#absolute fucking game changer for me at least

[antidotesprout]

Pretty fucked up how the mentally stable/will to live/executive function packages for life are behind a paywall tbh

Like I could have been living like this?? The whole time??? And am only now able to do so in my 30s????

[queenerdloser]

once again asserting that the simple air conditioner remains humanity's best invention and i am including literally all technology when i say that

[queerfables]

Why all the crowd scenes look the same, aka: Something is WRONG in Soho

I'm not even gonna tease and draw this out because it's so cool it doesn't need the fanfare. Ready?

Season 2 takes place over the course of 5 days. During that time, most of the passersby in Soho - maybe even all of them - stay exactly the same. It's the same people every day, wearing the exact same clothes, and they wander through the neighbourhood in paths that don't make any sense. You won't be able to unsee it. I can't believe it's taken us this long to realise.

Don't believe me? Rewatch the scene from 2x03, I Know Where I'm Going where Shax confronts Crowley outside the bookshop, appearing in a series of different guises. Pay attention to the people going past.

I've marked out five people you see on screen when Crowley first exits the bookshop at 39:37:

Numbers 1, 2 and 3 are following the path right. Number 4 follows the path left. Number 5 crosses the road.

Here the five people are again, at 40:19, when Crowley goes to return to the bookshop:

Number 5 is still visible in the distance, in the direction she walked in. This makes sense! But numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 are rounding the same corner they just passed. It's as though 1, 2 and 3 all decided to turn and head back the way they came just 40 seconds ago, and number 4 has circled the block to join them.

This on its own would be super weird, but they're not the only people to do that in this scene. The man in the purple sweater from the first picture crosses the road, then appears back next to the bookshop, then starts walking back the way he came again.

Here's the part that made me absolutely certain, though. At 40:05, a man wearing an orange hoodie with blue sleeves walks past Crowley, who is heading towards the bookshop entrance.

The camera cuts to a view from behind Crowley, and a moment later, at 40:08...

He reappears in front of Crowley and walks past him again.

It's such a distinctive outfit, there's no mistaking it. They are absolutely fucking with the background characters and they are absolutely doing it on purpose.

Your turn. There are at least three other characters in this scene who pass by multiple times. Watch it again and try to spot them.

This scene is really chaotic and obvious, but the phenomena I'm talking about is much bigger than just one scene. Let's go back to the first thing I said: the background characters don't change. All our leads do. Maggie and Nina wear distinctive outfits, clearly demarcating each new day. Even Crowley and Aziraphale, who in season 1 were like cartoon characters with wardrobes full of identical clothing, vary their looks. Crowley changes his (very subtly) each day; Aziraphale is less rigid on timing, but he has a few different coats that he switches between. The background characters, on the other hand, wear the same outfits every single day. They walk by on the street but they never actually seem to have a destination. They sit in the coffee shop or pub and don't eat or drink anything, and nearly everyone leaves together exactly on closing time. It's eerie.

For reference's sake, here's a rough timeline of season 2, with pictures of Maggie and Nina's outfits to show the passing of time. I had to outsource this section because my post was too image heavy, lol. The main point I wanted to make is that five days go by.

Five days, and all the same faces keep showing up in the background, and almost none of them change their clothes. I'm not entirely sure what it means, but there's no way it's an accident. It might, in fact, be a game changer. To me this is proof positive that something is not as it seems. I've been a massive Clue skeptic, adamant that I'd only be convinced by the most unambiguous evidence, and honestly? This is enough to move the dials. It's too big for me to ignore. Whatever grand explanation of Good Omens we come up with has to account for this. I don't have it yet, but my current working theories are that Crowley and Aziraphale are under some seriously heavy surveillance, that time warping is involved, or that reality itself is not what it seems.

It would take a really long time for me to go through all of the background characters who turn up over and over but I do want to show you what I'm talking about. To wrap up, then, I'm going to pick out some memorable characters and walk you through a few of their appearances through the week. I highly recommend looking out for this yourself on your next rewatch and seeing how many other characters you can recognise.

Yellow Skirt

The first person I kept coming back to as being not quite right. You probably remember her from the first episode - she's the one who waves and walks past Maggie and Nina the night they're locked in together. Incidentally, she's also Person Number 3 in the scene with Shax.

Day 1 (2x01 - 36:20):

Day 2 (2x02 - 42:03)

Day 3 (2x03 - 06:36)

Day 5 (2x06 - 30:00)

Coolest Leather Jacket In The World

It's not so easy to recognise people wearing lots of nondescript dark colours, but I love his hair and his jacket, so he stood out to me. I think there might be a lot more people who are wearing fairly nondescript clothes who I just can't recognise from episode to episode.

Day 2 (2x02 - 16:44)

Day 4 (2x04 - 41:20)

Day 5 (2x06 - 29:20)

Dressed In Mustard

Ms Mustard shows up everywhere. If you want to see what I mean about their paths not making sense, pay attention when she comes on screen, because she'll often show up a few times in succession and walk very purposefully to nowhere in particular. The thing that she is doing, essentially, is behaving like an extra in a tv show. Which of course she is, but you're supposed to make that invisible by not having the same person go back and forth in the same scene, or changing up their outfit each in-universe day to give the sense time is passing. Not doing that is a really deliberate choice.

Day 1 (2x01 - 22:37)

Day 2 (2x02 - 42:03)

Day 3 (2x03 - 01:49)

Day 3 (2x03 - 37:07)

Day 5 (2x06 - 29:59)

Swishy Dress

This character shows up a lot in the first episode. I've struggled to find her in later episodes, though. None of the characters seem to follow the same patterns or show up to equal extents each day, which makes me think this isn't a straightforward time loop. I haven't actually cross referenced character appearances to in world times, though. Possibly this is a project for someone who's more across the time-related shenanigans than me.

Day 1 (2x01 - 22:43)

Day 3 (2x03 - 07:01)

Yellow Vest

I've only seen this guy a handful of times, always around the French restaurant. I wonder if there's significance to that.

Day 2 (2x02 - 41:06)

Day 4 (2x05 - 12:49)

Fuzzy Blue Coat

Another background character who shows up frequently. The blue doesn't stand out quite as much as the yellows and reds some characters wear, but it's very distinctive.

While we're getting a lot of shots of the street, it's worth noting that I'm pretty sure the vehicles we see are also just the same few cars repeating each day. A lot of them are in neutral silvers and monochrome, but there's a couple of blue cars, one red, and one black and white that I'm fairly sure I've seen over and over through the season.

Day 1 (2x01 - 22:45)

Day 2 (2x02 - 42:04)

Day 3 (2x03 - 02:00)

Day 5 (2x06 - 40:10)

Day 5 (2x06 - 48:56)

Day 5 (2x06 - 50:06)

One final note: Whatever this is, Nina's employee who you see in the background at the coffeeshop sometimes isn't affected by it. He's wearing different outfits each day. On the other hand, some of the other shopkeepers do seem affected. I'm fairly sure Mr Brown and Mrs Sandwich wear the same outfits a few different days, only changing because of Aziraphale at the ball.

And that's it! Thanks for reading and I hope your mind is blown as much as mine is.

EDIT:

Hey I don't mind anyone pointing out production reasons that this might be the case or disagreeing with my analysis (over-analysis, some might say 😉). Please be kind about it, though. I'm not ignorant of the practical limitations involved in film making, but some of these costumes were really distinctive in a way I thought might be intended to draw attention.

For those of you who do find this theory convincing, I feel I should mention that I was working under the assumption that this stuff would have taken a few days to film, even filming it all together. That would strongly suggest that the actors were deliberately costumed the exact same way over multiple days of shooting, which made me think it had to be purposeful. @coranax was kind enough to point out, though, that behind the scenes videos said the extras were filmed separately to the main actors because of Covid protocols. In that case, they could have done it in just one day and that weakens my confidence in its intentionality.

Finally, all of my points about the scene with Shax in 2x03 stand. That was not a case of accidental continuity errors, it was really elegantly choreographed to enhance the tension in the scene. I say that with confidence because the extras are doing exactly what Shax is doing: circling Crowley, appearing where he doesn't expect them, creating a whirlwind sense of being off balance and out of control. I think it's really cool and effective, whether there's a deeper meaning to it or not.

[wiisagi-maiingan]

Universal healthcare would be a game changer in the US. It wouldn't solve everything, of course, and it still has its issues especially in a medical system that is poorly funded and understaffed but it would change SO MUCH.

Even aside from saving lives, which we all know politicians do not care about, it would be a massive boon to the economy to let people spend money on things other than paying off medical debts, paying expensive insurance fees, and paying for medication and treatment abd doctors visits. Like a household that isn't spending a few hundred (at least!!) on life-saving medicine every month is a family that can instead put that money towards luxuries.

And yet, even the most "left-leaning" politicians in the US just completely refuse to back universal healthcare. Full stop. A basic part of many other countries, countries that are frankly doing much better than the US financially, is treated as so absurd and radical that it's not even really a discussion by Democrats.

I know I've ranted about this before. You haven't seen it, obviously, but I've also had horrible breakdowns about this irl. I voted for Harris but thinking about her vague, completely milquetoast stance on single-payer healthcare genuinely makes me feel like I'm going to throw up because that is still the best fucking option we have.

I don't know how we can fix this. I don't know how we as a country can possibly continue like this, when even the absolute bare minimum in so much off the rest of the world isn't even a consideration by mainstream politicians here. I feel sick.

[kinardsevan]

with him being calm and collected, good with cars, reliable friend, etc etc i want to see imperfect tommy. what do you think he's *not* good at?

i love the headcanon that he can't cook, but in ~my head, the man knows his way around a kitchen.

he's dyslexic. he has multiple ways of dealing with this, given that he also deals with auditory processing, but having Evan around has been a game-changer, because his boyfriend will break shit down for him into minute detail and he doesn't have to read shit.

Tommy loves chocolate. He's really good about maintaining his diet for the most part, especially because he loves bodybuilding, but when he gets his hands on candy, it's like a green-eyed monster appears. He absolutely WILL fight with Evan over who ate the last brownie, or who finished the last of the kisses out of the candy bowl and didn't have replacements on hand. (it's usually him, but he's not going to admit it)

getting raw about the trauma he hasn't processed. our boy has done years of therapy and is pretty good about being able to be open about what he's faced/moved on from. but there are some things that he keeps close to his chest and still struggles with, and he definitely struggles with being honest about having problems about his triggers. Evan can always tell though when he's been triggered because Tommy is so good at being calm no matter the situation that when something does bother him, it's all over his face, and Evan won't move forward until they've at least discussed what brought it on.

picking up his clothes. look, he's lived by himself for almost two decades. he knows what he's looking for and where he last left it, and if he needs to find those socks, he left them in the bathroom. he'll find them later. (this drives Evan crazy and they argue about it a lot. there's a hamper in almost every room now.)

he can't deal with upsetting kids. he's constantly got a separate part of his chocolate stash now, just for Jee, Chris, Denny, and Mara. of course, he tells them regularly, "if your parents find out, you didn't get it from me" (Evan swears he knows nothing about this). (all their friends absolutely know it's Tommy giving their kids sugar). (he refuses to buy sugar-free)

-this does bite him in the ass one time. he gives Jee chocolate after she bangs her knee one night, jumping at him from the couch and hitting the coffee table. she's fine pretty quickly, but she's also up way past her bedtime because of the snack

he has NO organization of his music or movie library. again, this makes Evan crazy. Evan has specifically curated playlists for everything (including the one they share in which they're constantly sending one another songs that make them think of each other), and Tommy just willy-nilly throws things together (or worse, lets Spotify curate his Daily's and is satisfied with those.) When Tommy proposes, the first thing Evan tells him is that he's in charge of the music, lest their first dance end up being something god-awful suggested by the internet.

he can draw. he can paint. he can throw a pot. he can shoot photos decently (not as well as Evan). he can't sew to save his own life.

also, on the food thing: Evan is great with recipes. Tommy can just do natural chemistry in the kitchen. however, whenever he tries to follow a recipe, he ends up fucking it up. cooking together ends up always being an adventure because of this, because Evan is very meticulous about how things are made, but Tommy goes by his tastebuds and what sounds good. sometimes it works out. sometimes they end up ordering takeout.

...sometimes someone ends up covered in dessert toppings.

[moss-sprouted]

it baffles me that certain other content creators would try to follow in dropouts footsteps when the content that dropouts making is almost far exceeding the small price point they offer

and i know theres other small streaming services that came off of youtube, and they dont personally have anything im particularly interested in but ive heard great things!

however compared to the one im vaguely talking about, dropout is really just killing it, And still offering free content and shorts to Advertise that paid content and that fully pulls me back in

and the stuff theyre putting out lately has been beyond phenomenal, and they still have their great old faithful shows to fall back on like dimension 20 and um,actually and even with some of the changes made to those shows over the years, theyre still fantastic and theres SO much backlog to watch

and now very important people? fucking incredible show, such an interesting concept and so fucking funny, ive been unable to watch any of the full episodes in a bit cause im waiting to subscribe when i have all of fantasy high junior year to watch or at least i can catch up before the finale (and as a consequence of waiting months, will have a huge backlog of incredible shows and episodes to check out as well) but either way every short i see of that show is so incredible and i know that the full episodes wont be disappointing

and game changer really is such a fucking fantastic show and im so glad it exists, ive watched every episode and all them are so good and absolutely hilarious

idk dropouts really just killing it and while i hope it stays 6 dollars for the foreseeable future, the content provided is worth so so so much and they actively encourage password sharing and idk i could just gush about dropout forever, im so glad i checked it out and i can keep coming back to it every few months and have so much stuff to watch, and if you have the money to spare i would highly encourage it, or even just the free trial

but if you cant, theres full seasons of d20 and so much other content of it to see... for free, on youtube funny how that works? and they still make money?? who knew!

[n7punk]

i know probably no one here gives a shit about it or listening to me specifically talking about it but i watched a great video on the watcher situation and i have thoughtsssssss so im going to spew them into the ether

tldr watcher (the former buzzfeed unsolved + worth it boys after they split from bz) did a big hype countdown for their fans... to them announcing they were launching a "streaming service" and paywalling all their content - present and PAST - behind it for 6$ a month. they totally shit on their fans saying anyone could afford it (i cant - or at least i wont for the value to me) and then they gaslit us and said it was never the plan to remove the past content even though they say it in the video and it was in the fucking variety article that launched along with the announcement.

anyway, what kind of surprises me is everyone comparing this to dropout (and now try guys) when there's another example of this that is even more relevant right now and it's roosterteeth, which is only relevant right now because they just went bankrupt. and imo, there's absolutely no comparison in value (however you feel about the content) between dropout/roosterteeth and watcher.

size: rt had a massive cast, dropout seems to have a decent amount too (only familiar with game changer, sorry). try guys has a few core members, true, but over the last few years they've been trying to diversify, bring more people in over a few videos to test the waters, and then they invested into new shows with those faces when creating their lineup for the streaming service. watcher is three guys. oh sorry four now they brought andrew on for the worth it clone 🙄 i hated that guy at buzzfeed and i hate him now lol

bloat: try guys started with a few employees working out of ned's old house and grew organically. dropout cut down significantly when they broke from college humor and budgeted until they could afford to hire more. roosterteeth started in a spare bedroom and then slowly grew into larger and larger offices over time. watcher immediately bought a massive office space in LA and then jumped to an even larger one, with 25 employees when most shows could probably be done with half as many people that end up credited! 25 employees and you upload once or twice a week if that?? that means one video has to pay for 25 people to live that week, in addition to business expenses. they want to be a large production company, so they're acting like they are without making the output or doing the research.

youtube presence: rt still uploaded most things to youtube, my understanding is dropout still posts as well, and try guys is planning to keep all their current shows on youtube, just on a schedule delay like rt did. all services have stuff exclusive to their service, but that's new, extra stuff that serves as a value-add. watcher was just going to abandon every fan that didn't pay for their service, and even after the backlash the delay is a MONTH? for rt it was just a week!

platforms: try guys is launching with the site, phone apps, and even a roku tv app! roosterteeth had an app too and dropout has phone/roku apps. watcher is launching with a single website in beta. it's a money-hungry patreon, not a streaming service with a diverse lineup of shows. calling it a streaming service is ludicrous to me.

(apparently the fan theory is that watcher caught wind of the try guys launching their own streaming service and tried to jump the gun to get ahead of them, but by god did they fumble that)

frequency: if you were a fan of one person at roosterteeth, as long as they were the main cast member of something, it was likely you could tune in to a new episode of something with them in it twice a week, sometimes every day, multiple times. like, it's insane watcher thinks they have the amount of content to justify this. and remember, roosterteeth failed! obvs it worked for a long time and there's warner bros being eager to pull the plug to contend with (not to mention the alleged embezzlement?) but youtubers should be really fucking cautious right now. try guys is launching with a catalogue of new shows they've been silently producing alongside their usual content for a year! that's the way to do it right

paid events availability: try guys used to have ticketed flagship liveshows that are all being added to the new streaming service. if you were the kind of fan who wants to go to all those, you might even save money. roosterteeth also had events like this that were exclusive to paid subscribers. watcher doesn't have anything comparable.

goodwill: i would argue this was a big contributor to why roosterteeth finally went bankrupt with all the trust (and good memories too!) lost in the scandals. dropout fans seem to be really proud of the company and how its run (i heard they're like, the only streaming service to offer residuals? thats so cool). the try guys went through their own scandal and only came out with a stronger bond with their fans for how quickly they acted (a few were lost, but my final impression in the end was we all gained respect for how they handled it). the try guys have talked about taking paycuts as the ceo to fund all this production! meanwhile watcher brags about how large their production is without ever justifying why they need it. related:

tonedeafness: supposedly the streaming service is to pay for high production value. no one is really buying that. the company is bloated and mismanaged, but the real thing was them launching a worth it clone. don't get it twisted, every ceo, part-owner, etc is to blame for this, not just the face of worth it, but no fan who is bankrolling the show themselves wants to watch someone else eat luxury food. people liked that when it was a grift on buzzfeed, not on them.

this is completely subjective but i watch three shows on watcher (unsolved, puppet history, and mystery files) and i'd have to be making 4x my salary for me to be willing to pay 6$ a month for three shows no matter how much i like them. like, i'm not paying 6$ for try guys either, but watcher being so focused on having "shows" and "seasons" makes it really easy to point to how little i really watch there versus try guys which has a big variety of stuff not tied to a specific show name. i never think about "which shows" i watch on try guys.

idk i just think roosterteeth's goliath cast and output still burning out should be brought up more when talking about (the comparatively) little 3 million subscribers watcher trying to launch their own "streaming service" when there's a pretty good cautionary tale right now - well, two when you consider how this went down lol

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

@redmapleleavesonwhitesnow

The episode is really interesting because they clearly have a roadmap in Fire & Blood, but the execution was just kind of poor. I know they were filming during the writers’ strike and they had completed scripts. But writers are typically also on set during filming, and HOTD proceeding without any writer input… shows lol. I think that might be why the vibes were just kind of off despite the plot being pretty sound?

Personally I found the episode pretty directionless and without its own succinct throughline. The most egregious example for me was Rhaenyra’s plot. She is ostensibly the protagonist but she had absolutely nothing to do. All of her scenes where she’s just looking a little upset or angry, literally amounted to what was accomplished by the two second shot of her at the end of the season one finale. They did not cover any new ground with her whatsoever???

Meanwhile with the Greens, I think opening with that time jump after Luke’s death and not having any direct reactions to it was a mistake. It’s really odd the way everyone was kind of glossing it over. It felt like it should be more of a game changer. No one was like “why did you kill a child, you were not supposed to be doing that??” lmao. And while we see them kind blame him for the conflict a little, it’s not either any particular urgency or anger lmao. It sounds like they’re just like “Oh well it’s Aemond. He’s stupid, he does things like this.” There’s hardly any emotional element to the stakes when they’re considering like does it even mean now that Luke is dead and there’s likely no peace to be had between them anymore? They’re so blasé about it.

Last season I thought it was a fantastic choice to have Aemond kill Luke *on accident.* It looked like he was just trying to scare him, and like while those were dangerous circumstances and it probably would’ve resulted in his death anyway lol it’s obvious that he wasn’t trying to kill him in that moment at least? We get that shot where it’s clear that he’s in shock and kind of terrified of having done something like that and it’s so good! But frankly, why even bother having that beat if you’re not going to do anything with it? There’s just nothing. They could’ve gotten much more mileage out of the Greens processing and reacting to that information. Like Alicent being like “why the fuck did you do that???” and him either being like “I’m sorry, mom, I didn’t mean to 😞” or having to own it and be like “yeah I killed him and it was totally on purpose!” because saying that he definitely pushed them to war on accident would’ve been infinitely worse.

There’s also no development there in terms of his character and who he is as a person. At the moment, he seems to be pretty ready to just like go out and kill things, which fair, but how does that relate to the fact that he accidentally killed Luke? He has a history of being pretty vicious and he did attack the kids previously with a with a knife— which is what resulted in him losing his eye. And he has always been the angry one, the cruel one, but none of that context seems to come into play wrt how he relates to this, when there was so much that could be done.

And that’s a thread that continues with the rest of the Greens too. They also did absolutely nothing with Aegon. He was built up in the previous season as kind of a vile gross little rapist. He’s set up as just an awful, person, but then he gets this particularly humanizing moment when we see him trying to run away when he’s been named king, and that glimpse of patheticness and self loathing. And there’s really none of that in that pilot? Frankly I did actually enjoy the kind of workplace comedy element of him and Otto struggling. Or him just being like “yeah, so Aemond can just hop in the family car and go like scare some people into declaring for us or mow them over if they don’t idk” Like he’s kind of his silly, but there isn’t much substance there. We don’t see him forcing himself to be more present as king because he knows that he has no other choice and they are at war (and what other way can he get his Mom’s approval?) Nor do we even see him being exceptionally cruel by medieval king standards. Like we didn’t see him go Joffrey, in terms of constant cruelty and abusing his newfound power to make himself feel bigger. He’s not even like miserably unequipped to be king? His mistakes seem more like he’s just untested and also being undermined by Otto. It’s just such a tepid take?

Moving on to Alicent. So I think it’s an INSANE choice to just tell us that she and Criston are/have been fucking without any build up to how that comes about. To be clear I think it’s a galaxy brained progression, don’t I don’t dislike it. But the way that episode literally opens with Criston giving her head, and then Alicent immediately after being like “this can never happen again” implying it’s the first time, but showing none of the character interaction that got there or what exactly they’re feeling about it seems like such a waste. If you’re just telling me that these characters are fucking, without any of the emotional context for why this matters or what this does or does not mean to them, why should I care, you know? It’s just such a missed opportunity. Like theres nothing compelling about physically seeing Criston’s head under her skirt, divorced of any context lmao.

There are interesting elements implied: Alicent seems to be trying to exert power over someone, anyone; Criston is so servile damn; the entire relationship is so clearly about Rhaenyra for both of them. But that’s all just vague inference? And they do nothing with it. There’s also the additional interesting point where it’s clearly not a one time thing, despite what Alicent said earlier because they’re literally fucking during blood and cheese. But like… you could show us how that happened or why? What brings Alicent to be like “well I know I said there wouldn’t be any repeats but….” Or like is Criston cool with this? Is he initiating, is she? I’d compare it to how Criston and Rhaenyra’s dynamic developed in early season one when its so clear that she’s only looking for a bit of fun when she hooks up with him, and it’s directly after being rejected by Daemon so he’s a replacement. And we see how he puts her on a pedestal and clearly thinks it’s way more than it is. Like their sex scene has so much context and character, and comparatively the season two scenes have none of that!

I will say, the bit where he’s talking to Aemond about it and is saying that Rhaenyra pulled Alicent into a web and intoxicated her (insane!! thing to tell Alicent’s son by the way) where he’s clearly projection is good. But like… not enough lol. There’s obviously some interesting complex things happening there but they don’t dig into them.

Anyway moving onto Alicent, it’s not really clear what’s going on with her? She also hasn’t progressed since season one. I feel like her scenes haven’t added very much. We know that she’s upset about the bloodshed, but that isn’t news. We know she’s upset about being undermined by Otto, but that isn’t news. Her relationship with Criston is new, and it may be where she’s trying to exert power, but we don’t see her come to that point Meanwhile I don’t understand what’s going on with her and Larys anymore.

There’s the scene where tells her that he’s changed all of her maids because they were disloyal— first of all I think highlighting how many servants they have in the same episode as Blood and Cheese, where the castle is conspicuously empty, and not tying those two things together somehow is a really weird choice. They needed some sort of excuse or reason for why no one saw or did anything? Because that castle looked fucking empty.

They could’ve easily said that Aegon got pissy and fired all of their servants, or that he was so shitty to them that the servants were very happy to turn a blind eye. Or idk maybe Alicent was upset about all of her maids being resigned without her permission and she’s the one who fires all of the new ones? But there are truly no ties there, so what is Larys reassigning all the servants supposed to mean? It’s undermining Alicent but… we’ve been here before, we know about that. It could have been a direct reaction to her original handmaids barring Larys from seeing her/not telling her what she was up to when she was fucking Criston but again a) bad choice of placement with Blood and Cheese b) it seems like the reassigning happened before. I’ll allow that maybe he’s trying to tell her that her handmaids answer to him, therefore he knows what she was up to. But it still doesn’t go anywhere?

I kind of wish she tried to do something about it, but also I just don’t really like the dynamic so I may just be biased in this instance. I don’t find it particularly compelling and I think it’s just odd that she puts up with him. I personally always thought that it stretched disbelief a little bit but whatever.

Anyway Blood and Cheese! That scene was so poorly written??? I feel like there’s very little emotional buildup to it. It’s just paced really badly and as a result it doesn’t have as much emotional resonance as it could have. Honestly, I thought it being from Blood and Cheese’s perspective was a mistake. I think it probably would’ve been a better idea to just be in Helena‘s POV from the beginning, and to be shocked by it with her when she realizes someone’s broken into her room, and to have more time to sit with her fear.

I think the actress did a pretty good job with what she was given, but it felt abrupt to me. The progression from her thinking maybe they’re there to rob her, to being forced to tell them which one is her son, to just picking up her other kid and booking it just felt like it was shot oddly and wasn’t given enough time to breathe.

And the smaller moving parts of the scene just kept testing my suspension of disbelief. Like first of all, from the assassins’ perspective we see that they’re purely monetarily motivated. Why aren’t they more tempted by her offering them her necklace/or more gold? Daemon may have promised them gold but she could likely give them way more as the sitting Queen? If they just particularly hate the Greens/the Targaryens/or are just violent and jonesing to dismember a kid then idk establish that more clearly.

Meanwhile it was just really odd that they completely lost interest in her after she told them who was the son. They just ignore her while she runs away. You’d think they’d be worried about discovery at all? But they’re not because the castle is fucking empty shdhfgf

Why the fuck is Criston the single only member of the King’s Guard in that entire building? Literally no one is guarding the royal family when they’re at war and should probably be way more terrified of anything like this happening???

I did actually like the element of her running into her mother’s room, and the implication that’s she is just so traumatized that she regressed to childhood. But it’s a very anti-climactic note to end on. Like what exactly is it meant to convey to have Alicent be interrupted while having sex, Helaena to tell her, dead eyed, that they “killed the boy” and to close on Alicent just being like :o

Like shfhff what is the point of any of that? The choices are just kind nonsensical to me. It’s also wild that in F&B Helaena has two sons, but the other one just doesn’t exist in the show. (Which imo also removes some of the horror where she has to choose which would die! That’s so awful!) So it’s a much bigger deal that their single heir has been murdered. But also with the show’s track record… I’m not sure they’re going to react to it adequately lol.

Like at the end of the day, the Dance of the Dragons is a tragedy. If you’re familiar with the original series at all you know how it turns out. It’s not about who wins it’s about the characters and their journeys. So constantly divorcing the plot of emotional relevance sure is uh. a choice.

[basiliskonline]

I just finished a Court of Fey and Flowers by @dimension20official, it was absolutely amazing, hands down the best AP I have ever seen, or imagine I might see.

You can find it here.

As someone that is strongly anti-D&D 5E and Anti Wizards of the Coast, it took me a long time to give dimension 20 a chance, and I will strongly suggest that anyone in that same position give it a shot.

I am gonna talk about it below the cut here, cause this will likely be long, this will be things I both liked and didn't like.

So i'm gonna talk abit about my feelings and experience with games and APs, because we're all different, we all like different things in a TV Show and by extension those variable preferences would also expand to APs. So I want to give you a little bit of information about where I stand as I explain my thoughts. Sorry if this gets very SEO Recipe lmao.

If you don't care about all that, skip to the next bold line, however if you are gonna comment or argue or whatever, at least read the context first and then probably don't do that.

I've been gaming for 30+ years, I started very early, and i've played definately dozens, probably hundreds of different games. D&D doesnt even rank in that list, I didn't like it much as a kid, when i grew up and it was 3/3,5 I hated both it and pathfinder with a passion. I played 5E for a bit but its lackluster and very poor design led to a game of boring mechanical options and choices that quickly grew old. And if I was gonna play a narrative game, i wouldn't be playing D&D in the first place. 4E is the only edition of D&D I've actively enjoyed.

I was an immense Critter during Campaign 1 and partway through Campaign 2. Like... "my wife and I have Critical Role quotes engraved on our wedding bands" critters.

But I quickly fell away from both Critters and Critical Role, by and large Critters is the worst fandom ive been apart of (and I was a SuperWhoLock back in the day) and the CR cast talks a lot of nice ideals and backs them up with absolutely nothing but lip service. I am now, tbh, somewhat uncomfortable when I see any of them on my timeline.

Dimension 20 is the first AP my wife and I have tried to watch since CR (we find most APs to be unwatchtable in most situations, just our own preference), My wife was curious about seeing Brendan as a DM after watching him on Game Changer, so we watched Mice and Murder (it was fun, and good, but has NOTHING on aCoFaF), and then on a suggestion moved to watch aCoFaF).

Last piece of the puzzle, WotC is a fucking nightmare company that has harbored some of the worst pieces of trash imaginable (though tbf that is not unique to them, its a major "large/old ttrpg company issue". And I quite frankly would love to never have to hear or see about anything wotc ever does ever again, preferably because they burned down and everything they ever made goes with them (this sadly means I would lose 4E but sacrifices must be made).

Things I like about a Court of Fey and Flowers

The first thing I love about it, is its a very role play heavy AP, and it centers on matters of Political fey intrigue, and that is done so masterfully by every single player and by the GM. (I absolutely avoided D20 because of the DnD/WOTC connection, but I in retrospect absolutely understand the whole "Season of Aabria" that was going around now).

The characters were thrilling, dramatic, sneaky, nuanced and hilarious, and the storyline was gorgeous and beautifully made, allowing the players to make their own messes and their own relationships and romances. So much romances.

I absolutely loved that I didn't have to see dnd 5e be played most of the time. This is something, and one of the only somethings, you'll see me talk about in the "don't like" section, so it is strangely enough both. The system was changed and mostly ignored that I almost never had to see dnd played, the AP is so heavily social and rp and during the state of the AP only had two very very short combats that were more priority on the social implications of the combats than the combat itself. Overall it could have used any system and done what they did, but mostly I didn't have to see 5E played and that made it pretty solid, despite "being 5E".

I also love Brennan Lee Mulligan's Captain KP Hob, a very good bab and the first and only Bugbear PC ive seen in an AP (and I love me some Bugbear)

Thing's I didn't like about a Court of Fey and Flowers

This is gonna stay light, because really there wasn't much. The only thing really is that the system, while ostensibly "5E" the system was so lightly applied, used or stuck to that the game could have used almost literally any other system to better affect and I absolutely hate that they still gave 5E and WOTC some sort of props/bandwidth by barely using the system but still selling it as DnD.

[just-my-latest-hyperfixation]

So curious about your process👖

👖 Are you a planner, plantser, or pantser? Is it consistent?

Ooooh boy, I'm gonna be so annoying. I love talking about the process. My process, other writers’ processes, artists’ processes, bookbinders processes - i love seeing how all of our brains work so differently and how we each achieve such fantastic results. 🤩

I am a planner all the way.

When I first started writing over 20 years ago, I started out pantsing it, but ultimately, I'd always write myself into a corner and get stuck, or lose interest. Planning my stories, for me personally, has been an absolute game changer.

I never start writing before I have a rough idea of what's supposed to happen in the story. (Not even drabbles. Not even microfics.)

For almost all of my chaptered fics, I have an outline document. (The only exceptions being Just add water and Whatever you want it to be, and both of these were planned as one-shots and spiralled out of control 😅.)

The outline document isn't long. Usually around 2 to 3k-ish for a novel length fic. It usually contains the basic premise, the characters and what their roles are, and - most importantly - outlines for the individual chapters in bullet points. If I work with different POVs, those get color coded.

I never start seriously working on a long fic before the outline doc isn't at least 80-90% complete. It's my red thread that I don't deviate from in any significant way. Sometimes the characters will make decisions I didn't account for (like Eddie will decide he wants in on a scene that was supposed to be a conversation between Steve and Vecna only, or that one notable time where my notes said “they talk and sort out their shit and then they fuck about it”, and those two horny morons locked eyes and jumped each other's bones and tabled the talking part for later.) I usually go with that if it feels organic but the outline ensures I know what I'm up to and helps me lay out hints and foreshadowing.

Fanfic ask game

[sibyl-of-space]

I am now actually for real done with the semester! And it's been honestly great despite everything.

I've pivoted to doing 99% of my assignments from home so I can get used to my own tools and not the tools provided on campus. This led to me completely changing what kinds of music I write. I have barely bought any sample libraries because they're expensive as fuck, I'd rather play with synths and self-record on cello/record other musicians... and boy are logic loops a game changer for quick projects. Because of this limitation, I've really found my voice I think.

I also just had classes that overall I really loved. I took counterpoint for fun and it's been one of the most valuable composition fundamentals courses I've ever taken. I took a course on Unity/C# and it's led to me making a bad demo game, that I might be able to keep building until it's not bad anymore and might actually be not just a good portfolio piece but also just something I will always be super proud of. I took a composition course that was absolutely godawful but despite that I managed to create 2 pieces of music I'm really happy with anyway. And I made a lot of silly Chopin remixes and quick and dirty bangers for a kind of bad class on game music, so even that was fun.

And most importantly I've had lessons with an absolutely phenomenal teacher who has similar values to me and has been the perfect balance of constructive and supportive. She's helped me with everything from FFIX Zine arrangements to feedback on mechanics for my point-and-click game to ideas for sound design and dynamic composition for games. She's been so amazing and it's thanks to her I've really started feeling like I have a path forward. (Last year I did not really have any faculty who weren't deeply entrenched in like huge budget cinematic games made by massive companies, so I'm so thankful to have been finally connected with someone who plays hidden object games for aunties and can help me identify what aspects of Professor Layton puzzle themes make them effective.)

I've done a lot of recording sessions, mostly for zine pieces. I want to make sure I continue that into next semester, especially to do at least a couple sessions for original pieces.

Anyway I'm now going to spend my holiday break doing a lot of resting.

I might get myself one (1) sample library as a reward for getting through the semester though. My teacher recommended keyscape as a must have for keyboard instruments. I'll have to think about it bc it, like every "pro" sample library, is super expensive 😩

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (19-25 March 2023)

ʸᵒᵘʳ ʰᵒⁿᵒᵘʳ ᶦ ˡᵒᵛᵉ ᵗʰᵉᵐ

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

😊 The Burning Issue of the Day (Lady Hardcastle Mysteries #5) (T.E. Kinsey, author) - Emily & Flo help out some suffragettes

😒How To Marry A Marble Marquis: A Regency Monster Romance (C.M. Nascosta, author) - boring & disappointing - I basically read this overnight from 1-3 am during an insomnia episode or I probably wouldn't have bothered to finish

🥰👂‍The Forgotten Dead (OutFoxing the Paranormal #1) (Jordan L Hawk, author; Tristan James, narrator) - very satisfyingly spooky ghost story/paranormal investigator + romance! I have the 2nd book but I'm trying to make myself wait for the audio bc I really dug this narrator

😍over the hills and far away (througheden, author; , narrator) - 84K, steddie - just a fucking great 2nd chance fic

😊 The Wolf and the Wallflower (Wolves of the Ton #1) (Devin Harnois, author) - cute enough fantasy/fairy tale regency werewolf queer romance - I did enjoy seeing their OTT HEA! (and compared to the gargoyle romance it was a fucking masterpiece)

And then I started my biannual (at least) reread of The Muderbot Diaries, inspired by my oldest bff finally reading the series!

😍👂‍All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) (Martha Wells, author; Kevin R Free, narrator)

😍👂‍Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries #2) (Martha Wells, author; Kevin R Free, narrator)

😍👂‍Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries #3) (Martha Wells, author; Kevin R Free, narrator)

💖💖 +245K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

[Podfic] So Loud & So Clear (quietnight (reader); StilesBastille24 (author)) - MCU: stucky, 26K - relisten; good WS recovery fic

I'd Burn the Castle for You [Podfic] (singinginmay (reader); AidaRonan (author)) - Stranger Things: steddie, 3.6K - relisten; absolute forever fave

On the Count of Three series (lightgetsin) - Dresden Files: dresden/marcone/kinkaid, 31K - good & very hot series that starts with the threesome but really kinkaid is just there to buffer marcone and dresden as they work out their issues

Peek-A-Boo (rainbow_nerds) - Stranger Things: steddie, 1.7K - short but super hot and excellent accidental exhibitionism fic

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Maine Cabin Masters - s7, e11-12

Dickinson - s1, e4-10

Schitt's Creek - s2, e4-6

Where We Call Home - s1, e1-2

Game Changer - s5, e9: "Escape the Greenroom"; s2, e6; s4, e1-2; s5, e1&e3

Dirty Laundry - s1, e1-6

Ted Lasso - s3, e2 [x2]

Why Didn't They Ask Evans?

Black Mirror - s3, e4 "San Junipero"

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

Desert Island Discs - Jenny Beavan, costume designer

Into It - 'Swarm' and the Killer Beyhive

Switched on Pop - 100 gecs make good bad music

Shedunnit - At Home With Agatha Christie

⭐99% Invisible #529 - The Wilderness Tool

Vibe Check - I Thought Hell Was Hot, but It’s Wet

Off Menu - Ep 184: Nick Mohammed

⭐Song Exploder - Seal - Kiss from a Rose

⭐Twenty Thousand Hertz+ - Insurance Jingles… Why?

Ologies - Domicology (ABANDONED BUILDINGS, RECYCLED HOUSES & GHOST TOWNS) with Rex LaMore

Off Menu - Ep 22: Suzi Ruffell

Into It - Are We Into the Return of 'Succession,' Grounded Nepo Babies, and A24 Casting?

⭐You're Dead To Me - Sarah Bernhardt

Endless Thread - Asking Science About Giraffe

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

The Go-Go's

80s Sing-Alongs

The Essential REO Speedwagon [REO Speedwagon] {2004}

[evilwickedme]

Ok thoughts on the second round because we had yet another shocking twist!

Last time the leverage fandom came through and absolutely tore through what I thought would be sure wins - and this time the Jaskier fans came in at the very last minute to turn this entire thing on its head.

I spent most of the day refreshing the Daredevil vs Deadpool poll - Matt was winning when I went to sleep last night, but Wade was winning by at least .1 from the moment I woke up today, but never by enough for me to be SURE he'd survive his first round. Therefore when I saw that Jason had had more than 70% of the votes for most of the day, I didn't think to worry about it.

Penny-anna is the game changer here tho! Three reblogs of the Jaskier vs Jason poll later and it ends up on thebibliosphere's dash, of all fucking people, and next thing I know that poll has double the amount of votes that Parker vs Percy had and about half an hour before the end נהפוך הוא (things flipped on their head) and Jaskier ended up sticking the landing!

Another stressful poll was Tara vs Lois. Lois was in the lead almost the entire time, but in the last two hours it became a VERY close thing, and Lois only won with 50.6% of the votes - the only DC character to survive, since Jason got taken out by Jask and poor Timmy didn't stand a chance against Peter. Similarly, while Buffy was in the lead against Eliot Spencer for most of the day, Eliot did manage to pull through for a bit there, and I was sad at the thought that Spike, Tara, AND Buffy herself would all end up eliminated. I'm glad that we ended up with some DC and Buffy rep.

We move on to the third round with four marvel characters, and a character each from btvs, DC, leverage, and the Witcher. Wish your fav blorbo luck, and don't forget - campaigning is not only allowed, but encouraged, and that includes me!

[strange-and-off-putting]

People I Want To Know Better!

Thank you so much for the tag @sunsets-and-satsumas <3

Last Song: Honestly, it was Brother Oliver's cover of "I Dreamed a Dream," from Les Miserables. A Facebook friend (from back in my Playbill Online message board days) recently posted the link and it made me crazy nostalgic.

Favourite Colour: Black, royal purple, forest green. Though weirdly, in my art, my palettes lately have absolutely favored warm colors, especially red and yellow.

Currently Watching: I watch very little television. Right now I'm rewatching Psych with my wife (such a fucking good show), but beyond that it's a lot of Dropout TV (Game Changer, Dirty Laundry, etc.), and YouTube. My big thing on YouTube lately is lost media deep dives and unsolved mysteries. Also a perrennial fan of pop culture video essays and ArtTubers.

Last Movie: Inside Out 2, lol. I unironically love Pixar, but I also have a nine-year-old, so. I'm really excited for Deadpool and Wolverine, but it might be a bit before we get to it.

Sweet/Spicy/Savoury: I like things that can combine at least two of these. Like chocolate with chili in it, or salted caramel, or feta and watermelon -- stuff like that.

Relationship Status: Just celebrated my 14th wedding anniversary!!

Current Obsession: In terms of media/fandom, Red Dwarf is still at the top of my list, nearly a year and a half later. In other realms of my life selling the house/buying a new one has been consuming a lot of my thoughts, as has trying to actually make progress on my art bingo card.

Last Thing You Googled: How to pronounce "gentian root," because I was drinking Moxie and arguing with my wife about how to pronounce it. After that it was, "what root is used in root beer," lol.

I'm not great about tagging folks, but literally if I'm mutuals with you, assume I'm interested!!

[literallyneurodivergentandaminor]

checking in on the last few GT videos again bc why not. i do miss matpat sometimes. anyway im on the why youtube shorts sucks video and it got me to think about how i consume shortform video content. now i dont have tiktok. so this is all reels and youtube shorts.

im definitely proud to say youtube shorts i watch just like regular youtube. i got like 2-3 creators i like (currently its just tom cardy, ange mariano and the game changers shorts channel. maybe ill find others that i like??? unsure.) and i check into their channels every now and then.

with reels i do notice i am falling into the trap of just consuming. while i still always when a video is interesting go on the creators account and look at their other stuff (and i have a few people i follow and regularly check into. usually its fashion girlies and dudes. one i particularly like is violetstanza. shes fun.) i often find myself just endlessly scrolling and barely remembering who posted what. :( and man those reddit aita minecraft jump n run gameplay videos do trap me sometuimes even if i try not to. though i click off pretty fast usually. im trying so hard not to get sucked into shortform video content

im just kidna pissed off that every platform is trying to be the same thing. like, whats with doing soemthing different than the rest?? why is everything the same???? why cant i just have a photo app thats a photo app why are you shoving tiktoks down my throat. im not on tiktok for a REASON!!!!!

useless rant over i guess. im being sad over the internet again

i mean i sitll have tumblr. now with tumblr live finally leaving again i got at least this fucking hellsite thats not trying to be tiktok 2. (theres also twitter but istg i tried using it and it was absolutely awful idk what people like in it nothing is sorted how do the tags even work what do i do to find what im looking for?????)

[ocean-anchored]

Continued.. December 27, 23

Lastly yesterday. I had a chill morning cause I needed it. Went to the park with nova & Nathan met me there for a walk. Zack had asked to meet up & I made the expectation clear on what he was wanting out of it which was nothing. Idk why I do this to myself man, I hope I don't regret this again but I agreed. We went skating in bowness and it was really nice. Idk I almost just don't want to say anything because dumb future self is going to look back & be like you're a moron if things pan out the same. He said a lot of good stuff though & how he's been hitting rock bottom. Didn't say "this time is different" which was nice, but started going to NA meetings which alone is at least a step. When I said "how would you react if your daughter was dating a man like you & how you've treated me" & that hit him hard. Again I don't want to get into it too much because I'm not getting my hopes up. I went for a short dinner with Conner after which was alright. Nice to catch up but yea still just whatever. Then ended up going out for a drink/food with Zack again after & back to his place for a movie which I kept my boundaries firm, not matter how much I desired anything. Idk what the heck man but there's something about him that absolutely drives me insane & I can't get over. I just take one look at him & i'm in love again I fucking hate it. Anyways, we continued to have really good conversation & aired so much stuff out. This time, like times in the past I've went on a bit of a ramble about like how I felt in situation etc & I felt like I would loose him, he wouldn't fully acknowledge things I said & would kind of be quiet, but this time I fully listened & acknowledged many points, it was different actually. But good, like we really did talk about so much & touch on hard topics & was able to get closure & understanding. It was honestly probably one of the better conversations we've ever had. I don't want to get any hopes up nor am I allowing anything to go anywhere & this time he actually realizes how he needs to do this for himself & this could take at least a year for him to feel like he's back on his feet & it sounds like he's actually wanting it this time for himself, so Idk, I just pray that this is different for him. I really just want the best for him & I enjoy his company so much but I just need to keep my boundaries & help enforce that we keep building a friendship foundation. We'll see. Anyways, that's the last two weeks recap. Hopefully within the next 3 days while I'm off I can sit down & recap the year again with where I'm at & I would like to be able to think about what 2024 will look like & set some goals that I want to strive towards. I really do want to go into this next year committed to myself and my relationship with God. No more chasing others for attention, no more trying to force anything, relationship, friendships etc. I just can't do it, doesn't feel authentic & continue investing into those who are investing back into me & keep growing. I know I still have a lot of things to continue to work on, I still want to be reading a bunch which I'm really stoked that I've been doing so much more reading, this Libby app has been game changer. I love the feeling of a book but man, I've done 3 audiobooks I think & read a full book already in a matter of only a few short months so I definitely want to carry that into the new year & really get through some of these that are on my TBR. Anyways, I'm going to make some food & decide how productive I want to be today.