#again - i have not been this hyped up since 2021

[snapbackslide]

happy hockey dayyyy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🏒⛸🥅🚨❄️

[centrally-unplanned]

The Clarkesworld AI Spam issue is one of those stories that to me really highlights the limits of the tools that hype is obscuring. Clarkesworld is a well-established Sci-Fi publishing magazine that today had to suspend all of its submissions due to being overwhelmed by ChatGPT generated entries:

This inspired a lot of discourse around the idea of a ‘crisis of credibility’ on the internet, AI sweeping away the boundries of authenticity in a flood of forgeries. How can magazines even operate in this new environment, one might ask?

Which is weird because this environment isn’t new at all, as the editor, Neil Clarke, comments on in his blog post around the problem:

Since the early days of the pandemic, I’ve observed an increase in the number of spammy submissions to Clarkesworld. What I mean by that is that there’s an honest interest in being published, but not in having to do the actual work. Up until recently, these were almost entirely cases of  plagiarism, first by replacing the author’s name and then later by use of programs designed to “make it your own.”

The issue isn’t that spam exists, its the quantity:

This is undoubtably a gigantic spike, and 100% it is induced by ChatGPT.

But hold on - is ChatGPT actually *better* at this that previous spam tools? Niel doesn’t think so, even if he is worried about the future: 

I’m not going to detail how I know these stories are “AI” spam or outline any of the data I have collected from these submissions. There are some very obvious patterns and I have no intention of helping those people become less likely to be caught...

... What I can say is that the number of spam submissions resulting in bans has hit 38% this month. While rejecting and banning these submissions has been simple, it’s growing at a rate that will necessitate changes. To make matters worse, the technology is only going to get better, so detection will become more challenging.

And how expensive was the plagarism before to do anyway? It was copy-pasting text, automated word replacement programs, and done, that is trivial. Its a little harder than ChatGPT, sure, but you could make a thousand in a day no sweat, automated scripts randomizing names and jumbling nouns from a list. 

The success rate also seems to be zero! Neither plagarism nor ChatGPT generates any story worth a damn, these aren’t being accepted. Neil is quite confident he is catching 100% of them and I believe him on that, these tools cannot write good fiction of any length beyond a paragraph. 

So what is the ChatGPT’s advantage over previous, ‘dumber’ spam that justifies a 100-fold increase in spam usage? I am not seeing one, and I don’t think there is one besides marginally lower per-spam costs. Phrased another way, what was stopping someone from submitted 500 spam entries in one month in 2021? Nothing but interest in doing so.

Which is the rub of why this is happening - it isn’t because ChatGPT is good at this task, its because its the hype thing to do. Everyone is talking about it, everyone is trying it out, everyone is trying to find “delta” so they can ride the hype train. A bunch of people, some who may have even had axes to grind against Clarkesworld, have heard of this brand new fun tool and are flooding into the market to take advantage of it. But there might not be much to take advantage of; hype is fleeting, particularly in the face of no results as this effort is getting. As it fails, unless that axe really needs grinding above all else, spammers will move.

All of this to say that this story is, again, not a story about AI at all. AI is just the reason these already-bad parts of the system are being tested in the public eye.

[supermaks]

I need Max to serve some cunt bc it's been wayyy too long. The last time he really served cunt was when he called George a dickhead but I need moree

😑😑😑😑 👍🏽 ok respectfully we love a good Baku cat fight but like

- excuse me

- literally the next race

- Checo was telling media both Max’s titles happened because of him somebody out there was floating Prost senna conversations people lost their whole minds like 😭😭

-first of all quali didn't even start great like he hadn't set a lap when it got red flagged kind of Amateur hour at rbr. last time u will c number 1 car go out late btw he’s fully traumatized these days he’s breaking front wings hauling ass out of that garage god bless him. Anyway p9 wid his hyped up teammate starting on pole the casuals were celebrating even tho max was doing like. borderline unthinkable laps in fp2 so u could smell a generational moment from the get go

-dude overtook like literally everybody on hards by like lap 15 i think and still had all four wheels somehow spinning faster than checos fresh mediums by lap 40

- Destroying ur teammates entire wdc campaign in a single race weekend on hard tires from p9 kinda cunty idk?. To me

- Ok fine then Monaco: Jeddah won the battle but he won the war. made up 2 tenths in one of the shortest sectors of the whole calendar in prolly one of the best and most competitive quali sessions in Monaco, ever. Senna type performance, just fully letting the talent take over rascasse and antony noghes. U cannot serve more cunt than that

- Non? Bon. Spain: black and white flag for track limits. His engineer tells him he’s stupid and Max is like 'whatvr what’s the fastest lap' and his engineer is like 'SORRY did u not hear what I just' and max steals fastest lap from Checo. Who btw had just set that on new softs for his flop lil point and Max leading by 24 seconds at risk of getting a pen wid gp warning him against it is like 😚😚😚😚😚bet . This isn’t cunt to u. Ok

- FINE. Canada: do I have to talk about senna again😐. Do I have to say he equaled sennas wins at 25 years old. But despite the Senna numbers it was also an eerily Schumacheresq quali session from Max. Taking pole by a second under the rain is something u c twice, maybe once in a lifetime, if ur lucky. We are lucky 🫵🏽

- Austria: u look at me rn and tell me Austria wasn’t the most 2021 max you’ve seen that mf since that actual season. U tell me he didn’t serve cunt nearly sending both Red Bulls to eat shit at the RED BULL ring because he was a lil annoyed checo dared to like. Squeeze him a lil bit. Nearly overtaken by an Haas i cannot stress this enough. Bro Lewis impeded him once by accident during practice and Max literally twerked in front of his car and got away wid it. And on top of that he gaslit rbr into letting him pit for softs and risk the whole race to take one single extra point like he wud rather fucking die than let anybody else have it. He’s beating merc in the THE FONSTRCUTORS CHAMPIONSHIP‼️‼️‼️‼️ HES 1 PERSON

- .

- Austria was such fucking prime Verstappen cunt delivry it was so dumb and all of it completely unnecessary and ur fucking telling me he hasn’t really ‘served’ because he doesn’t have some tall beans and toast bitch up in his face like

- Which obvi brings me to Silverstone: HE WON THE BRITISH GP HE literally won the British Grand Prix???? Half a million people praying on his downfall, mclaren having its own lil moment he doesn’t give a fuck 5 poles and 6 wins in a row on ur head fucking losers eat it. Eat ittt. 2023 has been nonstop cunt serving from this guy it’s literally one of thee greatest verstappen performances to date put some respect on it immediately . Thank u

[kaythefloppa]

Wild Kratts - Our Blue and Green World: Part 1: Review [Spoilers]

Welp, here it is, the Wild Kratts TV movie (not to be confused with the feature film they've been teasing us with since 2021). There's been a lot of hype around this special and season, especially with how much the latter was being hyped up during the hiatus. Let's see if the blue and green bros were able to deliver: Spoilers under the cut

Well, this is certainly an attention grabber!

This entire live action intro is shot and edited like an animated Wild Kratts episode, it's glorious.

Woah, intro change!

They said the thing! They said the thing!

HELP THIS IS SO RELATABLE. Also, THE BOYS ARE FIGHTING

Lmao I don't think they do it very often, but using animals/nature in their insults is very creative.

Also, whooping crane episode when?

This entire song is mercifully short. Like most character sung songs in Wild Kratts, it's not good, but this at least is clever in its lyrics and its visuals. It feels like a Disney reference at best and I am content with that. I also ADORED seeing the Draco and Walrus Suit return again. It's arguably the best musical number in the series. No, that is not saying a lot.

MARTIN WHY ARE YOU THE ONE WHO'S MIFFED YOU NEARLY MUFASA'D YOUR LITTLE BROTHER

CHRIS WHY ARE YOU MILDLY INCONVENIENCED YOU GOT ACRAPHOBIA FALLING FROM THAT HEIGHT

When I first saw the clip, I thought that they were going somewhere with this, like they'd activate Peacock Powers at the end when they recognized the compatibility and blue and green. But nope. Wasted potential is an understatement.

Also, where the fuck are they right now? In a previous shot there was Target the Chameleon, implying that they've been to Madagascar, but that is an Indian peafowl, and as far as I'm concerned, they don't live in Madagascar. Were they just having an off-day? These animals have little to nothing to do with the plot when they really shouldn't have, so I don't see why they couldn't have just shown a projector image or something.

Remember when I joked about the Wild Pony Power Suit returning in S7.... fuck you Apollo.

Man, they are eating it up with the animation here. It's hard to tell with screengrabs but man, is it fluid.

The first half of this episode is mixed. While it feels like the brothers are incredibly stubborn, it also does make sense for them to be this fixated on their favorites. So I can totally buy this. It could've been insufferable to watch, but it wasn't.

As if YOU haven't spied on them since the first time your dorito-headed ass showed up on screen

Did you find that funny? Because not only do they do a similar joke like that later on, but they follow through on that joke in the most unexpected way you will shit your pants when you first ingest it.

Oh my god if they make a Creature Power Suit off of that bird, I will take back any diss I've made, that is so beautiful.

Good to know that Aviva put the button near the chest and not near the back.

Maybe it's just me but this is kinda pushing it. Chris is literally getting his organs crushed, I think that should matter more than A) being right or B) trying to get 2 people to stop fighting.

I'm loving the callback and what this leads up to but ew, all this does is remind me about how ugly bright the color pallatte in S6. Really glad they fixed it in S7.

HELL FUCKING YES

This episode finds really unique ways of showing how the two different biomes are interconnected. It's like Rainforest Stew's (very brilliantly handled) message only to a larger degree. Kids can learn a lot from this.

I fucking love this episode, man.

Honestly, the way they write Paisley in the first half of the episode is very in-line with her character. Most shows that do what this episode does has them be out-of-character as a set-up, but here, she's just roasting the fuck out of Zach. Once again, recontextualized entirely in the climax.

HOW THE FUCK DID HE GET TO MADAGASCAR FROM THE GODDAMN AMAZON IN ONE AFTERNOON THAT IS LIKE MORE THAN 1,000 MILES AWAY?? ARE ANACONDAS THAT FAST?????

Also, INDRIS!!!!! :D

I was frankly expecting this to horribly backfire but spoilers, it doesn't. This actually winds up working. Common Aviva W.

To be continued.... will the blue and green rivalry end? Will one prove superior over another? And will they be able to stop Zach and Paisley and save the planet earth? And will this change the adventures of the Wild Kratts team forever? Stay tuned for part 2!

Pros:

The live action segments.

The animation of the earth's model.

The musical number not being ass.

Paisely's catty behavior.

The Anaconda Suit.

The inventive ways they show how the stability of the Earth is complex. There are a lot of ways it functions and thus a lot of ways it needs to survive

The comedy.

Cons:

The villains do not do anything until the second half of this episode. In fact, they're left completely in the backdrop. I expected them to make their prescence known and for Aviva to invent the discs to get them together for the SAKE of fighting the villains. But no. It makes the stakes feel hollow, which is the opposite of what they should be gunning for in an hour long special that they hype the shit out of.

CONCLUSION:

It was an "okay" set-up. It did live up to some of the hype it had, but not all of it. Honestly if it wasn't for the second half of this episode, this movie would be mediocre or slightly above average, but no. They do pick themselves off the ground and... they do jump the shark. But we'll get to that next time

[nakanotamu]

good day madam, i am a hungry lesbian in need of your gayest wresting moments. can you spare me a cup of gay?

Anon you have come to the right person. Everything's been leading up to this. This is what it's all been for. This will probably be long.

Anon I got so excited about this I even solicited my friends for THEIR gayest moments so I'll do those first. You were recommended:

Mahiro Kiryu briefly getting a takarazuka gimmick in TJPW's Hyper Misao produced show HYPE

Giulia vs Konami from the 5 Star GP 2021, which was described as "the first match I remember watching and going OH MY GOD KONAMI AND GIULIA ARE FUCKING", and their feud did later give us a promo where Konami was like "Hey Giulia, you know how I bully you and you like it?" and Giulia was like "Ahaha, yeah?" and Konami was like "Well that's basically our entire relationship, so there you go." She did have examples.

pretty much anything with Raku/Pom Harajuku/Yuki Aino in TJPW, who my friends have lovingly dubbed the Pomycule

Okay enough from them though. You didn't ask them, you asked me and I asked them. Now for the me. I think it's important to note as well, anon, that not all of the gay shit in wrestling happens in a match, or even in the ring. Sometimes it's just shit on social media, a lot of the time it happens at press conferences, you must maintain constant vigilance. Anyway.

Whatever the fuck Syuri and Utami have going on, which I wrote about here.

There was the time Himeka kissed Syuri last year

There was Komomo enjoying getting beat up by Saki Kashima a Little Too Much, which I wrote about here.

There was the exchange between Utami and Syuri at the press conference for Stardom Gold Rush last year

There was Tam Nakano starting an entire faction to, in her own words, surround herself with women with big boobs (their focus has since shifted)

There was AliKaba, the tag team of Giulia and Syuri, which was basically just one long enactment of gay longing from Giulia

There was the time Giulia posted this picture with the caption ^-^ and then deleted it

There was the time FWC, the tag team of Hazuki and Koguma, spent 5 hours in the bath together (sadly they just talked about that I don't have pictures)

another time FWC both got matching bruises at the same time, and then later confirmed that yes they got them together. In the bath again

There were both Cosmic Rules matches at Stardom in Showcase 1 & 2 which I unfortunately don't have any great screenshots of but I'm positive were inspired by lesbian porn

There are constant small exchanges like this that don't even have a lot of context they just happen all the time

There was the time Hikari Noa had a hardcore match against Nao Kakuta and after they did this

There was the time Mina Shirakawa spat on Saya Kamitani and then licked her face

There was this shit in Act Wres Girlz, which for the record kind of depressingly does not do gay stories super frequently but has legitimately I think the highest percentage of out wrestlers I've seen in any company

There was the brief Tam Syuri feud which shockingly somehow did not involve anyone kissing but had the vibe that they were kissing mentally the entire time

There was every single exchange Tam and Natsupoi had before they realized they were still in love with each other but ESPECIALLY their cage match

And, for my money, the gay moment that lives the largest and dearest and most bittersweet in my mind was when Tam and Unagi had their singles match as part of the 5 Star GP last year, which was, unknown to us at the time, something of a farewell tour for Unagi before she went freelance, where afterwards they hugged in the ring for two minutes and then kissed.

I'm gonna cut myself off there but trust me I could go on and on and on for way too long but that's why I think you should watch for yourself. Wrestling is always moving and new gay stuff is always happening. In conclusion,

[lewisinho]

a rant about the media narratives surrounding lewis, fernando and max

ok so ever since well, bahrain testing 2023 and the discovery that aston martin do indeed have a fast car (and more importantly, one which is faster than merc), the media have created the alonso ‘hype-train’, saying that this man is basically the third-coming-of-christ (let us not forget about the ‘great white hope’ himself who is the only one standing between nando and jesus himself, but i digress); example are aplenty, as the majority of formula 1’s posts on instagram, twitter etc. being about fernando and even sky making a cute little montage reminding people (who most probably have not watched nando’s glory days) that nando is in fact a two-time world champion, went through nearly all teams on the grid like a hot knife through butter, leaving a fire behind him Every. Single. Time. (you gotta respect the man at least for his ability to cause drama everywhere) and that this is not the first time he is not in a back-marker team.

And you can understand the hype to a certain extent...jeez, dude’s forty-one and races brilliantly with as much as fire as before; (disclaimer: as much as i can dislike the man, i can still recognise as a great racing driver, because you really would have to be blind not to see it); but there is a limit to it which i think has been crossed and it’s about deserving something…deserving a better team, deserving a third world championship, deserving to win races…

��(...) can fernando bring home a third and much-deserved title this year?”

pray tell how exactly this third title ‘much-deserved’? and i fully understand media tactics, content creation, boosting engagement, clicks, likes etc. etc., it’s all part of the game, i know…but why is it that fernando is the one who ‘deserves’ it? Why is the media suddenly capable of using the narrative of ‘deserving’ in relation to someone like fernando alonso?

And why that narrative can never be present in relation to one lewis hamilton? The answer’s pretty easy, no? But it runs deeper…because the media don’t want to like lewis hamilton. they didn’t want him to win in 2021, that much is obvious if you rewatch literally any race from that season and listen to the narrative around him and max…the ‘dethroning’, the ‘young-pretender’ etc. the elements where all there, they were ready, waiting impatiently for the new champion, their new ‘face of f1’ (how’s that working out for them eh?) and when ad21 came about…which was even better for the show because the stakes were all that higher with the two of them on equal points…until of course, lap 57, it was all going slightly against the script, wasn’t it? But then they did their little rule-breaking, ‘human error’, whatever you want to call it and so what? max verstappen champion of the world.

lewis hamilton couldn’t afford to say anything. he couldn't because of who he is. And the media knew it. They would swallow him up like wolves. They would pounce on him, rip him up, mix him with dirt; and if they don’t do that (because he disappeared for a few months) they will sickly glorify his composure, his class, monetise his trauma etc. And we see it to this day…his silence was glorified; last year, sky f1 knew perfectly well what strategy to take; they’ve got their new champion; there’s no asterisk to that title- martin brundle (ironic you had to clarify that bud), or better yet say ‘move on’,‘it wasn’t that bad, just a mistake’, ‘you can’t change it’’, yeah because you wouldn’t like it to be changed, would you? You never wanted a black man to break that record, did you?

oh and also thank god lewis came back to the sport, and oh how amazing it is that merc built a shitbox of a car, so we can now again talk about how ‘he still hasn’t recovered from ad21’, let’s again use his trauma, say he’s finished, that he’s struggling, let’s make a mockery out of it all, yeah…and max, oh you know, he drives like a champion, he deserved that title, you win it over a season- martin brundle, again (it’s always the same suspects, isn’t it?)

He deserved it, here it is again. max verstappen deserved his titles (rule-breaking and cost cap breaches under the carpet); he’s a pure racer, you know. All he cares about is racing. He’s pure talent and passionate.

fernando alonso deserves his third title, apparently. He works hard. He empowers his team. He works well with his new, young teammate. He’s got the experience, the maturity and the talent. He’s the oldest driver on the grid, but he’s driving better than ever.

Lewis won’t get that because he’s alone as the only black man in this sport, which will continue to isolate him, belittle him, but also will use him. Lewis won’t ever get the alonso treatment. He won’t be willed on, cheered on, no. No, never.

Same old. Same old.

[skarsgardsnark]

He could mean about his career. As of now, it seems like he peaked with IT, and everything since then has been kinda meh. He’s gone up for different parts and seems like he didn’t get them, then had to take whatever was left over. It might seem to him like some of his acting peers are doing better than him. He’s type cast in horror, can’t break free. I see the talent in him in his performances, he has the looks, and the height…but it kinda seems like for the past 5 years or so, good roles have alluded him. Hopefully, Nosferatu will help change that.

I love questions like these!

We all know IT launched him into worldwide fame and put him on the map. Let’s take a look at his filmography after 2019. Nine days is a good movie but not many people know about it because it was a small film that made less than a million dollars. TDATT had a lot of hype and even oscar buzz..... until the movie premired. His role was small he probably had 30 minutes of screen time. During 2020 he chose to film Clark over The Northman. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it was a bad choice and he should’ve done The Northman instead. He had more say in Clark and I know how proud he is of it but I think this is what started a “stall” in his career. Naked Singularity was filmed in 2019 but wasn’t released until 2021 and made 14k at the box office. Eternals, small CGI role that people either don’t know it was him or are barely finding out. Barbarian, a beloved role within the fandom, but once again a small 30 minute role. For as big as he was in 2019 he has now been relegated to play small supporting characters. Burn all my letters, my favorite film of his but it’s a Swedish production so not many people saw it. John Wick, main villain but still a supporting role. He picks up some steam with this one. BKW, his first big leading role in a long time! Unfortunately it had zero dollars for promotion.

“It seems like he peaked with IT, and everything since then has been kinda meh” YES I agree. That’s why I keep saying Nosferatu will be a comeback for him. Imagine if he hadn’t gotten the role and he only had BKW and The Crow this year.... yikes. Talk about a fall off. What he chooses to do after Nosferatu and how he takes advantage of that will be interesting to see.

Yeah I remember him saying he has lost out roles in marvel and star wars. I’ve actually spoken about how other actors like Butler, Powell, Elordi, Keoghan, and Mescal have risen while Bill’s career stalled. In my opinion, he needs to take a break from the dark characters and step away from the horror genre for a minute. He has already solidified his place as a scream king so now he needs to try new things. Maybe a drama or try out for a tv show. It’s crazy how big he was before Covid hit yet his filmography doesn’t really show it.

Thanks for the question!

[umlewis]

Lewis Hamilton On Winning Again and Making the Formula 1 Movie With Brad Pitt

Sir Lewis Hamilton is suddenly on a hot streak. In early July, the seven-time Formula 1 champion won the British Grand Prix for the ninth time, setting a record for the most victories by a driver at a single circuit. It was just the latest milestone for the 39 year old Hamilton, who has won more races and finished on the podium more times than any other Formula 1 driver in the history of the competition. But the win in England was his first in more than two years. He followed it up by finishing on the podium in third at the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest a couple weeks later, and then a week after that, Hamilton, who was knighted a few years ago, notched another victory at the Belgian Grand Prix after his teammate George Russell was disqualified post-race when his car was found to be underweight. I got a chance to sit down with Hamilton at the Ritz-Carlton in Budapest the night before the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Ritz-Carlton is the official hotel partner for the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 team, and I was one of a group of invited guests and prize winners who traveled from Vienna to Budapest in a convoy of Mercedes vehicles for what the Ritz-Carlton called the "Road To Legendary Car Tour." Hamilton stopped by to chat with the group and to offer a tasting of his non-alcoholic tequila brand, Almave, which he launched last year with the spirits company Casa Lumbre. Hamilton is taking on new challenges at the track, too. This season is his last with the Mercedes team. He announced before the season that he would be leaving after twelve years and will be driving for Ferrari in 2025. Hamilton is also going Hollywood, co-producing the much-hyped movie F1, which is scheduled for release next year and stars Brad Pitt as a former driver returning to compete in Formula 1. We talked about his battle to get back on top of the podium, how he stays in shape to compete with younger drivers, calling bullshit on the F1 screenplay, getting out on the track with Brad Pitt, collaborating with director Joseph Kosinski, and how he'll know when to walk away from racing. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

What do you get from doing something entrepreneurial, like launching Almave, which is different from everything else you're involved in? "I think as a racing driver it's really healthy to unplug and do other things and tap into other mediums, and when you get into the room to sit with a bunch of creatives-working with Casa Lumbre, for example, who have done who knows how many different spirits-they can explain to you the whole process. And then there's things that perhaps you ask them that they've never had to think about before." Your win at the British Grand Prix was your first time on the top of the podium since 2021. What was it like to finally get back to winning, and to do it on your home turf in England? "Everyone was talking about it being this fairy tale, and it really, really was unexpected. Going into that weekend I had no idea that that was going to be possible, and it had been such a long time. So many thoughts cross your mind. Some of them you start to potentially believe in, bit by bit. And finally I had that day when I was able to excel, and we excelled as a team, and it just kind of shuts that all down nd it helps you rebuild again. So it was really great to be able to do it at home, in my home country, with my family around. The last race in Mercedes at Silverstone. It couldn't have been more magical."

The past couple years have been kind of a grind for you after experiencing so much success for so long. What have you learned about yourself, going through that? "It's been mostly a battle of the mind; keeping yourself sane, trying to pick up new tools. Ultimately it always comes back to persistence and dedication. Hard work. It always does eventually pay off. I think I learned that life is really about how much pain you can experience and keep going, and how much you can suffer and keep moving forward, you know? And that's life, right? It's not how you fall, it's how you get up. It's how you continue to apply yourself every single day. It's how you connect with people that you work with. I probably learned to be a better teammate in this period of time, because we've had more time to focus on communication." There's been a lot of buzz about F1, the upcoming Formula 1 movie starring Brad Pitt. I know you're a producer. How did you get involved? "We were there from the beginning. There were a couple scripts out there. I had known Joe [Kosinski, the director] from when we talked about doing Top Gun: Maverick through Tom [Cruise]. Tom put me in touch with Joe, and there were discussions of being in the movie. And then we just stayed in touch. Then we all reconnected to talk about potentially doing a Formula 1 movie, and then we went through this whole process of working with a writer."

What was that like? Did the screenwriter interview you about the details of driving in Formula 1? "Ehren [Kruger, the screenwriter] basically did a ton of research, watched a lot of races, came to a bunch of races, and then went away and wrote up a script. But we would sit and talk about what racing is about. Then once he wrote the script, I would sit with him and call bullshit, basically, on the things that don't seem real and are not what F1 is about and try to make sure that it's as authentic as possible. Then, at the same time, I started a production company, so I'm a producer with these guys. I've been able to be involved in all areas, so making sure the cast is diverse, making sure we've got a woman in a pit stop, which we never, ever had at the actual track. Hans Zimmer was someone I wanted to have doing the [music for the] movie, so we have Hans Zimmer. Joe has been amazing at including me in everything." What types of things in the screenplay made you call bullshit? "It would just be racing scenarios, technical jargon engineers would talk, but particularly racing scenarios and sequences between overtakes and pit stops and strategies and all those sorts of things. There may have been a crash that was like the car hits the wall and flips and lands on the wheels and keeps going, and that doesn't happen in Formula 1." When you were prepping for the movie, did you ever get out on the track with Brad Pitt to check out his driving? If so, how'd he do? "Yeah, we went to a track in LA. I took him out and sat in the passenger seat, and he drove. I used to be a driving coach when I was younger-it was a way of making some money part time whilst I was racing-so I've sat with god knows how many non-racing drivers. You can tell immediately the good ones, the bad ones. Straight away he was on it. You could tell he has it. He has it in his DNA. He's just not been able to hone in on it like we have. But he's got big potential."

So you're confident he can give a realistic performance as a driver? "Yeah, but I think obviously it takes time. Ultimately, the story of a 50-odd-year-old jumping into the season and fighting against us youngsters, it's just not the done thing. But then there's discussing, how would you go about doing that? How much training would you have to do in order to really be able to come back and fight and react in the same way? Yeah, there's a lot of detail that went into it." How have you changed up your training routine over the years to stay fresh and competitive? "You definitely adapt always, and you learn you have to just watch your energy. Recovery is huge, a really big part of the process. It's the whole 360 thing. It's not just going to the gym. It's how much you stretch, how much physio you end up doing, what you eat, and that's constantly changing week by week. And obviously, depending on how much energy you have, the different time zones that you're in." You travel so much for your sport. Do you have rituals or secrets to make yourself comfortable when you arrive? "Not really. I listen to a lot of music. I have music set up in my room. I record music. Basically, I write and sing music, different sorts of R&B. So I record music at night. Often in my evenings, I read. Try to meditate, mostly in the mornings, but I don't always get to it. And then I'm focused on my sleep-try not to slack on that ever-so there's a cutoff time when I want to go to bed, depending on what time I need to be up the first day."

In working with a partner like the Ritz-Carlton, you have a chance to do different kinds of events, like the Almave tasting we just had. Any favourite experiences? "We were just talking about this the other day. In Mexico City I went to visit a school and see the kids. I love when I work with partners that are doing practical stuff. I think that's been a real shift. When I first joined Formula 1 we were working with partners, but less so in the human connection space. In the last five or six years, working with partners like the Ritz-Carlton, it's "What impact are you making? How do you give back?" When we go to a school, see youth and see that they're invested in children, for me, that brings real warmth to my heart, especially as my foundation is all about getting youth who won't have the opportunity, for example, to get into our sport, to get into STEM and channel through to a good career." Do you have a time frame for your career? You're going to be starting a new process with a new team next year. Do you have a plan for how long you'd like to keep racing? "I definitely do. There are days I'm like, shoot, I don't know how much longer I can go. There are days I'm like, shoot, I'd love a break, a proper break, because you don't get a real big break in the season like other sports. You don't finish until mid to late December, and then you're back into training already in January, and that's two times a day you're training. There are another couple of hours of therapy that you're doing during that time, as well, so you're not really getting a huge amount of downtime. And in February you're flat out running until December." That sounds pretty grueling. "But I do have, mentally, a plan of where I would like to extend to. I've just got to strategize and sequence things. I'm very much about sequencing, like looking at brands that I collaborate with, companies that I'm essentially starting, how I manage my time between all those, and how I'm able to dedicate myself to this job still. Is there a time when I'm not all-in and I'm just not in love with it anymore? That's the moment that hopefully never happens, in the sense that I've fallen out of love with it. But I will know when I need to stop."

You'll feel it. "I want to make sure I really max it out while I can and fully enjoy this sport I've done my whole life. There are so many people that have finished their careers early, and I've spoken to many who've said they wish they could have just done one more year or two, and they're like, "Stay in as long as you can!" But I don't want to do it if I'm not good, so it's like, how much do you want to train? When you're 22 it's so easy to work out and be fit. There's no recovery and you've got nothing else going on, no other stresses, no real responsibilities except for that one thing to go and kill. Now it's, how can you stay sharp and be able to do all those things you have going on, and still be able to compete with those young guys in their twenties?" Does it give you particular pleasure to beat the young guys? "Not particularly. I'm super competitive naturally. I don't care who it is. I just want to win." No matter who it is you're competing against. "Yeah. When I won the other day, I didn't think anything about anybody else. I just thought about my team. I thought about people that were with me. People that have sacrificed their time away from their families. People who were giving that extra bit of time in their day when they could have left early to go home and see the kids, and they've given that extra time to build these parts that got us that result. That's who I think about."

[lestappenforever]

Stop (You're Losing Me) - Lestappen oneshot

Lestappen | Angst, smut & fluff | 6.3K | Sequel

Surprise, besties! Bet you thought you wouldn't be getting more sequels to "Devils Roll The Dice (Angels Roll Their Eyes)", but here we are and here you go: part 3!

Part 1: Devils Roll The Dice (Angels Roll Their Eyes)

Part 2: Like Snow At The Beach (Weird, But Fucking Beautiful)

Part 3: Stop (You're Losing Me)

This whole thing was born yesterday, after this particular part from a comment on one of my other fics, from the lovely @LightinDecember on AO3:

"Last thing I want to say is how much I would LOVE a bottom Max / top Charles fanfic ❤️

How great it would be to see them switch roles in a short fic like this that can somehow be seen as an episodic sequel to Devils roll the dice !

Just a thought !"

So lovely, this one is for you. ❤️

And as always, a special thank you to the ever lovely, ever wonderful Ilse (@f1writingbyme) for helping me pick the title for this, for being my biggest supporter every step of the way, and for hyping me up about every part I sent her during the writing process. You are my rock, always. 💕

Read the fic on AO3 here.

And you can read a little snippet below the cut.

Charles has replayed their wedding more times than he can count ever since that August day in 2025. It’s a day he looks back on with joy, the memory always filling his heart with warmth and putting the biggest smile on his face as he remembers the way Max had looked at him. How Max’s hand had felt holding his as he slid the wedding band onto his finger. How Charles’ heart had skipped a beat as he’d met Max’s eyes for the first time as spouses. How they’d held on to each other during their first dance, and how complete his life had felt as they’d fallen into bed together on their wedding night.

As Charles stands in the doorway to their shared F1 room three years later, where they keep every trophy, every helmet, every token, every memory from their respective careers so far, watching as Max spends yet another hour on his sim that has lead to him forgetting that it’s Friday and their weekly date night — again —, his mind replays their wedding vows for what feels like the millionth time in the past few months.

Only now Charles can’t help but notice how the joy that used to fill his heart at the memory has been replaced by an ache that he can no longer ignore. And the smile that once stretched over his lips whenever he thought about their wedding day is no longer present. In its place, there’s only the sting of unshed tears.

His gaze shifts to their trophy cabinet, where seven Driver’s World Champion trophies are lined up neatly next to each other. Six of them, from 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025, 2026, and 2027 all belong to Max, while Charles’ from 2024 is placed right in the middle. The sight of it makes him feel as empty as the sight of his husband, transfixed on the screen of his sim, seemingly trapped in a world where Charles doesn’t even exist.

"All relationships have one law. Never make the one you love feel alone, especially when you're there."

[magicwithclass]

Unlike Deranged hermit, liege of the hollows has a recorded price record of below fifty cents in 2013. That means there was a time that this card was true bulk. Did you purchase your copies when they were under a buck? If you did then you could probably sell them for ten dollars or more right now. Even so, the card was almost fifty bucks during the reserved list spikes of 2021. After the crash the card settled at about 5 dollars and it has not been true bulk since then. Possibly it will never be bulk again. Why? First, Mark Rosewater is a huge promoter for the squirrel creature type. On blogatog, Mark Rosewater even has a squirrel named Sally that functions as an avatar and answers questions. Bloomburrow is also going to be released at the end of the month so there is a lot of hype for the ten supported animal tribes in the set. Squirrel is one of those tribes and even got a commander deck that has a squirrel theme. There have also been a number of typal squirrel commanders so people are anxious to build different squirrel decks. Will liege of the hollows make the cut in these decks? I do not think the liege is an absolute staple in squirrel decks but flexing older reserved list cards in your deck is certainly a choice you can make. The squirrel cards I'm bloomburrow support a food archetype but many of the cards support tokens in general which could mean either food tokens or squirrel tokens. Liege of the hollows makes squirrel tokens so it fits the token theme of bloomburrow. However, liege of the hollows takes work. You need a sacrifice outlet so you can maximize the number of tokens you can make. It is not fun if your opponent destroys your liege when you have no available mana. It is even worse if they have a ton of open mana and make tokens using your card. I normally do not like double edged cards like this especially since squirrels do not have a strong sacrifice theme. Albeit, you can build a squirrel deck with a sac theme as food tokens need to be sacrificed to utilize. Both food decks and squirrel decks will be eating food after this set! Liege of the Hollows has a plethora of new commanders that this card can slot into. Hazel of the rootbloom and the odd acorn game could both include the liege and it would perform decently in either deck. These cards just got revealed alongside the squirrel commander deck so it is not a surprise that squirrel related cards are spiking. I expect the cards to settle after the hype for these new toys dies down. I would be remiss to not mention chatterfang or toski as other homes for liege of the hollows. Even in the bloomburrow main set you have a typal squirrel commander. I just saw a spoiler for a commander that gives all squirrels menace. Yes, attention is currently on these guys but how long will they stay in the spotlight? Is liege of the hollows a flash in the pan or will the price hold and go up even more?

[emoprincey]

Is Logan the orange side?

After Logan portrayed Anger in the recent inside-out themed video, this seems relevant again, especially with Logan's pointed remark about how he was cast as anger because they "both wear neckties and for no other reason". Anger is a pretty common theory for the orange side's role, and one that I happen to like, but does this mean Logan actually is the orange side? Let's find out...

There is a pretty strong case for Logan being the orange side. In Working Through Intrusive Thoughts, when Logan yelled at Remus, his eyes literally glowed orange.

However, I have some reasons why this might not be the case.

The first reason is that it would simply be bad writing. The orange side has been hyped up for years at this point. Working Through Intrusive Thoughts came out in the summer of 2021, but the orange side's presence was hinted at in the thumbnail of Selfishness vs Selflessness redux, which came out in 2020. All the sides were shown as selectable options on a screen, along with a seventh greyed out figure.

[Image description: A screenshot of the thumbnail for Selfishness vs Selflessness redux, which shows Patton and Roman on a screen with pixilated avatars of themselves. In the middle are the words "You vs. Yourself". Underneath this are six boxes, each with a picture of one of the Sanders Sides, and a seventh box with a grey silhouette. / End image description.]

I wasn't in the fandom back then, but from what I've heard theories about the orange side actually originated with the colour orange being used in merch along with the colours representing the other sides. All this has led people to believe a new character will be introduced. And if that new character turns out to be one of the already established main characters, that would be pretty underwhelming.

Secondly, it was confirmed in Selfishness vs Selflessness that there are more than two dark sides, not counting Virgil. After Janus leaves, Virgil tells Thomas to "not allow him or any of his friends stick around that long." That's friends, plural. Clearly, he's not talking about himself, since he does want to be around Thomas. He's talking about Janus and two or more other people. Remus is one of these, and from what we can tell, the orange side must be another. Virgil seems to trust Logan, so unless Logan has some kind of secret identity as the orange side that Virgil is unaware of, he wasn't talking about him.

I think Logan was cast as Anger in this video because he is known to have angry outbursts, as seen in Learning New Things About Ourselves and WTIT. I think the orange side is using him as a vessel to channel anger through, rather than Logan actually being the orange side.

Whether the orange side represents anger or not, I think this remark was more about Logan's own emotions and how he tries to hide them, than anything to do with another side.

[nitewrighter]

Your thoughts on pve and creators retconing some lore?

Do you think they will push more pharmercy and debunk gency??

Also, these negative reviews on game

and here I thought pve would help regain OW its former glory

How wrong I was

I mean I was kind of answering questions like this all day yesterday, and it's honestly fucking exhausting, but to recap:

-This is lore that basically makes the assumption of, "Everyone getting into this PvE has the attention span and narrative intelligence of a gnat and also no one was paying attention to any of the lore prior to 2021." Sure, you did have some call-outs, like I loved that Iggy had an appearance and voice in the Underground Event Mission, but they made Rein a calloused and surprisingly anti-omnic moron when that characterization really wasn't there before. Like... this was one of his big promotional images back when the game first came out!!!

He's literally protecting an omnic!!

The Rio mission was spectacular, and honestly makes the Toronto and Gothenburg missions look noticeably less polished by comparison, but if memory serves, the Rio mission was the only one they were allowing players to play at Blizzcon way back so... >.>

-I think they'll push PM more and more because they recognize that's the bigger ship and they don't want to risk alienating whatever players they have left, but they'll likely take their sweet time actually confirming it to drag out in-fandom arguments and by extension keep word-of-mouth up.

-As far as the Steam negative reviews go, I mean, I think that was kind of a given, especially since that's literally TF2's turf and a lot of the fandom for that has been pretty hostile to Overwatch's general existence for years, and now it's crawling onto Steam with all of its ridiculous in-app purchases. It's doubtful that a lot, if not most of the reviewers have even played it, but honestly, given all of Blizzard's practices and broken promises, it's not undeserved.

-Like, again, I have to emphasize that because what we have for a PvE is clearly such a stepped down dialed back version of what was initially promised, what was initially pitched as the reason for OW2's relaunch, and because we had to pay for it in a game that billed itself (ha) as "Free to Play" I don't think even John Cena could have brought the hype up after years of disappointment and breadcrumbs. Especially when they're charging money for the very thing--or what would have been the very thing--that called for all this overhaul to the game. I never really had any notions of Overwatch regaining its former glory. Also there's the fact that what little PvE there is was introduced nearly a year after OW2's launch! Like! You're literally doing an anniversary event in the same season as the PvE!!

[gloster]

FAVORITE FANFICS OF 2022

What is up, you guys? HAPPY 2023. We did it. We somehow made it through 2022 that, in 2 words: TRIED IT. 2022 tried all of us in so many ways than one. Emotionally, mentally, physically, and beyond.

We all had ways of coming up with ways to get through the rough year. Friends & family (both blood & chosen). Music. Movies and shows. And of course fanfics.

The world can be turning, burning, but at least fanfics can always be counted to take us away from harsh reality and bring us into the sweet world w/our fav characters, OTPs falling in love dozens of ways.

Every year fanfic writers both familiar & new to me blow me away with their talent, their writing, their brilliance. And every year I always do this traditional post to give them their flowers.

If you're interested in past lists, here are the ones for 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018

Without further ado, here are my favorite fanfics of 2021

1). prince & prince by Authoress aka @kiribakus (tododeku)

Summary: Note to self: don't accidentally fall in love with a prince who's in an arranged marriage keeping your kingdoms from declaring war against each other. Especially when you're spying on him as his manservant.

Jaw. On. The. Floor. Jaw. Still. On. The. Floor. This story is the reason why this post is coming January 1st instead of the December 31st. I stayed up till almost 3 in the morning to finish this story and my jaw was on the floor when I read it. My jaw is still on the ground as I write up this review. I buddy-read this w/my bestie @littlenightdragon & our mind are still blown by what we read.

This story has been a long time coming. This is considered the classic fanfic in the tododeku community. It's took me while to get to it since there are so many stories I wanted to get through, but I finally did. Quite frankly, because this is such a popular fanfic, I don't know what else I can say that other readers haven't said in their own rec posts.

However I will happily say this one lives up to the hype. I repeat: LIVES 👏 UP 👏TO 👏THE👏 HYPE! The writing, the dynamics between Izuku & Shouto, the smut that was just 🔥🔥🔥, and again I APPLAUD @kiribakus for how the story was done. This is loosely based off the Captive Prince trilogy, so if you're familiar with the trilogy, you definitely see the elements of the story while also having this fanfic be its own thing. Not an easy thing to do, so massive kudos 👏👏

2). The Pakhan's Jewel by theangryuniverse (viktuuri/victuuri; mpreg)

Summary: No one had ever heard the omega speak.

It was not that they had never heard him at all. They had all heard the voice of the omega at some point – a gentle laugh, for example, a quiet hum, or, quite more often, lustful cries and moans, caused by the Pakhan himself. But the omega never spoke, and never deigned to even look at them, for they all were beneath him, and mattered less than the dirt beneath his feet.

For they all knew that Katsuki Yuuri's heart belonged to one man only - and that man was Viktor Nikiforov, the Pakhan himself.

Someone had said, I believe it was either here on Tumblr or Twitter, that the YOI fandom is keeping itself alive w/fanfics, fanart, and posts on our favorite ice-skating couple. I 1000000000%. And this fanfic is proof of it.

Oh where oh where do I begin? Let's start with this. We have ABO and a Mafia AU with an established happily-married couple who give the same intense, overly-passionate in love energy as Gomez and Morticia Addams.

I repeat an ABO Mafia AU story with a couple who give off the same intense, passionate happily-married energy as Gomez and Morticia Addams, which I needed so badly and was greatly needed. It was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good. I ate it up like candy. I devoured every chapter.

My favorite element of the story is how Viktor is the Pakhan, he's the boogey-man that keep enemies and allies alike on their toes. Yet Yuuri is the one who keeps him on his toes- and knees-and however Yuuri decides to see his husband fit. It was sooooooo good. Like if Yuuri told Viktor to burn the world, he'd do so happily. He was such a simp for his husband the same way Gomez is for Mortica and I ATE IT UP.

And I'll definitely check out more stories by this author & suggest you do so too.

3). Winter Song by proantagonist (viktuuri/victuuri)

Summary: The set of Yuuri’s mouth softened into a private smile as Victor squeezed his knee beneath the table. His hands were bare, free from the gloves he so often wore when they were together on the rink, and the heat of his palm burned straight through the denim of Yuuri’s jeans. He slipped his own hand beneath the table and found Victor’s. Hidden from sight, their fingers began to flirt and play. A secret conversation all their own that needed no words.

Yuuri was aware that at some point—a moment in time he couldn’t quite place—Victor had become his boyfriend.

There wasn’t a single instant when it happened. It was a slow awareness, as if Victor had silently been asking the question for months now, and Yuuri had been giving him the answer a little more with each passing day.

Another YOI story? Why, yes, yes it is. Was this another one that gave you all the feels? Yes, yes it did. This one- all I can say is 10 10 10 10 10 across the board. This one was canon, in a way that was more so behind the scenes/deleted scenes that the creators didn't want us to see but the fanfic writer was like Yeah....FUCK THAT, we're getting those bonus scenes.

In this one, we see Viktor and Yuuri develop more as a couple while also coming into their own. I love how it's equal. Like yes, even though Yuuri has social anxiety, Viktor has his own issues with self-worth, past relationships, and expectations. The author noticably took time with the relationship where we see them become a stronger team, better friends, and a sweeter couple.

Such a joy to read.

4). The Roundabout Way of Fate by @itsmyartfam (tododeku)

Summary: “His quirk will get attention no matter where he goes. But if he ends up working with heroes then he’ll have their protection. That’s why I said most doctors and nurses have minor healing quirks- because people with powerful ones often catch the attention of heroes, who will in turn protect them from any villains who also have their eye on them.”

“Oh! Okay. Okay… this… this is a lot…. Heh, and I was worried he’d breathe fire…”

“Don’t ever forget- Izuku’s quirk is a good thing. He just needs to be a bit more careful than most children.”  _________

Midoriya Izuku wants to become a hero. Midoriya Izuku is born with a healing quirk. He learns how to save people a different way.

You ever read a story that's so canon yet not like canon, but you wish it could be canon? Like if you had a chance to redo canon, you'd pick an alternative. Well, for this one, if I could make it canon, I would in a heartbeat. Like it was among one of the first fanfics I read in the beginning of the year, but the fact I still think of it fondly proves how much of a great, fun read it was.

There are so many things I love about this fanfic. Obviously the writing, obviously the pining that goes on with both Shouto and Izuku. But I think the main things are I love how Izuku has a quirk, a Healing quirk at that, that seems so minimal to society but he's like, NAH You're not gonna push me around and treat me like I'm delicate flower. There were even scenes where he had to remind Shouto of that, and it was too satisfying to read.

But most of all, I love the platonic relationship between Izuku and Bakugo. This is one where you can tell there is a bond there, but it's much healthier with boundaries clearly set. One where Izuku isn't afraid to call Bakugo out & Bakugo actually thinks things before before just exploding.

I ADORED IT. Just as much as I adored the author @itsmyartfam for making Izuku a healer. They had expressed they dealt with backlash from other readers who didn't agree with the quirk, but I thought it was very fitting. Given Izuku's personality, his caring nature, his compassion, healing is perfect match.

5). flawless by @irishseeeker (kathony/kanthony)

Summary: Kate Sharma is the diamond of the season.

Viscount Anthony Bridgerton plans on courting and marrying the Diamond of the season.

Kate is going to make that as difficult as possible.

First off I like to give massive thanks & props to @irishseeeker for doing the damn thing and giving me what I wanted. Me & my besties @littlenightdragon & @kila09 all agree on several things

Season 2 KICKED ASS. Season 2 carried. Simone & Jonathon did what needed to be done and carried season 2 on their bare backs.

Season 2, much as it is amazing & gave me my new favorite OTP, would've been better if Kate had been made the diamond. It definitely would've given the Queen the buzz she wanted. It would've been made the season more better- not to mention take away the barely-there love triangle they were trying for and failed at EPICLY.

The fact @irishseeeker as if they could hear my thoughts took the idea and run with it, they have my eternal gratitude. Currently it is a WIP, but y'all should definitely check out because you'll be devouring and begging for more. I know I did.

6). Bottom by Anonymous (kathony/kanthony)

Summary: By day, Anthony Bridgerton is in control. He eats at exactly the same time every morning, he exercises for exactly the prescribed amount of time, at work he never misses a deadline or forgets to show a friendly face, and at home he's a dedicated son and big brother, always there when his family needs him. His life since his father's passing has been about control.

By night, Anthony is ready to let go. He doesn't want to think. He doesn't want to plan. He wants to let go and let someone else take the wheel. (Or the dog leash.)

This is Anthony's journey into being a sub.

Before this story, I never really read femdom unless the couple is a queer-sapphic couple. Now after this story? I just want more. Especially if it's Kate being that dom. Like please give it to me. Please please please.

Mind you, we don't get much of Kate or kanthony/kathony until the last chapter. The beginning is more so Anthony and Simon, but the main thing I love about this story is how it does explore Anthony's trauma with being the oldest, having so much expectations placed on his shoulders. Which is what the show did hint at, but didn't go deeper. In this story, we did. And I appreciated it.

7). All That series by @himawaribees (Itafushi)

Summary: Fushiguro Megumi and Itadori Yuuji first meet at a frat party and proceed to have lots and lots of sex. Like, a silly amount of sex. Some (the author) might say they have too much sex.

Follow itafushi's journey as they fall for each other and slowly, eventually get together!

This was an unexpeted I found on Tumblr, I believe. I've been rocking in the Jujusten Kaisen fandom for awhile- also highly recommend the anime as well as the manga. But as long as I've been rocking in the fandom, I didn't have a definite ship. Until now.

Sometimes, all it takes is a good fanfic to kinda show you how well a ship can be. Which is what happened here.

I've always liked Megumi and Yuuji's dynamic in the show. Definitely gives sunshine & grump energy. Eager pup & annoyed cat. But this story, along with many from the author proved how that dynamic can work even more than as a couple. The way I just devoured the first story of the series, then the 2nd one, then the next, and the next till I finished what's been poste & am eagerly awaiting the next update.

Honorable mentions:

Sweet Tooth

Trust Me

Slow Down

8). Like, Comment, and Romance by @xskyll (tododeku)

Summary: In the hero community, it’s common for popular heroes to have merchandise for sale. Amongst these items are a few staples: t-shirts, figurines, and, of course, replicas of their costumes. This is where Deku, a well-known YouTuber, comes into play. Deku’s Hero Analysis is a series where the host, Deku, dresses up in official pro hero costumes, then does an analysis of each hero and reviews some of their merchandise. Joining him is Hito-nyan, the sarcastic cameraman who never shows his face and loves to push Deku’s buttons. And watching them is pro hero Todoroki Shouto, who absolutely, without a doubt, does not have a crush on Deku. Except actually he does, which is fine, because it turns out they have a friend in common and getting to meet the adorable YouTube star is more likely to happen than he ever would have dreamed.

Midoriya Izuku + Youtuber. A combination that never crossed my mind and never seemed so right until now. Like second, I started reading the story, I was like WHY DIDN'T THIS COMBO CROSSED MY HEAD BEFORE. It makes total sense, especially with how in depth his hero analyses are and how much of a fanboy Izuku.

Along with Izuku being a total fanboy, we also have Shouto who becomes a massive (obsessed) fan with Izuku's channel, and quickly afterwards with the boy himself.

I love how we got the unexpected duo that was Shouto and Ochako, a duo I didn't realized I needed until now.

9). Most Favorite Bedtime Story by Sasunaru (drarry; mpreg/implied mpreg & veela-Draco)

Summary: Scorpius' most favourite bedtime story? The story of how his parents fell in love. And his grandmother tells it the best!

My friend Melissa aka Sasunaru can go no wrong when it comes to her pen game & her wickedly brilliant brain. This was no differeny.

A simple story, but a sweet one nevertheless of how young Scorpius loves hearing his favorite story, how his parents first met and fell in love. And who better to tell the story than the grandmother who was there to witness the love story unfold before her eyes.

10). Like Honey and Grenadine by bazooka (taekook)

Summary: A Somewhat Cosmic Adventure, In Which: Jeon Jeongguk is both a Flustered Meme Child as well as the King of Hell; Kim Taehyung is really good at peeling back layers; Jeong Hoseok can go wherever he wants; balance requires sacrifice.

A retelling of the Abduction of Persephone, but with extra awkward flirting and way more gay.

OMG, this story. OMG, THIS STORY. It just delivered. And I eat. I ABOSLUTELY LOVED LOVED LOVED IT.

We have a Hades and Persephone AU, which I never get tired of, but in this one it was a bit more modern, kinda like Lore of Olympus where Taehyung quickly finds the boogey-man everyone fears and is weary about is a nothing more than a bunny. So insanely cute.

Honorable mentions that I seriously wanted to add to the list but this post is already lengthy. All amazing, all greats reads by various writers y’all should check out:

With Just A Little Help From Our Friends by @sashadistan (tododeku; ABO AU w/Shouto quietly pining, Izuku being oblivious, Kiri being helpful, & Bakugo being done w/all their butts)

Letting It Go by dreamchaser31 (kathony/kanthony; Kate being through w/Edwina's shit & calling her out AS SHE SHOULD, Anthony & Lady D backing her up all the way)

Brighter than The Sun by @goldentruth813 ( sheith; a retired vet in care of care & Keith answering the call)

Hooked on You by @trenchcoatkitten (tododeku; heartwarming story invovling cats, Shouto being a pet daddy, and Izuku a knitting mentor that he falls hard for)

in his hands by @softlystarstruck & @babooshkart (drarry; trans-drarry who are happily married w/soft BDSM & even softer aftercare)

And there you have it, folks. Those are my top fanfics of 2022. I can already tell I'm gonna have LOADS for 2023. To the authors, thank y'all so much for your incredible stories, including the time and effort.

Happy New Year, guys

[icharchivist]

Please answer this venting some more about ff7remake

^ you and me rn

aww <33 such a cute meme to illustrate it hi <333

Before i dive into it, a few disclaimers

-I've been fan of the franchise for over 15 years and there's definitely an aspect i'd say of having sat with the previous games for so long that there is a chance there will be bias against anything new. I try to be as objective as i can but as it's a game that means a lot to me, I doubt i would fully manage to be so

-Rumors of a Remake has been brought up ever since the release of Crisis Core because of how the mid-credit scene was adapting the beginning of the OG, and also because of test footage for a possible Remake then. And then when the Remake was announced in 2015 it really took fans by storm and we had to wait 5 more years before seeing the first part, which means a lot of hype and expectations have been built around this Remake which probably also colored the way fans will approach it.

-In the end i'm just one random fan with my own opinion and therefore this will be colored with my own feelings, and i think if people feel any other way about what i say, their own interpretation also matter, so it's a nonexhaustive aspect of all of it

-It's going to get long. In fact this whole ask is over 10.5k long. I'm so sorry.

-I'm going to spoil major aspect of the compilation, or at least won't try to dance around spoiler if i have to mention them.

-I am not touching the Yuffie DLC because i havent played it yet, and that contrary to the Remake it's not an "adaptation" of plotpoints from the OG and should be an original story and i'll judge it as such.

-It is just about Part 1 of the Remake, if i mention Rebirth i'll be vague.

Under the cut!

The Remake is based on the very first few hours of the original game, which is a very tight narrative to start with. If we follow the canon OG, it means they would have to stretch things out and pad in addition to have a proper game runtime.

As such the Remake isn't a straight adaptation of the beginning of the OG, but also will fill in with some original material. Call backs to the other game, supplementary lore, or fully new materials, as well as reworking previous scenes.

But it also includes a completely unique storyline that ends up taking center stage, and said storyline is a sequel to Advent Children. This one story therefore comes with its own problems.

Therefore there are different angles on which to judge the remake, both as an adaptation and a continuation of the franchise.

But frankly i'm allergic to the continuation aspect so bad that i can only see how it doesn't work, instead of how well the game is delivering on this scenario.

I should also mention that i started watching a cutscene movie of the remake in 2020 but stopped after the Wall Market scene because i wanted to play for myself but also was bummed by the way the plot was taking. then i started playing the game in 2021 when it released on computer and i dropped it right before Wall Market because i was seriously getting bummed out by the developments it took, and it made me disconnect with the saga for years just because i was bitter. So that also colors my vision of it that it managed to make me uninterested about a saga that's so close to my heart. I've only decided to give the game a shot again because i ended up rewatching the movie recently and was so emotional i wanted to see through with the remake.

Let's go:

First, the Good.

-The Fighting Gameplay is fantastic. It's a good middle ground between the fast paced action game and the timed turn by turn from the original. It preserves a lot of what made the fights memorable while modernizing it fantastically. In term of pure fighting gameplay, the game is a treat to play.

-Adding to it the equipments menu is a massive upgrade and you have no idea how grateful i am to be able to access each of the characters' set up and switch their materias from one chara to the next without needing them in my party. The scars of the OG are too real. Also very happy that everyone level up at the same rate even if they're not in your party for a while. The OG doesn't give exp to characters who aren't in your party when you play and if you don't switch out regularly, once the game forces you to play specific character, you run the risk of being massively underleveled. So happy the remake doesn't do that.

-The Enemies fights are fantastically adapted. In the OG because of the turn by turn format, the attacks weren't as distinctive from one another as they could be. Being able to really see how each enemies move and work was a pure treat.

-The environment design. The places are either faithfully reecreated or updated in a way that makes them very vivid and interesting. My only grip was with how bright the undercity looks on the regular, but the way to adapt it by having the brightness pushed as much as it does when the Sector 7 plate fall still made for a horrifying perspective, and i do think there's values on the aspect of putting the player in the same mentality as the people in the undercity thinking it's not so bad after all.

-Also adding in, character designs and updates have been really great and faithful to the compilation and it's a treat

-Also big mention to the new English cast that, i think, are almost all perfect replacement. Except Zack, which i think is a terrible replacement, but one miss out of all the wins is honestly not stopping it from being a plus

-Additional scenes of each characters that don't have them talking about the whole Whispers thing are usually pretty good. Barret especially gets to win a lot in personality by constantly seeing how he reacts to things. The OG didn't have as many character centric moments and it rarely shows us the intra-dynamic of the group outside of Cloud (rarely, but not never), and the remake was allowed to really allowed to bring it up a notch in a way that really makes you feel on how those characters care about one another.

-Fleshing out NPCs especially linked to the Sector 7's incident were good moves. Jessie, Biggs and Wedge taking more room in the game developping them especially with the full chapter dedicated to them was great and really allowed you to feel for the devastation of what would happen to them.

-Most of the New NPC are really cool and interesting and i'm very glad we got Andrea for instance. Linked to that, getting rid of the homophobic elements of the Honey Bee Inn to replace it with Andrea in particular genuinely healed me a little inside i think. Also i really like Roche.

-Every Turks scene are incredible as far as they're concerned. I really like the dive into their point of view and the way to prepare for their late game shift. Genuinely no complains there.

-Added quests in Sector 7 and Sector 5 to get to know both sectors. I genuinely think it's a good way to really develop an attachement to those places and the way they matter to our protagonists.

-The whole storyarc added to the Sewer and the Train Graveyard was genuinely great and served to really show how Tifa and Aerith grew closer, and ways to explore some specific character angst for both of them, and i really liked it.

-I was surprised at first but i do like replacing the climbing of the wall to reach the upper city with climbing the ruins of Sector 7 instead. It's another case of taking away a section with unique gaming mechanisms, yeah, but i also think it hits much harder and help you really sit on the devastation that occured in a way the OG couldn't show us. I think it was genuinely a good change.

-The adaptation of the infiltration by the stairs was also incredible.

-Seeing Shinra constantly trying to restart a war with Wutai and using the terrorists for this really drive home the propaganda that was in the work at Shinra and it's really neat to see.

The On-The-Fence.

-The Deep Ground stuff. Genuinely liked the first time it's quickly mentioned by the NPC, and actually connecting it to the researches around Jenova during the lab portion was interesting, but i think they kinda overplayed their hand a little.

-Everything about the lore of Avalanche outside of Barret and his crew. Having a main cell sometimes helping or not, and the Mayor being part of it, are choices i can't really say where i land on about. I found the Mayor reinterpretation fine but it came at the cost of all the gameplay that got changed because of his inclusion for example.

-The Reinterpretation of Wall Market. On one hand i do like the more flashy approach to the Market and really feeling how Corneo's fingerprints are basically everywhere. On the other i find it unsettling how "Glam" the whole approach to enter Corneo's house was. There's a huge difference between getting the help from the little folks who are ready to help you as you make your plan yourself, and having just to impress 3 of the authority of the whole town.

-The Return to Sector 7 plotline is very difficult adaptation wise for me because i think it shouldn't be there, but it's the one section of the game that really gives Barret time to shine and i really like what they do with him, and i do think it makes sense for him to want to come back and hope for the best. Barret carries this section because everything else makes it jarring.

-The Sunlamp sections to reactor 5. Way too long and overstuffed but it helps really setting up just how wasteful and hypocrite Shinra's energy use is.

-The removal of ambiguity about the action of Avalanche especially. This one is difficult to explain. Since we rarely leave Cloud's POV we don't really see if Shinra, say, provoke a bigger explosion to the Mako Reactor and then pin it on us, or if our actions genuinely hurt people. The Remake is constantly reassuring you that the worst of our actions are only because Shinra are making them worse on purpose. The OG doesn't really give you this reassuring. I'm... miffled about it because i think losing this nuance is particularly a problem for the set up of the Barret/Reeve conflict in late game, because there's never a moment Barret can just brush off they didn't do anything wrong. The question is more, are you willing to sit with the consequences of those actions, of the people who may die as you try to achieve the greater good? Which is also exactly in parallel to Reeve who, after seeing Sector 7, will be the one to kidnap Marlene to pressure Barret because, just like him, he's doing an "specific sacrifice" to stop harm from happening. But the remake constantly absolves Avalanche from any of that by making it clear it's Shinra's propaganda. And i do think it's making this plotline an injustice.... while also recognizing that perhaps it's necessary to spell out considering how otherwise people would easily side over Shinra, especially in a world post 9/11. And meanwhile this whole discussion between Barret and Reeve late in the OG might not happen at all because in Rebirth, Reeve doesn't kidnap Marlene. We're in a situation where the two men who considered maybe one sacrifice for the greater good, aren't even doing sacrifice anymore because they're too morally good for it. It cheapens their plotlines, but at the same time i don't know if i'd trust audience going into this conflict anyway. So it's difficult. It feels like the conflict was simplified and dumbed down, and i'm torn between "well it's necessary because audience needs to understand their pov" and " 'gratz on the loss of nuance everyday".

-The Further inclusion of Project G and S in the storyline when Hojo talks about it. I'm really on the fence so it's not easy to say, but i found it really jarring when Hojo mentioned them. Since the Remake itself doesn't bring much more answer as to how those Projects are implemented in the story, my memories of CC made it seem very weird. A friend told me about how it's used in Rebirth and it may be a good point but... wait and see.

-Related to that, the Mako degenerecency addition. Or more like. We knew Mako Poisoning was a thing, we knew of Project G and S Degenerecency, and it's not a stretch to think Mako will destroy its host on the long run -- but it's never been outright said in the OG nor addressed outside of CC, and i'm on the fence about how i feel about it. It seems to have a bigger part in Rebirth so i'll genuinely hold my judgement until i see what they do with it i think.

The "That could easily have been better."

-Back to Wall Market, the big de-queerification of the plotline despite the Honey Bee Inn section. The 1997 portion wasn't great sensitivity wise, but there was this clear element of how Aerith and Cloud agreed together on the crossdressing and worked their ass off specifically to cross dress Cloud together. In doing so you meet also Jules, who's a drag queen and will challenge you to a squat off in exchange of one of his wig, and you inspire the dressmaker by helping him discover he could try making dresses for other purpose than cis-women. The dressmaker find solace in the queer approach to his work. In the remake you have no mention of Jules being a drag queen even if he looks more gnc, the dressmaker just needs a reminder that girls dancing is hot to be inspired again, and Cloud crossdressing is imposed on him at the very last minute without him having prepared nor agreed with it. Andrea replacing all of the homophobic elements of the Honey Bee Inn, mainly the fact that the male hosts from it are making move on Cloud that makes him uncomfortable even if it helps for the crossdressing, and that in itself is great because Andrea ends up the mouthpiece of queer positivity replacing the most hiffy queer part of the original game. But it came at the expense of de-queering literally every single other plotlines of this part and robbing Cloud of his agency in his own crossdressing. Meanwhile to replace the quests in which Cloud is actively looking into crossdressing himself with quests in which Cloud has to prove he's the Manly Man. It's so jarring to me.

-Cloud's mental breakdowns. Hear me out. I'm a huge fan of Cloud's mental breakdown in the OG that starts pretty early. On one hand, i like some of the way they implanted more mental breakdown. The one Cloud has while Biggs talk about him being attached to his sword? amazing bit, for exemple. On the other, they really struggle with showing them in a way that's like... genuinely interesting. A lot of the early mental breakdowns in the OG usually black out the screen, pause the music, and then you only have white words showing up on the screen. The Remake cannot help but being flashy with them in a way i find particularly tacky. Re: "Back Then, i only got scrapped knees", when he falls from Mako Reactor 5. In the OG it's a reminder of when Tifa was the one who fell that day and Cloud tried to help her, fell with her, only got scrapped knees while she was in a coma, and then he was shuned out by the rest of the village because he was believed to have caused the incident, and Cloud developped his first survival guilt out of this one. When he falls in that scene, it is because Tifa was the one endangering herself to try to save him, and it flashed him back to it. In the Remake you get to see a model of him adult in a white landscape trying to talk to him, until Sephiroth hijack the whole situation and makes it about him. The whole tension is ruined like that. Likewise, when Cloud remembers Sephiroth calling himself an ancient, same "black screen, white text, no music", instead being interpreted with a weird flashback on a white background before Sephiroth hijack the scene to spell out that Cloud's fear of "being unable to save anyone" is seriously starting to eat him alive. Or how, in the whole new Deep Ground section, Cloud flashes back to when he was prisoner in a tube, and you see it clearly again. Yes it's realistic for Cloud to break down, no he doesn't break down seeing tubes in the OG, but showing flashes of him being in one is so vulgar for the audience. And meanwhile we completely lost one of the most terrifying mental breakdown Cloud has in an optional scene in the Honey Bee In where a copy of himself jumps on him to strangle him for the way he is denying the reality that's happening to him. like man. It sucks.

-Special mention to how i'm sad they removed Aerith scamming people with her flower business. Because it was always funny to me and sad not to see in the remake. At least the remake is a major step up from every single appearance of Aerith after the OG that tends to make her too pure and sweet (and i include Crisis Core in it) while in the OG she can be a menace, and the remake did manage to make her more of a menace than not, so it's nice-- but i want her to scam people. god forbid a girl does anything.

-Cloud and Choices. So i discuss about it often but in the OG during the whole first part of the game, you're often the one having to determinate how Cloud replies to some things. Said things will somewhat shape the scenario, most importantly: who are you going to go on a date with between Aerith, Tifa, Yuffie and Barret. On a metatextual level, those choices are also clearly supposed to indicate the different personas Cloud pulls off around people, in order to really have it hit home the moment he regains his memories and you can't control his words anymore.

The OG could more easily do it because the game isn't voiced, so it's easier to prepare, and the Remake couldn't do as many of those and honestly, that's fine.... the problem is how they replaced it.

Example: the Special Affection Scene with either Aerith, Tifa and Barret. The requirements for either of them is how many quests you did with Tifa on Sector 7, how many quests you did with Aerith in sector 5, who you decide to wake up first when the two of them fall in the Sewer, and if you tie or if you have less than 3 points with them you get the Barret cutscene.

... those aren't real choices to influence the cutscene imo. Except maybe the "who you wake up", just "doing sidequests or not" isn't indicative at all of who you'd have an affectionate scene with. and Barret instead is only there if you fail with them.

now, in the OG, the Barret scene does happen only if you failed with the other girls, but he actually had options giving him point too, like calling him Cloud's boyfriend when Corneo flirts with Cloud, or giving the flower to Marlene.

The Remake doesn't give you any of that. There's a fake choice in the first scene with Aerith where she gives you her flower and then you have no choice but to give it to Tifa, where in the OG you could give it to Marlene there. ok whatever.

but those are fake choices.

Likewise for the dresses: they're determined by how many quests you did, not about your actions, not about what you decide to collect, it's literally just filling a check list. and most aggravating, no matter if you do good or bad during this scene, Cloud will be picked as Corneo's lover no matter what, because he distincts himself by calling Corneo's pathetic. In the OG, if you don't crossdress Cloud in the perfect outfit, one of the girls get picked instead.

And it feels so.... anti-game in a sense? why do you remove anything that had the player interreact with the story in some way? or more like, if it was to be replaced why give conditions this lackluster?

this is maybe a nippick and all and it could be dealt with, but considering the thematic linked to Cloud and choices and persona this feels like such a lackluster way to replace it.

-Weird timing with some of Cloud's flashbacks? It bothered me but it might be nippicky. But we regularly see Cloud flashes back to when Tifa was a kid, which i believe he shouldn't (reason in a further down section). The only one that is important is the promise under the stars one, but they moved it to be triggered on Cloud when he's out with Jessie and the gang, while in the OG this scene is triggered after Tifa tries to remind Cloud of it, and it's because they have a conversation about it that we get to relive it with Cloud. I think it's a problem because it makes Cloud the one who initiates remembering those instead of Tifa, which is a problem to commit to the gaslight storyline with Sephiroth, when Sephiroth will manage to convince Cloud he never existed by cornering Tifa into saying she doesn't remember Cloud in one of his biggest memories. Because as long as the only flashback is one prompted by Tifa, you can argue that it's Tifa who plants the idea in Cloud's mind and therefore maybe Sephiroth is right. But the more Cloud remembers things unprompted to himself, the more you'd question Sephiroth's manipulation since "well no it doesn't make any sense if Cloud remembers things like that on his own."

-Reeve was great but showing Cait Sith early was a mistake and i think this set up is going to influence Rebirth in a bad way

The Bad

-The Padding. That's the core of all the problems of the game is that they wanted desperately to extend the runtime and therefore would use any excuses to make you waste time. Some exploration can be great, but eventually you'll really feel it when scenes start to seriously stretch out

-The Removal of puzzles and exploration in order to constantly guide you from one battle to the next and one cutscene to the next, and eventually very long mini game. It's probably hard to explain but it became very jarring to me. The OG kinda have you doing things yourself, and everything i can think of were replaced by very vulgar "quests to cross" type. Like Cloud's dress in Wall Market depends on how many quests you've done which are unrelated to how Andrea sees Cloud, while in the OG you have to find each pieces of the perfect dress on your own, make individual decisions for each of the piece and hoping it works in the end.

The Integrality of the Shinra's exploration puzzle were replaced as well to instead focus on cutscenes with exposition. The archives are supposed to be a puzzle game to get a password from the mayor to get to the next level. In the remake, the Mayor gives you an extended cutscene to say he's on your side and gives you a key to move forward and he tells you to talk to another Avalanche helper. You're supposed to overhear people talk about "last time i was in the bathroom i swear i could hear voices" to figure out you can infiltrate the vents to eardrops on the meeting. The Remake just downright tells you to go to the vent, but only after you proved you can fight. And even there rather than telling you to look for something, there's always clear quest markers to guide you, you dont need to think. After a while the game just gives up with adapting the others floor, including the elaborate puzzle where you have to sneak into a vent maze to get into locked rooms.

Instead they give an extended Lab Dungeon that doesn't exist in the main game, that is very weird from Hojo at this point, and for the "puzzle" it is, the characters are always telling you what to do and it's mostly finding ways to open door in very easy way to get to more fights. There's no intentions of genuinely having you work out how to play. Meanwhile instead the mini games take too long and are often just new mechanisms for one scene and then you move out. I like the mini games, but the balance has been very jarring to me. That said this is colored by the fact i'm playing the pc-port with keyboard+mouse and the port itself hasn't been well optimized for the mini games making them a lot more frustrating than they would be on controller.

I think it's wild also that for a game desperate to pad its runtimes, it refuses to let you just get lost into a puzzle to, yknow, lose time.

-The Fear of Committing to the Fucked Up aspect of the game. The major problem i have with that is that the remake specifically set up how those elements could become even more Fucked Up, and then genuinely refusing to follow through with them. No one you know survive Sector 7's fall of the plate. Jessie, Biggs, Wedge, they all die miserably at the pillar, and everyone you've met at Sector 7 don't seem to survive. The Remake develops all of this in a way that it will make it devastating to experience... and then they pull back at the last minute. Actually everyone you met and who mattered are fine.

Sephiroth's massacre of the Shinra's Lab Floor that covered everything with trails of blood are replaced by the fact Jenova is in a remove area only Hojo accesses to, and so the trail is just Jenova's purple goop and Sephiroth probably didn't murder anyone (other than the president) this time. Lol. Lmao even. Adding to prev point, the discovery of Jenova having been taken away was totally anticlimactic compared to the way the OG delivers on it, because of the muted music, lack of build off, and refusal to show the death that surrounds her tube.

Present Shinra gets an extended scene to shame Barret and then when Sephiroth stabs him, he only leaks black mist, compared to the team going to the President Office to see he has been impaled. The Hell House, that haunts you in the Collapsed Sector, is now a thrilling action piece of a show. Cloud's most fucked up breakdown (seen above) is removed.

Hojo's plans to force Aerith to breed with Nanaki to experiment on their offsprings that would live for a long period of time thanks to the length of Nanaki's species' lifespan, is replaced instead with Hojo talking about breeding her with human experiments who are degenerating because of the Jenova cells, because it's not about the lifespan anymore but just having many experiments in case Aerith dies. Still fucked up and all, and it can work out fine, but it's still the remake getting cold feet about the bestiality aspect, and therefore Nanaki's introduction has to be different from when he just happened to be in the same cage as Aerith. It just constantly pulls back from going all in when it can afford it. the Train Graveyard is the only place they really are allowed to show fear, but even there it's more creepy than the majorly unsettling set pieces.

And i heard it happened in Rebirth too, where the whole haunted section with monsters being people who were experimented on to an horrifying degree and you are the ones who have to put those living people down, be replaced by a full VR experience.

Like, i think pulling away from one of them wouldn't be so bad - i'm like, also willing to hear the bestiality replacement point for example, but when it's a pattern like this it starts just to cheapen every scenes that have a punch into it.

-speaking of i hated the speech President Shinra gives Barret and the whole "you only care about clearing your name, not about making things better for Midgar". in the OG there IS an aspect of Barret's desire to save the planet being a selfish wish for revenge. He cares for the planet yes, but this revenge is what he holds on to to cope with the guilt of having believed in Shinra once. Still his desire to save the planet is real, and he does actually want to dismantle Shinra no matter what. This aspect of his character is what creates a conflict with Reeve later on, and it's where the conflict shines well because we have two morally ambiguous characters having to come to term with why they want to make the world better and what are they actually willing to sacrifice for this. This Discussion with Reeve later on doesn't really pick a side (even though later in the game Reeve will do everything to help the gang and fully switches side), but it's two sympathetic characters who are trying to make the world a better place who come to a clash because of the different motivation and willingness to commit.

Having Barret run in about clearing Avalanche name, which i don't recall him being that dedicated about doing in the OG (if only because the propaganda was less pointed to because of what will be my next point), is the thing that allows the President to have a gotcha and point out that Barret had no long term plan to help people and he was a scam, and that the president might be a bad person but at least he thinks about it.

I really hate it because if it's about outlining that Barret is more in for revenge than for ecology, it's giving President Shinra, a one dimensional villain, the benefit of having the upper hand on Barret. And Barret is left speechless because he lets this guilt settles in, rather than how he fights for his own POV against Reeve later.

It's like they're trying to prepare the Barret/Reeve conflict but the way they went at it was leaning too hard on letting the President have his moment, while also framing Barret as much more selfish as even his dreams of revenge from the OG let him be.

and at the same time it's weird in the remake because the remake goes hard on how much Barret is into Planetology, much more than the OG, so the guy has done his researches and has invested a lot more into ecology for it to just be a selfish barging.

And like i mentioned, this whole scene doesn't exist in the OG because we have an earlier confrontation to the President when we get arrested and Barret is mostly still mad at him for having killed his friends, not for how they're being framed, and the president is so one dimensional villain he barely invest himself in this conversation, and the next thing we see, the president is dead. They made the President more cunning in the Remake which i don't /mind/ (it helps setting up the kind of person Rufus is without having to expose that Rufus will bring a real shift to Shinra's policies, by having his father already show you what Rufus may have been raised into thinking, which means that Rufus' appearance can only be about vibes and threats without needing to expose who he is, especially this late into the remake), but by allowing him to be alive in this situation it ended up being a terrible look on Barret on something that isn't an issue in the OG.

-The whole arc between Sector 7's fall and running to Shinra to save Aerith. This one is a doozy. Everything they had added up to this point had at least a good reason to be there for the timing of all things. Like the Jessie chapter happened at night on a point in the OG where nothing happens between two big plot point, it fits organically, it's nice.

But this one really had me annoyed because i think the previous arc extended even more on why Tifa and Barret would jump right away into wanting to rescue Aerith like in the OG, but instead this is the moment the two of them pull back from going to help Aerith so instead they can focus on totally new plotlines.

On paper i don't mind the idea of them going to Sector 7 in the hope to find people who survived it, because i do think they would need this closure. In the OG there's no secret passage under the doors of the sector though, so they don't have any means to get back to the Sector. I get it in term of characters' motivation, but it also somehow manage to put the tight plot into a halt.

Now it takes them a few days to think about saving Aerith, because first we need to be reassured everyone who matters in Sector 7 is fine, saving Wedge, discovering more Deep Grounds, having Cloud has new "i shouldn't be there" flashbacks, and then doing all sort of missions for people in the aftermath of the fall of the plate, until having to help Leslie on a whole sidequest for him to tell us how to climb the wall. All of which are interesting ideas on paper but i think ends up padding the time so badly it ends up frustrating and removing completely the urgency of "Aerith was taken as a lab rat because she tried so save a stranger".

And this arc births the problem i was mentioning in my prev point that therefore the trio remains in the slums for at least two days of hearing Shinra's propaganda and the way they frame Avalanche in the way that cause Barret to be so upset it's the thing he challenges the President about, while in the OG he's still mourning first, the anger is due to the loss and grief, not on how his friends are remembered.

Actually i think that sums up a lot of the problem with the Remake when it comes to the thematic of grief, which in the OG is about how you have to accept this grief as a part of yourself because else you're going to lose yourself to its stages (and Barret therefore is kind of more this representation of the anger side of grief, compared to Cloud being stuck on denial) , and instead changing it more on "how you are remembered", either by denying the death from happening at all, or having Barret just wanting that the way his friends are remembered in death to be honorable.

-The Hojo Lab Arc. Boy is this one ways too long. Clearly wanting to compensate for the Shinra's floor that has been removed by giving this sort of exploration episode in the unsettling Jenova/Deep Ground's lab. On one hand, the atmosphere for this is chilling (at first) and it does make sense to move Jenova in a more secret floor room.

But the gameplay ended up being lackluster, just going from one obvious step to the other with the characters repeating to you want to do, only so you can get into fights, and i can think of like ONE moment that was genuinely scary, but the rest was really just.... the most padding things could get.

I also think it lampshade Hojo as a villain too much this early into the game. Also while i'm at it i hate that Hojo remembers Cloud in this timeline now. I think Hojo's disinterest for failed experiments meaning he wouldn't even consider Cloud noteworthy is an interesting way to build tension, and i hate that Hojo is aware of things and now is just maniacally playing his cards for now just for fun to see what Sephiroth will do next. Hojo is a very interesting antagonist, and while i do think he would love to commit unethical experiments with however he meets, this whole sequence was too much. Also the fact he mostly "tests" the gang by having them fight advanced weapons and like a couple monsters that happened to escape, it kinda takes away from the mad scientific vibe when he's just trying his new toys, rather than actively trying to do something more interesting and fucked up. They frame it as him wanting data on Cloud knowing he's been experimented on, but again, i don't like that he knows that, but also i think those tests weren't exactly interestings for this exact data either. and meanwhile showing him actively letting Sephiroth get away remove any type of possible tension about where Hojo stands in this whole company.

but yeah the Labs could have been a great concept but it took the most boring way to execute it and instead it just felt like dragging.

The Terrible

-No respect for the mysteries of the saga. Everything that the OG built a mystery around is spoiled in the Remake, or teased in flashforward. This is so aggravating to me.

Like, it feels to me that the devs were so convinced the game will be played by people who played the OG, or who would play the OG for themselves, that they did not bother with keeping any of them out. Sephiroth keeps popping off being more ominous than he should be. The mention of Zack gives Cloud a mental breakdown so much so they mute Aerith to really point out that something weird is going on with Cloud and Aerith's ex, compared to how in the OG Aerith just don't originally mention him and when the name Zack is finally uttered, Cloud is too far in denial to connect anything at this point.

Cait Sith coming on the scene of Sector 7, while not linking him to Reeve yet (but i heard Rebirth jumped into doing so right away), therefore setting up that Cait Sith has at least an emotional reason to be joining the crew, therefore setting up the plotline once you have everyone in your party about how there's a mole in your group into making sure the players have suspicions about Cait Sith to start with.

Zack appearing in the ending of the game, showing he's close to Cloud, showing he has Cloud's sword, totally exposing the existence of this character while he is a mystery the whole game.

Hojo telling Cloud he was never in Soldier, Cloud getting recognized in Shinra HQ by people who therefore confirm he once existed, Cloud flashbacks about being experimented on....

All new stuff that instead of working as foreshadowing end up lampshading things that should have been more quiet mysteries, element to explore later on.

There's also so many "spelling the lore out in the remake way earlier than in the OG" like having a whole Shinra propaganda room about them looking for The Ancients' secret while if i recall correctly, this was a secret endeavor only revealed further into the game.

And then the flash forward, especially in the last part of the game but not only. Cloud having a flash forward to the plate falling. To Aerith's dying. Literally showing the intro of Advent Children as the future they're trying to avoid to tease Meteor, Aerith's death, Cloud fighting Sephiroth.... and Nanaki running in a world post-civilization centuries later? this one is the most bewildering one to me because this specific scene should mean nothing to the characters about what the future has in store for them, but they played it up because it only matters if YOU know the saga. God this part was annoying to me.

I feel like the game is expecting so much that the player has played the OG that they're just begging them to tune in for part 2 because things might be different this time since we have NEW mysteries to worry about now! Will the horrors happen? teee hee who knows!

and for new players, it's confusing, but it also ends on "we're not following the OG anyway" so you kinda just have to stick with part 2 when it comes out instead.

i find it so aggravating and it takes me out of the story every single time. It's like none of the mysteries matter to be treated seriously for someone who might discover the saga.

But it therefore also comes at the price of completely ruining some characters' motivation.

Speaking of.

-Sephiroth.

Now to start with something positive, this Sephiroth is supposed to come from the Advent Children timeline, and on that regard, he's beautifully characterized. Yes, Sephiroth in Advent Children would be saying those things. Yes, he would try new ways to torment Cloud, yes he would play his cards differently, yes he would be hyper homoerotic and want Cloud by his side more than ever. All of that tracks very well with his character by Advent Children time.

.... glad to see new audience will never know how Sephiroth was before that then???

Sephiroth has one of the greatest villain built up in video games because of how slow burn his appearance is. First you hear about him in a flashback in good light, then you hear his name in a second flashback but this time in horror. Then Cloud collapse with a memory of Sephiroth, and then when they go to rescue Aerith they get to escape because the floor they were on has been massacred by Sephiroth, Jenova is gone, and the president has been found impaled on Sephiroth's sword. Cloud and Tifa react in horror as people who know Sephiroth, and then you have to escape, and once outside of Midgar, they will start discussing "what's up with Sephiroth actually"

and then once you're at Kalm, Cloud will give you an extended flashback of the Nibelheim incident with Sephiroth as a playable unit and you see he's mad strong. You try to pass through the cavern guarded by a Midgar Zolom which will be your first terrifying boss experience because of how hard it is to beat, only to pass this by stealth to see Sephiroth just empaled one before you. AND THEN you go to Junon where Sephiroth is rumored to have been and once on the boat going to the Costa Del Sol, you will run into him. Cloud will challenge him, and Sephiroth will barely recognize him, and then let them fight a bodypart of Jenova. And it's only from this point on that Sephiroth will seriously start to pay attention to the crew and will slowly but surely try to manipulate Cloud, developping an obsession toward him.

the Remake ends when you leave Midgar. So Sephiroth shouldn't have appeared. And clearly the Remake was scared that not showing the fan favorite will cause problem, so they justified a way to have Sephiroth into the story early by having him be late-development Sephiroth.

which just means that if you haven't played the OG, you're getting a wrong impression of Sephiroth and the way he specifically approached Cloud. As well as completely missing out on the slow built of his capabilities.

But if you have played the OG you therefore get to really notice how he hijacks scene and therefore change them into things they're not. I hate his appearance in Cloud and Aerith's first meeting, completely changing the mood of this scene to make it all about him. I hate that everytime Cloud has a mental breakdown, Sephiroth appears to take advantage of him.

AC!Sephiroth would! but this is a horrible way to build him for a first time audience, and it's so vulgar in the way it spells things out for him.

And you know he's going to play his cards differently because of how he lost the previous time; For example in the Rebirth trailers they did the whole marketting around Sephiorth wanting Cloud to doubt Tifa, saying about how she shouldn't be alive and will manipulate Cloud. It's a direct response to the fact that neglecting to take into account Tifa is what caused Sephiroth downfall because she was the only person who knew Cloud so intimately that she was able to guide him through his memories, thanks to how much Cloud trusted her. Sephiroth, therefore, logically, need to make sure Tifa is not going to get in the way this time.

.... and that's swell and it makes sense but we're getting a whole other story aren't we?

The remake was adverticized as a remake and instead a huge chunk of it hinges on the fact you know the saga and because of Sephiroth and the characters knowing Fate is oncoming, it's actually a sequel.

And it's deeply frustrating to play because aside from Sephiroth and Aerith, no one knows what the previous timeline was. (coming back on Aerith in a bit). All of the cast suddenly is working to change a fate they do not even know about because Sephiroth and Aerith want to challenge this fate.

As a player it removes you from fully connect with the story because the characters don't even know what they're fighting for!! They don't have the context of what the bad things are going to be!

And like okay you either like it or you don't, but personally i hate it a lot.

-Desamorcing any emotional scene by the new mysteries.

The remake wants you to be invested in the new mysteries around Sephiroth and the Whispers so bad that scenes get to be completely hijacked by those characters ruining the tension any scene is supposed to build in.

Cloud and Aerith first meeting is supposed to be a quiet scene as he runs into her after the Reactor exploded. You can also completely ignore her and she'll move on, but otherwise it's a really quiet and simple scene. The Remake builds a whole Cloud hallucinate Sephiroth scene out of it, has Aerith tormented by the Whispers, she approaches Cloud to thank him, and Sephiroth will appear to threaten Cloud about how he intends to let fate repeat, implying the threat of killing her. The whole sweet scene starting of to establish a dynamic between those two? had the focus changed on Sephiroth instead to be ominous.

Fighting Reno in the church is a good addition and all, but Cloud trying to murder him only so the Whispers can come and take him away so the whole "escaping the Church" bit is all about the Whispers? You had a good tension over two characters physically interreacting and you had to ruin it.

And the worst for me was really the whole Sector 7 incident, constantly seeing the whispers just to stop us from getting to the pillar, seeing the whispers everytime one of the Avalanche Three is having a big moment just so you can then see them as they make sure they die. Scenes that should be about Cloud and Tifa realizing they are losing people they're caring about, Cloud starting to have his whole "i can't save anyone" panic settles in, and it ends up being distracted by the Whispers doing their things and making it look like the only reason those characters die is because it's meant to be, not because yknow, they got killed?

Oh and Hojo recognizing Cloud and the Specters taking him away was so damn bad too.

It's like. Any scene that are trying to build a tension, perhaps even a good one!! suddenly gets ruined by the whole "let's keep things on track" antagonist. Scenes that would have emotionally hit hard instead becomes confusing because of a whole new plotline that only works on a meta textual level. Embarrassing as hell.

-Zack. Why would you do that. Why would you show Zack why would you create a whole alternative timeline.

oh, well, i know why. Zack is too popular not to and you gotta include him. But the fact Zack is a neat character because of how much you can feel his absence when you know why it is there, the way they just dangled him in front of our face is so insulting, especially as being the scene right before our heroes go to defeat fate. It's something that only matter to hardcore fans, who would also be fans because of how Zack haunts the narrative, and so now instead we get an alternative timeline story that would be all swell and game in fanfictions, but is bond to be confusing for non-fans, and just really antithetical to what made Zack so beloved to start with.

Every Zack fan i've talked with after the remake did that had the same reaction of being both happy he lived, and then "but what the fuck are they doing with that". It's a mystery, a zinger for the next game, to try to keep you invested

... but it feels cowardly, as well as the Sephiroth stuff feel cowardly. It feels like the game had no confidence in it doing well without fan favorites, and therefore included them in the game no matter what, even if it defies why they are fan favorite to start with.

-The Fate plotline. I've been rambling over this one a lot at this point so i don't know what much to say. I hate that the Remake is a story about defying fate. About how things are not written in stone and all of that. I feel like the game is basically in denial of the original game if only to lure the player into this state of denial. And it could work to mirror how Cloud will go through his journey, considering the OG is a lot about grief and Cloud is specifically about the harmful aspect of denial, but i think this is imposing ways too much metatextual commentary over the actual text to the point you're denaturing what the story was about.

At the end of the game, everyone have to accept together to change fate, a fate they know nothing about, a fate they just imagine could be bad. the PLAYER knows what they're talking about, but them, themselves, do not. At this point the characters don't really react out of their own arc and motivation, but on about trying to change an abstract idea they have no idea about.

Except for Aerith who knows about stuff in the future and is so determined to not let it be set in stone, Sephiroth who is implied to come from the AC timeline and wants to do things differently, and Nanaki who understands the Whispers and knows vaguely what to expect.

In a bitter way it puts any hardcore fan who expected to replay the plot of the OG in the position of the bad guy for implying that changes are wrong, actually, regardless of why fans would think this way.

To me, it's antithetical to the plot of the OG. Final fantasy manages to do stories about fate, FF15 is a great story about not being able to defy fate, Crisis Core COULD have been a story about fate due to its ending but it decided not to be, but the OG was not about fate in any way and pushing this as the core theme feels alien to the story.

The characters barely know what it's about aside from out of context flash forward and are supposed to make their stand to correct this.

Meanwhile the story also goes into so many loops to try to make you curious about the Whispers, or the way they fix the timeline, like when they save Barret's life, but everything is artificially contrived for my taste and every single scenes with the Whispers made me wish i had never been hype about this whole project to start with.

-Aerith and Nanaki becoming dev's mouthpieces at the expense of their own character arc. There are many scenes when those two will suddenly stop in their track just to do exposition dump about fate and destiny.

Nanaki is noteworthy because legit 80% of his dialogues are about Fate and Destiny, and his introduction to the squad literally had to rely on Aerith showing him a glimpse of the other timeline so he knows they're supposed to be friend, which is infuriating to think about. Because Nanaki developping a natural friendship with the gang is too much to imagine i guess. For a story about defying fate they sure make sure you know Nanaki only is talking with you because Fate told him so.

Meanwhile for Aerith it's so.... So much to me because at some point it's like her being a character stops and suddenly she ends up discussing exactly how there's a fate in front of them that will be scary to change. She wants to change it because of her own fate into it, but also fear changing it and all of that...

Which plagues Aerith with worries she didn't have at first, which means that for a bit, Aerith stops being her own character on her way to her character arc because she needs to look straight at the audience to explain them the themes of the story in case they didn't catch it up. It is so sloppy to me and i hate the idea of turning Aerith's gradual arc of reconnecting with her heritage and realizing she's the only one who can change something, into one where she's already wise and having it all figured out.

I saw someone comment on how Rebirth feels like a 5D Chess game between Sephiroth and Aerith both trying to change fate in their favor, but while i love their natural antagonistic dynamic, it genuinely bugs me how their independant actions are taking a cosmic weight right from the start of the remake. The more Sephiroth pulls in one direction the more Aerith is pulling on the other, and this natural nemesis relation where Aerith is constantly trying to one up Sephiroth and the other way around took a much bigger dimension now that Sephiroth comes from the Future and Aerith is aware of Fate.

-"Tee Hee Maybe They Won't Die :3c"

It's the frustrating aftereffect of destroying the keeper of fate, is that now the game is showing you a timeline in which Zack is alive, and is trying to act like "maybe Aerith won't die this time". Which feels cruel to me because either they go through with it and keep them both alive and we removed all the stakes from this story or why the game has a lot to say about grief, or they go through with it and they specifically manifactured a way to raise our hopes up for the sake of wanting to see them again.

Aerith and Zack are easily my favorite characters with Cloud, i've read countless of Fix It fanfic, AU where they come back, i know this denial, this desire they'll be okay.

and i know i don't want it from the main game because their death matters too much for what the story is trying to tell.

Zack needs to die for Cloud to even become who he becomes. Without his death, Sephiroth won't be able to manipulate Cloud properly. It's the reveal that Cloud has usurped Zack's life that will lead Cloud to the pure mental collapse that will have him give Meteor to Sephiroth and Sephiroth would trigger the apocalypse. Grieving Zack is a major element to explain the lowest of lows in Cloud's life.

The alternative timeline therefore lose those stakes, and may instead try to prove that Zack has to die else bad things will happen. After all, Cloud doesn't wake up in this timeline, so clearly Zack being alive means his own timeline may get unlucky as it goes.

Meanwhile Aerith's death is necessary for the powerstruggle between Sephiroth and Aerith, with the fact that by killing her, Sephiroth actually made her more powerful.

Sephiroth decides to kill Aerith because her power as the last of the Ancients and the Holy Materia are the only things that can reach out to the power of the Planet to counter everything Sephiroth wants to do. The moment he realizes She is the Menace, he will use Cloud to try to kill her, and when Cloud breaks the mind control, Sephiroth kills her himself. That way he ultimately have two birds one stone by both getting rid of Aerith and being able to break Cloud's mind and make him his and therefore getting Meteor.

But since Aerith was deep into a ritual and when she died she returned to the Lifestream, she managed to keep doing what she was doing from the otherside, more powerful than ever, and it's why the ending is as it is, with Aerith unleashing the lifestream as a way to shield the world from the fall of Meteor.

Aerith's death is essential to how to stop Sephiroth, on the aspect of, by killing her, Sephiroth dug his own grave.

But now what? Either they're keeping her alive and the 3rd part of the game will go in a complete different direction, or they'll kill her still after having raised people hope that she may survive.

-So the saga is setting itself at ending on a totally different note as the OG, at some point it will have to stop trying to adapt the OG at all because it completely went off rail... Or things will go back on rail and we've been played all along.

So yeah it's either the remake will follow through with the major plot beats and will therefore betrays its own new themes because turns out you can't win without following fate after all, or it will go completely off the rail and it will just Not Be The Plot Of The Original Game.

I'm sure we can try to see it as a sequel, i'm sure some people may be able to, but the more i get reminded of how close it is to the OG the more the things that go off rail just feel out of place, because it clashes with the themes of the OG.

I can't enjoy the fully new "sequel stuff" because it's always coupled with a reminder of the OG i love and this sequel just seems wrong there.

-It feels unfinished. And despite all of this, the game doesn't feel finished. You may add as many stories you want to give meat for the game to keep going, but ultimately you just barely introduced the concept and the characters since you legit only adapted the prologue, you left mysteries opened that are not being answered to keep people on a hook, but you end the game basically feeling you just started this trip. After a 60h+ long experience at least, you are left on a cliffhanger telling you to tune in next time.

This was always going to be the risk by cutting the game in part and even more so when the part one decided to only be about Midgar. I mentioned how i think the remake could narratively have tried to push to Junon since it would have ended with a battle with Sephiroth like they wanted.

but by finishing the Prologue, seems just seem rushed, nothing is finished, and there's a lot of plots that open at the end of the game. Like Rufus, for example, who is one of the major antagonist of the game, who can only come last minute. And because he comes in this late to the game, you can't actually have him explain what he's going to do as the antagonist. So he's just there for the vibes and it feel slike a weird addition that is just a cliffhanger for what's to come.

-"If you want to play the plot of the OG you just need to replay the OG or Ever Crisis"

Then you shouldn't have called the game a remake.

^ this is something a dev said btw and it still annoys me to this day. then you should have been transparent about it not being a remake. And saying that if people want to replay the OG they should play Ever Crisis, which is a GACHA live service game that will inevitably be unplugged one day because Square Enix doesn't have a good track record with taking care of their gacha (starting by what happened to the First Soldier, which was closed after one year of service), genuinely made me annoyed.

All in all, in the end, i'll take their word for this because it sure means i have no reason to be interested in the remake. So i will replay the OG instead.

And then they weep when Rebirth do less sales than the Remake. Lol. Lmao even.

But also just this mentality saddens me. Many people won't try the OG because it looks and feels old. It's a great game, but when the rest of the saga has only HD elements, it's difficult to get into or recommend. That's why people wanted a remake. Just being dismissive about it seems sad to me.

DEEP SIGHS.

CONCLUSION.

I didn't come to the remake wanting to hate it. In fact at first i really tried to rationalize everything it was building itself for.

But i powered through the remake more and more irritated and the irritating part took over all of the way i could interreact with the remake.

And the game isn't even that bad. It still genuinely feels like you return to the characters you know and love. I spent more hours having fun than i've had not having fun.

but the problem is that the good things are in the details and in the small interractions here and there, and that the flaws are the Major Plot Elements that you genuinely can't ignore.

And i'm torn, because i love those characters and want to see more, and the gameplay is so fun!

But by the time of the Ending of the Remake, i was just genuinely tired. Like the whole ending portion of the Remake broke me a little because no matter how in character Sephiroth is compared to his AC self, no matter how fun and camp the scenes are in isolation: this is still such a shitty choice to make about the thing that was called a remake.

I'm sure i've forgotten things despite how long this ask is. but yeah. That should be a good run down of my problems with the game.

..... sorry if you expected anything shorter. Turns out it just ended up being a good opportunity to sort out my thoughts and well. well....

Anyway hope you had a good read if you read all of it, and take care o7

[icouldntfindquiet]

I just saw your post and thought I’d give a little more context! Sorry for the length 🫣

Under certain circumstances and work related reasons, musicians can stay longer than 90 days. Think it’s up to a full year. Labels and/or management can provide documents for longer stays if international musicians are working. Van likely has a working visa and Benji probably has either a spouse visa or green card. I believe you have to stay in the country for a certain amount of time for both and it depends how long they’ve been married.

Catfish didn’t really need management from late 2021 till showtime was released as they were inactive. Yes it would’ve helped but again, not necessarily needed and they would’ve needed to be paid which either the label or Van could’ve been unwilling to pay for the time being. Management doesn’t take long to find and Van very well could be in the US interviewing management companies. I hate dunking on UK management cause some are really good but US management is generally better overall. I’ve worked with and experienced both as a fan. Really hoping they sign with Q Prime as they manage loads of solid acts. Look at their website!

Not sure what the situation is with the album but I would’ve assumed it was done and records have been pressed therefore ready to be announced. It takes 6-9 months for copies to be pressed (vinyl is in high demand and there are very limited factories so it’s backed up for roughly another decade). IMO I don’t think the album is being worked on for this reason but if it’s not pressed (which could explain the delay in the album announcement cause vinyl is a huge part of sales) then I guess it could be album related work with Sardy. Could also be doing press stuff out here. Doubt it but always a possibility.

He could also be in the US for privacy since Catfish are so unknown here. I can only imagine he’s pissed off and possibly embarrassed about what’s happened. Really feeling for all of them at the moment. None of this was really any of the band’s fault. You never know how management will play out either. Can’t imagine how disappointed they are but they’ll (hopefully) come back stronger. I wish we could all give them a big hug!

No worries! Thanks for the insight. It was interesting to read. I don’t know much about visas but it looks like Van has some nice music industry perks. 😁👍 I don’t know how often Benji goes to the US. His wife used to post stories when they were together in the US but hasn’t for a long time now.

Yeah, it’d be a waste of money paying for management if there’s no work. I realized lots of people think he’s in the US now but I don’t think he’s currently there. I noticed his account said US on 9th August. Van was clearly back in the UK for R&L but it’s been stuck saying the US so either he’s not logged in for a while or it’s stuck. Their statement says they’ve seen a doctor and I’m assuming it’s in the UK. I can’t imagine how complex it is to seek medical treatment in the US as a UK citizen but maybe he has music industry perks. 🤷‍♀️ I see Q Prime manages Foals, The Last Dinner Party, and Declan McKenna from the UK! All artists I’m a fan of.

I’m not sure what’s holding up the album either. Sardy’s been hyping it up for so long, I’m starting to think we imagined it. 😭 Remember RSD ‘24 and how they might’ve sent the prototype for the 10 year anniversary album instead? 🤡 Well that was April so did it take 5 months to make the 10 year anniversary vinyl?

Yeah, I feel bad for him and hope he’s not too hard on himself. I can’t imagine him catching a flight to the US if he’s really unwell though. My hope is that he’s resting and being kind to himself. ❤️

[markrosewater]

Hello MaRo, first off, I want to give a shout-out to the people who are writing the lore of MTG right now. I am a huge fan! MoM is hyping me up a lot, especially the bonus cards (I play Arena as well as Modern, so it's always cool to have extra cards haha). However, I've been wondering for a while if the rest of the MTG community feels the same way. I miss the core sets in Magic more and more, as I feel like they are part of the game's identity - at least that's my personal opinion. I wanted to ask you what led to their removal since Core Set 2021, and if I could make a wish for 2024 or 2025, it would be for Magic to have them again. Anyway, great job on the designs and thanks again for all the amazing new designs you give us!"

Not enough players were interested in buying it.