#a condensed version of the previous two

[goodnightmemes]

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER SENTENCE STARTERS

❛ I'm sorry for your loss, your...your losses, rather. ❜

❛ Nobody gets away with anything. Not really. ❜

❛ Don't lecture me about family values. You're just as shit in that department as I am. ❜

❛ That day was the last day we were all in the same place. Alive. ❜

❛ They will love you because I love you, and the only thing stronger than love is how scared they are of getting cut out of the will. ❜

❛ And most people go their whole, wasted, stupid lives without one minute of true resolution. Not me though. ❜

❛ You know what a resolution is? It's a deal you make with the future. ❜

❛ The people in charge of making us healthy make us sick. We cheat the dying. We fleece the poor. Promote the racist. Let the demons run amok. This world needs changing. ❜

❛ You're supposed to be shadowing me. Shadows don't fucking talk. ❜

❛ This is beneath you. And you're going to kill it. But you're better than all of this. And the minute you figure that out, you're going to be unstoppable. ❜

❛ There's no such thing as a step back. You go forward. If you hit a brick wall, you don't go back, you go through. ❜

❛ Nearly realized is the sweetest. It's better, I promise, in the moment just before than in the moment after. ❜

❛ You are consequence. And tonight, you are consequential. ❜

❛ You are a pretty, pretty little thing. ❜

❛ You wonder why people hate us. This is why. ❜

❛ Everybody knows that edible arrangements are what you send to people you hate. ❜

❛ If you start thinking this is reality, you'll just slip into the abyss. ❜

❛ We can talk about it after because I've had a shit day and I really just wanna starfish and forget the world. ❜

❛ Don't talk to me until I've come at least twice. ❜

❛ I love how deliciously, pointlessly mean you lot can be. ❜

❛ You still didn't need to come here though. It could have happened quiet. Peaceful. In bed. But I guess it's got to happen like this. ❜

❛ It's amazing how far you can get on denial. You know why so many people use denial to get by? Because it really fucking works. ❜

❛ You can't enhance this image? You see it all the time on TV. They hit a button, it enhances it. ❜

❛ I don't even own anything funeral black. ❜

❛ Satin is silk for poor people, no one should wear it to a funeral, unless they died in it. ❜

❛ Nobody knows they're the fall guy until they're falling.❜

❛ Women are the natural leaders of the species. Ancient Egypt had it right. ❜

❛ Okay, just because the door's open doesn't necessarily guarantee you a seat at the table. ❜

❛ You're not who I thought you were. ❜

❛ I really didn't want to think it, but...you're all fucking monsters. ❜

❛ Watching you shit on your principles would have been worth every fucking penny. ❜

❛ The mind of guilt is full of scorpions. And I wouldn't wish their sting on anyone. ❜

❛ Don't have to be smart to be dangerous. I'm not scared of rattlesnakes 'cause they're so smart. ❜

❛ You're so out of touch with your human side...you can't even listen to anything outside your own head. ❜

❛ I haven't seen you sleep in like...I mean, it's been a fucking long time. Like, horror movie long. ❜

❛ Life is insane. It is madness. The sooner you understand that, the better off you'll be. ❜

❛ The world might not be safe but listen to me, and listen carefully. I won't let anything happen to you. ❜

❛ All these terrible things and I thought, that's when people come together. But we've never been further apart. ❜

❛ Tell me it's worth it. Tell me you know the risk and I'll be there with you. I'll back you up. Just tell me. ❜

❛ Shut your mouth, get your shit together. The fuck is wrong with you? ❜

❛ Men, when they think they're immortal, all they want to do is fuck. When they figure out they're going to die, all they want to do is fuck. ❜

❛ It just makes you think, you know, life is so fucking short. ❜

❛ You don't have to be a tyrant, but if you don't want to be consistently cruel, then you have to be sufficiently brutal at least once to establish authority. ❜

❛ I thought it was an act. I figured you just played the housewife so you could keep a roof over your head. Spread your legs or suck his dick twice a week and you're set. You never have to work a day in your life. And I thought, "Good for her, she found her angle," but...this is really you. Isn't it? ❜

❛ Words got us into this, words can get us out. ❜

❛ You're a collection of impeccable, elaborate masks in orbit of a stunted heart. ❜

❛ There are certain things one shouldn't have to face in life. Time enough for self-reflection after. ❜

❛ I don't normally like to get my hands this dirty, but honey, you earned it. ❜

❛ I see you now. I look at you and I see... You. The poverty of you. ❜

❛ The real world is Darwinian. Survival, chaos, power. Leverage. ❜

❛ You feel it. In the air. We're sitting outside of time and space. ❜

❛ This is the moment luck meets opportunity. ❜

❛ In the ancient world, we'd seal this with blood, or spit. And then later, papyrus. But, a deal's a deal all over the world. ❜

❛ We're a... virus, I think. People, I mean. ❜

❛ But everyone loves something. And in that love there's collateral. ❜

❛ I say this with love. Let it go. Let it all go. ❜

❛ So I say, we stand tall and proud. Bill's come due. Let's not hide here in the basement like we've got something to be ashamed of. No. Not us. You and me against the world. ❜

❛ It may not have been perfect, but you can't say we didn't change the world. How many people can say that at the end? ❜

❛ I knew I would climb to the top of the tower on a pile of corpses. ❜

❛ It don't matter in the end why you did any of it. I don't fucking care why you did it. We don't want your confession, or your rationale, or your explanation. ❜

[spork-supremacy]

Mr Walker’s unhealthy relationship habits

This analysis has been a long time coming but I’m just going to do a condensed version of what should be in a really long essay I’m working on.

so in a previous post I mentioned that I would further go into several issues that pop up in Jay’s character when he’s in a relationship. This shall be that post.

at the start of the show everything is fine, he’s quickly pinned as the comedic relief who would most likely derive some of his comedy from failing to impress the girl he liked. And then within eight episodes the show actually follows through with the relationship it sets up between Jay and Nya (who let’s be real was at first obligatory female we need to have this plotline and appeal to a wider audience from a narrative stand point, as much as I don’t like to admit it)

there was literally nothing wrong between the two for the first two seasons, like maybe early signs of possessiveness on Jay’s end, as seen in Double Trouble when he is told that his double kissed Nya before he could and then promptly poofs him out of existence. “No one kisses my girl.” But frankly that’s on par for the writing of the time from what I can tell. Or Jay’s general desperateness to be with Nya (see Wrong Place, Wrong Time, when Zane says something along the lines of “we have to convince Wu to help Kai or else Nya will never fall head over heels for Jay.” And Jay jumps at Wu yelling for him to help past Kai.) or any girl for that matter considering his first words in the pilot were “we’re saving a girl? Is she hot?”

aside from that there is no unhealthy display of behaviour that I can think of, and mostly the relationship was just a thing that was just there and often brought up to mess with Jay or even help build his character as his true potential lied in his self-confidence and learning he does not have to change who he is to be liked. For reference see the entirety of Once Bitten, Twice Shy.

the real issues start to show themselves during season 3, at first it was just something small, with the implication that over the months between season 2 and 3 that the main ship on the show was going through… something that developed offscreen. This mainly due to Jay’s clingy behaviour and boundary issues as Nya states “what did we say about boundaries.”

I still don’t know where this could be applied anywhere before season three though.

Unhealthy trait number 1 has been identified, and will take ages to be brought up again. Boundaries are further discussed in season six where he is shown to be in constant Violation of Nya’s, so much in fact he is able to have a parallel between him and the main villain of the season for that reason. It is implied that he himself comes to this realisation when Nya calls to the fact that both him and Nadakhan want her for themselves but no one considered her needs.

later on in the episode Black Out do we get the worst of his emotional outbursts. A side plot line that had been developing was that of Nya considering other options because a computer said she should be with Cole instead of Jay, no I’m not going to even how that machine knew anything about her, just going to accept the cartoon logic. Jay finds out about this from Pixal who corrects his mother as she says Jay and Nya are such a great couple. He freaks the hell out, as one does when faced with not being the number one option and instead of having a good discussion with his girlfriend about this, he instead tackles Cole as soon as he steps into the trailer.

for all intents and purposes Cole is oblivious to what is going on and fights back in a mixture of spite and self-defence, further fuelling a rivalry that really shouldn’t exist if someone just acted mature and-

Unhealthy trait two identified, that of jealousy so strong it overrides rational thought.

We can actually explain this trait as a result of Jay’s insecurities that we know have been present probably before the first season. Skipping to season six we are able to identify that a sum of these insecurities are rooted in how Jay grew up, raised in a junkyard and poor, we also know from season one he is also insecure about his general looks and personality. Most likely believes that he could never be enough for anyone so he overcompensates with false bravado, and once his ego is shattered it only grows with spite.

the third unhealthy trait that we can identify is the way he idealised relationships. In the pilots he makes it clear that he hopes to be attracted to whoever they end up saving, and once gets to properly speak to Nya he shoots his shot, well Zane speaks for him as he is unable to do it himself. All he asks is “do you like blue?” And the rest is seventeen seasons of history. In season six it is shown that Jay also more or less believes a relationship will solve all his problems, particularly to do with his self-esteem. Hence why he does anything to get his relationship with Nya back the way it was before season three, despite Nya’s insistence on not wanting a partner. He thinks it is what’s best for the both of them, when really he is just thinking about what is best for him, as being in a relationship helps him feel accepted.

with this we goes into the final trait, that of his selfishness. As we can see a lot of these problems are pretty much all on Jay and have to do with the relationship in relation to him. Until season seven, which is when the relationship was treated as more a background thing instead a catalyst for drama, we can see that Jay is often thinking of himself. He is insecure about himself, he disregards boundaries to get what he wants, he idealises relationships because he thinks it will validate him. He is too self absorbed in the early half of the show, so much that no wonder he developed these traits. But like a good character he grew and we don’t see much of these traits after skybound, signalling that some message about his selfishness was able stick and help develop him.

I’m probably not gonna read over this but here you go.

[wanderinghedgehog]

By now, y’all might be familiar with that poll I posted awhile ago about different actor’s interpretations of a certain line in the Les Mis musical. Well, now I’m gonna talk about it. Hooray!

”Forgive me, sir. I would not dare” is such a fascinating line to me partially because of how it takes the place of an entire series of monologues from a chapter in the novel. For time’s sake, the musical condenses the runaway cart incident, Javert voicing his suspicions about the mayor, and the result of his suspicions into one scene which puts it in a different context. Instead of reporting Madeleine and then gaining information about Valjean’s lookalike as he does in the novel, Javert instead finds himself suspicious of Madeleine despite already knowing that “Jean Valjean” has been recaptured. Surprisingly, this doesn’t significantly change Javert’s motivation for taking such an apologetic tone. In both cases, he chided himself not for being suspicious of the mayor, but for being so in a way that trusted his own feelings more than that of the law. “Forgive me, sir. I would not dare” is not only a fumbled apology, but a testament to how rare it is for him to disregard his superiors. It’s a moment to understand his philosophy pre-Stars. Not only that, but it provides different information than Stars. It shows how the strictness of Javert’s moral code doesn’t only make him seem authoritative, but can also degrade him.

But an apology is not inherently degrading. So why is it in this case? This is where actor interpretation becomes important. The effect comes from the tone, not the words.

I’ve noticed a few different ways actors tend to portray this line. The first involves more of the pleading present in the novel. This interpretation comes across as somewhat panicked, trying to convey a plea for forgiveness and being appalled by his own actions simultaneously. This is beneficial in the way that it can clearly draw the audience’s attention to the difference between this line and the more composed lines surrounding it. Additionally, this particular version of the line tends to split into two subcategories. One is more reserved, contrasted with the previous, more confident lines and effectively communicates abashment. The other is more distressed and makes the apology seems urgent. Both subcategories serve the same purpose though.

The second interpretation is much more even-toned than the first. With this one, Javert maintains his composure and the apology rarely comes across as anything other than the result of a momentary lapse in judgment. This version of Javert tends to prioritize professionalism over any kind of charisma. My opinion of this interpretation varies depending on the actor.

The third interpretation is probably my least favorite. It has little to no sincerity and makes it clear that Javert is still quite suspicious of the mayor, but simply doesn’t want to alarm him. The apology has absolutely none of its original meaning. This interpretation irks me because it takes away an aspect of this character I find very interesting (the fact that Javert is a bootlicker in the most genuine way possible).

Anyway, I’m not sure how to end this. I’m might‘ve not really had a point here, but that’s okay. I just really like this line.

[queer-ragnelle]

Do you think one can just jump into the vulgate cycle? I have a vague understanding of arthuriana; I’ve read the Mabinogion, Monmouth, and Malory, but two-three years ago. Is there a text I should read before hand or reread these previous ones? Thank you so much!

Hi anon!

Absolutely you can jump right into the Vulgate cycle. Mabinogion and Monmouth predate Vulgate, and elements of those are repeated in the Vulgate, which is a complete story in itself. The Post Vulgate is then a condensed version of that, which Malory then condensed down again into Le Morte d’Arthur. So you’ll be familiar with some elements, but require no prior reading to appreciate the Vulgate.

Here is a tutorial that may help you navigate the Vulgate and here is a reader version by Norris J Lacy which compiles chapters from throughout the Vulgate.

But really you can pop open the Vulgate from the start and get right into it! History of the Grail is the first book which covers a lot of exposition stuff that will be repeated later during the Grail Quest, but is nonetheless interesting. After that is Story of Merlin which will cover stuff you read in Monmouth, like Merlin’s origin, but then continues to Arthur’s origin and gets into the Orkney bros as teenagers/young men! (And Mordred as a baby!) Lancelot Part I picks up with Lancelot’s story and continues on from there through the rest of the Vulgate. You can start with any of those books, but Story of Merlin is just so good I definitely recommend it.

I hope that helps explain things for you a bit! Here’s where you can read the Vulgate in full! Please let me know what you think as you get into it. It’s my favorite favorite favorite!!! Enjoy! :^)

[redsongcat]

If you are a Hoyoverse / HSR / Fate fan, please read this regarding Veeveey2k/Xinyismuu/blkneuvilette

TW: racism, mentions of grooming, harassment/doxxing, catfishing, sexual harassment, etc.

We would like to bring your attention to Merlin/Asa/Vee, an individual who was known in the Fate fandom, who is still racefaking, catfishing, and harassing minors under a false identity.

You may know her by the user VeeVeey2k, neuvibao, or Xinyismuu in the Honkai star rail community, which she has joined earlier this year pretending to be a blasian. Her Tumblr user at this very moment is @/blkneuvilette

It is crucial that we document down this person's online activities, as we have also included new evidence of catfishing by directly contacting various victims for confirmation of details. In addition to linking the document, we will also be providing a condensed version of the contents below "Read more", but we strongly urge you all to read the document for full context.

Reblogs are strongly appreciated, stay safe.

Firstly, we strongly recommend you to read through user @happyartisanreview's post regarding her comprehensive history of inappropriate conduct with minors. They also regularly update on the current users of Merlin/Vee.

We also recommend going through the last thread by user blusongbird001 on twitter, as they have also linked down other relevant threads on the site regarding her previous identities.

It has come to our attention, after being reached out to, and having reached out to multiple people ourselves, that Merlin (who is pretending to be a blasian called “Xinran”, nicknamed Vee), along with her friends/bf are holding NSFW conversations in her server full of minors, as well as harassing/threatening to doxx various victims in the fandom.

INAPROPPRIATE INTERACTIONS WITH MINORS

I cannot stress this enough. It is so incredibly inappropriate for someone of such a history to continue to purposefully put herself (and her boyfriend) within the same space as minors and subject them to NSFW conversations.

Especially when she herself has promised to not make any more servers with minors in the past. Yet she and her bf Mika/Mio (@/zxmikah on twitter) who has admitted to believe there were “links between merlin and Vee”, proceeds to have nsfw conversations about his bathroom habits in their server with minors as young as 13. This should not be happening at all.

HARASSMENT AGAINST MINORS (NSFW)

Merlin and her friends have also in the past few months, harassed several minors aged between 13-15, threatened to dox them, allowed NSFW comments/harassment to be made by her friends towards these minors All with absolutely zero attempts to even stop or regulate her server either.

And as Merlin/Vee’s boyfriend was an active participant in harassing the victims mentioned, we were also requested to include this thread that was made last month regarding his islamaphobia in the Genshin community.

Merlin/Vee has also found the address of the underaged victims, referred to as “C” in the doc, and claimed in her own public server that she can “just decide one day to drop her house address”. For context, Merlin currently racefakes as a Chinese nicknamed “Xinyi”

Needless to say it is incredibly inappropriate and weird of Merlin/Vee to keep track of a 13 year old minor (who has already blocked her at this point), and claim that the minors’ family circumstances were a result of Merlin practicing Juju..?

CATFISHING

Merlin/Vee has also CATFISHED complete strangers on her previous AND current alt, claiming these individuals to be her sister and parents, all the whilst fabricating their family history, race, occupations, and even claiming emotional abuse while using their faces.

We were fortunately able to reach out to two of the catfished individuals, and discovered that the “father” and “sister” merlin/Vee claimed were hers were in fact FROM THE SAME FAMILY. They both have NOTHING to do with Merlin, Vee, Xinyi, Tiana or any other names she goes by.

We were given full permission by Luisa to post the screenshots above. Luisa and her whole family are aware of what has transpired and that their photos were used without their consent. We have also handed over every relevant information and lies Merlin has spread all the way from last year on her alt up to this month on her current account that may possibly endanger or defame Luisa’s family in any way.

Merlin claiming her father works in the Big 4 of Ireland, using Luisa's father's photos. Luisa has already confirmed that this is a lie.

We also want to point out that Merlin has catfished this family as her own on her PAST ALT with no regards to real life consequences at all.

There is absolutely zero reason and justifications for any of the things said and done by Merlin/Vee towards her dozens of victims, past and present. Especially when she is committing acts of harassment towards minors under a false identity and defaming someone else’s family.

more examples of her trying to pass off random strangers as her relatives.

RACEFAKING AND RELIGION RELATED MATTERS

Regarding her racefaking- This is a topic that many of us have already gone over again and again. I, along with many other fellow Asian contributors are deeply exhausted at this point to even have to fight on what has already been proven.

No matter how much she tries to convince people that she is related to Ramses II, that shes Chinese Hokkien and attends “marriage tea parties” arranged by her great aunt, that she’s related to the families she catfished- She has never been any of these and never will be.

Keep in mind that Merlin (who claims to be Chinese) has a TikTok account dedicated to posting translations for HSR. If she is indeed Chinese and a mandarin speaker, how did she manage to mess up such a simple phrase this badly? Did your DeepL hit the usage limit that day?

And as per her old habits of finding new nationalities to collect every week, she has also recently started identifying as part Filipino, East Asian, as well as Indian again. All the whilst claiming that Hokkien and Vietnamese are alike. (They are nothing of the sort).

She also has a long history of pretending to be a muslim all the whilst saying things like this.

Threatening to call people by racial slurs when she's racefaking.

HER IDENTITY

Merlin/Vee has repeatedly built up the inconsistencies towards her own identity, race, culture, nationality and religion while exhibiting discriminatory behaviour towards the multiple communities and other religious groups that she is not a part of.

Going so far as to catfish people she has mutual friends with and use their family’s photos to spread lies about their father simply shows Merlin’s delusions regarding the “lack” of consequences of her own actions.

Merlin seems to have forgotten that she posted her own BIRTHDAY information on her previous alt, which we have already proven to be her account. The birth year shows 2004, not 2001.

How convenient is it that “Xinyi” shares the same birthday, surname, location, catfish victims, IRL social circle and even face and injuries when she has claimed she knew nothing about Merlin?

HER CURRENT SOCIALS

As Merlin:

Tumblr:@/kireijobmaker

As Vee (active):

Instagram: @/veeveey2k

Tumblr: @/blkneuvilette

Tiktok: @xinyismuu

Twitter: formerly @veeveey2k, @muutxt

People involved in the harassments:

Mika/Mio (Merlin/Vee's boyfriend): @/zxmikah

Zaf: @/skyfonz on tiktok

London (Merlin/Vee's "cousin"): @/zawgawaw

[lil-shiro]

A (hopefully) half decent guide to get into watching figure skating

With the Junior Grand Prix circuit starting this week, I wrote up a little guide for my online pals and anyone else interested in getting into the sport. I'm going to be focusing on Elite Level Skating.

Disclaimer in case I put this into the main tags: I may make a metaphors or two to F1 for comparison since I primary post F1 related things but I do have a #figure skating tag

Honestly if you want a really good write up/guide I highly recommend the website So You Want to Watch Figure Skating and they even have a Tumblr where they post updates.

If you want to read my more condensed, lower quality version, then stick around.

General Info

The International Skating Union (ISU) is the governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines (not just figure skating but speed skating as well). They're like the FIA in this case and decide/vote on regulations and changes.

Each country has their own individual national associations that administers the sport at the national level.

For example, USFS (U.S. Figure Skating), Skate Canada, etc. These associations do things like assign their skaters to competitions, decide funding, hold national level competitions etc.

Figure skating has 4* disciplines - Men's single - Women's single - Pairs - Ice Dance

*(There's also synchronized skating but I don't really keep up with it)

The two categories I'll be focusing on are: Junior and Senior. You can read about the specific age requirements here

Scoring

A final competition score is comprised of the total score of two programs (segments) added together.

A Short program (SP) score + a Free program (FP) score*

The main difference is that the SP is shorter and the FP is longer. But you can read into the different technical element requirements that I linked since they vary from disciple.

*In ice dance the SP and FP are called Rhythm dance (RD) and Free dance (FD)

To break it down even further, each total segment score is calculated based on the following:

Technical Element Score (TES) + Program Component Score (PCS) = Total segment score (TSS)

TES:

Each technical element preformed has a base value of points (following the code of points) depending on difficulty (it's comparable to gymnastics code of points scoring)

The judges then assign GOE (grade of execution) that increases or decreases the base value depending on how well it was executed

For more detailed info and to read about what makes up the PCS, the USFS has an overview here and guide here.

Competitions

I'm only going to focus on major and easily accessible competitions for this guide. The goal of competitions is to place high and get world standing points.

National Championships Typically held mid-season ish (Dec-Jan). Pretty straight forward, each country hosts their own national champion competition (most people just call them Nationals) for each discipline and age category. Depending on the country, these results may have a little or big impact on which skaters they pick to go to international championships for the rest of the season.

Grand Prix Grand Prix are a series of qualifying events (each held in a different country) that lead to the Grand Prix final. Skaters earn qualifying points at each Grand Prix event and the six highest-ranking qualifiers meet at the ISU Grand Prix Final.

A skater/pair can only participate in a maximum of 2 events. And each individual Grand Prix event can only have up to 3 skaters from the same country in each discipline.

Senior Grand Prix: 6 qualifying events

- for break down of how to qualify for the final refer to this page - skaters are eligible to be assigned to events based on results at the previous World Championships, season’s best scores from the previous and current season, and overall world standing

Junior Grand Prix: 7 qualifying events

- the same requirements apply for qualifying for the finals - eligibility wise, juniors have no minimum score required, as long as they're old enough their country can enter them - there is also no cap on the total # of participants unlike in seniors - # of spots for each nation are designated by previous world junior championship results

Europeans (European Figure Skating Championships) As the name states, Europeans is an ISU Championship in which only European skaters ("members of a European ISU Member") compete for the title. It is regarded as quite prestigious since it's the sport's oldest competition (first held in 1891).

# of competitors per country at Euros is determined based on results from the previous year

Four Continents Championships (4CC) 4CC is like Europeans but with all the other continents [Americas (North America and South America), Africa, Asia and Oceania]. Skaters must belong to a non-European member nation of the ISU.

Each nation can have up to 3 skaters from the same country in each discipline

Each skater must have obtained the minimum TES score requirement in the current or previous season

*Europeans/4CC are senior level only events

Junior/Senior World Championships Aka: the most important competition of the season! (Other than when the olympics happen)

Just like Europeans, # of spots each nation is allocated depends on results from the previous year. This is how they're determined (wording from this reddit post):

A country can have between one and three skaters/teams per discipline.

Each country automatically gets one spot in each discipline.

To get a second spot next year, that skater/team has to place in the top ten. 

To get a third spot, that skater/team has to place in the top two. 

For countries who already have multiple placements, both skaters or the top 2/3 entries: 

must add up to ≤13 with their placements to secure/maintain a third spot (ie. 8th and 5th, 3rd and 9th, etc.)

or ≤28 to secure/maintain a second spot. (ie. 10th and 8th, 5th and 20th, etc.)

How to Watch

All the competitions I mentioned are live-streamed on the ISU YouTube channel. They also stay up so you can watch replays if a competition is held at an inconvenient time!

The Junior Grand Prix events were streamed on the ISU Junior YouTube channel but this year they will also be streamed on the main channel. You can still watching replays all the way from 2011 on it tho!

Occasionally you may find yourself Geo-blocked from a stream. I find this only happens when a competition is being hosted in your country because they want you to use the local streaming/TV service. For example, I'm based in Canada so I'm blocked from the Skate Canada GP event on YouTube because they're streaming it on CBC. I was also blocked from the World's 2024 Youtube stream because it was hosted in Canada. This includes full replays as well. But this is really easy to bypass with a VPN.

Refer to this page for more info

Resources

Here are a few resources to keep up with schedules, timing, standings etc.

Skating Scores: Overview of events, scores, and world standings

@/fskatecomptimes: Time-zone adjusted schedules for ISU-recognized figure skating events

So You Want to Watch Figure Skating: Recommending them again because they're awesome

Jackie Wong: Figure skating analyst, provides updates/live tweets from events

Notes :)

I hope this helps and is somewhat understandable. If you have any questions feel free to send me an ask or DM!

My advice is to just start watching and things will come naturally. I never thought I would be able to identify any jumps aside from an axel...but here I am watching competitions, finding myself calling under rotations on a 3T...

This season is the pre-olympic season and there's lots of skaters returning from injury/break so it should be exciting!

My figure skating tag

My favourite discipline is women's but I try to watch everything

I'm desperate for a Canadian skating revival (2018 you were everything)

Favourite ice dance team: Evgenia Lopareva / Geoffrey Brissaud

Current fave skaters (senior): Chaeyeon Kim, literally all of team Japan, Adam Siao Him Fa, Andreas Nordebäck, Alysa Liu + many more

*I would like to mention that just like any other sport there are a lot of issues within figure skating. It's an environment with a lot of young people whom are susceptible to mistreatment/harassment/abuse, so I just wanted to bring that to light since new viewers will probably discover shocking things that have happened/are happening. And overall raise awareness about being mindful viewers like not commenting on a skater's body for example and just advocating for the increased safety of the sport

There is also most definitely politicking involved when it comes judging, but we as viewers will never know how rampant and the details surrounding it. Some posts explaining it more here and here.

[dukestewart]

I actually have a question, I'm wanting to start a webcomic at some point in the future myself, do you have any recommendations or advice for me?

Okay, I have a million things to say on the subject but to save you a lot of scrolling I’ll cut it down to the main things I wish I knew when starting my webcomic.

Don’t overprepare

It’s easy to fall into the trap of perfecting your art style or developing your character arcs before you actually, like, make the thing. The truth is you get diminishing returns on the pre-production phase, and too much planning will just waste your time. I once wrote an entire script and sketched out 200 pages for a graphic novel version of my webcomic Roundhouse, 90% of which is now redundant or contradictory. Probably took me hundreds of hours. Whoops. Make a basic plot line and some concept pictures by all means, you gotta start with something, but you’ll be much more motivated to make the comic when you’re already making it.

Collect references

This might sound kind of contradictory to my previous advice but bear with me. It’s important to prioritise creation over planning but gathering a compendium of your favourite artworks and writing techniques will save you time in the long run. If I’m ever stuck on how to draw a certain expression for example I know I have a folder full of expertly drawn faces to remind me how nostrils work. Personally I keep separate reference folders for colour, anatomy and character designs. Fantastic cure for artist’s block, swear by it.

Get someone to proofread

You have no idea how important it is to get a second opinion. No one in the history of media has ever been better off without a different pair of eyes to catch a mistake. They’ll see the obvious things you missed, a typo, a pacing issue, a joke that makes no sense… if you’re embarrassed to show it to anyone in your life then get an internet friend to have a look. Hell, I’ll have a look. Send me a message, I’m easy.

Even the most talented creators struggle to be seen

A good comic will always have a better chance of success than a crap one but that’s only a part of the equation. We’re forgetting our two troublesome neighbours, Monsieur Marketing and Lady Luck. It stinks, but we operate in an algorithm-based economy, and getting things out there takes a lot of hard research. I hate the marketing side of things, personally. I’d much rather make a page every week and not care whether it’s seen or not but such is the nature of capitalism that I have to try and monetise my work any way I can. Knowing someone in the business can’t hurt either.

Look, I’ll never be able to condense everything I know about webcomics in a single post so consider this my declaration to give advice to anyone who asks for it. Got a specific question about comics? Message me.

[paperanddice]

Just a random off the cuff from going over a bunch of previous edition D&D monster books, but 4e had probably the best expanded monster manual devils. There's usually lots of passable to good demons people come up with, but devils seem to be a more difficult prospect. Just going through some examples we get:

3.0 Monster Manual 2: 8 demons, 3 devils. I'd argue that the demons are mostly so-so, the abyssal maw is pretty good and probably the only one to be carried over to future books, but at least the jovoc and palrethee have some interesting ideas, and most of the others at least aren't bad. Meanwhile, two of the devils are just awful. At least the malebranche made its way into 4e.

3.5 Monster Manual 3: 2 demons, no devils. The arrow demon feels like a devil in design, it's so weird to have a mid tier demon who's identity revolves around wielding weapons and strict military combat strategy.

3.5 Monster Manual 4: 4 demons and the demonhive as an extended Abyssal stat block, again no devils. Not the most beloved batch again, none of these ones carried forward as far as I know, but at least the demons are getting more stat blocks at all.

3.5 Monster Manual 5: 5 demons, 3 devils. At least the devils get some stat blocks this time, but the demons absolutely won in terms of quality. The adaru, draudnu, and solamith all have some solid designs, and solamith have made some appearances since. Meanwhile the gulthir is just kind of horrendous, and the stitched devil isn't actually a proper devil type and is just the creation of night hags.

4e Monster Manual 2: 15 demons, 7 devils. Numbers are still much more in the demon's favor, but design wise I think the devils are overall superior. One demon and one devil are just members of the main batches for each type that didn't show up in the first book (dretch and erinyes), but the demons get stuff like two runespiral demons, one just a higher level version of the other, it has to fill in with the nycademon, which was usually a yugoloth but they just lumped yugoloths into the demons for 4e, and overall most of the demons are less interesting than the devils. Though they do get the pod demon, so lots of points for that, love that one.

4e Monster Manual 4: 7 demons, 8 devils. First time in a suppliment monster manual we've had more devils than demons, how wild. Plus, the demons have to be filled in with the babau, nalfeshni, quasit, and the ultrodaemon (last one is a yugoloth). The maw demon makes its return from 3.0 though, so that was nice. Technically there's 2 maw demons, but one is just a leveled up version of the other (okay, fine, one extra action as well), so I'm not counting it as unique. And if I did, I'd probably have to count the 6 minions for the corruption devil, the upleveled version of the corruption devil, and both hellwasp devils, which would just put the devils further ahead. This also brings in two of my favorite devils from 4e, the rage devil and the vizier devil. Just overall a great showing for devils.

There isn't a real point to this rant, it's just kind of interesting how the design space of 4e was so much better for devils than 3.0/3.5. Stat blocks being more condensed and focused probably helped, but they could have padded out so many of the 3e era books with way more devils and demons (and they absolutely did with some of the other supplements, stuff like the Fiendish Codex books and the infinite monsters in Sandstorm, Frostburn, and all the other random books. I'm not going to go over every single book from these two eras to compare every single demon and devil, but I just find the contrast in the main monster books very interesting.

[captmickey]

Out of curiosity, what game has your favorite writing for Guybrush? Personally I'd say probably Tales, I especially love how his and Elaine's relationship is handled there.

Oh my dear sweet Anon, I was in the midst of writing about just that for a different comment.... this one, to be exact:

So ah.... might as well merge that with your ask.

In a super duper condense nutshell, Tales is my absolutely favorite version of Guybrush (if we take Dadbrush and SoT out of the equation.... which that's a thought I've had in the past) because of what they decided to push for. Aside from no longer being a walking punch line and as you so rightfully pointed out in regards to his relationship with Elaine, Guybrush throughout the story learned the importance of opening up to people and knowing it's okay to ask for help. He also learned first hand that his actions had genuine consequences to them. And he grew to be selfless instead of selfish.

But in a longer format? This is now my "Welcome to Mickey's incoherent TED Talk why Tales of Monkey Island is amazing and I will not take any slander on my boy's character".

(Also I might forget a point or five so keep that in mind... I have a lot to say about this game haha)

So lets get to it: Tales!Guybrush is, in my humble opinion, the iteration with the most depth (if we don't take SoT!Guybrush into account).

Up until Tales, there wasn't much exploration about his character. Like, don't get me wrong, I'm not going to go about and say he had NO character (in fact I'd say the opposite). He has it, though we only see it either if we interact on things and he does/responds to the thing that's not 'nah' or 'no' or digging through the dialog tree.

For example, in MI2, after digging through multiple dialog trees, it lets us know that Guybrush still loves Elaine even after they broke up and that he felt pressured by the pirate community to do something grandeur and even adopt that meaner personality he sports in the game. In MI3, if you screw up the elevator puzzle two-three times on Skull Island, Guybrush shows he is still very petty and even mean by shoving LeFoot off of said cliff.

But in Tales, it's where we get SO much depth with him with both his interaction, dialog tree, and even his reaction to the adventure as the story continues. It's, to date, the only canonical MI game where Guybrush not only expresses more emotions aside from his usual light-hearted, somewhat carefree, and even snarky personality. It's also the one to force him to look at how his actions badly hurt not just those around close to him, but even himself.

With exception from SoT, Tales is also the first time we see Guybrush react in hurt, guilt and even genuine anger and not petty irritation.

Now mind you, I love Return dearly (Boybrush my beloved~). It's funny, the puzzles are challenging enough, my vindication is through the roof with that game (GUYBRUSH AND ELAINE ARE END GAME WITH CHILD, SUCK IT THOSE WHO SAID IT WOULDN'T HAPPEN!!) and it's the perfect send off to the franchise if there's to never be another Monkey Island with Guybrush getting his rightful and hard earned happily ever after (and I'd love for there to be more 'Guybrush narrating to his son' kind of games but that's a topic for another day).

But after thinking about it properly, as great as a send off as Return was, it didn't hit in the same way that Tales did - narratively and character speaking. Like I said, I love the jokes, I genuinely get a good laugh especially so from LeChuck of all characters, but Tales did something that I have grown to respect and admire it for. It gave us back the badass and loving Elaine, it gave us back a genuine threat that is LeChuck who even reached out to (demon) Godhood. But more importantly, Tales stood out because it had Guybrush grow up.

What was said about Guybrush is previous interviews, and it bleeds into my incoherent ramblings, is that he's more of an idealist than an optimist and can often times be considered one of the more dangerous people to be stuck in a room with (because he is smart and he can be very mean). And throughout the series until Tales, you can't entirely fault him for being like that.

He's so experienced in the pirate-y game that he reminds the players at any given opportunity that he knows what he's doing. He knows enough to not rely on others and is willing to push people away just to get to his goal. And because he's so experienced and knows what to do, he tries to keep doing things alone even though the game - repeatedly - says otherwise:

So within the context to Tales, Guybrush by then is no longer this naive, wide-eyed wanna-be pirate.

-He's established (if Morgan is anything to go by).

-He has his wits to him (if LeChuck's remark is anything to go by).

-He's seasoned in his usual adventuring antics ("I feel a pirate-y quest coming on" he says, not eagerly... almost like it's a Tuesday for him).

In Chapter 1, after he steals the Screaming Narwhal from Van Winslow, he tells tries to tell him how he doesn't need a crew (plot twist: Winslow ends up being the best crewmate he ever had in the series)

In Chapter 2, when LeChuck insists on solving the puzzle himself, Guybrush is annoyed (aside from it being, y'know, LeChuck) because he was so certain he could do the puzzle alone (plot twist: he couldn't)

In Chapter 3, how he told Morgan to basically sit down and let him do all the work via talking to a mutinous crew and an out-of-touch captain (plot twist: he needed to brute force the crew in the end).

At every single point when he tries to do things alone (and friendly reminder: he's trying to fix a situation he inadvertently caused via Pox), there was always someone that made the process easier... primarily Winslow and Morgan.

(I should note, this isn't me slandering Elaine.... I genuinely believe her when she says she was trying to break whatever connection Guybrush, LeChuck and the Voodoo Lady seem to have but that... that's another rant for another day).

Anyways! Speaking of my all time favorite first mate.... lets talk about how he was the one that actually got Guybrush to begin his growth. In chapter one, Guybrush had zero issues using a bomb to knock Winslow off the ship, he had zero issues of straight up stealing the literal only means of escaping the island and yet Winslow, though competitive and having his own fair share of snark, treated Guybrush as an equal... even though he was in every sense of the word a threat to stealing the ship. He welcomes Guybrush to the challenge, tells him how he could (and should) do better when his initial plans fail. Even when Winslow looses, he smiles and commends Guybrush, calling him by new title of Captain... there's nothing malicious in his words or tone - he's genuinely happy for Guybrush which throws him off since he's not used to it.

He's not used to people being a good sport or even nice to him (ESPECIALLY the nice thing). So when Winslow asks to join, Guybrush is (rightfully so) super hesitant on letting Winslow in on his crew of one. He's been hurt, he's been mutinied, even in the prologue he was betrayed by the crew we the players only see if we click on the hatch of his ship... but Winslow pushes through and makes himself a crewmate for Guybrush. And not just any ol' crewmate. Winslow decides and goes to be the BEST one by freaking MILES by being the only one to not even indulge in mutiny and genuinely respect Guybrush (I don't think he's ever called Guybrush by his first name now that I think about it), even going so far as to save him during chapter 5 and telling LeChuck, a DEMON GOD, to stay away from Guybrush.

I've made a mention that Guybrush is known to be mean, especially so to people who wronged him. But he's not an overall mean-spirited kind of a person (....excluding MI2 where he's just mean). He'll show concern every now and again with a snark dashed in, but with Winslow, we get to see Guybrush gradually view Winslow less as a crewmate and more as a genuine friend. And that's not to say Guybrush hasn't seen a crewmate as friends (looking at you, Barber Quartet and Carla), but his banter to Winslow is more akin to a friend than a crewmate.... especially so by Chapter 5 when saved.

And I can't talk about Guybrush opening up without mentioning Morgan LeFlay. The key person to Guybrush's growth. The one who put a mirror in front of him and had him really and truly comprehend that his actions have consequences. She's the first one that both us and Guybrush learn is an actual fan (yes I am refuting Planet Threepwood as that just monetized his image for tourists (and they utilize his image wrongfully at that)) and even outright says how she was inspired by him to not only learn how he fights, but how to hold her breath like him.

She really highlights all the cool parts about him, even if she got it wrong in some aspects (such as thinking he fights his way to victory instead of talking and using his wits.... which Guybrush outright says he's known for far more) and Guybrush, because he has that bit of an ego to him, just took it, he didn't really think much of it. He even makes a few jabs at her for being his fan. But all in all, he likes her.

Until the betrayal.

And that betrayal really is the light to the whole thing about Guybrush growing up and facing different aspects of his emotions and personality.

Up until the betrayal, through the entirety of Chapter 3, even when Morgan is irritated that he's not looking at her as an equal and he refutes her help for the good first half of the chapter (pretending to be his wife aside), the two eventually find common grounds and Guybrush, thanks to Winslow and learning to open up a bit more, starts to view her as a friend. Guybrush and Morgan even grow a bit of a banter between the two!

But she betrays him so thoroughly that it causes Guybrush to put back up those walls of his and push everyone away.

He is hurt and he is angry.

Two emotions he had not shown throughout Monkey Island. Irritation? Sure. Aggravation? Absolutely! But hurt and genuinely angry?

Not. Once.

And it wasn't LeChuck that pushed him to show it... it was a supposed friend! And that's so incredibly wild to me! You'd think Guybrush would show some form of anger towards LeChuck for constantly being his nemesis, constantly trying to kill him and steal Elaine, but no... no it was a fan who betrayed his trust (that he RARELY gives, I should stress) that got him absolutely angry.

And it's because of that betrayal arc that actually made me adore Tales!Guybrush. Because it really only gets worse for Guybrush and he's really pushed to a limit.

Throughout Chapter 4, he is constantly refuting help from anyone, it's really the Guybrush we're used to of being essentially a loner and doing things by himself (not that he could push Winslow away anyways.... he was stuck on the Narwhal). He even makes a very snide and very mean remarks that boils down to how her betrayal is essentially what messed up his plan to save Elaine AND the Caribbean, and he even angrily tells her how HE (not him and Winslow, not him and the Voodoo Lady - JUST Guybrush) needs to save his wife and cure the Caribbean. Not WE.

(and something I thought of as I type this and I have no idea how to shoehorn this into the rambling but worth noting - at the start of the quest, he always focused on just curing himself and Elaine. The Caribbean was a bonus but it was really an adventure driven to save his wife.... and then Winslow gets Pox'd and he changes that tone from 'saving Elaine' to 'Elaine AND the Caribbean')

It goes from bad to worse during the courtroom when Guybrush gets a one-two combo of hurt: Elaine is so far gone Pox'd that he and the sponge can't reach her, LeChuck (his arch-nemesis that he was, until this point, the ONLY ONE to openly say he did not trust while everyone else did) comes in to be the only one on the island to defend him, the reveal that the Voodoo Lady had been behind essentially everything in Guybrush's life and kept throwing him in harms way (though that is also a rambling for another day)... all forms of trust, new and old, is shattering for him.

As I've said, this chapter is where we see Guybrush - not Poxed - genuinely hurt and angry, and aside from Morgan, he shows it on the Voodoo Lady by losing his cool with her, angrily saying that he no longer trusts her.

Yet he still, somehow, reels back that anger. Somehow. Not entirely.

Because it reaches to a head when he goes to DeSinge and finds a dying Morgan, who is apologizing to him because she was trying to make right to him after hurting him. A gesture Guybrush had never been given before: he never had anyone try to do right by him... and it cost them.

Someone is dying because he made them feel bad. They're not seeking revenge, they're not trying to hurt him... they're trying to say sorry.

And failed.

And there.... THERE we see for the first time Guybrush genuinely and unapologetically Angry. Granted, his anger, initially, was thinking DeSinge killed her, but he's not entirely wrong to blame DeSinge. If DeSinge had never gone after Guybrush, if DeSinge had just let him be to cure the Caribbean, if DeSinge had not been so villainous, Morgan would still very much be alive.

Guybrush could have, under different circumstances, met Morgan and maybe their friendship wouldn't have been so tarnished because of gold or silver.

And while Guybrush is angry and blaming DeSinge... he decides on something that he hasn't done in the franchise: getting revenge.

And not just comedic revenge as he's shown in the past, he's genuinely after DeSinge for killing Morgan and wants to strike him down in return.

And I. Adore. Tales. For. That!

He shows his anger again when LeChuck mocks Guybrush while he's a ghost, but it's not NEARLY as furious as when he looks out the window and bitterly says DeSinge's name. Not even when he declares how he's going to take down LeChuck is he that enraged.

His foundation of trust and genuine friends is shaken and shattered and bruised, but this is the only game where Guybrush takes action. He never really outright bemoans or says out loud "it's my fault", but he lets his actions do the talking.

And before it's pointed out "But it's still for his own gain", I'm gonna have to put one huge giant asterisk to that:

He needed the locket, but he cheers up Anemone by reuniting them with Winslow (and silly remarks aside, he genuinely is happy for their relationship).

He couldn't touch physical items, but he speaks rather warmly towards Winslow and asking if Winslow would still willingly help him as well as seek out advice.

He cheers Morgan up and offers her way back to the realm of the living... and that one had no ulterior motive. It was the least he could do after mis-hearing her dying words and it was his own way of apologizing to her.

I've also said in the beginning of this ramble that this is the only game to let Guybrush feel hurt. And again, not in that comedic kind of way.

In previous games, when he's discouraged or feeling some form of despair, it's always followed up with some kind of joke or laugh. Something at Guybrush's expense. And it would make sense considering whenever he felt that despair horizon of sorts, he was always (shocker) alone.

As mentioned before, he is incredibly used to doing things alone and without help. Tales changed that.

When Elaine "agrees" to being a Demon Bride (which, side tangent, she clearly began plotting on how to use it against LeChuck with her very loud and very apparent 'Hmmmmm' alley-ooped with "Yeeeeesss.....!" Like something clicked for her as an improved plan), Guybrush (RIGHTFULLY) feels discouraged: again, he's been betrayed by one too many people, the world is ending, LeChuck is a GOD, he's dead, and Elaine (as far as he knew) agreed to being a Demon Bride. After having four (well, three) whole chapters of opening up and relying on people to going back to being alone... no one can fault him for giving up.

And it's not the "Ah well, sucks to suck" like he does in Escape, he genuinely sits on the floor of Crossroads and sounds like he's just about ready to cry (Mickey where-- "C'mon Morgan, I just lost my *wife*" he says with the last part having his voice wavering, come freaking at me).

It takes Morgan... MORGAN, the one who brought out ANGER out of him, to not even cheer him up, but to tell him to give it one more go to try and save Elaine and the world. She even says how she admires his dedication since it never ever wavered... both in his memoirs and as she witnessed first hand, so he has to get back up.

But!! The biggest kicker was that he was not quickly bouncing back going "Yeah, you're right lets go save the world" and proceeds to make a fourth wall joke-- he looks away! He has a brief moment on his expression of feeling hurt and betrayed at his supposed dedication (again, he genuinely believed Elaine's lie and I'll get back at that in just a minute). He tries to think of a plan but he's so incredibly hurt that he quickly finds flaws within his own plans and I just....! He's the guy that always think of something. Whether it's a coherent plan or a Guybrush plan, he always has some kind of a plan.... maybe not Elaine-level, but he's not dimwitted to not be able to think of SOMETHING.

He is, frankly, too hurt to think of a solid enough plan and to think back on the adventure. It takes Morgan to suggest he finds some shield to block the attack (his body against voodoo root beer) for him to finally click a plan and perk just a little bit back up.

That hurt continues strong when he faces off against Elaine after reclaiming his body and pleads desperately that it's him, to please stop. There is no quips during that moment, he's just desperate for the one person he unapologetically and whole heartedly loves that just describing her has him swooning in love, flaws and all.

But my favorite favorite FAVORITE thing, since this is Guybrush finally expressing his anger and hurt, is how he shows it towards Elaine. When the control over her disappears and she's conscious again, if going through the dialog tree, Guybrush makes her promise him one thing and one thing only - To not give up and become LeChuck's bride again.

Not find a way to save Guybrush, not for revenge.... but to not give up.

It's the first time we see him be selfless. He's not asking her to use that mind of her's to find a way to save him, all that's on his mind is keeping Elaine safe and destroying LeChuck.

So he makes Elaine swear to not give up and is genuinely stern and demanding with her when she asks him to not talk like he's going to die again (which... is a hard promise since he's a ghost controlling a literal corpse at this point) but he stops her, and very very VERY sternly and nearly shouting at her to promise him just that. He would never raise his voice to her in ALL of Monkey Island!! He would sass every now and again, sure, but he would never ask her of nearly anything.

And that's how you see the lesson of asking for help had finally set in! He makes her promise him, he tells her to light the cannon, to attack LeChuck while the Undead Pirate was between realms, Guybrush had finally FINALLY started to ask for help and it's not for himself!

And the final act Guybrush does in tales is, hands down, the most selfless thing he had ever done in the entirety of ALL of Monkey Island: He sacrificed himself.

This is the same man who would saw off a peg leg, nail shut a person into a coffin, steal a monocle, destroy a ship with a boulder, steal artifacts for his own gains, mock, jab, and embarrass anyone that would cross him.... and he sacrificed his only means back to the realm of the living for Elaine and everyone else.

Tales, in that moment, became hands down my all time favorite iteration of Guybrush. He had shown an immense level of growth, he showed he was open to having friends, asking for help, understanding when things are bigger than him, letting himself feel such strong emotions like anger and hurt... Tales!Guybrush has easily the grandest and greatest character growth and one of the main reasons why I refute anytime someone say he's just a bumbling moron who is needlessly mean.

I'm sure I'm missing something or a detail or another reason why Tales is my favorite iteration (note: iteration, not game.... that one is in perpetual cycle with Curse), but for now I'll end it on this note:

He can be mean, he is definitely a goof with his own quips, and at times even selfish... but Guybrush Threepwood at his core is cunning, hilarious, and he is unapologetically loving to those that matter in his life. He just picks who gets to see that side of him.

[fictionfixations]

2.6 trailblaze continuance

playing through it because SPOILERS. i didnt even know the update was out, was looking at youtube notifs and theres just videos of 2.6 cutscenes and im just like CHILL IT HASNT EVEN BEEN OUT FOR LIKE AN HOUR

???? OH WAIT IS THAT BOOTHILL

*cough, puts on my best acheron impression* ..what are you doing, in my room?

??? IM A SHAREHOLDER MA'AM THIS IS MY ROOM

no matter hwhat u do the chest doesnt open

WHAT IN THE RAPPA WAS THAT ???

okay um. im. there was a cutscene. im not gonna explain it you see it for yourself.

IM CRYING ITS THE VIDEO FROM THE SPECIAL PROGRAM

STOPP WHAT im gonna hit the image limit ive barely started

NOT CAELUS SINGING ALONG AIUDWHSAUIDH

ANOTHER cutscene so soon om. THE WAY there was just music and rappa rapping going on and then we cut to caelus pov and its absolute silence like what

STOPPPP Giving me screenshottable moments I JUST STARTED

what

tttthats because i have you guys

this feels like the teachers trying to get in on slang and memes and being really cringy and i just 😭 there was an attempt. im not a fan of it but you do you

ttheres a. a dreampeek call here. holy shit. isnt this that one. that one. i forgot the name of it but i think its in a video on the hsr channel

whys he actually kinda hot what. people simped over him in the trailer, i didnt get it but. ..??????? also i think there are triangles

WHAAAT THE FUCK THE SCREEN WENT WEIRD wait is he the examiner? i thought he was just a guest lecturer or is he lying and somehow fucking with her brain

HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS

FUCK NOO I WANTED CHARMONY oh thank fuck we can change it. i was boutta say something cause it was implied in the special program we could choose for ourselves so THANK FUCK

..your home? why.

aww big brother boothill

sorry?

LMFAO

WHAT IN THE MIND GAMES

WAIT IS SHE REAL? SORRY???? i have no idea

HUH

CRYING

MARCH?? oh for a second i thought that was her i dont wanna hit the img limit too early so she says that the dreamweaving method feels like condensing six-phased ice and that she can barely tell them apart

..okay sorry what what is up with this month of updates and people being turned into things to be sold off as 'items'. like if i had a nickel for every time i saw this this month ID HAVE TWO. like okay so in twisted wonderland theres the playful land (based on pinocchio) event going on right now on EN servers so i watched pinocchio to prepare. but anyway spoiler alert, the students almost get turned into wooden puppets (that would later be sold. they wouldnt be able to move or speak and would turn into wood thus 'item')

fuck i hit the image limit

anyway

DR PRIMITIVE IS A EMANATOR OF ERUDITION????

deleted an img anyway

what is this voice

THE WAY ITS CENSORED AS 'bana bana bana [normal dialogue] bana bana [normal dialogue' CRYING it sounds so edited in

okay she says my previous line is not demeaning at all. so when i curse she fails me. ???

whaaaat in the fuck its that weird effect with the monkeys affecting us again DAN HENG ARE YOU OKAY!?

what in the fuck i feel like im tripping on something like that video in the special program with the monkeys

that was such a cool cutscene

..MEMOKEEPER? sorry for a second i had to google cause i forgot what exactly it means but.. huh.

wait is reca NOT a bad guy??

..can he be playable

crying why is there actual story in my monkey update

CONFIRMED: dan heng says boothill is more bark than bite

...boothill...?

OH NO YOU FUCKING DONT

i swear if they get rid of his hatred for the ipc

or we're not we're fighting now oh thank fuck. i was scared because they got rid of his dependence on alcohol (or malt juice? tf is malt juice idk man)

i dont think i have a good team for boothill so whoops

this team sucks 😭 in the first place idk how to play boothill

BOOTHILL JUST GOT ONESHOTTED WHAT THE FUCK

oh thank fuck we can change boothill out

i was so scared cause usually you HAVE to use boothill (whether its the story version or a boothill you own) and i actually cant win if hes on the team because my team is not meant for that and i dont have anyone else built that works.

crying he did 3 attacks on jade. stepped back then stepped back in and did one more hit and she died

????

i actually cant win wtf 😭even my built characters suck ass HELLO???

im actually stuck BRUHHH

boothills not doing much better

i cant win if i target the smaller guys. i cant win if i target the big guy i am so lost

[wildwoodsgames]

Design Diary: Heaven in the Dust (Revised) - Playbooks

So here's the thing—Heaven in the Dust was the first Belonging Outside Belonging game I ever wrote.

It was published way back in January 2019 for the Record Collection jam into a largely-unexplored design space. Sleepaway wouldn't crowdfund until the end of that year. The design jam that produced Our Haunt was three months away. You could count the BOB games in existence without running out of fingers.

As a result of that, the ideas are strong but the execution is somewhat naive. See for yourself with Hades:

Looking back on this today, what do I see?

The picklists are perfunctory—often only one unique prompt per archetype—and pedestrian. The prompts themselves are uninflected (Wanderhome hasn't reshaped the possibility space yet).

There's too much focus on aesthetic, and not enough on narrative prompts. There only unique prompt focuses on the factory rather than on Hades. This needn't be a bad thing, as characterising him mainly through the business he runs could be interesting, but right now the factory prompt is surface-level—anything broader it says is up to the player.

The birthrights need to be punchier and snappier, and you're currently making a choice without context (the rules for them are at the bottom of the next column over).

In general there's good ideas in a lot of these picklists, but not some too-obvious ideas as well.

So then, a revised edition. Meet Hades, new and improved:

To start, we have a new picklist in a new format. This solves a couple of problems.

It explicitly states what was implicit in the original version: archetypes bring certain things with them. Hades has a factory, Persephone has a garden, Hephaestus has a strike, etc.

It lets the player assert some truths: about that thing, about their archetype, about the broader setting, about what has come before, about a sliver of hope that this might not be a tragedy after all.

It gives me room to assert some crucial details about that thing—Hades is not running an artisanal workshop, or a worker-owned collective, or a functional business. They're running a Gothic caricature of an industrial factory that is certainly fucked up somehow.

Next, a familiar picklist but with a crucial recasting in the prompt: products and byproducts. The difference between a factory churning out propaganda and a munitions manufacturer that incidentally produces propaganda is vast, and the prompt now invites you to play with that difference.

Another new picklist! This one characterises Hades both indirectly (as a boss, through what they forbid) and directly (as a person, through their mode of self-denial), which is a nice change from the blank slate of the previous version.

Aesthetics have been combined and condensed, nearly thirty prompts distilled down to a razor-sharp set of eleven. Narrowing it down to just three distinctive features (though I'm not a cop, choose as many as you like in play) invites people to make bolder and more evocative choices, and lean into them harder.

Relationship questions are sharper, punchier, and there's more of them. There's also explicit permission to keep asking questions after the initial two (which I may yet keep the "ask one left and one right" wording for), something that I've certainly seen players do in playtests.

Finally the birthright picklist now tells you what it's about before you choose. More than that, each archetype locks in a core birthright, which is a snappy way to communicate what the game's take on that mythological figure is, and the possible birthrights have been edited to be more distinct and evocative.

And that's Hades, before and after!

The same thought process has been applied to all the other archetypes, in addition to the new one I'm adding for the revised edition, and there've been additional changes to lures, failings, moves, etc that I might talk about in a future post.

I'm hopeful the revised edition will be playtest-ready by the end of September, and released by the end of the year.

My inbox is open if you're curious about the game or have any questions about the approach outlined in this post. Cheers!

[vigilskeep]

Hiya, do u have a carrd or anything with info on your ocs? I love reading about ocs n all that crap but the tumblr search function is like actually evil. Keir seems super interesting but it’s like killing me trying to find posts to recap his lore 😭

i don’t i’m afraid!! it’s just his enormous mess of a tag as the lore built up... i might make something sometime??? i hadnt thought abt it tbh. in the meantime feel free to ask me any and all questions even if it’s something i’ve probably already said, i love going over this stuff and will do so forever if even slightly prompted. on that note, if it helps, here is a briefly condensed version:

keir is a red personality (aggressive/direct) non-mage hawke. i did his full playthrough as a warrior, i sometimes talk about switching him to rogue, but the only really important thing is that he’s a reaver and will bite you for real

he’s a man of few words, extremely blunt and threatening to the point of being absurdly over-the-top with pretty much all strangers, and much softer but still bluntly earnest with the small group of people he considers his own. he considers himself first and foremost a protector and would do anything to keep those people safe. his father malcolm was a strict man who raised him to do this and he accepted that wholeheartedly. consider him a guard dog. killed his first templar in defence of the family aged 15

he adores and idolises magic and fiercely supports mage freedom, though ultimately he would absolutely sacrifice a wider “cause” if doing so would keep his mages safe. fortunately or unfortunately, he can’t do that because the two are inextricable

he’s a proud fereldan and cares very little for kirkwall (hates kirkwall. hates kirkwall. someone please get him out of here) and its nobility, which tends to show in his appearance and behaviour. long braided hair, the streak across his nose is kaddis, and takes his mabari, silla, absolutely everywhere

he’s elf-blooded via his father, who was the bastard son of a fereldan elven servant girl and an orlesian chevalier who was with the occupation

his playthrough has circle mage bethany. he adores her and he would do anything for her but her acceptance of her fate and disillusionment with his overprotectiveness meant they had an increasingly strained relationship. it was because she was trapped that he couldn’t leave the city. once he was champion, meredith essentially had a knife to his sister’s throat whenever she wanted his compliance, not to mention the looming threat to anders and merrill, making those three years the worst and most terrifying in his life

he romances anders! friendmance and they escape kirkwall together in the end. not always easy but he really loves him, justice half included. there’s a lot of lore here ummm if i mention the “and they were housemates” timeline, that’s my silly mutual pining alternate version of events where anders moves into the amell estate for safekeeping before he and keir actually get together. if i mention aura hawke, that’s the potential daughter i occasionally hc for them

he had previous relationships with morrigan (in lothering as young 20-somethings) and merrill (during act 1). you cannot keep him away from those romanceable mages

he’s still close friends with merrill. isabela is his best friend. he has a complicated, semi-antagonistic friendship with varric, who was really closer with anders but now after the fact doesn’t want to remember that. he deeply respects and is friends with fenris. he did rivalry with sebastian, but in an agree-to-disagree way where they considered each other friends nonetheless until All That happened. he had a more genuine rivalry with aveline though still coloured by their trauma bonding

i THINK those are the main beats of his lore but he’s my most discussed and developed dragon age character so i’m sure i’ve missed some of the assorted junkyard of thoughts

[honeyoru]

resonance (steve harrington x superpower! reader) chapter seven

masterlist | previous chapter | next chapter

content warning for blood n gore!

“I said Dr. Sam Owens,” Hopper’s irritated tone floated through the Byers' house once you popped back into the living room, damp boots and hunting knife in hand. You startled Nancy, who was hovering nervously in the hallway, giving Jonathan space while he sat with his unconscious brother. 

Giving her an apologetic smile for the fright, you headed to the kitchen and nodded at Steve, who was leaning against the counter. “Did I miss much?” you muttered and began braiding your damp hair.

“What, was I supposed to count the bodies?” the older man growled into the receiver, shaking his head angrily. “I don’t know how many people are left alive in there!”

“Not really,” Steve replied. “Chief’s been on the phone since you left,” he gave your blood-free outfit a glance and coughed. “Could be going better, though.”

“I am the goddamn police!” The man in question yelled. “I’m fuckin' Chief Jim Hopper!”

“They didn't believe you, did they?” Mike asked Hopper when he eventually slammed the phone, fuming.

“We’ll see,” he hedged before nodding at your clean state. “That was a quick shower. You get any blood on my floor?”

“We’ll see?” the boy cried before you could reply. “We can’t just sit here while those things are loose!”

Raising your eyebrows at his attitude, you remained silent and finished your elaborate braid, flicking it over your shoulder. You looked knowingly at the man. “I teleported into the bathtub, so no." You swallowed, thinking of how much red had went down the drain. "Clean as a whistle.”

Choosing to ignore Mike as well, Hopper asked as nonchalantly as he could. “Is the cat inside?” 

Plopping onto the hard tile floor, you set to work drying off the boots with a dish towel, sending a nod to Max when she shuffled over to sit next to you. “Nope.” El appeared to be sleeping on a bus, for reasons unbeknownst to you, heading back to Hawkins from God knows where. She appeared safe in the void, but seemed to have gotten a makeover since she’d been gone. 

“It’s still weird that you two live together,” Dustin shook his head. 

Hopper’s condensed version of how you met when you arrived at the Byers’ earlier left something to be desired, simply telling the group that he had rescued you in the forest. No one asked questions. 

You all had other things to worry about, after all.

“Can we please focus on the problem?” Mike burst out. “Why aren’t we going to do anything?”

Hopper visibly resisted snapping at him, sending a tired glance your way. “We’re going to stay here and wait for help.”

You cleared your throat at the deflated look the boy wore and tipped your head towards the hallway, looking back at Hopper. “Have you checked on her?”

The man shook his head. Sighing, he trudged down to the room where Joyce had remained inside since your group arrived, lightly knocking before entering. 

“Did you guys know that Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?” The younger Wheeler asked the group (mostly Dustin and Lucas) after a few moments of silence. He was fiddling with a box in his hands.

You felt your throat tighten, flashes of the man's body flickered in your mind against your will. Your eye twitched and you continued to wipe at the shoes. 

Dustin hummed. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Mike said, looking sadly at a stack of puzzles on the table. “He petitioned the school to start it and everything,” he smiled wistfully. “Pretty awesome, right?” 

The other two boys agreed. 

“We can't let him die in vain." Mike stood up suddenly, wearing a stern expression. "We can’t.”

“Well, what do you want us to do, Mike?” Dustin said, throwing his arms up. “The Chief's right on this. We can't stop those demodogs on our own.”

You couldn’t help but laugh at the dumbfounded look on Wheeler's face. He scrunched his eyebrows. “Demodogs?”

“Demogorgon,” Dustin sighed, clearly irritated at explaining the word for the nth time that night. “Dogs. Demo dogs. It's like a compound!” he rolled his eyes at Mike’s blank stare. “You know, a play on words?” 

“I know what a compound is Dustin!” he hissed before rolling his eyes back at him. “There has to be something we can do.”

“Maybe when it was just Dart we could fight them off," Lucas said. "But there’s a whole army of them now.”

“Precisely.” 

“You couldn’t even fight Dart,” Steve snorted. “You shitbirds let us do that for you, remember?” 

“His army!” Mike exclaimed, ignoring him. “The demodogs are his army! Maybe if we stop him, we can stop them, too.”

That got your attention.

“Whoa, whoa whoa, no!” Steve was already shaking his head when you stood back up, mostly-dry boots tugged back on your feet. “No way!”

“No way what?” Hopper walked back in.

“You said his army,” you cut in aggressively, jumping closer to the kids and startling them a little with your sudden participation. “Who’s he?” 

“Um.” Mike blinked at your close proximity and went to pick up a paper from the counter that had a drawing of a monster on it. “The shadow monster,” he said, handing you the paper. You frowned, it looked like a big ass spider. “It got Will that day on the field,” Mike explained. “The doctor told us it was like a virus. It infected him.” 

“Like in The Evil Dead.” Steve mused. “It’s possessing him?”

You bit your lip. The shadow monster.

A bout of dread churned through you at the thought of just who he could be. 

“And so this virus, this monster,” Max said, glancing between you and the paper. “It’s connecting Will to the tunnels?”

“Tunnels?” your eyes widened. “Ho-hold on,” you stammered, abruptly turning towards the many papers haphazardly taped on the walls. “Is that what these are?” you all but sprinted to the wall nearest you, where what was now clear to you as tunnels trailed out into the living room. 

You hadn’t had time to ask about Joyce’s choice of interior design when you’d first arrived.

“To the tunnels, monsters, the Upside Down,” Mike confirmed. “It’s connecting Will to everything.”

A small whimper escaped you. Fucking hell. Your heartbeat skyrocketed looking at the series of papers creeping along the walls, turning to glance fearfully at the boys and then back around to the wall you were closest to. 

“Slow down, Jesus,” Steve ran a hand through his hair, shooting a concerned look in your direction.

Not here. You squeezed your eyes shut. Not now. 

“Okay, so, the shadow monster is inside everything,” Mike mused, ignoring your outburst. “And if the vines feel something like pain, then so does Will.”

“And so do the demodogs,” you heard Lucas say. “Like Dart.”

They were speaking back and forth incredibly fast, clearly all thinking the same thing. Not that it really mattered to you; they might as well have been underwater. Putting a hand against the wall, you stared blankly at the paper in front of you and breathed heavily, trying to tune back into the conversation. 

“It’s like what Mr. Clarke taught us,” Lucas said excitedly. “The hive mind.”

“Hive mind?” Steve asked.

 “A collective consciousness. It's a super-organism. And this is the thing that controls everything. It's basically the brain—”

“—like the Mind Flayer!”

“The what?” Max and Steve asked in unison, causing someone, you weren’t sure who, as you couldn’t look away from the papers, to run down the hallway. 

Get it together, you scolded yourself, blinking rapidly at the hues of blue that weaved along the wall. You’ve got a monster to worry about, which is probably the one that sent you here in the first place. Why Henry would want to be a freaky spider monster, you weren’t too sure. 

It’s okay. You shuddered, taking a deep breath. It’s not like they want to go frolicking in the tunnels. Turning around, you rejoined the group that now included Jonathan and Nancy. Bury the fear, you told yourself. Refocus on the problem at hand.

It was Mike who ran back into the kitchen, slamming a large book on the table as everyone crowded around it. The boys explained over each other, describing the monster that they thought was terrorizing poor Will. 

“It's a monster from an unknown dimension—”

“—so ancient that it doesn't even know its true home—”

“—enslaves races of other dimensions by taking over their brains using its highly-developed psionic powers—”

“—Oh, my God, none of this is real!” Hopper finally lamented, wiping a hand down his face. “This book is just from that kids game you play!” He called out your name. “Help me out here!” 

You couldn’t help but shrug. “To be fair, it’s not like I ever thought monsters like the demodogs existed before I came here,” you peered down at the spider-like creature in the book, missing the look of delight Dustin briefly wore at you using his name for the monster. “Why couldn’t this one be real as well?” And I’m from the future, you thought. Someone could tell you pigs were flying and you wouldn’t be surprised. 

“Thank you!” Dustin exclaimed. “And this isn’t a game, Chief, it’s a manual,” he argued, his tone full of sass. “And unless you know something that we don't, this is the best metaphor—”

“—Analogy,” Lucas cleared his throat, correcting him.

You snorted at the look on the curly-haired boy’s face. “Really Lucas?” he asked snarkily. “Analogy? That's what you're worried about?” He rolled his eyes. “Fine. An analogy for understanding whatever the hell this monster is.”

Nancy sighed. “Okay, so this mind flamer thing—”

“— Flayer . Mind Flayer.”

Her eye twitched. “What does it want?”

“To conquer us, basically,” Dustin explained. “It believes it's the master race.”

“Right.” Steve nodded along. “Like the Germans!” 

Eight pairs of eyes blinked at him. “Um,” Dustin squinted at him. “Do you mean the Nazis?”

“Yes!” He snapped his fingers and despite the situation, you couldn’t help the tug of your lips at how proud he looked. “The Nazis!” 

“I mean, sure?” Dustin paused. Hopper rubbed his face in exasperation and looked at you before tilting his head at Steve, clearly questioning your claim that he would eventually one day become Chief.

Dustin continued. “If the Nazis were from another dimension, then yeah…totally.  Uh, it views other races, like us, as inferior to itself.”

Mike pointed at a paragraph in the book. “It wants to spread, take over other dimensions.”

“If this is the same monster we’re dealing with,” Lucas finished somberly. “Then we are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it.”

Nancy ignored Steve’s panicked outburst at the cheerful statement, leaning in closer to look at the book. “Okay, so if this thing is like a brain that's controlling everything, then if we kill it…”

“We kill everything it controls,” Mike finished. 

“We win.” Dustin said.

“Theoretically,” Lucas added. 

“Fantastic,” Hopper stated dryly. “So how do you kill this thing? Shoot it with Fireballs or something?” 

Dustin chuckled. “No. No fireballs. Um, you summon an undead army, uh, because,” he stammered, looking to his other friends for help. “You know, because zombies… they don't have brains, and the Mind Flayer, it… it... It likes brains? This is a game,” he broke off, shaking his head. “It’s just a game.”

Your eyes shot skyward as Hopper groaned and slapped the table. “What the hell are we doing here?”

“I thought we were waiting for your military backup!” Dustin sneered. 

“We are!”

Mike pointed to the book. “How could they stop this anyway? You can't just shoot this with guns.”

“You don't know that!”

Lucas put his head in his hands. “We don't know anything!”

Mike shook his head, straightening his spine to continue arguing with Hopper. You looked on with mild respect. The kid didn’t know how to give up. “We know it's already killed everybody in that lab. We know the monsters are gonna molt again. We know that it's only a matter of time before those tunnels reach this town.” You felt your heart stutter again. “So we need to do something. ”

“He’s right.” An angry, tear-stricken Joyce stood in the entryway, making your heart clench a little. “We have to kill it. I want to kill it.” 

“Me, too,” Jonathan agreed, putting an arm around his mother. 

"Me, too, Joyce, okay?" Hopper looked pained, his expression softening at the woman. “Believe me, I want it dead too. But how do we do that? We don't exactly know what we're dealing with here.”

“From what they said,” you spoke up faintly, eyes flickering worriedly to the illustrations on the wall again. “It sounds like Will does.”

“She’s right,” Mike nodded. “If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's Will. He's connected to it. He'll know its weakness.”

“I thought we couldn't trust him anymore,” Max furrowed her eyebrows. “Isn’t he a spy for the Mind Flayer now?” 

Nancy breathed, excitedly meeting her brother’s eyes. “He can't spy if he doesn't know where he is.”

…

“You okay, kid?” You jerked, almost slamming the piece of plywood you were holding into Hopper’s face. “Sorry. How's your cut?”

“Just stings a little,” you relaxed, walking towards the backyard with him. It was decided that Will would be placed in a blacked-out shed to confuse the Mind Flayer. “Nothing I can't handle. Hop. But it’s just,” you said, adjusting the wood in your hands and frowning. “The monster controlling Will, what if it’s… him ?” 

“Henry?” he asked, sighing when you nodded. The two of you passed Steve and Nancy, who seemed to be having a serious talk while gathering more materials to cover the shed with. “Could be,” he shrugged. “Course, that would mean that Henry was who got Will last year, too,” a frown graced his face. “Which would make a lot of sense, actually. Why the hell didn’t I think of that sooner?” He muttered, scratching his chin with the hammer he was holding thoughtfully. “Do you think it’s him?”

“Probably.” You adjusted the wood in your arms and grimaced. “It’s too much of a coincidence for it to be a different evildoer, right?”

He groaned. “I fucking hope not. Chief of Police doesn’t pay nearly enough for handling more than one. Best if we just have the one instead.”

You shuddered, thinking of the group that was now faced with defending Hawkins from evil for a second time. “How are you all so… calm about this?” you shook your head. “I thought another dimension and monsters would make people more…”

“Scared?” he offered. “Freaked out?”

“It's these kids,” Hopper sighed when you nodded. “They grew up playing that damn game and reading comic books, I think they’re the only people in the world who would see actual monsters and be excited about it.” You chuckled, setting the wood down inside of the shed. “They’ve met real-life superheroes, kid,” he nudged you playfully. “More than one now. They’re scared, no doubt, but this is still an adventure to them.”

“They’re reckless,” you whispered. 

“Someone else has always been around to save them,” he shrugged, and suddenly you were back in the living room of your old house, listening to your mother weave a not-so-happy bedtime story of just what could happen to kids who acted reckless. “Hey, don’t worry,” he said gently, misinterpreting your shift in demeanor. “Everything’s gonna be okay. We did this once before and managed to keep everyone safe.”

Swallowing, you looked up at him, feeling just as young as you really were. “And the tunnels?”

“What about them?” He squinted. “Wait, is that why you were staring at the wall earlier?” A sigh was released when his question was met with silence. “The tunnels,” he said. “That’s how those dogs are getting around town, they go all the way to the lab.” 

You shuddered. “And we have no reason to go in them, right?”

“Hell no.” He looked at you strangely. “I got stuck down there yesterday, really don’t recommend it. Relax,” he laughed at your panicked expression. “Those kids might be reckless, but they’re smart. They won’t go charging into danger, let alone those tunnels. Don’t worry about it.”

You remained silent the rest of the time you worked, praying he was right.

…

Once the shed was covered and deemed unrecognizable, you went inside to wait with Steve, Nancy, and the kids, save for Mike, while Hopper carried an unconscious Will out back. 

“How can you even be hungry?” Lucas shuddered, watching you rummage through the fridge after a few minutes of silence. The group had panned out, loitering nervously throughout the house. “You know, with all the shit you saw in the hospital.” 

“Lucas!” Max shot him a nasty glare, causing him to wilt a little. 

You smiled. I knew I liked her.

“What?” he argued. “It was a lot of blood! I’m just saying, I’d be too grossed out to eat right now if I had to kill those things and watch someone die.”

Your smile faltered. “Well it's a good thing you didn't have to.” You leaned against the fridge door, knowing he wasn't trying to be rude. “I spent most of today fighting those damn dogs so I’m pretty wiped out. If it’s alright with you, I’m gonna eat something not necessarily because I want to,” you said, raising an eyebrow at him. “But because if we get attacked again, it won’t do us any good if I pass out. Using my power takes up energy,” you said, spinning back around to dig through the fridge and grab a jar of jelly before blanching at the sight of the bright red color. “Unless, of course, you and your wrist rocket are gonna take on that army by yourself?” 

“If he finds out where we are,” Dustin said hesitantly, watching you make a face and put the jar back, choosing instead to make a plain peanut butter sandwich. “Do you think he’ll send those dogs after us?”

“He won't find out,” Lucas insisted. 

“Yeah, but, if he does…”

“Then we're fucked,” Max deadpanned, just as the lights in the house started to flicker.

“And on that note,” you hummed cheerfully, gesturing towards the kitchen light. “I’m gonna go sit while I still can.” You grabbed your finished sandwich and a glass of water before strolling out into the hallway, avoiding the tunnels that crept along the wall with you. 

Choosing to sit on the couch beside Nancy, you nibbled delicately at your sandwich in a way you knew wouldn’t cause any crumbs to fall, watching Steve swing his bat aimlessly in the corner of the room as the ticking clock above him alerted you that it was nearing 9 p.m.

“So,” Nancy hesitated, watching you eat with curious eyes. “You have powers.”

You licked peanut butter off of your finger. “Yup.”

“Like Eleven.”

Shrugging, you took another bite. “So they tell me.”

“But," she paused again. "You’re not from the lab.”

“Nope.”

She frowned. 

You almost wanted to smile. Gotta try harder than that, Wheeler.

“How long do you plan on staying in Hawkins?” Steve asked suddenly, leaning on his studded bat.

“Not sure.” You swallowed the rest of your sandwich, making sure no residue remained on your lips. 

“Why?” Nancy’s tone was pressing. “Don't wanna go back home?” 

You raised your eyebrows, taking a sip of water so you wouldn’t laugh at her determination. “No home to go back to,” you said evenly. 

“Oh,” Steve, the actual angel, replied, looking genuinely sad for you. “I’m sorry.” 

“Could be worse,” you shrugged, placing the glass back down on the coffee table. You started a little at Nancy’s wide, unblinking eyes.

“You’re lying.” Nancy’s accusation made you finally bark out a laugh. 

“Nancy!” Steve scolded. “She’s not on trial here.” 

She blinked at him incredulously. “You’ve only known her for one night, Steve, and you’re defending her?”

The against me went unspoken. “Yikes,” you couldn’t help but let out. “Can we not drag me into whatever this is?”

They ignored you.

“Uh yeah, I am!” Steve nodded furiously. “She saved all of us, Nance! Multiple times!” He cried, swinging his bat to rest on his shoulder. “And you’re interrogating her like you think she’s a monster!” 

“She’s a stranger, sue me for being cautious,” she scoffed. “She obviously lied to us in the store, she’s probably lying about how she ended up here too.” 

“The store?” you repeated, eyes curiously bouncing between the two. 

Nancy’s face tightened, almost like she was angry you dared to join the conversation. “You said you were trying to cheer up someone, a girl who couldn’t go outside on Halloween.” 

Movement out of the corner of your eye alerted you to an audience currently peeking from the kitchen at the noise. Little eavesdroppers.  

“And from what Hopper just told us,” she said. “That can’t be true,” she tilted her head tauntingly. 

“Oh, so you do remember Halloween night?” Steve laughed harshly, causing the girl’s face to drop guiltily. 

“Steve…”

“No, Nancy!” he held a hand up. “You know what? Who cares if she’s lying? She fought those things with me, a total stranger,” you winced internally. “and then she ran into the lab without thinking twice for Will and your brother! She saved us all practically by herself and is still helping us now even when she doesn’t have to! I think she’s entitled to a few secrets.” 

“She didn’t save everyone,” Nancy snapped defensively, freezing once she realized what she had said.

You swore the temperature dropped twenty degrees as you looked up at her expressionless, grateful the sharp pain that splintered across your chest didn’t reflect on your face. Nancy couldn’t hide the panicked glance she sent towards your hands, which were thrumming with energy. 

You would’ve snorted if you weren’t so upset. Not with Nancy, of course, but with yourself. 

She wasn’t wrong, after all. 

The door to the kitchen suddenly slammed open before you could say anything to the girl, sending you into fight mode. You quickly teleported into the room, everyone else following closely behind. Hopper was furiously scribbling on a notepad at the table. “What happened?”

“Will,” he rushed out. “He’s tapping on his chair.” Finally, he leaned back, allowing you to look. “I think he's talking, just not with words. We just have to keep Will, or the thing inside him, anyways, distracted while he tells us.”

“What is that?” Steve asked, and all of you hovered around the dots and dashes that littered the paper.

“Morse code,” you replied along with multiple people, nodding your head in approval.  “He’s smart.”

“H-E-R-E,” Nancy read.

“Here,” the group said in unison. 

“Will's still in there,” Hopper explained. “He’s saying something to us.”

“Looks like we got a plan after all,” Dustin grinned.

…........

The harsh words Nancy said were tabled for later, you supposed, as you all hastily repeated the corresponding letters to Will’s morse code that Hopper sent via walkie-talkie. The celebration of the resulting phrase “CLOSE GATE” was short-lived, however, as the Byers’ phone began to shrilly ring, sending you all into a frenzy.

“Who the hell is even calling this late?” Lucas yelled. The panic that filled you was swift and sudden, and rather than waste any more time you threw a hand in the direction of the phone, swiftly ripping it from the wall and sending it hurtling down the hall. 

You made a mental note to apologize to Joyce later.

“Do we, uh, think Will heard that?” Dustin asked, glancing around the house. 

“It’s just a phone,” Steve frowned. “Couldn’t it be from anywhere?”

A horrible shrieking, familiar to most of you, filled the air.

Wryly, you stretched your arms out and flicked your braid over your shoulder while the kids flew to the windows, looking for any sign of the dogs on the horizon. “Guess that answers that question.”

“Shit!” The kitchen door bounced off the wall once more, revealing the rest of the group and an unconscious Will. “Get away from the windows!” Hopper yelled to the kids, lugging two guns inside. “Can you use this?” he asked you, holding a shotgun out. 

The look on your face was priceless as you scoffed, waving your hands out dramatically. "Right." Nodding sheepishly, he asked the group the question again at large, ultimately handing it to, surprisingly, Nancy. 

“Alright,” You pushed over the kids heads to look outside, nodding a little. “I’ll be right back.”

“What?” The vein on Hopper’s forehead pulsed angrily. “You’re not going out there.”

“I’m the first line of defense, Hop,” you rolled your eyes, pointing at yourself. “I ate a sandwich, I’ll be fine!” 

He sputtered in response and without much of a farewell, you made sure to grab the hunting knife and teleported outside, hearing a faint “ ...away from the goddamn windows!” when you gracefully stepped down the front porch. 

You shook out your shoulders, clocking the creatures that were already creeping in from the tree line, the single street light at the edge of the driveway casting a particularly horrifying glow on their shadows. 

“Shit,” you shuddered, unable to remain as confident as you appeared in the house. No matter how much it thrilled you to fight, you couldn’t help but be nervous. You had no idea how many dogs were watching you.

It didn’t matter, you resolved. No matter what, you wouldn’t let them kill someone else. You spared a glance back to the house, letting out a chuckle at the faces that were smashed against the window again. 

Swallowing harshly, you allowed your mind to go blank. “Well, come on, already, Henry!” you taunted, beckoning whatever was out there closer. 

Adrenaline pumped through your body as the creatures begin barreling towards you in response. It was like a choppy ocean wave, the dogs tripping over each other just as they did in the lab in an attempt to get to you first. You cleared your thoughts, tuning into the environment around you, and began to fight as the first few screeched and lunged. 

It was likely that only minutes had passed by as you spared a glance down to the dogs that lay dead at your feet, the rush from fluttering around the yard leaving you a little dizzy. You had just taken a deep breath when you had to suddenly duck, the flailing body of a limp demodog was soaring over you, straight through the window of the house. What the hell?

Straightening, you were flooded with relief at the sight of the figure that stood a few feet away, commenting dryly. “Well, that was dramatic.” 

At the very end of the driveway stood El, still donned in all black. With a quick pop you appeared next to her, fluttering around as she began to attack the remaining creatures with determination you hadn’t seen before. 

“You’re a little shit, you know that?” you called out, yanking your knife out of a demodog and spraying the mailbox with blood. “I would’ve gone with you.” 

She smiled, gesturing to the many bodies littered across Joyce’s lawn. “I needed to do it alone,” El responded. “Looks like they would’ve been in trouble if you weren’t here.”

You couldn’t help but agree. 

“What happened?” she asked. 

Sharp pain suddenly flooded you as one of the creatures managed to claw at your leg when you were turned the opposite way, knocking you to the ground with a yelp. 

You heard someone yell from inside the house. 

“We need to close the gate,” you huffed, furious at the dog for pulling you into a puddle of blood. "I just cleaned those shoes!"

Her breath hitched. "Again?”

“Yep,” you grunted, kicking the monster in the head and closing your fist, squishing its petals with your mind. El helped you up, taking notice of the last remaining dogs that were left. 

Together, you both raised your hands, flattening the creatures and filling the night with silence once more. 

You looked at her, tucking a stray piece of hair back. “Where’d you go anyways?” 

“Chicago.” You pulled her in for a hug with a chuckle. 

Hopper was gonna have a heart attack.

Tightly, you squeezed her, feeling the smaller girl squeeze just as hard back. “Was it windy there?”

“Yes,” she nodded seriously when you broke apart. “Very windy.”

You snorted, sighing tiredly. “Did you find whatever it was you went there for?” 

“Yes,” El smiled, grabbing your hand and tugging you towards the house. “I did.”

[humbugghere]

Going insane over P:EG - Diana Venicia Analysis.

Okay so I’ve been doing a series of Essay’s dedicated analyzing Nifast’s “Imitation” art series - which are framed as abstract views into the characters and their role in the story. He also said how we’d only understand them once the game is 100% out, which are fighting words, so I started this series. Firstly I’ll post Diana because she’s the newest one I’ve done. Spoilers for the prologue!!! (Credits to Nifast for the Art LMAO)

Introduction:

Diana Venicia [roaring applause, I am pelt with roses from the audience].

Anyway, Diana Venicia is one of my favorite characters. Point blank. She is also a staple of the fandom. Partly because they love her, and partly because you motherfuckers can’t help but call her the mastermind she is a favorite among the fandom for a potential Mastermind candidate.

In a few words, I think this is bullshit. The main evidence relies on easter eggs in her design, latching onto the whole Beauty Talent = Mastermind trope, or a bad-faith reading of her actions.

Anyway, we are here to analyze her Imitation 「模倣」piece and infer what it tells us of her and her role in the story. Here I would argue we have more to work with with the proceeding page, but that’s something for the actual Analysis.

Diana - An Imitation 「模倣」

The first feature we will notice is the glaring lack of Diana’s chameleon bracelet in Diana's reflection. While one would expect this to be the starting point of the analysis, a more pressing issue is this:  Is the figure without the band the reflection?  This seems absurd, but after looking at the piece, the only indication that there is a mirror is the condensation that Diana is using to draw the heart. This lack of a clear distinction may highlight how these two versions of Diana - one with and one without the chameleon - are slowly blending together.  While the distinction between which is real and which is just a reflection fades, we can still deduce the one without the chameleon band is the reflection of who Diana is.  Now, we can return to this later. It is time to comment on the second feature - the plethora of hearts in the image.  We obviously have the heart being drawn into the “mirror”. This is a deliberate action by Diana, with her likely breathing on the glass beforehand, given its spotlessness otherwise.  There is also her heart necklace and the oddly heart-shaped curves in her hair. At least visible in her reflection, it’s likely she is wearing these on her “real” self. The chameleon's absence seems to purposely be the sole incongruity with the reflection.  So, what does this all mean? The chameleon band - or lack thereof - and the lack of a distinction between the reflection and the physical Diana creates an impression of her losing herself.   The chameleon, while representative of adaptability, artistry, and balance, is also symbolic of blending in - or changing part of yourself to avoid being noticed. I fervently believe that Diana, prior to being recognized, used her talent as a means to blend in with the “popular kids”, using it to blend in herself and perhaps offer it as a favor to them. In this way, the chameleon bracelet, still clinging to her, symbolizes how she has not let go of this part of her: the part that changes her to please others.  The reflection lacking this band also has a message to tell us. A reflection of Diana and who she is- it lacking the band symbolizes her being able to shed this mentality, and being able to actually, genuinely be herself and not place the needs of others above her own. Still, the lack of any distinction between the two in the form of a mirror, makes it clear this will not be an easy journey for Diana. To separate her genuine self from the persona she’s created for her previous social environments.  Now, the second part: What’s with the hearts? This is much more direct. I believe these hearts, which universally symbolize love and kindness, symbolize Diana’s resolve to trust in others no matter what. I say this in part due to the abundance of the symbol in the drawing. That is a simple observation. However, I also wish to draw attention to the act of Diana and her reflection drawing the heart together, copying one another. Even if the both of them are quite literally opposed, and reflective of different images of Diana (the Diana that is molded by others and the Diana that is herself), they are both acting on this desire to trust and befriend those around her. This is further backed up by the frankly relaxed and almost vacant look in her eyes as if acting like this comes naturally.  Overall, this picture shows us that Diana is someone who trusts the wishes to connect to the people around her instinctually, however, this desire has led her to degrade her own self-image - and she is only just beginning to reclaim it. No matter what, however, it is certain that her desire to connect to those around her will remain consistent.  That’s it for the drawing. Now, what can we say for the next page?

Diana - Response

Normally, I have never had to dedicate an entire section to analyzing the “Response” page. However, the response and the details of the chameleons behind it are incredibly evocative and deserve to be analyzed on their own.  The first thing to analyze is the response to the question “What are you?”. On this particular page, the answer is “A change.”  This answer serves as a double entendre. While it could be taken to mean the change that Diana imparts to her clients or anyone that seeks her services, another meaning can be found. As we've already established, Diana has likely, at some point, changed parts of herself to fit in with those around her. In this sense, this change may highlight both how Diana changes herself to fit with social groups, or in a more positive sense, Diana changing her own mindset to be more unapologetically herself.  To have these two ideas coexist isn’t just acceptable but perhaps truly reflective of Diana’s growth, as she is stuck in between the mentality of changing herself for others, and being herself to form meaningful bonds in the killing game.  Another feature to analyze is the two chameleons behind the text. One we can see has its eyes purposely closed. Simply put, this represents the “real” Diana, who hides herself to more easily appease those around her. The other lizard, the one with its eye open, represents the persona Diana has put up, in order to fit more easily with the groups she’s met throughout her life. An interesting difference between the two is that the Lizard with its eyes open - Diana's persona - has scales, but lacks horns. Some lizards and chameleons (almost always male for what it's worth) have scales to defend themselves, and horns to fight over territory.  By including the scales and excluding the horns, we can realize that Diana’s Persona was created as a method of defending herself from others, rather than any attempt to wrestle influence from others, which aligns with her dislike of drama and competition.  Thus, we can finally conclude that the image Diana has created for herself - primarily among non-ultimate's - is one with the primary purpose of being a defense mechanism from the ire of those around her. While, like a chameleon, she wishes to shed this part of herself, it will not be an easy journey and will involve her having to dredge through her persona and anima to decide what part of her is her.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we can realize that Diana is characterized by a few major motives: The desire to see the good in others (likely tied to her pursuit of cosmetology), the desire to appease others (as seen by her chameleon motif and the sweet nothing in her dialogue in P:EI and Chapter 0) and the desire to connect with others.  Of the three, this desire to connect meaningfully with others is the newest, as is seen by Diana having only just recently been “recognized” for talents, and as such being given the chance to stand with equals, rather than have to simply use her skills to blend in with others.  Diana’s primary arc, if seen to fruition, would see her overcome the ingrained idea to put others over herself - while not sacrificing her instinctual desire to befriend and understand those around her.  I do believe Diana is hiding who she is from those around her. However, I do not believe there is any malicious intent behind this. On the contrary, I ardently espouse the idea that Diana is willing to mold and change herself to fit in with those around her. By being among Ultimates, those who see her as an equal rather than someone to be taken advantage of, it is certain Diana will have the chance to be more confidently Diana, even amid the killing game.  To end off, I would like to share the idea of Diana being Damon’s foil [Foil - a character who serves as a contrast to the qualities of another character.] Damon and Diana have almost certainly experienced some form of social isolation due to their talents. Damon is explicitly told to us in his Bio card, and Diana’s can be inferred as it is very possible her make-up skills made her seem more like a tool than a friend to those she helped in her school.  There is also their motive to attend the school, in being surrounded by other ultimates. Finally, I wish to share that I am confident that both of their arcs will be learning how to communicate and connect with the students in the face of the game. Both of their animals are even reptiles!  However, while their motives, arcs, and backstories may be the same, everything else is perfectly opposed. Both wished to be surrounded by Ultimates; Damon so that he could claim the glory and be among those he saw as equals, and Diana so she could be among those who saw her as an equal.  Both of them likely faced ostracization due to their talent, however, this occurred in opposite ways. Damon, ever argumentative, decided to double down on his stubbornness and turn it into a new talent instead of trying to connect with others. Diana, while attempting to connect to others via her talent, only ended up positioning herself atop a pedestal, rubbing elbows with Hollywood bigshots - regardless of her intentions.  Hell, even the fact that both of them are trying to hide who they are is consistent. It is a no-brainer that Diana will act to contrast with Damon - showing how the desire to connect with others will triumph in both of their cases and her death [which I am certain is her being the - not “a” - chapter 3 victim] will highlight the cruelty of the game and motivate the cast to properly unite in the face of the game.  [Note - I didn’t expect the “Diana and Damon symbolize what talent can do to a young person's social bonds and how they can overcome that damage in an opposite yet harmonious way” spiel to be that long. Oops!]

[summersmithlatinxgyatt]

Summancing The Stone (Part 3 Summer Analysis)

My second Summer analysis blog EXPLODED, so first of all, thank you so so so much for nearly 60 notes as of writing this. Moving to Tumblr, I love that people are listening to what I have to say about Summer, it even seems that I'm one of the few people that TALK about Sum-Sum. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Moving on to the main topic with a recap to start us off. In my first blog, I talked about how 'Wedding Squanchers' features the single most impactful Summer scene, despite no dialog from her and how it lasts a few seconds

Going off this scene, I then talked about how Summer felt the need to address her insecurities and 'avenge' Rick, as she blamed herself for befriending Tammy for feeling alone and then causing a chain reaction that tied in Rick, The Galactic Federation, Earth, and the whole family

I forgot to mention that there's a seeming consistency that before this, Summer goes with the norm to survive and if it will make her popular and/or loved

When she turns to Headism, she strives to be the best version of herself and for her parents, stressed when a single flaw slips through the cracks.

In 'Big Trouble In Little Sanchez', although she rides the wave of Tiny Rick for popularity, she at least addresses that Rick is endangered

In 'Meeseeks and Destroy', she uses a Meeseeks to become popular

In 'Rick Potion #9', we see the inverse with Morty trying to be popular and Summer surviving despite the apocalypse happening around her. We also see a theme of Summer loving apocalypse scenarios (which is the basis of Rickmancing the Stone), which I imagine is because she can show her survival instincts skyrocket alongside popularity when the world is crumbling

In 'Something Ricked This Way Comes', she handles working with the devil/Mr. Needful in order to be accepted for her hard work

The point is that Summer wants to be accepted and fights to survive. This culminates in the aforementioned 'Wedding Squanchers' scene, which is also the pinnacle of wishing to be accepted and having to survive being tracked by the Galactic Federation. And on a final note before we actually talk about Rickmancing the Stone, Summer also has a parallel to Morty's narrative (this being a condensed way to put it). Although Morty dealt with the horrifying reality around him from Rick showing it to him, Summer deals with thinking every action results in horrifying consequences and that she is inherently a product of said horrifying reality Today I rewatched 'Rickmancing the Stone'. And holy shit, talk about a Summer episode. It rounds off this trilogy. 'Wedding Squanchers' marks the end of Summer trying to be outright popular and dealing with all her actions and insecurities in one flash. 'The Rickshank Rickdemption' shows how she's done with going with the norm to survive and goes against the Federation, trying to undo all of her actions and saving Rick. Now we have 'Rickmancing the Stone', an episode that highlights how she's lacking empathy and being blunt. It's time to break this beast down and analyze Summer

First off, we see her ignore her dad in the cold open and already want to go with Rick. I know she doesn't ALWAYS address him as 'grandpa Rick', but just calling him Rick also emphasizes this. Considering the previous two episodes, she wants to be close to Rick after almost losing him for something she blamed herself for. I think it also makes sense because Rick is not only someone she admires, but he's family. She doesn't have to 'befriend' Rick, in a way. He already holds her to a regard, so it works. This logic works in the other way too. She already had a rocky relationship with her father, seen in 'Look Who's Purging Now' because she doesn't hold any respect for her father or in any high regard - just like how Rick views Summer. She ignores Jerry and doesn't care about saying goodbye. It's likely because it's pointless - she'll already be seeing him, it's not some final goodbye, and even if it is, she already didn't have him as involved in her life. It's not like when Rick was ripped out of her life, someone who loved Summer and understood her

Of course, Summer is a killing machine in this episode. As I mentioned, she's fighting to survive and reigning supreme, except it isn't entirely for love and her self image. Although everyone knows this scene, the line 'Okay, but not because you told me to' is not just an angered teen saying. It shows she's still against being told what to do and is now showing she won't take orders, but do what SHE wants - such as killing someone because SHE wants to, not because someone else wants it

Strength.

A core part of Summer and this episode is strength. She joins Hemmorhage and his group when he literally says the group is stronger now. Summer is obviously showing her physical strength, but also her mental strength by choosing to push through (as we saw with all three of these episodes). Because after facing all her weaknesses from no love, she tries to overcome it by being strong and somewhat 'selfish' (not in a negative way)

Again, part of that strength is family strength. She parades Morty and proudly displays HIS strength (and yes Morty and Rick have awesome arcs but I'm focusing on Summer, you see the theme of strength). That's because again, she's focusing on the family and the bond with her brother and grandfather. No friends to be made here, just going with her brother and grandfather

The scene with Hemmorhage is pretty good. I think the foundation of her attraction is that Hemorrhage is flawed. Rather than going for someone who's seemingly flawless and makes her swoon (although this kinda goes against her going after Ethan in 'The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy'), the moment Hemorrhage goes on about his insecurities, it's like she finds it relatable and predictable because SHE went through it, just going in for a kiss. This also comes after when he takes off his helmet and she goes on a lil' nerdy rant about mustaches and helmets, which seems to me that it's rooted in trying to show off her intellegence like Rick, but it just shows her passion and trying to comfort Hemorrhage

Side note, I think this robot Summer managed to help Beth call Jerry because of a mix of her old ideologies and new ones, coming together to AGAIN, have her family bond together. Don't forget that Summer was the one who wanted to bring Rick back, people forget how she brings the family together

Let's talk about Hemorrhage.

Summer does not deny that she's still the same and says she's as crazy as when they first met. Instead, Hemorrhage is the one who softens up. She regrets marrying him and can't continue with it, which is going to culminate in an ultimate breakdown of Summer, the past episodes and blogs, and consistencies/incosistencies

Summer has wanted to focus on herself or closer bonds. Rather than trying to make a friend, she focuses on the strength of her nearest family and being aware of how weak family CAN be. Realizing how fragile it is, is why she doesn't care for Jerry and doesn't take the divorce too close. At the same time, this is why she cherishes Rick and Morty for knowing how one wrong move can break this all apart. In fact, this is probably why Night Summer...was the HEAD OF THE NIGHT FAMILY?? Just a thought...

Back on topic. We do see her insecurities pop up in Season 3, but they also focus on family, such as Jerry's girlfriend and how she appreciates her mother trying to connect and help her cope with her body alongside rejection. She's not perfect, but she works so hard to fix these things. Rickmancing the Stone shows that from now on, we'll see a Summer who is at the top of her game to simply BE at the top of her game. It's rooted in keeping in mind that everything is fragile, but she shouldn't mess up and blame herself. She should be cautious, even if this happens as a lesson AFTER she falls to her insecurities and negative thoughts. She's almost THE glue that keeps the family together this time. She doesn't try to listen to authority but herself, which explains why she still listens to her insecurities that linger. Rickmancing The Stone perfectly rounded off this trilogy I'm studying We go from Summer blaming herself for her insecurities and loneliness, realizing she's put everyone in danger even if she is the ONLY one that thinks this

She then tries to make up for it feverishly by bringing Rick back and trying to make her family reject the Federation

Finally, with Rick back, she doesn't let go of him and excitedly shows him how she's changed not just for him but for herself. She holds his respect high and we've come a long way from Rick saying she and Morty are both whiny pieces of shit he can't tell apart. She focuses on being strong, not on weaknesses. I think Rickmancing The Stone is not only fucking amazing in showing this, but the third part in this sequence of Summer's arc that forever changes her character from a mostly insecure teen to basically being a girlboss who just says and does what's on her mind

tldr summer is so cool and people should talk about how they made her cool it's not an accident or thing they randomly put in episodes #respectsummer

[highfantasy-soul]

NATLA Episode 5 - Spirited Away (1/3)

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

An explanation of what I'm doing here and my history with ATLA.

Of course, full spoilers ahead.

<previous/next>

This episode shifts from taking several episodes from season 1 of the animated show and weaving them together to even drawing from future seasons/shows! I saw elements of The Winter Solstice: part 1, Bato of the Water Tribe, The Swamp (season 2), The Storm, Siege of the North part 2, that episode in Legend of Korra season 2 where (spoilers) she meets Iroh in the spirit world and sees the people lost in the Fog of Lost Souls, and honorable mentions to The Waterbending Scroll, The Fortuneteller, and The Great Divide. While that might seem like a lot to combine into one episode, I think the writers did well to pick and choose the thematic elements of each episode that would naturally condense into a Spirit World trip as well as add to Zuko's story.

This was a characterization-heavy episode that really let us delve deep into several characters - namely Katara, and Sokka, but also Azula. I feel like because Zuko has soooo much to delve into, he gets really impactful character moments every episode, but episode 6 is really his time to shine, so that's why I don't include him in that list and Aang is similar - he gets a lot of his backstory examined all through the season while Katara and Sokka don't get a chance for flashbacks.

The intro does a great job letting us know that some time has passed - and the Gaang is getting better at working/surviving together. Love the detail that Katara is learning waterbending by experience and observation rather than just being naturally good at coming up with her own forms: she saw earthbenders do the earth disks, so she made her own ice ones! The burned forest is pulled almost directly from the animated show and I like how they're tying it to not only the themes of responsibility, but also of forgiving yourself for past mistakes and planting seeds for the future.

I like the choice to have Sokka interacting with a young girl in the forest who was looking for her stolen brother rather than an old man just randomly showing up and asking for their help. The active choice for Sokka to turn on 'big brother mode', drop the Pipenpadalopsikous easter egg, and the group to CHOOSE to go to the village to help all on their own gave the characters a lot of agency rather than just being tugged along with the plot by other characters. Since they cut the Imprisoned storyline where the Gaang took that agency in the animated version, I like that they gave them that same agency here in the live-action. The included detail that the forest didn't burn due to a battle, but just because the Fire Nation wanted a clearer path to march through just shows how devoid of care Israel is - sorry, The Fire Nation is - for the natural world. While at war, just destroy everything in your path - even centuries old orchards - sorry, forests.

The change in camera focus as Aang senses the issues in the Spirit World was a really cool cue for the watcher - makes it very other-worldly. Live-action Aang already understands that he can interact with the spirit world rather than in the animation when the villager has to prompt him 'yeah, you can do that stuff' and Aang reluctantly and with a great deal of apprehension says 'right, that's me'. While I like how Aang has no idea what he's doing as he hasn't had anyone to teach him about the spirit world, he goes about things differently in the live-action. He still doesn't know exactly what to do, but he does know meditation, so he tries that - and it takes awhile and does it funky, bringing Katara and Sokka in with him.

It's great to see Zuko on the old-school hunt for the Avatar and being a dick to his crew - these two episodes in Zuko's POV draw heavily from The Storm and Bato of the Water tribe and it's a great dynamic to see between him and his crew. Then we jump to Azula laying on the flattery thick with her father and dropping the 'water the most promising seed' line! Again, reinforcing the theme of future growth - and it might not always be positive growth. Linking the themes to both sides is just soooooo goooddd. Love too, how Azula gives her suggestion for what to do and Ozai agrees, an inverse of when he'll be so disparaging of Zuko's suggested tactics in the next episode.

But oooooohhhh the sly dressing down he gives Azula, her conflicted and angrily embarrassed reaction, and then Ozai's little smirk as he pokes and prods in JUST the right way to get Azula pitted against Zuko - love love love what they did with the royal family in season 1. It'll give SO much more depth to Zuko and Azula's rivalry next season!! It is heartbreaking though that Azula was so clearly angling to get some sort of approval from her father - some praise for her abilities - praise that with Ozai is probably very rare. The two children are just so desperate for positive reinforcement from their father and while Azula's sly remarks are, of course, underhanded, you see that she's doing it because she's just a child desperate for approval - not that she was just 'born a monster'.

The Gaang's dynamic is so cute here!! Like in the animated version, Katara having complete faith in Aang even though she's no idea how he's gonna do it, Aang desperately trying to do something he knows he should be able to do but no idea how, and Sokka complaining that he's hungry which is distracting Aang from his super serious business. Their interactions are almost a direct pull from the Siege of the North Part I from the animated series when Katara and Yue are talking behind Aang as he's trying to enter the Spirit World at the oasis. Instead of stumbling into the Spirit World on accident as he chases after Hei Bai, in the live-action, Aang has to meditate for a long time before finally reaching the point where he can cross over. The detail of Katara continuing to practice her forms as they wait is really great as we don’t actually get to see animated Katara practicing much - it's just The Waterbending Scroll, and every other time, she just does the waterbending form perfectly. Yes, her skills improve, but we really miss her practicing.

It's an interesting choice to bring Sokka and Katara with Aang into the Spirit World - I can see how, with the themes they're looking to explore with these episodes, that's how they chose to do it. The main ideas being that you need to come to terms with the past so you can look forward to the future, and a great way to do a flashback sequence is through the Spirit World. The animated show didn't really show Aang much in the spirit world through these episodes - he just met Fang and was given the Spirit message to get to Roku's temple - but nothing else really Spirit Worldy happened. And we just left Sokka and ignored the fact he was there. I like them combining Aang's jaunt into the spirit world during the Siege of the North episodes here because I think it's a great story beat to hit, but the siege episodes are already a LOT, so adding even more with the spirit world journey to meet Koh would probably be too much.

Won Shi Tong was an amazing addition to the spirit world. Instead of a random monkey (that costs tons of money to CGI), they've created a model for a character we'll see in season 2. I don't really understand people confused about his presence here - like….y'all, he's a spirit? He can float around wherever - probably can be both here in the spirit world and the library at the same time? Idk, it just seems like an odd thing to be confused over. Like, why would an ancient spirit not be able to jump over into the spirit world while also holding down their presence in the material plane? It really felt like manufactured outrage trying to FORCE an issue that’s…not an issue at all.