#as far as potential side effects go though it's not that bad lol

[tj-crochets]

Hey y’all! I am once again in health insurance hell. Details below the read more, because I ranted a little bit and it was getting a little long, but long story short: Please send me either ideas of plushies to design or concepts you’d like me to explain the way I’d explain them to a small child. I’ve done that part before, I think I tagged it “tj explains things to toddlers”. It can be a fun challenge for me and I just want to stop thinking about health insurance for a while lol

  I wanted to get a second rescue inhaler*, because my old ones are out of date, and I’d prefer to have two unexpired rescue inhalers so I can keep one in my purse downstairs and one by my bed, and my new health insurance won’t cover it! It’s $500 without insurance!! And that’s with the manufacturer coupon!!! I have until October before my current rescue inhaler expires, but still! I ended up having to physically go to my doctor’s office to get them to fill out a form to try and get my insurance to cover my inhaler because the phone tree at my doctor’s office is broken and will just hang up on you.  *my rescue inhaler is not actually a rescue inhaler, because I have what my doctor called “an adverse reaction” and what I call a “hey that summoned ALL the nurses EXTREMELY quickly” reaction to both albuterol and levalbuterol, the two main rescue inhaler medications. In most people the increase in heart rate from using the rescue inhaler is minimal, like less than 10 bpm if anything, but in me it was 80+ bpm increase and I found out if you gasp out “I can’t see” while wheezing you get EVERY nurse in the urgent care running to you very fast. My “rescue inhaler” is actually Atrovent, an inhaler for the treatment of COPD that works well enough for me to get away from whatever is causing my asthma attack and/or put on a filter mask, and since I have weird asthma it works for me. 

[omorimodreverie]

Reverie Dev Log - November and December

Side Note: This one is quite long, if you only want an important part, there is a TL;DR summary at the bottom.

New Year Note

Happy New Year! We have now reached 2024! Reverie has begun as a little project since April 2021, before it even has its name. The more modern variant began after the demo release in August 2021, with CH1 releasing in May 2022, so it’s been a long way.

Though to admit, considering CH2.5 update came in December 2022, this means CH3 has a gap of a year now (though there are some updates and patches on 2.5 for a few months. This makes it seem like progress has been in stagnation, especially with delayed dev log recently.

This one will be shorter in technical and progress details, and more about the general gist of development plans in general, the surrounding environmental change in modding and OMORI as a whole (as that bears a great effect currently), and finally explains the slow down a bit (though a TL;DR: basically the past few months is holidays).

Also, Development post will now rather be every 2 months as well.

(And also the time is better spent on actually development than just writing, lol)

Overview

November and December for its period of time wasn’t as much done compared to previous months, though it wasn’t as bad as the worst case scenario when factoring in multiple holidays coming in that could have easily killed the motivation entirely. So all things considered, it’s relatively steady going despite the circumstances

For a quick rundown:

More NPCs implemented in maps

Writing is a bit more organized and more steady in terms of work now (And also an additional writer member!)

Portraits started to be done for most main characters

Connected up some progression from separate disjointed cutscenes

Some new plans that reduces workload*

Some enemy sprites are done as well on the side**

A few changes and re-polish on some music tracks

*for example, sunset are done on same map with filter than whole new set of maps

**Which are low priority, more of optional content in CH3 context

Updates, Changes and Needs

There are multiple factors that affect development, here it will be listed from short term factor to long term factor and potential future.

Holiday and Breaks

Let’s start with easy stuff, the short term factor. The past few months contain multiple holidays and also school breaks for some people. There isn’t much to say here, people on holidays get busy therefore less people are doing mod work, especially Christmas and New Year holiday.

(I mean, reverie is a fan mod project, not a job, lol)

Though there is still at least some minimum baseline of trying to keep interest up with some check in, so the interest doesn’t die off entirely, as mentioned in previous Dev Log before large holidays tend to be in big risk for that.

CH3 and Real World Content

One major thing to think about is the length of the real world section and the amount of content it has. The real world content has a large upfront cost due to making an entire new asset for the majority of aspects, so any new things added more will take far longer time than usual other chapters in the dream world.

There are two major aspects to consider, the mandatory story aspect, and the optional side content aspect. 

Mandatory / Story Content

As of current the main story aspect of CH3 is quite short, unlike Dreamworld areas, the Real world main content mostly revolves around cutscenes and dialogues, if you speed through the dialogue and cutscenes, it could very well take only half an hour or less to go through (though that’s unlikely the way it’s played on first playthrough at least, ignoring reading time).

One conflict is that, Reverie as a mod is far more focused on Dreamworld sections and battle heavy, making real world sections a bit awkward to make, taking quite a large amount of development time compared to other dream world chapters. The question then is how much real world content should be made, factoring in development time?

Side / Optional Content

As for side content, like in base game it’s mostly NPCs giving fetch quests (which are simpler to make), or potentially jobs (which is a bit more complex).

One unique aspect of Reverie over the base game though, is some amount of gameplay battles to at least give something to do (think of Jackson poster in Hobbeez in base game, but more fleshed out).

The important question is, how much side content should there be in the real world section of reverie? While it is cool to have some side content in real world and is a common complaint on base game itself that the real world feels lackluster, making more things in real world also takes up a large amount of development time which is not ideal. It’s a balancing act between not too lackluster but also not too much content which would take too much time.

RPGMV Needs and Modding Community

And finally, the general community aspect. The OMORI fandom has aged quite a while now, and as time passes the amount of people interested is reduced as well. This project is ultimately a fan project so the amount of interest on the mod isn’t really a problem, but what does this mean is there are less people interested in OMORI and also modding in general,.

A fair amount of people who tend to do RPGMaker MV (RPGMV) works tend to now be out no longer modding, or new members who do would tend to be making own project anyways. This means there has been less people who are available with RPGMV side, which means aspects like cutscenes should be cut down smaller to avoid development hell.

What this means for development is the gears shift from previous usual development focused on efficiency (getting task as parallel as possible), to a slower but sustainable development, focusing more on sustaining interest, which is better than losing interest totally.

TL;DR

Basically, the key important points are:

Short term aspect of Holidays and New Year makes November and December slow period in general.

Real World content (and CH3 by extension) is more time consuming and harder to make than other chapters

Therefore, amount of Real World content needs to be discussed, both mandatory and optional content

There has been less people in Omori community in general meaning there is less people to go by, especially RPGMV sector

Therefore, development has switched to a more slow burn state, taking things slow but sustaining interest to avoid burn out or lost motivation

And for development posts, now will be posting every 2 months than every months instead to reduce writing.

And about Applications...

Applications are always open! RPGMV / Programmers are always appreciated!

Final Stuff

Well now that you read this far, here's some portrait of Daphne and Bowen! (and also probably the only few sprite that is showable related to CH3 now)

There isn't much detail, but when resized down it is enough as a sprite

[autumnfangirler]

IM FINALLY GETTING AROUND TO THAT CAINE POST WITH HIS RELATIONSHIPS TO THE RANGERS LETS GO

long post so as per usual im throwing this under the cut

Caine & Ortega:

Ortega is caines best friend of years, even after the farm. In fact, caines had a crush on him since their sidestep days, but only realized it in retri lol. He finds his static soothing, its a reprieve from the constant chatter around them, even if it comes with the cost of not being able to read his mind. The problem is that caine is really good at following orders, and during his sidestep days, when they first got all their freedom, he kind of subconciously latched on to ortega as the nearest authority figure because they likened his static to the numbers used at the farm. Even post second escape, they still regard him as an authority(though hes starting to chafe against ortegas influence a little bit more). Part of the reason caine is a no-kill saving step is because, even if they dont realize it, theyre doing what ortega told them to do. if ortega had asked him to kill somebody, hed do it 100%. and if that somebody just so happened to be a near-mythical kingpin ruling over los diablos, well... let's just say theres more than one reason caine agreed to HGs deal unthreaded

Caine & Chen:

Oh, caine has a thing for the marshal and they are throwing a fit about it. This was NOT supposed to happen. Chen was supposed to be the vaguely-tolerable side effect to getting spoon. But then he found out that chens well-shielded mind is actually really nice for the same reasons ortegas mind is, and that he could relate to the feeling of being forced into a role he doesnt want to play. Back in the day, caine was always frustrated that chen didnt trust what he brought to the team, but now that theyre "retired", it doesnt matter and they can relax together as individuals. It was a surprisingly nice development. The two are more similar than they think– nowadays, the main conflict between the two is caine being lycan, because chen is absolutely aware of that fact and caine is just about clear-headed enough to note that thats probably a bad thing. Caine and chen are both very (for lack of better term) career focused, and even if caine doesnt like being villainous, theyre willing to do whatevers needed for the job(over 80% drive babyyy). So yeah, those two are going to butt heads when That conversation finally comes up

Caine & Herald:

Caine is WORKING that 66% strength of mind whenever herald is around. They find him intense, overly curious, and far too forgetful of boundaries, all of which they Do Not appreciate. But he still cant help liking the kid. Hes legitimately proud of how far heralds come along, and hes interested in his potential as a threat since hes shown how perceptive he can be. Currently, theyre trying to round out heralds skills as part of the team, as well as pushing him to analyze and use what he notices against an opponent. Plus, training herald has been more of a lifeline than theyd like to admit(i wrote something about it, but idk if ill post it rip). Its a schedule, hes a good coach, and he just likes fighting for fun lmfao. The whole thing would be great if herald could get some shields for the love of god

Caine & Argent:

Fun fact, caine used to have a small crush on argent between rebirth and retribution. It was a mix of admiration for her skills, the constant attention and the fact that argent is just pretty lol. It faded quick (quickly enough that he panicked in the bridge fight when he realized she was flirting with him lmfao), but they continued to hold a healthy amount of respect for her afterwards, even if they didnt approve of her teamwork. And then the casino happened! Caine had gone through the whole casino infiltration entirely untouched, but when they noticed the fight between argent and shroud, they couldnt help but give into curiosity and see what was happening. That was. a bad decision. He watched shroud attempt and fail to devour argent, and they ended up getting a panic attack and fleeing. He is now scared as shit of her :D! He avoids her like the plague, and whenever hes given an opportunity to escape a room with her in it, hes taking it. They dont know what she is, and they have a bad feeling about finding out

[matt-the-radar-techncian]

Ship opinion bingo: Elias x Chise, if you've finished AMB. If not, feel free to disregard lol

Where to even start with these two

They are both such interesting characters and after 24 episodes it seems like they’re just starting to realize the potential of their relationship

Elias is a mystery. He’s clearly somewhat upset by his nature as a half-demon and his inability to completely control his darker side. He’s clearly very protective of Chise and cares for her deeply, but this sometimes turns into a desire to control her and go against her wishes. When he’s onscreen you’re usually at ease since you know he’s pretty capable and he really just wants to help, but the alarming part is how when he does take things too far he doesn’t even seem to realize there’s anything wrong. He tries to be conscious of the effect he has on people but sometimes he’s just blind to it

He also just looks so fucking cool. The image of an erudite well-spoken gentleman in a formal distinguished robe with a fucking ram skull for a face is just so pleasing and he looks so good in the anime. He’s basically the sequel to Al from FMA since he has a rigid mask for a face yet the animators are still able to make him so expressive and emotional

And then you have Chise who I just feel so bad for. At the beginning of the series she’s so traumatized that it feels like she’s just numb to everything. Between all of the crazy stuff that happens to her, meeting all these magical creatures, almost dying multiple times it can feel like she’s underreacting to everything, but I guess she’s just overwhelmed by everything in life. She has to really try to let people in and form bonds with them, as well as act on her desires, which might not make for as exciting of a character on the surface, but it’s a really poignant depiction of someone who just doesn’t know how to be more confident. A lot of times while watching my only thought was “god this poor girl…”

And that’s why it’s so satisfying whenever she’s able to stand up to Elias and make her feelings known to him. She’s able to be more assertive and confident, and he’s able to learn more about humans and his relationship with them and with Chise

Even though Chise and Elias are sometimes at odds their relationship does have this warmth and comfort to it, as if they’re family and they’ve known each other forever. The moments when Elias is able to get it right and help Chise or do something nice for her. It really shows both characters at their highest and that’s really what I look for in any ship. I still don’t know exactly what to think of them yet, but I just want to see characters being cute and happy together, and that’s the kind of ship I gravitate towards (like the ones in SU). Chise and Elias aren’t quite there yet but hopefully we’ll get to see more of that from them going forward

[nova-they-exist-yup]

Uhhh idk I think tumblr may have eated my last ask. So I'm resending.

Anyways, you mentioned how Roman had his opinion of Mind being influenced by Heart. What are the other four sides' perceptions of Heart do you think? What effects does his... behaviour have on them?

Also Soul and Mind probably either don't trust Patton or think he's way nicer than Heart lol. Soul wants to protect him in a potentially self-destructive way since he's someone else's feelings by asking him to leave them all alone, whilst Mind might respect him more cos he's known as morality. Those are my thoughts at least. Do you have any?

I feel bad for not replying to this one even tho it’s a resend so I’m gonna answer some of the additional questions here too-

Tbh you do make a good point, Mind probably would respect him more because he’s Morality, but the resemblance of his role and Heart’s just triggers something in Mind.

Which also does remind me…

When I first made this AU, I thought it’d be neat that Logan would be a robot. (I put this into my design for him but I may or may not scrap it, we’ll see.) I also headcanon that Mind has mechanical prosthetic hands, and his voice modulator is also machinery. You know what that means????

Yup that’s right Mind’s jealous!!! He thinks he should be more robotic, considering that he’s a broader concept that Logan and he’s a robot. Besides, his whole insecurity of needing to be more synthetic is just dksgdjdbsjdhsjdh. It’s part of my interpretation of him that I love and you cannot stop me from including this in the AU.

Now to your first additional question:

Also, on a scale from the most to least convinced of Heart’s manipulation, it goes: Roman, Patton, Logan, Virgil, Remus, Janus. I put Roman at the top because he does NOT trust Janus at all, who is the main one who is saying that he’s manipulating everyone. Patton views him as a son, and he trusts what people say, but yet again, he does trust Janus. Logan is below him because I feel he does notice the signs of manipulation, but he doesn’t think it’ll have any lasting consequences. Virgil is next because he was already anxious meeting Heart, and then being given proof of him being not as good as he seems threw him off. He does think Heart can change though (or at least hopes). Remus is next because he trusts Janus a lot, and he’s close with Soul who knows for a fact that Heart lies and manipulates. So he’s like “ah. I see. Welp time to give him a beating” and then comes up with cruel pranks bc he thinks Heart deserves them. Janus catches up to all the manipulation, being Deceit and all. And he also has a good enough relationship with Soul to know about Heart’s tendency to manipulate. AND he’s also close enough with Mind to get a view from his perspective, as Heart’s enemy.

When/If Heart has an outburst like he did in RoE, then shit would go DOWN.

Firstly, Logan, Virgil, Remus, and Janus would have their suspicions proved and would trust him far less than before. Logan and Virgil would still have hope, but Remus and Janus would not. Roman would have an “Are we the bad guys?” moment while Patton freaks out and lies to himself to convince himself that Heart is more than that, and that he is truly good. This would also cause Janus and Patton to argue, with Janus telling Patton to admit the facts and Patton telling Janus that Heart is more than a man who hurts people. Patton’s relationship with Mind would falter more as well.

So… yeah. Thanks for all the questions!

[touchtranscendslanguage]

hello!! i’m a newcomer but i just wanted to say that your series is so friggen amazing <3 i fancy myself some self-care snakebois and anxiety-ridden driderbois. though roman might actually kill me and i’m terrified of him having the ability to make people fall out of love. what a horrifying thought kxjsjdheh??? anyway!!! i have some questions regarding magic because magic yay worldbuilding <3 my bad if some of these have been asked! as i said, i’m a newcomer aha;;

so if taking away a witches magic makes them no longer a witch, can an old enough witch just die on the spot, or are they biologically however old they were physically (like how the royal fam stopped at around 30) and begin aging at a rate normal for their species? if taking away a witches magic makes them no longer a witch, does giving someone magic make them a witch? and if so, are they then immortal or age slower than previously? are any species (that we know of so far) unable to naturally be witches, and what happens if they’re *given* magic without biologically being able to have it? can a person have TOO much magic? what species do we know of so far and are any of them/will any of them be relevant? i want virgil to be besties with the waitstaff again :((( (not a question but it needed to be said). was sleep messing with virgil’s circadian rhythm? probably not but i just wanted to confirm because he’s a vindictive little shit who totally would 👀

will sleep and virge be spider besties now?,,,,pls i need little weave-and-relieve sessions between the two where they just chill and rant n maybe do each others nails or share weaving tips :))) can virgil croquet or sew or knit or something? because he’d love, probably. it’s great for anxiety (probably, i’m so bad at it i wouldn’t know LOL)

i. am going to cut myself off here before it gets too long. have a good day! <3

- OnlyRoomForHope (would be unanon but i can’t be bothered logging in on right account lmaoo)

@onlyroomforhope

Thank you and welcome! I'm so happy to have you here in my own tiny corner of the fandom! Yeah, we love our self-care snake and anxious spider here. Also, wow, ya'll really latched onto that fact about Roman. As long as Virgil and Janus keep their protections up around him they'll be fine :)

A lot of good questions here and for the most part it looks like they haven't been answered before! This is exciting! *crackles knuckles* Let's dive in, shall we?

So if a witch loses their magic and therefore their immortality they don't just drop dead. Their body is still physically the age it was when they stopped aging, they just begin to age again. This applies to humans, fae are already immortal on their own their immortality just works a bit differently.

Giving someone magic does make them a witch. I think I've mentioned it before, but Remy wasn't born a witch, he got his magic from King Thomas. Gaining his own magic made him a witch and came with all of the perks of being one including immortality. Remy is indistinguishable from any other witch.

Thus far I've only put a lot of thought into humans and fae being witches, but I'd say most highly intelligent sentient species can have witches. Especially the humanoid or partially humanoid ones. So most monsters such as naga, driders, merepeople, centaurs, and vampires can all be witches. Dragons, kelpies, harpies, and sirens cannot.

it's also important to note that I said highly intelligent sentient species. That means beasts are not included. So there are no pheonix, unicorn, bear of bears, or bassilisk witches.

Could someone give a beast or non-witch monster witch magic? Yes. Chaos would happen.

No, a person couldn't have too much magic. Exibit A: Thomas. King Thomas has a ridiculous amount of magic. Should he have that much magic? Absolutely not. That shouldn't be allowed. But, hey, I didn't make the rules (yes I did) and it is what it is.

Now, if you're asking if a lot magic can have negative side effects then yes, it can potentially be overwhelming. If King Thomas got all of his magic at once it would have taken a serious toll on him and at one point he did aquire too much at once and it did take a toll. That was a the very beginning of Thomas's reign and he depended on Nico a lot to hide it. After an adjustment period he was fine, though. After that he learned to take magic gradually, one or two witches at a time with breaks in between.

Okay, so so far in the series we know of humans (obviously), fae, driders, and naga. We also know that fae are split into seelie and unseelie. Only humans and seelie are going to play major rolls in the series. As tempted as I am to play around with the many subcatagories of fae and the other species, I'm trying to keep this as simple as I can. We may see them play minor roles as in individual characters but that's it.

That being said, I am planning the brief appearance of a third major species.

Now, there are many minor species of monsters but those all defer to either the seelie or unseelie making fae a major species. Humans are also a major species. The third major species that is indepented of and can stand toe-to-toe with fae and humans is spirits. Spirits will barely appear in the series so I don't plan on doing a lot of wolrd building for them.

So all in all, only humans and fae will really be relevant.

I want Virgil to be friends with the staff again, too ;_;

Remy totally would mess with Virgil's sleep, however he was on Earth up until the day he was introduced to Virgil, so no, he didn't have anything to do with Virgil's sleeping problems.

Remy are Virgil are going to be besties! I am firmly team Those Two Getting Along. They are my babies and I love them, they must at least be friends. There will be classic sleep overs and they will get up to shananagins, so stay tuned for that.

Virgil can weave and sew. He's okay at it. he does it more for stress relief than to be good.

[queen-erika-the-songful]

Best and worst parts of F2 for you?

Best parts for me:

The MUSIC oh my stars it was so good. I love every song and all the cut ones we know about (well, “Unmeltable Me” isn’t all that great to me, but it was still cute). My favorites are still “Show Yourself” and “The Next Right Thing” but I have a greater appreciation for “Into the Unknown” now too (I ended up singing it for my last recital lol).

Anna and Elsa getting the endings I thought they deserved. Even in the 1st movie, Anna felt like the better candidate for Queen to me. Like she wanted so badly to be with the kingdom and see the people, and even though she left a stranger in charge, she took responsibility for pushing Elsa too far and went after her. Then in movie 2 she’s going all over Arendelle in the opening and does everything she can in service of her people. Even her cut song “Home” is all about wanting to give Arendelle everything she can. I’m on the side of those that felt her ascending the throne made sense. I also think Elsa fully becoming the Snow Queen/5th Spirit and having her stay in the forest was the right decision. (Also SHE’S LIVING IN THE FOREST WITH THE NORTHULDRA AND NOT ALONE IN THE GLACIER, HOW ARE SOME PEOPLE NOT GETTING THAT??) Now she can finally, truly be what she wanted in the first film - fully free to be herself. She’s not stranding herself on a mountaintop or self-isolating herself in the name of “protecting” herself/Anna, she has fully embraced her powers and can be herself entirely. And if we look at the last shot of the whole movie, she’s calm and elated. The story of the sisters ends with Elsa finally being happy.

The visuals - the animation and effects are stunning and the COSTUUUUMES oh my gosh I love the costumes. My favorite is Anna’s outfit with the cape and Elsa’s spirit dress. I still kind of wish the spirit dress was a bit more “mystical” but I’ve grown more fond of it overtime (and at least its silhouette fits in with her other dresses).

I LOVE Kristoff in this film. I’ve said it too many times but I don’t really like how Kristoff was handled in movie 1. But in THIS one omg yes please more of this. He’s so supportive of Anna through and through and just wants to make her happy. I really wish his original song hadn’t got cut, it was really fun and sweet (plus Anna being the one to propose would’ve been a nice switch). I get slightly annoyed that he just spends his B-plot trying to propose until he disappears til the end, but still, he’s much more tolerable than movie 1 “stupid girl you can’t get married to that guy you’ve only known a day oh now you’ve known me for like 2-3 suddenly i love you now kiss me”.

Worst Parts for me:

The story wanted to badly for you to forgive Agnarr and Iduna for what they did to Anna and Elsa and I just can’t. Good intentions or not, THEY were the ones that shut Anna out. THEY were the ones that allowed Pabbie to manipulate Anna’s memories. THEY were the ones that taught Elsa her powers were dangerous and had to be suppressed to the point that no one would even know she had them. The most we get is Anna telling Elsa not to blame herself for their deaths because she wasn’t responsible for their decisions. I understand why “I Seek the Truth” got cut, but I still think you could’ve re-worked it for the boat scene so that Anna could get to call them out (”another secret/and another and another/ at least you were consistent/hello Father, hello Mother”).

Going off that last point, because they wanted you to forgive Agnarr and Iduna so bad, I think the Show Yourself scene, as honestly FANTASTIC as it is for the story at that point, was stopped from its full potential of being absolutely perfect. After watching the docuseries (Into the Unknown: The Making of Frozen II) I learned the writing team went back and forth for the longest time on who the voice was going to be. At one point, the idea was that the voice was Elsa herself, like her Snow Queen/Spirit form calling to her, and when she found the voice she would merge with it to become her true self. That makes so much sense with the song! There’s this journey she takes in it where she believes she’ll find a PERSON with all of the answers to who she is, while it turns out she was searching for herself and her place in the world. So she embraces her destiny as the Fifth Spirit and fully transforms into the Snow Queen. I think it makes that one line much more powerful: “You are the one you’ve been waiting for / All of my life”. BUT that’s just my own view of it. I really want a version now (even a cover) where it’s Elsa singing with herself.

I don’t like the inconsistency of the spirits - like why is there only 1 for 3/4 of the elements but then Earth has a few? And why are they all vastly different KINDS of creatures? Earth has personified elements, water and fire have animals, air is just the wind, and the 5th spirit is a human-turned-spirit. 

I think a lot could’ve been fixed with the story if they were given an extension and kept the target audience on the kids/teens that grew up with the original Frozen instead of being told they had to tone it down for younger kids. Again, the Into the Unknown docuseries showed me how troubled production was. There was so much passion behind the making of it, but because they had such a rigorous deadline and had to appeal more to younger kids, I feel like that’s what ultimately caused the movie to suffer with its writing. The writing team clearly wanted a more mature story but had to rewrite and rewrite until they had to just finish everything without being able to iron out the creases. It’s a shame, really.

[jodilin65]

Getting going with the new insurance plan has been a nightmare so far. Everything has gotten so complicated and to be so much work. Another of many reasons why I could never live alone. I know Tom says there are people who help those who can’t do these things but still. It used to be you were either given a recommendation or looked in the phone book and then you called a doctor at which time a human answered rather than a recording telling you which extension to choose, and then you simply made an appointment. The appointment wasn’t usually months away either. Now you have to go through all this bullshit using phones, websites, apps, and it’s just total chaos.

Tom still thinks I’ll like this plan better because it will be more focused on me rather than a bunch of people pulling me in different directions and dispensing generic advice.

I just want to know what I can do to get my energy back! And not to burn so much down there would be nice too. I’m back to burning away, although I can tell it’s the menopause kind of burning. It comes and goes. Maybe I really do need to start using that estrogen-based cream. I would prefer not to though, because of the potential side effects.

I was surprised to have lost another pound. I’m down to 160 so I would say my TSH hasn’t popped back up. Part of it is watching my portions as I have been lately. Even when I would eat healthy I would still eat way too much. Quantity is everything for me when it comes to weight. I’d lose weight faster on a couple of candy bars a day than a whole shitload of fruit and veggies.

No more VZ challenges for me. I hate the new interface but no matter how many of us bitch and complain about it, the devs are going to do what they want. They don’t put old stuff back anymore then the Supreme Court reverses its twisted decisions. I figured out where the challenge rides are, but now, instead of being in a neat little list they’re scattered about a map and I can no longer hover over them with my controller to see how long each ride is. I don’t need to do challenges, though. I prefer to pick my own rides. I just wonder how hard that’s going to be when I’m done with my Mexico to Maine trip that I’m 37% through. I’m currently about a third of the way through Arkansas.

There’s a new app the same company made called Fly and it was only $7 because I got a discount from someone in the group. This lets you fly around the world or at least part of it. Seems to start off in Europe. The problem is that the graphics are so bad that the trees look fake. It’s in development though, so hopefully it will improve.

Tom gave plasma yesterday and the girl screwed up so it didn’t take long. He’s still going to get paid.

The Honker went out on the motorcycle yesterday and even though it was only for a second, he revved it on his way out and I wondered if it might have woken me up if I was asleep. Tom, who knows mechanics better than I do, said he only did it because it’s been cold at night and the only other alternative would be to sit there with it idling for several minutes.

I just wish he would go home! He’s ridden the thing 10 times in the 9 weeks he’s been here and will be here for about 14 more weeks.

Andy had a dream he paid me $300 to clean his place, LOL.

Yesterday I had okay energy but today I’m a little tired. Still managing to carry on with the cleaning, though. I just do a different room each day until I go through the whole house. I only dust once a month but I touch up the bathrooms weekly and the kitchen as needed.

The only dream I remember is moving into a house that was close to another house with screaming kids in its backyard regularly. I decided not to say anything because I knew they couldn’t wake me up.

[anyydidi]

Yeah, so i need to talk about my AUs more. That being said, i recently thought of a new one im so in love with.

Basically our dear villain Eggman kidnaps our beloved Tails, because “yeah, that little brat makes my life miserable, lets brainwash him and use him as a lab assistant.” yknow the trope,,

Why did he simply not kidnap Sonic since he makes Eggys life even more miserable? Easy, Tails is way easier to capture and two geniuses on his side is way better than one.

But of course, something backfires and Egghead can try all he wants, but Tails just wont listen and behave. So he dumps him somewhere far from Sonics last known location so he doesnt get back that fast.

And not long after that, Sonic finds Eggman and demands his little brother back. And what? Sonic doesnt know that Tails is free yet? Eggy needs to take advantage of that! “oh dear Sonic! Your little sidekick is dead! Couldnt handle one of my experiments, such a shame. He had a lot of potential.”

And Sonic does not believe him, but he does get mad and his rage probably results in Eggman dying lol. (I thought about him going Dark or smt, but im not sure about that. Eggman does eventually die not long after though).

But we know that Tails is alive, so why hasnt he got back yet?! Well, what Eggman didnt know was that his brainwashing DID kind of work and he got some kind of amnesia, where he forgot basically everything (except some pieces there and there). Plus since Eggman’s goal was for Tails to forget he is Tails and that he had some connection to Sonic, he absolutely REFUSES to acknowledge he might be that genius inventor. He gets all mad and crazy when someone mentions he does look a lot like his old self. That’s why Sonic or anyone else cannot find him. He made himself a completely new persona and avoids his old one at all costs.

He does eventually (dont know after how long yet tho) reunite with Sonic and his old friends, because he is a VERY complicated person. The after effects of the brainwashing include him having some kind of urges and impulses to cause chaos. He robs a bank, committes some kind of arson or property damage etc, but he ALSO stays true to his morals and old beliefs and helps others a lot.  Like fighting with some villages against the new villain (something like Tangle before she met Sonic and comp.), or generally fixing other people’s stuff (thats why hes still not in prison, because all his bad doings are forgiven for his good ones).

So he does something bad, gets arrested and for some reason, Amy is at the police station and is like “wtf ur Tails omg?? We have been searching for u for years??” but of course, Tails refuses, so she calls Sonic and hes all like “jesus amy i told u to give it up, hes dead and- woah he fr is Tails.” and Tails STILL does not believe them, so they tell him that because he did something bad, he needs to help them on their new mission so he doesnt have to go to jail and he agrees.

Sonic and others then pretend to think hes not Tails so he doesnt get, how i said “mad and crazy”, until they stumble upon Eggmans old recordings of his experiments on Tails and he FINALLY gets his memories back.

They then of course need to work on getting all the brainwashing from Tails’ head, because it cant just ✨disappear✨, but he does get better eventually.

Oh and do NOT get me started on how Sonic is through all of this. The only thing you need to know for now is that he gets EXTREME separation anxiety after finally finding Tails, and gets overprotective af even tho he tries to hide it.

This took me mf 30 minutes to write. I have no idea how i did that.

[chifuyusgangshirt]

The question is, if Sanzu go to jail, will he go to the same transformation as Kazutora? Because I don't know in which jail the latter go but it was damn effective about his problems when you see how he ends up in the bonten timeline...

as far as i know (correct me if I'm wrong) he actually went to juvie and not jail- small but important difference because juvie treats the teeangers in there a little bit different than adults are treated in jail. You are also there to have work towards a possible crime-free and better future (though the deate if their methods are really that effective is another issue) while in jail you are, well, in jail. Sit your time.

Back to Sanzu: Okay let us be honest here, he seems to be a potential serial killer, even more than Mikey so, I don´t think so?

Okay, yeah, Kazutora was a little off the rails but he was never a bad peron. He was deeply traumatized, guilt ridden and had the unfortunate meeting with kisaki/hanma who fed into his insecure and delusional self.

Did he do bad things? yes. Was he a bad person? No.

Sanzu on the other side? lol yeah sorry but if you want to drive ahole group of boys over with a freaking train you are a bad person by definition - I don´t care if you do it because you developed stockholm syndrom when you were 9.

But maybe he will go to jail anyway and come out as a different person, a little like Taiju. Lovey Jesusu and has a family of little murderous Akashi´s running around. Or he ends up being the one weird hippie uncle who wears flower crowns and lives in a tent. Would love that for him.

[elstreem]

This is what happens when a fever knocks me down and all my buzzing brain cells can think of is spinning off the flower shop Bedivere into a whole AU of its own.

It was just going to be a doodle of flower shop Bedi but then all the other characters came about and they have their stories now lol. But basically, Astolfo and Sieg run a deliver service, Boudica and Arash have an eatery/tavern business together, Ritsuka is apprenticed to Helena at the Chadeas Magical Academy, Mash is Roman's adopted daughter and is in training as a Magic Knight. And of course, Bedi runs a flower shop, with a few secrets he keeps close to his heart.

Some profiles and other character stuff in this AU below (warning, pretty long because my brain loves to be complicated):

Chaldeas Castle Town AU

Chaldeas Magical Academy

A bustling magical academy where students and teachers alike gather to learn and hold classes. There are various courses to take, specializing in the different studies of magic. There are regular classes available to everyone, held much like normal classes, with lectures and practical exams. Alternatively, students can also be apprenticed to particular professors and hone their skills that way.

Faculty:

-Paracelsus von Hohenheim (Alchemy)

The top name of alchemical studies, Paracelsus is a well known professor who has taken a lot of students under his wing. He's open to working with students and professors alike, and is almost always at the alchemical laboratories working on an experiment. Among the professors, he is one of the most experienced in actually teaching, and it shows in his ways. He is patient to beginners, never condescends, and is appreciative of approaches different from his. There's really nothing bad to say about him, except that people should be warned of his well-intentioned gifts. He has created medicines with rather unfortunate side-effects, such as a rest medicine that induces sleep for a week or a protection from all poison that also takes away a sense of taste. Asclepius and Nightingale have scolded him over this and fortunately it rarely happens nowadays, but people should still be aware of that.

-Helena Blavatsky (Magecraft)

One of the most adept users of magecraft in Chaldeas, but a bit of an oddball. She claims to follow the Mahatmas and her way of magecraft is incomprehensible to just about everyone else. Though a bit of an oddball, she has a sincere spirit and looks out for fellow magic users who have difficulty with their studies. She took Ritsuka on as an apprentice for this reason.

-Circe (Witchcraft)

A powerful witch who hails from far off seas, she can teach just about any kind of witchcraft, and as such likes to be addressed as "Queen Witch." She may seem fun and cheerful, but her kind of mischief has led to many unsuspecting people to be turned into pigs. After some (a lot) of complaints, she has stopped with her pranks, but one is warned to be wary around her.

Despite a penchant for pranking males especially, Circe has a soft spot for Ritsuka due to his kind and open nature. She has expressed a desire to make him her apprentice for a while, which he always politely turns down.

Students:

Fujimaru Ritsuka

A student of Chaldeas with rather unusual circumstances. He was sent to the Magical Academy on recommendation of staff who detected magical potential in him, but during actual practical sessions in classes, he could hardly perform any magical feats. Despite this awkward situation, Ritsuka managed to stay on at Chaldeas as Helena took him on as an apprentice. As it is, Ritsuka does not attend usual classes and is often out and about on errands for Helena or other faculty.

After some time with Helena, Ritsuka finds out his secret talent - he is absurdly good at enhancement magic, able to not only power up others' magecraft, but also sharpen their focus and lessen the time spent for magecraft. However, the process can also exhaust Ritsuka, and after one too many sessions helping out others, he ends up collapsing in fatigue. From then on, Helena firmly puts her foot down and does not allow anyone else to call upon Ritsuka for enhancement unless they go through her. She then encourages him to find other (not as self-destructive) branches of magic to specialize in. Ritsuka promises to heed her teaching and is still looking for a study of magic that calls to him.

Shops:

Garden of Avalon

A flower/magical botany shop owned by the great magus Merlin, but almost entirely managed by its sole employee. The shop opened fairly recently, and was at first devoted exclusively to selling flowers. After a while, it also started selling magical botany supplies, and is popular for its service of offering parcels for pickup in the hours before morning classes.

-Bedivere

A quiet, gentle person who manages the Garden of Avalon. He runs the shop entirely on his own, and works hard to keep on top of things. He gets along well with everyone and is always up for a chat, but also keeps to himself and hardly ever leaves the shop.

The reason for this is, he has something of a secret to keep. He is the actual Bedivere of Arthurian legend, sent forward in time by Merlin after he expressed a wish to see his King live in a time where she can smile. He waits patiently for the time when he can see all of his reborn comrades, king and kin living good lives, free from the burdens of their old positions. The time travel had the odd effect of making him temporarily ageless, and physically, he looks much the same as he was after the Battle of Camlann. Mentally, however, the downfall of Camelot has some lingering pain for him, and without realizing it this made it hard for him to make new friends.

In time, he does slowly come out of his shell, and becomes especially good friends with Ritsuka and Arash. It's a bit heart wrenching for him to see the other Knights of the Round Table, but he's happy to see them leading happy lives. He still waits to see his King's smile again. But he has an even more hidden wish, one which hardly anyone knows - that is, to see his brother, Sir Lucan, again.

Flavors of Home

A small eatery/tavern off the main thoroughfare. Despite its humble appearance, it is quite popular with residents of the castle town for its friendly owners, tasty dishes and good beer. Come around in the evenings and it's quite a lively place!

-Boudica

The motherly cook of Flavors of Home, she is well known for her kindness and supreme cooking skills. She has a husband who works out of Chaldeas Castle Town, and two daughters, one of whom studies abroad as well, while the other is a student at Chaldeas. Despite not having her own family close, she is far from lonely and makes good friends with other shop owners in Chaldeas, even making meals for them. If she detects a hint of loneliness in anyone, she is sure to bring them a warm meal.

-Arash

The keeper of the tavern side of Flavors of Home. A friendly person, he often has a smile on his face and is happiest when he finds the tavern bustling with all sorts of people, all having a good time. He loves a good beer, but will be the first to scold a rowdy drunk on the premises.

Although he claims to be a simple guy, Arash has really keen sight and can easily tell when a person is troubled. He would never push anyone to spill their woes, but people often end up telling him and feeling better for it. He has a bit of a reputation as "the Good Barkeeper" for this.

Outside of his work at Flavors of Home, Arash is a bit of a mystery. He came from a far place, but no one is really sure where. He also apparently has inhumanly good archery skills, but only puts it to use for exhibitions during festivals.

Hippogriff Delivery Service

The cutest, fastest delivery service within Castle Town. Er, is the cuteness important? Very much so, it would seem. If you have small packages to deliver within town, Astolfo has your back.

Astolfo

Perpetually cheerful and upbeat, this young rider is somehow in possession of the mythical Beast Hipogriff, and uses his legendary steed to…make deliveries all over town. He's a bit scatterbrained, but he's still reliable, especially with Sieg working with him. If his customers have the time, Astolfo will absolutely try to chat up a storm about anything and everything. Some are irked by this, but he really means well and wouldn't dream of harming anyone for the world.

Sieg

A stolid but dependable homunculus working as Astolfo's partner. He has a good head for mathematics and management and uses it to help Astolfo with the business side of things. Though he may seem emotionless and mature compared to Astolfo, he just has a hard time expressing his emotions and is truthfully very curious about the world around him.

Astolfo apparently saved Sieg in the past, and they've travelled together ever since. Apparently there was also something about Sieg gaining dragon blood sometime during their adventure, and now the homunculus can transform into a dragon. He doesn't do it often as it is very, very exhausting, but for long-distance deliveries outside Chaldea, Sieg does offer his dragon flight delivery as a very limited service. You'll need to book it months in advance.

There is a lot more characters than these, these are just the ones I could type some profiles for, heh. da Vinci is probably also a professor, and I just mentioned them in passing but the Infirmary staff consists of Asclepius and Nightingale.

[blindbeta]

Hey! I saw the post you answered about echolocation as a way to avoid writing canes, but I was wondering what you think of a character using a cane and echolocation at the same time? For things like knowing how big the room is or if there are large obstacles, get a feeling for the buildings in a street, etc. The cane would be their main mobility aid, along with sighted guides, but echolocation is a tool in their arsenal. Thank you!

Hi nonnie! Thank you for this question. It is a good one. You all come up with good questions. :)

First, here is the post anon is talking about. I would suggest reading the notes as well because some good discussions occurred. Check the notes of this current post as well, because I’m not as familiar with this topic and someone might be able to discuss it from more experience than I can.

I am working on a post about blind tropes I’m tired of, and that aren’t necessarily bad, but potentially bad if used for bad purposes, such as to avoid writing about canes or guide animals fir navigation. And how to possibly do them BETTER. Echolocation is one of the things I want to cover.

Why Do I Dislike the Echolocation Trope?

It’s overused and boring. Can it be done well and in an interesting way? Yes. Do people normally make it interesting? No.

The majority of things I see on echolocation are like “this character is blind and uses echolocation to SEE.” That’s it. That’s the skill the character has. It is also usually used to avoid writing about canes or guides dogs, or used in weird ways, like allowing characters to locate or ‘see’ things they would not be able to see with the echolocation method.

Obviously, you aren’t doing that. You’ve done your research and you understand that canes are important and provide a specific function that echolocation cannot fill. This includes interacting with their environment to map it out and remember it better, using stairs and escalators, feeling cracks or obstacles on the ground, signaling to drivers or other people that you cannot see well (this is essential when crossing the street).

Echolocation is just something people think blind people use regularly and that is not the case. It can be hard to learn and someone would have to already be able to use a cane before learning to use it. It requires good hearing and probably wouldn’t work in a crowded, noisy area. Rain and snow may hinder echolocation as well.

So Echolocation Has No Use?

Not necessarily. I just want to stress the trope is way too common for the extent that it is used in the blind community.

Here are a few ways I know people use active and passive echolocation:

-listening for the amount of echo in a room. A convention hall is going to sound way different from a small classroom. The amount of echo can also tell someone if there are things on the walls (such as posters or shelves with knickknacks) because empty walls sound more echo-y.

-The tap method for white canes. This can be seen as a kind of echolocation, although I think people mostly think of making click sounds. This can give a good idea of your surroundings, although it may not work if there is a lot of noise, and in my opinion, and the tap method can get tiring to use for a long time (although I suppose people who favor it get used to it). I don’t think this method is used all the time though.

What About Toph?

I guess Toph’s thing would be considered echolocation? Yes, I like Toph. Her ability is fun and even common in her world. She just took a tool she had and refined it to her needs. A blind blogger even wrote a post about Toph which you can find here.

Here is the part I find relevant to this discussion:

Also, even in an AU with bending, I think Toph would like the advantage of tapping her cane to create a stronger, more distinct vibration than a small shifting of her weight on her feet. It would have more control.

Where I Would Rather See Echolocation

There are places where I would prefer to see echolocation despite not being jazzed about the trope.

Non-human characters!

- sea creatures/half sea creatures who use echolocation in real life

- mermaids!

- animals or half animal characters who use echolocation in real life

- robots, cyborgs, or other similar characters

I’m okay with these because 1) characters who live in the sea might not be able to use a cane effectively and 2) some animals already have a precedent of being able to use echolocation, thus making them believably able to use it (although if they are able to hold a cane, echolocation should not replace white cane use).

I am also more open to robots and similar characters using echolocation because the techy side of them makes it more believable, especially since in order for it to be useful, it would need to be beyond human levels of echolocation. Which are currently not that great. Canes should also be used, at least in my opinion.

I bring this up because your questions were about echolocation being used “For things like knowing how big the room is or if there are large obstacles, get a feeling for the buildings in a street, etc”. This is an interesting way to think about echolocation, as these things would be out of reach of a cane and a person would certainly want to know about them.

To be honest, I don’t know if real echolocation is this good when done by humans. Thst’s why I suggest non-human characters use it. Also, just because you know the shape and size of something there does not mean you can tell what that object is.

However, I feel like instead of wanting to know about objects so far away, most people want to know about things they can run into that their cane cannot detect. This would include anything that is above the ground.

Sunu Bands and Sonar Canes

If you’re really interested in writing this with a human character, I would suggest researching the SUNU Band. It was co-created by a man with low vision, Fernando Albertorio, which I could only find in one video, which is concerning. For some reason I couldn’t find much about the creators, not that I need info they aren’t comfortable with. I personally feel that it is important to highlight blind inventors.

Here is the video

The creator describes it as providing information where a person turns their wrist in a specific direction. The band can give them an idea about objects or obstacles there. The band has an inside setting (with shorter range) and an outside setting (with longer range). He describes it as being useful for avoiding objects like branches that a cane cannot find, or a sign post a cane might miss.

The Sunu Band website is here.

It describes the Sunu Band as being useful for avoiding injuries to the upper body. I feel this is the most useful part of this kind of tool. While it is good to know how big a room is and where buildings are, I am more concerned with getting hit in the face by a tree branch lol. I have used this device myself and it can be hard to get angles right and understand the vibrations. However, I think it is a good device to have, especially because it can reduce injuries or maybe help you locate something you’re searching for, like a water fountain you know is there.

This type of technology is not meant to replace a cane or a guide dog and is even supposed to be worn on the wrist that isn’t using the cane (probably so you can turn your wrist more easily?)

This cool review pointed out the usefulness of this product when standing in lines because you can know when to move up. The review also has practical demonstrations of using the band indoors. You can watch it here.

Another review by the same channel is also helpful.

The channel also mentions one can distinguish moving objects from stagnant objects by the duration of the vibrations.

There are lots of canes that have similar functions, although I prefer a regular cane. If I’m going to use anything else, it would be a Sunu Band. These laser or sonar canes have, according to my research, been around since the 80s and are still in articles today. However, while I haven’t used one myself, I feel more interested in the apps they come with than the actual cane. I would rather my cane find objects than use this technology to avoid them and I wonder how good the range is, vertically, if the detection comes from a cane. Lastly, I’m sure these are very expensive, sensitive to extreme temperatures, not water proof, and harder to replace than a regular cane. At least, according to a few reviews I found for the WeWalk cane. Although their app sounds extremely useful.

So, if you want to use these for your story, it would probably be more realistic. Unless these or similar devices are what you were talking about, in which case I hope this helps.

If you have more questions or wanted to expand on this question, let me know.

Honestly, I feel out of my depth here. If anyone else wants to talk about their experiences with echolocation or any of the above devices, please share. Honestly, some tropes are a little more specific in how or why they don’t work and how or when they do work. I tried to show that here. As with anything, variety can help. If you feel a bit iffy on whether a trope will work, adding other blind characters with different experiences will do wonders, especially because most of these issues stem from stereotypes or myths.

[sarahjtv]

BNHA Chapter 312 Spoiler Analysis: Hero Turned Assassin

It’s Friday, my dudes!  That means the leaks for the new chapter is out!  This time, we’re focusing on our new lady assassin villain who we ended with last week.  Ngl, I love her design and concept.  I actually wouldn’t mind if she stepped on me 😳  All that aside, this was a damn good chapter, but I really hope Deku’s going to be ok taking her on by himself:

Alright, the chapter starts off with a little flashback of Hawks talking to Deku as Deku is suiting up to leave Central hospital.  Hawks reassures Deku that he should be ok from AFO and Shigaraki for now since they aren’t at full power yet.  Their best option would be to take Deku in alive rather than dead.  Hawks can only think of one person who might be capable of capturing Deku: the assassin woman.  Turns out, that woman was his senpai back at the Hero Safety Commision and she’s dangerous.

So, as far as we know, Deku’s most likely going to live several more days even if he does get captured.  However, he’s being hunted down by a highly skilled assassin who was also Hawk’s senpai back in the day.  The fact that Hawks of all people is warning Deku to run away from her if he can say something about her skills.  I can only guess how good her skills are, but I’d say they’re probably somewhere in the S-tier range if Hawks is afraid of her.

The next couple of pages help properly introduce our new villain: Lady Nagant!  A few points here: 1. The bullet is made from her hair which is colored dark blue and pink.  I personally love those two colors, so I’m glad to see that color scheme used on her.  Also hair bullets is such a great concept, 2. That rifle is definitely coming from her elbow which she can bring out and retract at will, which is badass as hell, 3. I looked up the word “Nagant” and it’s actually type of (Russian?) gun that ranges from a 7-shot revolver to a sniper rifle, so that’s a good Villain name for her, 4. She was a former hero under the Safety Commision who decided to go to the dark side for some reason.  Like, did she see the bad side of Hero Society and that caused her to change?  Did she see something in Villainy that caused her to change her POV?  I want to know what?, 5. Again, love her design like hoo boy, Horikoshi snapped with her. 

So, Deku’s on the run from her and he is completely on his own now that his phone is broken.  He doesn’t even know what happened to All Might 😭!  He’s also afraid that All Might and Hawks will be targeted by her.  Deku’s debating wheaher he should run or face Nagant face on.  With someone like Muscular, I wasn’t worried about Deku because he’s not only improved a lot since last time, but he’s taken on Muscular before so he knew what he was fighting.  But, this is a brand-new villain.  Not much is known about her and Deku has never fought her before.  I’d say run, but someone has to take her out.  Maybe Hawks will swoop in and have a reunion with his senpai.  Though, he doesn’t have wings now, so I’m not sure what he can really do against her besides have a chat…

And Deku is shot!  Not fatally thank god, but he did get hit.  Turns out Lady Nagant can actually curve her shots.  Even Deku’s Danger Sense couldn’t detect it in time good lord.  So she can just straight up made bullets that can curve too that is absolutely insane.  Any marksman would be jealous of her.  

Fun Fact of the Day: Based on Horikoshi-sensei’s comment of the week, Lady Nagant and her curve bullet are actually based off the 2008 film Wanted staring James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie (he even thanked Ms. Jolie!)!  I decided to IMDB the film to see if I remembered it and it turns out that I have actually seen a little of it before.  You know that gif of McAvoy smacking Chris Pratt’s face with a keyboard and the loose keys spell out “Fuck You”?  Yeah, that’s from Wanted.  Also, the curved bullet Horikoshi is talking about is when Jolie manages to “curve” a bullet enough to kill a group of assassins who were standing in a circle.  Look, I don’t know if physics can actually make that work in real life, but I’ll be damned if that doesn’t sound badass.

Back to the story, we have a bit of flashback to an old TV special that interviewed 100 active Noteworthy Heroes.  The 25th Pro Hero being interview is none other than Snipe, one of UA’s teachers!  It’s been a hot couple of years since we’ve seen him around.  Actually, we don’t even know if he’s alive…  Let’s assume he is and continue with the story.

Anyway, Snipe was having some good friendly competition in the Long-Range sniping with Lady Nagant back in the day.  He explains while his Quirk, “Homing” allows him to lock-on to anyone within a 600 Meter range, he can’t choose where his attack hits and the hit isn’t that powerful (Shigaraki could’ve actually gotten killed back in the USJ if Snipe wasn’t careful enough damn).  Lady Nagant, on the other hand, has a range of 3 Kilometers with insane accuracy.  I did some quick calculations and it turns out that 3KM = 3,000M!  That’s 5 times farther than what Snipe can do.  That is absolutely nuts!

Lady Nagant’s Quirk is called “Rifle”!  Turns out that the secret lies in her bullets made out of hair.  When she mixes her duel colored hair, it works like epoxy putty.  Epoxy putty is a substance that hardens over time.  It’s normally used as a seal for cracks and holes, and it’s both highly-resistant and unshrinkable when hardened.  So, when Lady Nagant pulls strands out of her hair to mix and mould them, she can harden that hair into a bullet which explains the dark blue and pink fibers in the speaker bullet she fired at Deku’s phone.  Apparently, she can make any kind of bullet she wants ranging from hollow bullets to curved bullets.  She can then load and fire those bullets from her rifle into her right arm.  God, there’s so much potential for a Quirk like this.  The only limit I can think of for this Quirk is if she runs out of hair for bullets similar to how if Ibara Shiozaki from Class 1-B (or 2-B now I guess) would run out of hair to use her Vines.  I wonder if Lady Nagant using her hair so much is the reason why it’s shorter now than when she was a hero.

I gotta say, I think this is one of the coolest and unique Quirks Horikoshi has come up with in a while.  It’s just so unique and imaginative!  I don’t think I could ever come up with an idea like this.  I like that her Quirk is almost like a 2-in-1 thing: the putty hair and the rifle in her arm.  They’re both different functions that work in tandem together.  I also love Nagant hero outfit!  She was rocking the long ponytail work, had a visor and antenna on her right eye for accuracy, and a belt holding her hair bullets.  She’s also freakin’ stacked as hell, but I’ll let this one slide because her design is so freaking great.  

Back to the present, Deku managed to catch the bullet, but his left gauntlet has been damaged.  So, it looks like Deku won’t be punching with his left arm unless All Might has some backup Mid-Gauntlets.  Thankfully he’s found out where Lady Nagant is based on where she shot from just twice.  She’s only about 1KM away and Deku wants to get in closer.  God, Deku is so freaking smart.  I want to know his IQ because it must be insanely high for him to figure out where a trained sniper would be after just 2 bullets.  Nagant also says that Deku’s the first one to deflect 2 of her bullets, so yeah, goddamn Deku!

Now we’re finally getting a look at Overhaul (I’m cool with calling him by his villain name instead of his real name for now btw).  Dude’s broken.  Just completely mentally broken.  I don’t think he even notices Deku.  All he can think about is how he wants to go back to his adoptive father, Eri’s grandfather, the man Overhaul put in a coma.  I thought that Overhaul would be confronting Deku himself, but it looks like he can’t.  Maybe him not being able to get his father out of his coma traumatized him real bad with a lot of guilt.  He probably wants to go back to try to heal his dad.  If he can do that, again, I wonder how now that his Quirk probably functions somewhere else besides his hands.

Anyway, Lady Nagant is kind of protecting Overhaul for now.  She most likely has a plan for him later since she mentions helping Overhaul as soon as she’s done with Deku.  Overhaul would be a useful ally since his Quirk can literally destroy and restore matter both living and non-living.  There’s also that glowing effect on her arm again.  If it’s not a taser like I thought before, then maybe it’s some kind of strength enhancer her Quirk gives her.  That arm gun has to be heavy.  IDK it’s not really explained.  

Flashing back to the Tartarus Prision Break, AFO and his ugly mug are talking to Nagant, calling her the “Traitor Hero” and how it’s an honor to meet her.  Again, Lady Nagant’s skills must be incredibly high enough to be recognize by AFO.  Also, her turning her back on Hero Society must’ve been a big story at the time.

AFO tells Lady Nagant of his plan to capture Deku as he predicted this earlier.  So, either AFO is stupidly good at predicting things or he has a future-sight Quirk like Nighteye had.  I want to say it’s the latter since AFO probably did pick up a Quirk like that sometime in the past.

Lady Nagant originally refused to listen to AFO in a very sassy way LOL!  But, AFO seems to have made a deal with her.  He even mentions that Nagant killed many of her fellow heroes to cause the fall of Pro-Hero Society.  Yeah, killing your fellow colleagues will definitely get you sent straight to Tartarus…  I REALLY need to know what made her turn to the Dark Side Anakin Skywalker style.

Also, personal theory that I highly doubt is true, but I wonder if Lady Nagant is the real “UA Traitor” not any of the students.  If she can make bullets that she can remotely talk through, then she could probably make bullets that can eavesdrop on people.  Maybe she listened in on UA and told the LoV about the training camp.  Or she was locked in Tartarus before then and I’m just projecting my hopes/fears onto her.  That could be it too.

Actually, I just realized that she could probably wrap objects around her bullets and fire them.  So, she probably wrapped a speaker around her hair and that’s how she remotely spoke to Deku.  Eh, she could still wrap some listening device around her hair and eavesdrop that way.  I’m just Pepe Silvia’ing the possibilities of Rifle at this point.

AFO uses Overhaul as an example of someone who became a victim of Pro-Heroes.  This give him enough leverage to make a deal with Lady Nagant.  So, as part of the contract, AFO granted her his Air Walk Quirk!  On paper, a passive Quirk like Air Walk doesn’t seem very useful.  But, this series has proved to us time and time again that passive/support Quirks can be just as/if not more amazing than raw-powered Quirks.  So, a Quirk like Air Walk can get Lady Nagant to so many places for her to fire her bullets.  It’s an incredibly useful Quirk for a sniper.  I do wonder what the limits of it are (because all Quirks have some sort of limitation), but I guess we’ll find that out later.  I really do wonder how Deku’s going to handle Lady Nagant and Overhaul though.  That’s going to be interesting.

Oh boy, that the chapter!  Solid chapter per usual.  Gah, my fingers hurt after typing so much.  I’m glad we got to know more about Lady Nagant!  She was a mystery for weeks, but we finally got some backstory on her.  So, some answers, but a lot of questions are left behind.  I’m actually glad we’re still sticking with Deku so far.  I still want to see Bakugo and Shoto, but we also haven’t gotten a purely Deku-centric arc for a while, so this is good.  Horikoshi truly doesn’t miss!  Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to be screaming about the next anime episode and Shoto Todoroki sakuga for the next week I will not apologize.         

Me @ Horikoshi every chapter:

Also, this is the Wanted scene I was talking about before:

[magicrainbowkitties]

So (not-so) quick thing... Scarecrow.

Obviously, Crane developed his fear toxin as a way to study fear and its effects on the psyche. He can do this because he's both a master biochemist and an accomplished psychiatrist. In most canons, he's obsessed with using fear to control people, and takes sadistic pleasure in watching people loose their minds while high on his drug.

HOWEVER.

I find this motivation boring as sin. Wow, you use fear to make people do what you want? And you don't even get cool superpowers and a shiny ring (except when he did but that's for another day), you're just some mad scientist with a hard-on for watching people be miserable? Damn, bro, where I seen that before...

*side-eyeing 80% of DC villains, who are mad scientists with a hard-on for watching people be miserable*

Not to say that I find Crane uninteresting, far from it! As with all the Gotham Rogues, he's absolutely committed to The Aesthetic. His motto is clearly "Every day is Halloween," and I completely agree. He's got a relatable backstory (for me at least, whaddup fellow burnout gifted kids with religious trauma?), and uses his villainy as an unhealthy coping mechanism to deal with his trauma (which is the one part of his motivation that is actually interesting to me). Also, I love that while he's extremely academically talented, he relies on his social intelligence far more to carry out his agenda, even though he's very much on the "I hate people please go away" side of things. It's terribly interesting to me when these aspects of his personality work into each other and create a relatable yet threatening villain.

But far too often, he's just written as a one-note sadist whose only job is to go "HAHA DANCE FOR ME PLEBES FOR I AM THE MASTER OF FEAR" while Batman swoops in, beats him up, and saves the day.

Or, even worse, he's given the Modern Riddler treatment of "Lol look at this nerd. He wants to fight the Bat but can't even throw a punch! He's gotta hide behind his gas to win, but Batman's a badass so he can just magically get over it and knock him on his ass cause in reality, he's the one who's scared."

That stuff's just bullshit, y'know? Sure, I'm all for villains pathetically cowering for their lives and all, that's some gud shit, but there comes a point where it's EVERY SINGLE STORY Crane's written in. He has so much potential to be fun, relatable, philosophical and interesting, but in order to do that, writers would have to actually think more about WHY he does what he does, outside of research and sadism. Oh, and they'd have to take their focus off the Clown Prince of Cash and admit that he stole a bunch of Crane's shtick.

Hell, you could even give him a "paved with good intentions" type motivation. Like, maybe he developed fear toxin as a kind of exposure therapy to help people overcome their trauma by experiencing it passively, but because Gotham Sux (TM), he couldn't get the funding and/or the approval from official channels for it because "hallucinogens bad" (reflecting real-world psychiactrics discourse today, as hallucinogens have been proven to help those with anxiety, PTSD, depression, and other related illnesses, but because War On Drugs, most people think all of 'em are dangerous and deadly). So, he turned to crime, using the toxin itself to get what he needs to continue his work. But that's a slippery slope, and before he knows it he's cast as a villain and thrown into Arkham with all the people he was trying to help, forever branded a scary freak the world would be better off without.

All because he tried to help.

Sure, it's cliche as sin, and I'm sure I could find hundreds of fan works describing this exact scenario, but for real... Isn't that way more interesting than "lol he's just a sadist with a god complex?" I like to think so, at least.

Idk man I just really hate it when a side character's potential is absolutely smothered in favor of the main character's, especially in the case of Batman. Like, the most interesting thing about Batman is the villains he fights, and half the time the interesting parts of those villains are funneled into Big Clown. The other half, they're sacrificed altogether because gods forbid Batman be vulnerable or admit that his villains might actually... *gasp*... have a point.

To see the amazing potential of a character like Jonathan Crane be absolutely tossed aside makes my blood boil.

Truly, we live in the darkest timeline.

[kaiowut99]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Episodes 65 and 66 Subbed (Finalized)

(Check out my Subbed!GX Stream Masterpost!)

Hell Kaiser Ryou! Chimeratech Overdragon

Since his defeat to Ed in the Pro Leagues, the life in Kaiser Ryou has faded.  But at the invitation of a suspicious promoter, he participates in an underground duel--duels in which, crucially, one risks their life to treat their savage audience to a show.  As Acidic Last Machine Virus causes his Machine-Types like Cyber Dragon to rust, the Kaiser is not only cut off from summoning any Monsters, but it causes him to take damage.  With each drop in his LP, an electric current flows through his body, exciting the spectators...

Judai’s First Dream Duel!

Lost in the forest, Judai’s consciousness starts to fade from hunger, causing him to reminisce about his duels thus far--taking down Instructor Chronos’s Ancient Gear Golem with Flame Wingman during his Entrance Exam, battling the then-Blue elite Manjoume and his V-to-Z Dragon Catapult Cannon shortly after his enrollment, battling Misawa’s seventh deck with the right to represent the Academia on the line, and his first loss in the face of Kaiser Ryou’s Cyber End Dragon...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*crashes onto your TL months late with non-corporate coffee*

And these two are finally up and finalized! Sorry for the wait, if you were looking forward to ‘em--as I mentioned in my post on Sunday, they were pushed back a bit while I did one final lookover on 1-64′s scripts and hardsubs so I could actually call them “finalized.” I’d started to get them out of the way while waiting for some potential editing help, then just decided to finish it after scrapping the last little thing I hoped to work on (I planned to break briefly after 66 to do these re-finalizations anyway, but the timing happened to work out).  More details there.

But leaving that aside, here we have a pretty popular episode in Hell Kaiser Ryou’s debut, as he’s pushed to the brink by Mad Dog Inukai after Monkey Monkey Mountain Saruyama invites him to his first underground duel. They do a really good job of portraying Ryou as having lost his mojo post-Ed, showing a realistic view of what the big leagues in sports are like when that happens to you and you lose out on sponsorships/etc, and so when he gets cornered and Saruyama drills into him how he never once thought of winning since that duel, wanting to just stick with his respectful dueling, a spark lights up in him and... well, RIP Mad Dog. (Also, s/o to Takeshi Maeda for really selling Ryou’s shift in mindset by the end, and to his dub VA for sounding similarly good, imo.)

66 is probably less popular in comparison, treating us to our first clipshow of the series, though 66 episodes in isn’t a bad time (could be worse, VRAINS jk).  It’s endearing enough, though--kinda nice seeing SAL again; Judai’s hunger-induced visions give us Chronos, Misawa, and Manjoume making monkey noises; and the duels featured were important for Judai early on.  I also like the bit of new animation as vision!Ryou follows up with Judai about respecting his opponents; goes with what I’d noticed before about Judai adding his Fusion Undone/De-Fusion strategy to his own dueling after losing to him. (also Judai making a signpost sweatdrop from his aloofness pls)

Part of the initial delay with these were the footage fixes I wanted to work on, as well as a couple visual translations here/there which were fun to work on.  Really want to thank @paradoxi-kay for their great work as always in helping to translate the cover of the copy of Duel Magazine that Judai comes across early in 65, and starting the one on Shou’s copy that I finished up.  List of everything worked on below the cut, as usual, if you’re curious.

Enjoy, folks! I’ve gotten some work started on 67 already, and my plan is to try and work on some double releases to make up a bit of time, lol.  I’ll be posting these two on NAC in the next couple of days along with the re-finalized hardsubs and scripts/DVDRips; while I work on getting 67 and 68 done, I’ll also start some work on prepping softsub MKVs (also to go up on NAC) for everything I’ve fully finalized, since it’s been a while on that front.

Fixes/Edits! (65)

As Judai wanders in the forest early in the episode, he comes across a stack of old Duel Magazines; the front cover shows Ryou and is an issue from his winning streak days before his more recent loss to Ed.  Thanks to @paradoxi-kay​‘s great work in typesetting my translation onto the cover I blanked (which I detailed here), you’ll see it in English in the hardsub above.  The translation was first applied to the close-up of the cover that comes after #2 below, and then I took the translated cover and made it its own image that I put into the earlier shot as Judai approaches it while they’re all still tied up (detailed here).  The text reads, “Exclusive!! Kaiser Ryou Marufuji / Breaking down his Cyber Dragon deck!!! / In this issue: / -Duelists Du Jour / -Pro League Battle Data! / -Reader-Submitted Best Duels! / -Strategic Attack Decks by Type!” (Really appreciated Kay’s input on “Du Jour” because my original translation for that, “Duelists Who Are All the Rage,” wasn’t as catchy, lol.)

As Judai picks up one of the older Duel Magazines and flips it open, we see on the back cover an ad featuring the three Phantasms--it’s actually an in-show ad for Shadows of Infinity (since the episode aired around the time the pack came out in Japan); I detailed the process in blanking and translating it here (shared above).  The ad reads, "The Three Phantasms Descend!" featuring Uria and Raviel’s names on their images.

As we go to the Red dorm as Shou narrates about the Kaiser’s slump, we see a magazine page describing what happened to him since his loss to Ed; I covered my blanking/translating this in the link shared in #2.

We then see that it’s Shou reading the page from his own copy of Duel Magazine, this one more recent than Judai’s featuring Ed on the cover, though it features the same SOI/Phantasms ad on its back cover (now showing Hamon and its name as well).  Like with Judai’s issue, I used the Japanese cover and the dub’s edit as reference to just redraw Ed and Diamondguy enough to remove Ed’s name; Kay had started the translation placement and I finished it up.  For the SOI ad, like with #2, I added in the dub’s edit in pieces, tweaking it to match the original image more (since they again oddly edited the text out or redrew Uria/et al weirdly to do so).  We do now see more of the ad which shows that the trio’s names are on each of them, the English of which I added.

As Asuka snatches the magazine from Shou to work on cheering him up, to be consistent, I also worked in these cover translations to the magazine as she lifts then curls it up, using the dub’s blanked Phantasms edit as a base that I touched up a bit while adding back the Japanese cards.  Detailed more in #2′s link.  (We now also see that the ad reads on, “New! Shadow of Infinity - On Sale November 11th [2005]!”; the IRL booster pack came out in Japan on Nov. 17th, 2005, a few weeks before 65 aired.)

Asuka then lifts the curled-up magazine into view in a close-up, with the SOI/Phantasms ad visible which I also applied my translations above to as needed, using the dub’s blank edit as a base that I redrew parts of to touch up and match the Japanese image more.  Detailed more in #2′s link.

As Ryou meets Monkey Saruyama, he introduces himself by handing out his business card reading, "Saruyama Promotion - Representative Monkey Saruyama;" as detailed in #2′s link, I cleaned it up using Photoshop’s Clone Tool, then slapped the translation on using Calibri as the font.

As Ryou contemplates attacking Acid Slime with his Cyber Dragon and Mad Dog Inukai taunts him, as Mad Dog then slides in on a split-screen to “clear his doubts,” there’s a quick frame as Inukai takes over the screen where there’s a gap between his pecs and the split-screen edge.  I fixed it by just drawing in the rest of his chest in Photoshop to fill his side of the split-screen.

As Inukai starts his turn and activates his Contingency Fee Magic Card, there’s a frame where, as he’s sliding his hand with the card into the shot, the card itself slides ahead in his hand before his hand does; as a result, you can see a bit of the background just under the card before his hand catches up to the card in the next frame.  I fixed this by just duplicating the first frame here over it in Vegas.

Two here--first, after Ryou has his Proto Cyber Dragon attack Clone Slime, as Inukai begins to explain its effect, there’s a quick frame before the shot goes from a close-up to a slow zoom as he moves where his neck vanishes (new meme format go); I fixed this by just duplicating the previous frame in Vegas, while also correcting one of his looping lip-flap frames so that the scar on his chin is above the shading under his lip.  Then, as Inukai goes into Clone Slime’s effect and the shot slowly zooms out, we see Clone Slime on his Disk in Attack Mode when it’s in Defense Mode right now; fixed it by placing a proxy in Defense in AfterEffects for a frame, then re-keyframing that frame to the zoom-out in Vegas to put it in place.

After Acid Slime slips out of Inukai’s Cemetery as Clone Slime’s effect activates, Inukai moves to grab it before the two Slimes switch out, but Clone Slime’s still in Attack Mode on his Disk; fixed by placing the Defense-Mode proxy over it in AE, then moving it as he moves his Disk and applying a brief brightness increase as the light from Clone Slime being replaced with Acid Slime grazes it.

As Proto Cyber Dragon’s attack approaches Acid Slime in a quick shot, the card under it in Defense Mode is reversed (the name box should face to the left to match how it’s placed on his Disk); fixed by first applying the correctly-facing proxy in AfterEffects and moving it as the shot moves, then masking Acid Slime back in over it, along with the light coming from the attack as it starts to shine over its card.

As Ryou explains Overload Fusion’s effect, just before it starts to zoom out as he then chooses the six Monsters he’ll fuse, there are a few frames I noticed where Ryou’s whooshing hair throughout this shot suddenly stops whooshing; I fixed it by just masking in his whooshing hair from the previous frames for a few.

As Ryou taunts Inukai about how his Acidic Last Machine Virus will bother him no more, Inukai starts to slide in on a split-screen, but until his split-screen has fully slid in, there’s no border on its edge; I fixed it in Vegas by first masking out the border once it’s fully slid in, then moving it in another video layer with his split-screen for those nine frames.

As Ryou explains Chimeratech Overdragon’s multiple attacks, we see it reversed on his Disk; fixed by slapping on the correctly-facing proxy in AfterEffects, then re-keyframing it to the slow zoom in Vegas for the 94 frames it zooms out in (phew).

One error that I hoped to fix but scrapped happens as Chimeratech Overdragon’s first attack closes in on Inukai’s Multiple Slime, where we see a Defense-Mode card under it despite it being in Attack Mode the way Inukai summoned it (and since he then takes damage from the attack); couldn’t quite figure out how to light up the floor I’d redrawn under it with the ensuing explosion, and had sought a bit of help to get it right but ultimately that fell through. (Incidentally, not only did the dub not catch this as they dubified its card, but they reversed the card, at that, lol.)

Fixes/Edits! (66)

(Note: These are all flashback-related, and I detailed most of them [including a few new ones] in my post from Sunday that I linked just under the summaries; I went on to apply the fixes I’d applied in 66 to the respective episodes, so I’ll be brief here.  Reinserted fixes from a while back are in italics.)

(Episode 1 Flashback) I reinserted the fix I did to replace the blank Normal Monster on Judai’s Disk in Flame Wingman’s spot with its card as Antique Gear Golem crashes onto Chronos.  [Ep. 1 Flashback End]

(Episode 22 Flashback) As Misawa attacks with Litmus Death Swordsman to start his flashback, I reinserted the fix I did to detail the blank cards on his Disk with Diamond Dragon and Litmus Death.

As Misawa finishes explaining Wingbeat of Giant Dragon’s effect and it zooms out to Litmus Death, I reinserted my fix to his reversed card on Misawa’s Disk to flip it right-side-up.

Reinserted my fix to the repeat of #3 as Skyscraper fades.

Reinserted my fix to another repeat as Misawa explains Spirit Barrier’s effect.

R-R-Reinserted my fix to the r-r-repeat again as we see Misawa’s Disk while Judai explains Cyclone Boomerang’s effect (gotta love reused animation!) [Ep. 22 Flashback End]

(Episode 4 Flashback) As Judai prods Manjoume into choosing a card from his hand for A Hero Appears’s effect, I fixed Manjoume’s blazer looking semi-faded for a frame on his split-screen.

As Judai’s LP take a hit from V-to-Z destroying Burstlady, I fixed the four frames where the upper part of his Disk is missing the little bottom part that extends out a bit and Judai’s vanishing Disk wrist grip.

A bit complex, but I fixed Judai’s briefly-still-missing-then-vanishing-again wrist grip, the shading near his Cemetery slot, Judai’s arm becoming part of his Disk, and his wrist grip suddenly consuming his whole wrist. (Detailed in that Sunday post)

Reinserted my fix to the Attack-Mode Winged Kuriboh on Judai’s Disk to put it in Defense Mode as he discards two to activate Evolutionary/Transcendent Wings.

As Judai swings his arm around telling Winged Kuriboh LV10 to “send [V-to-Z’s] energy right back” at Manjoume, I reinserted my fix to put its Defense-Mode card in the spot on his Disk colored like the Monster Zone it’s on for a few frames.

A bit complex again recycling the Judai shot in #9, but I fixed his again-vanishing Disk wrist grip and half-Disk arm, his wrist grip suddenly consuming his whole wrist again, and his yet-again-vanished wrist grip, miscolored undershirt, and his half-Disk elbow while restoring some previous detail to his Disk. (Detailed in that Sunday post)

As Judai summons Featherman–to Shou and Chronos’s surprise–and has him lunge at Manjoume for the finisher, I reinserted my fix to keep the black faraway box that is Featherman on his Disk both as those two slide in on split-screens and as they slide back out. [Ep. 4 Flashback End]

(Episode 8 Flashback) I reinserted my fix to remove Featherman from Judai’s Disk as his LP drop from Cyber Dragon destroying it.

Reinserted my fix to a repeat of #14 as Judai’s excited about Ryou’s Time Capsule.

As Judai draws for his turn, I added a Fusion card over the dark-orange rectangle briefly in his hand as he draws it.

After Judai’s first hit on him, I fixed the error as Ryou Special-Summons another Cyber Dragon as a Monster in face-down Defense Mode on his second Monster Zone (detailed in that Sunday post).

Reinserted my fix adding Cyber Twin Dragon to Ryou’s Disk over a yellow rectangle.

As the screen zooms in on Judai after Ryou declares Cyber Twin’s attack, I added Thunder Giant to Judai’s third Monster Zone, then reinserted my previous fix adding it as it zooms back out while Judai uses A Hero Appears.

Reinserted my fix adding a few quick lip flaps to Judai as he says, “Partner,” out loud.

As Judai thinks about how Evolutionary Wings would evolve his Winged Kuriboh and we then see Bubbleman on his field, I added a missing Bubbleman card to his Disk.

Right after #21, I revised my previous fix to replace the Defense-Mode Mudballman on his Disk with an Attack-Mode Bubbleman, after I accidentally put it in Defense Mode before.

As Ryou grabs Power Bond from his hand before activating it, I reinserted my fix adding Ryou’s two missing Cyber Dragons to his Disk and then one over the blank Normal Monster card in his left hand.

As Ryou slips Power Bond into his Disk, I reinserted my fix adding those two missing Cyber Dragons onto his Disk.  [Ep. 8 Flashback End]

For the Ep. 67 preview, I added my translation of the notice left on the Red dorm by Napoleon which I’ll be using in the episode proper.

[himbeaux-on-ice]

Hello! I was wondering if you could please explain to me what Robin Lehner said yesterday about vaccination and competitive edge? English isn't my 1st language and from what I gathered NHL and PA promised VGK that if they get vaccinated the restrictions on them will lessen and they can freely leave their houses. And when they players got vaccines, NHL changed their promise and said players can't do that until all of the teams across the league are evenly vaccinated (shitty move from NHL, 1/2

2/2 as always). But what did Robin mean talking about competitive edge? I rewatched the video 3 times and I still don't understand :( Did the league make it a competition between the teams? "The sooner you all get vaccinated, the sooner there'll be no resctions on you?" I hope, I'm not completely missing the point, sorry about that. Big respect for Robin for speaking up and calling out the league. I'm really happy seeing players speaking up for themselves and their teams

Hi anon! I’ve spoken about this already a bit here and here, in case you haven’t seen those yet and think they might answer some of your questions. But I’m happy to elaborate further! I hope I can clear this up for you.

First, just as a note: Right now it doesn’t seem to exactly be clear what the NHL and NHLPA did or didn’t promise players in terms of easing restrictions, but it seems like Lehner was definitely given the impression by somebody that a team getting fully or mostly vaccinated was the ticket to not being under such strict isolation. The NHL for their part seems to be claiming they promised no such thing, but it’s hard to know right now whether that’s just them covering ass, or if there was just a misunderstanding somewhere in which what they actually said was not fully clear to the players. [Elliotte Friedman voice] More news may be yet to come on this.

Right. So as far as “competitive edge” goes, I can definitely explain that. You’re only a little off the mark. What he means in this case is that the NHL is concerned that letting more fully vaccinated teams live under a less intensely restrictive set of internal rules (regarding things like dining together, exercising together, sitting next to each other on planes and busses, having more group off-ice social time, sharing hotel rooms, having in-person coaching meetings again, etc) will lead to that group having an on-ice advantage in their play over other teams who are less vaccinated and still have to live under full restrictions.

Because the NHL is intensely obsessed with “parity of sport” (trying to make the conditions of competition the same for all teams regardless of outside factors wherever possible), they always in as many situations as possible want to eliminate any potential leg up one team could have over others. This is why we have things like the salary cap, rules about scouting players, rules about how draft picks are distributed that try to make sure struggling teams have a chance to draft well, rules against signing your best players for 20-year contracts so nobody else can have them, etc.

In general theory, being parity-oriented is good! It aims to make sure that the success of teams on the ice and in the standings is determined by the hockey play/skill alone as much as possible, not by franchise wealth or other things they did to get an unfair jump on the competition. And that should make the games more fun and less boring/predictable in most cases! As far as sports leagues go, the NHL has pretty good parity of play overall — there are only a few REALLY good teams and only a few REALLY bad ones, and everybody else performs within a pretty similar range most years. This is why back-to-back Cup wins are so rare in the current era, because due to all the rules to enforce parity there are relatively few teams that are THAT dominant over the competition for a long stretch of multiple seasons in a row, and the odds of any given team winning each year are much more similar. (As compared to like that period in the late 70’s when it was like “who won the Cup? oh surprise surprise it’s the Habs AGAIN 🙄” lol).

However, sometimes the NHL gets unrealistic in its pursuit of making sure everything is exactly the same for all teams. We’ve seen it already this season with the stubborn insistence on making sure the Canucks play a full 56 game season like everybody else, regardless of whether it is safe or reasonable to do so in the time they have left.

This time, the fixation on parity seems to be rearing its head in the form of the League insisting that even if a team has most or all of their players and staff vaccinated, they still have to maintain the same intense restrictions within team spaces as other teams which may be WAY further behind in getting everyone vaccinated, rather than getting to benefit from the lowered risk that being thoroughly vaccinated brings within a closed group like that. And they seem to be insisting on this not because it would be unsafe to change things for vaccinated teams, but rather because of concern that doing so might make that team perform better as a hockey team.

That’s the key part here: The NHL seems to consider getting to (safely) return to a mode of team life that is somewhat more similar to what these guys have been habitually used to pre-pandemic, to be something that could translate into an unfair on-ice advantage in the quality of their play, over other teams who are still doing it all “the hard way” under strict restrictions because they haven’t been vaccinated yet. And because of trying for parity, they want avoid giving teams that “advantage” by basing restriction changes around each team’s individual situation, and instead plan to ease restrictions for all teams at the same time at some point once all teams are similar levels of vaccinated.

Now, US teams seem to be getting vaccinated faster and faster every day, but Canadian teams probably have not started vaccinating their players or any team employees under age 50 at all yet, because Canada’s vaccination process has been painfully slow. So waiting on them to catch up could leave US teams who are already mostly/fully vaccinated still stuck in those restrictive mentally draining conditions for quite some time before the other teams catch up — again, not because it isn’t COVID safe to ease their restrictions if done properly (that doesn’t seem to be a problem), but because the League sees the improvements to their mental state and team morale/cohesion that would come from living a less restricted life together and getting to return to familiar off-ice hockey routines as gaining a “competitive edge” over unvaccinated teams, which would lead to them playing better hockey to a level that can’t be matched as a result.

Which, Lehner is right, is a pretty fucked up way to look at it! “It’s an unfair advantage for you to not be miserably alone and depressed by that and frustrated and doing everything with 16 extra steps you’re still not used to, it’s an unfair advantage to get to actually act like a team off the ice when playing a team sport, so no, we’re not gonna let you eat lunch together or share hotel rooms or whatever” is not exactly a compassionate argument!

Anon I’m also really glad Robin said something about it, and I was glad to see VGK captain Mark Stone put full and vocal team support behind him when asked about it last night on the broadcast too. The mental price of these intense restrictions is something that has been weighing on my mind ever since I first heard they would have to spend all their time on the road locked in hotel rooms alone when not playing and thought “oh god, five months of that is going to be psychologically devastating”. It’s a relief to hear it acknowledged.

I’m not fully sure what the best solution is here, but that mental wellbeing factor absolutely must be discussed in all decisions. It would be fucked up if the League is treating that as something purely technical to be controlled like the salary cap, rather than as a key determinant of health and life (in the short and long term) that is just as important as COVID safety. The old hockey culture of “just suck it up” cannot cut it anymore.

Aside: I think it’s also worth mentioning while we’re here, that I think I do understand why players may be angry about have been talked into getting the vaccine because they thought it would lead to eased personal restrictions, and why I don’t believe that anger necessarily represents an “anti-vaxx” mindset. There are reasons they may not have planned on getting vaccinated just yet which aren’t necessarily “anti-vaxx” cult thinking (though that doesn’t mean they’re smart reasons lol) and would likely seem reasonable to players in-context. I’m gonna put that under a cut though bc this is already really long!

First, there’s the fact that we don’t know what medical conditions some players may or may not have which could make them hesitant to get some of the vaccines out of an abundance of caution. More prominently you also gotta remember, these guys are athletes currently competing their way through an extremely intense and extremely important part of the season as they try to secure playoff spots, playing sometimes as many as 4 games a week. Looking at it that way, it’s understandable why some of them would be hesitant about getting a shot at this particular time which we all know is going to whammy you with a nasty little bout of mild-moderate side effects that hit you like a bad cold for as much as a week. They probably don’t feel they can afford to be laid up with muscle aches, sinus suffering, fatigue, and all the other little fun (and eventually harmless in the end!) things that your body runs through while activating that initial immune response — because in the couple of days that it throws them off for, their team could play 3 or more REALLY important playoff-clinching games, which they could end up underperforming in or having to sit out.

If that is the situation you’re in, and you already feel like the current League restrictions are doing enough to protect you, you can see why you would say “I think I’ll wait and get it during the offseason/during the week break between regular season and playoffs, and just suck it up for these last few weeks dealing with the same ol lonely isolation restrictions I’ve already gotten used to dealing with all season long, rather than be hit with that curveball of possible temporary vaccine side-effects during this time when I need to give it my all every game.” That may sound like a selfish mindset, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that is how at least some of these athletes are approaching it, especially ones who may be single guys without families at home to worry about protecting. (Lehner, for the record, has a wife and two young kids).

BUT, if the League told you (or it sounded like the League told you) “Hey, if enough of your team gets vaccinated quickly, we’ll be able to lift some of the internal restrictions for you guys and let you like hang out and do stuff together within the team again”, and if you were REALLY struggling with the mental stress of that isolated living style, you might weigh the two options against each other and say “Okay, I’m willing to power through a week of potential side-effects and get vaccinated with the fellas if it means I won’t have to be so goddamn miserable and depressed every day.” and then you get the shot(s).

And if you did that, and THEN the League said “lol no, even though your team is fully immunized you still have to sit in your room alone every night and eat by yourself and not leave your house, because it’s not fair to other teams if you guys are no longer mentally miserable like them”, well now you find yourself in the worst of both worlds — still stuck in isolation, AND you’ve still got to play through all the potential vaccine side-effects that will leave you a little off your game during some of the most crucial games of the year.

Plus, that leaves you not feeling like you got to give informed consent — you agreed to get vaccinated (ie undergo a medical treatment) under the expectation that there would be certain rewards to be gained in terms of relief for your mental health, which made you decide it was worth the potential dent in your performance for a few games and any other worries you had about the vaccine, because the prospect of that relief was so worth it. And now, you are told by the League “that payoff you expected never existed, we never promised that, what are you talking about? we can’t change things for your mental health because that might make you better at hockey than the depressed unvaccinated teams”. I can understand how that turn of events could leave someone, as Robin expressed, feeling like they were “tricked” or “forced” into making a choice that they may have done differently otherwise. They felt that they were promised something in return that they didn’t get.

Note at the end of all this: Again, we still don’t know whether the NHL and NHLPA actually made any promises, or if they simply weren’t clear enough in communicating expectations to teams and the players misunderstood what was said to mean something else. Regardless, using the idea that being freed from having to be miserably isolated to an even greater degree than most of the US general public is an “unfair competitive advantage” to now justify not allowing reasonable adjustments to the restrictions for fully vaccinated teams is fucked up, and treats mental wellbeing as just another gameplay-impacting factor to be controlled rather than a deeply impactful part of a person’s overall wellbeing which can even threaten their life. The players must be treated as people.