#ak s1

[jonathanbyersphd]

thinking cancelable thoughts

[piperslovebot]

Jackie and Kelso are a chaotic teenage mess, but I love them for it honestly

[zo1nkss]

Last thing I'm saying before my official break, and last thing I'm saying on the izcourse for a bit in general:

The canyon bullied several of my friends of color out of the fandom. If your only concern is whether or not people are being nice to you over a character that has led to such a significant drop in BIPOC engagement, I do not care about your feelings. No I will not let you use my posts that I make calling out toxic culture from Izzy fans to victimize yourself and your friends just because you feel attacked.

[eric-the-bmo]

-kicks down door- OKAY SO. THE NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH SEASON FINALE HAPPENED. SO HERES A RECAP OF IT

The owlbear hunter is trapped in the barrier, and Louis and Markus light it on fire. Smoke fills the cylindrical barrier, to the point we can’t see the monster very well. Song casts a spell, turning the smoke into oxygen, making it very flammable inside. Louis uses up the last of his makeshift flamethrower, and it all goes up in flames; the barrier prevented any damage to the cul-de-sac. Charred bones clatter to the ground.

In the distance, John sees the plume of smoke and hears the monster’s shrieks of terror suddenly get cut short, and he knows that his competition has been taken care of. He can hunt freely.

Amira, an npc, sticks her head out of the safehouse to see wtf was going on- bc hello?? there was an explosion??? And the trio yells at her to get back inside, and her mother drags her back in and closes the door- but Louis' head is on a swivel, he's nervous, bc he wants to know where John went (bc they all saw him fucking lose it)- so he notices that as Amira's getting dragged back in, her gaze darts over to look at something past them, and her eyes go wide.

Louis whirls over and sees Song. She's catching her breath, as the smoke-to-oxygen spell took a lot out of her [she won’t be able to run very far]- and he sees John, crooked and sharp, lunging towards her. Louis yells, but with how fast John is, all Song can do is turn to see John and yell as she throws up her arms in an attempt to defend herself. As they do this, Song recalls a memory: They had stolen a book they’d been perusing from their father’s library and had gone out to the woods. They had everything set up; the circle, the candles, the stones. A monster had ran out to attack them, and Song spoke the incantation to summon the barrier; but instead of trapping it inside, the thing ran right through- but when it came out from the barrier it looked different. Instead of trapping the monster in the barrier, the spell had trapped it in an entirely new body. They didn’t get a good look at what it looked like, as it immediately pushed past her in a panic, knocking her down and out. Song had woken up in their father’s house the next morning.

John goes for the throat. Song attempts to stab him with her ritual dagger but he bites down, and it’s ecstasy. It’s been a long time since he’s eaten anything good, and while he doesn’t know why, the act of hurting this one seems right. Justified.

Louis gives Markus only one shot to do something to help. As John’s about to tear even more into Song’s throat, there’s a sharp prick at his spine, and then static- paralyzing venom from the bugs Markus had summoned is spreading through his veins. It’s hard to move, and he falls over backwards. A rythymic buzzing fills his ears, and from the venom and all his wounds, he passes out.

Markus takes off their hoodie to tie up John. Louis tears off part of his shirt to try and help Song- she’s wild-eyed, stumbling, hand pressed up to her neck to try and stop the bleeding. He tries to bandage them as best as possible, and Song uses healing magic to heal themself even further, leading to the two of them holding hands in the process. Song whirls around to ask John what the hell that was about, only to see Markus trying to drag the monster man over to their house.

A scream comes from the safehouse- it’s Shelby. She runs over to John, extremely worried upon seeing her best friend unconscious and bleeding. Louis says they’ll get him patched up, and Song grabs Shelby’s shoulders and tells her that John attacked her. Louis confirms John did in fact do that, but he can explain it all himself later, and Markus adds it was a bad drug trip.

Shelby and Markus carry John over to their house, where Markus immediately works on patching him up. Once that’s done, they head over to a corner and starts to sob. Shelby gets the vibe she should leave them alone, and pulls up a chair to sit beside her friend.

Song and Louis hang back to search for monster eggs. Song dispels the barrier; the dispellation causes a small sonic boom, shattering the windows of the nearby houses. Mr Patterson comes out and wants to know who broke the windows, and Louis (still covered in blood and holding a gun) says it was him. Mr Patterson says he’ll send a bill, and makes a comment on how he still can’t find his missing cat that went missing in Episode One. Just then he does find the cat, actually; they’d been in the bushes, and have kittens. Other neighbors come out, ask if each other is okay, and make their way home. Louis offers to walk Song home, and at the door Song invites him in for coffee. He very much would like to, but goes the Gentleman Route and declines- it’s 2am after all (and with his dialogue, an accidental misogynistic comment was made). Song dislikes this refusal, being used to getting what she wants, and also the comment. She leaves, and Louis beats himself up over it- and then the cell service returns, and he sees he has a voicemail.

It’s from his vampiric ex, who states he’s coming to move in to the cul-de-sac soon. Louis deduces he must’ve died in the fight with the owlbear and that this is hell; scorned by the one he likes, and suffering in the presence of his ex. He doesn’t sleep that night.

John wakes up in the morning, and feels sick when he remembers the previous night. At some point in the night, Shelby had untied the hoodie restraint, and had also fallen asleep; he manages to get off the couch without waking her and goes to the restroom to wash the dried blood off of himself with shaking hands.

Markus wakes up and busies themself with routine, ignoring their very serious wounds oh my god, and opens to restroom door to tell John to go to his own house. Oh- with him having passed out, and with all their houses being the same floor plan, John didn’t realize he was at Markus’s.

Still a bit out of it, he goes to leave, but is encountered by an awake Shelby, who’s angry he was going to leave without her. John attempts to say he didn’t want to wake her, and Shelby continues: she could’ve lost him last night, why wouldn’t you wake me up? She pauses (John looks like he’s going to cry), and says they and talk about it at home. They hug each other, and begin to walk back.

Shelby starts her breakfast, and tells John she doesn’t believe what Song and Markus told her, about him being on a bad trip and attacking them- in all the time she’s known her, he’s never seemed to be the type to do anything like that. John slowly looks at her, surprised and silently angry about what Song had told her. Shelby continues, expressing concern over his injuries. All he says about both topics is that he fucked up that night, and his injuries were due to the “wolf” they had gone after. Shelby gently tells him he should be more careful (she underestimates how much he doesn’t value himself, but he’ll try to be more careful for her).

With the Dome down, the mailman can actually do his job. He meets Louis (who, by the way, is still in last night’s clothes [he explains it as a hunting accident]), and recognizes John as being a resident of the town from before the House Raffle. Walter encounters Markus looking for worms, meets Song, and gives everyone their mail.

Louis figures if his ex is coming he might as well get dressed, and heads over to Song’s to apologize- who, by the way, just finished a shower, and she calls her father so he can send a guy to fix her house’s windows. She mentions she’s lonely, and her father leaves for a meeting. Louis knocks at their door, and they let him knock for a while bc they’re petty. He wants to apologize for last night, and says an individual from his past is coming over who might hurt Song to get back at Louis. Song asks Louis if he doesnt trust her father to protect her/ does he think he can’t protect herself? He says seeing her almost die last night made him realize he wouldnt want that to actually happen- it’s a whole thing. He invites her to go out for coffee, and she responds with “Perhaps.” The apology seems to be accepted.

The cast goes through their mail, and come across a Very Noticeable pamphlet for the first annual Greenville botanical parade being hosted next weekend! There’s a photo of presumably the mayor, next to a giant thorned plant; Song recognizes it as the same plant they had seen in a vision when they had cast their Clairvoyance spell a few episodes ago.

Episode 7: Cleansed In Fire means that Season One is all wrapped up!

The Dome is down, Song and Louis are slowly getting their rocky romance started up, Markus is steadily Getting Worse, and John has Guilt and is Terrified of interacting with the other Main Cast members! And there might be a carnivorous plant next season!!!

[edgelessvoid]

gaming

[asuiru]

cc11 r18 | skadeknights | no 6-stars

[tainbocuailnge]

You post about AK ops all having a spot has given me a sliver of hope that maybe...Sand Reckoner might be useful to me...someday...somewhere...bc I wanna build him once he's out in global but it's somewhat disheartening when I actually think about using him for anything...

alright let's take a look at what sand reckoner can do. a summoner will always have a place in low operator optimisations btw because they're literally five dudes in one, though I should probably preface this with a disclaimer that I'm not that good with summoners myself and most of my understanding of how to use them is from watching others do it

sand reckoner is notably the first lower rarity summoner with ranged summons, which patches that hole in the subclass and gives him an edge versus flying enemies compared to mayer, scene, and deepcolor. unlike ling and magallan, the amount of summons he can deploy also isn't capped at lower than the amount he can hold, so he can descend with a flock of five funny birds if you want.

his summons are basically just durin without her talent, they deal arts damage, have the same range, and roughly the same stats. arts damage doesn't face any flat reductions, so their low-ish atk won't get thresholded and their damage should be solidly okay. one durin is weak, but five durins piles up. defensively they'll keel over almost immediately so they're not very good as bait

sand reckoner's talent is 20% increased damage against machine enemies, of which there aren't many, but basically all of them are high priority targets, and several of them are also fairly commonly used outside their debut maps precisely because they're familiar dangerous enemies (rhine robots, londinum artillery, vampire cars). it's conditional, but the condition isn't all that rare and 20% is such a big number he's going to be doing very noticeable damage in these situations. arknights toolbox lets you filter enemies by traits like this

s2 has special targeting priority (good) and slow (good) and will give him a new summon (good) and lasts 20 seconds with a 40 sp cost for a clean 50% uptime (preddy good). it's a slower cycle than scene's s2 but also doesn't have the major drawback scene has, which feels like a fair exchange.

as you can see on the list of mechanical enemies most of them are heavy, and a lot of them are also fast, so this skill is very effective at countering them. being able to single out and separate priority targets is very useful, and usually the heavier the enemy the more dangerous, so even without the talent damage this skill can still see a lot of supportive use. since it's the summons doing the slowing he can separate elites from trash in multiple places on the map with this, which can make him a better pick than just a regular decel binder.

the summon attack interval is 1.6 seconds (down to 1.48s with lv3 module), so optimal sand reckoner use would probably want to stagger the summons' attacks somehow to make sure there is no downtime in the slow.

I'll be honest his s1 looks kinda shit by comparison. 10 seconds of increased aspd on a 30s cooldown without the ability to generate more summons is very unlikely to see much use over his s2. it's only a 10 second startup too though, so I can see it having use in fast and short maps where you wouldn't be using enough birds to have to regenerate them anyway, or maps without any ranged enemies that could threaten the birds. +60 aspd on multiple units also goes along way for hitcount mechanics

his module is the one that makes the first summon not take deployment slots which is just incredibly convenient and literally makes it easier to find room for him on your team. I think the talent upgrade from higher levels isn't that great, it makes the slow on s2 a little more consistent but the number is so small that I personally wouldn't level it beyond stage 1 even if I intended to use him a bunch unless i fell in love with his character and wanted to show favoritism

[cerastes]

Hello. I'm getting back into Arknights after like a year of just getting on to pull and would like to learn more about planning for stages/putting together teams. I know you've made guides/explanations for characters and wanna ask if you have any ideas where to start, both with your own technical discussions and if you know anyone who gives similar advice. Sorry if this is too vague or a big ask.

Also I'm happy you're enjoying Hades 2 (another game I am trying to get better at understanding) and look forward to any future posts on it.

The main thing that’ll lead to all of what you ask is learning how to team build. Sure, you can throw Surtr and Mlynar and Taxes Omertosa or Chung the Hung at 90% of things and it’ll work, but then that 10% (endgame of endgame) will kick your teeth in. Because you never learned to build.

Take IS2 Boss 2, for example. Big Sad Lock was THE wall for a ton of players. In fact, check my guide and make note of my system of making checklists of Map Needs to understand where to start. By satisfying the needs of any given map to the best of your ability and available roster, you understand what units can do and should do, what they cannot do, and so on.

Take your 3*s, Shifters and Gravel, for example. Look at them. 3*s are the basis of the game, they do everything on a fundamental level that can be done, Shifters add a wildcard flavor depending on map, and Gravel is a unit you can throw around easily and constantly. Now, expand on that and add crazy multifunctionality, and you’ve got higher rarities. What if Gravel had damage? You get the other Executors. What if Spot wasn’t tied to tight skill upkeep? Gummy S1 and up. What if Kroos could shoot harder, and more people at once? Blue Poison.

Basically, think about what you want to bring to any map in terms of functionality, and then fulfill that checklist. It may sound obtuse, but it clicks after you start trying this yourself; if a map is giving you issues, then that’s the chance to actually improve instead of opening a guide on Youtube, if you care about improving.

I answer all sorts of Arknights questions on my Twitch, I used to post more regularly, guides and answering asks and such, but nowadays my free time is something I prefer to spend streaming and overall not tumblring. Of course, livestreams are not everyone’s cup of vodka, so feel free to send me an ask that can’t just be googled, and I’ll get to it at some point, or, I recommend, @shuttershocky can also give you answers to AK questions.

[squidkid15]

I am sitting here with pencil and paper begging you for a list of The Things.

ALRIGHT LETS DO THIS

I haven't gotten back to s3 just yet so this is just random tidbits from s1 and s2 that I noticed on this watchthrough.

This demon that gives MK the cursed meatballs in s2e8 is the only character other than Chang'e with the blue lipstick. Just an odd coincidence, not sure if it's worth reading into but a neat note anyways.

2. In s2e7 Shadowplay when MK finally fights Macaque, there's a moment where MK says "that's it!" after using gold vision on the lantern, which always struck me as an odd line. It just felt out of place. This is the first watchthrough where I noticed that, immediately after that line, his eyes flash LBD blue. This is not the first time this happens, but it started in s2e5 when LBD tricked him. I think she's been in his head since that episode, so the "that's it" line isn't MK, it's LBD seeing through his eyes where another piece of her mech stew is.

3. In s2e9 MK crouches like a monkey. Very cute, makes me smile.

4. I just noticed these guys in the background of s2e2 lmao. Go lil you beat up those giants.

5. In the revenge of the spider queen mini, I think LBD gets into Wukong's head here, the way she gets into MK's and Mac's later. After this we see flashes of her vision for the world, and I think and assume Wukong saw them too.

6. s2e10, more evidence of LBD being full on in MK's head. To what end, I don't know. Maybe trying tot ake him over the way she does wukong in the finale, maybe just to mess with him. But she's in his head and rooted there.

7. s1e9, Macaque's powers seem to make MK angry? We see that resentment towards wukong at the start of the ep, but the way he acts after Mac "infects" him is...really out of character. It's basically the only time we see him angry like that.

8. s1e8 the key the mayor gives MK is LBD's. It has the skull on it, and the default shape matches her tomb. It does what he says, opens anything, but the key belongs to LBD/matches her tomb. To what end? I...don't know.

9. s2e1 I know it's probably just an animation trope but I'm choosing to pretend MK used glamor magic/shapeshifting and had no idea he did.

10. s1e5 this is the mayor in the calabash with MK, right???? No one else has hair anywhere close to that. Also we don't see the mayor until after this episode.

okay that's all i got for now but i'm just about to get into s3 again so we'll see what happens there

[kanzakurawrites]

Random Thoughts I Had While Rewatching Wicked World S1:

(yes I am fully aware its a kids show with limited time but I will still yell about things XD)

They REALLY had to make Mall's eyes gray? brown? seems to change but still, her eyes are GREEN

"At my birthday parties" You had ONE birthday party Evie. One.

And evil minion bakers? Really?

Wait, so Miss "Give Your Spellbook to the Museum" D2 Evie is here, sixish months before or whatever the timeline in, begging Mal to use magic to help her?

Why is Evie so shallow in this?

WHY IS SHE SO DITZY? Stop, Evie would know not to eat chemicals DX (Actually, I bet most Isle kids would know that)

WHAT IS BEN'S OUTFIT! None of that goes together. Bring his suit back. Or goodness gracious, why not a simple button down and slacks? Blue and black. What is this?

pffft, Ak's making up words

so Audrey also has a single dorm.

It took Jane FOURTEEN YEARS to realize she has magic? No, I refuse.

at least Audrey and Ben are still friends

Seriously, there is no timeline in this world

Sustainable urban planning. You know, for someone who wanted nothing to do with the Isle in D2, Evie sure is invested in making it a better place

"Thanks to my dad" *gasp* Is Ben throwing shade at his father

I'm sorry, I can not get behind Aurora's daughter afraid of some mud

The fact that Mal loves it is hilarious

I wonder when Evie finally donated her mirror

I know that a lot of people headcanon Freddie and Uma being sisters since China voiced Freddie, but tbh I think it would be interesting if they're cousins.

(Yes i like the hc, I just have Uma's dad as someone else and then came up with the cousins thing XD)

"retract your claws" "But I just had them sharpened!"

Seriously, yo mama battles?

So how old IS CJ? I'm guessing 13 or 14, but they almost imply she's around Mal's age... but unless she and Harry have different mom's that doesn't work.

Jordan, WHY are you doing a southern belle accent?

I want to see Beast's funny birthday dance

a two hour exam on SMILING?

so it definitely seems canon that the VKs were dragged online, and always end up on there even if they had no clue their pictures were being taken. Could factor into Mal's D2 transformation and breakdown

are we SURE this is the same Lonnie in the movies?

The fact that the Auradon Girls are singing "Good is the New Bad"

so whatever happened with this whole cheerleading thing for Evie and Mal

That doesn't sound like Jay either!

"You lied to keep him from bugging you" I like this Ben

But Evie WASN'T AROUND WHEN YOU WERE KIDS

HOW does Carlos speak dog? This makes no sense

the fact that Audrey is hanging out in Evie and Mal's room

I am getting fed up with all the made up words

I wonder how many people just randomly brush Ruby's hair

"I want to go from the one who lost the crown to the one who won!" Highly doubt that was intended to be D3 foreshadowing, but it makes good foreshadowing

The fact that they are fighting over the color of purple Mal wears

And here's Jane, accusing Mal of stealing

The fact that everyone keeps accusing Mal of things. Seriously, no wonder the poor girl thought she had to change her appearance and herself to the point of breaking down

but why didn't she TALK TO BEN

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if Jay still struggles with stealing sometimes. Same for even Aladdin and Eugene.

Mal being so supportive of Jane is adorable

The fact that Jane is still suspicious of the VK's

They're accusing her of KIDNAPPING her own BOYFRIEND

and WHERE IS THE SECURITY?! THE HIGH KING IS THERE! AND OTHER ROYAL CHILDREN

#thisisnotmyLonnie

CJ liking Mal is interesting considering how Harry feels about her.

[aquitainequeen]

Aside from news on how things possibly stand for a Shadow and Bone/Six Of Crows renewal (basically no news is good news, keep going with the campaign!) there's also a short interview with Eric Heisserer, which sheds some interesting light indeed on the writing and making of Season Two, and it explains a lot of things:

Here are the questions posed for Eric's interview: 

"I'd like to know if there's a way to liberate the pre-written scripts if Netflix doesn't plan on using them" - Christian Thalmann (creator of the Fjerdan language)

"In my view, 'The Crows' have the potential to revitalize the Grishaverse. Unlike "Shadow and Bone", this new show could rely less on elaborate visual effects and offer a fresh narrative angle. Heist-themed shows are currently in high demand, adding to its appeal. Am I mistaken in thinking that our focus should primarily be on 'The Crows'? The likelihood of 'Shadow and Bone' returning seems slim, but I've always believed that 'The Crows' had a greater change of success." - Joleen

"If/when the spinoff is back (finger crossed) was there anything he had planned that would completely surprised, for good reasons obviously, the audience? And we should hold our breath for that twist/turn??" - Rti

"What are the difficulties you mentioned about filming S2 in that Reddit comment? Don't want to sound negative, but what went wrong?!" - Mitra

"How long was the sizzle reel ready to go but he had to keep it secret?" - Discord Team

"I would love to know his perspective on the impact of streaming on storytelling. Would we have had to launch a campaign like this 10-15 years ago for a show like this? What are the main points when it comes to streaming models and telling unique, diverse stories?" - Acorn_Bri

Eric's Responses: 

1) "There is a way to liberate the Crows scripts from Netflix, yes, and in fact that would be part of the buyout for another streamer when acquiring the rights to Leigh's novels. It would be a package deal." 

2) "The focus on the Crows is helpful in two ways -- first, those scripts were written, which lets us get a running start at production, and second, just from casual analysis of book sales, it's far more popular worldwide than other Grishaverse titles. So it will be a bigger draw for viewers. The trap though is the cost. It's more grounded than S&B, sure, but the Ice Court is a unique location that either requires a really costly set build, or set extensions and VFX work to make it look authentic, which means nearly every shot of the heist once our crew gets there could be a VFX shot. My guess is the budget would be on par with S2 of S&B.

3) "Yes, there is a surprise or two in the Crows spinoff season, but overall it's as close to the novel as we could make it. And Leigh's novel is such an amazing story with natural cliffhangers that work as episode "out" moments, etc. I think the biggest move we made was to feature every single Crow's backstory to go with their episode. So that was fun/sad/exciting." 

4) S2 kept throwing challenges at us, and it started long before we got to production. Like months earlier, when we learned the location we needed for the Little Palace in S1 was closed to us due to the pandemic. So right there we lost out on a ton of S&S scenes, because it wouldn't be a match. But we also had written a compelling side arc for Ivan and Fedyor in S2, these two Grisha trapped on either side of the civil war. Each of them played a big role in the story, but Simon (Ivan) had a feature film that overlapped with our schedule and couldn't move, which meant we lost him. So Daegan worked to revise the season keeping Fedyor and leaving Ivan like dead from the end of S1. He was Kirigan's right-hand man for the season. But poor Julian caught COVID just when we were to shoot out most of his scenes, and after tyring to ake the schedule work, we had to come to the brutal truth that there wasn't a way to keep Fedyor in the story. Our only option was to bring him in at like episode 8, which would've been too little, too late. 

COVID continued to be a monster all through production, requiring us to juggle schedules and miss out on days, and it was madness for the cast, who had to pivot with almost no notice whenever someone was ill and quarantined. This isn't unique to our show of course---it happened with everyone. It's just the challenge. 

Beyond that, we had been given the go to write a special standalone story: The Demon in the Wood. This would have been released on its own around Christmas, like a BBC special but for Netflix, and would help bridge seasons 1 and 2 by showing a little of what Kirigan was doing before we seem him in S2, and also provide more character context, etc. Christina Strain wrote that and did great work adapting Leigh's short story. But it never went the distance. 

There was a lot more to S2 as well, scenes and side stories and little interactions that were lost due to budget or time restrictions. Again, not unique to our show, but agonizing all the same, since what you get is not what we had written, or in some cases even shot. I'm incredibly proud of the cast and the team, and Daegan did the heaviest lifting while I was off finishing the Crows writing room. But we had a lot more thrown at us." 

5) That sizzle reel was put together four months before the second season dropped. 

6) Streaming is a challenge to serialized storytelling in that it looks at 'content' often with a different agenda and uses metrics that can take a creative issue and exacerbate it. Like in broadcast, if viewership and thus ad revenue has slightly declined, the show will ned to find a way to make their 22 or 13 episodes on a proportionally smaller budget. What is not done is reduce episode order. But if a streaming series underperforms or doesn't meet expectations, an the streamer doesn't cancel it outright, the go-to budget reduction idea is to reduce episode order for the next season. When you just have 8 episodes and continue to deal with notes to compress, pace up, or omit for what you'd scripted for a longer season, reducing further to six or four episodes is exhausting. 

This happens due to a slide in autonomy from what the showrunner position has been. What the chatter on the picket lines revealed to us is that most showrunners today don't get to see their own show's budget, and thus don't get the freedom to make budgetary decisions that could better protect the story they're telling. More and more, showrunners not at a legacy network aren't the final say or at times even involved in hiring key roles. I don't have any ideas that aren't already in contract language, I just see how the job on this side has gotten harder and there isn't much of a way for us to make it easier for each other like we could with having writers on set or in post production, because the streaming model has made that impossible." 

[conivolos]

hiiii coni :D how was your day ??

hiiii ak!! my day was good!!! been watching rats smp for most of it kdjfdf ive caught up with owens s2 and im watching their s1 rn!!! and i have made a silly ratssona cause of brainrot <3

hru?? :D

[lola-andheruniverse]

okay, I have a ~theory~ about all the clear shipbaiting on TWD:DD S1

I think NR/GN/Zabel are trying to make Isabelle a 2.0 version of Leah, with hints of Connie and I don't like it one bit because I don't think it's necessary but it's good for canon caryl.

Hear me out: AK original plans for Leah was for her to be a foe for Carol. Everything that Leah was and wasn't screamed Carol. All those parallels on 'Find me'? AK would have been more subtle if she had pointed a neon arrow at both women's head. She would be the final catalyst to canon caryl because, apparently, Daryl and Carol couldn't just solve their feelings for each other without a another angsty plot no one asked for. Anyways, nothing AK originally planned happened because Gimple interfered, and with Lauren negotiating Maggie's return as the leading female of S11A, Melissa was shoved aside and everything about Leah became even more WTF than it already was because Maggie x Pope x Leah made no sense whatsoever. She died with zero emotional impact. Fast forward to the series finale: Daryl confesses his love. Carol clearly doesn't get the depth of what he's saying. Why would she? They never had the resolution they were supposed too within Leah's arc. Daryl interprets Carol's light 'I love you too' as 'she doesn't love me on the same way I love her'. Oblivious idiots in love 101.

Okay, cut to TWD:DD and Isabelle. Isabelle has similar character traits to Carol, although they are not as obvious as it was with Leah. Isabelle's part of a religious group as Leah was. Both groups are a little bit suspicious. Remember Laurent reading to the priest-turned-walker? He said they were waiting for his second coming or something like that. Both Laurent and Isabelle are incredibly reticent on killing walkers. The kid has an excuse: he's just a kid. What is Isabelle's excuse? Leah was a very manipulative person and tried to guilt-trip Daryl on staying with her. Daryl only decided to 'belong' with Leah after Carol told him that she couldn't visit him anymore because of Henry and Ezekiel. He angrily asked her "you asking my permission?"...to move on from him with her life. Daryl was lost at that moment, grieving Rick, and Carol was married to someone else he saw as better than him and deserving of her. Leah was right there offering him something closer to a home and to love. Why wouldn't he accept her offering? Lucky us, she's already gone by the time he came back. Carol got him out of the woods eventually and he got back to his real family.

Let's go back to Isabelle now. She's trying to do the same thing Leah did. But she's not going to succeed because Daryl's not on the same emotional place he was when he met Leah. Even if he loses hope to come back home at some point, he'll never feel like he truly belongs anywhere else than his truly home - Carol. The teaser trailer for 'The Book of Carol' clearly show us that. He knows where he belongs. BUT, when Carol arrives, she'll see him adjusted, with a younger woman giving him heart eyes and a kid following him everywhere. The woman is supposedly a nun, a woman of faith. Carol was once a religious woman, so she'll probably admire Isabelle. She may think Isabelle's better than her, untouched by all the horrors of the ZA. Isabelle's definitely not a murderer like she is, Carol's low self esteem will whisper to her. Isabelle's better for Daryl than Carol is, the same way Connie was better for him. Daryl's probably in love with her, he just loves Carol as a best friend. And it's her duty as his best friend to point him in the direction of the good woman over there, who can have his babies, while Carol sadly smiles and gives him her blessing. *snort*

There's it, the supposed angsty plot no one asked for that Daryl and Carol need to cross the line to romantic canon because, again, saying 'I love you' and crossing an entire fucking ocean apparently isn't enough, we've got to insert a third part to shake things up. *snort again* That was the intention with Leah but TPTB changed their plans last minute. I don't think Isabelle will become a villain like Leah, unless they kill Laurent off. But if TWD:DD is really about Daryl getting his happy ending, he doesn't need another dead child to grief, does he? Does this make sense to anyone other than me and my caryl brain? No, only me? That's okay.

[piperslovebot]

Shipping rant (Jeia/Formciotti, Niknate/Jelso, & Neia/Jeric)

I ADORE ED & JL. ED was actually what got me to watch T7S from the beginning (first ep I ever watched was Kiss Of Death (I wanted to see JK’s drama) and ED shined for me) & JL has been my otp ever since my first watch and I will forever defend them.

JK & NN have both worked their way into my heart. I thought I’d ship JK from what I knew, but then I didn’t because of all the fighting and cheating and all that. But @burkelso is who got me to see them in a more positive light, and while I still have a lot of issues with their canon story (and seeing them in s1-2 really squeak me out knowing that MK is 14-15 and AK is 19-20), there are a lot more cute moments with them than I thought and there was potential for them to be a good couple.

NN, my journey with them is complicated to say the least. I thought they were sweet on my first watch, but they also rubbed me the wrong way, and there was the cheating. And then I ended up really hating them for a while and thought Nikki could do better and that Nate couldn’t handle her ambition and mostly saw her as a hot girl who wanted to fuck him, but then rewatching Free Leia made me realize that there was potential but the writers gave them the worst aspects of Jelso. But I still thought they had cute moments later on, and I even made edits for them. I still wanted them to break up tho don’t get it twisted lmao.

And I think I’ve talked enough about part 2 and 3 lmaooo.

Basically, these pairings are pretty deep in my heart along with GN and JH.

But…

I do have a huge soft spot for NL and JE and really love those pairings. In another life, they would’ve been epic imo. NL, I’ve talked about why I don’t think they work in canon, but I still really love them and I think with good writing and development, they would’ve been epic. And I would love if they had more scenes because not only would we see more of their dynamic, we’d get more material for fanfic.

JE also just had my heart because I love enemies to lovers dynamics and I truly believe Jackie and Eric a lot more similar than they realize. But they also have opposite qualities that will balance each other out that I wish NL also had. Jackie can call Eric out on some of his old fashioned beliefs and encourage him to be more assertive, while Eric can challenge Jackie to think (like Hyde) and be a kinder person. This meta from @einsteinsugly sums it up for me.

In another life, I truly believe that JE and NL would’ve been amazing endgames. And I’m always down to write and read fics for them.

[asuiru]

i dont understand the rathalos fight at fucking all

[thestupidhelmet]

Hello! For the character ask- Kelso. 😅

Thank you! 🤗

Sexuality (canon): heterosexual, heteroromantic, allosexual, gray-romantic.

Sexuality headcanon: Same as above with an openness to him being bi-romamtic but demi-romantic toward anyone but women.

Gender Identity (canon): Cis male.

Gender Identity headcanon: Cis male but sometimes gender non-conforming in gender expression if he believes he looks hot dressed and made up more femininely (which is actually canon but only explicitly in one episode and more subtly depicted in one or two others).

Ship: Kelso and Brooke.

Brotp: Kelso and Fez.

Notp: Kelso and Jackie.

General Headcanon: Kelso's narcissistic wounding, especially toward women, stems from his parents having seven kids and neither parent having enough time to give attention to all of them or set proper boundaries. Since Mrs. Kelso, from the nearly nothing the show tells about her, is likely a stay-at-home mom while John Kelso is the "breadwinner" (and must make enough money as an analytical statistician for his large family to be middle class), the focus of Kelso's anger is on his mom.

The deep vacuum of maternal love Kelso carries inside him manifests as a sex addiction, possessiveness and a sense of ownership toward Jackie, and both chasing and avenging the maternal love and attention he was deprived of through compulsive sex with a many women and making promises of fidelity while having no intention of keeping them. The same way his mom promised to be faithful and attentive to all of her kids by having them but, in actuality, betrays this promise (to Kelso's subconscious mind).

Kelso's maliciousness toward Jackie in seasons 2 - 5 is a trigger response. Viewing her self-care and boundaries as betrayal and punishing her for it how he wished he could punish his mom.

Growing up in the home he did, he learned how to be conniving and commit acts of premeditated malice as a survival technique. A lack of common sense doesn't preclude an ability to manipulate purposely and with forethought, as he demonstrates throughout the series.

Side Note: I have a post in drafts that highlights just how capable of premeditated schemes he is. The intention is to pull out every example from every episode of T7S S1-S7 where applicable. I became mentally tired after the first two episodes ("Streaking" [1x03]) and "The Keg" [1x06]). Kelso might be an idiot, but he's not stupid. Writing an exhaustive list would be good to have on the record, but facts -- no matter how consistent and myriad -- can't always break through strongly held opinions.

Opinion on the Character: I wish the show had allowed him to keep growing and changing instead of reverting him back to status quo. Bits and pieces of likeable elements exist within him, beyond the amusement his antics cause (mostly thanks to AK's comic timing). But, with rare exception, he serves as an antagonistic, oft-malicious, chaotic force on the show. Like a masked clown in Commedia dell'arte, certain behaviors and choices are expected of him, and the writers deliver (instead of the actor improvising within the character's type).