#and the cast have been SO quiet about season 6 i’m gonna die

[alteadelight]

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS CAUSE ITS SO IMPORTANT

2x10

i’ve found such a crucial little detail that defines just how much eli cares about demetri. this ep is probably when demetri fully realizes just how much his eli is gone. like last ep he saw eli in him and had a little hope, but i feel that ep 10 dwindled that a lot. it seems as though eli’s done with demetri with the way he chases him and tries to hurt him with zero remorse.

idk if people have found this and was already talked about cause i’m a pretty new fan, but i’m just gonna say it anyway bc i’m hurting.

right before demetri throws eli into the glass, he kind of hugs him after eli throws a punch. and at this point demetri has his little revelation of not talking eli’s shit anymore. but while demetri holds him, eli lets him. he just lets himself be held by demetri, for like a solid two or three seconds. eli, who’s in cobra kai and has very good instincts and can come back easily from something, just lets demetri hold him. and after demetri lets go, eli’s like shocked and just stares at him, instead of regaining his senses like normal and fighting again.

i am so far gone for hawkmetri/demeli. i want them to be canon in s6 so bad even though there’s such a slim chance of that happening. let me know your thoughts!

[lokiondisneyplus]

[This interview contains spoilers for Loki‘s season finale.]

When Kate Herron joined Loki as director, she knew she had an ace or two up her sleeve that would forever alter the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it. And in ��For All Time. Always.” — the now season finale — Loki showed all its cards by revealing Jonathan Majors’ He Who Remains, a variant of Marvel supervillain Kang the Conqueror, who set the events in motion that would open up the multiverse. Since the character of Kang is a key player throughout phase four of the MCU, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige and his team, along with Herron, knew exactly what was at stake with this particular casting.

“Casting was a very surreal experience. When I joined the project, we always knew that Loki and Sylvie were going to go to He Who Remains, and the multiverse would be released,” Herron tells The Hollywood Reporter. “So I already knew when I got the job that it was going to be a massive undertaking to do that and a big responsibility for Marvel to get it right. And Jonathan Majors is an actor that we were all just blown away by; I think everyone who knows his work is blown away by him. And when I knew we had Jonathan, he and I were solely focused on He Who Remains and this version of the character, this variant.”

At last December’s Disney Investor Day, Feige confirmed earlier reports that Majors would play Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. But since Majors ultimately appeared first in Loki, Herron further clarified the timing of his casting.

“[The Quantumania casting] happened at the same time,” Herron shares. “So basically, [Ant-Man director] Peyton [Reed] and I were in that discussion with Kevin Feige and the team at Marvel. We knew he was gonna be in [Quantumania], and we knew that a version of him was going to be in [Loki].”

As Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Sylvie’s (Sophia Di Martino) doomed love story culminated in a passionate kiss, the latter repositioned Loki so she could grab He Who Remains’ futuristic TemPad and send the God of Mischief back to the TVA. Despite Sylvie’s guile, Herron still considers her side of the kiss to be authentic.

“Sylvie is sort of where our Loki was in Thor. She’s driven by revenge, pain and anger, and that’s what he’s saying to her,” Herron explains. “He’s like, ‘I’ve been where you are, and I just want you to be OK. You’re not going to get what you want.’ But on her journey of self-healing, she’s not where he is. So she’s not going to see it that way. So there was a sense that she was turning to get the TemPad, but I don’t think it meant the kiss wasn’t genuine. In my head, it was always a horrible goodbye, really, but the feelings were real.”

In a recent conversation with THR, Herron also discusses her own shocking goodbye to Loki following the surprise season-two announcement. She then offers her take on the final scene and the subsequent questions she hopes are answered in season two.

Brava, Kate. Loki season one was top-tier MCU as far as I’m concerned.

Thank you so much. I love Marvel, and I was just so excited to have a chance to direct for them. It’s been so nice to see everyone enjoying it.

In a complete tonal shift, Friday morning’s news about you not returning for season two makes this victory lap rather bittersweet. After one of Marvel Studios’ best pieces of storytelling, you’d think that getting the band back together would be automatic. So what else can you say about this?

I would say that when I joined Loki, it was always going to be those six episodes. We were treating it like a movie, and we were running it like a movie. We weren’t doing it in the showrunner system. So it was a lot to direct these six episodes, and I gave it all of my energy and everything I had in my soul and in my heart. I threw everything I loved about Marvel at it. So I always intended just to do these six. And it was such a massive compliment and a delight that as we got much later into production, Marvel and Disney were like, “Ah, man. This is excellent, and we want to keep going.” So I just feel like my part is done, but I’m really excited to see where it’s going to go next. So I gave it all that I have, and it came from a place of love. I really enjoyed working on it, and I hope to work with Marvel again in the future. They changed my life, and I just love Marvel as I’m sure people can tell from the amount of Easter eggs and references I did throughout it. But I just feel like I’ve done my part with Loki, at least for now, and I’m excited to see where it goes next as a fan.

Jonathan Majors’ He Who Remains. How did this go down from casting to filming?

Ah, so casting was a very surreal experience. When I joined the project, we always knew that Loki and Sylvie were going to go to He Who Remains, and the multiverse would be released. So I already knew when I got the job that it was going to be a massive undertaking to do that and a big responsibility for Marvel to get it right. So when we were casting, it was basically me, Kevin R. Wright, my co-executive producer, Kevin [Feige], Lou [D’Esposito], Victoria [Alonso] and Peyton [Reed]. So we were all just talking about actors, and the amazing thing about Kevin Feige is that he’s so collaborative. He wants everyone at the table to have a voice, and he wants to see what they think and how that fits into his plans for the character. And Jonathan Majors is an actor that we were all just blown away by; I think everyone who knows his work is blown away by him. He’s an amazing actor, and the thing that I love about him is that he’s this chameleon. He’s so different in everything he does, and that’s exciting, obviously, when you’re asking an actor to play a character who’s going to have a lot of different versions of himself. So for us, that was a thrill. And when I knew we had Jonathan, he and I were solely focused on He Who Remains and this version of the character, this variant. It was just fun digging into him. We have this character who’s so lonely and isolated, and the only character he probably interacted with is Miss Minutes, which is what we imply. At the beginning, you see that he’s surrounded by all this noise in the universe, but he’s quiet and he’s alone. So how introverted or extraverted is a character like that? What makes that personality? So it was really fun digging into it with him.

So even though Jonathan’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania casting was announced first, your team technically cast him first, right?

[The Quantumania casting] happened at the same time. So basically, Peyton [Reed] and I were in that discussion with Kevin Feige and the team at Marvel. We knew he was gonna be in [Quantumania], and we knew that a version of him was going to be in [Loki].

So once a big movie or show is finally released, fans like to comb through trailers for any unused footage. So was that “King Loki” moment supposed to be a quick insert for when Loki is tempted with a throne by Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) and He Who Remains?

So that moment wasn’t actually King Loki. It was just meant to be a memory from our Loki’s past. It was basically going to be in episode one because we had a lot of memories in that episode. But it was honestly a tonal thing. The scene was actually quite a funny scene, and it was really beautifully written. But he was about to see his mother die, and it didn’t feel right to have something so comical next to a gut-wrenching moment like that. So it’s just the nature of making any film, really. Unfortunately, you sometimes have to kill your darlings. (Laughs.)

Did He Who Remains put a Time Twister on the edge of his desk, or a TemPad? Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) called it a TemPad even though it looked like a Time Twister.

(Laughs.) I love weaponry and technology so I’m just like, “The fun thing with this is…” So basically, it’s meant to be a futuristic version of the TVA tech. So that was the fun idea of it. When He Who Remains tells his story about his other variants meeting, you see bits of the TVA technology. So our idea was that it does both things. With the TVA technology, you see that the Time Twister hooks into the TemPad, but it’s these two separate, clunky things. But whereas with He Who Remains, he has more advanced technology than the TVA So it has both functions, basically, which we see him use. The difference is that he’s in control of the twist; it’s twisting him. Whereas when we see the TVA use the Time Twister, it’s with a Time Collar as they’re controlling a prisoner.

As Loki and Sylvie kissed, she repositioned him so she could grab the futuristic TemPad and eject him back to the TVA. So do you consider the kiss to be genuine on Sylvie’s part despite her calculation during it?

Honestly, the way I always read that kiss is that her feelings were genuine and that it was a goodbye. Sylvie is sort of where our Loki was in Thor. She’s driven by revenge, pain and anger, and that’s what he’s saying to her. He’s like, “I’ve been where you are, and I just want you to be OK. You’re not going to get what you want.” But she’s not there yet. On her journey of self-healing, she’s not where he is. So she’s not going to see it that way. So there was a sense that she was turning to get the TemPad, but I don’t think it meant the kiss wasn’t genuine. In my head, it was always a horrible goodbye, really, but the feelings were real.

Since the TVA resides outside of time, what can you say about the mechanics of the final scene?

So the way I see it in my head is that the TVA exists outside of space and time, but reality and everything as we understood it has completely changed in the last few minutes. With the multiverse branching, how do we know the TVA still exists in that way? We don’t know, and I suppose that’s a big question that will be answered as the show goes on. But in my head, the intention is that Sylvie thinks she’s sending him back to the TVA, but because of the way time and branches are crossing each other outside the window, Loki has unfortunately been sent back somewhere very different. So reality has shifted just by the nature of what He Who Remains said, and the idea is that he’s in this alternate TVA now.

We have to wrap, but is Eugene Cordero’s Casey OK? He went missing after episode two.

(Laughs.) Yes, Casey is fine! I love Casey, and I hope there will be more Casey to be enjoyed.

Well, congratulations once again, Kate. And if you do return to the MCU someday, please make a Miss Minutes slasher movie since she’s utterly terrifying.

(Laughs.) I would love to! That would actually be my dream.

[agl03]

Hello! I’m a new aos watcher, so I apologise if this is a repeated rant, I just wanted to vent a little and found your blog :) I just finished through season 3 and 4 and those were really… rough on fitzsimmons, more so than the first 2, and I think it’s because the writers were so inconsistent? 3A was just a mess to jemma. she was so hot and cold, but not in the way you’d expect from being on a planet. it was like watching a different character almost every other episode [1/6]

[2/6] she has ptsd, then she doesn’t, she’s professing love for fitz, then professing it for will. I was getting whiplash! It felt like the writers put her through hell and then didn’t know how to come back from it, but gathered their bearings in 3B (although if I’m honest, that felt a little cheap, because it was a redo for her relationship with fitz but she still never got to react to being on a freaking alien planet!)

[3/6] and then season 4 was so hard to watch how they tore fitz down. I just find it so hard to believe that, without jemma, fitz would be such a monster, because he had to be a good person too, right? otherwise its like he had 0 personality before jemma and she carved him into who he was, but that doesn’t make sense. I guess I’m still shocked that he never woke up from it, even though everyone else did. it felt like the writers pushed him far (too far) and didn’t know what to do with him.

[4/6] I haven’t seen season 5 so I hope they mention it a little bit, but it was a real struggle to see how extreme they went with him, and Im honestly struggling with whether or not i should go on because the writers seem to love to push them to extremes and then backpedal and not in any way that resolves anything, it really makes me cringe sometimes!

[5/6] I also thought it was strange that fitz got a chance to say, very clearly, that he would always choose jemma over anyone, but that jemma never said anything about that for will? I get that jemma is more reserved than fitz, but I’m still a little sore about that, it doesn’t help with fitz looking like besotted second choice, is all I’m saying. I guess I’ll have to see in the later seasons…

[6/6] anyway, i'm sorry for this, i had about 4 seasons of angst built up in me and i didn't know who to turn to! i really like the show, but i am starting to try and watch with less and less expectations because i keep getting my hopes up for a real resolution and it hasn't happened after almost 100 episodes... thank you for listening and for being so friendly from what i see! i hope i haven't poked old wounds or anything !

Hi Anon!

Welcome to the Fandom, and you have no idea how much these kinds of asks are right up my ally over the years.  I’d say go digging through my blog for more of the metas but that is spoiler central in there so I hope this will suffice until you are done.

First and foremost I don’t want to spoil anything for you but I’ll say to you what I said to the fandom at the end of Season 4....just hang in there we have to trust that the writers have a plan.   I”m REALLY gonna stress this one cause I have a feeling you’ll be back.

Season 3 does indeed hold many old wounds and a pile of story lines that started and then went no where or flat out didn’t make sense.  The whole Space Rando thing was upsetting to say the least but I will tell you the writers said in the Season 3 Declassified that he was nothing more than a roadblock in getting Fitzsimmons together, 12 episodes, but that is what is was.  Were there other ways they could have worked with a more father figure Space Rando and Jemma’s PTSD for that delay, yes, but to be very honest they did not have the real estate to do that kind of story the justice it needed with everything else going on.  It is also worth noting they had to fire the actor that played Will and in that had to change a few things, IE Hive was Ward.   Real estate wise the cast had gotten pretty large at that point and there just wasn’t enough time to properly deal with all that was going on.

Season 4 they did much better, had things mapped out better, but that still didn’t change the fact that I suspect there were a few lane changes story wise .  Again thanks to the declassified books.   And over the years I’ve done A LOT of metas on the Framework and I think something that gets lost a lot is what Radcliffe said he wanted and what AIDA actually did when it came to fixing a regret.

Radcliffe told AIDA, in order to keep the team quiet and not trying to bust out like May did, was to take away a regret.   And for May that was Bahrain.  That change was what set up the hell scape we came into with Hydra in charge.  Radcliffe was blissfully off on his happy Island with no clue what she was really up too until it was too late.  

After 4.14 when AIDA got her hands on the rest of the team she didn’t do like she did with May, Change her biggest regret, rather she changed A regret and for everyone but Fitz stuck them somewhere where they wouldn’t get in her way.  Mack got his daughter back and was ready to die in there with her.  Mace got to be the Hero Inhuman Leader he always wanted to be.  Coulson was a teacher.  May was where her regret left her.  Daisy (had she been replaced) would have just been another foot soldier in Ophelia’s army.  And Jemma was where she could never ever have a chance of getting to Fitz because she feared their love and that Jemma would take him from her.  And I have proof those were not the regrets that they would have had fixed and I’ll circle back to that in a second.

Fitz was her target all along.  She knew from the Darkhold she needed him for what she wanted.  Looking Glass and Love.  However, she didn’t realize that his heart always was Jemma’s and when he wasn’t brainwashed and controlled within an inch of his life that he’d leave her in a second.  She mistook his previous acts of caring and empathy as love and had no understanding of the depths of human emotions. IE you can love people different ways.  Sure he cared about AIDA but he loves Jemma with his heart and soul and vise versa.

As Fitz was her target she fixed things so that she could insert herself in his life in Jemma’s place and that he would have grown up with his awful father who taught him that cruelty and power was the way to go.  This also kept out any positive and caring influences like his Mother, Jemma, and the team.  

I said I had proof that some of those regrets weren’t necessarily what the team would have picked.  That came via Self Control from Robo Coulson and Robo Fitz bearing in mind these LMD’s all had scans of who’d they replaced.  Their memories and their desires.  

Robo Coulson told Robo May to let this whole hostile takeover happen because in the Framework they were happy and together.  That was decidedly not the case there though their connection ended up proving crucial to getting everyone out.  

Robo Fitz told Jemma he was doing this for her so they could get married, grow old together.  Had he known he would be sending Jemma literally into the grave Robo Fitz would not have gone along with the plan.  He thought he was getting Jemma and they were going to go live their own Happily Ever After in there.  Yeah, not the case either.  

With the not waking up, no one but Coulson woke up and that was only thanks to Tahiti.  And yes, it was brutal.  Every week my poor ask box got more and more upset and as a fandom we were more than ready to get the hell out of there.  I mistakingly died on the hill that Jemma would snap him out of it (though I did accurately predict the second Fitznapping....yay).  She didn’t because this isn’t Once Upon a Time, True Love’s kiss doesn’t break the curse of having your mind completely wiped by an evil LMD and the Magic Demon Book.  Now looking back it does make the fact that the second he had free will again, despite that other manipulated life where he was dedicated to Ophelia, it was still Jemma.   

Oh and Jemma did choose Fitz over Will, when the sandstorm hit.  She continued to go to Fitz and left Will....she would have never left Fitz in a sandstorm with the evil monster lurking about.  

That all being said sometimes crap just has to happen to move the story ahead and there is always a price to pay for the good.   I do think the Framework went too far but at the same time the writers were making a bit of a political statement there and they saw how good Iain was with evil bad guy.  

Shippping Fitzsimmons is a lot like a Marathon and you are about to the “What on earth have I done to myself,” point of the race.  But I promise the feeling of crossing that finish line at the end can’t be beat.

[some-lists]

Ranking all the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers

Go Go Power Rangers! I felt it was time for another 90’s throwback. Today I’m ranking all the Power Rangers from Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. Just about every 90’s kid was obsessed with this show. It was a phenomenon. It started out with the original five in its first season. As the show went on, we saw a number of replacements added to the cast.

As a child, I had my definite favorites based on my childhood memories. I later rewatched the series as an adult and my perspective on the characters really changed. This is my ranking based on what I observed as an adult looking back.

10. Kat Hillard (Pink Ranger)

Kat had the unfortunate task of filling Kimberly’s shoes as the new Pink Ranger. She was doomed from the start. The writers introduced the character as a villain -- a fellow student under an evil spell to undo the Pink Ranger. It made us not like her from the very beginning. Kat eventually grew into her role, especially in the following seasons of Zeo and Turbo. But initially, she felt like an imposter who literally did not fit the suit.

9. Aisha Campbell (Yellow Ranger)

I liked Aisha as a kid. I liked her sassy attitude and that she was girly and short. After watching the show again as an adult, I realized how completely useless she was as a ranger. She had no fighting ability whatsoever, couldn’t do any flips, and didn’t offer any brain power either. I actually felt embarrassed watching her fight scenes.

8. Rocky DeSantos (Red Ranger)

I think Rocky got a raw deal as the new Red Ranger. Many viewers were used to seeing the Red Ranger as a leader. However, when Rocky was introduced, he was just another ranger on the side. I don’t think this was his fault as Jason had already been demoted as leader after Tommy became the White Ranger. As a kid, I liked Rocky. I didn’t mind him as an adult either. His taekwondo skills were actually better than Jason’s. He was faster, more agile, could kick higher, and do more flips. Unfortunately, as one of the replacement rangers, he was always in the background.

7. Jason Lee Scott (Red Ranger)

Ranking Jason this low is gonna shock some die hard fans. As a kid, I absolutely loved Jason. He was one of my favorite rangers. I thought he was a great leader and strong fighter. He was the glue who got his team to work together. I especially preferred him as a leader over Tommy. But when I rewatched the show as an adult, I realized he really didn’t do anything! He had maybe two episodes about him. One was about him bench pressing a world record where he lifted weights the entire episode. That’s pretty much all he ever did. He lifted weights, punched bags, and occasionally taught a karate class or two. Essentially, he was there to flex his muscles and not much else. Even his sword, which I remembered being so cool, was pretty much useless. That was a big eye opener for me. I was also disappointed to see that his taekwondo skills weren’t as great as I remembered them. He was really slow, kinda clunky. Overall, Jason deserved better than what we was given.

6. Billy Cranston (Blue Ranger)

As the resident brain, Billy managed to invent the team’s communicators, which were also teleportation devices, and a flying car. He often operated the computers at the Command Center along with Alpha-5. It’s fair to say he contributed significantly to the team. He was a weak fighter in the beginning, but somehow became a super ripped expert gymnast by the end of his run. The show never explained that, but it was never a realistic show anyway.

5. Adam Park (Black Ranger)

I remember not liking Adam very much as a child. He was so quiet, shy, and often in the back as one of the replacement rangers. In my child mind that meant he was boring. However, as an adult, I realized how awesome he really was. First of all, he was way cute and I didn’t even see it before. He was smart and often operated the Command Center along with Billy (good ole Asian stereotyping). But mostly, he was an incredible fighter. His Shaolin kung fu style was a beauty to behold. His kicks, spins, and flips were so quick, effortless, and graceful. He had the best line in the movie: “I’m a frog,” which turned out to be the best zord as well. As the seasons went on (especially into Zeo and Turbo), he became much stronger, more confident, and a lot funnier too.

4. Zack Taylor (Black Ranger)

Zack is seriously underrated. He had a great personality. He was the life of the party, a great dancer, and funny. He even created his own martial arts style called Hip Hop Kido. He especially shined in the second season as he incorporated his karate with dance moves and incredible acrobatics. In my opinion, he was a way better fighter than Jason. If he had been given the proper treatment, Zack would’ve been on the same level as Tommy. After Zack left the show, the cast wasn’t nearly as fun.

3. Trini Kwan (Yellow Ranger)

Original Yellow Ranger Trini was the best. She was strong, brave, and intelligent. She had a spiritual side to her that was cool, calm, mature, and classy. She had natural leadership skills that were completely overlooked. I’d even say that when unmorphed, she was the true leader. She often stepped up and encouraged the other members no matter what situation they were in. She could understand Billy’s nerd talk and translated for the team. She also kicked serious butt. She became a big role model for many Asian American girls, as she was one of the first Asian American actresses with a visible role on television.

2. Tommy Oliver (Green & White Ranger)

I loved Tommy as the Green Ranger. His karate took the show to the next level. He was super bad ass and totally convincing as a villain. That evil laugh was perfect. Even after becoming good, the writers found a way to keep him around. His weakening powers and ultimately losing his powers gave him a tragic appeal. His relationship with Kimberly was also super cute. He was an exciting fighter and a compelling character. But, I didn’t really like him as the White Ranger. Once he became the White Ranger and the new team leader, he became a lot less interesting. He no longer had a real story. His martial arts was always top notch, but compared to the Green Ranger, White Ranger Tommy was too perfect and a lot more boring. Separately, I would’ve ranked White Ranger Tommy after Adam, but Green Ranger Tommy was awesome. Like I said, he elevated the show.

1. Kimberly Hart (Pink Ranger)

Kimberly was such a popular character. She was loved by girls who wanted to be like her, and by boys who had a crush on her. As an adult, I could easily see why and I was actually really surprised. She was hands down the star of the show. She had the most episodes dedicated to her out of all the rangers. Even when the episode wasn’t about her, she often saved the day with her bow and arrow. Seriously. She saves the team in almost every episode. Even though she wasn’t the strongest fighter unmorphed, her gymnastics skills were crazy impressive. Overall, she was the most valuable and consistent ranger on the team. Without her, they would’ve been toast.

Overall Thoughts

First of all, I couldn’t believe how poor quality the show was. They obviously reused the same footage over and over again. Even more unbelievable is how we all believed it as kids! But that cheesiness is now one of the best aspects of the show.

I was also surprised by how much the show favored certain characters over others. Kimberly had the most spotlight, followed by Billy. When Tommy showed up, it became all about him. Zack and Trini were tied for second to last place for air time. Jason was dead last. He was barely even in the show. It’s no wonder the three were unhappy and left the show when they did.

Rewatching the series also made me realize how much the movies glorified Tommy at the expense of the Pink Ranger. In the first film that meant Kimberly, who I mentioned in this list was an incredibly strong character. In the Turbo movie, they weakened Kat for Tommy to rescue her as well. That’s super disappointing as the show offered some really cool role models for young girls.

One thing I appreciated about the female rangers was how feminine they were. Kimberly was a fashion crazy mall rat, but she was never diminished for it. It just happened to be her personality. It was never a weakness. None of the girls were expected to act like boys in order to be strong. Later in Zeo and Turbo, Tanya was more tomboyish. She naturally excelled at sports and that was really cool too.

Overall, I was impressed by how much stunts these young actors did. The putty scenes were my favorite. We got to see the real actors (not costumed stunt doubles) do all their own stunts. They were all talented martial artists of various styles and masterful gymnasts. As the show progressed, so did the choreography. I can understand why the actors complained about not being paid enough.

Today, most of the newer Power Rangers shows don’t do their own stunts like the originals did. They’re a lot more flashier as well with explosions going off in every episode. Even though the budget is higher and the actors have more rights now, it doesn’t beat the nit and grit or the talent of the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.

[battlestar-royco]

let’s talk about tropes

here’s a little (little?!) post on tropes, as promised!

some tropes i hate and why i hate them

love triangles: this one’s pretty simple and obvious. love triangles are unrealistic and toxic. they romanticize emotional cheating, and they cause nasty ship wars in fandoms, especially when two of the points in the triangle are women. often, the “losing” point of the triangle is a one-dimensional throwaway character who either gets killed off or accepts their fate and steps back for the “winner” to take over. this dynamic can get especially problematic when the “loser” is a woc and the “winner” is white, when the “loser” is an lgbtq+ character, and/or when the “loser” has no purpose other than to create drama for two other fleshed out characters. the character often ends up being hated for bad writing and “getting in the way” of the endgame ship. yikes. the only valid resolution to love triangles, imo, is a polyamorous relationship!!!

girl hate: it’s rare to see nice friendships and romances between women, and often this trope is used to drive an unnecessary wedge between two female characters who would have otherwise been great friends. i don’t mind when two women/girls are in conflict with one another for an interesting reason, but i absolutely hate when the conflict is based on something stereotypical and boring. the “girl hate” conflict is always based on something misogynistic, unrealistic, and/or stupid--like a man, looks, sexual practices, or a contrived competition. this is especially gross when the men in the story act as the voices of reason in the conflict, patronizing the women and teaching them how to be nice and use logic.

“strong female characters”: many writers mistake “strong” characters for characters who employ violence, sassiness, and masculine attributes to get what they want. I’m so over it. all I want is nuanced representation of women that doesn’t reduce them to a love interest or a sex object who looks down on other women. strength comes in many forms, and everyone defines it and identifies with it differently.

miscommunication: this has to be one of the laziest forms of prolonging drama, when two characters are fighting because of something that could easily be solved if they were locked in a room together for five minutes.

incest/incest-adjacent romances: this should go without saying, but we’re for some god-awful reason going through a period where incestuous relationships/fake-outs (ie, you’re in love with him? too bad he’s your brother. oh wait, it’s revealed that he’s not!/you two are blood related but you either never met or you went through a period of separation, so that means you can fall in love) are heavily romanticized or used to create extra drama, and it’s just unnecessary and not cute. i think authors use this to add some sort of edge or uniqueness to their writing, but it’s just so toxic and a complete turn-off for me.

aesthetic oppression: (term inspired by and similar to “aesthetic conflict,” thanks kat) when an author throws in some sort of oppression that is experienced by people in real life, but they either don’t address the oppression thoroughly or they only use it to add some sort of edge to their story and further a character’s romance, death, redemption arc, etc. for example, the homophobia in GOT season 6, which reduced loras to a walking stereotype of a gay man before he was subjugated by the church sept and blown up, and the patriarchy in ACOTAR that only exists to show how feminist rhysand is.

boys/men fighting, having tantrums, or expressing themselves through violence: it’s fine for male characters to fight every once in a while, but i just hate that this seems to be exclusively employed with male characters and it is used as a solution or reaction to problems when realistically, men are much more nuanced. men cry. they might be alone or in front of others. they might cry into their pillow or on a friend’s shoulder. fictional men add violence and anger to their sadness because the authors don’t want to emasculate them, but that’s a stupid goal and crying doesn’t affect someone’s gender. smashing your belongings when you are upset is unhealthy and potentially dangerous, and so is physically fighting others over trivial or patriarchal issues (ie a woman) when conversation could be/is probably much more compelling and effective. it’s important to show men that anger isn’t always the first emotion to feel under duress and that they don’t have to express their feelings by punching walls or throwing their belongings across the room. (also?! practically? YOU’RE RUINING YOUR OWN FUCKING STUFF AND/OR YOUR ROOMMATE/FRIEND/PARTNER’S STUFF, YOU ASSHOLE.)

sexy immortals: immortality can be used in clever and entertaining ways, but i feel like a lot of the immortals i’ve been seeing lately run in the same vein as the twilight vampires, which is to say: unearthly beautiful (aka conventionally attractive), overly sexy (aka stalking a love interest for the sake of “attraction”), apparently 16-25 years old (aka accessible to grown women who read/write ya).

uninvolved parents or non-existent guardian figures: sometimes young characters don’t have parents and that’s fine; some of my favorite books are about characters with one parent or no parents. but i still feel like we’re coming out of a period where it was very popular to kill off the parents (especially moms) at the beginning or before the story starts. i really want to see more exploration of characters with parents, or at least see the characters without parents make significant relationships with adults or react appropriately to the loss of their parents.

one-off character deaths: when a character enters one chapter or episode of a book/show just to immediately die for cheap emotional manipulation. this character is also sooooo often a marginalized person, and it’s super predictable and tired. try harder, author/screenwriter!

some tropes i love and why i love them

special snowflake/chosen one: I can’t explain it. I know it’s so cliche and one of the most hated ones out there, but I love when this trope is done right. I’m not a big fan of the chosen ones who have a special destiny, especially if the mc is a white boy, because that’s been done a million times before. but I’m a sucker for that one character who comes upon an unexpected special ability/object/creature or connection to a force of good/evil/nature and has to contend with that. They’ve been Chosen and they’re completely unprepared, and it’s gonna change their life trajectory and relationships and maybe even political climate.

woobies!!!: I feel like this trope is so underrated and it’s one of my favorites of all time. I absolutely love rooting for that one character who’s too good for any of the shit they’ve been through and Deserves Better^TM, but they manage to survive and grow against all odds.

found family: i love that authors are expanding the concept of family and unconventional narratives about love. the found family trope is so charming and relatable to many readers, and it’s great to see seemingly contrary characters come together to find a loving home together that isn’t necessarily romantic.

soft characters: it’s rare (though increasingly less rare, fortunately) to find soft boys, aka male characters who are compassionate, funny, kind, pensive, and/or quiet instead of brash, loud, violent, and angry. i know so many boys and men who fall all along the spectrum of masculinity, and it would be great to see more characters who represent that, especially because male characters are typically forced to express their masculinity in one way. i also absolutely love seeing women being equally as soft and kind--with the exception of ASOIAF!sansa, i feel like this kind of character has been cast aside for the sassy, rebellious, empowered^TM female character who isn’t like other girls and wields a bunch of weapons. i’d really like to see more female characters whose strengths come from empathy, intelligence, and emotion.

unique relationships within a friend group/ensemble: this one is marginally related to my love of found families. not only do i really like tight, strong friend groups, but i also like when each of the friends within that group has a different and compelling dynamic (hostile, romantic, friendly, tragic, whatever may have you) that can carry a scene or an arc. unique relationships between all the characters in an ensemble adds so much dimensionality to a story.

complex guardian figures: this mostly applies to ya, but i think it can also be said for many adult books and tv shows. adult characters often get flattened or sidelined for romance or action plots when in reality almost everyone has parent/guardian relationships, and these relationships are the source of so much complexity. that complexity may mean love, found family, anger, patronization, manipulation, and more, and all these things will be expressed differently based on the characters in question. for example, look at the difference between eleven and hopper from stranger things and harry and dumbledore from harry potter. hopper and dumbledore are so different and each of them carry darkness and baggage that comes out on the kids for better and worse. bonus points if the guardian is a woman, because these types of relationships between girls and women are relatively rare to the ones between boys and men.

anti-heroes/anti-villains: i think this is another one that goes without explaining. we’re all the hero of our own story, after all. if an author can successfully convince me to root for a character who i know is wrong but believes they’re in the right, or for a character who does the wrong things for the right reasons, there’s a good chance that i think very highly of that author.

stoic, bitter, angry characters: if there’s one character in the ensemble who has any of these traits, there’s a good chance they’ll be my favorite, especially if that character is a woman. usually this character’s journey is about what makes them vulnerable and how they become close with the most unlikely companions or form a special relationship with a foil character. it makes the audience feel like we’re being let in on a secret, specifically about that character.

and that’s about it! my inbox is always open to talk more in depth about any of these and more, so let me know. thanks so much for 700, you all are great :D

[lia-nikiforov]

Fall Anime 2018 Watchlist

We’re about halfway into the season so this is probably kinda pointless by now, but here’s a quick rundown of the stuff I’m watching this season.

Dropped

Jingaisan no Yome: This is a 3 minute show and I won’t spend longer than that writing about it (I’m timing myself). I didn’t know it was a short going in. I’m not really into shorts, Saiki kun being the only exception and the story was less MahoYome and more... i don’t even have an apt comparison, it just was maybe more serious about the “marriage” thing than something with a giant floofball character should be.

Tokyo Ghoul: Re 2: It’s simple. I watched episode 1 and realized I had no fucking clue of how any of this related to the ending of the first season, no idea of who half the characters were and where did they allegiances lie and what is Kaneki even trying to do. Although not loyal to the manga, the first two seasons of Tokyo Ghoul had a story that could be followed and made sense, this, however, is just jumping over plot points with no rhyme or reason and there’s nothing but confusion.

Bloom Into You: There’s nothing actually wrong with this show and I was kind of looking forward to a yuri romance that wasn’t rapey or incesty bullshit, but something about this one just didn’t click with me. Like Touko fell in love with Yuu too quickly, and given Yuu’s ace/aro identity, it would feel weird for her to do a 180 and suddenly fall in love with Touko. I kind of want more fun and emotions in my romance stories and this one didn’t have much of either.

Chopping Block

Given a few things the past two weeks that didn’t go according to plan, I fell behind on my anime watching after keeping it in control for the first third of the season and i’m quite annoyed. And because of this, and my upcoming research trip to Japan at the end of the month, I might end up having to drop a couple of series.

Bakumatsu: Objectively speaking, this show is really bad. The production values are poop, the story is a wacky mess that takes itself a bit too seriously and the characters are flat and uninteresting, the villain is egregiously boring. This show also has Matsuo Basho as a secret tive traveling ninja, and that puts me at quite the predicament. I want to see more of this utterly bonkers historical reinterpretation, but boy do I wish they could make it more exciting.

SAO Alicization:  The only reason I, a notorious SAO hater, is watching SAO is because I hate myself. With that out of the way, boy is this SAO boring. We’re four episodes in and the only thing that’s happened is they cut an old tree because nothing can stop Kirito and his new friend, Yellow Kirito. This show needs to start getting offensive and/or stupid soon or i’ll die of boredom.

Karakuri Circus: I hear this one’s from the same mangaka as UshiTora? I love UshiTora and I can see the resemblance between giant guy whose name I can’t remember and Tora. His character and his schtick are so far the most interesting thing to me, with the kuudere puppet girl whose main purpose seems to be to get paired with him  having yet to make an impression on me. I’m also still not really certain what the overall plot is. I do love stories about found families, so hopefully I can stick with this one

Hinomaru Sumou: If my watching schedule were normal, this wouldn’t be in this section. Whilst not the best sports show of the season, and chock full of some of the most eyeroll worthy aspects of sports shonen *cough cough* toxic *cough cough* masculinity *cough cough*, Hinomaru Sumou has the fire and passion for an underrepresented sport that’s usually enough to hook me. I just don’t have time, and if push comes to shove, I’ll prioritize other shows over this one.

Banana Fish: Yo, okay, before you lynch me for being a hater or whatever, let me tell you I have zero issues with Banana Fish. I don’t hate it, I don’t think it’s Bad Representation(TM) whatever the fuck that means, I definitely don’t think it’s fujobait or just another BL. It just doesn’t make me happy. This probably doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I’ve never been a fan of tragedy. It’s also part of the reason I’m dropping Tokyo Ghoul. I don’t like hopeless stories and tragic romances. I’m somewhat spoiled on how the manga ends and each time I find myself less and less inclined to watch the newer episodes because the descent into misery is just not enjoyable for me. It’s not the show’s wrongdoing, it’s just not the kind of story I like. I’m probably too far along to drop it at this point, but also I kinda wish I could drop it because I get so little joy out of it. Also, my main hook is of course Ash and Eiji’s relationship, but 15 episodes in (I’m behind, as is evident) the time they’ve spent together is so minimal, I can’t even appreciate that a whole lot.

I guess I’m watching this? 

Dakaichi: Me: Man I really want a yuri anime without rapey bullshit. Also me: watches BL anime with rapey bullshit. I have literally no excuse. I think the basic setup lends itself really well for a romcom and Takato is a very likable character, it’s a shame it’s the same old rapey bullshit. In my defense, episode two was really sweet and I’ve been hoping for more stories along that line, even though the show has failed to deliver them since. Episode 5 may have pushed the line even beyond what I’m willing to tolerate, but it’s unclear. I might end up unexpectedly dropping it after episode 6. HEY JAPAN WOULD IT KILL YOU TO MAKE A BL ANIME THAT WASN’T RAPEY BULLSHIT? JUST ONE?

(honestly, Takato deserves better)

wao episode 6 was maji disgusting i might drop it after all

Fairy Tail Final: I just want closure man. This adaptation retains all the worst attributes of the previous season, terribly slow pacing (what for?! the manga is over!!) minimal animation, recapalooza. The color palette is slightly brighter than before, which I appreciate. Fairy Tail’s last arc wasn’t as bad as Bleach’s, but it was still pretty bad in the manga; still I hope seeing it animated will make it feel less messy and slightly more coherent. The FT anime has also in the past filled in some blanks that existed in the manga, so hopefully they can make the best out of it here.

(Erza is still my wife)

Tsurune: No, this isn’t the best sports anime of this season either. Although that’s hard to judge given how it’s barely on its second (third, i’m behind) episode. Technically, I feel more compelled to drop this than Hinomaru, but also I want to give it a fair chance. That said, the first episode was.... profoundly underwhelming and borderline upsetting, with how everyone put Minato on the spot in spite of his having an actual psychologic condition that drove him away from kyudo. I’m all in for stories about growing and surpassing your own obstacles, but I hope they go about it in a less mean-spirited way. Also, the characters feel pretty shallow so far. I’m not even gonna pretend the main reason I want to keep watching isn’t gorgeous guy with the ponytail-san, because I’m now old enough that I immediately gravitate towards the senseis rather than the teenage protags.

i am so weak to long hair  _(:3」∠)_

welp he cut his hair right next episode, thanks for nothing kyoani

In spite of everything, Anime is, in fact, Good

Golden Kamuy: Like with many split-cours, there’s nothing much to say beyond “if you liked the first one, you’ll like this one”. The production values are still tragic, but I think the pace has improved, and the dynamics between the different factions are so fluid and constantly changing they make the story very enthralling. It also continues to have the Best Reaction Faces.

Gakuen Basara: Listen, listen. You all knew I was gonna watch this. And I love Basara so much I still think this show is a masterpiece even when it’s objectively atrocious. I do not reccommend it to anyone who isn’t already a fan (and I mean a blind fan willing to consume anything from this franchise, even in its cheapest, dumbest, worst looking incarnation). That said there are a couple of interesting things, namely the power rivalry between Hideyoshi and Nobunaga, this never happened in the original series because Nobunaga died before Hideyoshi was introduced. Anyway, just shoot that Masamune x Kojuuro fanservice straight into my veins please and thank you

Zombieland Saga: One of the two biggest surprises of the season and one that was nowhere near my radar. An original production by studio MAPPA with perhaps the wildest premiere episode of the season that’s somehow making me like idols?! It’s also giving us the most Miyano Mamoru has ever Miyano’d and it’s amazing and histerical. The characters are also very charming, specially bikegang leader Saki and the always legendary Yamada Tae and the show isn’t scared of letting its cute idols get gross and silly and dirty. There’s also a feeling of mystery that I find very appealing. Definitely didn’t expect this one to be one of the highlights of my week, yet here we are.

SSSS Gridman: Just when I’d vowed a giant fuck you to Studio Trigger, in they come with one of their most quiet productions yet, with characters that speak their lines in soft, leveled voices, tragedies that feel palpable, emotionally climactic battle scenes and a sense of tension and mystery that makes it impossible to take your eyes away. It does have the caveat of oversexualizing the female characters, specially the villain, and not giving Rikka virtually anything to do, but past that, it’s been a very pleasant and intriguing surprise. Also of note, I have no background knowledge of the Gridman tokusatsu series but that hasn’t really been an impediment to enjoy this series.

Double Decker: Doug & Kirill: A spinoff to the 2010 superhero hit Tiger & Bunny, we have a less superpowery buddycop comedy with a cool and diverse cast, whose main character wants to BRING DOWN CAPITALISM, okay, put an end to economic inequality and classes, but that’s basically the same thing. The show is pretty far along because it premiered early for some reason, and so far it’s been mostly one-shot stories very thinly connected to the distribution of the illegal drug Anthem, with our main plot having only come up two episodes ago with the fantastic Zabel and Bamboo Man twist. The dynamics between the main duo are great and Kirill is a riot as a protagonist. 

Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru: Or Run with the Wind. Now THIS is the best sports anime of the season. Brought to you by the studio behind Haikyu, based on a novel by the author of Fune wo Amu. Firstly I love that it’s set in university, because it gives the cast a lot more variety in their interests, ages and personalities, their goals, their baggage, and it makes the process of bringing this team of misfits together even more interesting to watch. The characters feel very human in the way they speak, their worries, their relationships, their actions. The show’s done a great job so far in building the characters and making them worth cheering for. Also Ouji is my spirit animal. If you ever wanted a show to motivate you into running, this is what you’ve been waiting for! Another great surprise of this season for sure.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo: Finally part Five is here! And in it we get perhaps the most interesting Jojo protagonist right off the bat, with troubled Giorno and his difficult past and his wonderful Stand ability. His new set of allies is also quite eccentric and interesting and every scene and dialogue has that special Jojo flavor of crazy and ridiculous and always a load of fun. This one will have 39 episodes, so we’re barely getting started and I’m already loving all of it.

Thunderbolt Fantasy 2: Urobutcher’s favorite puppets are back with a vengeance! Every bit as fun, insane, cool and over-the-top as the first season, with the added value of the rapport between the characters, evidenced by how brilliant the few scenes in which Shang and Lin share the screen are. With a brand new story that expands the world of our favorite puppets, and even more new gorgeous puppets added to the mix to make Shang’s life a mess, this show is definitely my favorite this season and potentially of the year. Let Urobuchi keep doing puppets for as long as he wants!

ooof i’m finally done. It’s midseason so probably nobody cares but do hmu with your favorite shows of the season and if there’s anything worth hatewatching that I may be missing ;)

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Volume 6 “Our Way” (The Finale!)

We made it, folks. Volume 6 is finally over and my god what a disappointment it turned out to be. 

I’ve danced my whole life and I had an instructor once who gave a lecture on choreography, cautioning us that the order you put your pieces in is just as important as the pieces themselves. Though each comes together to create a whole, your audience is more likely to remember the first and the last piece—so make those two count. Volume 6 began strong with the relic and the lore, and then ended on a flat, uninspiring, illogical note. Sadly I know what part of the performance I’ll be remembering from here on out.

However, first let’s tackle what we didn’t get this episode. There was no flashback to Oscar at Argus, re-characterizing his outing as something significant that might actually impact his growth as a character. Rooster Teeth really just… did that. They gave us an exact repeat of episode four, had Jaune physically assault Oscar, no one stepped in, no one bothered to check if Oscar was okay, we set him up staring morosely at the door, a two week cliffhanger, and then we really got an episode all about Jaune’s emotions while Oscar bought new clothes and made these people a casserole. He immediately accepted an incomplete apology, went so far as to speak like he thinks he’s going to die… and the group just smiled at him. Because remember, right now they only care about outsiders—which Oscar still very much is—when they’re helping and not getting in the way. Which Oscar has now promised to do. The finale gives us a brief moment where Ruby tries to praise Oscar for his efforts and it just rang as incredibly hollow to me. It’s easy to be kind to people when everything is going your way. You show your true colors when things get tough. RWBYJNR has repeatedly demonstrated this volume that when push comes to shove they’re willing to throw Oscar (and Ozpin) under the bus.

I’d need an entire, separate recap to detail exactly how horrible their treatment of him has been and how worrying it is that the story continues to frame this behavior as not just acceptable, but the actions of heroes. Suffice to say, if you have friends who seem nice on the daily but use you as a punching bag whenever they need an outlet? Do me a favor and get far, far away from them.

In the interests of moving on, another thing we didn’t get was any mention of Raven. A few friends theorized that last volume’s end credits scene (where Tai spots Raven using his portal) might finally come into play, but no such luck. More importantly to my mind, Yang still hasn’t said anything about Raven being the Spring Maiden, so that continues to be a secret she keeps while heaping more judgement on Ozpin. We’ll get to that later.

We didn’t see that true reconciliation teased in the last shot of the opening. Ruby never fought grimm with arms like those, let alone in a sewer tunnel… even though one was right there at the farm. I’m honestly starting to believe what others are saying about whole episodes being cut to make time for GenLock. Something happened this volume because the writing took one hell of a nosedive. It’s not just that I don’t agree with the messages the show is expressing, it’s that we have dangling threads, confusing “twists,” and what honestly feels like half-assed storytelling. Like they knew they had to complete the volume but just weren’t feeling motivated, so they chucked together something shoddy and left it at that.

(We also didn’t get to hear what Ruby bought them all at the gift shop. I realize this is a comparatively tiny thing, but to my mind it was a missed opportunity. They could have bookended the premiere and the finale, revealed that tiny mystery, told us something about Ruby based on the gifts she chose—the fandom keeps complaining that she’s one-dimensional—and if she’d picked up something for Ozpin at the time, that would have been an easy moment to have the group start reflecting on their behavior, a reminder that just a few days ago he was an important member of their team. Obviously I doubt the gifts survived the train crash, but there’s no reason why Ruby couldn’t tell them about it; a quiet moment before they reach Atlas. Like the shorter season length though, this episode was short for a finale. We were barely given enough time for the plot, let alone any reflection.)

For now though, let’s dive into the actual episode. We open on a field where an airship lands, Neo transforming as she steps out. That really is a powerful semblance. She can create copies of herself, disguise herself, and (as we’ll see in just a moment), disguise a whole freaking airship too. Granted, that last one seems to take some effort, but as this finale will inform us later, it doesn’t really matter how tired you are. If the plot needs you to do a thing with your semblance, you’ll manage it. Somehow. 

Cinder arrives in a new outfit as well and, like Neo’s, it’s pretty damn skimpy? I haven’t bothered to bring this up before because on the whole RT writes it’s mostly female cast very well, but considering how many other criticisms I’ve got today, why not chuck out one more. Meaning, why do these designs continually have to promote sexiness over practicality? Weiss, Nora, and Ruby all fight in skirts—hastily justified as “combat skirts”—and at least half the women on this show fight in heels. Yang sports short-shorts. Both she and Blake have bare midriffs. Now Neo is in a top that looks like it’s held up by a prayer and Cinder is sporting lingerie-like knee highs. There’s just no reason to design characters like this, especially when a good chunk of your cast is made up of teens. Cinder says herself that Neo will soon need snow boots. Just dress her appropriately for the weather from the start. You know, like how we didn’t get with Team RWBY while traveling through a kingdom filled with snow. Apparently Weiss wearing a scarf is enough to combat hypothermia for the whole team.

And yes, I realize costume changes require new models to be made, but that’s precisely why you should design your fighters as fighters from the start. You’re battling giant monsters? No one would wear heels. Or skirts. Or expose their midriff. It seems pretty convenient that aura supposedly protects them, eliminating the need for armor, and yet now it’s only our most masculine character—Jaune—who still bothers to wear it. Neo and Cinder are just the most recent examples of, “Why the hell would you wear that to a fight?”

Well, maybe these two will freeze to death before they ever reach the group… They’re heading to Solitas too and though they didn’t do anything in this scene besides reveal new and impractical clothing, I was more interested in their brief discussion than I was in the entirety of RWBYJNR’s fight. At least I’m comfortable in how I feel about Neo and Cinder. They’re bad guys. They’re gonna do bad things that the story frames as bad. They’re usually fun to watch. I don’t get frustrated and confused whenever they come on screen nowadays.

Cinder says, “Someone once asked me if I believe in destiny…and I’m happy to say I still do” as we get a final shot of them planning their nefarious deeds. We’re getting a lot of references to Pyrrha this volume—this, the statue, Ruby’s memories later—and taken on its own that’s fantastic. In a season though where Pyrrha’s death is subtly ‘justifying’ the group’s awful behavior and acting as a reminder to the fandom for why they unjustly hate Ozpin? Ehh…

We close on the villains and open on our “heroes” with rousing music to signal the upcoming battle, which… isn’t really a battle at all. The Leviathan is steadily approaching Argus and the Atlas personnel are calling for Cordovin. She’s still stuck, yelling about how “This is your fault!”

And it is. However, once again Cordovin’s exaggerated attitude makes it easy to ignore the fact that she’s right. She’s racist! She’s arrogant! She’s screaming and sounds like a child! Clearly our group is the mature ones here. Look at how calmly Ruby faces her down in contrast… It reminds me of how people (particularly women) are told that they’re being “Too emotional” in this conversation and therefore all the points they’ve made are somehow invalid. Of course Cordovin is emotional. A group of kids just lied to her, stole from her, started a battle against her, and destroyed her mech right when her city is about to be overrun by grimm. I’d be screaming in frustration too.

Though of course, most don’t view it that way. I agree with what others have pointed out, that if we’d been given a calmer authority figure saying the exact same things—No you can’t go into Atlas. Why would I let anyone other than Weiss cross a closed border?—it would have been easier to see exactly how horrible the group’s actions are here. As it is, Cordovin’s personality acts as a distraction. One more way to present the group as heroic when they’re anything but.  

Yang and Blake arrive on the scene, wanting to know what the hell is going on. Yang asks, “Is that a giant grimm?” and Weiss responds, “Yes…and we just ruined the only thing capable of stopping it.”

That’s an admission of facts, not necessarily an admission of guilt. The group acknowledges that they ruined the one defense capable of taking out a grimm of that size, but as we’ll see, there’s no regret attached to doing that in the first place. It’s just summarizing the situation for Blake and Yang.  

Granted, we get a moment where Ruby looks worried/potentially sad as they fly away from Cordovin, but what does that mean here? Is she sad about what she’s done? Or just worried about this new situation? Their actions have been so extreme that the story can’t afford to be vague about the characters’ emotions here. Plenty of people will (and are free) to read this moment as Ruby experiencing fierce regret at her choices the last few hours… but it’s just as easy to attribute her expressions to fear about the coming battle. I’m not inclined to give these characters the benefit of the doubt here. They haven’t earned it.

Regardless, we cut to the airship where apparently Yang and Blake have already told everyone about Adam. That was not the sort of thing that should have happened off screen. By all means, be practical. There’s no time for a long-winded conversation with the Leviathan bearing down on Argus, so have Yang announce that they’re okay, yes something happened, we’ll explain things later. Now you’ve established that this very important information will be conveyed either on the airship later, or at the beginning of volume 7.

What a waste. This is the end of a villain we’ve had since the Black Trailer—the first time our protagonists have killed a fellow human being—and that admission is regulated to the 30 seconds it takes to fly from Cordovin to the middle of the fight. Ruby hugs Blake and tells her she’s safe, but that’s it. That’s currently the extent of the team’s reaction to this huge revelation and like JNR learning about Salem, the audience has no idea what sort of details they received. Do they just know Adam died in the fight or that they deliberately killed him? Did Weiss hear about the brand? We don’t know. Hopefully this conversation is given more weight in volume 7, but given what else we’ve seen lately, I’m not counting on it.

Maria then interrupts with one of the most jaw-dropping lines of the episode: “I suppose I have to be the bad guy and say it, but getting the lamp to Atlas is still our top priority.”

Are we for real right now? Where was this calm, level-headed, pragmatic Maria when she was pissing off Cordovin with cashews? Or cheering at Ruby rejecting all adults? Now she starts trying to think rationally? But of course, when she does stop her manic cackling it’s to suggest something horrific. Yes, Maria. It does make you a bad guy to want to abandon a city to the grimm you brought here. She realizes that everyone is dead if they leave, right? That without the mech or silver eyes Argus has no decent way of stopping that Leviathan? Maria is meant to be the Grimm Reaper, the greatest huntress of her generation, and the writers think it’s appropriate to not only have her encouraging a bunch of kids to recklessly commit treason, but then condemn a whole city to probable death for their mistakes?

No, the relic is not the top priority. The relic is a side mission. The top priority has always and will always be protecting humanity. At least Yang, Blake, and Weiss realize this. They say firmly that they’re not leaving and Ruby gives a little shrug like, ‘Guess we’re not leaving then.’

(They really like having Ruby treat her mistakes as jokes, don’t they?)

So Ruby announces she has an idea, the one the whole fandom saw coming a mile away, and the next second Qrow says, “Eyes up, everybody” because they’ve reached the Leviathan. Ha. Get it? Eyes up?

Okay. I’m done lol.

We get shots of the terrified Argus population, including Terra and Saphron. 

Ruby asks Ren and Jaune to mask the ship which, reminder, they shouldn’t be able to do. Ren maybe, but Jaune just used all his aura to protect himself and Nora from getting splattered by Cordovin’s arm. Then he was thrown into a boulder for good measure. Last episode he couldn’t even stand without hanging off of his teammates. Now we get exactly what I was afraid we would: the plot needs someone to Do A Thing so aura burnout is conveniently forgotten. Jaune gives a confident smile. Of course he can boost Ren’s semblance and cover an entire airship!

Keep in mind that we just saw Neo dropping in exhaustion after a second of using her semblance on a whole ship. Granted, her ship is bigger, but she’s also presumably at full strength right now. If we were bothering to follow the rules established by this world, I highly doubt Jaune would have been able to pull this off.

Meanwhile the Leviathan has easily taken out Argus’s first barrier. “It tore straight through…” Oscar whispers, reminding me that he hasn’t had many encounters with grimm. If I remember correctly he mentioned to Ruby that there was an occasional one on the farm (as expected), but they must have been pretty weak if an untrained kid can take them out with farm equipment. Oscar then goes straight to Haven, battles people at the Academy, gets on that train where he fought some manticores, but then he didn’t get to see the Apathy for himself. This seems to be one of the first times Oscar is seeing grimm at all, let alone one this deadly. No wonder he sounds shocked.

With the shield destroyed in an instant the Atlas personnel start giving the order to evacuate… when Ruby interrupts them. No worries, fine people. I have a plan! Wait, why should we trust you? “I’m a huntress.”

No you’re not, Ruby. Literally and symbolically, you are not currently a huntress. Ignoring for a moment all the stunts you just pulled, undermining everything a huntress is meant to uphold, that is a formal position. It’s a title that embodies great power in this world and you achieve that title by studying four years and graduating from an academy. You don’t get to call yourself a college graduate because you did one year and then studied on your own. Same with being a doctor, or a lawyer, or literally any titled position. Ruby (in continuing with the theme of this volume) is lying to that Atlesian soldier. She’s misrepresenting herself, claiming she’s something other than what she actually is: a half-trained teen with a current chip on her shoulder.

This is also another moment where she ignores Qrow when he yells for her to stop. The issue isn’t about who’s right here—whether Ruby should tell the others about her plan or not—but that Ruby is consistently ignoring everyone around her to charge forward with whatever plan she personally thinks is best. Qrow told her not to attack the Atlas military… look what happened. Qrow told her not to go stare down Cordovin’s missiles and try to make an impossible shot… look what happened. Qrow told her not to stubbornly stand her ground against a mech when the rest of her team is beaten and exhausted, and though Ruby survives, it’s only by the will of Plot Armor. She leapt into a freaking cannon. She knocked herself out. You’d think after all this Ruby would at least pause a moment to give Qrow the time of day.

It ultimately doesn’t matter though because their ship is still flagged as hostile. Atlas isn’t going to help them on what clearly looks like a suicide mission. We get a close up of Ruby daring to do what no one else can or will. “Fine… we’ll do it alone if we have to.”

…which is precisely the problem. Atlas backing off might feel like a consequence—Oh no! Their actions lost them their backup!—but all it does is get the extras out of the way (who just happen to be adults) so we can more easily focus on the protagonists (who just happen to be teens). It’s a reward. They don’t actually need the airships here, as the group is about to demonstrate, so this ‘consequence’ is absolutely meaningless. It would be something entirely different if, say, the story actually framed the soldiers as necessary to distract the Leviathan and Ruby had to admit her faults, begging them to help despite her mistakes; if the story made it clear that teamwork was a necessity. But there’s nothing like that. This is meant to read as the hero’s crowning moment.

Also, as an aside, why in the world would Ruby tell them to wait on the rest of their evacuation? What if—a wild thought here—something went wrong? Like literally every plan you’ve ever come up with? Isn’t it better to get people to safety while you try out your idea, just in case it all falls to pieces? This is just one more moment of Ruby’s overconfidence putting others at risk. She’s endangered her team, herself, and an entire city this volume… and has learned precisely nothing from it.

But we’ll come to that. Right now Ren masks the airship’s approach, conveniently keeping it up just long enough for them to reach the Leviathan, and then he’s out. They still didn’t make it in time though. The Leviathan sends out another stream of fire that takes out the second shield and hits the top of a tower in Argus. Needing to get closer, Yang and Nora distract the Leviathan while Ruby rides in on one of Weiss’ summoned lancers. I did appreciate Blake briefly supporting Weiss as she works to keep her semblance up. Whatever else, this volume has been good about brief, non-partner interactions. 

We hear Ruby encouraging herself as she flies in and then she chucks her communicator into the water to concentrate. I thought something would come of that? Why bother having Yang interrupt her if there wasn’t a serious issue (it takes another long moment for the Leviathan to turn on Ruby) and why full on get rid of the communicator if that choice wasn’t going to come into play later? Eh, whatever. Far from the first time we’ve had setups that go absolutely nowhere. This volume is full of them.

So Ruby does as Maria taught her: cycling through memories of her family and friends, trying to drum up that fierce desire to protect them. 

I did appreciate that Oscar, Qrow, and Maria get brief appearances… but again, the one team member who isn’t shown is Ozpin. Apparently Ruby now hates him to the point where he’s not even a part of her very generalized thoughts about who she wants to protect. I mean she met Maria three days ago and the woman now means more to her, apparently.

(For the record, I say this because Ruby knew Ozpin primarily in his headmaster form and is drawing largely from volume 1-3 material. We might have seen him in the new engine, easily. The shot of Oscar we’re given is also the one from the training room where Ozpin didn’t speak until Ruby left. Alongside Ozpin’s absence this volume, that’s the closest we’ve ever seen Oscar as only Oscar. That choice says a lot in my opinion.)

Eventually Ruby’s memories start to segue into darker thoughts and… okay. I’m confused now. Why is thinking about bad memories the thing that doesn’t let the silver eyes work? Not only were those moments where fierce protection would be at its strongest, but Ruby has only ever been in horrible situations when her eyes went off: Watching Pyrrha die, watching Jaune about to be killed, watching Blake about to kick it via Apathy. You’re telling me that during those times Ruby somehow thought about bright and happy things, not the horror of the fact that her friends were in the process of being murdered? If anything, those flashes of Yang without her arm or Penny cut into pieces should be the very thing that does set her eyes off.

Instead they fail. Ruby opens her eyes to find the Leviathan turning her way and then, as a friend of mine pointed out, she gasps out a “What?” and looks down at the relic.

No. That relic has very conveniently done nothing the entire time the group was trekking through the woods, staying at an abandoned farm, driving who knows how far, and running around a new city. You’re not going to tell me now that suddenly it’s the cause of the Leviathan turning away from people currently attacking it. Either the relic’s draw is strong enough that Oscar should have been in trouble on the train, or it’s not strong enough to act as a justification here. The relic is the new Qrow’s semblance: turning off and on when the story wills it.

In a panic Ruby yells for Jinn, which is less the “clever” choice Jinn says it is and more a potentially clever gamble. The last time they used Jinn every creature in her vicinity remained active. Granted, all those creatures were human or faunus then, but Ruby wouldn’t know if she would freeze the grimm as well. Regardless, her gamble pays off (because of course it does) and we get another example of how the protagonists are currently super special people who can never do any wrong.

Jinn: “You do not seek knowledge, but just this once I will give it freely…I will not allow you to use me without a question again.”

Why? That’s the question you have to ask for all your characters’ decision. Why are they doing this? What’s their motivation? Jinn provides none. She has no reason to let Ruby off the hook for summoning her without a question, especially since she frames that as another bad choice that she’ll (somehow?) punish Ruby for if she does it again. But this time, once again, our protagonist is let off the hook, purely because she’s the protagonist.

With this very generous second chance Ruby re-shuts her eyes, thinks only of the good times, including a memory of Summer Rose. The fandom has been waiting a long time to see her outside of a covered photograph.  

Ruby manages to activate her silver eyes. It works—mostly.

I mentioned previously how the show needs to introduce some downside to the silver eyes so that Ruby isn’t suddenly over powered against every grimm from here on out. This is a downside… but an odd one. The grimm turned to stone, but not all the way? Sort of just a stone encasing that it partly manages to break out of? Okay. I mean that works, but it’s a pretty easy downside to overcome. The grimm is still stopped in its tracks, giving the others plenty of time to take it out.

And, as always, pay attention to how it’s all framed. Despite not working exactly as she intended, this is meant to be a moment of victory for Ruby. She’s succeeded in her trial by fire. She’s single-handedly saved all of Argus. The music is rising, the people are cheering, people who have no idea what silver eyes are and will now start up legends about this girl. Who was the huntress with the magic-like power none of us understand? Ruby Rose. The girl who stood toe-to-toe against a Leviathan grimm and won.

This would indeed be a wonderful moment if it weren’t Ruby’s fault the grimm was there in the first place. Like her own claims of “I’m a huntress,” this moment misrepresents Ruby to the people. No one is going to learn that she’s the one who endangered them, only that she’s the one who came to the rescue. She’s fixing her own mistake and then allowing that to stand as a heroic act.

I was so looking forward to Ruby learning to wield her silver eyes. Not like this though.

Cordovin arrives with her pinned arm gone, ready to finish taking out the Leviathan, and she’s suddenly stupidly cheerful about it. Again, characters need motivations. If their outlook on a situation changes we need to see why that happened, especially when moving from such extremes. In a matter of minutes Cordovin went from shrieking at the group to not just sunnily helping them—which is a practical consideration. As she herself says, “I was sworn to protect the people”—but also letting them go.

….there is no reason to let them go. None. It goes against Cordovin’s entire characterization, the logic of the situation, and nothing has happened in the last few minutes to change her mind. This is the story at its laziest: “We don’t have a reason for Cordovin to let them go. She’s just gonna. Because they’re heroes.”

During this conversation we get an “I’m sorry” from Ruby and that’s admittedly something, but like Weiss’ comment about destroying the mech or Ruby’s worried looks, what is she apologizing for? Because she doesn’t seem very contrite right now. The framing isn’t telling us Ruby has anything to be ashamed of. She’s the star in this moment. So that ‘I’m sorry’ feels less like an admission of wrong doing and more, ‘I’m sorry I had to attack you and that it almost got everyone killed. But I absolutely had to. No doubt. So I guess I’m only sorry that fate screwed us over. It’s not like I had a hand in this mess or anything.’

All of which is to say: there are no consequences. None. Zip. Nada. No one in Argus died (despite the fact that all those flying grimm apparently bypassed the mass of terrified people to go battle with the airships on the opposite side of the Leviathan??), no one was arrested, no Ironwood or Winter, no Ozpin coming to their rescue, no problems with aura, the mech still manages to fight, the airship still manages to fly, no one was even reprimanded for their behavior. This volume we have seen the group betray a man they were demanding trust from, steal a secret they knew nothing about, force him to relive thousands of years of trauma while taking in the personal history that was never theirs to see, verbally and physically assault him to the point where he has to remove himself from their presence, they repeat that on an innocent kid days later, do absolutely nothing to make up for that, show no remorse for their actions, steal military property, plotted to mess with one of the few remaining relay towers the whole world depends on, beat up Atlas personnel, chucked them out of a plane, started and continued a fight with a special operative that endangered an entire city of people, destroyed a city’s primary defense, risked straining kingdom relations, nearly got friends killed with these foolish stunts ….and nothing. Not a single consequence, punishment, or reprimand. RT set up a situation where the group makes horrific mistakes and then had them learn nothing from them. Far from it. They’re rewarded, telling the audience that provided you have power—be it physical strength, access to resources, or the knowledge of a super secret mission—you can do whatever you want. There is no single stupid, illegal, dangerous, or callous thing you can do that isn’t ‘justified’ with, “Well I literally could do it, so I guess that means I’m allowed to do it, right?” Our title, “Our Way,” definitely embodies the morals we’re given this season.

I’m honestly disgusted with this volume. Just as a piece of media. This isn’t a story where we’re following anti-heroes and are well aware that they’re committing horrible deeds. This is a story about traditional heroes who are now using anti-hero means, something the story has just straight up ignored. I really didn’t think RT would take things this far… but here we are. This is apparently our group now and I personally think they’re awful.

And ugh, there’s still more of this episode. We cut to the group flying that night and Maria comments that “We should have just enough fuel to make it.” Wow you… literally didn’t think anything through, huh? No one even bothered to find out if they’d have enough fuel to not crash land in the ocean halfway there. Wonderful. 

We get another entirely illogical conversation between Qrow and Ruby. He tells her she, “Did good out there today, kid” despite the fact that Qrow was consistently (and correctly) trying to get her to not do the things she was doing. Is it too much to ask for Qrow to have a firm and honest conversation about her making reckless decisions instead of more unearned platitudes? And then Qrow lowers his bottle which… what? Alcoholism doesn’t work like that. Much more importantly, no one has tackled his drinking this season. Or the reasons he was drinking in the first place. Literally, Qrow’s semblance, his place in the war, Ozpin’s secret, none of it has been addressed. He has no reason to suddenly put aside his flask like he’s actually learned something. Does RT think we’re going to just imagine scenes that never actually happened?

(I mean, that’s what fic is for, but that’s… fic. The canon should at least be attempting to hit a higher bar. This is their job, not an unpaid hobby done late at night when you’re exhausted after your own full day of work.)

Qrow and Maria also have a conversation about how he was there to “Catch them when they fell. Literally, if I recall,” implying, again, something that didn’t happen. Yes, Qrow literally caught Ruby when she fell from the cannon, but that line is meant primarily in the metaphorical sense: You were there to support them, keep them from doing something stupid, steering them back to the right path, etc. That’s what Qrow tried to do, but Ruby consistently ignored him.

This is all such a mess. Though we do get some nice shots of Blake and Yang sitting together—lots of hand-holding now—and Weiss comments that she’s glad Yang was there for Blake. Yang corrects that they were there for each other, confirming the lesson they learned off screen at some point. 

A conversation starts up once again painting Ruby’s recklessness as awesome heroics. Among her clique she’s all bashful now, no more arrogance when there aren’t outsiders to push back against, and Ruby tries to foster attention off on Oscar. He corrects them about landing the airship… he didn’t actually do that himself.

Oscar: “I didn’t land the ship on my own.”

We get a flashback to him panicking as the ship crashes, but this time we hear Ozpin saying, “Stay calm. It’s going to be okay.” Back in the present Nora immediately freaks out, “He took control?!” and Oscar corrects her with no, he helped guide me.

Let’s unpack this a bit. First of all Ozpin would have been 100% justified in taking control, just like he was justified in taking control at Haven when Oscar was going to get them killed by stubbornly insisting that he fight Hazel. Like everything else in this volume, each situation has its own context. Just saying, “Ozpin took control of Oscar without permission” sounds bad, until you bother to acknowledge that dying is kinda worse. It’s like if I see a 14yo boy running towards a road an I yank him backwards. Technically I just took away his agency—I haven’t allowed him to keep running forward when he wanted to—but I did it so he wouldn’t get hit by that car. If Ozpin had taken control to keep three team members, including everyone’s precious leader, from dying a horrible death via airship crash… that’s a good thing.

But he didn’t. Even now, even after everything, Ozpin is so careful to give people as much choice as he can. He assessed the situation and decided that he could guide Oscar without taking away the use of his body, the sort of consideration most people wouldn’t even bother with during a time of crisis. And think about those lines. “Stay calm. It’s going to be okay.” The last time Oscar spoke to Ozpin he was forcefully stealing the means to allow the rest of the group to betray him. Now here Ozpin is, not angry, just endlessly reassuring. 

Then he leaves again. Everyone realizes Ozpin is still doing his best to give everyone what they supposedly want, right? I mentioned ages back that the group wants a contradiction, to have Ozpin fix their problems without having to deal with Ozpin as a person, and now he’s managed that. He comes in, saves their lives, then leaves so no one has to deal with the apparent horror of speaking to him. His level of selflessness is off the charts and it astounds me that anyone thinks this man is a cruel, manipulative puppet master.

…and then there’s Yang.

Yang: “Does that mean he’s been watching us this whole time?!”

Oh yeah. I don’t like Yang much nowadays. I forgot because the last couple of episodes the show isolated Yang with Blake. She’s good with Blake because she actually likes Blake and is probably in love with her. But put Yang with someone who isn’t willing to enable her misplaced anger (Maria, Ozpin) and suddenly she’s not a very kind person anymore. Like the rest of the group right now, Yang’s basic, human empathy doesn’t extend beyond the confines of their team.

Plus, what does that accusation even mean? She makes him sound like some sort of peeping tom and not the leader she was following three days ago. Yang realizes, right, that Ozpin isn’t allowed a body of his own? That he’s connected to Oscar? That anything Oscar sees Ozpin automatically sees too? There were admittedly questions about whether Ozpin was connected to the outside world while locked that deep in Oscar’s head, but Yang makes it sound like he physically left and then started stalking the group without their permission. She makes him sound like Adam.

I really can’t with this group right now. Man arrives to save the lives of the people who betrayed/assaulted him and their reaction is basically, “How dare you even look at us?” The worst part is, you know a huge chunk of the fandom is going to agree. No matter what Ozpin does, even literally saving our title character’s life, it’s somehow twisted into an act of manipulative cruelty.

Also gotta love that Qrow is sitting right there and apparently doesn’t care about this conversation. He only interrupts with a smile to tell them they’re in Atlas.

Which is, admittedly, gorgeous as hell. I do like these shots a great deal.

The only thing that ruins the view is the fleet of airships above, stationed like they’re expecting a battle. This seems to connect to the army we see Salem building in the post credits scene… but how in the world does Atlas know about something like that? Did Ironwood hear something and come up with an excuse to scramble the fighters? Or are they prepping for something else entirely? An attack from another kingdom?

Regardless, we end on one of the personnel telling the group, “Welcome home.”

After the credits we see Emerald and Mercury utterly horrified by something below. We pan down to see Salem creating grimm from the pool… and then making them grow wings. My first thought was, “That guerrilla is going to need a much bigger wingspan to accommodate his weight.” My second thought was, “Oh. Flying monkeys.” That should tell you something about what my brain considers a priority.

Hazel comes in and reminds Mercury and Emerald of an old saying: “If you want something done right, do it yourself.” That’s admittedly unexpected. Looks like after hearing that Ozpin reincarnated and ruined her plans for the Spring relic, Salem has decided to get her own hands dirty for once. I hope we get to hear more explanations for this because she’s apparently kept to the sidelines for generations and now, pretty randomly, decides to announce her presence to the world by leading an army? Who knows. It wouldn’t make less sense than anything else RWBY has given us lately.

And that’s it! We’re done! Hallelujah I need a break. Well, pseudo-break. I still intend to upload my other recaps to tumblr, dive back into our older episodes, and there are still asks to answer. So meta-ing is far from over, but it’ll be less intense than 4000+ words every Saturday lol.  

Thank you all so much for reading. I’d sill be writing these with an audience of one (me), but it’s way better when there are others as well. So kudos to you all—and happy hiatus!

Other Details of Note

Neo is fully wearing Roman’s hat now and Cinder canonically wears Louboutin heels lol.

A bit of an odd note, but Cordovin’s repetitive screams about “This is your fault” almost sound painful. Like she’s physically in pain. Obviously that’s not the case in any literal manner, but there’s something horrible about watching the group destroy a part of the mechanical body she’s currently inhabiting and then just abandoning her, watching as she tires and fails to move. I really can’t emphasize enough how callous this group has become to anyone not in Team RWBY or JNR.

I enjoyed the red of the Leviathan glowing under the water as it moved. Nice touch.

“Never get used to that view,” Maria says, once again framing her eyes only as a joke and never a legit issue when it presumably would be.

Yang has ditched the casing on her arm after Adam’s attack. Maybe she and Blake can go arm/weapon shopping together. 

[survivor-mountmerapi]

Ep. 7: “[whoopi voice] You in danger, girls.” - Gian

DeNara

Let the chaos start! Nicholas going home was a 10/10 tribal. 😈 Now I need to figure out who I can trust. I feel like I can keep working with the people on my tribe for sure. Can I trust my old warriors? Not sure yet. Elle says they havent been spoken too since tribal but who knows what happened over there.

Rachel

OMG. So glad Gian and Madi have made it through that tribal! I literally have so much to tell them, but I also have a feeling they have a lot to tell me.  This is going to be a crazy next couple days, but at least i don't work! I am also way too nervous to join this merged call right now, but i'm glad my homies are here and happy to meet some new ones!

DeNara

Looks like Raffy, Steven, Ginnifer, Madi, Gian and myself are gonna try to take out Julia and Pietro. Hopefully we can plan that

DeNara

Lol, Julia and I arent even pretending to talk to each other. We both know it DeNara vs Julia lol

Elle

🎶MERGE, BABY MERGE (ᵈᶦˢᶜᵒ ᶦⁿᶠᵉʳⁿᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒ)🎶🕺🏾WE MADE IT :DDDDD

Honestly roll credits like right now for me 😂😂😂😂. I do Not have high hopes!!! I'm gonna be voted out with a quickness I just know it :')

So anyway Do Not Cry for me Argentina, winning for me was making it to merge and guys: ✨we did it✨

(Just to be clear I'm still going to try my darndest *to* win; I'm just not all that hopeful for the prospects)

Julia

I literally hate merge. I never do well at merge. This is going to suck so much. I just know raffy is coming for me

Raffy

Merge! I did what I, honestly, didn't expect to do this game. We love to see it. According to Madi and Gian, Julia has been spreading to her tribe that I am the one with the idol. Thankfully, I implanted the seeds into those two already, so they seem to really think Julia has an idol (which she does). However, due to this, I feel that I should play my idol soon to avoid any future hurt feelings from my lying. Thanks to my connection with Madi and Gian, Rachel and Anastasia seem to now not believe that I have the idol. Those two are doing the work for me which is fun. I want to bring in Elle and Moth to our little group to ensure numbers. I am unsure where Ginnifer's loyalties lie as she still seems to not trust me. Which is fair. Plus, she did vote for me which is..... Tragic. I think I will stick to the group I'm already in and try to get people to target Julia and Pietro for being far bigger strategic threats than me.

DeNara

Merge tribe is going well. Anastasia and Rachel apparently really like me, so I am hoping to use that to my advantage. Hopefully they arent just playing me for Julia. She is such a great player she could have them with her.

Gian

Winning both reward and immunity challenge makes complete sense with my fantasy 😌 -from a deluded gay

Gian

The merge being 4 winners vs. 4 warriors vs. 4 wannabes just screams chaos. The war is here!

DeNara

I have to say, I am super nervous for the first tribal council. Raffy and Steven have kind of been quiet since the merge and I am paranoid they might have flipped and joined the winners to get me out. Nobody seems to be talking strategy except Gian which is worrying me. I have no idea of our plan is to go after Julia and Pietro with the newbies, or with the warriors. Everyone could be playing each other. Honestly, I feel good with Rachel from the OG wannabe's tribe because we have connected well, but who knows if I can work with her. I am struggling between checking in with Raffyy and Steven about what to do, or try to start calling the shots now and make my own alliances. That could end up biting me in the butt so I am super stressing over what to do. Plus we have the auction today and that could either be really good or really bad for me.... guess we will find out 🤷‍♀️

Moth

Sooooo the merge is here

I have no clue what is happening I don’t wanna be the merge boot, so I’m hoping that I can glide by

DeNara

We just had our auction and I spent $500 on literally nothing. Oof, now to play it as something or to tell the truth....I am thinking I might say it is a disadvantage and I lose my vote at next tribal just to see what comes of it, but who knows. So many things I can do! Also I was giving Raffy a play by play of what was happening and he told me to stop, then immediately started asking questions about what was happening in other chats.... oof

Gian

The way I won absolutely nothing in the auction is... homophobic. How am I supposed to send these people home in caskets without an arsenal? 

Anastasia

so we merged and I just went to the auction and I bought some magic beans for like all of my money.. I don't really know exactly what to do with them but I did tell Madi about what they do so hopefully that will make her trust me more and she can help me come up with a plan to trick someone!!

Raffy

I wasn't at the auction, but Julia is already trying to pin that I have an advantage. Ginnifer is on exile, so that means Julia is trying to target me this round. I hope I win immunity so I don't have to use either of my advantages. Gian was trying to push me to reveal what I got, but.......... I don't like that. It's disgusting. Like, please back off. Otherwise, the plan should still be splitting between Julia and Pietro.

Madi

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PpAuWdOpVHtYEN6F8hFrr9M1gk0_J0rh/view?usp=drivesdk

Raffy

Right now, there should be a split vote between Pietro and Julia. Steven, Gian, and Madi are going to be voting for Pietro. Meanwhile, everyone else will be voting for Julia. Pietro and Julia will be voting for me. I am a little nervous. I want to use my idol to ensure I survive, but, based on how this game is going, I will most certainly need it for later. I just want everyone to be telling the truth here. Elle has come to me saying how she believes everyone should be voting Julia. If I have Elle, then I think I have Moth. If I have Madi and Gian, then I have Anastasia and Rachel. I want to confirm with people tomorrow without seeming as if I am coming too strong. People already see me as a Big Bad and someone with a chaotic play style. One wrong move and I am toast. For me, this is going to be the most stressful tribal of the whole season. No competition. However, I trust that I have rallied the troops. I have put it in the work. I will succeed. On a side note, I told Steven that I had a Safety Without Power. I know he can use this against me, but I really do trust Steven. I think he's my ride or die at this point. We were talking about how dangerously close the newbies were. It will present a big problem, especially with the Warriors and the Winners being so fractured. Final 9 will be the last chance to get a newbie out in my eyes. From the newbies, Anastasia would be the easiest out of them to get rid of. Plus, she is too inactive to be used as a flipper. After that, I would need to rally against Gian and Madi because Rachel is too tight with them. We need to fracture the newbies before we can go in for the kill. I think if any newbie (besides Anastasia) were to make it to the end, then they will win hands down. I know this is going to get me hate in the VL, but the newbies need to be taken down if I want to win. Right now, I am thinking of taking Steven and DeNara to FTC. This will, undoubtedly, change when I get closer to the goal. However, I'd be happy to see any three of us win the title at this point in time. Additionally, it'd be a great story arc for Steven and I. From enemies at the start to F3 ride or dies at the end. However, they would not crown us the winner. I get the vibe this cast may just very well come to the conclusion of "They have won before, so they should not win again." That's dumb. Should I not win a board game because I won it before? Should I never get an A if I got one already? It SHOULD be the most deserving (or at least most respected), but I have a sinking feeling that it won't be the case.

DeNara

There is soooo much going on, ohmigoodness.... Okay so we had the survivor auction and the thing I bought was a big fat plate of NOTHING. Rip the dream. Then we found out that Rachel won individual immunity so that is good because Julia and Pietro not winning it is the best outcome. After that is when we all really started to talk about tribal. I connected with Moth and Elle and they said they want to vote Julia out. Rachel feels super close with me and she said her and all the newbies have a fake alliance with Julia and are willing to vote her out too. So right now everyone is against Julia and Pietro (or so they say). So we are going to split the vote 6 on Julia and 3 on Pietro. I just don't know who I can truly trust in this game. If we only put 3 votes on Pietro and someone flips and Julia plays an idol, whoever those 4 vote for is going home. Plus if Pietro and Julia both have idols, then someone else will be going home. I am just really nervous this won't go the way I expect it to. Part of me wants to switch my Julia vote to Pietro and make it a 5 Julia, 4 Pietro vote just in case someone flips so we still have numbers on Pietro... the question is, who can I trust? I DON'T KNOW..... cries forever Don't even get me started on what happens after this vote if I am still here....

Elle

Ughhhhhhh I got a 10% DA in the auction which I just knew was gonna happen 😂 Chance hates meeee or at least is like a slightly annoyed ambivalent to me lol. Anyway tribal is tonight and I think Julia is going home if people have lied to me Again Im going to CRY like SOB on call this is a threat 😂😂😂😂 lmao I dont think Steven would lie to me or my tribe mates though and I dont think Raffy is lying in this case (I'm choosing to trust him, ik everybody says he can be a chaotic player but eh I'm not like, calculating enough to like analyze what could be deception so I am choosing Trusttt until choosing trust gets me sent home lol). Just in general I'm not smart enough at this to play it like a game of chess or anything (which reminds me I need to watch Queen's Gambit) so my strategy is: be genuine and hope people believe that I'm actually being genuine and somehow that bringing me to the end 😅 yes great strat i know

Moth

I don’t wanna go home tonight If Julia gets voted out I’ll feel so relieved

Madi

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PpAuWdOpVHtYEN6F8hFrr9M1gk0_J0rh/view?usp=drivesdk

Madi

NOT MY GF HAVING TO HOP ON A CONFERENCE CALL WITH JULIA BC SHE PICKED JULIA AS HER DRAFT PICK LMAOOOOO

Madi

jay I only know this bc she I trying to plan it only her calendar bc she is a busy boss bitch and we are always fucking together

Raffy

Julia thinks she some kind of master manipulator. She thinks that she can come in my DMs and act like she had nothing to do with my name being thrown out. Do not come to me with that BS and expect me not to smell it. Allegedly, she claims that she wants to work with me in this game (bullshit). Also, Julia revealed her idol to Anastasia which is going to put a major damper on things. Now, Anastasia is getting paranoid about the idol when she really shouldn't be. She's not the one in danger. Leave it alone. The only time you should care is if the idol will harm you in any way. Julia has successfully caused chaos which is going to put a damper on things. I feel, at this point, that I almost have to use my idol considering that the chaos could easily lead to people stacking their votes on me. Plus, I wouldn't be at a total loss considering I still have the Safety Without Power. I still want the majority of votes on Julia though because I need to get her to use that idol.

Julia

I think the newbies are trying to work with raffy to try to plan shit, especially madi. I do not trust her at all. She’s playing way too hard right now. I know I’ve said this every fucking round but idol is coming out tonight Pietro I think I’m in trouble tonight. Now with that stupid beans Anastasia and everyone knows about Julia’s idol, and I think they will try to pretend to be voting her out to make her flush her idol and get me out instead. I have been able to get closer to Rachel and Gian, I really like them, but they havent talked much with me on the most important day - tribal day. But god sent me to this earth to be the protagonist of everything I put myself into, so going home tonight or not, I can say, I made my own.

Moth

hahahahahahahahah Tribal is scary omg. I'm writing this in class so I dont have too much time, but maaan am I worried for whats to come. It still seems to be Julia Vs. Raffy so as long as its not my name I dont care, but from what I'm hearing there's a lot going on that im not seeing. So I am just gonna sit here and pray no one targets me

Raffy

I think I'll just play my idol to ensure my safety in this round. I still have the SWP. So, it should be good and fun. Julia seems to think I have an idol nullifier. She'll be in for a shock.

Steven

https://youtu.be/gXqEkdyHHgA

Gian

Pietro. Julia. [whoopi voice] You in danger, girls.

DeNaraCouple hours before tribal and Pietro is freaking out. I feel bad but it is also kinda funny since he hasn't talked to me before.

DeNara

This is the most chaotic first tribal and it is still hours away... scared....

Gian

Julia has two options: Play her idol or go home. Stay tuned for a crazy tribal guys 🌞

Rachel

OMG. what am i doing with my life. i really don't know who to trust. i can't trust the winner or warriors and really only have trust in my core OG tribe. thankfully we're in the middle and THANKFULLY i have immunity, but other than that, this vote will really show who's got ties with who. I am so nervous cause this will definitely draw the line in the sand. julia did make a good point. if raffy and steven are controlling this vote and play from the middle, we need to get them out before they can make it any further.

Anastasia

Our main focus this round is to get Julia out. We have the numbers but Julia has an idol. It will hopefully be Julia or Pietro if all goes as plan. I do still like Pietro and I hope he stays in the game but my alliance thinks they are a duo so one of them has to go. I'm pretty sure Julia will play her idol so it might be Pietros time  Unless something changes in half an hour.

[pnnzzlr]

Unity Days 2018 (masterpost)

A collection of UD related stuff I found interesting. Sources are linked.

Day 1: 20th January 2018

*******Disclaimer: [[[asdfghjkl]]] : my comments, not part of the tweet********

Panels:

*** Panel with Bob, Eliza, Lindsey, Nadia ***

via (Afictionados @ Unity Days @theafictionados)

One adjective tease on what the reunions are like: Bob: Emotional / Eliza: Awesome / Lindsey: Hmmm. Okay. (She is a troll omg) #UNITYDAYS2018 (x)

Q: One thing you’ve learned from your character and one thing you’d teach them? Eliza: I’ve learned some pretty badass moves! I would teach my character to like, take a break. Bob: Learning how to use guns [Eliza hi-YEAHS while he talks] and I’d probably teach him how to drink. (x)

Q: If you were to do the musical episode, what song would you do? Nadia: Eliza and Lindsey can sing like professional singers and aren’t, which drives her NUTS (x) there’s footage of Bob participating in an old singing show and Lindsey is LOSING IT trying to get him to reveal what it was. DO YOUR THING, INTERNET. (x)

Q: Hardest or worst thing to film? Eliza: “They threw a gigantic studded panther at me and I had to tackle it. I felt so stupid!” / Bob: “There’s one from last week that I couldn’t stand. [...] Also when I was wearing the adult diaper and hanging upside down?”  (x) / Lindsey: “All the torture. It gets exhausting, and your body hurts.” / Nadia: Being wet all day. I was wet for 14 hours. Eliza: We did become best friends on that day! Nadia: Did we?! Wait it wasn’t that day. It was not that day, babe. (x)

If they were in the hunger games, who would be their ally and who would die first? Nadia: Eliza, Bob, Lindsey, Me. And I’d bring a hug bear. Lindsey: “I want someone really, really intense. Pikachu? No. I WOULD BRING ONE OF THE AMAZONS.” (x)

Your 1st impression of the person on your left: Bob on Eliza: It was at a Kid’s Choice Award in Australia. Eliza: When we first met, I was 16! // Eliza on Lindsey: I was like “you’re SEXY.” //  Lindsey on Nadia: “I thought you were badass! But also HOT.”  (x)

Bob on Bellamy: “This season is the most honest version of my character. This is the best version of him.” (x)

This season was a real chance to reinvent their characters. Eliza: “Who is the new Bellamy, the new Raven, the new Clarke? [...] This season is amazing, I really hope you guys fuckin’ enjoy it.” She immediately felt bad about swearing (x)

x

via (UNITY DAYS *:･ﾟ✧‏ @jasperskaikru)

Question: “One thing you’ve learned from your character and one thing you would teach them.” Bob: “I’ve liked learning how to use guns… And I’d probably teach him how to drink alcohol, because I know how to do that.” (x)

bob’s been kinda quiet during the panel so far bc he’s been distracted by playing with bowie. SO CUTE (x)

as far as bellamy’s hobbies in space, bob jokingly said bellamy’s gonna go back to being a janitor. “cleanliness is godliness.” LMAO (x)

eliza says it’s “official” that clarke gets her hair color from berries! (x) [[[fya - the writers also confirmed this during season 3]]]

bob and eliza are on one couch. lindsey and nadia are on the other couch— and nadia sat on her lap RIGHT AWAY (x)

jo asked a question about how filming was like in the bunker and in space for s5, and eliza was like: “i wouldn’t know. they left me behind.” (x)

Question: “One thing you’ve learned from your character and one thing you would teach them.” Eliza: “I’ve learned some pretty badass moves... And I’d teach my character to take a break every now and then.” (x) / Lindsey: “I learned how to slice a wire!” (x)

eliza says she’d love to play poison ivy! / bob says he’d like to play dr. manhattan! (x) / lindsey says she’d love to play batgirl!

bob’s talking about how it’s funny that bodies just kinda disappear throughout the show like pike and the guy who created ALIE  (x)

nadia says that bob and eliza have amazing “walt disney singing voices” and she’s so bitter about it LOL (x)

Question: “What was the hardest or worst scene to film?” Eliza: “When I had to be tackled by the panther, they threw a stuffed toy at me.” // Bob: “When I was wearing the adult diaper and hanging upside down.” (x) // Lindsey: “All the torture stuff was tough... I was just exhausted.” // Nadia: just GRIMACES LOL

Question: “Who would die first in the hunger games?” Answer from everyone: “Eliza.” (x)

Question: “What character would you bring with you to the hunger games?” Nadia: “A care bear.” / Lindsey: “Black widow... or one of the Amazons from Wonder Woman.” / Eliza: “Pikachu... or Neil Patrick Harris.” / Bob: “Deadpool- to lighten the mood.” (x)

THE BELLARKE FAMILY IS HERE AND ELIZA RAN DOWN TO HUG BABY LARA!!!

bob and eliza said they met at a kid’s choice award show in australia! eliza was 16 at the time! (x)

Bob: “Season 5 is the best version of Bellamy.” Lindsey: “I feel like this is the most honest version of Bellamy.” (x)

Eliza says that season 1 will always be nostalgic, but season 5 will be cool because the writers conferred with the actors on what they thought their character would be like after the time jump! (x)

Lindsey says that Raven is always evolving. And that she really enjoyed playing the aftermath of Finn because losing him was the end of innocence for Raven. (x)

Eliza, on advice for people struggling with body image issues: “I think about me at 21 and how I feel like I was perfect then, but at the time hated my body. And in 10 years, I might feel that way about how I look right now. So why not love the body you’re in?” (x)

Jo: “How was the conclave?” Nadia: “It was bullshit. I’m a nightblood. Nobody stabs me from the back. That was just bad writing.” Bob: “So you heard Jason’s not coming today, right?” (x)

x

via other twitter users:

Eliza says it bizarre to her that the show can end the world and restart it every year. (via ConfettiClarke) (x)

Bob said it was hard to get used to what they are this season since it's been 6 yrs, but he thinks this season has the best version of bellamy (x) 

Eliza: it's bizarre to me that we can end the world and restart it. every. single. fucking. year (x)

Bob: I was first against who Bellamy was at the beginning of this season but on reflection it’s the best version of Bellamy (x)

A lot of interesting bits from the first cast panel at #UNITYDAYS! Best might be Bob and Eliza taking about how much their characters have changed & in Bob’s case being resistant to the change but realizing it was the most “honest” version of Bellamy. (x)

Bob said that there was a really tough scene to shoot last week. (via heda_skaikru) (x)

Relationships have “regressed and developed” over 6 years in space- expect some changes (SelinaW) (x)

x

*** Panel with Sachin and Richard and Tati ***

Jason gets so amped about the show like a kid x

The bunker is really claustrophobic according to Sachin x

Richard said he hadn't seen Sachin in 2 months. Sachin says it was like they really were separated- earth and space x

Richard: we are getting short haired sexy Murphy this year x

Richard characterizing murphy in 5 words:  relentless. passionate.  sadistic. caring. sweet-eyes x

Richard says Murphy and Raven’s chemistry is “undeniable” x And Murphy considers Bellamy his “best friend” x

The bunker is “the most confining, frightening thing” -Sachin x

Tati wants Gaia to make Indra proud and wants “full reconciliation” for them x

Bob and Richard are neighbours now. Sachin is so spicy that Richard moved away from him. x

What’s your favourite relationship? Richard: “Honestly, my favourite relationship is Raven. [...] I think Murphy has so much respect for her. Also, Bellamy. I think Murphy would consider Bellamy his best friend.” x

What would Tati like to see for Gaia this season? (Past tense to make herself past Tati btw!) Tati: “I guess I would have wanted to make her mom proud, not with the conceptual things Indra would have wanted for her, but to show proof of faith.” Reconciliation. x

How do Gaia and Octavia get along as almost-sisters? Tati: “At some point we’ve had to kind of learn to put our differences aside.” x

Richard thinks Murphy’s dad died when he was 10, and his mom 1-2 years after that. Six months later he set the fire, around 13. So he was in jail for years. Sachin: “That’s not fanfiction, that’s Murph-fiction.” x

Richard says that he thinks murphy was 10 when his dad died, and that he was 1.5-2 years older when his mom died. and murphy set the fire at age 13. and that’s why murphy is the way he is— there wasn’t a lot of love at a young age. x

Richard (about working with Bob): they love pushing each other. He also said they are next-door neighbors now in rl (x)

Who are their favourite new characters? Richard: “I have a clear favourite for many reasons.” William Miller! “He’s a bad mother fucker. He’s an incredible actor. You’re gonna love and hate him at the same time.” x

Themes for season 5? Tati: “What truly is unity?” x

Q: Favourite scenes to film? Tati: Opening the bunker with Adina, Henry, Isaiah, and Chris. And then a deleted scene where she rides a horse! Sachin: The truck scene with Jarod. They slid their “too sweet” signal into their hug so that it couldn’t be cut. x Richard: The first Murphy and Raven scene from season 2, hanging Bob, and him in the bunker alone. From Season 4, it’s the Raven and Murphy goodbye. x

On finding out about #Mackson: Richard: “I laughed my ass off. It made so much sense. I can’t believe it took 4 seasons for it to get there.” x

Richard and Sachin are imitating Bob’s voice while stating that one of the themes of the season is “you need to make decisions with your head and your heart”. (Via heda_skaikru) x

Tati, Sachin, and Richard said that a major theme for the season is: what truly is unity? x

Theme of S5: you need to make decisions with both your head and your heart, lol also this has devolved into them imitating Bob’s Bellamy voice (x)

x

*** Panel with Luisa, Chelsey, Jarod, Jessica ***

Emori finally gets a new costume this year after having the same outfit forEVER x

“Miller’s outfit is BADASS” - Chelsey x

Chelsey and Luisa had to discuss their character dynamic because they hadn’t had many scenes together previously x

Luisa wants to play bellamy and i would 100 percent want to see it x

which character would you rather play? Jess: I love Murphy and I could do a way better job / Miller: Murphy but their characters are already similar so Bellamy / Luisa: Bellamy - seems like a lot of fun / Chelsey: always Octavia because she loves stunts x

There’s a scene this year Jessica and Jarod were both part of, and half of the cast involved in the scene were on the verge of vomiting x

Emori is in this spacekru with a “full heart” x Emori thinks space is “the best thing in the whole world” x

Jess would have a hard time if Niytavia was canon because they wouldn’t be able to stop giggling - Luisa ships it irl and Jarod has seen it! x

Jarod had an emotional scene this season but didn’t feel he did as well as he would’ve liked to x

Emori was so excited to go to space SHE DIDN’T EVEN KNOW THE EARTH WAS ROUND x

favorite set to work on? Jarod: Mount Weather was warm and comfortable / Jess: Trading Post / Luisa: The Sand Dunes / Chelsey: a S5 set x

“God I love rubbing that thing.” - Sachin has an affection for @hicusick’s beard. x

Sachin called Paige: Paige’s favourite Kabby moment is their first kiss “because he stopped Abby from talking!” x

Tasya gets overwhelmed by how many weapons she uses at one time and has broken a few weapons.  (x) 

Tasya had a really hard time holding her position with her bow drawn during the Bellamy and Riley scene! “JUST MAKE A DECISION!!!!” (x)

do the Harmons want scenes together? Richard: “I don’t want to relive the first 18 years of my life.” x

x

*** Reviewer’s panel ***

The reviewer’s panel is speaking thoughtfully about how they’ve grown as writers through covering

*** Crew panel ***

During a crew panel at Unity Days, the lovely members of the props department talked about some of their favorite details that weren’t shown in the final cut of the show. One member, Anthony Vani, discussed the sword Octavia received when she became commander at the end of season 4. The sword is a relic of old commanders. In order to make it her own Octavia hand-made a special engraving. The enscription reads “Ge Smak Daun Gyon Op Nodotaim” (via linctavias) x

x

Other: 

Clarke’s list or here [[[CLARKE GRIFFIN.]]]

I have lots of pics of iconic props! [The Prop people] were so nice and explained so many fascinating details. ALSO, the super nice prop guy said they’re already planning on being back for season 6 and was totally and completely confident nodding that there will be one. x

x

Infos at signing/photo ops/M&G:

BOB IS SO SWEET. He thanked me for getting this shirt and I told him I care a lot about it.  I asked him to sign my photo "best unity day ever" and told him i liked it because Bellamy smiles. He then hinted to me that Bellamy would be smiling a lot this season x

Bob is having convos with everyone he's literally so personable. I was like, "Please tell me bell smiles at least once this season, can you hint that??" the way he talked about it was so cute jordan [[[twitter user’s friend is jordan]]] said "probably becuz murphy's his best friend now" he laughed x

bob did mention today that bellamy smiles more this season than ever before [[[hopefully because he finally got to kiss Clarke]]] and that that felt very weird for him! x

bob was at a promotional photoshoot the other day and the photographer asked him to smile and bob said, “my character doesn’t really do that.” so the photographer asked if bob could literally give him any other expression and bob was like “not really (x)

I asked Bob whether Bellamy had any hope Clarke had survived, since in their conversation before he insisted that he still had hope in the nightblood solution (Bob: “He was right!”). Bellamy thinks that Clarke was destroyed in the radiation wave. as far as he knew, Clarke was still fiddling around with the satellite dish when the others made it to space (since the lights weren’t already on). In Bob’s words, ‘He still has hope but he’s not hopeful, if you know what I mean. x

Bob said that he made Bellamy giggle in one episode of S5 but he thinks they kept it mostly because they were running out of time to refilm it x

I had Bob and Eliza sign the Day Trip script. They both read the whole thing before they signed. Bob said, “Oooohh this is the scene that got cut. They just cut another good one this season.” And I asked if he meant a #Bellarke scene and he said yes. x [[[the signed Day Trip script here]]]

Bob said that he’s gotten a few movie roles that he ultimately had to turn down due to conflicts with the 100 x

Bob has mixed feelings about driving the rover because he’s one of the only ones who can do it, but it’s also kind of dangerous because there aren’t seat belts and it’s in the forest with no road. x

Bob said that he liked the filming location where the beach scene in 3x13 with Eliza took place x

Bob dropped out of the movie with Zach because he had a significant disagreement with the producer x

At his meet and greet, Bob said that if Bellamy doesn’t use his [head] and his heart he’ll feel like he let Clarke down x

They were supposed to be back down on the ground for like a year and they haven't come down. So there's other stuff that happens up in space and there's a reason why they haven't been able to come down. So there's that kind of dilemma first off x

Bob on Bellamy being happy during his meet and greet on Saturday: "No, [...] Happiness. It's secondary on this show it seems like." x

I WAS EXPLAINING THAT I WANTED THIS SCENE FOR BOB AND ELIZA AND THEY TOOK IT SO SERIOUSLY. BOB WAS LIKE, “I NEED TO HOLD YOU AND YOU NEED TO FALL BACK AND I NEED TO STARE AT THE RAIN” AND ELIZA WAS LIKE “I NEED TO STARE AT YOU” x

bob was like “listen, i need to hold you and you need to sit on my knee” and i straight up was like “the internet will hate me though” x

LINDSEY IS WEARING A RAVENCLAW SCARF FOR HER AUTOGRAPHS x

Photos/ fanarts:

PHOTO: Bob, Eliza, Lindsey, Nadia via UnityEventsCa’s Instagram Story on January 20th, 2018

PHOTO: Eliza with an organizer

PHOTO: The 100 props, rifle + knives/swords, 

PHOTO: smiling Bob with fan x

PHOTO: Richard Harmon during his autograph session at Unity Days on January 20th, 2018 [UnityEventsCa] x

PHOTO: Bob with fan (nice one) or here

PHOTO: Sachin and Jessica via Chelsey Reist’s Instagram Story on January 20th, 2018

PHOTO: Group photo (Bob, Eliza, Lindsey, Nadia) - The breakfast club.

PHOTO: Bob with pikachu hat

PHOTO: BrightCuPenny Successful photo op with Bob and Eliza! We were waiting for our turn and from around the corner we heard Eliza say, “Laraaaaa…” Baby was super sleepy but such a trouper! So here are season 5 Clarke, Bellamy, and Madi! #UnityDays2018 ( = beliza photo with bellarke baby)

PHOTO: elizajaneface All of my favorites. @richardsharmon @mr_sacho @linzzmorgan @officialbowietaylor #bob ❤️ (insta)

PHOTO: blake family photo re-created in real life @WildpipM, @MisElizaJane #UnityDays2018 

PHOTO: cute beliza photos with fans here (head and heart pose) and here.

PHOTO: Eliza posing for a fan today (holding the face caress photo)

PHOTO: Bob has Vegemite in his teeth

PHOTO: Bob and Eliza holding a Bellarke edit that they had just signed for a fan

PHOTO: Bob and Eliza holding hands

PHOTO: Bob and Eliza signed an edit thanking Bellarke fans for voting the face caress scene from 4x13 as @eonlineTV’s sexiest moment of 2017 x

PHOTO: Bob with Bowie at #UnityDays2018 (x)

FANART: HEAD AND HEART FANART signed by Bob and Eliza

FANART: another bellarke fanart signed by Eliza [[[one of my faves]]]

x

Videos:

Bob Morley, Eliza Taylor, Lindsey Morgan, Nadia Hilker and Jarod Joseph during their panel at Unity Days via Chelsey Reist’s Instagram Story on January 20th, 2018

video of @Mr_Sacho and @harmon_jess dancing dramatically around the autograph room at @UnityEventsCA? (x)

x

Twitter:

@JRothenbergTV: Once upon a time, they lived happily ever after. A fairy tale foursome @RichardSHarmon @ivanamilicevic @WilliamMiller #KatieMcgrath #the100 #Supergirl (x)

Props props props! #UNITYDAYS2018 (x)

x

[bretttal]

i thought i was over it but i guess i was just fooling myself so SPOILER ALERT this is gonna be about my son who just [redacted] in season 6 episode 13, based on my portrayal and backstory:

to preface this all: i am okay with brett being the one out of the protags/neutral-standing characters to die. i wouldn’t wish this on anyone else who is not a white male, considering how awful teen wolf had always been with its female characters and cast of colour. i definitely wish they didn’t kill lori alongside with brett, though, since lori didn’t suffer the same degree of injury and while the ‘too heartbroken to heal’ theory is emotionally charged, i consider it undermining how strong she/werewolves is/are.

i’m mostly fucked up over the details of how it all happened.

brett wouldn’t be on the new hunter’s radar if he hadn’t visited bhhs to help liam. he didn’t have to be there -- he didn’t even really like liam that much. he gave liam a favour, like the many others, majorly because they are both werewolves now. he might not like liam as a person or consider him a friend, but he understands liam’s struggles and how much harder it would be as a werewolf.

it took him considerable time after turning to stop flinching at random touches. it took him years to keep his trust issues to an acceptable minimum. he picked up the lacrosse ball because he was so trusting, and he couldn’t bear living the other way, doubting every single stranger who would come his way.

he was all alone for the majority of the episode. he was quiet, not only because it was essential for his survival. shock and panic always first took his voice. speech became inaccessible.

soon enough, he realised the hunters were wearing him down. he was losing strength with every step and he did not have the knowledge nor resources to clear his system of wolfsbane. still, he remembered satomi’s teachings, and he fought the best he could. i will not always be there for you, satomi warned him a long time ago, and that you must learn to accept.

deep down, he had always been such a lonely person. everything paralleled his life -- he was there to help others, but no matter how hard others tried, they simply couldn’t help him as he needed. so he only cried on his own shoulder so nobody had to bear that guilt.

just some hours ago, he was on the lacrosse field, feeling the warm sun on his skin and pride in his hands. it was supposed to be a good day. it was supposed to be a perfect day.

he knew if anyone else got hurt that night, it would be partially because of him.

he spent years moving forward, carefully trimming away doubts and fears, and that night, in the sewers, he felt like that helpless 12 year old again, and this time satomi and his parents wouldn’t be there to save him. he couldn’t express how much it hurt not getting to see them again.

[tialovestelevision]

The Real Me

Back to Buffy, to get to know the Slayer’s new sister! Also, apparently, Harmony! 1. All of the Previously On is from the most recent episode. Almost like, apart from a few character dynamics (Riley, Tara, Faith), they want us to forget the whole fourth season happened. I’m honestly pretty good with that. 2. Buffy has no sleeves, and is listening to Giles and meditating. They’re at a dojo or massage parlor… yeah, dojo. Buffy is doing a handstand on a block while Giles walks around her and talks. There’s also a crystal. One-handed handstand. Buffy’s sister interrupted the training, though, and Buffy fell down. Opening credits. Michelle Trachtenberg - the sister - is in the opening credits. Fun fact: she is the only one of the teenage characters’ performers to have been cast at the same age as her character. Amber Benson still isn’t in the opening credits, though. 3. The sister - Dawn - is writing in a journal. Buffy opened her banana wrong. Dawn and Joyce used up all the milk. Joyce is foisting Dawn off on Buffy, who is not happy about that. She needs to go train, and Dawn gets in the way. Riley just showed up at the house. Dawn doesn’t like Riley. Riley and Buffy are not hanging. They’re going to see each other tonight. He keeps calling Dawn a kid. 4. Giles, Buffy, and Dawn are in Giles’s car. Dawn keeps fiddling with the radio, which is driving Giles crazy. Giles also hates the automatic transmission in his midlife crisis convertible. Giles wants to show his new car off to Willow and Tara. Yay, Willow and Tara. Dawn likes Willow, and school. Joyce has a hint of homophobia. Buffy is developing a work ethic. Buffy isn’t taking drama with Willow. The magic shop appears to be closed. But they’re going in anyway. Place looks… ransacked. “I think odd just got up to bad.” Tara knows the name of the owner. And Willow tripped over Mr. Bogarty’s corpse… he was eaten by vampires. Buffy is throwing Dawn out of the building before she sees the corpse, but Dawn is looking in the window. A man has comes up to Dawn and tells her not to loiter, and says he’s a cat so he can be quiet and in the cupboard and scratch people. He says to make it stop, and they need to shut up or be heard. He tells Dawn she doesn’t belong here, and that seems to hit close to home for her. 5. Tara comes outside looking for Dawn and finds her sitting on the curb. Dawn asks if Mr. Bogarty is dead. So Tara is joining Dawn outside so they can investigate. Offering to thumb wrestle. Dawn didn’t tell her about the guy. Mr. Bogarty was killed by four vampires, who also stole books. Including a book about Slayers that Buffy also needs. The shop is very profitable. Buffy is going to go with Riley to patrol… she has to drop Dawn back off as well. The vampires stole a worthless porcelain unicorn. 6. And, yep, it’s Harmony. Her vampire gang is planning to kill Buffy tonight. 7. Oh god, Joyce is being Joyce again. Blaming Buffy for the fact that Mr. Bogarty got killed. Dawn likes Xander. A lot. She doesn’t like Anya at all, though. 8. Willow and Tara talking about Dawn. They’re moving things into a room. Tara’s talking about being an outsider. Willow wants to make her feel welcome. I’d buy Tara being one of the gang now if she was in the opening credits. Tara worries about Dawn sometimes. 9. Buffy is with Riley in the cemetery, ranting about Joyce. That’s… oddly cathartic. Buffy is suddenly having to deal with Dawn’s presence. 10. Dawn has a huge crush on Xander. Anya is winning the game. And Harmony just threw a brick with a note on it through the window saying that Buffy needs to come out and die. 11. Xander and Harmony are mocking each other. Which worked right up until Dawn said “Come inside and say that,” which apparently counts as an invitation. Did that get them all in, or just Harmony? Just Harmony. Harmony’s beating up Xander, and kept going until getting pushed out. Xander is telling Buffy about the fight, and Anya let out that Dawn invited Harmony in. Buffy is very angry. Harmony is all embarrassed. And Spike found Harmony’s gang. This conversation is funny. 12. Buffy is making excuses for Joyce. And yelling at Dawn, while she’s not in the room. I think Dawn just left the house… yep. Running away from Buffy’s rant. Just to the back yard. And Dawn just got kidnapped by Harmony’s gang, who left Anya unconscious in the kitchen. 13. Anya has a concussion. Buffy is going to go rescue Dawn while the others take care of Anya. 14. Harmony is having an issue. Her minions think they should eat Dawn, but she doesn’t want them to. Buffy’s at Spike’s asking for where Harmony’s layer is. Harmony is venting to Dawn about her minions, and Dawn is commiserating. Her minions have decided to kill her and eat Dawn. Nobody is killing Mort. Dawn to vampire: “Touch me and my sister’s gonna kill you.” He touched her. Buffy killed him. Buffy: “Can’t say she didn’t warn him.” Now Buffy’s killing minions. Mort is actually a challenge, though. Harony has a wooden unicorn… Buffy staked Mort with its horn. Harmony appears to have run away. Buffy got Dawn out of the cave. And neither of them is telling Joyce what happened. 15. Giles has bought the magic shop. Giles was very bored last year. “She still thinks I’m Little Miss Nobody, just her dumb little sister. Boy, is she in for a surprise.” Overall: Not really sure what to think here. It was fun, but there was also a lot of Joyce being back to being Joyce and Dawn got run over by the narrative a bit in spite of being its main driver. Harmony is always a laugh, though. Dunno. Worth my time.

[survivorkomnata]

Episode #1: "I'm ready to punch a bitch." - Timmy

I swear to god... If y'all cast any of my enemies I'm gonna DIE. I need a chance to STRIVE AND NOT DIE.

Omg getting in the game feels soo amazing, like I have said I have not played in sooo long so i feel this will be the ultimate test for my capabilities, the good thig is that not many people know each other so that’s good. My idea for the first day is just to talk to everyone see where they are if they know anyone etc etc. This is just veery exciting!

Feeling good about my tribe, most people have actually talked which is a big plus. Getting good vibes from Shea, and Miguel, and Federico a bit. If Alyssa is the Alyssa I know she’ll be fun to work with too. Still though, early days on the Kato beach. First challenge is kind of annoying though as some of the items are ??? But I’ve done some videos and I’ll try and do more.

WOOO the game has started!! I'm excited for the most part except.... THERES TOO MANY TUMBLR FACES HERE. I wanted an entirely new slate and a whole new cast for me but I guess that's a rip! I know Alyssa, StephenW, Zach, Timmy, Jess, and TJ!

I think that the idol system is definitely cute!! And I want to get an idol so yeah!

I think I'm hitting it off pretty well with Zach (He's probably good with peeps tbh), and Liam (Even though I confused his intro with Daniel's)

The challenge is a scavenger hunt aka my least favorite challenge so thanks, I hate it!!

I can already tell that this is going to be an interesting season just based on the people that I already know coming into the game. I'm happy that on my tribe I already know Tim, Jess, and Zach so that should be good for me for at least the first few rounds. I don't really want to stick with the people I already know though because that's boring. I'm happy Alyssa is on the other tribe and not my tribe right now because I have no intention on working with her because people love doing whatever she says in orgs and I'm not here for it. If we get onto a tribe together or both make it to merge, she is my target and I won't be quiet about it. Might as well focus on my own tribe for now though. Besides the 3 mentioned before, I have only spoken to Karthik who seems alright so that's good. Only issue is that he's like 10.5 hours ahead timewise so that's going to be interesting. I still need to talk to the others but all in good time.

hie girlies this is my first confessional of the SEASON! as always, i'll just give a typical analysis of each person on my tribe, how i vibe with them, etc. i'll also throw in some random pieces of info i guess woo. this is finna be long btw.

jess - she's a likeable queen but she has a big tendency to leave me on read. i think this is either her thinking i'm boring but i'm not sure. ik in TS guyana she was criticized at FTC for being lacklustre in responding so i'm hoping it's just that opposed to something on my behalf. she's really cool tho!! karthik - karthik is short in response sometimes but never leaves our convo on read, which i respect. he seems to know that i won embb9 + am 'really liked' in the community.. he rlly is delusional huh? jk ASKGDS he's great tho. i know my friends like him and he can be a great player so i'm anticipating working with him hopefully. stephen - stephen is a king too. he's someone that probably would know some of my game ig but... who knows. he's relevant in EM. our conversations have been fun and i'm really hoping to get close to him because he seems chill. timmy - i know timmy from tumblr. currently he's not that great socially but i do like him and we have a long ass snapchat streak. there are a few tumblrs in this game but afaik i don't have any bad blood with him so i'm def planning on roping him in. the most recent thing is he backdoored my mom's duo in his last org AKSGLDSG so... stan list. daniel - daniel knows me from a past org that i put no effort into, which i think is fine because i really only made it far since my duo/partner dragged me. i'mma play up a perception with him, but he is really cool as of now. i am SOOO worried that i did something bad or mean in that game and he's going 2 haunt me LOL. tim - tim is the person i've connected with most. he's really chill, actively messages me back, and is just fun and flirty. we've already talked about him and his potential boy, our favourite cereals and overall eating. i know him from tumblr too, but vaguely, but i was apart of the 'evil friendgroup' whereas he was on the other, 'nice friendgroup', but i'm hoping that has minimal impact if any. liam - liam is fine. i know him from FB but we've never interacted. he knows i played egypt so... if that's his perception of me.. i'm FLYING. he's really nice though + is a fellow canadian, so i'm hoping to get close to him. woo!! ally - saving the best for last. ally is really nice and i do like her a lot. she is sweet and like... we're great pals ?? ASGKDSG jk idk. we played a game together where i immunity ran final 6 onwards and voted her out twice (f4/3) and it left a bitterish taste in her mouth (but rightfully so for how i handled it). we are friends but i'm scared that she aint finna let me far. idk. i want her out soon bc she could do damage but i'd also be 10000% down to work with her again this game. WOOO idk. love u ally.

so that's the cast assessment. as for other stuff... well... the games fun. i hope some peoples lack of activity is just my paranoia rather than them hating me, because i don't want to come off as aggressive or anything, and in fact, i want to tone it down slightly this game AKSGDSGL. some dynamics/(matt please forgive me)meta this game include: alyssa / jess - a loyal duo in TS guyana. tim / stephen /// timmy - all tumblr girlies. not sure how close they are. i think stephen/tim were part of the 'nice friendgroup' on tumblr iirc. ally / fede - obvious friends, they literally FLIRT in the public VL (jokingly i imagine). they're both nice tho so maybe i make it a trio?? daniel / tj - rlly good friends i think. they're both zwooper kiddos and i think i played with both in that one zwooper game i played, not sure tho. will do research. miguel / liam / shea - idk how close they are but they are all FB-ish people so... i imagine they may have some thing. ally / karthik - i think

there's prob more but that's it for now. i'm not going to focus my game on that meta ^ whatsoever. i just need 2 keep in mind who's with who and who has some friends from before. idk. just a good mental note type thing. every game is a new slate tho so i'm not holding any preconceived notions abt them.

i really love everyone on my tribe thus far. can't wait till i become a bitch tho... i hope dat dont happen AKGLDSG

So, I'm really happy to be here. This is my 3rd or 4th time applying so I feel ready and excited to play! I was super happy to see Alyssa on my tribe as we get along super duper well. I like my tribe overall.

This first challenge has me a bit nervous. I started my new job today and they didn't give me a very long break for the hours I worked and my ankle and knee are really acting up (I broke my ankle in like 2014 and my knee in 2016 and they still hurt a lot sometimes). I'm worried because I'm not sure if I'm going to be physically able to like dance around and do crazy stuff like that. It sucks that the first challenge is something I can't physically.

I'm just hoping even if I don't do the best in the challenge that I can kind of make some strong social ties so I'm not the first one out if we lose. I feel really good about Alyssa, Luke, and Jake right now. My strategy is always just to be in everyones good graces. If nobody wants me out, I won't leave, that's the goal.

I was finally able to get part of my submissions from my challenge submitted and I plan on doing more tomorrow. I have been speaking with most of my tribe mates and I'm liking them a lot. I did get a bit of a late start so I'm worried some alliances might have formed but, it's all part of the game. I have good relations with Shea and Jake and I hope to further relations with Miguel and Federico so I have some solid foundations to work with and so I can hopefully have some numbers in case we go to tribal. I'm also proud of myself for going on camera multiple times for the video portion of the challenge as it was something I would have never considered doing in past orgs I have played.

I'm not the best with confessionals, but I'll try my best! I'm quite enjoying these people so far, and I've really connected well with Zach, Jess, Ally, Karthik and Tim. That being said, I don't wanna really worry about allies just yet, winning is the first priority.

So me and the tribe are getting along pretty well! The challenge is going ok so far but I still want to try and win! It seems as if we lose its Karthik.. but who knows!! Its time for fun pals and gals.

Talking with Luke about not wanting to go to tribal first but I’m low key channeling Aubrey and would love to solidify an alliance as early as possible, which tribals help with.

I'm sad that we lost although I expected to lose and I'm actually quite glad that Karthik got sent to the basement. This means they are safe without me having to campaign for them. The person with the 2nd lowest score, Timmy, should be on the chopping block to my knowledge. I'm lowkey ok with this bc he doesnt contribute much to convos…

Ahh this game has been amazing for me so far! We won the immunity challenge so I won’t have to vote anyone out! I have made genuine connections with many people in the tribe and I got kind of separate deals with, Stephen, Federico, Shea and Luke so I think they have my back. I have also talked a lot with TJ and Jake but no deal or alliance have been made with them. But as a group I don’t have like a group of allies yet just 1 on 1 alliances. In case we lose I would try to vote out either Isaac or Alyssa.

First day is over, and I can't be more relieved. I love the fact that I cannot be the first voted out, and even more, I love that I feel as if I've made some good connections so far. I really think Alyssa and I will be able to work well together. Yes, we have some stuff to work out from before, but I want it to work out such that we can work together throughout this game. I really like Federico and LH, and I'm hoping things stay this way for the time being. I'd like to keep winning, but when that time comes that we lose, I need to be ready.

Okay. Buckle up bitches. It's story time

Just kidding..

So far I'm trying to connect with every single person individually.

Being put on a tribe with the guy who I literally got out in another game less than a month ago is a mood.... I'm working EXTRA HARD on making sure Tim likes me and trusts me. I'm going to use the fact that I'm a loyal a$$ bitch here and hope he thinks I would ride to him to the end (Honestly I probably would. I LOVE TIM).

Other than Tim the other people I'm vibing with so far are my two Canadian QUEENS: Zach and Aly. Aly seems like she can pop-off at any second but so far she seems like someone I can work with going forward. Zach on the other hand needs to STOP BRINGING UP GUYANA. For some reason he's praising me which NORMALLY I'D LOVE because I don't think the words: Jess, Praise, and Guyana have ever been said....but he's putting a target on my back.

Other than my Canucks... I really like Stephen but he's intro SCARES ME. He seems like he's going to cause some chaos down the line...

Everyone else has spoken maybe about 30 words total to me? so yikes.

TOODLES XOXOXO

Well we just lost the challenge ;( I’m hinestlg not feeling too safe at the moment. I was one of the lower scoring players on the tribe, and the lowest was sent to the basement. Right now I feel like a sitting duck. But on the bright side, I think I made a decent connection with Zach and Timmy. So I’m just gonna talk around find out a vote. If it’s not me yay! If it is, then I’ll just have to somehow fight my way through it :p

Woooo first confessional!! I'm liking the start of this game, and I've decided to take it a bit lighter than past games. I'm here to have fun. This doesn't mean I'm not ready to strategize, but maybe the lighter tone will help me not fall under the same mistakes I always make.

I'm getting closer to Miguel and Shea, which is bad if you consider they were the lowest scores in the challenge... They better start getting more involved in this!!!

The fireplace is on. The tea is warm. I'm getting cozy, and I'm not gonna move any time soon…

So I've gotten a chance to talk with most of the people on my tribe. Right now, my closest ally is probably Karth. We have an established history of working well together, and right now, were searching for the idol together. I'm also pretty close with Ally and Zach, and trying to get closer with Jess, though I can't tell if she thinks I'm too gamebotty or not. Ally, Zach, and Jess also seem to have some kind of relationship with each other. Idk if it's an alliance but it's something. In light of this, I'm going to be trying to get closer with Tim, Dan and Liam. I think Tim and Liam know Jess though so that might be a hurdle I need to deal with. Someone I've left out of this discussion is Timmy. I've talked with every voter so far except Dan, and they all seem okay with letting him go. There's always paranoia that they're all just playing me, but I really doubt it is gonna be the case here. My biggest worry now is what position I'll end up in if we keep losing challenges.

HELLO. Okay so we won the Selfie Scavenger Hunt which is GOOD. Someone I don’t know got sent to isolation for the other tribe but that’s fine. TJ and I were kind of on the same page of sending Jess to keep her safe which is good that we are!! She’ll be fine though because she did the best in the selfie scavenger hunt, unsurprisingly. Haven’t really talked game with anyone besides TJ because there’s hasn’t yet been a need to, but I’ve been having personal conversations with most of my tribe! Isaac just messaged me today which I think is the last one. But yeah! Things are going okay! Woo!

So me and Jess are officially aligned! I shared my idol grid with her and we talked about our tribemates. I really haven't connected with everyone but I have at least talked to them. It appears as if the vote will be Timmy unless someone magically pulls out the idol and plays it on him or the vote somehow flips on to someone else. The scary part is that Timmy is being quiet asf.... and I have no idea what is up his sleeve. The basement twist is gonna be really scary next round if we lose and someone can be sent back to the basement twice in a row…

omg hii.. i love my tribe so far tbh!!! i feel close to zach, karth, stephen, jess, and liam. i feel like i’m in an okay spot. i feel a lil weird about playing with a couple of these ppl again - zach and i played in ts and he killed me in 3rd and won the game, and i played with stephen in embb4 and as, i got him out in embb4 and he got me out in all stars lol.... i’m hoping no past game beef comes into play but we’ll see! i’m voting timmy out this tribal, he hasn’t said a word to me so... Shrug Emoji. hopefully everything goes according 2 plan ! i’m glad karth was “exiled” cuz i think he would’ve been a target and i don’t want that. i’ll do a more in depth and full cast analysis l8r~

Oh Timmy.. I want to keep you safe but I also want to take out any possible people Alyssa can work with in the future... you made the mistake of telling me you brought her into the ORG world jkjk. Sorry <3

ON THE REAL THOUGH.... I can't stick my neck out for someone on DAY 3. If the tribe wants Timmy's neck I gotta help deliver it. I just wish he was more SOCIAL because he would def be someone I would like to work with <3

I came into this game, saw Shea, and had an absolute fucking breakdown djdhdjdj. Like who am I? I need to get it together and push in the challenges because I didn’t help with the first one at all because seeing Shea just did something to me? Like? I’m going to try to put more effort in moving forward but right now I feel like Aubry in Kaoh Rong when she had that attack, hopefully I can recover as well as she did.

Why is Daniel trying so hard to save Timmy akdjsjs. Just... let him go in peace plz... also I'm Timmy starting to talk to people for the 1st time since the day of the vote..

I'm ready to punch a bitch. I have no idea what is happening with this tribal and I just hope it's not me. I keep hearing about the "majority" and people want to vote with the "majority" but nobody is saying who it is and what it is just that they don't want to be the one to say a name. So I'm being forced to say Liam because that's easier than Stephen even though Stephen was the one saying my name, but honestly it is what it is, I haven't spoken to Liam so I don't care that much. I just don't get why people play if they're just going to hide behind someone else because that's so stupid, like just play for you. I'm not just saying that because they're going against me, but like where has Liam been and also Stephen is the most vocal right now and he is going to be a problem later on, I can already tell.

Timmy is voted out 6-2.

[survivormarmoreal]

Episode #8: "The fajitas are truly guiding me" - Matt

OMG i made it to the merge. Im so happy but now let the game begin.

im so sad. dennis was such a king. and to be taken out by nick... like idek what to do with this merge. ppl i want to work with: nathan, maynor, brian, anna?, matt? idek if i wanna work with brian its just i like meeting new ppl NNN i wanna work with sharky too. but like nathan loves nick apparently. like... no ty!!! nicole... keaton? no ty! my preferred boot order is just keaton. nick. nicole. thats it idc!!! i dont wanna work with like og absolem tho bc theyre all tight without me but the other options arent good either EFKJDSAHKJ. i am waiting for redemption island twist pls and ty although my luck jaydne comes back NNn well these are initial thoughts woohoo

PHEWWWWWW I MADE MERGE BITCHES!!!!!! Honestly that tribal was so fucking cracked and all kicked off in 20 mins at the end with nick revealing he had an idol. and YEET i was so close to playing my idol as well. The fajitas are truly guiding me (even tho i am eating them tomorrow for lunch and I am very excited hehehe) Brian, myself and sharky are gonna align (tho not telling about the idol tho) so woooo lets go merge!

I hate my life. a forced self vote? no thanks. UGH TIME TO DIE!

WE FUCKING MERGED! And I got rid of Dennis. Which I do feel slightly bad about it but it was time to make a move. I playing loose this season and I'm going to see how far it takes me. I have alliances with Maynor, Brian, Nathan, Annabelle, Matt, Nick, and sort of Nicole so that puts me in a pretty good spot as long as I don't overplay and show my cards too soon. I've got to walk the line very carefully. And ngl careful is not my strong suit.

Ok now Let's rank my mergemates. 1) Brian- husband. 2) Matt- second husband. 3) Maynor- best man at my double wedding to Matt and Brian. 4) Annabelle- my fave underrated queen. 5) Nathan- I love him but check back in a few rounds ok. 6) Bryce- we barely talked but he loves Chi Chi Devayne so...I love him. 7) Nicole- ...every season needs a purple edit 8) Nick- cool kid but I'm sooo bitter about wanting him gone 3 tribals in a row 9) Keaton- who?

Well, merge is finally here and i get to reunite with Sharky. Which is great because he was my duo from the begining and now i have Keaton as my other duo.i also have Bryce as well. Nathan wants to work with keaton and I so thats good and i believe he’s tight with Annabelle so shell come along as well. Thats already 5 with me is 6. As long as none of them are targeted first vote and others are. Ill be sitting in a good spot. From here the first vote, i wouldnt mind voting out Nicole. Only one to yet to talk to me besides saying hi.

WEELLLLL!!! I merged, ladies (and lads)!  I cannot believe it, but I have made it!!  I think I know what my strong points are right now in my game and I just have to keep playing on them.  I'm a lot stronger socially now and I want that to continue going into the merge.  I have allies in every single little aspect of this game, and I want to ensure the people I'm not working with go first.  So less than half of these hoes better watch their backs!

Now that I've merged and have freedom with who I want to work with, I'm definitely going to try and solidify my quad-some with Sharky, Nathan, and Annabelle as a final 4 alliance and also make sure that my other final alliances (one with Bryce, who I just met up with, and then one with Matt) also are stronger than ever before.

I usually do like cast run-downs and... idk... I haven't yet in this game, but I guess I will now going into the merge!!

Annabelle - A queent!!  I absolutely love her and wish that a trio of Ariana stans (with Marie) could've gone through!!  I can't wait to strengthen my bond with her and for us to slay this game together! Bryce - I may have just met Bryce in game, but I've known him for a little bit!  We have never really had a full-on conversation, but we have talked in passing and in some League games.  I've talked to him for like... 30 minutes so far... and he's already a top person in this game for me.  Love him! Keaton - idk him, but he's already trash talked Marie to me... so .... bye ! Matt - I adore him... he's... an angel!  I see myself working with him for a long time in this game, and I have to hope he feels the same hehe... Maynor - eh!  I like him, but we don't.... click... so if he goes home... he goes home... :S... Nathan - LOVE HIM!  He's so funny and so nice and he says we have a final 2, but girl... if we get to final 2 together it's by sheer luck because I shoreeee as hell know he's going hard or going home.... and I'm not playing that same balls to the walls type of game! Nick - LOL OK??? Idols replace social play and gameplay ig!!! Nicole - I just wish she was more active because I'd love to really put all my trust in her, but I don't really ever talk to her! Sharky - ANGEELLLL!!! Das my game hubby... I adore him so much... I really thought I was going to go into this game wanting to fuck him up with a lawn mower, but here I am putting all my eggs into his basket and trusting him completely... I hope I'm making the right decision!  I know he's a big threat, but I just lahva him a lot! Ugh..

This challenge is very interesting. Im just hoping that I somehow get enough points to get the high amount. Immunity would be great. Still working out who i could work with and who i would target. I know for sure that im going to be with Keaton and Sharky. Still dont know about the others yet.

I do not want this immunity. There's like weird touchy subjects vibes. If I win it means a lot of people wanted me to get immunity so I'm well liked which will translate to "Threat". I told the jock destroyers to give me negative items. So hopefully if my other allies give me positive scores it will even out to a smooth 0 and I can stay relatively under the radar.

So I went idol hunting and I got closer than I had ever gotten before. I could just tell. So I gave Brian the info and told him where I went wrong. And he didn't find the idol but he DID find a steal a vote advantage! So Brian and I are getting a nice little tool belt around our waists. Now we just need to get all these people to do what we want.

Everyone is being really quiet. But thats okay because this gives Maynor and I a great opportunity to strategize. To my surprise he threw out Nicole's name! Which is great. It might be too soon to go for her because I've been talking Dinah strong for a few rounds now (even though I voted Dennis out). But it's still good to know that she's on his radar. Now the goal is just to set up a F5 alliance that Brian and I can ride to F6. Maynor and I still have The Scream Team alliance and I'm loyal to that. So if I can move forward with Maynor and Brian then I can just fill in the others as we go.

Okay SWIFT UPDATE. Maynor brought up Matt's name and I was basically like "Um...I don't want to do that" and then discovered that he doesn't think Nicole has his back at all. Which would undermine any Dinah strong stuff. And I'm not going to stick my neck out to save her over a vote on my side for a few more rounds. Especially if she might flip anyway. Hmm…

Now I'm getting a chance to talk game with Anna! This night is really picking up. Unfortunately she seems to have some animosity towards Matt. Why does everyone hate Matt? I think he's bloody awesome! Oh well. She also isn't a fan of Nicole or Keaton so I can direct her target that way for a few votes and for now we seem to be on the same page minus the Matt thing.

Sharky and I are still up at midnight. We came up with a tribal vote plan which is awesome. The target tonight is going to be Nicole. I feel like shes a threat and needs to go. Sharky and I created an ideal final 5 which is me, Sharky, Brian, Matt, amd Bryce. My side alliance is Keaton and Nathan. On the outs is Nick, Annabelle, and Nicole. We are saying that Keaton said Nicole’s name and that Nicole said Keaton’s name. But main targetbis Nicole. Hopefully this plan works and Nicole goes tonight.

Things are falling into place baby! So Maynor wants Nicole/Keaton/Matt out. He thinks he can get Bryce on board. Annabelle also wants Nicole/Keaton/Matt out. I know from The Jock Destroyers Alliance that she (and I) have Nathan's vote. Anna also says she wants to work with Bryce. And Bryce told her that he feels close to Maynor. (I'm realizing Bryce is a HUGE social threat and I'm not going to be able to keep him around for too long but for now he's a number on my side.) Now, both Maynor and Annabelle also love Brian. They both also know I can bring Nick to the table because Nick trusts me. So right now I perfectly situated in the middle of a 7 person voting block. Am I a mastermind?

CLASSIC ANNABELLE. I set up this whole majority situation and told her to choose Keaton or Nicole and we can make it happen. BUT SHE WON'T CHOOSE. I love her but she always does this. She's so about being quiet that she refuses to ever make a move. Last time we played together she said I was a bully and never asked her what she wanted. Now I'm trying to be a better ally and listen to her moves AND SHE WON'T MAKE ANY. So frustrating.

Having Keatons name out was good cuz now he wants to target Nicole because she is the other name thats been thrown out. My alliance of mkn is helping get the votes for Nicole which is great.

so the names thrown out are keaton or nicole and its looking like nicole is gonna go bc ppl think shes a better player bc she gets far in tumblr games which like i guess is tea but its just sad that meta has a factor :( esp when shes like irrel in this game noah fence KJFADSHKFJAS. and like maynor prob has f2 with keaton.. but idc i guess she ghosts me all the time so w/e. im just hoping next round we can get like someone whos actually a threat out.

I WON IMMUNITY which means I made single digits!  I'm so happy with myself... I didn't really do much to deserve it, but I'm so happy I won because it means I can be a little more ballsy this round with throwing out names and whatever!

I'm thinking of voting Keaton out as a sort of revenge for Marie, but Nicole's name is out there, too, and I just really want to make the right move to launch my game into the next round in an even better spot!  I feel like the top of the world right now, and I want to keep that high.  The immunity challenge showed that even though I think I'm a fucking mess, I'm doing well enough socially.

As for that, I want to quickly add in that I love all my allies so much.  Sharky just helped me find a vote steal power which will be so useful for the long run of this game, and I cannot wait to use it to hopefully slay.  Nathan and Annabelle are angels and are also really nice for me to bounce ideas off of.  Bryce is just amazing to talk to and I really see him in my longterm plan.  Matt's another person I see in my longterm plan.  Ideally, this is probably my top 6... and I've since grown closer to Nick and we are working together "for the sake of Sharky", but I think he's more-so a side piece for me in this game!

So....I’m pretty certain I’m leaving because nobody wants to talk of anything of substance with me. It’s hard because I know I deserve to go, I haven’t been in a place mentally to give everything I need to, to this game. But that doesn’t mean I want to leave. It’s just hard, Dennis was my number one ally and now that he is gone it’s gonna be hard to reform my trust and alliances with everyone. Oof. It’s alright. Hoping that someone can use me as a vote about now but, don’t think that’s a possibility.

So I am keeping VERY quiet about my disadvantage, as I don't want anyone to know about it and jump on a bandwagon to use it against me! Like no thanks I'll pass. It looks like it'll either be Keaton or Nicole, would much rather it be Anna but she's immune smh. As long as my name ain't mentioned I'll be Gucci I hope. REEEE

Now that everyone is awake it's time to put in some work to execute the plan Anna/Maynor/myself made last night. We need to get everyone on board with voting Nicole. But I also need to make sure Nicole feels safe just in case she has an idol. I'm going to talk to Matt and Nick. As long as they vote Nicole we should be solid. I'm also going to start an alliance chat with the OG Dinah members so that we can talk about strategy and make sure Nicole feels safe with us. Then as long as everyone is telling the truth (cause no one ever lies in Survivor) it'll all be good.

Can i say that Sharky making a fake alliance chat with Nicole when we are planning on voting her out is very cold blooded. Like honesty doing it to try and throw off her scent of the vote is perfect.

I’m so glad sharky seems to be much more transparent with me. I’m really excited to see how this goes tbh I feel like we’d make a good pair. We be played together before and I thought he would be made at me for like wanting him out in canadienne but yeah I’m excited for merge!

Okay the alliances just keep piling up. It's definitely going to cause an issue later on. But for now it's good. And the newest one, The FB Bois, is one I actually do plan on staying loyal too. I really trust Matt and Brian. I like them both a lot and I want to work with them. Hopefully they feel the same. F4 with Brian, Matt, Maynor is my goal.

We are coming close to tribal. Its nerve wracking cuz it looks like nicole hasnt scrambled so she might have an idol. Im going to see if my side alliance would vote for Matt (keaton and nathan). Just in case there is an idol played. But as far it looks like Nicole is going.

For once my name hasnt been a top priority! its crazy... I really dont know what to do about it but im loving it so much... lets just wait though until I get out in about 30 mins...

Nicole is voted out 6-3-1.

[survivorelara]

Episode #1: “So thank you Gods and Goddesses.” -Ci’ere

three people on this tribe are 100% pros they have mangastars as their pfp im scared

Okay, this is my second time typing this because I accidentally deleted the first attempt ASDF. Hello every1 out there 👽 I'm so thrilled to be playing Elara because I know that the hosts are going to make this an awesome experience! We began our journey about an hour & a half ago, but something tremendous has already occured... I happened to snatch the Zosma idol on my first guess! Something about the placement of the 39th star spoke to me & luck was definitely on my side, so thank you celestial gods and goddesses! I’m kind of wondering if the idol locations & the iconic phrase “18 people, 39 days, 1 Survivor” have any correlation. Hmm. :O Even though I have some power to fall back on now, I don’t wanna have to rely on the idol to save myself so I’m stepping up to the plate socially to hopefully solidify myself in this group. I was hyped before, but this hype train has went through the ceiling!

Not only am I in this game with like many other Facebook ORGers.... I'm the least popular of them all. Like I see Emma, Ci'ere, Andrea and Toby... like they have a good friend group and people generally like them. Me on the other hand, I get easily annoyed with certain people and groups within this community and I have been told that I am a rainy and dark cloud. I mean, LOVE the comparison... but when you're in a "scavenger hunt" and one of the things is to get 50 reactions on a post and I average about 5-6... it ain't looking good for this bitch. And ITS ONLY DAY 1.

Great question. I am trying to figure that out. I realize not knowing discord puts me at s disadvantage. Let’s hope we win till I can figure it out.

Well I like this tribe, I'm feeling good about things at the moment, I've talked to loris, Andreaa, and John who I had a prior relationship with. They all seem nice enough. I'm hoping to make more connections with people in the near future, because with only 6 people on the tribe I need to make ABSOLUTE sure I'm in the numbers.

I'm such a flop, I did almost all my voice recordings on my phone while I accidentally left voice chat on. My Computer Mic isn't great and it was only for a little while, nobody said anything, so I don't know if anybody caught anything I might have said for the challenge, but the worst thing that might have been caught was my statement about Dani

We're approaching the end of Day 1 and I don't think I've made much progress with anyone other than John... this tribe is very quiet, and I don't know if that's due to many different timezones, or inactivity, or what have you. Regardless I'm a little worried about this challenge, but hopefully a win can be pulled out.

Its so quiet dawg

ok i love selfie scavenger hunts so this challenge is great. as for my tribe mates, roxy and i are in F6 in atomic together, so thats a interesting. Drew H was in that season and like. i have no idea what our relationship is going to be like ydgfs. the only person who I haven't talked to at all is Odd. i should get on that

Oh these motherfuckers think they got me found. They think they know me. Expect drama.

My tribe is ducking stacked with people I like so this is hot hopefully we can get this scav hunt done and get max point WEW

Well. I’m doing another one. Do I have the time? Nope! Is this a good idea? No ma’am/sir. But I’m doing it anyway. This is an...interesting tribe for me to be on. I have my one true love, Sam Drachus, and a tribe of people that probably don’t know he’s my husband. Of course, a pregame relationship never equates to an ingame relationship necessarily, so I will not rest in my socialisation (especially given I will have ass for physical game for a while). Louise I’ve hosted twice, Ci’ere I’ve hosted and played with. Dani and Brian I don’t really know properly but they seem very inactive. I am quite sure we will lose this challenge, but hopefully I can be active and bond-build enough to be Victorious!!

i hate this challenge because im so lazy

hi!! so my social game is going pretty good so far, i'm v tight with andrea, emma and i said we don't want each other to go, john's an icon and i like talking to zach. kori doesn't talk a lot so he'll probably be an ez boot. also i think im gonna end up with the most points for our immunity so that'll probably let me be spared if we do end up losing :)))). ALSO,,,,,,,,, i found the legacy advantage bc i clicked on seamus' manga on the tumblr?? of course they hid it behind the ugly one... no one looks there.

So our first challenge is a cute scavenger hunt & one of the 10 point items is getting 50 likes on a FB post. When I initially made the post, only a few people reacted to it so I knew I was going to have to do something drastic in order to get more people’s attention. I stole Nicki Minaj’s brand & started running KWEENT (6 letters Jack :p) Radio! I put in a lot of work to get people to help me out, but I also wanted to have fun with it & in the end it paid off. I’mma bit worried however since only Louise, Sam & I have made contributions to the challenge thus far. We don’t have that much time left & there’s still three empty columns... I’ve been talking a lot to Dani who I find I probably relate to the most. They made it pretty far in the actual Survivor casting process & they have also been talking to Sam. Sam is so nice & has that straight male humor, YEET. Louise is obviously a kween & we’ve played together before so I think I could work something out with her? Toby’s timezone & schedule is tough to work through, but I think I might be able to charm him up hehe. Brian is the only person that hasn’t shown any sign of life so I’ve been pushing for him, but of course he shows up now ASDFG.

Did so many challenges but have trouble uploading to gdoc

Anxiety is a bitch. Like I already have alot of it due to work and school, but for us to be submitting things for the scavenger hunt last minute... that made my heart quicken a bit more than needed. ESPECIALLY if your video links for the video portion of the hunt DON'T WORK. Like wth ODD? Like if you're gonna submit late.. like at least check the damn links so you can actually win the points for the videos that you are submitting. OH AND IN OTHER WORDS. I didn't think Jack was gonna view my poem to him. And he watched it. I have no words. Like let me die of embarrassment because I am flummoxed with a straight man once again in my life. ALL FOR 6 MEASLY POINTS IN A GAME! LIKE WHAT THE FUCK!?

That's so FETCH! Even with Odd's bumbling incapabilities, he can make us get a narrow win for reward! Maybe my frustrations were misplaced with him! But I am glad that I will not be the first boot and get to stay here for another 3 days or so! Pumped!

well just as i thought,,, TRASH this tribe has good people that i like but apart from ci'ere CHILEEEEEEE we sucked so bad we didn't deserve to win. I think it's brian that's going tbh he wasn't active till the last 4? hours of the comp and people have already said if we lose it's him so yikes guess that's what is happening.

we won the challenge which is actually surprising. Odd's links didn't work but if they did I would've had the lowest score. I was gonna do so much more but my phone won't charge !! and i went to a college fair ok. I love how i said i was good at comps during my live interview. i swear im not a liar hosts

Woo we won, I put a fair amount of work in, so I'm glad we got results... unfortunately it didn't REALLY matter because of how badly the losing tribe did.

I think I have a decent shot of making a 4-person alliance with John, Andrea, and Loris. Hopefully I can get that going through. Emma is LIKELY the weak link on the tribe, which is fine by me she has yet to talk to me really, so I'd have no qualms voting her out.

I have a funny story. I spent a half hour walking and  looking for a license plate with ce on it. I had to use scooter plates. Half the cars only have one letter. When I finally found the plate parked in front of a restaurant . I got on one knee to take the pic. It was night so flash went out. A guy came out and demanded I delete the photo. Not kidding. He was not happy. I couldn’t explain what I was doing. I deleted it. He drove away. I was really bummed. So I got on my motorcycle and drove to the university where I knew there were hundreds of scooters. I slowly drove while looking on both sides of the parking lot. I must of looked at more than 500 plates. Finally I found one. Guess what? It was the same scooter from earlier. This time the guy not around. I was still really nervous like I was breaking the law. When the flash went off I was waiting for the guy to start running at me. He didn’t. Success.

Well, I'm a bit scared. Apparently, Sam has already found something? Or someone has... Item 39 purportedly received the "There was something there, but isn't anymore" treatment, which is Scary AF! Like, if someone has an idol THIS early in the game...if I got idol'd out THIS early in the game!!

But, I suspect that whatever was hidden in Position 39 was not, in fact, an idol, but was rather some clue or aspect to the idol system. 50 possibilities isn't enough of a competition space for an idol search, right? I mean, I bloody hope so because the alternative is that a Zosma idol is already flying around at the literal first tribal council and, man, I don't need that paranoia right now.

Winning this challenge was way easier than I expected, I figure some inactive is about to die on the other tribe so no worries there. I had a blast this thing is gonna be a fun time if the challenges continue to be similar to this.

Well it's day 2, John and Andreaa seem on board for an alliance, now all I need is to hear what Loris thinks and if he seems on board, I've got my 4-some right there. Which'll leave Emma and Big Z on the outs. Which is fine, we could even split the votes in case of an idol if we felt like it.

But I can't afford to get too comfortable, players can be real snakes and I can't let myself be too trusting. I just have to work on being super relateable and someone people feel comfortable talking to.

I just hope I didn't start "talking game" too early…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onr3BoPGJzA

I guess I cast assess now! Loris: he is a mood and playing hard but he likes me so for now we r gucci. He is super fun to talk to and we share idol guesses so hes aight! I dont want to work long term with him. Kori: Yikes. He's super inactive but he was like i like u lets form an alliance so ofc I'm like ok. He left me on read on the first day and randomly offered and im like k wyd i wasnt born yesterday Emma: Queen? I knew her before this we used to be married until she deactivated and I divorced her but like that literally not even the point. Shes kinda  inactive and very on the bottom besides Kori so I'm hoping I can convince Loris to keep her if we go to tribal twice. Big Z: Ok I have never met him before now but OMG ive heard so much about him AND I LOVE HIM!!! I get the hype and then some. I wish we talked more. I 100% would not vote him or Emma out rn. John: he's cool! I havent talked to him too much but were in an alliance Basically im really happy we won LMAO. I am in an alliance I have no plans of following through with. life is interesting. I may just go off the rails. I am predicting Brian goes home because Zosma is a facebook clusterfuck right now.

I’m winning this org... I’m in a silly alliance with kori Andrea and John that I’m not gonna take seriously but kori probably will... me and Andrea are rlly good allies and I have the legacy??? give me my money

We lost the challenge by a landslide. https://tenor.com/view/davonne-rogers-pretends-to-be-gif-6175133

Zosma was 400+ points behind the other tribes so they really did snatch us huh. I’m happy to hear that they’re active though unlike some of my tribemates for the past two days l m a o. I scored more than half of our aggregate, so I think I should be set to survive this vote.

Toby wants to share idol info and I can’t decline that so I gave him fake receipts hehe. He also stated that I’m the person he’s connected to the most. Sam says that I’m easy to talk to as well, so I think my social game is going pretty well at the moment!

Sam wants to vote for anybody that isn’t him & he also said he loved me 😳 L i s t e n: love is a BIG word (to me at least) & you can’t just throw it out to anyone & their mother, Sam. Louise is in the same mindset as myself as she’s talked to Toby/Dani more than Brian so let’s just snipe Brian right? Well, Toby comes to me after scoring 0 & says he has a “gut feeling” that we should vote out Dani because Brian is preoccupied with Mount Olympus. Does that make any sense? We just lost the challenge by an extremely large margin & you want to keep the person that doesn’t prioritize this game? Go to sleep Toby, you’re drunk. I guess it’s hard to judge who will be more active since it’s only round uno. Dani was present, but only sent in one thing…& Brian had internet problems. I had a great conversation with Dani the first day, but it’s day three now. Should I stick my neck out for him? I told Toby what he wanted to hear because it was 3AM for him & he wanted to sleep, but there’s still a lot of time left & I want Brian dead.

I need to talk to people more often hn

I mean this vote is as simple as it gets, it's basically a battle of which inactive should we kick. Most votes seem to be going on brian, which I do feel bad about cuz I love him in mount Olympus and feel he could easily be a number to drag. but at the same time he's been so inactive to the point where he'll probs just die at a swap or something. I feel bad for toby since he already voted dani but im sure he'd understand with all the timezone differences, I would like dani to go but if brian stayed, we would probs lose again then he would just leave so rip

Hi!! It's me john coffey!!! So I love the theme of my tribe being like  the emotional players and I love the vibe of all my tribemates. However I know that the emotional players are also sometimes the messiest players because I forsure fall into that category sometimes!! So far I have just been trying to chill tf out and get to know people, and use the scavenger hunt to show that I really want to be here. I may not have as much to offer in future tribe challenges so I like being able to use scavenger hunts to really go ham. I got the highest score on our tribe and I think the second highest behind Roxy so woo! Now let's move on to my fellow tribe mates. Kori - the only person I was familiar with going into this game. I played with him in my most recent game where he witnessed me win. We had a good bond the entire game but he also voted for me when he thought I was the majority vote, setting aside any connection I had made with him, so that is always kinda going to be on my mind in this game. But as of now he is the person I trust the most. Andrea - I LOVE her! We bonded quickly over being messes so that's always fun. I could see myself growing close with her in this game. Loris- I really like him, I always like British guys LOL it's been kinda difficult getting to talk to him at a time that works for both of us but I really like him so far Emma- she hosted me a few years ago though I didn't know it was her at first, I like her but haven talked to her as much as the others Big z - I like him though we haven't talked too much but I immediately see him as my biggest threat at this point. Just something about him idk.

As far as other tribe members go - drew Heuser is one of my favorite people to have played orgs with. He was the reason I was first boot in my first Tumblr game but has remained a dear friend of mine ever since. I met him in person and he's the besssst. If I have a chance to play with him I'm excited to see what the outcome will be.

https://youtu.be/TfQ4Xmeb2J8

Brian is voted out 5-1.

[survivorpacificislandallstars]

Ep. 9 - “WHY THE HELL WHY THE FUCKING HELL GOD FUCK” - Charlotte

Stevie just got idoled out by Andrew. I'm extremely upset by this. I was planning on working with Stevie through the entire game. Luckily I still have a lot of allies and I won't be targeted on my tribe since 1. I haven't been to exile and 2. I'm good at challenges. With Dan going to tribal, I am the person who's been to tribal the least this season. Honestly, I'm probably the person that's been to the least tribals in this series left, only with 4 in my entire PI career. So, I'm gonna make a list of the people I'm with least to most, since I never did a proper cast assessment. 19. Sam B - I want her out sooner rather than later. She screwed me over in Niue and she knows I was coming for her at our first tribal together. We made a pact that we wouldn't target eachother after that, but that's a load of bullshit. She's my number one target. Payback will be sweet. 18. Gage - I just met him, but he's higher on my list since he did well in the challenge. 17. Steffen - I'm petrified of Steffen. He's a cutthroat player and doesn't really take into consideration friendships outside the game. Or so I hear. The only game I've played with him was TAR and he screwed me over in that. He can go too. 16. Andrew - He just took out one of my closest allies, and he's working with Mitch. I want Mitch to myself. 15. Billy - I REALLY wanted to work with him, since it's been over a year since our last game together, Somalia. But I just don't think it's in the cards. He's way too close with Sam B and Steffen for me to get myself into that alliance. 14. Kevin - He's not that active so I don't think I can really rely on him. Sorry Kevin :( But hey, you're number 5 on our tribe! 13. Karen - This is a bit of a placeholder spot for Karen. I love playing with her, she's just one of two people I haven't been on a tribe with yet. I just don't know who she's with or what her plans are yet. 12. Dan - I worked with him in HOS, but he was super sketchy in Niue and he still managed to win. I also already broke an alliance with him by voting out Madison. I would like to work with him, but he's just too much of a wildcard for me. Honestly, this is where it gets hard because I'm pretty close with all of these people left. 11. David Robb - As far as I know, I'm working with him and we have a close working relationship. I just don't know how far we can go together before I need to cut him for my more important allies. 10. Van - Same as Andrew and same as Charlotte right below. 9. Charlotte - Once again, I would like to keep Mitch to myself. I won't be voting off Charlotte, but if she happens to leave, that's fine with me. 8. Sam G - Ok, I adore Sam. She is one of my closest people, especially when Drew is around. That's a three person group I can see making it far, but I can't go to the FTC with them. There is 0 way I win that. 7. Mitch - I see Mitch becoming very powerful if Andrew, Kevin, Van, Charlotte, and Drew are all here come merge. While I would love to work with him, but he's a savvy player with a bunch of allies. I don't think he would ever see me turning on him. But I will. 6. Jordan Pines - Similarly to Mitch, I see Jordan being powerful if him and his allies/friends make it to merge. 5. Chrissa - An easy final 2 I would have, if she makes merge. While I haven't been on a tribe with her yet, I know she'd drop everything for me. I just don't see her making it much further if she loses immunity soon. 4. Drew - He won't turn on me, and I don't see myself turning on him. Unless it was absolutely imperative to my game. 3. Sara - I love Sara so much they're such an icon. They offered to trade Pokemon with me i just haven't got to yet :( Hopefully she sends me a Rowlet and a vote from the jury when I'm at FTC with the next two people. 1/2. Ash and PunPun - TRUE ICONS! I love these two so so much. PunPun slightly more than Ash since I've talked to them more. Basically right now as long as we don't swap, us three + Charlotte control the Hōkū tribe. This is the dream final three right here.

Conf 16 (I Think): My dad Stevie died and now I have no one! What the fuck! oh my god! How dare Andrew do that to me! and now there is a swap so I feel pretty confident tbh like im with Sam and Steffen and Kevin so i feel pretty good?

Whelp, this was fun. I got out with all of the Nuie people, and Mitch who might as well be a Nuie person. On top of that they all suck at competitions! I can't wait to be the next person voted out because of a god damn tribe swap again :)

BYE I can't trust anyone on this booty ass tribe. I just killed Stevie, my father, and am now being reunited with Sam, my mother. So I thot I would have some 'splainin to do but Sam was cool. Seemingly. Then there's Drew who mind you - hand picked these tribes with the other exile people. Now, he probably knows I'm close to Sam, but if I'm being targeted he will also probably think she'd turn on me. Also, Dan would write my name down again in a second. And I'm friendly with Sara but she has no reason NOT to vote me. Really, the only person I truly trust now in this game is Billy. I wanna say the same for Steffen bc I love him and we pulled some wacky shit in Westeros but... He's too sneaky. If we lose I might be really really fucked. 

I. DON'T. FUCKING. LIKE. DREW. There I said it. He is literally shooting every idea I have for this vine challenge for his own. The fucker just wants to go to exile to get a shit clue for an idol I couldn't even find. Like your ideas are not original, or cute and you're really starting to piss me the fuck off. 

We won got second but we won, good i thought i was still on hoshi and lost, war flashbacks and all but so happy thank god for ste*fen for that one, as much as they thought it was too straight forward it was still good enough to win I'd like to also thank me for that vine submission i made, the song is so catchy. 

Hey it's me, your resident exile island whore and your boy who constantly fucks himself. Tribes have swapped, shit has happened, I've never been comfortable. I've been on exile island so much that people are probably going to come at me for having advantages and being a quiet threat, but I've been building my alliances of people I love who will protect me if I need. I need to let them know I'll die for them if I need to, because winning is just a perk. I like making friends. Oh! Did I mention my repeated trips to Exile earned me a ruby idol? Thought that was pretty cool, even though it doesn't guarantee my safety, but it's something I have. As part of my confessional, I need to talk about the people left in the game. Andrew - Not much of a threat and an ally I want. After saving himself with an idol he's going to be shook and looking for someone to trust, and I've given him no reason to distrust me. Considering I was exiled and not a part of... that, I can play it up that I wasn't planning on voting him and would've turned the vote on someone else (Which is the truth.) Ash - I don't... know her. I haven't been on a tribe with her, but I feel like she doesn't get very far in these games, so maybe she's not too threatening. I would like to use that and hopefully get her as an ally if we even meet up. Billy - He has made it to FTC multiple times. I know he can be a dangerous player and he would be very difficult to get out if we were to merge. I don't know if he can win, because something always seems to trip him up in the end, but I know that he would be taking up a spot in the finals that could be used for me or an ally. My hope is to vote him out tonight, but Jay is hesitant because he did the work for us, which I understand. To be honest, our story was... bad. If I had seen the direction it was going, I know I probably could have spiced it up and made it better, but it was a rushed decision. That said, I made this tribe to get Billy out before merge, and if this tribe doesn't do that, I'm going to be disappointed. Charlotte - Right now, she's my #1. She's my student of sorts, and I like to think of myself as her mentor. I've trusted her with information about idols, and with the fact that she's at work a lot, she's an easy target for a vote, which I don't want. If she gets to merge, she will not be a threat, and my goal is to help her get far. I love her as a person, and I can't see her turning on me any time soon, and her coupled with Jay gives me a good position on this tribe of 5. Chrissa - She's sweet, and someone I really enjoy being around. I haven't been around her a whole lot because of these ridiculous swaps, which is concerning, but I see her being a good ally if we're able to meet up again. She's not the best at challenges, and she can be odd, which will probably be a detriment. Her tribe is going to tribal, and I have a feeling that she might be their target, which sucks. I love Chrissa, and if I can get her on my side at merge with the group I have, we'd be set. Dan - He has literally won a season. He has a social flair unlike anyone I've ever seen. Dan is incredible. HE GOTTA GO DLKDSJSLDKJFS I was HOPING Whetu would go to tribal so Drew could pull strings and vote him out, because Dan has the social game to steamroll merge. He's been voted out at merge before, but that was when he started. Now that he knows how to play the game, he easily could beat all of us up if he's not out before merge. So... that needs to happen. Pronto. David - You know, I don't know how David plays in Survivor. I played briefly in Sri Lanka with him, and going to rocks really messed him up. He's hosted me in TAR. Other than that, I don't know how David plays. I feel like Drew or Jay could do better at roping him in if we needed, but for now I want to keep my distance and hope something works out. Drew - BOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII I love Drew and we never get to play together so I'm VERY glad this game is giving us a chance. We both came in on a challenge threat ticket, and the other people on that ticket are gone. And yet Drew and I are both in pretty good spots since we get to choose the tribes since we keep getting exiled. We're painting ourselves as huge threats, and I'm aware of it. I think Drew's aware of it too, so hopefully we can keep our asses afloat. He's my main ally for connecting with folks, alongside Jay. Gage - Gage has also won a game, and also made it to FTC before. He's an under-the-radar player, and he's going to be ignored in a season of people who want to constantly take the reins and struggle for power. Gage is a hidden threat, and I want to get rid of him before he gets rid of us in our war. If I go to exile and we get to rearrange the tribes, I am putting him with me and my alliance and I am kickin him. Jay - JAY another bitch I never get to work with in games. He is my furry bro and he is so great at the social game that he can coordinate our entire alliance and I don't give a fuc. He and I are already seen as a duo by other people, so I feel like I should keep my distance, which is difficult because I rely on him for playing the social aspect of the game while I just win challenges, go to exile, and get idols and shit. So hopefully Jay continues to work his magic and I get the benefits while not taking heat. Jordan - I have a sneaking suspicion that Jordan has the Hoshi advantage, because when I went to look for it, it was gone. He's been to exile a few times now, so I know he has the clues to get it. It's not an idol, but it's SOMETHING, and the more power Jordan Pines has, I know he has the ability to create chaos. But Drew and Jay trust him, so I'm not going to kick the floor out from under him and catch heat for it. I'll let him live while sneakily planting a seed or two that he needs to go out the back door before shit happens. Karen - I have recently been booted out by Karen. I know she has people up her butt because she's a social player. I would LOVE to have her go, because she can make FTC but... not really win? Which puts her on the level of Billy, actually. If she hits merge, she's a problem. I know these people like her too much to send her home though, so we'll see where this goes... Kevin - I like Kevin as a person, we hang out in the gorlley chat (shoutout to gorlleys) and he's chill. I don't know how he plays Survivor though, I know he can get pretty far into merge and be fine, so maybe he's someone I want to take along for the ride. Punpun - I love punpun. They always die SO early though, so I want them on my side so I can at least help some people get farther than they have before. I know they like me, but we haven't played a whole lot of games together, so who knows how they've changed their gameplay since we last interacted. Sam B - A SOCIAL ASS BUTTERFLY. Everyone loves her, and she can get DEEP into merge. Fuck, she's also Billy.  I want her to go, because she has ties to Steffen, Van, Billy... So many people. She needs to go because she'll also be hard to get rid of at merge.  I'm intimidated by her. Sam G - I love her. She's quiet and easy to work with, but I'm not entirely sure how hard she plays. I think she makes it relatively far in all games, she's made FTC in Burma F4 trash, so maybe she's more threatening than she lets on. Who knows. Sara - Another quiet person who I'm not sure how she plays! She's nice, and our conversations are good. I think I can keep her on my side for a while, and if she gets pretty far, I'd be okay with that. Steffen - Another BILLY ugh. I don't trust Steffen with an inch of my life because of what happened in Hawaii, but maybe things have smoothed over. I'm always cautious around him, though. Van - I LOVE HER She's my Spain buddy and I think I can get her on my side if we get rid of Sam/Steffen/Billy. She doesn't play revenge game, so I don't think I can worry about a lot of backlash if I'm the one to boot them out. And for fun, here's a threat ranking! And people I want as allies. Fun stuff. THREATENING. GO HOME NOW (in order of threateny goodness): Billy, Dan, Sam B + Steffen, Gage, Karen Be careful: Jordan, Sam G, David, Van, Andrew They like me, we're ok for a while: Chrissa, Kevin, Sara, Punpun, Ash? I love them and they love me: Drew, Jay, Charlotte Still laying low! But I'm doing my best to be aware of what's going on around me. 

Okay so first off, I'm going to need Jessica's home address, but it's just for a friend! I'm not going to pay her a visit and give her a PIECE OF MY DAMN MIND ABOUT GRADING OUR VINE STORY SO HARSHLY. Any who, it doesn't matter because MOMty and AlliMOM fell under the weight of my influence and enforced the ruled to save my ass. I made an alliance with Andrew and Sam G (HONESTLY IT JUST TOOK ME 6 MINUTES TO REMEMBER HER NAME Y'ALL) and I like it actually. Like realistically we're going to be split up next round, but it doesn't hurt having connections I guess. I gave them the clue to the idol too, which is cute.

We lost? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! Our story was gold! Pure, rock solid gold! Hoku clearly doesn't know what the fuck "1 sentence" is! You were supposed to accompany each vine with 1 SENTENCE NOT A FUCKING PARAGRAPH YOU MORONS!! And Kyaal had 9 vines and there was no fucking effort like honestly what the hell are these judges smoking? Hoshi's did suck ass so like okay they can go to tribal but what the fuck? Ours had a real story to it AND we actually followed the rules! Hoku shouldn't have even been allowed to submit that since they had PARAGRAPHS NOT A FUCKING SENTENCE LIKE THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO! This is ridiculous and now I have to go talk to people and vote someone out and it'll probably Dan and I feel bad djdvdkdk unless it's gunna be me in which case whatever take me away from this ugly ass game WHAT THE FUCK DOES JESSICA MEAN GO OUTSIDE AND LIVE YOUR LIFE? LIKE SHUT UP I DONT KNOW HER BUT IM NOT A FAN BYE! I KNEW RICKY WOULD BE A FAN THOUGH SO SHOUT OUT TO RICKY FOR BEING MY FAVE <3

Dear Hoku, you can't put a comma in place of a period and still call it one sentence. Y'all can choke for not knowing your grammar and making us go to tribal because you're stupid. With much hate, Sam

"So anyways... It seems that this vote could go one of two ways, Sara or Dan. Andrew and I were talking about pulling in Drew and vote either Dan or Sara but Dan also wants to work with me and Andrew" WHEW I GOT THIS FAR AND SAW THE ANNOUNCEMENT I'M SHOOK WE DID THAT SUCKS TO SUCK HOKU SORRY NOT SORRY

When Dan gives me a clue to the idol and honestly I shouldn't have told him he was looking the wrong way skdvdkdkx I'm greedy and want all the idols for myself

I guess Chrissa is really out to snap my neck. If we're gonna blame people for this, well for one I'm not blaming myself because why would I do that, so I'm gonna blame Karen cause I think it was her fault for throwing Chrissa's name out so... :/ But queen Samantha, who Id die for in an instant, is gunning for Chrissa with me and we only need one more vote so hopefully it shouldn't be that hard to get Steffen and David but idk I just asked Steffen if he'd heard anything and he said no despite specifically agreeing with Sam to vote Chrissa so uh...something could be up

AUUUUUUGH This is so STUPID. Charlotte wants to vote out Van, Jay wants to vote out Van, and I'm sitting here wondering why they can't see the bigger problem here. Billy is a social threat. Van is a quiet cinnamon roll. We're cut from the same cloth. If I vote her out I'd lose a confidant. BILLY YOU'RE MAKING MY LIFE DIFFICULT AS ALWAYS. Judging from our conversation, Charlotte EASILY spilled to Billy that we were voting Van, so I'm chalking that up to a rookie mistake. I made myself look stupid by telling Billy I'd let Charlotte know. He already knows we've been talking. So he knows I'm a liar. And dslfkjsdss. He's going to ream my entire asshole for this later, I just know it. I'm pretty sure I'm making myself look like more and more of a liar. I just don't want Van to go home, I want Billy to go home. "I made this tribe to get rid of Billy and if that doesn't happen I'm going to be disappointed" What more did I expect from PI? Did I expect to not be disappointed? Why am I so stupid But I need to lay low. If Jay and Charlotte want Van out, that's on them. I won't fight their decision because I need to follow people if I want to go far. That's just how it is in most of these games. I know Jay and Charlotte won't turn on me if I don't give them a reason to think I'm sketchy, so I'm just going to wait it out and vote from the car on the drive down to San Francisco. Which should be fun. Hopefully things don't happen. Watch Van come online and defend herself and this entire conversation goes out the window because I'm a weak piece of shit. 

this is a pretty fancy new tumblr theme you guys got going in here i likey On a gameplay related note if I make it through this vote alive it'll be a miracle if I make it through this vote alive it means I've had to lose every bit of sanity and backstab some people who I trusted and probably trusted me. probably hello niue my old friend i've come to play your game again https://youtu.be/IZaYdwa8KMQ

Omg this round has been so crazy. Let me just start out by saying I did not contribute AT ALL to that vine challenge. I thought it was super cool but I was busy and I don't really like group challenges like that. Anyways, Steffen did the most, and I'm so proud of him. I'm somewhat mad that I asked about it being more than 1 sentence and they said "they are one sentence" and us being disqualified because they weren't, but it was still a great story and I'm happy to claim it for our tribe. Anyways, about this vote. So I trust Steffen for the most part. But I feel like my final 2 lies with Karen. I also love Kevin, so I do want to work with him. When we first lost this comp, Chrissa came to me saying that she wanted Kevin out. She also said that David was on board. However, when I talked to Kevin, he said that him and David were voting out Chrissa. So that leaves me and Steffen to basically choose which side we want to work on. We talked to david individually and he told both of us that he wants to vote out Chrissa. That makes it easier to vote her out, honestly. If he wanted Kevin out, and since we were already leaning more towards chrissa anyways, we still would have had to deal with him after the vote, but knowing that we can keep him on our good side is great. I think that I could definitely work with Kevin long term. I don't think I ever could have said that about Chrissa. So hopefully this works out. And omg !!! I got the merry go round idol for a second time. The first time was randomized (but nobody had previously used it so I'm pretty sure I was the first) but the second time it was given to me by ash. WHO I LOVE. Ugh I love Ash. But yeah, so I am going to give it to steffen. I know I had given it to steffen last time, but I was on a tribe with him so I felt safe doing so. Even though I trust Karen, we haven't actually been on a tribe together in a while. So I'm not sure where she stands with me. I do still want to work with her, though, so hopefully that'll work out. If we ever merge. We might just tribe swap until like final 6, I have no clue with the rate that this game is going. Tribe swaps every few rounds though definitely help my social game, so I guess I'm not complaining :) 

BILLY WHAT THE FUCK YOU WANT TO GET ME OUT? GOD FUCK YOU ALWAYS GET NERVOUS AND TRY AND PULL OFF THESE MOVES WHY THE HELL WHY THE FUCKING HELL GOD FUCK

I've taken to talking to myself using both of my accounts in my chat...........it's been a day frankly......

me tonight