#and she’s the one in charge of the whole unit so there’s essentially no one above her

[lycandrophile]

About your coworkers being absolute pricks: Is there a supervisor you can go to who isn't like that? If they won't listen when you personally tell them to train/treat you as male, maybe someone above them can get them to? I don't know how your workplace is though

sadly that would be my manager, who sucks at her job and also sucks at gendering me correctly. she’s the kind of person who pretends to be really accepting and then immediately proves that she doesn’t give a single shit about trans people. one time she gave me a whole speech about how she really wanted to get my pronouns right, so i told her very explicitly how i want to be referred to, and she immediately proceeded to misgender me in front of my face while talking to someone else on the phone about me. she told me i’m the first trans employee she’s ever had and let me tell you, it really shows. so yeah, aside from a couple of my coworkers who knew more about trans people to begin with and can back me up when we’re on the same shifts, i’m on my own.

[markantonys]

the good thing about the slog is that because such little of true import happens over such a long chunk of the series, the show is quite well-positioned to be able to tell the whole story cohesively in any number of seasons after 4. only 4 seasons would be tricky, but 5 or 6 would be just as doable as 7 or 8. (disclaimer that there has not been any news or speculation about potentially getting less than 8 seasons so don't panic haha it's just a topic i was randomly thinking about today! that being said, i do think 8 seasons is pretty ambitious in today's television landscape, especially if it continues to take 2 years to make each season, so while we're all hoping for the full 8, it's worth imagining how they could do it in fewer.)

i expect s4 to roughly coincide with the end of LOC, so, dumai's wells for rand and being raised amyrlin for egwene. perrin, mat, nynaeve, and elayne have more wiggle room in what they might be getting up to during s4 (it seems possible the ebou dar trip might be absorbed into tanchico in s3, and perrin may have to get an invented plotline or have a later plotline brought forward for s4 since he has so little in TFOH-LOC), so i won't guess at the endpoint for them beyond that it will likely leave them ready to kick into a fresh new storyline for s5. and nynaeve frankly doesn't have a book storyline after ebou dar (she's just supporting rand's & lan's storylines), so i'll ignore her in this post and just focus on the other 5 mains. fingers crossed the show will come up with more for nynaeve to do during this part of the story, but that's a separate topic.

after LOC, as far as i can recall, each of them only has 1-2 main things they strictly Must do before the last battle (obviously i've left out a bunch of stuff, but i'm thinking of just the absolute bare minimum essentials here):

rand: cleanse saidin (only requires 1 episode); reach his lowest point, then pull himself back up again, all the while simultaneously working to get as many nations under his banner as possible

egwene: unite the tower as uncontested amyrlin

perrin: finish wolf training; fold the whitecloaks into his army

mat: rescue moiraine (only requires 1 episode); get himself in charge of the seanchan forces

elayne: become uncontested queen of andor

so if s4 ends where i speculate, they'd all be perfectly positioned to spend 4-6 episodes of s5 doing these things, then the last battle for the remaining 2-4 episodes, and boom, we've fit all the most crucial things into only 5 seasons.

i know the instinct is to gasp and insist that they all have so much else to do, but.........do they really? everybody agrees that egwene & elayne & perrin only have 1 plotline during books 7-11 which is dragged out for more books than is needed to tell it, so mat and rand are really the sticking points. but if you think about it, mat spends this time repeatedly starting one plotline but then getting yanked out of it partway through to start a new one, so he doesn't actually accomplish that much story-wise. rand, meanwhile, is on a bunch of little 1-book quests (taking illian, seanchan campaign, hunting traitor asha'man, trying to meet with DOTNM) that could be cut for time or merged into his Darth Rand emotional arc from TGS. honestly, he's so emotionally stagnant for most of books 7-11 (he's either not present, dicking around doing nothing, or repeating emotional beats he already did in TSR-LOC) that i don't think going from dumai's wells straight to Darth Rand would be a bad idea at all, if the show had to; in fact, dumai's wells is kind of a perfect launchpoint for that arc, emotions-wise, and plot-wise, if they wanted to replace some of the arad doman events with some slog events, but just put the Darth Rand emotional spin on those slog events, they could easily do so (for example, him being reckless/arrogant with callandor against the seanchan and getting his own people killed could sub in for natrin's barrow in showing how ruthlessly Ends Justify Means he's becoming).

but anyway, these are imo the absolute most crucial pre-TLB plot points of the second half of the series (at least for these main characters, i'm not taking ALL characters into account in this post) and they could be fit into only 5 seasons without much trouble. now if you've got 6, 7, or 8 seasons, that gives extra room to expand these plot points and also add in some additional, not-strictly-required-but-nice-to-have plot points like more Little Rand Quests, elayne taking the throne of cairhien, egwene & gawyn hunting assassins in the tower, and the faile kidnapping plotline. (while making this post i actually had a wild thought of the faile kidnapping being perrin's s4 plotline followed by wolves & whitecloak stuff in s5 then into TLB, or alternately the whitecloaks being part of the kidnapping plotline as perrin's unlikely allies rather than the seanchan; could be a great structure for a 5-6 season scenario, but for 7-8 it would cause perrin to run out of content too quickly haha)

[boys-with-gunss]

𝐙𝐄𝐑𝐎 𝐃𝐀𝐘 (𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟑) 𝐀𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐘𝐒𝐈𝐒

I never stop yapping about Zero Day, he here's literally all my thoughts on it right now so I can stfu for a couple days.

Table of Contents:

Film Summary

Andre Kriegman

- Character Overview

- Character Analysis

- Strengths & Weaknesses

- Conclusion/TLDR

Calvin Gabriel

- Character Overview

- Character Analysis

- Strengths & Weaknesses

- Conclusion/TLDR

Cal and Andre

- Similarities and Differences

-Who really is the "Leader"?

Film "Critique"

Overall Conclusion

Sorces

Zero Day full movie, making of, and screen test (free)

Also quick disclaimer, obviously I take direct information from the movie itself, but some of my information is paraphrasing of character wiki's (which are made by fans) so if any of it is inaccurate, just lmk and I'll correct it. Sources will be linked at the end

FILM OVERVIEW (spoilers)

Basically, Zero Day is a 2003 film centered around characters Cal Gabriel and Andre Kriegman, two teenagers who document their plans to commit a shooting at their high school via video tapes with the intent that after they're done, authorities/media will get a hold of them and send out their message. The entire film is supposed to be like "found footage" type stuff, the entire film is just these tapes they recorded, then at the very end, security camera footage of their school after the carry out their plan. That's essentially the gist of the film and basically all you need to know.

ANDRE KRIEGMAN

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄: Andre Kriegman is Cal's best friend, born in Köln, Germany, his parents immigrated to the United States whilst he was still very long. He was on the track team, worked on the school paper occasionally, and was an active member of the science club at his school. He as brown hair and eyes, and average build, and has some mild acne. He's has a pessimistic sense of humor and overall world view. He's hard headed, selfish, methodical, and orderly with a short temper. He tends to take charge and likes things done the way he plans. He's intelligent for his age and uses that to his advantage

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀: Andre is a natural "leader", he's very assertive and gets upset when things don't go his way, go off track, or when there's a risk it won't work out. We see this numerous times throughout the film, usually when Cal does something off plan (for example, the poem Cal presented about the shooting, Andre for very upset with him as it could risk them getting found out. Then the time when Cal wanted to write a letter to Chris after they stole from him, Andre objected multiple times because he didn't want ti being traced back to them before the shooting took place. Also we tend to see most of the plan being put together by Andre, like how he came up with the safety deposit idea, the idea of making a 'Will & Testament' type tape and leaving it in the car, breaking into Chris's, stealing his father's guns, etc, etc. You get the point. Rachel, Cal's " love interest" said hersslf that Andre seemed to be the leader of the Cal and Andre army of two and how she was more scared of him.)

Sources say Andre has an INTJ personality type (Introverted, INtuitive, Thinking, and Judging), his XwX is unknown. INTJs are usually focus on the big picture, are very logical, are very organized, and tend to be lead by reason rather than emotion. They're analytical, innovative, and strategic. We see examples of almost all of these things when viewing Andres character in the film, I'll just go through them one by one and provide a rating based on how well it fits him.

Focusing on the big picture - 7/10, obviously the main goal was to shoot up the school and kill as many as possible, and Andre was set on that and it was what the both were building up to the whole time, Andre mainly focused on that and that alone. Though he also focuses on a lot of the little details in the steps, which obviously lead up to the "big picture", but he spent a lot of time thinking over the specific. For the most part all of the things in the film that weren't directly related to the shooting or the "off-topic" stuff was caused mostly by Cal. (Ex: Scenes with Rachel, the prom, his monologues, getting Andre to go with him to read his poetry and getting him to drive with his eyes closed, etc.)

Logical/Analytical- 7/10, like I said before, he's very intelligent and had a well thought out plan, but the reason I rate this a 7/10 was mostly because his original plan was to shoot up the school and then just leave in a car with almost nothing and go from state to state with Calvin, which would be near impossible for two teenagers and in the long an short run, very, very unethical and illogical.

Lead by reason - 5/10, from the tapes we saw, the whole point of the shooting was to send a message, to show the consequences of the mistreatment Andre had faced. While those seem like I guess "good" reasons, they're really not. His actions are a result of his anger and his want for revenge. We saw it in the very beginning of the film where he and Cal threw eggs at Brian Hoff's (wrestling team captain who was a dick to them) just because they were mad at him and they could. I'd rate him lower but I have him a 5 because while his reasons for doing what they did weren't very reasonable, he executed the steps leading up to it and the act itself well.

Innovative - 10/10, Andre was good at creating solutions to almost every problem that interfered with their plan. For example, making his fathers gun shorter, thus more concealable. Not only was he good at creating things physically, but he found ways to benefit him and Cal through simple things, such as convincing Chris to take them shooting so he and Cal could learn how the guns work. Andre was also shown to be the more manipulative, finding small ways to move along he and Cal's plan by just interacting with people.

Strategic - 9/10, he executed his part of the plan very well and aroused zero suspicion and planned everything he did almost perfectly, the only reason I gave him a 9 was because of his idea to literally break into Chris's house while there were tons of people right across the street. I understand it was basically the only option, but it's not very ethical.

𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗵𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀:

Strengths - intelligence, quick thinking, agility/speed, manipulation

Weaknesses - Primarily anger driven, unrealistic goals, inability to "stand up for himself" without literally murdering tons of innocent people

𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻/𝗧𝗟𝗗𝗥: Andre Kriegman is the perfect example of a leadership role, his intelligence plans a big factor in everything he does and he's great at subtle manipulation to help get to his end goal. He has sort of a "mastermind" type personality because all his traits together are really what made him able to do his part of the plan (even if in reality he isn't the mastermind, neither is Cal though, and they both realize this). Though he's aware his intelligence and he's selfish, which has him set unrealistic goals, while he's not necessarily overconfident in himself and he knows that some things are just plain stupid to go through with, he doesn't think, but hopes, he can get away with it anyways.

CALVIN GABRIEL

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄: Cal Gabriel is Andre's best friend, I assume who lived Connecticut his whole life. He played the guitar and sitar in his schools six-piece band and is survived by his parents and younger brother and sister. Cal has a seemingly great family and he's seen as a relatively nice and likeable and charming boy. He doesn't have trouble gettin along with people and Rachel really did like him a lot and overlooked his negative traits as Andre influencing him. He's obviously not been made fun of or bullied to the extent Andre has, but there's been instances. Calvin, on the outside is just such a "normal" kid some people see him as boring (ex: Rachel's friends at prom). Overall, on the outside he just seems like any other kid, he's not exactly outcasted like Andre either as people actually seem to like him. Though on the inside he's much more manic and impulsive and unstable.

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀: While with Andre, no one suspected him because he was manipulative, no one suspected Cal because he was deceptive and persuasive. He was good at putting on a front when interacting and was such a normal, friendly kid no one thought he could've been capable of something like what he did, and perhaps it wasn't his intention to out on a front at all, it was just second nature (Examples include: Him making Andre believe he was going to go alone with the original plan, the getaway car plan, until the very last second, him convincing Andre to do things just for the fun of it, like burning stuff and driving with eyes closed, and literally every single one of his interactions with characters other than Andre). Though sometimes in front of others he gets burnt out and starts showing how he really is. For example, the party he and Andre were at, he walks outside and sits on the porch, obviously overwhelmed and just becomes disconnected and quiet, practically the only thing he said in that scene was "I'm just not good at parties.", which shows while he is a very likeable person, perhaps the reason he's so close with Andre is because Andre doesn't have any other friends he has to hand out with like Rachel does, he doesn't get so burnt out and overwhelmed because he only has to focus on Andre, who he sees as very similar to him (even if they aren't that similar at all, which we'll get into later). He's very impulsive and manic as shown through the whole film. He just does stuff because he can and he knew the whole time be wasn't going to live to see the consequences or rewards (ex: the poem, going to prom with Rachel, joking around all the time, messing with the student during the shooting scene). Cal is seen as being more hesitant/remorseful about the shooting because of incidents such as him writing a note to Chris after stealing his guns, and him lagging behind Andre when they ran into the school. I personally don't see this as the case though as I think the only thing he felt remorseful about was the stealing from Chris, he said it himself in one of his solo tapes, that's why he wrote the note. Also I think the reason he lagged behind was because he was carrying more than Andre and Andre was on the track team, so obviously Andre would be faster. It's very clear though that through the entire movie and shooting he wasn't remorseful at all. Maybe he was hesitant in the beginning as in the tape he recorded outside he said something now "I'm ready for Zero Day NOW" and he said how he wanted to keep the feeling of being ready so he wouldnt back other, which can mean he was hesitant at first but he eventually stopped, we see him become more and more eager throughout the tapes as well.

Sources say Cal has an ISFP 4w5 personality type (The Artist/Adventurer personality type, Introverted ObServant, Feeling, Prospecting). ISFP are usually quiet, sensitive, flexible, relaxed, warm, artistic, adventureous people who are aware of their needs and desires, have a strong set of practical skills, want to live in the moment, and are emotion driven, though they are also seen as sometimes scary and hard to know. I think this is the most accurate for Cal than anything else ever could be, I'll explain why by doing the same thing I did for Andre and rating how well Cal fits these traits. Because we know his XwX, there's a lot more to go off of, so I might group up similar traits.

Quiet/Warm - 5/10, while on the outside and interacting with other people he was very friendly and humorous yet soft spoken, like we see when he was talking with Rachel's friend in the limo, during the shooting scene he was very much the opposite. HE was the one screaming and shouting, HE was the one kicking and knocking over things and losing his temper, HE was the one taunting and teasing the students, which came as a surprise to many because it was a complete switch from the character he was throughout the entire movie. I gave him a 5 because its a middle ground, as he both equally fits and doesn't fit these traits depending on the situation, which brings me to the next trait...

Flexible - 10/10, during the main part of the film, the tapes, he really just went along with whatever Andre said, while sometimes he just did whatever he wanted, he adapted quick to everything and didn't have a set order he wanted to go in like Andre.

Sensitive - 5/10, I wouldn't say Cal is sensitive to others, sure there's moments when he can come off as sensitive or defensive, like when Rachel said she knew Cal was going to show Andre the tape and he immediately defended himself on it and seemed to take it personal. But I think he's not as sensitive to others emotions as he is to his own, though I can't really rate this as we don't see him interact much in a situation where he could be sensitive aside from with Andre, who's his best friend, so he'll obviously be more comfortable and take any reprimands or insults from him not seriously.

Relaxed/adventurous/desire to live in the moment - 10/10, throughout the entire film, very rarely was he tense and he didn't seem concerned at all for the consequences of anything he did because he knew the whole time he was going to end up killing himself, as to Cal the shooting was like a suicide mission, but to Andre it was for revenge and to prove a point and send a message. Because he knew it would end in suicide for him anyways, he lived in the moment, like I said before in examples of his impulsiveness, he went off track from the plan just because he could and it was his chance before he died. He burnt his stuff because he could, he made fun of the poets just because he could, he went to prom with Rachel because he could, he didn't care at all.

Aware of needs, desires, and wants/emotion driven - 10/10, the entire time Cal knew he wanted to kill himself, and he did whatever he wanted before the shooting because he knew he wanted to, and he went through with the shooting because that's what he wanted to do.

Artistic - 10/10, Maybe he didn't like draw or paint and stuff, but he was still very artistic in many ways. In the tapes of him where he's by himself, the way he words things is somewhat poetic, also it's the fact that he literally wrote a poem. Also Calv is seen wearing a Pearl Jam shirt at one point, which could be a reference to their 1992 single Jeremy, which is primarily based on the story of a 15-year-old boy who brought a gun to school and proceeded to kill himself with it in front of his English class, which in itself is something very poetic as well and the story is very similar to Cal's intention behind the shooting. This shows how he expresses himself through more literary art forms and not necessarily how normal people would express themselves, which by the way, the urge to be different or to express emotions differently to be unique is a common ISFP trait.

Strong set of practical skills - ??/10, we know of his ability to deceive and persuade, but those aren't really practical skills, we don't honestly see many examples of practical skills in Cal, so I can't really rate him on this.

Hard to know - 10/10, practically every interaction he had never completely showed his true personality, which in itself proves he's hard to know. Also the kids in the Limo just didn't like Cal for some reason despite him just being nice and normal the whole prom and ride there and back, which can mean Cal is just a hard person to understand and like when you actually interact with him, despite seeming so nice and likeable to people who've either never interacted with him in any way, or to people that are close to him.

Scary - 10/10, he murdered multiple innocent people, and the fact he even thought of doing it in the first place is horrifying.

𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗵𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀:

Strengths - Deception, persuasion, likability, normalcy, knowing what he wants and how to get it

Weaknesses - impulse, emotional drive, instability,

𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻/𝗧𝗟𝗗𝗥: Cal's character is the perfect likeable character, and that's what makes the movie so interesting, because the main characters, especially Cal, who is shown to actually be the most violent and unstable, are so likeable, the way they interact with others seems so normal and friendly. Cal is a character who knows what he wants, and has a strong impulse, which just makes him go for it. He's artistically expressive and partially because of that he's a hard to understand and know, though he doesn't have trouble keeping friends. He's good at putting on fronts and that's part of the reason no one suspected him, because he was so normal.

SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

Through the movie, Calvin stresses how similar he and Andre are, but maybe they aren't that similar at all.

Similarities:

Both are social outcasts without many friends

Both wanted to do something like Zero Day before they even met, Calvin states this he also states they never had to talk about doing it, they just knew they both wanted to and started planning

Both condone things like Zero Day in general

Very obviously both mentally unstable

Both deal with a power struggle

They make joking threats

God complex

Relatively uninvolved with anything unrelated to each other or Zero Day

Emotion driven

Differences:

Cal has a less hard time getting people to like him and isn't bullied as much as Andre

Cal is suicidal, manic, and impulsive while Andre had a will to live, for a while at least and tends to stick to a plan and is very oderly

Calvin is very artistic while Andre honestly doesn't really seem to have any special qualities about him

Cal saw Zero Day as a suicide mission, Andre saw it as a way to send a message

Cal is more laid back and carefree and "fun" then Andre. During the shooting too we see Cal laughing and shouting and taunting and teasing just for fun, while Andre wasn't doing much of any of that.

Andre was manipulative, Cal was deceptive

Andre is very pessimistic whole Cal always seems to be optimistic

Andre has a more leader like an assertive personality and Cal just tends to follow along because he doesn't really care what they do as long as it ends in him killing others and himself.

Cal liked to wait to kill the students because he thought it was funny, but had no hesitation killing himself, meaning he overall had zero value for life in general, whether it be others or his own. Andre liked toying with some of the students but generally didn't waste time and just killed them immediately (unless he saw that Cal wanted to fuck with them first) but after the shooting was over, he was hesitant to kill himself, which shows how he values himself over others and doesn't want to die but would rather die by his own bullet then a police officers because he felt he was too good for it, which highlights his inflated sense of self worth and god complex.

SO WHO REALLY IS THE "LEADER"?

Short answer, neither. Cal and Andre like to see them both as "leaders" because they want to be seen as powerful, but neither of them are leaders at all, you can't have two leaders of the same plan, especially when the two people have completely different end goals. Andre is meant to seem like the leaders simply because he's more assertive and comes up with a lot of the ideas, though we see Cal can be equally assertive and while he takes a more careless approach he still executes Zero Day the way he plans, which is a leade trait. Also we see both Andre and Cal order each other around. This may seem like both are leaders, but this just isn't true. Cal said that the whole time, even before they met, they always wanted to do something like Zero Day and the built up their own plans and were only motivated to executed it when they met. He says neither of them had to say anything about wanting to do Zero Day, they just knew, and they worked together to make a plan. There was never a leader, Cal and Andre were both equally involved, neither one was more powerful than the other, they were equals who's different strengths and weaknesses put together actually benefitted the both of them.

FILM "CRITIQUE"

I honestly have nothing bad to say about the film, even the low budget worked in the movies favor as it made it seem more realistic and unplanned, like how found footage films should be. The actors were amazing and did a good job of portraying the role of both "normal" high schoolers and mentally ill murders at the same time. I don't think I'd change a single thing about the film except for the fact that we lack some information on the main characters. Cal recording tapes by himself helps a lot in the area of knowing his character, but I wish they did something like that for Andre too.

OVERALL CONCLUSION

Overall this is one of my favorite movies ever and it's so underrated. If you haven't watched it, you should (despite me basically spoiling the entire thing). I literally stayed up all night from 11 am yesterday to right now today, so I think this is pretty good. Anyways if I missed some shit or I got something wrong, tell me, please. Anyways, here's the sources

SOURCES

ZERO DAY FULL MOVIE + MAKING OF + SCREEN TEST (FREE)

(Note: this movie is free on YouTube and widely available, but I know others aren't and with streaming services raising their prices, piracy is a completely valid alternative that I support. So if you can't afford or just don't want to pay for streaming services, hmu, I have links to good sites and torrents and resources and information on how to stay protected and keep your data encrypted when on them. I know, I know, I'm a real one.)

Anyways, that's my film analysis, go watch Zero Day, I put an entire day of my life into this so yeah, cool if you read all this.

- Ronnie🔥🔥💯

[charlotte-of-wales]

a summary of the Monaco Tea, creds to the lovely anon who sent me the article <3

btw most of the information on the family was in article one, the latter were more just info on real estate + off shore accounts

again, this info is all coming from the former accountant of the family:

Prince Rainier III was seriously considering changing succession laws so Caroline would be the head of the family and Monaco as he found Albert to be weak. Albert is said to be the "despised member of the clan" who would stutter while speaking to his father. Rainier even looked into what this would mean to the Grimaldi name since Andrea - at the time 17 - obviously carries his father's name (Casiraghi) and not his mother's (Grimaldi). Rainier told the ones carrying the investigation that this was done in case Albert died.

the funds from Albert's state endowment and his private funds would be mixed all the time.

Albert would say yes to essentially everything his family asked for, including a $30 million apartment for Stephanie

Palmero (the accountant) would frequently buy things for the family to keep "their privacy". He bought Charlene's engagement ring and multiple properties for the Grimaldi's in France. He would pay property taxes for those properties and have the family pay him back.

Caroline and Stephanie would frequently make use of and sell family property (Rainier's cars, family jewelry and art, etc) without letting him know, even though they technically belonged to Albert.

Caroline is in charge of the family's castle in Marchais, which he had an issue with as she would always go off budget.

he makes a note to pay attention to Pierre Casiraghi as he is very ambitious and his dealings in real estate could create problems (spoiler alert: it did)

Caroline is said to hate Charlene

the allowance that Charlene, Caroline and Stephanie receive increases constantly, which worried Palmero. As of late, they were: 1,5 million euros for Charlene, 900.000 for Caroline and 800.000 for Stephanie yearly. This follows the family hierarchy.

 Jazmin Grace receives 86,000 dollars per quarter. In February 2010, Palmero had to spend $5,000 “extra for her birthday”. Albert also bought her a $3 million apartment in New York City.

Albert spends almost a million a year funding Nicole Coste's (the mother of Albert's second illegimate child) fashion business. It's all in Alexandre Coste's name as Nicole fears that Charlene might create issues when Albert dies.

loots about Charlene. She frequently demands high sums in cash, her personal chef is $300 a day, she has multiple undocumented people from the Philippines working in her staff, the celebrations for the birth and baptism of the twins was well over half a million euros, in eight years Charlene spent around 15 million euros when she received 7.5 million euros in endowment (the Palace didn't deny this and said that the accountant was simply told to pay the difference with the family's personal funds), she spent 965,000 on a villa in two and a half months, her office decoration cost a million euros, she requested 3 x 300,000 for her brother's house.

Palmero made sure to change Monaco's regency laws so in case something happens to Albert while Jacques is underage Charlene won't be regent. Instead, the principality will be ruled by a regency council.

Albert has a secret apartment in Monaco, bought by one of Palmero's secret companies. He also got rid of problematic photographs of Albert (hinted at blackmail).

there was a whole system for hiding sums used on "special missions". They were labeled DS (for special destinations) and with time were used to pay for an informal intelligence unit that operated within the police force of the principality. They'd collect information on those close to the family and even on politians of the principality. He would also pay journalists to paint a good picture of Monaco while Hollande was president in France and was constantly criticizing tax-havens.

the DS accounts would be used to hide over-budget situations, including budget for the children's nannies and the budget for the wedding.

they were terrified of the Panama papers, as a lot of money laundering funds go through Monaco and the family had accounts on Panamanian banks.

a link between a Russian billionaire and the Monegasque Minister of Justice was revealed in 2017 and the Minister was forced to resign. An investigation was launched by a French judge and there was fears that the palace would be involved: jurisdictional immunity was granted to members of the sovereign family by order. There was rumours that the French judge wanted to hear the Prince as a witness......he was told to leave the principality. He was accused of having, through his “behavior perceived as authoritarian and vexatious”, “endangered the proper functioning of the criminal justice system”.

the real estate market is a big point of collision here and a big focus of article 3. Nothing too interesting to report - Palmero says he tried mingling in the market to break down the monopoly of real estate owners in Monaco (centered around a bestie of the Casiraghi brothers) while Albert claims Palmero had close ties with some of the developers and tried mingling with things that were of interest of the government in order to make money. The real estate issue was what eventually led Palmero to be fired. Palmero and a former laywer of Albert who was his childhood bestfriend and is also now a persona non grata claims that Albert is now fully under the influence of the bestie of the Casiraghi brothers who now controls the real estate in Monaco.

Palmaro is STILL paying property tax on properties he bought for the family!! crazy!!

Palmero detailed a number of off-shore accounts that hold about 250 million euros of the family's fortune including a company created specifically for Charlotte Casiraghi. He passed on the information from that account to Albert's new accountant at a monitored meeting.

Albert's explanation is lowkey....pathetic. He claims he told Palmero to move all of his family's assets from off-shore accounts to Monaco but Palmero never did it and that was that. He claims he was never able to obtain a precise statement on the family assets due to Palmero's secrecy and Albert just trusted him. He claims Palmero would act in his name and refuse to delay his decisions.

[love-takes-work]

Steven Universe–Centric perspective on Multiversus #4

Disclaimer: Reading these for just a fun little drip of SU content, and I know the people writing this are not in charge of the Steven Universe IP. This issue, more than any other so far, made me go WHY DIDN'T THEY CONSULT ANYONE ABOUT HOW STEVEN UNIVERSE WORKS?

(I only comment on the SU content, sorry.)

Multiversus #1 commentary

Multiversus #2 commentary

Multiversus #3 commentary

On #4:

This honestly isn't terrible, to have Garnet covering Steven's ears when another character is swearing as sort of a gag, but Garnet literally doesn't give a crap about if Steven hears bad language (and has intentionally said what passes for swear words around him). Very much would see Pearl doing this, but not Garnet. That's picky though.

I actually do like Steven having a lot of faith in the heroes getting the job done, but I don't think he would be massively against trying to help them save the world just because "Mr. Superman" told them to stay behind. There are MULTIPLE almost identical situations to this in the show where the Crystal Gems (including Garnet!) told Steven to stay behind or run from danger, and he found a way to help them anyway because he couldn't just stay behind and let them fight the battle. (Also, again picky and I don't want to be annoying about choices artists make, but what's with the Wreck-It Ralph fists on Steven and how they draw Garnet with these teeny legs? Steven's whole body could be measured as like .75 of one Garnet Leg. Is that a unit of measure? It should be. He can only hug one of her legs at a time. It's so cute.)

Moving on . . . .

There's a disaster and Superman is attempting to be faster than a speeding bullet to catch and rescue a bunch of characters who are falling. He catches Garnet and fails to catch Steven.

I promise Garnet doesn't need to be caught, but he wouldn't necessarily know that. What's baffling to me is that Steven falling and being hurt when he falls in the water is the big dun-dun-dun of the comic issue.

But Steven has floating powers. Sometimes he has trouble controlling them for sure, but choosing a character who can essentially fly to be the tragic lost hero who succumbed to gravity is certainly a weird choice. I read online that in Multiversus Steven is supposed to be at about Season 2 levels of development, which might patch this issue since Steven didn't learn to float until Season 3, but one of his Multiversus attacks lets him "float forward" while delivering kicks, so I don't know.

Beyond that, having a situation where Steven is potentially falling to his death when Garnet is there seems questionable at best. She not only has future vision which in the show leads to super fast reflexes--and has literally caught Steven from falling before using this ability--but even if she somehow didn't foresee it, she has a shapeshifting ability where she could reach out and grab him (which she has also done twice in the show when Steven was in trouble and she just shapeshifted her hand and arm to grab him). To be fair, shapeshifting is not listed as an ability either character has in the Multiversus game.

I know it's just a silly tie-in and not canon, but again, some very small changes could have avoided some of these glitches.

[a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire]

Ive been thinking about how Rhysand being highlord is incredibly pointless and pretty much only serves to make him more dislikable because this series keeps going on and on about how much Tamlin sucks as a ruler, meanwhile Rhysand is over there neglecting two thirds of his (known) court with the thinnest justifications imaginable, not to mention how much worse it makes feysand (atleast conceptually) because really most of Feyres issues with Tamlin that didnt come down to both of them being too traumatized to function together came down to Tamlin being a monarch and her being his fiance, and the only reason shes not having those same issues with Rhys is that he simply absolves her of any actual Lady/High Lady responsibilities, but im getting off-topic. I genuinely think the main reason Rhys is a high lord instead of just like, a powerful general which would make way more sense for his character, is that SJM finds power really hot and I guess if Rhysand was more magically powerful than Tamlin but had less state power and authority that would make him feel like a downgrade, so we get Rhysand being The Most Powerful Highlord In The History of PrythianTM. But then that make me think. hey, why isnt Rhys just in Keirs position. Like, hes not the Highlord of the night court hes just lackey whos in charge of the hewn city and illyria, those less savory parts of the NC that the HL uses as big meatshield factories for the sake of protecting his precious city of starlight, so he still has all this state power and authority but hes also actually an underdog and has an actual reason for putting on a mask. Yknow, the Hewn City is mostly just a normal city with people having the best lives they can without ever seeing the sky because Rhys is actually good at running it, but then everytime the HL comes along they put on a big show of evil for him to feel superior to, or maybe its just Rhys and other high ranking officials putting on a show idk

OH this would actually go really well with that idea I had a few months ago of Rhys having a full-fae halfbrother from his dad's previous non-mate marriage. Like, Rhys is the less favored son so they make him do all this dirty work while his dad and halfbrother luxuriate in Velaris, maybe theres a whole thing where they think Rhys cant inherit the HL powers because hes half-illyrian and then at the end of the trilogy they kill his dad and the powers go to him and its a big triumphant moment because Rhys triumphed over his shitty blood-family's weird biological essentialism. OR if you wanted to girlboss it, maybe having received that drop of the HL's power makes Feyre inherit it instead idk and now you have a brand-new ruler who can properly unite Velaris, the Hewn City and Illyria into one court (i mean, i would prefer Illyria be independant from the NC, but I doubt SJM would ever even think of writing that, so unification with the illyrians getting equal rights is the best i could hope for)

[oacest]

Sorry this is long, but I saw one of your tags about “if it’s not goats milk, Noel’s not having it” & I wanted to share bc I didn’t know that was an actual thing. Last summer I worked at a concert venue backstage as catering staff & Noel & the HFBs came & I honestly didn’t really know or care who he was at the time but anyway, I worked the day of the concert & it was probably Noel’s production manager (they’re all typically assholes) but someone made the supervisor in charge of setting up the dressing rooms cry because we didn’t get the right goats milk. Typically if you can’t find the exact brand you just get the closest, fanciest replacement but I guess the tour wasn’t having it & was going off on her. Pretty sure someone was scrambling to find it & when you looked it up, it wasn’t even something you could get in the United States lolol.

anyway, my older sister was a supervisor there but I don’t think she worked that day so I went & told her the story & was like “look at these assholes freaking out over goats milk” & my sister was like, “you know it’s the guy from oasis” (she’s from the 90s, I am not) but I didn’t care, & then “you should really listen to the whole what’s the story/wonderwall album, it’s really good” & so i did & that’s how I essentially became an oasis fan. bc of that little freaks goats milk obsession.

BRO LOL OH MY GOD!!!! thank you for sharing, this is so fucking funny. huge mood, i too would be furious at my past self, even though like. obvs what can you do lmao. that little freaks goat milk obsession 😌😍

[soaps-mohawk]

Thank you for answering! Laswell as a beta makes since. I was pretty sure she wasn't an omega, but I was less certain when it came to the other two options.

I have a follow up question, if you don't mind, in regard to the dynamics in 141. So, I know that there's Price/Gaz and Ghost/Soap and even Soap/Gaz, but is there anything with Price/Ghost besides being pack mates? How does it work with two alphas? And can there be Ghost/Gaz and Price/Soap, or does each beta kinda stay with their alpha?

I hope that makes sense. This is my first poly a/b/o fic and I'm super curious about how all that works. :)

Aaah you're so welcome!! Laswell wouldn't be in the position she's in if she was an omega, at least in the world this story takes place in. Omegas don't really get the opportunity to work, much less hold any sort of power since they're very much treated more as second class citizens than anything. (That's not to say there aren't cultures in the world that allow omegas to have power, but in the ones we're dealing with in the story, omegas don't get that opportunity.)

I will never mind getting questions I love discussing things and fleshing things out. Some things are ambiguous on purpose currently, but I'm always down to explain things as much as I can!

As far as the dynamics go with the pack, it's essentially Price as pack alpha, as the leader. As he is sort of in regular canon, he's in charge, he makes the decisions, he makes sure everyone is taken care of. Things would look slightly differently if they weren't also military, but that's something else entirely lol. Ghost is what's considered a second alpha, basically just second-in-command. If there's a decision that needs to be made that involves the pack, Price and Ghost would discuss it together and make that decision together. Packs can be much larger and have multiple alphas, and how pack alpha/second alpha/etc and that whole hierarchy is chosen depends on the pack. Of course in TF 141's case, the military took care of all of that for them.

They all operate as one unit, despite Gaz being bonded to Price and Soap being bonded to Ghost. They're all one pack under Price, and really the reason they've bonded that way is because there's four of them, two alphas and two betas. They could have not chosen alphas to bond to, and in larger packs there may be more betas than alphas and some may choose to bond, or have alphas they're closer to, or they might not. That doesn't make them a weaker pack or affect anything really, it's just down to personal preference.

That was just a really long way to say that yes Soap/Gaz, Price/Soap, and Ghost/Gaz could and does happen. They're not entirely exclusive to each other. That's why the reader mentioned that even though she'll be claimed by Price, Ghost could also claim her if he wanted since he's another alpha in the pack, and why she's able to be with Soap as well. Price/Ghost could happen, though I think a lot of that is just me. I can't really see them being together all that much, but that's not to say it couldn't happen. 👀

Aah I'm so honored to be your first!! I'm more than happy to explain things (as much as I can without spoiling too much lol)

[holfelderwrites124]

Severed Threads

Chapter 1: Promotion

“I got the promotion!” Ian crows as he barges into Aisha’s tech office — her lair, as she calls it. He glances briefly at the multiple monitors surrounding her desk. He has no idea what the data means, and quite frankly, he doesn’t care. He’s been after this promotion to the Crisis Negotiation Unit (CNU) for ages, and he wants someone to celebrate with. Heaven knows Abby won’t care, not beyond the pay increase. “I did it, Aisha!”

Aisha spins around in her chair, her face lighting up and her soft brown eyes sparkling. “Really? Oh my goodness, Ian, I’m so happy for you!” She jumps up and darts around her desk, coming to give Ian a tight hug.

Ian relaxes into the hug, grateful for a friendly embrace. He shouldn’t be as touch starved as he is — he lives with Abby and Dennis most of the time, anyhow — but somehow Aisha’s touch is so much kinder, friendlier, more loving than anything he’s felt from Abby or Dennis in a while.

“You good?” Aisha asks, pulling back slightly to look into Ian’s hazel eyes. She gently lays a hand along Ian’s cheek. “You went somewhere else for a minute.”

Ian takes a deep breath, shaking himself out of his morose thoughts. He’s here to celebrate, not complain. “Yeah, no, just tired.” He grins. “I did it, Aisha! I made SSA and I got into Paul’s crisis unit!”

Aisha squeals, jumping back and clapping her hands. “You get to work with Paul? Oh my God, Ian, that’s amazing!”

Ian nods. He plops down into the spare chair and looks up at Aisha. “I guess he put in a good word for me. He’s known me since the Academy, you know, those first few lectures we got on crisis negotiation from him.”

Aisha circles her desk and sits back down into her chair. She smiles at him, a clear encouragement to continue.

God does it feel good to have someone want to listen to him. Lately, Abby’s the one doing the talking, leaving Dennis hanging on every word and Ian feeling ignored. Aisha watches him with the same wide, curious expression he’s known her to have, all the way back to their days in the Academy. She’s never wavered in her interest in what he has to say, and that’s something he truly values in her friendship.

Ian rattles off the whole finding out process — how the SSA in charge of his progress tracked him down to tell him he’d made Supervisory Special Agent, and would be moving to Crisis Negotiation, due to his stellar performance in talking down the many volatile people he had encountered in his five years in the FBI. When his SSA mentioned Paul’s unit, it had taken everything in Ian’s power not to start cheering.

Paul was one of Ian’s lecturers on crisis and hostage negotiation when Ian started in the Academy, a twenty-three year old with a criminal justice bachelor’s under his belt and a whole lot of confidence. Perpetually curious — and apparently intelligent, according to his supervisors and teachers — Ian had attracted Paul’s attention with his questions and capabilities. Paul essentially took Ian under his wing. Over the years, Ian and Paul became close, first as mentor/mentee and then as friends. For a while there, Ian was spending evenings with Paul Moss, his wife Shannon, and their two children at least once a week. He hasn’t been there in several weeks now. Abby and Dennis have been taking up most of his time.

Aisha listens to Ian’s story with rapt attention. She gives him the attention he’s been craving, and he finds himself leaning closer just to feel the curiosity radiating off of her. When he’s done, she grins at him.

“I’m so happy for you, Ian! You one hundred percent deserve this.”

Ian shrugs. “I don’t know about that.”

Aisha purses her lips. “Well, I do. You’re smart, Ian, and you are really good at what you do, from the investigative side to the talking people down from the wall side.” She sighs. “You need to believe in yourself.”

Ian feels himself deflate at that. It’s an age old argument of sorts between them. Both Aisha and Paul — his closest friends at this point — see something in Ian that Ian himself can’t see. Ian always brushes them both off when it comes up, but it plagues him late at night when he can’t sleep. He knows he struggles with his self-worth, but he was raised to believe that pride was sinful. Since childhood, Ian has had a hard time believing in himself or appreciating his own accomplishments.

Ian sighs. “I try, I really do. It’s just that it feels so prideful to be …”

“Proud?” Aisha fills in. She frowns. “I know. It’s … it’s your religious trauma again, huh?”

Ian snorts. “Yeah, I guess. I still feel weird calling it that. It doesn’t feel like anything was that traumatizing.”

“It’s still something you’re dealing with, even if we call it trauma lite.” Aisha shakes her head. “And Abby does not help with any of this.”

Ian glances away from Aisha. He knows she doesn’t approve of Abby. He’s starting to wonder if she’s right, but he’s in no way ready to face that possibility. Abby and Dennis McCartney have filled a hole in Ian’s life, and he’s too afraid to find out what living without them looks like. It’s only been eight months, really, but he’s gotten used to them there.

“She does her best,” Ian mutters, knowing it’s a weak defense.

Aisha raises her eyebrows. “Really,” she says in a flat voice. “So all that shit you said yesterday about how she doesn’t give a fuck about your promotion was a lie? Or is that her doing her best?”

Ian can’t help a small smile at that. Aisha is never afraid to call him out on his bullshit, and for that he’s grateful. “No, that was the truth. She cares about the raise, but … doesn’t really want to listen to me talking about the CNU.” He sighs. “But she’s tired after work, and honestly —”

“I do not care what her excuses are,” Aisha interrupts. “She doesn’t value you like she should and it drives me nuts.”

Ian smiles at the care in Aisha’s voice. “She does, Aisha. Just … not in ways you can see.”

Aisha narrows her eyes. “So like, in the bedroom? Where you don’t want to be half the time anyhow?”

Ian winces. That much is true. Abby is appreciative behind closed doors, but not in ways that Ian always wants. It’s not that he minds that aspect of their relationship, he enjoys the time well enough. It’s just that … sometimes he truly doesn’t want … sex. But Abby or Dennis always seems to get him to give in. Sometimes, Ian wishes he had the guts to look that fact in the face and figure out what to do about it. But he never does. The McCartney’s treat him well, he lives with them, they certainly aren’t physically abusive — it’s fine.

“Ian?” Aisha prods him. “I’m sorry, that was a bit much.”

Ian gives Aisha a wry smile. “No, you’re not wrong. I just … I don’t know what to do, sometimes.” He slouches down in his seat. “I can’t up and leave, it’s not like things are bad. I do wish they would listen to me more often.”

Aisha snorts and rolls her eyes. “Like that’s going to happen anytime soon.”

Ian sighs. He knows damn well what Aisha thinks of his polyamorous relationship with Abby and Dennis — she very vehemently disapproves. Not because of the polyamory — she and her husband John have been in an ethical non-monogamous relationship since … hell, before they were married. It’s that she firmly believes that the McCartney’s are not ethically non-monogamous.

She has her concerns, and Ian respects that, but generally disagrees. Sure, sometimes he feels a bit like an awkward third wheel, especially when one or the other is complaining about the other to him — which is often. Or when the two of them actively bicker in front of him, then demanding that he choose a side. But that’s … well, it’s not all the time, so it’s fine. They always make it up to him. It’s fine.

“I’m fine, Aisha. They’re not abusing me. I’m fine.”

Aisha gives him a thoroughly unamused look. “That is not the bar you want to be judging a relationship from.” She huffs. “But, I’m not going to hound you about them. You got promoted today, to the job you’ve wanted since, what, the beginning?”

Ian nods.

“Right. So, instead, why don’t you come out with John and I tonight? We could celebrate, hang out, like old times.”

The before Abby and Dennis is unspoken. Ian winces. He knows he’s slacked off on his duties as a friend since moving in with the McCartney’s. It’s just hard to find time to hang out with Aisha and John, or Paul and Shannon, when Abby is as possessive and jealous of Ian’s time as she is. That bit he does kind of hate. It’s stifling sometimes, especially when he misses the time he used to spend with his friends. The rare times he gets to hang out with them, it’s like a breath of fresh air — Aisha and John are always so interested in what he has to say, and Paul and Shannon always make sure he’s had enough to eat. Abby prefers that he doesn’t eat too much, because apparently she likes him as thin as fucking possible.

That’s an uncharitable thought, Ian hears his mother admonish him, but it’s true.

“Ian. You keep zoning out. You sure you’re okay?” Aisha asks.

Ian sighs. “Yeah. Sorry. I’m just tired. Um … I can’t tonight.” He grimaces. “I … uh, Abby doesn’t like it when I change plans like that.”

Aisha narrows her eyes. “Really?”

“Yeah. Um, maybe tomorrow or Friday? I’ll see if I can get Abby to agree.”

Aisha opens her mouth, as if to say something, but then closes it with a sigh and a shake of her head. “Alright. Just … see if you can. John would love to see you, and we haven’t hung out in a while.”

Ian nods. “I’ll see what I can do. I promise. I’d love to hang out, really.”

Aisha nods. “I know. I know you do. I … oh, never mind. Just … ask.”

“I will.” Ian wants to say more, but he gets the sense that doing so might dig him into an even deeper hole with Aisha. Instead, he checks his phone for the time. “Shit, I do need to get back to my desk.” He smiles at Aisha. “Thanks for talking.”

Aisha nods emphatically, her dark, natural curls bobbing around her. “Anytime, Ian.” She stares him down. “I mean that. Anytime, about anything.”

Ian knows she means Abby and Dennis. “I know. Thanks.” He turns around taking the few steps to the door. “I’ll talk to you later.” He waves, steps through the door, and then heads back to his desk.

---

Aisha watches as Ian closes the door. She sighs softly once he’s gone and grabs her phone, pulling up Paul Moss’s number.

I’m worried about Ian, she types. He’s so not like himself these days. Congrats on snagging him for your team, though!

She hits send, and drops her phone into her lap. Paul’s likely busy, but he’ll get back to her when he can. The two of them have been commiserating about how much Ian has changed since he moved in with the McCartney’s. He’s almost entirely stopped hanging out with either of them, he’s lost the spring in his step, and he seems to be struggling with his self-worth more than ever. Sure, in the line of duty, he’s got the confidence of a senior agent. He’s not cocky, but calm and sure of his footing. But when it comes to things like this promotion, or his own well being, he’s so hesitant anymore.

Aisha knows Ian’s upbringing formed a lot of these bad habits — his highly conservative Christian parents left him with lots of religious trauma issues, from pride is a sin to sex is a sin. That last one really messed up Ian, whom Aisha is certain is on the asexual spectrum.

Aisha shakes her head. She’s had her own amount of religious trauma to battle through, between her transition to her non-monogamous life style, she’s pretty sure she’s broken more rules and trends than Ian has ever dreamed of. Still, his journey is his own, and she most certainly won’t belittle him or make this some sort of battle of who-had-it-worse. She just wants to help, and she is certain that Abby and Dennis are doing more harm than good.

Getting Ian to see that, though? It’s going to take some work.

TAGLIST: @lofiyaketyblr

To be added to taglist, comment or reblog and let me know!

Chapter 2: Schemes

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #308: JOURNEY

October, 1989

The life of an Eternal hangs by a thread -- and only one being on Earth has the power to save GILGAMESH!

It's just Gilgamesh though.

She-Hulk's concerned expression and raising one hand in concern looks more like she's shrugging confusedly about this whole situation. 'Some Eternal!'

Anyway.

Last times on Avengers: Captain America declared all Avengers were Avengers, there were no teams anymore just one big family, and he was in charge of it all. Then Lava Men attacked, lifted Avengers Island up on a big stone spire, and kidnapped the Avengers in a stone ball which rolled all the way to the depths of the Earth.

The Last of the Lava Men, Jinku, told the Avengers that when they killed a random demon in Inferno, it killed most of the Lava Men and turned the rest except Jinku into stone.

Jinku tries to kill the Avengers with a big lava monster he created and apparently succeeds in killing Gilgamesh. Then the Lava Men that turned into stone hatch into golden men and tell Jinku to cut it out. So he does.

And that brings us to now. And this cool airship.

Very shiny.

Inside the ship? The Avengers.

The ship was apparently made by the golden Lava Men to get the Avengers back to the surface, based on a design that Black Panther gave them.

But even though Captain America and Black Panther are sitting at the controls, they're not in control. The golden Lava Men are. Because the ship is them.

Pretty neat.

But that's looking a little bit ahead.

The reason this is all relevant is that She-Hulk frets that Gilgamesh is dying. Or dead? Something? He doesn't have a pulse but his body is still warm? Plus, Eternals have conscious control over every atom in their body so who knows what's going on with him?

Anyway, time may or may not be a factor. And the golden spaceship made out of golden people may or may not be going its maximum velocity already.

Meanwhile, hey, don't we need to finally resolve that thing where Avengers Island is up on an unsteady stone pillar?

Reed's plan worked!

He had Sue make a spiral invisible force field around the stone pillar so that as the pillar collapsed straight down as crumbling pillars are known to do, the island slowly shifted its weight to the spring-shaped force field, which had the same springiness as an actual spring, which gently lowered the island back to the ocean.

There's a lot about how this gets resolved that's questionable but questionable in a comic book science way so I don't even mind it.

I do mind the weird way this subplot had its time budgeted. Reed and Sue responded to Jarvis' distress signal and arrived without any equipment besides Reed and Sue's mighty brains.

Reed comes up with a plan to lower the island back to the water and has Sue do it. And then the issue ended and we get this curt wrap-up next month.

I don't know how much Byrne wanted this issue to deal with lingering plot threads from the previous arc but it feels like the subplot should have ended on more of a cliffhanger last issue instead of the problem being basically solved, we just haven't seen it resolve yet.

Maybe I'm nitpicking but it reads weird.

Anyway, the West Coast Avengers have landed on Avengers Island after Wonder Man helped hold up the island and nobody else did anything to contribute.

They stand around talking about how great the Fantastic Four are.

And there's also something odd here. A united West Coast Avengers team isn't something we've had since Byrne took over the book. US Agent isn't with them. Tigra is with them but doesn't seem like she's feral or horny (although she doesn't say anything). Maybe Wanda is distraught about her husband losing his emotions but she also doesn't have anything to say.

Do you know how with crossovers sometimes, a character or team will be written vaguely out of character because the writer isn't familiar with them or doesn't know what's happening in their book around this time?

This appearance of the West Coast Avengers has that feel but Byrne is writing both Avengers books!

Why do they feel like the vaguely wrong crossover version of the team?

Anyway, after they finish saying how great the Fantastic Four is, they all talk about how great Jarvis is. And Jarvis IS great!

Wonder Man mentions that Jarvis puts up with a lot for the Avengers, including losing his eye.

Eyepatch Jarvis, as he is back to wearing his eyepatch, explains that his eye is almost healed and he won't need "this rather diabolical looking patch" soon.

The book keeps going back and forth on it.

When he first got out of the hospital, it was mentioned he'd suffered vision loss after his beating at the hands of Mr. Hyde. Then the Jarvis-focused Inferno tie-in issue had his mom yell at him to take it off because he doesn't need it and it doesn't even make him look all that cool. And then Byrne has him put the patch on only to make a point that he won't need it soon.

Weird.

The West Coast Avengers take off without even waiting for the Avengers or going to help them (since last anybody knows, the Avengers got kidnapped by Lava Men).

Kinda weird but Byrne clearly does not want to actually write the West Coast Avengers in this book.

The Avengers spot the Fantasticar as they fly towards Avengers Island, noting that their reserve members came to help.

And I note that the Fantastic Four also left without finding out what happened to the kidnapped Avengers.

Look, I get it. They heard that Jarvis was in danger and came running. I would too! But they're less invested in the Avengers East Coast.

When the golden craft lands, Jarvis immediately and correctly guesses that this is the Avengers.

Ew. I don't love how a door sphincters open in the golden aircraft. The golden Lava Men already turned into a vehicle. They can't transform a door too?

Anyway, the Avengers tell Jarvis they'll Explain It All later. Now, they need to hustle Gilgamesh to the medical facilities.

Usually this is when Everyday Normal Doctor Donald Blake Just Passing By would show up to handle the Avengers' medical needs. But Odin took Donald Blake away from Thor so now Thor just casually mentions he's well trained in the healing arts.

But even though Thor is exactly as good at medicine as Donald Blake, for example, he can't do anything for Gilgamesh.

The man isn't dead and he's not alive, he's some secret third thing (called being an Eternal).

So Captain America has the idea that they should go ask an Eternal what the fuck is going on with Gilgamesh.

Most of the Eternals fucked off with a Deviant cube into space but luckily some didn't.

I'd say the cool ones didn't. The cool ones and Gilgamesh.

Meanwhile, Olympia. Hidden in a pocket dimension in Greece.

There's an old man shepherd who pauses in his shepherding for a minute to wax poetic about walking among the ruins of his ancient ancestors, where the gods themselves once walked.

I'm guessing this guy never bought into the Christianity thing. Good for him.

Less good for him, his sheep vanish into thin air.

And when the shepherd goes to investigate, he's pulled through thin air by a person wearing green and yellow but who isn't Loki.

It's Sprite! The eternal prankster kid of the Eternals.

Messing with this guy because fuck this guy.

When the guy confuses Olympia for Olympus (because, yeah) Sprite gets agitated that everyone confuses the Eternals for the mythological figures they inspired/were inspired by. Like, c'mon Sprite. You owe your entire existence to Jack Kirby's fascination with Chariot of the Gods. You don't get to be offended that someone mistakes Eternal stuff for something else. That's your whole conceit.

Ikaris soon shows up and tells Sprite to stop bugging the mortal for fucks sake.

Ikaris: "You have been cautioned about your notion of 'fun' in the past, young one! I remind you, these humans are by nature frail and easily distressed. You might have caused this man to have a heart attack with your foolishness!"

The man is very distressed.

Ikaris apologizes for Sprite, Makkari gathers up the straying sheep, and Ikaris escorts the shepherd back to the familiar hills, declining to explain how Eternal stuff works because the explanation would mean nothing to him.

He asks the man not tell anyone what he has seen. Which is pretty nice. Later Eternals would just wipe his memory without asking.

The shepherd is like who would I tell? People would think I was drunk or dreamed the whole thing up.

Of course, just when the guy is wondering whether he did just dream the whole experience, Sprite pops out of thin air to do the man a startle one more time.

Geez, Sprite.

Maybe Gilgamesh isn't the only uncool Eternal left on Earth. You're kind of an asshole.

Ikaris and Makkari scold him that Sprite's sense of humor will cost them some day, foreshadowing foreshadowing.

They let Sprite wander off so they can discuss how Olympia is weird these days, emptier than even most of the Eternals fucking off to space can account for.

Ikaris: "More than silence. There is a flavor of death on the once sweet breezes. I have tasted it often enough to know it."

Ikaris guesses that when the majority of the Eternals fucked off, it was like they took the majority of the city's soul with them.

Which, considering later revelations that the Eternals and their cities are all parts of one great machine what is Earth, might actually be right on the money.

But the sheep wandering inside was not Sprite's doing. The barriers that protect Olympia have weakened enough that it just happened randomly. Sprite just capitalized on the incident to mock a shepherd.

Ikaris and Makkari go to talk to Thena and Phastos. Where Phastos has just finished telling Thena that even if her bones are telling her something is wrong, he can't find any flaws with the machines that run Olympia.

Wow, this is a lot of information about Eternal Stuff if we're just dropping off Gilgamesh for medical treatment. I suspect this is our new arc.

Ikaris tells Thena that he hasn't found any force directed at Olympia from the outside. He thinks the call is coming from inside the house, so to speak.

Ikaris: "This city is as one with we Eternals. But we are greatly reduced since the departure of the Unimind."

He's really banging on about that.

I wonder if I'm witnessing snapback in action. Sending most of the Eternals into space was a tidy way to tidy them up since they weren't used for a lot. But now it turns out it was a big mistake so are the Eternals that went to space going to come back so we can get back to status quo?

Maybe.

Thena tells Phastos to bolster the city's defenses. Then they can look into Ikaris' theory.

But Sprite has been eavesdropping on the meeting. He decides Phastos is too unimaginative to bolster the defenses. And that he, Sprite, should do it instead. So that it's done with flair by a guy acting from a place of ignorance.

Look at this idiot. He has no idea what he's doing.

The Avengers don't actually go to Olympia. They go to visit Sersi first. She's closer and more interesting than 90% of the other Eternals. Also, Captain America knows her from his own book, sidestepping the question of whether Wasp or Starfox told him about the party they crashed.

Thor brings out Gilgamesh for Sersi to see and she reacts in shock horror that he looks as if dead.

She has them bring Gilgamesh into her tastefully decorated apartment

So tasteful.

Sersi asks what happened and Thor says Gilgamesh bravely fell in battle. Which Sersi calls bullshit on because Eternals don't fall. That'd be a misnomer.

Thor himself has a spell of wooziness which he dismisses as a passing weakness.

I wonder if the Lava Man Avatar of Cha'sa'dra had bonus damage against immortals.

Sersi examines Gilgamesh and finds basically the same thing that the Avengers already have. Gilgamesh has no pulse and no brain activity. He's basically dead but not. She's never seen an Eternal like this.

So she suggests that they take Gilgamesh to Olympia.

Except. Well.

I guess Sprite managed to blow up the city. With flair. And probably panache.

Also, Namor mentions missing Hercules, prompted by the Avengers flying over Greece.

I wonder if we're also seeing snapback on Hercules' fate in action. If so, good. The Evolutionary War ending was damn stupid.

Anyway. We seem to be piling on the subplots because that old man from a previous issue also managed to blow up his house.

He doesn't seem too put off that he blew up a small piece of New Jersey. Just excited that he's getting close to whatever scientific breakthrough he's working on.

I have no idea where this subplot is going.

But its probably going somewhere.

Follow @essential-avengers, which comes in regular and sour cream and onion flavors. Like, reblog, comment, ask what that last sentence meant. I'm open to various forms of engagement.

[sheetmusiclibrarypdf]

Remembering Frank Zappa, #botd in 1940

Remembering Frank Zappa, born on this day in 1940 (1940-1993).Frank Zappa (short bio)Best Sheet Music download from our Library.Please, subscribe to our Library.TributesFrank Zappa's discographyFrank Zappa - Montana (A Token Of His Extreme)Browse in the Library:

Remembering Frank Zappa, born on this day in 1940 (1940-1993).

Frank Zappa (short bio)

Frank Vincent Zappa (Baltimore, December 21, 1940 - Los Angeles, December 4, 1993) will be an American composer, guitarist, singer and record producer. With a career spanning more than thirty years, Frank Zappa has composed rock, jazz, blues, electronica, classical music and concrete music, or acousmatic music, among others. He will also work as a cinema and video director, and will design album covers. Furthermore, he will be in charge of the production of the most popular albums that he will record with The Mothers of Invention and alone.

The seventh related work is now available on new discs, among originals and posthumous works, thousands of concerts around the world, long lengths, infinite interviews, articles, compositions and more projects that will remain at the same time when it is going to die. With enormous artistic production, according to the professor of Audiovisual Communication at the University of Valencia, Manuel de la Fuente, Zappa perfectly summarizes the cultural and political history of the USA in the second half of the 20th century. In his adolescence he liked avant-garde composers based on percussion with Edgar Varèse, and the rhythm and blues music of the 1950s. He began writing classical music in high school, while playing drums in some bands. rhythm and blues, instrument that will soon change to the guitar electrical. He was a composer and self-taught musician, and through the diversity of musical tastes he managed to create music that was impossible to classify.

The Mothers of Invention's 1966 debut album, Freak Out!, combined conventional rock songs with impossible improvisations and sounds generated in the recording studio. His subsequent albums were a mix of experimental and eclectic music, independently of rock, jazz or classical music. Write the lyrics of all your topics, frequently humorous. He will be critical of political correctness and religion and will be a great defender of freedom of expression and the abolition of censorship. Frank Zappa will be a very prolific artist and will receive great positive reviews. Most of his albums are considered essential in the history of rock, and are recognized as one of the most original guitarists and composers of his time and a reference for a great name of artists. He will have a reputation for commercial success, especially in Europe, so he will be able to be an independent artist for the vast majority of the time his seventh career will last. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and received the Grammy Award for his entire career in 1995. Frank Zappa will be married to Kathryn J. 'Kay' Sherman from 1960 to 1964 and to Gail Zappa (Adelaide Gail Sloatman) from 1967 until she dies from prostate cancer in 1993. They will have four fills: Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet Emukha Rodan i Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen. Gail Zappa coordinates family businesses under the Zappa Family Trust name.

Zappa received resounding criticism throughout the world both in life and after his death. Rolling Stone's Album Guide in 2004 wrote: 'Frank Zappa played almost every genre of music, whether as satirical rocker, jazz-rock fusionist, guitar virtuoso, electronic wizard or orchestral innovator, his eccentric genius was indisputable'. Although his work was inspired by various genres, Zappa established a coherent and personal form of expression. In 1971, his biographer David Walley said: 'The whole structure of his music is unified, not divided by dates or time sequences, and is built as a composite'. When talking about Zappa's music, politics and philosophy, Barry Millers said in 2004 that they cannot be separated; 'All was one thing; it was all part of his 'conceptual continuity'.

He received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. In 2005, the US National Recording Preservation Board listed We're Only in It for the Money on the National Recording Registry, explaining that Frank Zappa's 'inventive and iconoclastic album presents a unique political stance, both anti-conservative and anti-countercultural' , and offers a scathing satire of both hippism and America's reactions to it'. In the same 2005, Rolling Stone magazine put him in place number 71 in the list of 'The 100 greatest artists of all time'

Zappa's music has influenced a large number of musicians, bands and orchestras of various genres. Rock artists like Mr. Bungle, Butthole Surfers, Alice Cooper, Fee Waybill of The Tubes, Primus, Devin Townsend of Strapping Young Lad and Billy Bob Thornton have cited Zappa's influence, as have progressive rock artists such as Henry Cow, Trey Anastasio from Phish, John Frusciante and Fulano. Hard rock and heavy metal formations such as Black Sabbath, Warren DeMartini, Steve Vai, System of a Down, and Clawfinger acknowledge Zappa's inspiration. In the classical music scene, Tomas Ulrich, Meridian Arts Ensemble and The Fireworks Ensemble regularly play Zappa compositions. Contemporary jazz musicians and composers such as Bill Frisell and John Zorn are inspired by Zappa, as is funk legend George Clinton. Other artists in whose work Zappa exerts an important influence are: The Residents, Faust, the new age pianist George Winston, the electronic composer Bob Gluck, the humorous singer 'Weird Al' Yankovic. and noise music artist Masami Akita of Merzbow. Tributes - King Kong: Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa (Jean-Luc Ponty) (1970) - The BRT Big Band Plays Frank Zappa (BRT Big Band) (1990) - Yahozna Plays Zappa (Yahonza) (1992) - Zappa's Universe—A Celebration of 25 Years of Frank Zappa's Music (Joel Thome/Orchestra of Our Time)(1993) - Harmonia Meets Zappa (Harmonia Ensemble) (1994) - Music by Frank Zappa (Omnibus Wind Ensemble) (1995) - Frankincense: The Muffin Men Play Zappa (Muffin Men) (1997) - Plays The Music of Frank Zappa (The Ed Palerm Big Band) (1997) - Dischordancies Abundant (CoCö Anderson) (1997) - Frankly A Cappella (The Persuasions) (2000) - The Zappa Album (Ensemble Ambrosius) (2000) - Bohuslän Big Band plays Frank Zappa (Bohuslän Big Band) (2000) - Ensemble Modern Plays Frank Zappa: Greggery Peccary & Other Persuasions (Ensemble Modern) (2003) - UMO Jazz Orchestra: UMO plays Frank Zappa feat. Marzi Nyman (2003) - Lemme Take You To The Beach: Surf Instrumental Bands playing the music of Zappa (Cordelia Records) (2005) - Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance (The Ed Palerm Big Band) (2006) - Inventionis Mater: Does Humor Belong in Classical Music? (2012) Frank Zappa's discography

Frank Zappa - Montana (A Token Of His Extreme)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmcYTShN4Fk Recorded on August 27, 1974 at KCET in Hollywood, A TOKEN OF HIS EXTREME features Frank Zappa with five incredibly talented band members for this extravaganza of live music. The line-up exists of Frank Zappa—guitar, percussion, vocals; George Duke—keyboards, finger cymbals, tambourine, vocals; Napoleon Murphy Brock—sax, vocals; Ruth Underwood—percussion; Tom Fowler—bass; Chester Thompson—drums. Read the full article

[bllsbailey]

Tim Sheehy Demolishes Jon Tester So Badly at Debate That the Montana Senate Race May Be Over

While the overwhelming focus remains on the presidential race, it's hard to overstate just how important Republicans winning the Senate back is for the country. Nearly every damaging far-left policy Democrats want to implement will need to go through the upper chamber. 

The path to gaining victory is relatively simple for the GOP. They need to pick up West Virginia, which is a certainty with Jim Justice running. They then need to pick off one more seat, with Montana and Ohio being the most likely flips. Lastly, there can be no surprises in Texas and Florida, which seem to be the only Republican seats with any possibility of an upset. 

For now, things seem to be going as planned. Tim Sheehy is running ahead of incumbent Democrat Jon Tester in Montana, and the former may have put things away during Monday night's debate.

RELATED: Big Trouble for Jon Tester in Montana

SHEEHY: Well, Sen. Tester knows all of the about backroom meetings. He's been taking them for 20 years. He's the number one recipient of lobbyist cash.  (crosstalk) TESTER: That's totally false. I'm the most transparent senator in the United States Senate. (crosstalk) SHEEHY: The number one recipient of lobbyist cash in the whole country, of all countries, number one. So if you want to talk about backroom meetings, while I was fighting in Afghanistan, he was eating lobbyist steak in D.C. 

There won't be another moment from the debate that gets more views than that one. Sheehy perfectly contrasted his military service with Tester's two-faced persona. The current Montana senator has long pretended to be a "moderate," separated from the broader Democratic Party. Behind his flannel shirts and folksy accent, though, Tester has been a rubber stamp for the Biden administration enjoying the D.C. high life. 

Sheehy wasn't just making a general attack, either. According to campaign disclosures, as of mid-2023, Tester had spent over a million dollars eating at steak houses in the nation's capital.

Does that sound like an "everyman" from Montana to you or someone who's enjoying the lavish lifestyle of being a senator a bit too much? Tester is a phony of the highest order. That Montanans seem to be finally waking up to that is a welcome change.

In another exchange, Sheehy hit Tester on the border crisis. 

SHEEHY: Well, Senate Democrats and White House Democrats created this border crisis. We had a secure border four years ago. Donald Trump handed a sealed border to the Biden-Harris administration, and Kamala Harris, the border czar, with support from her friends on the Hill like Sen. Tester and Chuck Schumer opened the border wide open for three years, left it open. She refused to even go there. Democrats on the Hill refused to hold the administration accountable for the largest mass migration in the history of this country. We've never seen that many people come in in such a short period of time.

The only counter Democrats can come up with for that completely accurate charge is that Republicans didn't go along with a border bill that would have done essentially nothing to fix the problem while creating long-term incentives for more illegal immigration. But as Sheehy says, there were three years before that bill was shot down when the border was left wide open. Did Tester speak out forcefully about the crisis and demand Biden and Harris use the vested power of the executive to bring back effective Trump-era policies? No, he didn't.

Sheehy went on to slam Tester for worrying more about Trump's impeachment than standing up to his own party's radical agenda. 

SHEEHY: Sen. Tester has been in office many years. I thank him for his service, but he also voted to impeach Donald Trump twice. He said on CNN we should punch him in the face. He voted with Biden and Harris every single time it mattered, voted against all Supreme Court judge nominees that came from the Trump administration, and has advocated to end the filibuster and expand the Supreme Court

That is Tester in a nutshell. He's a typical Beltway-loving Democrat who has been a reliable party man at every opportunity. He's not a Montana-first moderate who stood up to the radicals in his midst. Sheehy came prepared and dressed him down, and it may have sealed the election for him.

[crystalelemental]

Slightly less ridiculous team, but one I am still very much enjoying.

Hodrick

Valkyrie's Partisan (Skill: Passive Shatter. Hits a column for -1 PP)

Best Greatshield, aiming for the Divine Shard one that denies all debuffs/status)

Cloth Gauntlets (+30% guard rate)

Lapis Pendant (+1 PP)

AP skills are focused on Greatshield if PP is <1, essentially re-upping 2 PP ad keeping him guarding. Passive Shatter then happens if we need to hit a full column. Sting happens if foe is under 50% HP, ad Row Protection just happens if no other condition is met. I only have one other front row.

PP skills are Row Cover if a whole row is attacked, Heavy Cover and Guardian have no conditions, just go nuts dude.

Monica

Runic Sword for Magic Attack.

Unfettered Shield for Guard Seal and Passive Seal immunity.

Cloth Gauntlets

Lapis Pendant

AP is Saint's Blade if at max HP, Row Heal if anyone is under 50%, Magic Attack to prioritize Armor.

PP is Row Barrier if the row is attacked, otherwise Magic Barrier with priority set to armor. Hodrick cannot take magic. Holy Guard just happens.

Chloe

Zephyros' Spear (+1 AP, +10 initiative, +10 evasion)

Chloe's Charm (looking to replace with the next Warrior's Medallion I can get)

Ancient Crown (+1 PP, +5 to all stats)

Carnelian Pendant (+1 AP)

AP skills are chaotic. Honed Spear hits if there's a full column and she's buffed. If she's not buffed, Long Thrust. Javelin is thrown at flying units. Long Thrust is the default.

PP is set to Active Gift, set to prioritize the caster. Keen Call goes to highest magical attack. First Aid otherwise activates if their HP is lowest.

Ridiel

Apoliotes' Bow (+1 AP, +10 initiative, +10 evasion)

Carnelian Pendant

Warrior's Medallion

Green Beret (+10% physical atack)

AP is set to Mystic Conferral on highest Mag Atk, then Wind Arrow if flying. Icicle Arrow prioritizes Flying and Armor.

PP sets Pure Field right away, to immediately buff Chloe (and others) for debuff immunity. Quick Cure and Selfless Heal do whatever.

Yahna

Millenium Scepter (From the Divine Shard shop; gives Trinity Rain, a 3 AP skills that hits all foes 3x 100 magic power)

Silk Hood (+10% magic attack)

Carnelian Pendant

Sorcerer's Medallion (+2 Mag Atk, +10% mag Atk, crit rate +10%)

AP is Trinity Rain. If she gets the +1 AP from Chloe, Magic Missile hits if there are two or more enemies still alive somehow, Icebolt to prioritize armor.

PP is Quick Cast, but I don't want that activating I don't think it's that good. Maybe I'm being sour, but max initiative on a move that charges isn't that great. Focus Sight only activates if there's a Scout involved, while Magic Conferral is set to target the archer.

Game Plan Yahna is the win condition with Meteor Rain, the goal is to stop armor knights from guarding the attack so she kills. This is where Passive Shatter comes in, and why it's so high on the chain. Hodrick is ideally throwing out this attack, having an armor knight block, then losing a second PP on the hit. Alternatively, Magic Attack on Monica can really harm an armor knight, while Ridiel has the potential magic buff from Yahna to help truck those enemies. Because Yahna has to first use the skill, then wait for the charge time, you get a lot of attacks in to break past those PP (and this also means that her max priority effect isn't as useful; less time, more likely they'll be able to guard.

[felikatze]

i forgot to hold the epic reveal i'm so sorry yall

anyway. most of you have voted. wrong! congratulations. time to go in ascending order.

TWO whole knights are gay for their lieges: this one is true. listen to me perceval cares about nothing except his boyfriend elffin. and melady is a classic case of gay devotion. the only way this is incorrect is that melady is technically bisexual (she has a lover who is a guy but you gotta kill him cuz he DOESN'T love her more than his country. rip.)

lucius died offscreen: due to character endings and geographic locations, the adoptive father of raigh, lugh, and chad is very strongly implied to be lucius! (or rather, lucius was based on this guy. prequels n stuff.) Said guy also died offscreen before the game started yeah. Lucius officially died at the start of Bern's invasion of Lycia <3 sorry Lucius fans. His kids will avenge him though.

unlock a bonus chapter by not killing an enemy charging straight at you: I HATE DOUGLAS!! SO MUCH!! In chapter 16, to unlock chapter 16x (and by extension, the entire true ending) you need to end the chapter with Douglas still alive. Douglas is an enemy unit. Douglas cannot be recruited during the chapter itself. Douglas has aggressive AI and will charge towards Roy from turn 1. I hate this man. The Sleep staff is your best friend.

you can buy infinite boots: in the chapter 21 secret shop, you can, on fact, buy infinite boots. I like to give Roy two pairs so he has 10 movement. Boy is outpacing paladins on foot now. The amount of boots is only limited by your money - and arena grinding for gold exists, so. theoretically infinite.

the unit with the highest growths in the whole series joins at lv19 promoted: Karel has growth rates of 100% or higher in every single stat, giving him the highest in the entire series to date. He joins in chapter 23. The normal ending of the game is after chapter 22. He does, in fact, join as a level 19 swordmaster. You only get one level up, but what a fucking level up it is. Have fun using him for 2 maps and a glorified cutscene. (Great shoe-in for wyrmslayer or durandal user though)

every map is a seize map: yeah. you could argue that ch25 is technically a defeat boss map, but i could argue that chapter 25 is technically a cutscene. ch25 is nothing. there's only seize maps. play volleyball with Roy.

a fire emblem church is actually good and helpful: what three houses does to a motherfucker, that most of you voted for this, huh. The Elimine Church, closest direct equivalent to christianity to date, consists entirely of cool guys who heal people and run orphanages and gunk. In the plot, the church's public support is essential in retaking the kingdom of etruria, since it allows him to enter the capital city without a fight and corner the bern-lead revolutionaries inside the castle. you also get a whopping two legendary weapons from these guys, because the bishop yoder thinks roy is cool. there's a couple bosses (like 3 iirc) who are priests, but all of them have explicitly defected from the church.

If you can count, you already know what the false one is.

That's right!! Hector doesn't die in chapter 16!

....because he already died in chapter 3. Yes, three.

I wonder how split that option is between "i don't think hector dies" and "hector dies way sooner than that."

anyway. i love fe6. ridiculous game. you should play it.

[nalanzu]

Weiss Kreuz Episode 6: Fräulein

I remember having the impression at this point in the series that Omi was the most well-adjusted and/or most normal character. Which was a ridiculous assumption, even with only the information available up until this point, because he's significantly younger than the rest of them and also in charge of shit. However! That's not where we are, as this episode starts.

We start with an actual swimming pool full of ice and a girl on a raft on top of it, with a beeping phone - the girl wakes up, answers the phone, and is told that her kidney has been stolen. I can't help but feel this is an attempt for Look How Serious It's Not Just A Bathtub It's A Whole Swimming Pool These People Mean Business. I would like to point out that putting her on top of the ice defeats the purpose of the ice, ok, and also why are they wasting money on a big-ass swimming pool made of ice.

Oh, this is an Aya episode. He sees kidney girl walking down the street and attempts to dash through traffic to catch up to her. Somehow this does not end with him being hit by any cars. We then see him in the hospital with his comatose sister, and I'd forgotten that it was six episodes in that we learned that Aya is his sister's name.

I also vaguely remember that kidney girl was supposed to look a lot like sister!Aya, but this episode has a terrible case of same-face (and is markedly more poorly drawn and animated than the first five episodes), so it's hard to tell that that's what they're going for.

Nonetheless, the plot moves on. Yohji recognizes Manx's shoes, which she finds impressive. The rest of us know that it's the damn socks that give it away.

Kritiker has cottoned on to the organ thievery and are sending Weiss after the criminals. Weiss are all performatively cranky. Aya finds the picture of kidney girl and Manx plays the audio of her call to a radio show (is this how Kritiker figured out about black market organ stealing? Seriously? What the fuck are they doing?), which got a lot of public attention.

Kritiker has, however, figured out that the thieves essentially set up an OR in a truck, so they could keep it mobile and under the radar. The surgeon, in the next scene, gets a call from a Takatori (who is not the same Takatori as Aya has tried to murder and also has the lady assassin team with him) wanting a heart and the other kidney from the previous donor. There is also scalpel licking.

Weiss, meanwhile, has failed to identify a pattern in the movement of the mobile surgical unit. They have also concluded that no one has ever seen the truck. I would like to know how the fuck THEY know there IS a truck if no one has ever seen a truck, but ok. Ok.

The method of investigation apparently involves the adult members of Weiss driving around randomly looking for a suspicious truck. Meanwhile, kidney girl - Sakura - is being stalked by the paparazzi, as she actively sought publicity for her harrowing ordeal and has gotten it in spades. She does not appear happy about this.

Aya, who Sakura presumably does not know, drives up and yells at her to get in the car. I have no idea what could possibly have possessed her to get in the car with a strange man. What the actual fuck is wrong with you, Sakura, I know you're fifteen, but fucking hell, this is goddamn ridiculous.

Sakura not only looks like sister!Aya, but also apparently acts like her. She and Aya end up on a hill, chatting about how Sakura is tired all the time because she's recovering and how she's not to blame for being abducted and assaulted. Aya keeps repeating that he's a florist, which is kind of funny, and then Sakura stands up and strips down to a gym outfit out of fucking nowhere.

What the actual fuck is this story, even, and why are they racing. Well-known high school track star or not, this is - she is now crying because she can't run, but like. Did no one explain the recovery process to you, Sakura, did you not PAY ATTENTION, this is - the spying on teammates has now come to Yohji and Ken watching Aya via binoculars and bitching that he has taken her out on a date.

Their complaint, by the way, is not that Aya is a grown-ass man apparently dating a minor. No. It's that this does not appear to be a valid part of a mission plan. I just. This episode needs to go right in the trash.

Back at headquarters, Omi has determined that once a victim gets one organ stolen, they tend to turn up dead after other organs have been taken in a second kidnapping. This seems incredibly inefficient. I have commentary about matching organs for donation, including cellular markers and compatibility, ok, but we have already given up on this episode.

Weiss goes out to look for Sakura, as she is theoretically now a target. Sakura shows up at the shop, looking for Aya. She has been followed by the paparazzi. Aya plays the bitchy shop assistant to perfection, Yohji closes the shop, and Sakura starts crying and wanting to know what she did wrong.

Omi pulls his flower trick, and tells her that the cheerful sunflower is what she should resemble. Sakura is having none of it, which is the only good part of the episode so far. Aya yells at her to, essentially, man up. She's having none of that either, and bolts. Ken has slept through this entire confrontation, and has done the fewest stupid things this episode so far.

The criminal surgeon is having a joygasm at an illustration of healthy organs. I think this is supposed to increase dramatic tension, but he comes off as a one-note psychopath, so it's not particularly effective. Presumably at some point this man had a job, but he just perpetually cackles and licks his knives and it's very off-putting in a narrative sense.

Meanwhile, Aya has caught up with Sakura. She apologizes for her (extremely reasonable, ok, it is the only not-dumb thing anyone has done in this episode so far, except possibly for Ken oversleeping) reaction to being literally traumatized and is back to being cute and giggly. She buys them ice cream. Aya is nonplussed. Sakura is then kidnapped by some extremely conspicuous men in black cars with black hats, but not before Aya sticks a tracking device on her.

Seriously, though? BROAD DAYLIGHT? A big-ass group of guys in suits in BROAD DAYLIGHT kidnapping a publicly well-known recent kidnapping victim? This is seriously the worst-written episode so far, it doesn't need to shove the bar any farther into the floor, and yet it keeps trying. Also it's trying to create a sense of drama with the dropped ice cream on the ground but I'm just laughing at it.

The mobile surgical truck is located via the tracker on Sakura's clothes. Aya breaks in, dramatically, and steals naked Sakura. Though he does stop to put a sheet on her first, idk. There's a hilarious shot of him holding his katana in his mouth.

The rest of Weiss Appears, having lost track of the truck and the surgeon, and Yohji yells at Aya for his shitty teamwork. This is the second reasonable thing someone has said in this episode. Ken redeems himself slightly for his earlier asininity regarding assuming Aya was trying to bang a 15y/o by appearing with a solid lead on where the surgeon has fucked off to. Which is an airport.

Omi, in drag as a stewardess, escorts the surgeon onto the plane. No other passengers are on the plane. There is cackling from the surgeon about chartering a whole-ass jet, and I want to know where the fuck this money is coming from, but ok. He then gets super cranky that there's no staff on the airplane, up to and including pilots.

Weiss appears behind him, as Aya utters the truly ridiculously melodramatic line, "Sir, this flight is bound for hell." I desperately want to know what happens when the plane doesn't follow its filed flight plan, what happens when it lands and there's a corpse on board and Weiss is impersonating airline staff, who the fuck in Weiss knows how to fly a plane, if they maybe just parachuted out of the plane to get away but that seems incredibly irresponsible and a crashed plane seems like it would lead to casualties, and this is just. The worst, so help me.

The episode isn't going to answer any of these questions, either, because it's going to cut to the flowershop the next day, as Sakura shows up as the shop opens. In her skimpy running outfit. To tell Aya that she's back on the track team. Yohji, stop drooling over teenagers. Ken yells at him for this, which is the fourth reasonable thing anyone has said, and Yohji's like, Well exceptions can be made. Gross, Yohji. Oh my fucking god.

Aya and Sakura share A Moment. This does not redeem the episode in the slightest.

So, to recap, we have the implication of both Aya and Yohji (separately) being Romantically Involved with a teenager, we have the most one-note villain so far, we have 90% one-note characterization of a traumatized teenager as Overcoming Her Trauma Through Toxic Positivity, we have the most ridiculous Aya has been so far, and finally Kritiker and Weiss demonstrating the absolute worst investigative work I have ever seen on television. Oh, and the very conspicuous kidnapping attempt, which like, if the villain has been kidnapping people in this manner the whole time, how the fuck did no one else notice? Ugh.

The worst part of it, though, was Sakura, recent kidnapping victim, recent victim of organ theft, getting in a car with a man she does not know. This is irredeemably stupid. It's not inappropriate for a teenage character in that teenagers do dumb shit, although one would think Sakura would be more wary, given her recent experiences - IF the narrative had acknowledged that this was incredibly poor judgment on her part. It did not. Not even a little. While the audience knows that Aya is not going to assault Sakura, SHE DOES NOT. She asks him if he's from a TV station, which would at least give him a reason to have snatched her out of the crowd, but doesn't seem to be worried in the slightest when he says he's a florist. He has absolutely no reason that she can see for coming for her - for all she knows, he's a crazy-ass stalker who saw her on the news. The narrative doesn't just skate over this, it ignores it completely. I hate this, so much. So, so, so much.

There was that hook regarding The Other Takatori, which wasn't not intriguing, to be fair.

However, as far as our main cast and the guest star goes, we had a grand total four reasonable actions: a teenager responds appropriately to being traumatized (so briefly tho), Yohji yells at Aya for shitty teamwork, Ken does some solid investigative work (which fandom would have you believe he is too dumb to do, come to think of it), and Ken yells at Yohji for trying to hit on said teenager.

Ken, MVP.

[marvelandimagine]

I think some people mad about the arm is not necessarily about the fact that Ayo disabling the arm itself, it's more of the fact that it was not necessary and the fact that Bucky had no idea they can do that. If I were to be honest, I think it was not that necessary because Ayo is well capable of taking him down without having to disarm him and she is definitely not threatened by him. I think what some people find upsetting about that scene is the fact that it kinda comes off as Ayo putting Bucky in a position where it would make him feel like he doesn't have full control of his own body after all. The Wakandans, especially Ayo, T'Challa and Shuri had every right to feel betrayed and upset but the point is they should have told Bucky about how the arm can easily be disabled like that, they didn't know Bucky was going to set Zemo free when they gave him the arm and regardless of the things they have done for him and if they were ones who gave him the arm, they should have at least told him about it, because it's connected to him, it's a part of HIS body. It doesn't matter if it was necessary to disarm him or not, the point is they should have told him about it because apart from the fact that it's his body and that it was a bit insensitive given his history, it's also a point of vulnerability, and the fact that she did it in front of Walker (and possibly Zemo) --- people who can easily turn on Bucky, could easily that to their advantage and attempt to disable it themselves. Just my thoughts on it.

Thank you for sharing your perspective, anon!

I’m going to use this long-ass reply to address this stuff with Ayo and also voice some thoughts I’ve had over the past few weeks seeing people paint Bucky into being this complete soft and harmless human that needs 25-7 protection which I don’t jive with — and this is me, a complete Bucky stan.

Many moons ago, I saw a post that compared 1940s Bucky moving with stealth and a loaded gun on the train to the Winter Soldier doing the same thing, essentially discussing the similarities and debating how much of non-brainwashed Bucky was in the Soldier. And I think the fandom forgets or chooses to neglect the following when painting him as this fragile, peace-loving guy:

Bucky was an incredibly skilled sniper in the United States Army. His job is to eliminate threats in the most efficient way possible, and he’s good at it. HYDRA gets their hands on him and + the serum, this gets magnified. It wasn’t like HYDRA turned him into someone with the ability and mental capacity to kill — that was already there. The brainwashing and torture just carved out the rest of him to leave those honed skills and an amplified ruthlessness with no moral issues, no sense of self to contend with. That ruthlessness is part of Bucky, whether people like it or not.

When Bucky is outside of HYDRA for the first time and hiding in Civil War and gets attacked, he’s so brutal in his actions that Steve Rogers, the man who literally was ready to die to save Bucky and free him when no one else believed in the good in him, intervenes because “Buck, you’re going to kill someone.” Bucky responds that he’s not going to kill anyone, but the fact remains: with or without HYDRA control, Bucky has a strong capacity for violence that hovers on brutality — again, what’s the most efficient way to eliminate or neutralize a threat? Like, I don’t want to kill you, but I’ll knock your ass out with cinder blocks to the chest.

Bucky has a good heart, he’s loyal, he’s smart, he’s caring, he’s the longest-standing POW in history and was turned into a slave for decades, put through unimaginable trauma and torture and horror with no escape. Bucky is also a strong and incredibly skilled super soldier who has a bionic arm, is a trained sniper, is unnervingly precise with knives, and self-describes himself as “semi-stable.” Zemo notes in the bar that “it didn’t take Bucky long to get back into form,” and he’s right because the ruthlessness and skill of the Winter Soldier is a part of him and always has been. We see it when he has his hand around Zemo’s neck and tells him he will kill him, when he rips the glass from his hand and throws it across the room.

And I’m sure the Wakandans know all this about Bucky, this light and his ability for hard-to-stop violence, whether from talking to Steve and Bucky or doing their own homework. And they still choose to help him out of the goodness of their hearts because he’s been put through hell and they believe they have the capacity to help him and it’s the right thing to do — they’re betting more on those positive attributes. And they put a failsafe on his arm, a literal weapon, and chose not to tell him. You know why I think that shows how much they did care about him? Because they could’ve blatantly come out and said “Hey, we don’t trust you,” and hurt him outright, but they didn’t because they’re betting on the light in Bucky to outweigh the dark or any future manipulation. That it’s a worst-case scenario function they hope to never have to use — so they’re prepared if shit hits the fan, and if it doesn’t, Bucky doesn’t have to be hurt feeling like he can’t be trusted. I see no issues here, they’re just being cautious.

Now coming to Ayo, my QUEEN Ayo. From that beautiful, beautiful opening scene, we get to see her support, her reassurance, her belief that Bucky will be able to work through this, even when he doesn’t believe it himself. She watches him fight and struggle and cry, and you can feel the hope in her and how moved she is when she gets to tell him it worked, he did it — he’s free. And she says it not once, but twice. And you can hear not just the comfort, but the PRIDE and warmth in her voice directed to him, who I’m sure she’s watched throughout the whole deprogramming process and gotten to know and is happy to see him work through the pain and come out on the other side.

And then she sees that same individual make a decision in freeing Zemo that she perceives as a “fuck you” not just to her country, but to her, someone who was charged with protecting her king. She could’ve just disarmed Bucky the second they met up, but she doesn’t. She takes the time to explain her side and her feelings, her guilt and her shame, and basically implies that she feels betrayed by Bucky because Wakanda helped him and now he’s doing something that’s hurting her country. And still, she doesn’t attack or just go get Zemo. She gives Bucky the benefit of the doubt and a whole 8-hour American workday to do what he has to do because again, she believes in the best of him. And then that time limit runs up, and he chooses to get in her way.

And that’s the final straw. She’s angry, she’s guilty, she’s frustrated, and she feels betrayed hurt by someone I think she did respect and care about, someone whom she worked with and helped and supported when he was his most vulnerable. Did she “need” to disarm the arm to fight Bucky? Probably not. But is she doing it in the heat of battle and adrenaline and a whole bucket ton of emotions, including what she sees as the White Wolf blatantly disrespecting her country and her as a person and even friend and she just says fuck it, I’m done? You hurt us and me, and I’m going to hurt you back? Oh yeah. And Bucky looks shocked, not because he’s a poor fragile baby and “oh no, my arm, how could you?? my TrAumA”, but in the dual realization of “oh shit, how’d you do that?!” and “oh shit, I think I crossed a line here.” And also, I don’t think a single person in that room would be able to recreate the disabling sequence other than Ayo — it’s way too targeted and specific for someone like Walker to pick it up in the whole three seconds it took.

People need to stop reducing characters to these black and white extremes of soft and hard, of good and bad. Doing so completely devalues and ignores the REALITY of the complexity of being human, and Bucky and Ayo are both great examples of that played by stellar actors who portray that range and depth extremely well. End of the day, my thought is that the failsafe in the arm was justified and people need to stop coming for Ayo based on this ridiculous narrative that Bucky is too traumatized and sensitive and too much of a fave to ever be challenged or he’ll explode into dust. Boy deserves a life of freedom and healing and mental health support, but he’s also still a formidable opponent with the capacity for violence and skillset to kill. People are more than one thing.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk!!