#also as per usual this hasn't been edited yet

[scootatwoni]

Miku expo 2024 is off to a truly awful start but I haven't seen any posts on here detailing the mess. So here we go, here's what's happened so far.

I will be linking some posts and threads from Twitter and will update this post as need be.

5/1 edits and additions are in blue

**PLEASE DO NOT comment or send me DMs complaining about the setlist**

**Rather than tweet complaints at the Miku Expo twitter account, it may be best to email CFM and/or Crunchyroll directly.**

🎵 First up, ticket presales.

This year the expo was sponsored by Crunchyroll and ticket presales were only supposed to be available to those that had a Crunchyroll subscription. Those that qualified were emailed a code for presale. However, when that code was inevitably leaked to the public, it turned out anyone could buy presales because it wasn't set up in any way to verify your subscription.

Additionally, VIP tickets are supposed to give the holder early access to the venue and merch tables, but I'm hearing that this is not being honored despite it being advertised on some of the venue pages. (see replies to this tweet)

VIP for San Jose did not grant early access to merch

The VIP package does not include a glow stick (scroll down to "about MIKU EXPO VIP PACKAGE" here), which causes some more difficulties for those that were not able to buy a glow stick online.

🎵 Merch

Higher prices and lower stock than usual. This is especially frustrating for the glow sticks.

The only glow sticks that are allowed inside these venues are ones made for the event or ones from past vocaloid concerts. This is because other glow sticks are too bright and will reflect on the hologram screen. But what with the stocks being so low, many people can't even get these glow sticks.

Merch at the venues is also not looking promising. People are reporting there have only been a quantity of 95 glow sticks per venue.

The Official Miku instagram announced on 5/1 a merch restock. At this point there are only 7 shows left (the next of which is on 5/2). It is unlikely any of the merch will arrive on time.

🎵 so about that screen

The biggest news to come out about Miku expo 2024 is that they arent using the hologram screen. The Vancouver and Portland concerts have used an LED screen.

This was neither advertised nor communicated from CFM or Crunchyroll to the public.

This also makes the prohibiting of outside glow sticks redundant, as they won't interfere with an LED screen.

An LED screen is much cheaper to use than the transparent screen used for the holograms. And a lot of folks are pointing out the discrepancies between this and the higher ticket and merch prices.

The LED screen is also a lot more noticeable and out of place, it hasn't been blended well on the stage so far. Views from further back and the sides are not looking great.

The Miku Expo team have stated that the Vancouver show was filmed officially. Seeing as the LED screen was also used in Portland, we can reasonably assume the LED has nothing to do with the filming.

Fans are speculating that the reason the Miku Expo team have prohibited photos and videos at this year's expo is to hide the fact that an LED screen is being used for multiple concerts.

There's also speculation that the hologram screen is in CA in preparation for Coachella, where Miku is meant to preform on the 13th and 20th of April. Please note that this is just speculation, we have no way atm to confirm this. UPDATE: The LED was used at Coachella

Additionally, I personally would recommend not getting your hopes up about the hologram screen replacing the LED one for any concerts after Coachella. Seeing as neither Crunchyroll or CFM have communicated or addressed any of the complaints yet, we may just be stuck with the LED for the whole tour.

A spokesperson for CFM addressed the concerns via this article from Business Insider. The LED will be used for the entirety of the NA and Europe tour.

The LED screen broke during the phoenix show. Apparently the vibration from the bass was so strong it shook the connection lose. It was fixed at the end of On The Rocks.

🎵 the doujin goods incident at Vancouver

Please refer to this thread for the full info, but here is a summary:

The Miku Expo team refused to let a fan distribute free doujin goods despite this fan getting prior permission from CFM to do so. An individual also took this fan's miku cutout, though I believe it was returned later.

🎵 there is still a live band

I figured I'd clear this up since I've seen some mild miscommunication on it. There is a live band, just not the usual band they have for Miku concerts. This is not at all an issue, and in fact I've heard nothing but good things about the live band. I figured I'd bring it up for information's sake.

Honestly, kudos to them killing it on stage in the midst of the mess.

🎵 Miscellaneous

-Someone Allegedly pissed on the floor of the Vancouver show. I have. no words. What the FUCK dude. If anyone can find the original tweet(s) claiming this, please link them to me. I'm not rooting through vocatwt to find the piss tweets.

-There was a car crash outside of the san jose concert, in front of a full line of miku expo attendees. The driver's plate fell off. Fans got a hold of it and took pictures with it, some using the hashtag #trafficjam as a reference to the NILFRUITS song of the same name. Someone even kept the plate.

UPDATE: The plate was returned to the authorities

-Fans cheering for Elmo at San Jose.

-Someone is looking into a class action lawsuit. This has sparked some discourse. Many want some kind of justice irt to the poor organization of Miku Expo thus far, but others are fearful that taking any kind of legal actions will put the future of NA vocaloid concerts in jeopardy.

-Someone brought a ball pit to the atlanta show

-Master Chief in the miku expo pit. Jesus was there too.

-Garfield

-A man suspected back in 2016 of having CP and investigated by the police, attends the Atlanta show. Do not exchange personal info with this man. If you already have, please cut ties immediately. Please report any suspicious activity to the authorities. Here is his entry on the US sex offender registry.

🎼Concluding notes

It's been 6 years since Miku expo has come overseas. The 2020 tour was cancelled due to covid and Miku expo 2024 is it's 10th anniversary. This was supposed to be a big deal, a huge comeback tour for NA!!

However, due to absolute abysmal planning on Crunchyroll and CFM's parts, Miku expo has been a massive disappointment for many fans so far.

I know I'm nervous for when I go in May, but I want to try and end this on a more positive note.

Vocaloid has, first and foremost, always been about the music and the community. It's undeniable that we as fans have been mistreated by CFM and Crunchyroll here This is not the concert tour we deserve, but I'm sure we can still find things to enjoy.

Hearing vocaloid songs live has always been a dream of mine, and for the first time in my life I'll be surrounded in person by folks who love vocaloid as much as I do. I couldn't even fathom being in this situation back in the early days of vocaloid, being a little kid listening to Melt and World is Mine for the very first time.

I'm absolutely still angry about how the expo has been handled, but I still want to enjoy what I can, being with folks who share that same passion.

There are plenty of fans on twitter detailing the fun time they had at the shows so far. If you do end up going, you can absolutely still have fun too!! And please please please do not spread your negativity to the producers on the set list for Miku expo and Coachella. These artists worked so hard and they are not responsible for the bad decisions made this year.

[cripplecharacters]

hi! i saw the ask you recently posted regarding the amount and date of asks currently in your queue, and im not sure if i understand the response fully. as you said your queue currently contains asks from early 2020, does this mean that at the moment the average time for an ask to be answered is about 4 years? this is not a complaint or anything of the sort, i understand and appreciate the massive amount of work you put into these answers - im just asking to know whether i should send in a question myself, as i usually dont work on building a character for several years, so i would just be burdening you with yet another ask that would no longer be applicable by the time of an answer. again i apologize if this comes off as rude and i really dont intend to be demanding, i just want to inform myself on how this blog works so i dont add to your workload needlessly. thanks for all the great work you do here!

Hello!

To clarify: The average time for an ask to be answered is NOT four years.

There isn't really an average wait time per ask since it differs so greatly but I'd say it's usually no more than a couple months? Somebody can correct me if I'm wrong though😅

Depending on the ask, it may be answered almost instantly and chucked into the queue or it may sit in our inbox for a while before somebody can get to it. This all depends on a few factors, including:

What's the ask about? If it's something that multiple mods can answer (Such as questions about autism, mobility aids, etc.), then it will likely be answered sooner. On the other hand, an ask about something more specific that fewer mods can answer (Such as progressive vision loss or albinism) will likely take a bit longer.

How detailed is the ask? If it's a question that's more simple and can be answered without as much effort/energy, it will usually make it's way into the queue quicker than a question that's more detailed/specific to the asker's story/characters, which will take a bit longer.

What topics does the ask deal with? Sometimes there are asks with heavier topics that can be more difficult to deal with. In my experience, I find that I have trouble spending too much time on these asks at once and I'll usually draft an answer and then go back to them after a few days.

This is by no means an official 'why your ask hasn't been answered yet' post, just some clarification and a few of my own observations but hopefully it's helpful!

Cheers,

~ Mod Icarus

Editing to add:

A huge part of why there’s such a big backlog is also that, for around a year or more, there was really only one active mod on the blog.

As you can imagine, this blog is kind of a lot for just one person to run. So the backlog built as it was much harder for just one person to do it.

For reference, we now have 10-11 mods, which helps us be able to do more questions.

Hope that helps for some context!

Mod Sparrow

[howtodrawyourdragon]

Dad December 2024 Day 5

Born For This

Summary: Set long after THW, set after 'In A Different Form.' Five years after their birth, it's time for their litter to meet the Surface World. It's just a shame that the Night Fury will never be able to enjoy it with them.

Warnings: /

Rating: General

Words: 737

Prompt: Stars

Fandom: How to Train Your Dragon

Characters: Hiccup, Toothless

Pairing: Toothcup

Author’s Notes: Saw that prompt and thought of this Toothcup fic that I wrote a few months ago.

Not edited, I am too tired and saw that I completely forgot to post Day 3. Didn't even remember I wrote it. :')

Enjoy!

-XOXOX-

It was time for their litter to catch a glimps of the surface world. They're almost five years old, they're good fliers, Runt taught them well. Now it was time for them to find out about the world beyond the Birthplace.

It's a long trek for the Night Fury, who hasn't been able to fly for a very, very long time. He's missing a tailfin and the human who used to make it died many years ago. Not that his old age helps matters. Even so, Runt is patient, as he always is. He needed to have patience with his mate, too. When he knew something for a while that took him some time to figure out; that they belonged together.

Their four kits are not as patient, much too eager to get going every time their birth father tells them it's time to let their father catch up. It's not often that they're allowed to leave the nest, let alone be allowed to travel for this far. It doesn't matter that their wings aren't used to this kind of distance yet, they want to keep going.

The Night Fury catches up for the final time, hating how he can't keep up anymore. Climbing up on the cliff they're waiting at him for, he hangs his head, sits and pants. While his daughter and sons are playfighting, Runt comes over to him to lick his crown and nuzzle him. He's telling him that he did a good job making it here, knowing that his mate is older than he can ever dare to fathom. He knows he once knew a time when the humans still used boats made of wood.

He grumbles like the grump that he is. Not that he doesn't appreciate Runt's affection, he loves him more than life itself, he just also wishes he was still as young as he is.

Runt nuzzles him until he nuzzles back and then the two of them lie down and take a breather. Cuddling up, his head on the Night Fury's. Seeing an opportunity, the Runty Son worms his way between his parents and finds the warmest spot that he can get.

They rest for a little while as their litter keeps themselves busy. When Daughter comes to pull on her birth father's earfin to get him up and going, Runt figures it's time to go.

Stretching before rising to his three feet, he accidentally wakes the Night Fury up. He stretches and struggles up, too, many of his joints popping with every little move he makes. Runt whimpers for him, but the grump, grumpy as per usual in his old age, doesn't want his sympathy.

Afterwards, they both look up towards the hole that is their destination. It's one of the ways out of the Birthplace and into the Surface World. Hiccup's world, even though Runt can never remember.

Beyond it is the starry night sky and they've chosen the perfect night. There are no clouds in sight and the moon is full. If there is ever a night to chose to give them a taste of the world above theirs, this is it.

The Runty Son is nervous, but Daughter can hardly wait and her enthusiasm infects her other two brothers. The Night Fury leans down, snips her in the butt and causes her to startle. With a grumble, he reminds her to listen to her birth father and she meekly concedes. She'll listen or be send right back down.

Runt licks the Night Fury's crown as a goodbye and he returns it, licking his chin. Then he does what he usually does to show their litter it is time to take off. He stands near them, looks down at them and spreads his wings. Their offspring follows his example, dutifully standing next to him, their big eyes moving from him to the sky, two butts wiggling in anticipation. They can feel the breeze and they want to soar through it.

He takes off with a strong beat of his wings that almost knocks the four kits over. Luckily, they know to brace themselves and expect it. A moment later, they all follow, Runty Son included, and they leave the Night Fury behind.

He watches, proud with a bittersweet aftertaste, as the five of them take to the starry night sky and disappear. Blending in perfectly with the night, like they were born to do.

[bookinit02]

s5 script info/faq

hi guys! in exactly a week, i'm going to start posting my original stranger things s5 script. here's a general info/faq post for easy reference :)

about the script:

what: this script is designed to be a culmination of my ongoing rewrite series, which is a fanfic version of each season of stranger things, written through the lens of alternating byler pov. since season 5 hasn't released yet, and we've still got a ways to go, i decided to write an original script to base my last installment off of. the script will be 10 episodes, at about 60 pages each, and serve as a companion to my season 5 fic.

where: script episodes will be posted here on my tumblr, and be linked to a pinned post (which will go up in a few minutes). fic chapters will be posted on my ao3, as usual.

when: currently, i'm planning to have at least one post a week: the script episode will release on a sunday, and then the two accompanying chapters on the next two fridays. so, for example, the first few releases will look like this: script 1 on sunday 9/3, chapter 1 on friday 9/8, and chapter 2 on friday 9/15. this gives you about a week to read each new post! of course, you can read however you'd like: script first, or fic first, depending on your preference. i decided to post the scripts first to try and mimic the rest of the rewrite experience: "watching" the show, then reading the fic. if there's any schedule delays due to typical life stuff, i'll let you guys know!

frequently asked questions:

will the script cover every plotline?: yep! with 60 pages per episode, there's a bit of time dedicated to every character, as much as i can feasibly manage. of course, this means that the script will be less byler-focused than the fic series has been (but still more than the original show, lol). but not to worry—the fic companion will add extra scenes and plenty of byler content. this also means that some of the plots will only be accessible through the script, as the fic is entirely from byler pov. but it's still up to you whether you would like to read or not!

will there be any character deaths?: i'm going to answer this right now: there will be no character deaths. i want the script to be realistic, but it's also my version, and i always try to give my characters happy endings :) this doesn't mean that there won't be some close calls, though. we'll have to see. :)

will there be a playlist?: yes! i've spent some time testing out playlists for the first two episodes, and they're both fully completed. they'll be linked along with the script, along with a timing guide for anyone (like me) who likes being insane about the details. playlists are always tricky because everyone reads at different speeds, so i've written out which scenes go with each song, and you can skip along as needed. if you prefer not to listen with music, of course you don't have to—though i will say that most songs are just soundtrack instrumentals to set the mood :) it might be a little finicky, so i'm sorry in advance! i'll always try to perfect them as much as possible before posting.

will you do another rewrite after s5 releases?: currently, i'm planning on it. of course, we have no idea how much longer it's going to take, or what exactly will happen in canon (or in life), but if i'm in a place to write fic, then yes! i'll do a typical rewrite and add it to the end of my series, so you guys can have your choice of endings :)

how do we leave comments?: if you want to leave a comment on the script, i'm happy to receive them in asks, messages, or post comments! you can also leave them on the fic chapters if you'd like. edit 9/1: you should be able to leave comments in the google doc! be mindful of what account you are using, as these comments will be public. for a more comprehensive comment policy, click here.

do i have to read the rest of the rewrite series first?: reading the rest of the rewrite isn't necessary, but it is a good idea. i know it's a lot to read, so don't feel pressured, just know that some things might not make as much sense without the prior context! my rewrite series is pretty canon-compliant, but a lot of relationship dynamics are developed in a very specific way, and we pick up right where we left off at the end of a new place to be from. so, essentially: no, but you'll probably want to.

do i have to read the script?: definitely not. if you prefer to just read the fic, you absolutely can! it'll make sense on its own, you might just miss out on some of the extra plotlines and context.

that's about all i can think of for now—if you have any questions that weren't answered in this post, please send me an ask and i'll edit this post to include your question! i've been working on this project for a few months now, and i'm really excited to share it with you guys :) thank you all for giving it a shot! see you next sunday <3

[familyagrestefanblog]

@riouarcadia

You've been using this blog for months and yet you haven't liked, reblogged, or followed anything yet? On tumblr, the website that basically requires of you to follow people to even have a dashboard? Cause that's all visible on your blog and that screams burner account.

Sure, if you went months only scrolling through tumblr tags, not interacting with anything in any way besides this one post here for some reason, cool I guess. You do you. But that still makes you look like a burner account and no one has any reason to think otherwise.

Edit:

Oh screw it, let's talk about that Zoe argument cause you're not entirely making sense there either.

Sure, it's development on Marinette's part to not immediately go against the girls she thinks are in love with Adrien. But that's not exactly something Marinette can be credited for alot here. Why should Marinette be praised for not immediately sabotaging/ hurting Zoe or ending the friendship with her when Marinette literally did nothing to actually make sure Zoe is actually in love with Adrien? Marinette straight up just went with her usual assumption on that which wasn't even true whatsoever.

The way you phrased it makes it sound like you think Marinette needs to be praised for not immediately ending the friendship with Zoe for something Zoe didn't even do. As if people doing that in real life is morally correct and justified.

Instead of praising Marinette for having learned to give her blessing to other girls having existing feelings for her boyfriend (when they didn't even trying to pursue him) instead of sabotaging them right away, it would have been way nicer and way more useful if Marinette would develop to finally ASK ANYTHING before "deciding" for everyone involved again what the situation is.

Marinette's blessing isn't even close to being the most important aspect in the scenario she thought to be true. Marinette was written to only really consider her own comfort in Zoe confessing her feelings while Adrien is Marinette's own boyfriend. Cause she didn't even consider if maybe her BOYFRIEND doesn't feel comfortable with another girl in their friend group confessing her genuine love for him which he would obviously have to reject and then deal with that in his dynamic with Zoe from then onwards.

Once again, the situation Marinette thought to be true wasn't even primarily about HER and yet she put her feelings before the ones of the person it was about. She just decided for Adrien that he's cool with that because Marinette wants to feel good about herself for giving her blessing. Sending Zoe to Adrien to confess her love had nothing to do with the blessing of Zoe having feelings. Marinette shouldn't just walk over her boyfriend's emotional well-being and boundaries like that by just making that decision FOR HIM, but as per usual, she does because it makes her feel good about herself in how she's "grown"

Not to mention, it's not AT ALL even for Zoé's best either since Marinette walking over Adrien also means she's very much possibly setting Zoe up for a bad confession experience which Marinette herself send her into. And casual reminder that for 4 and a half seasons Marinette was so afraid of ever confessing her feelings to Adrien BECAUSE of her fear of a bad reaction to her confession. Her negligence in this almost set Zoe up to possibly have to experience what Marinette feared so much that the show decided that she can't be expected to say "I love you" to a person who hasn't already said it to her and hasn't give her the princess treatment as her mind reading therapist boyfriend to finally get her to that point that's even happening AFTER she wanted to send Zoe to say "I love you" to her fucking BOYFRIEND who's still waiting to finally hearing it from MARINETTE.

Marinette being well intentioned doesn't undo the story lines hypocrisy that's obvious when you look into it.

Cause, by all means, Adrien wouldn't have been wrong for being VERY put-off by Zoé confessing he love for him when she's perfectly aware that he's in a relationship, and Marinette had no business expecting to getting to decide what his reaction will be or that Adrien is fine with her sending someone to him who's "I love you" he has to reject while he's still cuddling her (Marinette) into her development to hopefully be able say it back to him soon for the first time.

Adrien would have been confronted with that out of NOWHERE. Imagine the situation the other way around. If Zoe mentions who send her (which is VERY likely since she's confessing to a person IN A RELATIONSHIP), Marinette in Adrien's position would have thought this is Adrien's way to try and get out of the relationship. But sure, Marinette herself can't be expected to be written to think about blatantly obvious implications of her actions. So no development here.

Adrien would have been made the bad guy if he dared to have any realistic reaction that isn't validating Marinette setting him up to be suddenly stuck in a bad situation. Which obviously makes Marinette a bad girlfriend.

And once again the third person daring to be human would be blamed for Marinette being inconsidered. And the person Marinette send into the situation would once again be hurt for something Marinette hyped then up to do because she didn't think it through beyond how she feels about it.

THIS was the development Marinette desperately needed. Not her getting praised for stop sabotaging people or not ending a friendship over something the friend didn't even do.

Cause, yeah, Marinette was indeed written to once again primarily only take her own comfort into consideration which would have easily once again lead to another case of Marinette needing to be prioritized and taken care of by the people she put the consequences on once it had gone bad (here Zoe and Adrien) to AGAIN needing to be reassured before all else that no one has any negative feelings towards her because she wasn't ill-intentioned, but she's just eternally oblivious to the fact that she isn't the most important person in every situation. It's literally the same pattern over and over and OVER again.

Not exactly something she should be praised for that much, now shouldn't she?

Edit 2:

Oh my fucking GOD. Adrien could have reasonably assumed that sending Zoe to confess to him first was Marinette testing his loyalty before she 'can' say "I love you"!

Because of course Zoe would have to mention that Marinette send her, he's in a RELATIONSHIP with her! Oh my god, can you imagine being a whole ass patient therapist to your girlfriend for her to finally say "I love you" back, and then getting that situation thrown in your face by her first with no fucking context??? Zoe couldn't fucking explain that in Marinette’s stead either!!

Alyadrino

The Ship Butterfly Effect Scale

Alya and Nino are happy together. Adrien and Nino would be happy together. It, therefore, stands to reason that Alya, Adrien and Nino would make for a very happy poly couple, just, once again, with the caveat that Marinette doesn't get involved. This ship includes two people whose time Marinette likes to control and one she gets immensely jealous over.

I hate that when I get asked a couple made of people Marinette cares about, I can't confidently say Marinette would be happy for them or even just the bare minimum of "she wouldn't actively sabotage them". Marinette almost ruined Alya's relationship by accident and has purposefully sabotaged Adrien's, so I can't say she wouldn't be ruinous to this one if she got involved. The upside is that, with Nino involved, he at least would point out that Marinette's being very unfair if she got caught in shenanigans.

Actually, that's another thing to add to the "good for them" angle: Nino actually cares about what's right and fair and would stands up for his partners and relationship.

[one-of-us-must-be-crazy]

Happy Christmas, this two paragraph ficlet turned into an actual one shot. Have some fluff.

“It’s enough for me that it’s a nice day out, and we can go for a walk when I get home from work.”

That was what she had said. But this was her birthday. Technically, given how many deep-space missions she’s carried out, she was closer to thirtieth than she was to her phsyical twenty-fifth. Time, space...of all the things that have ceased to make any kind of logical sense in their little pocket universe, age is the least of concern. She’s lived so many years longer than he has, and yet he’s the one that looks older than her; enough so that they sometimes get strange looks even in places where no one would ever guess he was a synthetic.

Perhaps he could have taken her to dinner again. True, once a week or so he’d insist on taking her out, sometimes to a dive bar that she’d been familiar with when she had been living on her own, sometimes someplace nicer and she’d grumble about having to dress up. There had to be something better than just taking a walk with her. She goes for a run every morning, and for as advanced as he is, anything more than a light jog is...clumsy at best, and he stays home. So it’d be nice, to see her trail with her, come home to a pot of tea, maybe a nice hot bath...

Still, he already spent two hours making a cake for her, and was rather proud of just how machine-made-perfect it looked. There were some nice perks to being a soulless, mobile computer.

Yet it wasn’t enough. She deserves the world and a half, and she’s so practical she never buys herself anything that isn’t a necessity. Or broken; she buys antique electronics and mechanical toys to repair or remake as a hobby, but it doesn’t cost much. And was he supposed to pick out for a person that had very little in common with him, and showed very little interest in anything gift-worthy?

 She liked to read, he’d seen her with old paperbacks, and even a couple newer titles, but it was only at the end of the day or early in the morning.

Ripley sits at the kitchen bar, back from her run, hair damp despite the cool morning, and she sips at the tea he had made for her while she was out...convincing her to ease up on the coffee wasn’t easy, but pu’erh had enough caffeine to sustain her, and she didn’t put sugar in it so...small victories.... Her book is open and leaning against the potted cactus she brought home for him after he killed their violets. She’s at peace, finally, and if he’s honest with himself, and if he listens to her and believes her, he has a lot to do with that fact.

Maybe he could go out and get champagne. Put it on ice, light some candles around their bath and get her roses, maybe he could...It isn’t as if it’s something we don’t do normally, he thought. Ripley’s interest in him lessened some in the last couple of months, but he had a strong suspicion that their high-frequency rendezvous was more of a coping mechanism for her than about affection. An hour, give or take, of getting to forget who they were, or to only think of them and not of anything that has happened before or after that moment. He couldn’t blame her for it, but it did make romance less...novel of a thing to do on her birthday. 

Christopher didn’t poke through her belongings so much as curiously examine them. Her workroom had every small tool she could ever want or need. In the bathroom vanity none of her items were low, and she did indulge in scented bath salts now that WY was picking up their bills. There was even a small vial of perfume in the dresser drawer, and a single black nightgown she swore she only had because it was soft and cool to wear in the summer, but as he had witnessed, if it was too warm out she’d just go to bed in her underwear and a loose cami....she did like wearing it, he learned quickly, on nights he had to spend hours working on his programming, or on physical circuitry with his skin opened on his core. He didn’t like her seeing him like that, and usually locked himself into the office until whatever needed done was done. He’d walk out to see her, in the black night dress in the dark on their couch, with her hair down and smiling up at him “Want to sit with me?” And yet clothing of that variety didn’t seem to appeal much to her when he asked her about it.

She had graph paper and lined paper, a compass, drawing tools, everything she needed for mechanical design and work. She had a plush animal of some kind that had been either so loved or so abused that it’s repairs didn’t allow for species recognition; and she had a plush bear in a space suit he bought her on one of their earlier ‘dates.’ The hideous art print in the living room; a few old posters and post cards. They had bedding, and a spare set of sheets. Ripley always said that there was nothing else they needed. 

He thinks over the other clothing she has; work clothes, one gaudy red dress she got becuase she thought he’d like to see her in something nicer on a date, and nicer (less oil stained) jeans and shirts. A small makeup kit, though he rarely sees her in more than eyeliner (she wears concealer under her eyes, he can see it, but she denies it and he’s wise enough of human socialization at this point to not call her out on her lie). She even had a cheap pair of stud earrings she would wear once in---

That was the only jewelry she had. 

Maybe...

-----------------------

The jewelry shop in the city center would have been his first choice to find something for her at; but even the cheapest items there were more than she would ever allow him to spend on her. The display of engagement rings in it’s window was also...tempting wasn’t quite the word, ‘taunting’ might have a better connotation of the situation. It hasn’t been four months you’ve been with her... Then again, they were living together, and functioned, for all he was aware of, like a human partnership. If that was even what she considered them. 

There was another place, closer to the tourist traps, that sold....well, it was still nice things but it was the kind of nice that was sold alongside postcards and guidebooks to Luna. Amanda called the shops on that side of the city a ‘kitschy boardwalk.’ And yet, half her antiques and a few posters, and some of her records came from this part of the colony. She’d appreciate it.

An array of charms and earrings and rings shaped like the original moon lander, no. The little vintage space shuttle designs were sweet, and getting closer... But not really her either. The silver plated Weyland-Yutani logo charm was absolutely out of the question. 

Samuels remembers her humming once, he’d woken up her up from a nightmare, she had been shaking. He held her tightly and she quietly hummed the lines of a lullaby, of Lucky Star. That was months ago now and though she didn’t care much for pet names, privately that was what he thought of her: a lucky star, a unique one-in-billions event that everything orbited around.

A gold star in the back of the case of necklace pendants glittered; hardly half an inch tall, and on a plain black cord, it matched her personality--at least to his understanding of it.

---------------------------

“I told you not to do anything,” she said, looking the lowered lights and the cake sitting on their counter bar.

“Hello to you too,” he tried to cross the room to kiss her cheek, but she had already made it to the cake in three long strides.

“I’m sorry--but I meant it you didn’t have to...”

“It’s nothing, really. Normally I try to have dinner ready for you anyway so--”

“I wish you wouldn’t.”

“Didn’t we agree, luv,” he tested just how upset she was by reaching out to tuck her hair behind her ear--she didn’t stop him, so she couldn’t be too annoyed, “That if you were going to back to work, I could take care of household duties?”

“I know but... You’re not my housekeeper.”

“All I did was make the cake--” Amanda froze entirely and turned to face him again.

“Whoa, no wait, wait. You made that?”

“Yes?”

“You can do that? Chris how, this is--”

“It wasn’t hard.” 

Amanda inspected the perfect flowers and flawless icing on it, the exact lettering ‘happy birthday Amy’ in curling script. “You’re full of little surprises aren’t you?”

“If you say so. I forgot about dinner I’m afraid,”

“Oh so you aren’t perfect,” she smiled at him, loving the expression on his face that told her if he could blush he would be. You, she thought to herself, are absolutely getting lucky tonight.

“Far from it, dear.” It earned him a light kiss before she went for the phone on the wall, “If you’re going to order in, I already called.”

“That vegetarian place you see fit to call ‘take out’ or--”

“The pizza place that you see fit to refer to as food. That one.”

“Okay, so you are perfect,” she said, only half joking as she reached for the silverware drawer; he knew that she would try to cut a slice of cake before dinner arrived. “Chris?”

“Yes?”

“Why is there a present where the big knife should be?”

“Becuase it’s your birthday?”

“I told you--”

“When’s the last time someone did something for you on this day? The last time you actually...enjoyed it? You said yourself that the last few you either forgot or spent at a bar. And,” she looked increasingly bothered at his words and he considered stopping, but he put thought into this, “If it’s within my power to do something for you that could make you happy then I have to do it.”

“Then we have to find a birthday for you too.”

“That isn’t necessary--”

“Yes it is. If mine is, then so is yours.” he didn’t try to argue anymore. “So you want me to open this?”

“If you want,”

“Really if this is--oh...”

“Do you like it?” he asked as she held it up to examine. She turned the star over in her hand, it was barely the size of a fingernail, and engraved on the back in impossibly tiny script.

“It’s perfect...thank you--I can’t see the letters on the back--Sorry, I need my glasses for...” she liked that he chose a black cord too, instead of a gold one.

“They couldn’t personalize something that small, maybe I should have gone with a larger one but I was able to use one of your laser tools. I didn’t think it was that small, just how bad are your eyes?”

“Not that bad but--What’s it say?”

“‘Lucky Star’“

“...What?”

“I--you were humming it one night until you fell back asleep so I thought--I’m sorry if I got it wrong or if--”

“No it’s...” she was trying hard not to cry at this point, unable to hold back the tears despite avoiding a complete breakdown. “My mom--she used to sing it to me and--When I heard her recording she... That’s the  last thing--she sang it for me and...”

“Amy I’m so sorry--I-I didn’t know.”  

Amanda had changed, through what she’d survived, through half a year of accepting (usually) the help he offered, or perhaps she had only grown a little in that instead of doing what she might have done as recently as three months ago and hiding on her own until she had no trace of tears left and then never mention it again.

Instead, she looked over to Christopher’s open arms and took his silent offer.

“I didn’t know...I can fix it, or fix it and then return the whole thing--it doesn’t matter to me, love. You can pick something out inst--”

“No you got it for me!” she sniffled slightly her tight hold on him easing up a little. “You chose it and made it special and put thought into it and..”

“I did mean the sentiment. Beyond your luck at the obvious you are a lucky star to me... If that isn’t too melodramatic or saccharine for you.”

“It is...But you really are the sweetest person I’ve ever met.” She held up the necklace, “Could you put it on me?”she asked; he obliged happily as she thought he would, glad to perform the cliche romantic gesture. 

[buddha-in-disguise]

From boom to bust.

What in the ever fucking hell was that Supergirl?

Okay, quickly. It wasn't as bad as some episodes. It had some great moments, but as is so often the problem since S5 on the show, they got completely overridden by the shit portions.

The biggest one? Well, everyone is rightly complaining about the lack of Alex telling Kelly that Kara is Supergirl.

I'm still reeling from this one. When it became apparent that Kelly knew - I will be honest, I was so stunned, I couldn't even appreciate the great acting by Chyler and Azie. It detracted that much from their scene. And it never should have, because once again, they showed why so many of us love seeing them work together.

So now the next one on my list.

Tough to chose, but I'm going with the time issue.

When was this episode supposed to be set, in relation to episode one?

Because we get the introduction of Silas, and while they don't give a timescale on how long Kara has been missing, the way Nia then mentions Kara still being with Cat Grant, and the initial CatCo scene, all suggests this is very quickly after 6.01 ended.

Plus, even in The Tower, the suggestion is it hasn't been long at all since Kara was lost to the PZ.

But then, William (more on him later) is standing in CatCo, no sling. No sign of having ever been shot. Now, don't get me wrong, I've never been shot, but I have a multitude of health issues, and even if he had great physio, there should be no way in hell his arm has that much movement without some kind of impingement.

But then we have the trial of Lex.

Now even in Supergirl's world, there is no way that a trial would be just a couple of days after Kara is sent to the PZ.

And CatCo has published their hit pieces on Lex. The pieces they were still only discussing in the opening portion of the episode.

Cue in Kelly and Alex - no mention is given on how long Kara has been missing.

So is it days, (highly unlikely) weeks, (possible) or months (who the fuck knows).

That scene with Kelly and Alex was sitting there, just ready to give us the clarification on how long they've been trying to rescue her. But as usual, we are having to make up our own minds and try to figure this shit out ourselves.

William. What is the point of him? No seriously. What does his character bring. Other than him sitting in front of a monitor (oh yeah, what happened about trying to get to the court 🙄) like some neanderthal, grunting at the screen, throwing a temper tantrum at the Lex trial.

We got those scenes by him edited in, but nothing from Kelly and Alex that would've been far more impactful and emotional for the main audience.

William is utterly pointless.

Lex - to sum it up, I love Jon Cryer. I love his version of Lex Luthor.

I am so done with his villainous monologues and looks. It is not the damn Lex Luthor show. How do they not know this, even now. Episode one, I thought it was okay, but this episode - enough already.

Which brings me to Andrea. Look, I love Julie, and I've no issue with Andrea as a character per se, but already I'm sensing that Andrea is drifting towards the same fate as William, of being surplus to requirements.

These are my immediate thoughts on the episode. I know many more will go through my mind as I think on it, but right now - thank fuck that wasn't the season opener as planned, because I would've easily turned off.

The only thing keeping me going so far, is knowing that we are getting more action as Superfriends in general, plus we know Jon didn't film for much longer. Even if we are supposed to be getting Lex back in 5b for an undetermined amount of time. God helps us all.

Oh I almost forgot - Kara delivering that speech knowing what it is like to lose everyone you love. I've got no clue what she was referencing there. Not. A. One. Nothing we know from previous seasons fits the actual dialogue she gave. So many choices could've been made, and yet we got more confusion over what she was referring to.

Last thought, since we know Nia is involved with Brainy in the upcoming Midvale episodes, I'm wondering if that scene at The Tower with Brainy, Dreamer had is a precursor to the Midvale episodes but she didn't realise it, because of the circumstances of why she saw it? I guess we wait and see.

Do better Supergirl. Jesus, the writing alone this episode. I see better consistency with fanfic writers. Netflix has SG if you need to check on things, and failing that, Google is only a few keystrokes away to the answer.

Let's hope this improves because if it carries on in this vein, watch viewing numbers plummet again.

Unedited by me before posting, so apologies for any errors.

Oh shit. I forgot to add. I'm also sick and tired of Kelly shouldering everyone else. Kara was her friend too. Moreso her girlfriends sister. Not only has she now been told who Kara is, the impact that has isn't just on Alex.

Is it this unconscious bias that Black women are strong and should carry every burden? Because that's how it comes across to me.

I want Nia or Lena even being there for Kelly FFS.

[weaselsblaugh]

The Castlevania series in one sentence each - remastered chronicles requiem edition

Castlevania: Go kill Dracula and every single Universal Studios movie monster.

Castlevania [C64]: Playing "Vampire Killer" through a SID chip doesn't _always_ make it cooler.

Castlevania [Amiga]: You'll be fighting the control scheme more than you'll be fighting Dracula.

Castlevania [MSDOS]: Simon attains a skin tone more commonly associated with department store mannequins.

Vampire Killer: Go kill Dracula, if you don't get lost first.

Vampire Killer, take 2: Go kill Dracula's portrait painting.

Haunted Castle: Go kill Dracula, now with only one life and no continues.

Simon's Quest: Resurrect Dracula from spare parts just so you can kill him again.

The Adventure: Go kill Dracula, really slowly, because otherwise this blurry screen can't keep up with you.

Dracula's Curse: Two hundred years ago your ancestor looked exactly like you.

Dracula's Curse, take 2: Go kill Dracula with the Power of Friendship!* (Void where prohibited, party size not to exceed two members.)

Dracula's Curse, take 3: Go kill Dracula with the help of his rebellious son, a mage, or a landlocked pirate that climbs ceilings.

Belmont's Revenge: Your son was supposed to kill Dracula, but Dracula nabbed and brainwashed him, so it's all up to you again, because vampire hunter parenting is hard.

Castlevania 4: Go kill Dracula from any of eight directions you like, or waste all your time twiddling the whip around because it's fun.

Dracula X: Go kill Dracula in the most anime way you possibly can, at age 13, with all your cute animal friends.

Dracula X, take 2: Go kill Dracula with this key! (What do you mean it doesn't do anything?)

Dracula X, take 3: Castlevania's Greatest Hits album.

Peke: Go buy a Super CD-ROM² system card, _then_ we can talk about killing Dracula.

Peke [PS4]: Your favorite cheat code doesn't work.

X68000: Castlevania's other Greatest Hits album.

X68000, take 2: Is "bathead" supposed to be a pun on butthead?

Bloodlines: Go kill Gary Oldman's character from the hit Hollywood film, Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Dracula X [SNES]: The fire is prettier and the music is nicer but killing Dracula is way harder than it usually is this time.

Dracula X [SNES], take 2: Wait, haven't I seen this level before?

Castlevania 64: Go kill Dracula, assuming you're facing in the right direction first.

Castlevania 64, take 2: Go kill Dracula, provided you aren't hypnotized by the beautiful violin music on the title screen.

Symphony of the Night: Go kill Belmont...?

Symphony of the Night [true ending]: ˙ɐlnɔɐɹp llᴉʞ oפ

Symphony of the Night [Saturn]: Go kill Dracula and also the frame rate and any semblance of difficulty balance this game ever had.

Legacy of Darkness: The closest thing we'll get to a video game adaptation of Teen Wolf.

Legends: Go kill Dracula, but first, reproduce with his son, in what's arguably a way cooler origin story than Lament gave us (until Sonia got stricken from canon).

Resurrection: Sonia Belmont could have been in another game if only this one hadn't been cancelled.

Circle of the Moon: Go kill Dracula, provided you're able to see what you're doing and aren't tired of hearing The Sinking Old Sanctuary by the time you get there.

Harmony of Dissonance: Dracula's castle is stricken with a dissociative identity, or something, so go kill Dracula's WIP body (but not before you've finished decorating his guest bedroom for no particular reason...?).

Order of Shadows: Go kill Dracula and probably also your cell phone bill.

Aria of Sorrow: Go kill Dracula...wait, Dracula's already dead? Wait, this guy might be Dracula reborn? Wait, *I'M* Dracula?

Lament of Innocence: The Belmont Clan origin story gets totally retconned as Leon must go kill some vampire that isn't Dracula, since Dracula hasn't been born yet. (So what's he still doing here anyway?)

Lament of Innocence, take 2: Belmont May Cry (and probably does).

Dawn of Sorrow: Go kill these two jokers who think they're Dracula but can't possibly be because you're still Dracula, while the Belmont du jour keeps insisting that you Go Home and Be a Family Man.

Curse of Darkness: What was Lament missing? That's right: a furniture collecting sub quest and a pet raising metagame.

Portrait of Ruin: Dracula comes back because World War 2 was really sad. (Yes, really.)

Portrait of Ruin, take 2: Castlevania: the thrilling two on two on two tag team match, only on pay per view!

Portrait of Ruin, take 3: We make an attempt to reconcile Bloodlines into the canon by turning the bishounen Spaniard into a ghost cowboy and injecting a heaping helping of anime teen angst.

Portrait of Ruin, take 4: The Whip only works if you spend a couple minutes flinging custard pies at the ghost of Richter Belmont.

Portrait of Ruin, take 5: He's not Dracula but he's still a vampire, so please go whip the crap out of him with the help of your schoolgirl friend who slaps skeletons with books and sometimes turns you into a frog.

Dracula X Chronicles: Go kill Dracula, and in a twist exclusive to the remake, your girlfriend who is now a succubus.

Order of Ecclesia: We're supposed to kill Dracula with these fancy spells, but the only other guy here stole all of them and kidnapped the entire nearby village, so go beat him up and take them back so we can resurrect--I mean, KILL Dracula. It'll work, trust me!

Order of Ecclesia, take 2: go kill Dracula, but first, make the jeweler fall in love with you and take a picture of Bigfoot.

Judgment: Our timeline has so many holes and retcons in it that the only way to solve it is to have Death's brother Time show up and make everyone fight each other, which doesn't solve anything, but somebody had fun with it, I'm sure. (Probably only the artist.)

The Adventure Rebirth: The Castlevania game that nobody can buy anymore because it's marooned to an online service that closed down.

Lords of Shadow: Because Castlevania really needed to be more like...what was the big popular grim dark fantasy thing back then?

Harmony of Despair: Because clearly everybody's favorite part of SOTN was spending literal hours grinding for Crissaegrim, only now they can do it with friends.

Mirror of Fate: Go kill Dracula with crippling frame rate issues and falling damage.

Castlevania Puzzle: What do Castlevania fans want the most? Puyo Puyo, of course.

Lords of Shadow 2: Take me down to the Castlevania City, where the grass ain't green and the story ain't pretty.

The Arcade: It's like House of the Dead with whips.

The Pachislot: Wherein Konami refocused their efforts to appeal the franchise to only their most dedicated and loyal fans... Japanese gamblers.

The Netflix Original Series: Trevor is a foul mouthed drunk, there are frequent references to goat fucking, and somehow it's still better than the franchise has been for just shy of a decade.

Grimoire of Souls: What do Castlevania fans want the most? Fate Grand Order, of course.

[buddha-in-disguise]

We finally have an original trailer for next weeks Supergirl episode (5.14).

Now usually I’m more than optimistic to see the new trailers or teasers, but after not only the debacle of 5.12, but other problems that have been identified before that; the fact we are rapidly running out of episodes (still unconfirmed if it is 20 or 22, although 20 looking likely as the date for end of filming is confirmed for 17th March), that no original trailer was shown immediately after the 100th episode (that has generally been well received by fans & critics alike, a considerable improvement), I am actually being cautious/worried over the whole thing. Why wait a full week to drop the trailer, instead of riding on the high of the 100th episode? I'm not one for trying to read things into anything, but it feels as if they might've decided to re-edit the trailer after 5.12 exploded in their face so badly. Of course I could be wrong, but with William in the episode it is possible he was in the trailer, and it could've once again become a whole level of backlash (more about William later).

Anyone who knows me will tell you one of my defining traits is I’m a pretty optimistic person. I like to be pragmatic, so I don’t get bogged down often with concerns of what might happen, rather my perspective is, let’s see what happens. I was of this mindset right up until Crisis with Supergirl. I still feel that 5a was by far the strongest part of the season, which normally I find isn’t the case with Supergirl. Usually I find the second half of a season is where Supergirl generally is at its best - where it can finally pull together the strands it has been playing with in terms of main plot line from episode one. By about episode 12 or so, we begin to get an idea where it is heading. That not only hasn't happened this season, with episode numbers dwindling fast there seems to be no way they can pull back from some of the honestly calamitous decisions that seem to have plagued much of the midseason.

I was relieved to see that the promo photos show a Dansen moment.

I am though also not entirely sure we're going to get anything that is meaningful between Kelly and Alex, as the background, synopsis and other photo suggest that they get caught up in the VR world. I have a horrible gut feeling, just as they're about to make out at Obsidian (some workplace making out hello, I'm here for that), there is an explosion (as per trailer), then the fallout from that.

Don't get me wrong, we've had so little of Kelly, and Dansen in general it will be good to see them onscreen together, and working in a hostile environment as a couple; especially as we haven't seen much of Kelly beyond Obsidian or wielding the shield. I hope her army training, alongside Alex's military training with the DEO actually get to be a tangible plot point.

As an aside, remember the little video clip Azie posted just around Christmas that had the Dansen fandom collectively falling down in incomprehensible piles of goo? While the quality isn't great, there is no doubt those outfits match these. So Azie threw one hell of a tease our way beyond what we thought! I do hope that means we genuinely see more than a moment of Dansen, but again Azie has spoken or posted about scenes she has filmed or have been part of the promo set of photos, only for a lot to not make the final edits.

So below are some of the other promo photos for the episode.

My concern is once again we see William at CatCo alongside Franklin. Which infuriates me, because (as I've said many times, this absolutely isn't because if Staz), but why is William once again there, when Nia is a journalist? Yet they pop Franklin in the shot - a reoccurring character certainly, but either remove William, or remove Franklin and allow Nia to be back as a journalist in Catco. Her actual job! I know we get the following episode (15) that is Nia centric, but as with Kelly, Nia's screen time has been so ridiculously low for an established main cast member, that I find it impossible to understand why they couldn't have at least allowed them screen time in these circumstances.

But no, again William is the journalist. Even Franklin is a journalist. Nia is MIA. I'm beginning to think she doesn't even know what CatCo looks like anymore.

It's the imbalance I (and many others) am finding so annoying this season. Imbalance that wouldn't take much to address if they'd just changed scenes a little, without disrupting anything of note of the storyline.

So I decided to check main cast numbers, and it made for interesting reading. Last year had 9 main cast listed. This year it is officially 12. We can argue that James wasn't in many episodes, but he did feature quite heavily before Mehcad left. The same could be said for The Monitor, who is listed as main cast up until Crisis.

Equally Lex Luthor isn't listed as a main character, but considering his screen time since Crisis, I've no doubt he might as well have been. The same for Malefic, who was pretty heavily used prior to Crisis.

So even if we subtract James and The Monitor, and only add in Lex Luthor as a replacement we are still on a higher number of main cast from last season.

Honestly, this for me has been a big part of the problem, with trying to fit in too many characters at the expense of previously established cast. Add in that William's story has made absolutely no sense since Russell died, especially since Nia and even Kelly could've handled the same storylines; it just seems a complete mess.

This isn't about who you ship or who you prefer as a character. Everyone is suffering because of the uneveness of it all. Alex has no cohesive story so far (even though she has a good amount of screen time). Kara and Lena have the screen time, but it also feels really clunky of late, and getting ridiculously drawn out; although I'm hoping since the 100th we'll see it begin to smooth out. The Danver sisters, Brainia, Dansen, even Lena and Kara (whether you view it platonic or as Supercorp is neither here nor there on this and I'm not about to get into arguments that are not relevant to what I'm trying to say here), J'onn with Alex and Kara, Nia and Kara, Brainy and Lena; the list goes on. Every single interaction seems to be suffering.

We all invest in characters, but overall it feels like a mess of unnecessary pairings (Lex and Brainy, Kara and William primarily) or cast additions that has detracted from all characters, and the crux of the story seems to have been lost in the midst.

I really want Supergirl to show us otherwise, but this is about the 3rd or 4th time I've written similar posts, and there has been no or little forward momentum. Time is now against the show as much as the problems it has generated, and there is no way sidelined cast will be able to pull the numbers back up, even with centric episodes like Nia in 5.15. Will Kelly get a more centric episode that doesn't revolve around her brother? Nothing suggests she does, so she'll lose further ground, which in turn means so will Dansen. Brainy has been used a lot, but again at the expense of all the previous pairings the viewers were invested in (whether it was Alex and Brainy, Brainia, Brainy and Lena or to a lesser degree Brainy and Kara).

But hey. Don't worry. William is here to save the day and the girl. *sarcasm, in case anyone wasn't sure*.