did resolve, your eternal purgatory would probably end up taking the form of a time loop. But don’t worry, I can give you my personal assurances that you’re alive right now. And that’s good. Because life is a beautiful thing, even when the day repeats. You know, especially then. After all these dark and gritty escape the time loop stories, of tormented characters driven mad because nothing they do matters, can’t we have one where someone is happy to be in a time loop? We all die, eventually that is. Whether you’re trapped in a time loop or not. But not all of us live. Not all of us truly live. Maybe being trapped in a time loop will help you live truly. I mean, if you really think about it, in several thousand years, is anyone even going to remember you? Remember your accomplishments? You may as well have lived for a day. If you want to escape the time loop so what you do matters again, maybe it’s time to face the reality that what you do… may not have mattered. And that’s okay. Life is about the living. Living every day, day by day, and making the most of it. We don’t always get to control the hand that life gives us. Maybe we know someone with Alzheimer's, whose memories fade at the end of each day, and makes it seem like we’re living that moment over and over. Maybe they don’t even remember who you are. Maybe, to them, you’re a stranger, who met them today, and knows so many things about them. Is it happy when someone laughs, if they won’t remember it later? Did it really happen? Yes it did. Yes it is happy. 

10. 

You can’t escape / why did you listen to me, I’ve never been trapped in a time loop

Life is a beautiful thing, time is a beautiful thing. It’s beautiful because it doesn’t loop. I can understand the anger, that bitter rage people can have, trapped and unable to reach out, repeating the same day over and over. Unable to move on. Unable to break free. And sometimes they do break free. Sometimes, silly movies and tv shows, that avoidance of the causing incident, or the help of scientists and their research, are enough to fix even the most terrible of fates. But sometimes they can’t, and we can go on, suffering forever. I’ve never been trapped in a time loop (I thought I was once, in fact, all my friends thought I was too, and they all tried to help me out of it. But I wasn’t. I wasn’t, right?), and if any of the people around me have, they've been hiding it exceptionally well. They’ve worked today, for the hope of relaxing tomorrow. They’ve made progress, with the thought that their accomplishments matter, and their adventures can wait. That’s the mindset a lot of us go through life with. But maybe, just maybe, life can’t wait until tomorrow. Maybe it takes getting trapped in a time loop to realize. When your hard work doesn’t pay off, and you can’t think of what evil thing has landed you where you are, when the universe deals you a bad hand, maybe that’s when you realize what’s important. Waking up, every day, with people you care about, ready to live life for today. Maybe tomorrow won’t come. Maybe it never will. Maybe you have to live, live every moment of your life, today. Or, maybe, just maybe, tomorrow is right around the corner. And when you tell those people around you that you love them, maybe this time they’ll remember. But what the hell do I know? I’ve never been trapped in a time loop. I’m just a person, one of billions on planet Earth, living life. 

[horsegirlneigh]

top 5 valjean and javert combinations?

Is this going to just be a list of Earl carpenter with different people....well lets see shall we.

1. Earl Carpenter and David Shannon

The dream team. My first combo and still my favourite to this day. Earl's Javert had this gruff slightly wild energy to it (much of which was lent by those INSANE whiskers). Whoever was resident director on 2008/9 knew their brick SO WELL because the javert/Valjean dynamic was spot on and while Earl is an amazing actor I think his interpretation of Javert owes a lot to the West End direction and the whole 2008/9 cast who formed that beautiful whole. He and Shannon had such chemistry and this kind of animal tension between them that would have made Hugo proud.

2. Earl Carpenter and Jonathan Williams

Much to my dismay I never saw this particular combo in person but God bless the video master who recorded them. Jonathan was excellent with every cast he performed with but his incredibly soft and world weary Valjean next to Earl's sardonic masterpiece of a Javert fills my heart with joy.

3. David Shannon and Jeff Nicholson

Jeff really should have gone in history as one of the greats. He really commanded that stage and his voice was so deep it was actually quite frightening it was a different dynamic than Earl's javert entirely and it was amazing. He felt really threatening especially in the confrontation and against the wounded animal protecting his young that was David Shannon's Valjean it was just like...yes.

Here is an audio for an idea

4. Jeremy Secomb and Peter Lockyer

Jeremy's javert would have been excellent even if he was playing opposite a broom handle tbh. he is also one of the great javerts of the 21st century and he and peter had such chemistry. I'm not sure it was the right chemistry but it was brilliant to watch and I miss them so much. As a pair they are really only on this list because of the backstage antics....and because jeremy HAD to be on the list and I wasn't a fan of Adam.

5. Drew Sarich and Earl Carpenter

This one is on here for pure entertainment value. I love them both I adore them both and their individual portrayals of the characters but watching them together was a bit like taking one straight friend to a gay bar. But this was an excellent thing to watch.

[crystalelemental]

Unit Viability Speculation - Sygna Suit Cyrus

Remember the second anniversary?  How, in the run-up to it, they released Lear, who was stupid powerful, and everyone was like oh damn, he's pretty good.  But then you got the pushback of "Yeah but he's bait, wait for the anniversary units, they'll be the real meta defining threats."  And then they weren't, and Lear continued to hold the title of one of the best units in the game.

Yeah, it's hard to tell if that's happening against on accident or if they've weaponized it in preparation for another absurdly good Master Fair right now.

Calling SS Cyrus fantastic is an understatement.  Calling him the best unit in the game is an overstatement.  By sheer utility, this guy does an absolute ton, and by raw damage...yeah, he's insanely good there too.  Surprise, I guess. His attack is Dark Pulse, which is solid damage and good flinch rate.  He also has Dark Void, which retains its correct accuracy of 80%, fuck the status nerf of Gen 7, and hits all foes.  Serena but premium.  Dark Wish does what all of them do, and we'll get to that breakdown later.  His trainer move buffs special attack by 2, and accuracy and crit by 1, so he gets everything he could want on his own.

Passives are Sync Snooze, which puts all foes to sleep after sync.  It's basically Summer Lyra if her sync were good.  Bad Break 9, which lowers a random stat by 1 when he uses a status move, those being Dark Wish or Dark Void.  And he gets Shared Nightmare, which basically deals some free damage to all foes per Dark Pulse while the foes are asleep.  Which means that in Champion Stadium, where the sides don't have sleep resistance?  He's chunking them with every attack even though he's single target.  Absolutely fucked how good that is.  It also notes "not affected by some status changes."  Which...I do not know what that means, but oh damn.  He either bypasses screens or damage reduction with this, and if it’s the latter then hot damn.

His grid is just as good, but seems to emphasize damage.  Umbral Power and Acceleration for the Zone.  Bad Break 1 for potential doubling up on debuffs but only at a 20% rate.  Dark Void Fast Track which is fun for gauge control.  Dark Pulse gets the Umbral Power, two Good Nightmare, Crit Strike 2, and Aggravation, so like...wow does that stack a lot.   And the really nifty thing: Power Play.  Based on the debuffs currently on the foe, it powers up sync.  This is...220% bonus damage.  That's one node that's better than some double or triple node units get.  While I want to love it, and it does kinda combo with his natural passive...one stat rank to one random stat only when using Dark Void or Dark Wish.   Limited is putting it mildly.  This means he's team reliant, and that reliance is debuff support.  There are options, but Classic Elesa, the best debuffer, needs paralysis, which means no sleep, which is a huge facet of his value.  Palentine's Dawn is probably the best partner right now, so like...awesome, a huge buff in viability for a unit already stupid good.  At 2/5 he keeps Fast Track and Aggravation, which...isn't much, but it's something. Gauntlet demands speed buffs, and flinch is really good in that mode, so these are solid traits to maintain.  But 3/5 obviously preferred.

Before I get into the finale, let's talk his Dark-type damage-dealing partners and their viability with him for Dark Zone:

Absol is great, it wants to little and gets a huge buff to sync nuke.

Furbert also just kinda goes, maybe a bit of attack support.

Masked Royal needs a crit buff supporter who ideally handles attack. Those aren't exactly in short supply so valid.

Karen and Houndoom are really sad but actually work in a specific combo that involves the new Dawn.

BP Karen is the same as Masked Royal.

Grimsley is unsalvageable, but otherwise same deal as Masked Royal.

Nanu remains to be seen by grid, but is physical so beneficial.

Marnie’s Power Trip is insane.

Much like Steel, a mostly physical focused set, and that means they all partner well with Hop who is free, which is very good.  Base Karen’s a bit off, as is Lysandre if you want to use him with Dark Pulse, but there are options if you got them.

Basically, Cyrus does a metric ton and thensome.  He's Lucas-esque in that I think his raw damage is going to be way higher than the units he's supporting half the time, but this is a guy whose general tools are useful 1/5.  I hate sleep chaining, but it can be effective, and if you like sleep chains with Serena, great news: he can do it too, and gets even more passive benefits from it than she did.

That said, his fatal flaw is that while he can do it all alone, he winds up stretching himself too thin, not really getting to shine as strongly in any one category because he’s over-extending and not being mindful of his needs.  Which is...just thematically perfect.