#but alas...stats matter now

[makeitlookdecent]

egg daughter is also "smart". may find a helmet.

[ava-core]

I HAVE FOOD TO BRING!

let’s talk about Craig Boone, and my Courier Six: literal sixth child of a sixth child, ex-Empire of Shi golden child, grizzled, haunted-at-23 May Bells (not her real name, of course.)

(i want money to commission them together PLEASE..also you like angst? you like new beginnings? a couple who don’t realize they love each other? YOU LIKE WONG KAR WAI’S IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE?! you’re in the right place!)

firstly, May Bell’s already got a fleshed-out backstory—but I want to make another post for that, so that’ll have to wait!

all you need to know is that May is difficult. it’s what a difficult life does to you, after all; in broad strokes:

she was born in the Empire of Shi, with parents both influential in the spheres of its government and upper-class society.

her father wanted her to be the heir of his scientific legacy when he realized his two sons were incompetent (not even bad people—he just had extremely high and stifling standards: calm, intelligent, obedient. May only hit the Intelligent mark with that 9 INT stat and was naturally a genius, her tag skills being medicine, melee, and science.)

when she didn’t meet the mold of her father’s expectations, it coincided with the fact that her eldest sister got pregnant by a poor merchant’s son.

her father went berserk, killed everyone in the house except for May and her oldest brother because they were out. this incident happened when she was 17.

May and her brother were tried (mother deemed insane to stand trial) and her brother ran away. May was found guilty because of public clamor, but she managed to escape out Shi and never looked back, working as a mercenary in the California area—using Shady Sands as a base of operations for a few years—before eventually getting that damn courier job.

yes, these are broad strokes. who wouldn’t be haunted?

now, take all of that baggage and give it to a half of an extremely combat-capable duo, the other half of which is convinced he’s only destined for bad things because of all the misfortune that’s happened in his life. both have seen the horrors of death and the loss of life, as well as having a hand—direct or not—in the loss of their loved ones and family, having no power to stop it from happening.

what happens when they realize they realize they’re falling for each other?

it makes for a tragedy in origin, of course.

i originally wrote May independently, as opposed to my usual process of making a character in consideration of someone i want them to end up with, and encountering Boone in Novac as May just made it all click.

they would work so well together: Boone filling in the gaps of May’s small frame and 5 STR stat (she’d like for it to be 8, but alas) and May serving as his new partner as two snipers.

that’s the thing, too: May, for all her inability to be sociable (always had a grumpy expression on her face, quick to dismissive sarcasm and is generally unlikeable upon first impression because she masks her loneliness with being an asshat), finds it easy to care for Boone. She levels up her Survival skill to cook him food. She uses that high Medicine to patch him up after he runs into a pack of Cazadores guns blazing. She always gives him extra smokes, ammo, and the occasional bottle of Nuka-Cola.

in his own way, Boone cares for her, too. she always has a First Recon sniper watching her back behind her. He always takes care of enemies before she can even see them. He takes longer watches when they rest so she can sleep (after a lot of protest). Hell, by Honest Hearts, he watches her sleep just to see her breathing and alive.

And the fact she helps him process Bitter Springs, supportive but not overbearing? The fact that she knows his secrets, and cares for him anyway? it hits him where it matters.

this journey May’s embarking on and the dynamic they’re building reminded me of something as i was looking for inspiration for her story (Asian media): Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood For Love.

if you’ll remember, Mrs. Chan and Mr. Chow only fall in love because they knew their spouses were cheating on them with one another. it all clicked so much, i’m telling you: what started as an agreement to find who sold Carla eventually led to the both Boone and May trudging against the harsh winds of the Mojave, realizing they had one person they cared about more than themselves—and to the both of them, it was nothing if not dangerous, given how self-depreciating and burdened they are with their past.

but who’s to say they won’t heal?

it’s the possibilities of their relationship that keeps me going, honestly: they’re so perfectly made for one another, and deeply care for one another, but they can’t see that, and it infuriates the people around them: Veronica, Arcade and Raul especially (who becomes May’s close friends) who sees this tension so palpable it wouldn’t have made a difference if Boone bent May over on a roulette table in the Tops and went to town with her knowing she’d let him anyway. that’s how well their chemistry works.

i’ll keep on exploring this, but god, the way the stars align for them even in my writing!!! i will be back for this it’s a PROMISE

[bookoflibrary]

Event Summary: "Everything Begins within the Stars

The event story starts off with reality Alice reading a book, 'The Galactic Railroad' on the school's roof, as recommended to her by her teacher who she loves. This is where she is contemplating suicide. One thing I found neat is the part where all the alts in the event are about to die take direct excerpts from their stories of the same scene. But then suddenly a giant locomotive falls through the sky and ruins her suicide. Reality Alice is wincing and wondering what just happened when Match Girl yells out if she is okay, but Nutcracker gets angry says they should be seeing about him first.

It turns out Dorothy helped the dolls build the train, and all the Library characters groan like 'Of course there was gonna be something defective on it.' Reality Alice is still sitting there confused as they talk amongst themselves. It was originally meant to be a Conducter's Day event, but the train broke. Aladdin says he needs to find a place in this world that can buy gold stat, but Nutcracker says they don't have time to do that and convert it to real money. The locomotive is still broken, so Aladdin says they need to find a place to stay until they can fix it or sell off some gold. They ask Reality Alice what she was doing and she sighs, 'suicide… '

The two Alice have a small and gentle exchange of words. Reality Alice snaps back to reality and looks down at the bustle below the building. She feels a moment of sickness, but somehow finds Library Alice comforting. Aladdin says in broken English they need to seek an asylum. Match Girl is confused, 'What's an… asylum?' And Aladdin corrects himself, 'A shelter.'

Nut then takes it upon himself to ask Reality Alice invasive questions about her home and life, and invites them all into her home, saying it's a responsibility of the youth to protect the elderly. Her parents happened to be overseas on a trip, so they come in. There Reality Alice's cat, Noa, greets everyone. But the cat startles him and he stumbles backwards into the stove and catches on fire.

Enter Reality!Matchie coming to help extinguish the fire because the crew call 9-11 and she taps their location. 'Where's the fire?' But then the two Matchies exchange shocked looks. Once they use an extinguisher and get rid of the fire, Nut stands there wet and the two Matchies looking at each other confused. They may look like they have a difference in age, but there is no mistaking they also share the same face. Library Matchie breaks the ice saying Reality Matchie was so cool just now, and she reminded her of 'her other self'. Reality Matchie could only question her confusion.

The two Matchie's get together right away and have fun. But there's one more character here missing. Aladdin somehow finds out 'he' is living in a luxurious apartment. There's a high tech facial recognition thing attached to the gates of them, but because he has 'his' face, Library Aladdin just continues on with a smile. He sees the apartment and smiles, because of course it would be like this. 'Well, I guess it makes sense I would have money no matter where I'm at' and 'With lots of people, like a castle'

But then suddenly the intercom comes on. Its Altladdin and he's less than pleased. 'Don't come near my apartment without an appointment for starters.'

Library Aladdin is kinda taken back by the day trader and tries to explain things to him, but Altladdin refuses to believe him.

So Altladdin says he wants proof he's from a fairytale and he wants proof there's a magical train. 'If it exists and it's from another world, it's probably worth a ton of money anyway'. So they all assemble to the roof and reality Ala is basically like well holy shit basically once the tarp covering the train is taken off.

Aladdin is like 'Weeeeeell… I need something from this world to fix it because the train is broken' and asks Altladdin if he could buy the part in this world they need. Altladdin says, 'What's in it for me?' Aladdin says gold is going up in value in this world and he can have as much of his gold as he pleases and Altladdin hurries and says 'Good deal'

The train gets repaired thanks to the day trader. While they're getting everyone on board, Altladdin pops open a can of an energy drink. Aladdin wonders what that is, and so Altladdin tells him the day is looking busy so he needs it. Aladdin looks at him sadly. 'You shouldn't drink that. That doesn't look healthy for you…. '

Alice decides to go to school in place of Reality Alice. The two had gotten very close. She does just that, meanwhile Reality Alice's cat Noa continues to bully and scratch Nutcracker. While Library Alice is at school, the teacher approaches her, saying he looked into abortion and it wouldn't cost much at this stage and that there would be little to no damage on her body either. Library Alice remembers Reality Alice throwing up as they were changing, and sees the wedding ring on his left finger and then realizes what's happening. She gets angry and swats him away. 'DON'T TOUCH HER AGAIN!' Upset, she runs home despite the school day not being over. Reality Alice sees how poorly Library Alice looks and asks what's wrong. Library Alice says no one knew they swapped places but students picked that she looks like she lost weight, then tells her that the teacher is awful and even he couldn't tell.

Reality Alice knows that her teacher is cruel, but she can't stop loving him, and it reminds Library ALice of how she is bounded to her Author. 'Then, if you can't hate him, I will.' Reality Alice says in that case she will hate her Author for her, and the two girls laugh after they hug.

Meanwhile Reality Matchie is in the dispatch car with her coworkers. It turns out people are turning to nightmares, and soon they all start doing the same. She screams out, and as they drive by, she sees the building she set herself on fire at at the end of her reality chapter. This is.. my story. I'm supposed to die here… '

It turns out this the dolls doing. They are determined to get the characters to end the world and continue killing again and don't want the story disturbed. Reality Alice begs her cat Noa to wake up. Reality Matchie runs off. She takes Noa and runs to the building. 'I have to go to that building!' That's her story. The dolls are like 'that's right.' It turns out this current world is one Reality Alice's unborn child dreamed of to save her from killing herself, and is trying to summon every single fairytale and alt alike to help.

The dolls say the unborn child is too weak to maintain the order in this world and keep the dream going, therefore the world is going to collapse. It doesn't matter because all of the characters can keep killing and dying and coming back to life anyway.

Reality Matchie also realizes she has matches in her hand, but Library Matchie rushes to her. Library Matchie is crying tears of joy, happy she was able to save the firefighter. 'Thank goodness for the other-other me…' Reality Matchie says she was indeed rescued by a girl exactly like her who was more brutish. The two girls team up to defeat nightmares, then Library Matchie takes her hand. 'Come with me!'

Meanwhile, Aladdin Alt walked himself to the brokerage firm, the same one in his story where he died. He had an energy drink in one hand and caffeine pills in the other. At this point he was aware this was his story and he accepted the consequences of his actions. But then Library Aladdin rushes to him. 'You are me, and I am you. And you too are using money to compensate not being able to protect someone important to you.' Aladdin Alt: 'What do you mean?' Aladdin just smiles at his reality self saying the answer is simple, and swats the stuff out of his hands. Saying that losing anything else at this point is foolish and he should come with him.

Meanwhile Nut has been busy trying to Avenger assemble the other characters, but the alts are no longer in the scene of their deaths and he cant get every character. All the characters and their reality counterparts rush out, and the dolls try to stop them in their tracks saying they are violating conduct to seasonal events and the main story, then summon a huge nightmare. Nutcracker yells back at them that they violate things all the time and they're the ones who set everything up like this in the first place.

They all panic and run to the locomotive and get inside. Altladdin mocks Aladdin and says 'Drive safely conductor' and Aladdin smiles and says to leave it to him. Reallity Matchie says in the case of a fire to leave it to her and it dawns on Alice what book she was reading. She made a conductor signal to her reality counterpart. 'Night on the Galactic Railroad.' A hole appears in the sky and they take off into it, away from the collapsing city the unborn child tried to make a better haven from it's dream it couldn't sustain.

Alice says as they talk off she's tired of wearing strange clothes every season anymore. Aladdin says Library is quite weird and he's tired of it himself. But Reality Matchie tells Library Matchie her conductor suit looks really nice on her and that makes her happy. Reality Aladdin said maybe it's time they all revolt against the dolls. Library Alice agrees, they had it a long time coming. The dolls tell them to stop talking and get their asses back in the Library.

Meanwhile Reality Alice is quiet, and looks down in her lap to her dying cat Noa. It suddenly dawns on her the soul of her child was Noa, and she tears up, saying she's sorry for being an incompetent mother. Noa licks the tears off her hands to comfort her, then meows one last meow before fading away.

Library Alice comforts her, saying Noa did everything he could to save them all. Aladdin says this new world they are going to feels like a child being reborn. The characters have broken free from the pain of their stories but now they lost their sense of purpose. Nutcrucker comforts them, saying that this train goes anywhere and they can explore every single possibility.

Nut says this place goes beyond the Library, where no rules restrict anyone. Aladdin says it's like a baby being reborn. And the event ends with Alice blowing a conductor whistle which sounds like a cry of an infant. Alice points it out but Nutcracker says she is hearing things. A new scratch from nowhere appears on his back. And so, these 'nobody' characters traveled through new stories in the galaxy. Altladdin eyes sparkle like a child at the view.

End.

Side Note: The alts aren't in the location of their deaths because this triggered an effect on all the characters to avoid their fate. They are alive and well, fully voiced in the side story reading the Library Abridged ver of The Night on The Galactic Express. With Dorothy's help, of course.

[skiesofaquaria]

Fear & Hunger: Finished!

23.6 hours and 30% of the wiki later and alas, here we are Fear and Hunger was kinda intimidating at first, but most of it came down the to publicity of it. I don't think I could call it "cruel" or "brutal", it just has a different gameplay loop than the games most usually play. Hell, I don't wanna speak too soon but it really feels like Dark Souls all over again, except in this case F&H is good. What I'm saying is that if you make YouTube essays you should die

To make it simple: the game's core philosophy is "bash your head against a ball until it cracks before your heads does". Death does not matter much as runs (to Le'garde) aren't supposed to last more than half an hour, and each death does not reward you with any items or permanent progression stuff but knowledge, which sounds corny as shit and I hate agreeing with youtubers but it's true. Died to a certain enemy? Avoid them next time. Fell down a toilet and had to commit suicide? Don't!. Pulled off a sword from some rubble and got crushed by debree? Avoid it or try something else! Slowly but surely you start developing your own route, you can get to places that took you an hour in mere minutes, you know what areas to visit and which aren't worth it, which items you want, and most importantly: How to cheese every encounter and every moment of the game

On a lore level I still don't think I'm qualified to talk, I've read as many books as possible but I still have some doubts here and there. What I can say however is that, as a sucker of Lovecraftian horror, the way the dungeon works, look, and feels was, put simply, my shit, same thing applies to most inhabitants of the dungeon as well

And that's the real golden detail of Fear & Hunger, the "feel". I hate words because I really don't know how to describe a "feel" other than by just, idk shove an electric rod in my brain and analyze the neuron connections to see what I mean. To put it as best as I can: The mechanics of the game really feel "fitting" to the atmosphere. Even when you're overpowered you still don't have fights guaranteed, you can always lose a limb or fail a cointoss and guess what no amount of Eastern Sword crits are gonna save you now. The dungeons feel heavy and dark, every new enemy is a terrifying learning experience, a question of "is he just a normal grunt or does he-" and the Lizardman raises his shield and now D'arce killer herself like an idiot; and once again, it's your knowledge that will defeat the dungeons, not your Strength stat

There's only one moment where I feel the game was bullshit and that was the room right before the very final boss, there's a mage there that constantly casts hurting and tears your limbs, and there's a good chance you won't find him in time before both your arms and legs are gone, so yea that's a good 15 minutes of progress lost to pretty much a quicktime event where you have to guess the inputs, now you need another 15 minutes of walking and avoiding stuff just for another chance of finding that fucker. It's less than 1% of the game but when everything else felt near perfect it really annoyed me that it was at the very last moment where something had to go wrong

But other than that, game's good, gave me a type of brainrot I haven't felt in a long long while. Would recommend if you thought Saya from Saya no Uta was cute (this post was written in a notepad and proofread exactly 0 times)

[botherbug]

STIM GIF TUTORIAL!!!

Over-explained process on how I make gifs, using a recently made gif that took a lot of effort + went thru ALL possible steps i usually do. So. yeah.

First of all: I use Firefox and the adblock extension UBlock Origin , you should too. (I also use Windows, but i can't say i recommend that.)

Find your video source

I use mostly youtube and instagram. for instagram I use: https://fastdl.app/ for youtube i use: https://yt5s.com

You may use whatever downloader you're comfortable with, it doesn't matter really. either way, USE AN ADBLOCKER!! Something that will block pop-ups.

I will be using this video: https://www.instagram.com/p/CCgrjLJnDWO/ !

TRIMMING THE VIDEO

Trim video into short sections will make it easier and faster to turn it into a gif! I use the windows editing software to do this. Open the video and go down to the pen icon, click it and then click "Trim"

This pops open a new window! (The volume settings do NOT carry over (very stupid) so i recommend having your headphones either off or turned very low.)

On the timeline on the bottom, there is three things. Start and End are both blocks, and your viewing point is a little circle with a line. Don't worry about cutting exactly to the point you want, we can get it exactly to the frame later. Then save the trimmed video! I like to name them "trim 1" "trim 2" ectera if i have multiple.

STABILIZING THE VIDEO

This video is kinda very shaky! (Which is also why i am using it for this tutorial). But we can fix that!

(not every video will need stabilizing. Most don't. Some shaky videos I leave shaky, because stabilizing them looks weird. this is all personal preference)

I use this website for stabilizing: https://pixiko.com/tools alas, it leaves very large watermarks a corner of the video. Which usually isn't an issue for vertical videos that I will crop, but this one is square. So we will make it vertical

AVOIDING PIXIKO WATERMARK BY RESIZING VIDEO! (sidequest)

go to photopea!: https://www.photopea.com/ we will revisit this later.

File -> Open -> Select your mp4 file -> Open

It will then pop up asking for what frames per second(fps) you want! It will also display the original video's information in this order:

Pixel size (540 x 640 px), Original amount of frames(221 frames), Video size (345.3 MB decoded)

Length of video (7.37 seconds), Original video's fps (30 FPS)

Then it will have a slider! Here you can input whatever fps you want on your gif. More frames means smoother gif, but higher file size. Less frames means a choppier gif, but lower file size. I usually use 12, 15, or 20 fps. If you want to slow down your video later, you should probably put your frames higher so the slowed video won't end up looking choppy.

Then open it up! It might take a while to load. When it does, go up to "Image", click, then go down to "Canvas Size"

Awesome, new window popup. Here you can change the canvas size. The little chain icon locks the ratio (the number:number next to it). We won't use that. The little grid with the circle in it is where the image will anchor from, you click different squares of the grid to change it. Anchoring it just means that spot will stick the same, and canvas will expand/shrink from it. For now we are keeping it in the middle.

We will change the height of the gif, since Pixiko adds watermarks to either the top or the bottom of the video.

Awesome. We have transparent bits on the top and the bottom that we will crop out later. Now Photopea doesn't let me export files as mp4s, and Pixiko doesn't let me upload gifs. So we will over-complicate this even more!

File -> Export As-> GIF.

A popup might appear asking about if you want to resize your gif smaller. In this case I wont.

Wow! A new window! These are all the stats of your new gif. Previous things already explained are previously explained. "Quality" is a slider that effects how many colors and how many details are in your gif. It saves minor space, but it's such a small change that I won't recommend lowering it. "dither" is a checkbox that effects if your gif is dithered or not. Dithering is little pixelizations of color added to blend things better. It takes up a lot more space, but looks better in most cases. By default it is off, and instead the colors of the video are more segmented and can look like cell-shading. This saves some space, but it doesn't look good for certain small details or color gradients. I will turn dither on.

"Speed" is how fast or slow the gif plays.

"Repeat (0 = Forever) is how many times the gif will repeat itself. By default it should be 0, meaning it will loop forever. You can change this if you want, but that means the gif will only play that many times before being frozen forever.

"reverse frames" plays the gif in reverse.

"boomerang" means the gif will go 1,2,3,4,3,2,1 ; it will complete itself normally and then reverse to the beginning.

OKAY AWESOME. Save your gif and pack it up to move to YET ANOTHER website, ezgif!

Ezgif: https://ezgif.com/

Head over to "Video to GIF", then to the "GIF to Mp4" below that.

Select your file and press the blue upload button! This might take a while to load!

Then scroll down, press the blue "Convert GIF to Mp4" button. Wait for your video to process and then download it!

OKAY WE FINALLY GO BACK TO PIXIKO

STABILIZATION BACK ON TRACK!!!!!!

Here's the website again: https://pixiko.com/tools

Go to the tools section (up on top) and then scroll down to Video stabilizer (in "SEPERATE TOOLS" category). Or you could just ctrl+f it.

From that point on it is just uploading the video, waiting(a while), and then downloading your new stabilized video!! Awesome!

PHOTOPEA CONTROLS (canvas size, color editing, deleting frames) (the fun part)

NOW go back to photopea. Upload your gif (File -> Open -> select file -> open). You will have to put your fps again!

Ok. Now you must learn how Photopea organized gifs. Gifs are their own folder, and inside that folder each frame is a file. 'layer 1' plays first and 'layer 2' plays second. Layers outside of the folder, and below it, will display behind the gif as a still image. (cool for transparent gifs, or if you need to stretch out a gif)

To view each layer/frame, press the square next to it's image+name. If there's an eyeball, it's visible. If there's an empty box, it's not. All layers in the folder will show up in the gif, even if they are all empty boxes, so don't worry about that!

You can shuffle frames or delete them, but keep them inside the folder. (and keep the folder "Pass Through". You can change individual layer types though)

You may delete specific frames! If your trim of the video wasn't perfect, you can delete the ends/starts here!

Here, i deleted a frame in the middle of the gif. it was awkward and made the gif jump weirdly. Cutting it out made it a little choppy, but i prefer that look to how it looked before.

awesome. Okay, first, go to the left side of the screen and select the first tool (an arrow). On the top of the screen, next to "Auto-Select" find the dark box saying "Layer". Click it and switch to "Folder". This makes it so when you move things, you will be moving the entire folder/gif and not just singular frames.

On tumblr, images that are sidebyside will "crop" (if you click on it it's full size) to whatever the lowest height ratio is in that image row.

This means, if you have a row of 1:1 , 3:1 , 1:3 (width:height), the whole row will crop down to 3:1 and your gifs will all be rectangles.

example:

SO, I crop my gifs to 1:1.

Awesome. Okay, go up to Image -> Canvas Size. and crop the gif down to 1:1. You may have to move your image to get the things you want in frame. Use the cursor tool for this, and just click and drag.

awesome. now here's the fun part.

THE FUN PART (editing, colors, pizazz)

You can add effects to your gif, such as changing its color. Mostly changing its color.

Select the folder by clicking on it, this makes it easier to get your effect into the right place (though you can drag it around). Anything below the Adjustment layer is effected, and anything above isn't.

Then go down to the bottom, below the layer window, and click the half-filled in circle. A popup will appear with lots of different effects! You can mess around with all of these. For this one I will be using "Photo Filter" and "Selective color"

Photo Filer applies a color over the entire image. By clicking the orange (default) color block, you can pick the color you want. Density slider is basically the opacity. "Preserve Luminosity" means it will keep the brights and darks of the original image.

Now!! If you ever loose your adjustment sliders: select the adjustment layer, then go up to the little button that has little sliders/horizontal lines in it. Click that, and it should pop back up.

Selective color lets you pick basic colors and turn up certain amounts for them. I can make red more magenta, and yellows more cyan, or whites more magenta.

"Absolute", as far as i can tell, just turns up the effect more strong. I usually turn it on when i want to really effect something.

There is many other adjustment layers you can use! I will not explain them all, you can explore yourself.

ONCE YOU ARE HAPPY, you can export the gif! File -> Export as -> GIF.

set your speed and if you would like dither or not.

Now, this file may be HUGE. A quick way to deal with that is to turn down the pixel size of the image. Make sure the little chain between Width and Height is selected(dark). This keeps the ratio the same (and you will only have to edit one number instead of both).

I will shrink my image down to 400 px.

You can check how large your file size in within the little viewer, in a black box on the bottom. Tumblr's highest file size is 10 MB, so this gif is too big at 12.8 MB. WE SHALL FIX THAT!

EZGIF OPTIMIZATION

head BACK to ezgif! This website has many good ways to optimize gifs.

Click the "Optimize" tab. Select your file and upload!

awesome. Ezgif explains itself well, and is a great website, so i will just explain a few things that aren't explained.

Clicking through the bar of "crop, resize, crop, optimize," Ectera will keep the same gif you uploaded.

Say i used lossy gif, pressed the blue button, watched a cat dance as it loaded, then got my compressed gif.

A new bar appears below this new gif! If you'd like to keep this gif, you should click this bottom bar. Now i can click "Resize" and go resize my gif, and it will transfer this same gif over. ( i do recommend resizing before doing any compression/lossy gif though)

Now i will explain a way of lowering fize size: deleting certain frames.

In optimize, there is an option to remove every certain frame. This makes the video more choppy, but is a good way to save space. Say I remove every 2nd frame,

original:

every second frame removed:

A LOT FASTER!!!!! this is because it's literally cutting it in half. each frame waits like, 20 milliseconds, so removing every second frame is cutting that total time in half. I fix this by going to the speed tab!

50% slower for every 2nd frame,

66% slower for every 3rd frame,

75% slower for every 4th frame

here's the same every second frame removed gif slowed down.

looks better! Very choppy, but that's just because there's so many frames missing. If you do remove frames, I recommend just using every 4th frame becase it's hardly noticeable.

Ezgif explains everything else well, so i will let it explain itself.

THAAANKKS FOR READING here's a link to the actual gifset made

[fallensnowfan]

Laying the Groundwork

Want to delve into the big chrysanthe-mystery once more.

If Kiku is the final member, what reason would Oda possibly have to keep her hidden all this time? But first, big shoutout to Basedkikuenjoyer for being so devoted and leading the charge in motivating continued Kiku-posting. Now onto this post proper.

To reach the answer, we're going on a detour, back to parts of Acts One and Two, and before Luffy arrives in Wano. Going to focus on aspects which may reveal what has been going on behind the curtains, since soon after the crew left Wano, and during the few days they spent sailing to Egghead.

The moment not long after the time travel group arrived from the past is where I want to start. All of them except Kiku departed Wano to seek allies, with Kiku being tasked to remain in the country and gather intel on the enemy in secret, a job she does naturally and skillfully.

While undercover, the chrysamurai learns the info the alliance would need to launch a successful sneak attack on Onigashima, on the night of the Fire Festival. The info being that the outward presentation of the event is one of offering tribute to Kaido for acting as the "Guardian Deity" of Wano. Though as we later learn, the truth behind that outward description is that the night is really a big excuse for the Beast Pirates and Orochi's cronies to meet up, make merry, have a round of drinks, and throw a wild party.

A job well done for Kiku to have secured such vital info, while maintaining complete anonymity to everyone except Miss Tsuru, who kept her knowing of her identity a secret.

Jumping forward a bit to Luffy's arrival in the Land of Samurai. The two members of the Straw Hats most known for stealth, Robin and Sanji, kept their cover for a time though were both, as well as most of the crew, discovered in less time than Kiku had already been undercover. Kiku, who maintained her cover the entire time during Wano and a month before Luffy arrived. While Robin impressively gathered a great deal of info, it was all stats and numbers of things that wouldn't be of assistance to get the jump on our enemies during the raid. What ended up being key was Kiku learning the motive of the enemy.

Shifting back to the current arc, why does this matter for the situation on Egghead? The answer is potentially much simpler than I have been wondering for a while now. Wiretapping! Black transponder snails do just that and given what we've seen from the crew this arc, casually agreeing to work with a supporter of the WG, and continuing to act casually all arc. I'd say it's very possible that they knew of York's plan from before they ever set foot on the island. The idea being that Kiku was the one who uncovered York's true motivations, ala her learning the enemies' true intentions for the Fire Festival last arc.

And because Kiku is an unknown to the world at large, including the WG, due to her absence from the Ryo fight in 1054/1055, no one would be expecting her/another member of the SHs to be concealed in the Sunny, waiting for the perfect time to reveal herself and the plan. Is any of this a guarantee? No, but it sure would fit well with how this arc has progressed so far, as well as explain the weirdness of Wano's ending.

[byierficrecs]

just wanted to pop over and say that i love this blog so so much; I love getting to see creators, especially lesser-known ones, in the spotlight. As someone who has been writing fanfiction for over a decade and has gotten very little recognition for it (relative to other stories in my fandoms, that is) it's always very discouraging to see my stats stagnate whilst so many other people who are arguably at the same level as me getting so much more attention and love.

I'm not really in a place (mentally or financially) to be commissioning art for my fics, so seeing your little graphics for all the fics people recommend make me so so happy. I'm obsessed with the one you did for my fic; but they are all always so cute. And it's just nice to see someone spreading positivity in a way that is broad and fair (i'm a libra, lol) and doesn't put anyone down in the process <3

Yeah sorry this is kinda rambly but just like, I was seriously considering not writing for this fandom anymore because it feels like no one cares about my blog or my writing or anything; but then I found this blog and it reminded me why I write, and reinspired my love of what I do.

So thanks <3333333

ngl, this actually made me tear up a little. i've also been writing for various fandoms for a while and i know how discouraging the low interactions can be overtime. it really is a matter of luck half the time and no matter how much effort you put into something, it's impossible to know if anyone will care or if you'll be yelling into the void.

and sometimes, fandom makes it worse. the obsession some people have with numbers, not willing to dedicate their time to anything that's not already popular can be quite upsetting, and the bad habit some people have of pitting authors and works against each other is, indeed, extremely stressful.

i've seen it in other fan groups; it is an unfortunate constant all across the internet, i think. but this fandom in particular can be quite cruel and sometimes it drains my creative energy altogether. i assume it's the same for others. and nevermind the hyper-criticism and high standards, sometimes people are hurtful in their effort to support some creators and it's baffling. i even started this whole thing (twt account and blog) as a response to someone ranking fics. and i know they meant no ill, but for many it is saddening to know you'll never be in one of those "best fics" things.

(and before anyone says anything, yes, people should write for themselves, first and foremost. however, the act of actually posting a story for the internet to see is a little unnerving, and the biggest reward is to get feedback. to get none is quite crushing.)

alas, i can only hope that this thingy makes some writers happy. be it that more people check a story (not in my control) or the authors simply get a graphic of dubious quality, i hope i can make some people smile at least for a few minutes. know that at least you got one reader checking out your hard work, and that i love every single story that has been sent.

,,,see, now you got me all rambly x.x anyway, i'm happy to know i could help a little, and i'm so glad you didn't stop writing <3 if it's not much to ask, would it be possible to know who this is? i won't share that if you don't want me to, but this really brightened my day and it has filled me with determination to try to do better (in writing and in making the graphics) :]

[dumbfinntales]

Earlier today I beat Wo Long the fallen dynasty, and my feelings on it are a bit mixed. But my overall thoughts are that the game makes certain things more interesting, but in the end doesn’t come anywhere near close to the brilliance of Nioh 2. Read full thoughts below.

It’s a bit unfair to compare this to Nioh 2, but it’s obvious that Wo Long is a sort of a Nioh style spiritual successor set in China. I’d say that Wo Long is better than Nioh 1, but is really far from Nioh 2. But what exactly differentiates these two games? Wo Long has a drastically different combat system that focuses on fast paced combat and deflecting enemy attacks ala Sekiro. But not exactly like Sekiro. The deflecting system does feel really cool, especially when you parry big attacks or successfully deflect a boss’ combo. Although I find deflecting long combos in this game to be extremely difficult. But when compared to Nioh’s stance system the combat feels a lot more simplistic. You only have one combo, some special moves and focus almost exclusively on deflecting.

Another change that I actually loved was the addition of a jump button, which in turn made the level design a lot more interesting and vertical. Exploration was a blast now that you could look for secrets in not so obvious places, like jumping on top of a cart and parkouring your way onto a roof where you’d find a hole that’d lead inside the building. The variety in levels felt pretty good too, but nothing I haven’t seen in their previous games.

I also adore the magic system. Each main stat of this game is associated with an element, and once you level your stats up you’ll unlock wizardry spells. So no matter what build you go for you’ll always have spells from your main stats. I went with earth and metal. The earth spells weren’t actually that exciting and felt a bit hard to use, but I loved the metal elements ability to poison and debuff enemies/bosses.

Then another thing that I felt like they nailed were the bosses. There were a couple real stinkers in there, but most bosses felt exciting to fight. And unlike in Nioh 1 the human bosses like Lu Bu were super fun to fight and figure out. The deflecting system really shines in these boss fights and is the sole reason why a lot of them feel so fun.

But in the end there were couple major flaws that cropped up that really knocked the game down in my personal list. Number 1: the enemy variety is really bad. Like Nioh 1 bad. Nioh 2 fixed the enemy variety issue, but somehow they went even further back in this game? You fight the same set of enemies in every single level. I’m not joking, the same undead soldiers and tiger demons are in every level that I can think of. There are some unique demons they sprinkle here and there, but you could count all of them in both of your hands. The combat feels so good, but fighting the same enemies over and over gets so tiring that you stop caring about the fights in levels and just look forward to the boss.

And number 2: the morale system. I don’t really like it. And it might be the sole reason I won’t be replaying Wo Long. I thought the morale system would be a fun little thing in a level to encourage exploration (and it somewhat does), but why are these flags so hidden? I like exploring and I always feel like I scour through every nook and cranny of a level and yet somehow I manage to miss flags. And these flags are important, because a boss being even 2 morale ranks above you makes the boss hit harder and tankier. I beat most of the bosses in this game being one level below them.

Why hide something so crucial like it’s a collectible? Sometimes I had to look up on youtube where the hell I missed them and then I’d find out I missed a flag at the beginning of the stage, while I’m at the boss. Hell no, I’m not running through the whole level just to get there. By the final level I started hating those stupid flags and the endless easter egg hunt for them. Just reward my exploration with useless loot like in Nioh.

So in summary: fun new system that feels a bit simple sprinkled with fun new type of level design. But ultimately brought down by lack of variety, some really stinky bosses and the hunt for morale ranks. I wonder if there’ll be a Wo Long 2 where they fix all the problems of the previous game, like they did with Nioh. But I still think Wo Long was a fun new experience. I didn’t really talk about the story because it’s just nonsense once again. Like Nioh, Wo Long expects you to know Chinese history and all the people in it from the get go. Somehow I didn’t care as much for Chinese history as I did for Japanese.

[georgiapeach30513]

I would have to have access to his account to know that. Alas, I do not.//

I think then we just assume he deleted and not archived because like you said, we don’t know for sure. But I think a way we could tell that he has it archived is through the stats info that @annislittleshopofhorrors shares. No matter what, it’s sad that he and his team did that. Keeping his work posts are beneficial to him and his career.

I think the Dodger posts are most likely to have been archived. Now they generic business ones, I could see an actual deletion. To my knowledge there isn't a way to tell on the other side if it was archived. Unless it randomly pops back up on his grid in the same spot.

[nickgerlich]

Just Charge It

One of the longest-running consumer behavior topics I have had through the years is the discussion centering on EVs. I’ve been tossing this one around for more than a decade, and I bet I’ll be tossing it around for many more years to come.

But to cut to the chase, some are now saying that we have passed critical mass and EVs are about to see a huge surge in adoption. It’s only a matter of time until ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) vehicles die a slow, painful death. [If the link to the WaPo article puts you up against a paywall because you have already reached your monthly limit, simply copy the URL and paste into a different browser. You’re welcome.]

Now if you are scratching your head wondering how this could be true, consider this: Last year EV sales accounted for 5% of all cars sold in 4Q, and earlier this year in 1Q, hit 7%. I’ll let that sink in for a moment.

Critics of EVs will still scoff, post laughing-face emojis in a fit of smartassery, and ask where the crowd is. And never mind the red herrings they love to serve, bringing up distractions such as child labor at lithium mines, how much energy or whatever it takes to make an EV, and the expected life of an EV battery. No one ever said they are perfect, just better. And that meme of someone having to pay $30,000 for a new battery is only partially true, because they were trying to do so for a model that is no longer made and replacements are scarce.

To hear the analysts is to assume there must be a mad rush, though. I just haven’t seen the teeming masses lining up to buy a Tesla, Rivian, Leaf, Bolt, or otherwise. Yet.

Ah, but that’s where I and the others may be wrong, because the analysts think we have just passed the tipping point, that magical moment popularized by author Malcolm Gladwell in 2000. Essentially, there is an inflection point in consumer activity that ushers in a period of rapid growth, and once that sets in, it’s Katy bar the door.

Those same analysts point to EV adoption in Norway. Now before you scream, “But that’s like comparing an apple to a zucchini,” I realize that the two nations are very different, from population to geographical size and population densities.

Alas, a decade ago, EVs accounted for 5% of sales in Norway, and today are at 80%. That’s a pretty steep adoption curve. In fact, it is this “S-“curve that analysts expect to see play out in the US.

To be fair, though, a recent study indicates that 46% of Americans still prefer an ICE vehicle. But here are the fragmented stats that, when seen in their entirety, suggest the shift is on. Nineteen-percent want an EV, while 22% want a traditional hybrid, and 13% prefer a plug-in hybrid. That means 54% want some or all-electric in their cars.

While the tide is changing, we must still deal with the biggest real and perceived problems of EVs: cost, range, and charging. But these are evolving as well, with Elon Musk initiating some steep discounts of late on Teslas. President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, perhaps one of the worst-named initiatives ever, actually has generous investment credits for wind and solar installations. The UAW strike also works to Musk’s favor, because if the demanded 40% wage increase over four years is accepted, Musk will have a huge advantage. Musk’s factories are non-union, and he recruits and retains employees with stock options, not high wages.

If you have noticed a surge in construction of wind and solar farms the last year or so, now you know why. And these help address the matter of infrastructure, another thing that critics like to point out. Otherwise, charging stations are popping up everywhere. Oh, and a general agreement to have one charging standard across EV makes and models sounds a lot like what Apple just signed onto with its latest phone.

As for me, I love the idea of driving an EV. It’s just that right now, I cannot get what I want, and that is to be able to drive 800 miles a day without significant layovers. I want 400-mile range, and charging in 15 minutes or less. My driving style often includes 12-hour days as it is, and I sure don’t want to waste a couple hours or more each day twiddling my thumbs at a charging station.

But once they remedy these issues, I’m good with this.

As for those buying EVs today as well as in recent years, perhaps their blood flows green, or they see them as stylish options. In some cases, they may actually lead to cost savings compared to $4 gas, but the up-front expense of the EV can still be daunting. I see that all changing in the years ahead, though, as production really ramps up, and charging becomes as little a concern as is finding gasoline today.

Remember—or learn for the first time now—that when autos started trickling into the public realm a little more than a century ago, gas stations were also few and far between. Folks had to lash gas-filled “Jerry” cans to their vehicles, effectively making a rolling bomb with all that fuel unprotected. But the market took care of that, and gas stations became commonplace. The same will happen for charging.

I am excited about this, although I do have some hesitations about how fast the steep part of the curve will come. I know it will come, though, but maybe not quite as fast as some would think. Still, it is fun to be living during yet another revolution. There’s never a dull moment anymore. It’s electrifying.

Dr “Waiting But Willing” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[handelplayssims]

And we’re back in the Stuart-Waddell household. Welp, I messed up the volunteering thing by leaving the lot and returning back but ah well. More opportunities down the line for empathy growth. Don’t like any of Roxana’s current whims at the moment so I’m going to have to go into the rewards thing and then pick up a want refresher potion. Let’s see, we got work for everyone in an hour expect Roxana. Annnd Roxana is feeling utterly flirty thanks to this lot having the Romantic Aura around it. And all of those romance socials I queued up because of said initial flirty moodlet. Let’s see, let’s do some cooking and baking first, since the kids only have so much food left for them. That being said, I’m making cookies. Both flirty heart and sugar ones. Real curious to see what moodlet the kids would get with those cookies.

Oooh, one of the people I thought about turning into a vampire dropped down for a social chat. Let’s just use our new ability to check his traits and...paranoid, slob, self-assured. You will make a fine vampire! Now to move into our home and- I knew I recognized him from somewhere! He has a cat! We need cat stuff stat! And what’s our new kitty’s traits? Territorial, affectionate and mischievous. What a kitty. Avery McHenry is this person’s name and his aspiration is to become a chief of mischief. That doesn’t require a job requirement soooo, let’s look at his skills. 7 mixology, 5 fitness, 3 fishing for tops. Hmm. With his paranoid trait, he’d absolutely be a bad mixologist. I don’t really think being an actor, an astronaut, an athlete would be up his ally either. So we got another cop, or military. Or a part-time fisherman! I honestly could go either or between military and cop. ...I’m thinking cop because military requires a lot of fitness and this dude has a handlebar moustache. It’s very cop vibes.

...annnnd Roxana decided to automatically flirt with him. GREAT. WONDERFUL. Let’s continue this uh, shall we? Flirts are a go! Oh boy oh boy oh boy. Kids are back from school as well. Time to manage needs! Emille wants pizza, which hey, good for her. Let’s order some. Selena wishes to be alone so I sent her to her room to read a book. Harrison is embarrassed from failing to prepare well for a test. Also low fun so let’s sort that out. Emille has her pizza and can now focus on her aspiration, aka play the violin some more! Now let’s see. Selena wishes to make more friends, both child and adult but hmm. Can’t leave the lot. Her sister’s playing the violin after all! And just as I was about to let Roxana and Omar have some steamy times, she gets utterly depressed by the fact her relationship with Avery withered and decayed. Likely, by being weird in proxmity to him. Alas and woe! Anyway, Selena befriended Avery before she went to bed. Her sister managed to get creativity up to 10! Now just needs to make some pictures. And Harrison has returned from work still embarassed.

With Roxana’s near eternal flirty mood, I actually set her to do what I was going to do ages ago. Write a romance novel. It’s totally vampiric propaganda. Omar wishes to mentor a child but also! Sounds like a good excuse to volunteer! Again! Night time volunteer time! A moment of peace and quiet for me, as I had all hands on deck managing all of the everyone in this house.

...got an alert about Yuki’s ghost about to pass on. Maaaaaan. I’m sad. Anyway, Omar’s goal is to still mentor a kid so he’ll still tutor Harrison in fitness. Huh. I checked NAPs and uh, we got free love. Welp. I guess Roxana can freely smooch whomever! Doesn’t matter whatsoever! But it’s time for-

Neighborhood Watch!

Luciano Guzman in the Guzman household is now a Chief Critic in the Arts Critic career.

[soulhavens]

thougts on how companions work in the battle circle thing

companions like dyvim are like solely melee combatants, which obviously isn’t a mechanic in wiz. instead companions give us a boost to our stats, like damage, resist, pierce, etc. i wish our companions appeared in the battle circle with us, but alas ):

i have a few thoughts on how this all works in-world. like... okay so, the whole battle/duel circle thing is probably due to the surrounding magic and like a mutual but unspoken agreement between duelists? it prevents both combatants from taking the ‘brunt’ of physical damage from magical spells, instead channeling it into ‘hp’ or what i’m going to call our lifeforce? idk. it also prevents solely melee combatants from entering/interfering in the traditional way, b/c if they enter traditionally then they’re pulled into a magic-only duel basically

anyways. so the duel circle is this magic thing thats created from the surrounding world’s natural magic, based on the mutual but unspoken intentions of both parties to duel. this is also why bosses who can cheat... welll, cheat. instead of letting the natural magic form the duel circle, part of their magic actively has to work towards circumventing those natural rules/turn cycle type dueling?

 anyway, back to companions??

there are a few ways this can go:

1) the duel circle isn’t actually formed - think like, fast mob battles, where the popular strat now is just to blade and then sling an aoe at them? i feel like this is equivalent to sort of... pulling a fast one? getting an ambush round on mobs? like it’s so fast that it doesn’t really.... matter. the duel circle isn’t formed, so in this case any companions are actively aiding you with their chosen proficiencies... so dyvim is swordsmanshipping, the drake twins are slinging spells too (think 5 boxes, etc)

2.0.1) the duel circle is formed, and it allows for the companions chosen form of proficiency, while also protecting the companion from any spell-induced harm? you as the wizard are spending just a tiny bit of concentration/magic to keep that part up? it’s sort of like your own form of ‘cheating’ bosses, who get around the traditional duel circle rules

2.0.2) in this case, then your companion is still.... doing what they do best? but it’s... hm. well it’s sort of like flourishing/flavoring in d&d? they’re there and they do stuff but its always in addition to what you as the wizard are doing. i’m not sure how to describe it... maybe as like, combo attacks? one always has to follow the other for it to be effective... idk?

this is a pretty messy headcanon so i’ll prolly go back and edit/refine it later

[izzyspussy]

if the cast of witch noir and the cast of stephen king's spooky clown story had a sleepover who would get along?

Oh noooo two of them have the same name agjmlfaa.

Um okay. Fred and Richie would get along famously. [Everyone hates that.] "Sleepover" automatically made me think of the younger Losers, so I'm rolling with it. Fred would teach Richie new tricks and introduce him to new fun drugs (which he would not like but would pretend he did to look cool in front of em). He'd have a little boy crush on em, and as such Eddie K would hate em on principle. Every Loser would have a vague gender Epiphany because Fred is 110% androgynous and they, being 13 year olds from the 80s would not Know About That previously and it's obviously cool as hell.

Stan, Ben, and Mike would all kind of idolize Angel (if he managed to show up). Ben would be into him because he's tall, dark, and handsome and has a star-crossed love that he bears stoically, and because he's a good dad (when he manages to show up). Mike would think he was so wise and wordly. Stan and he would just kind of Vibe (it's the Depression, but they don't know that). Unfortunately, Angel would be a frankly very bad influence on kid Stan - and he wouldn't take guidance from adult Stan if matters were switched. This man is not a role model, boys, I'm sorry to say.

Every Loser except Richie would be lowkey into Jessica. By the time this so-called "sleepover" was ending she'd have Bill half convinced that he's a lesbian. (He isn't, but to consider one's gender is never a mistake.) She'd be like, "So obviously you love women, because women are beautiful and perfect. But what if... you loved women, and you were a woman too? Think about it." and he'd be like OoO wow... so true..... alsfjlks. (Meanwhile, Ben is distracted by Angel talking about sneaking into the asylum to visit Dido. However. He will remember this conversation later. Good for him.) Jessica herself is not particularly enamored with any of the Losers, mainly because she's not particularly enamored with kids, but she does try her best to take Bev under her wing and impart some feminist futurism. (Were they not either having this sleepover in the macroverse somehow or else UR/time traveling, she would simply murder Alvin by putting her skewering his head on the heel of her shoe. Alas.)

For Eddie A... it really depends on where she is in her story when this sleepover happens. At the beginning, she's very off-putting as a person and makes absolutely no overtures of connection. She would refuse to interact, and would generally bring the party down. Bill and Ben might try to cheer her up or draw her out, and they would fail. (Had it been with the adult Losers she might try to fuck Bev or Ben, and after failing that Richie. She might succeed with Richie if he's also in a really shitty place, but it's really unlikely. [for clarity: she's a lesbian, Bev is bi, Ben is also a lesbian, and Richie is non-binary.]) In the middle, she'd be really intimidated by the clear and present bond between the Losers and would still avoid interacting with them, but out of fear now rather than abject misery. In this case, all the Losers (and all of her own support group) would attempt to draw her in and this time they'd succeed. She'd get along best with Stan and Richie because she'd be quiet with an upstanding but black sense of humor - and because Richie would remind her so much of Fred. If she and Jessica were still broken up she'd be trying her absolute damndest to match-make benverly and reddie. At the end, she'd probably get along best with Bev and Eddie because they have a lot of worldview aspects in common, and all three of them... don't have a super high charisma stat.

Lily and Pennywise would team up (if It was there). Not on purpose, because neither of them is exactly a team player. But Lily's victims would be perfect for It to scavenge. On one hand, Pennywise would be a hindrance to Lily because she needs her victims to be spiritually strong so that they'll survive long enough for their body to be as alive as possible when she puts it on. On the other hand, Its penchant for making people not see things they don't want to would be pretty useful for her.

Evelyn would simply be betting on baseball games and investing in stocks because he's a soulless capitalistic heel lmao. After so long fucking another pseudo-shapeshifter he might think about fucking Pennywise, but Pennywise is in fact not sexy so his mind would be quickly changed. It would scare him with himself as a beggar probably. But, it would also be afraid of him first because he has very, very little to fear. (Evelyn is a rich, white, cishet, adult man. So like- lol.)

Anyway. Kay I am kissing you so sweetly on the back of your hand. Thank you and forgive me for not formatting this in any way.

[kurjakani]

I'm like now slowly getting introduced 2 the cpunk 2077 promises bcs i did not. Follow the media racket when it was still in development, important thing for me, id rather just enjoy what I have instead of having more 2 yearn for I already spend all my days yearning for what I have ffs,

N ngl one of the things im deeeewply happy abt is that they did not include Vs history/backstory more.

I love more open ended stuff- eg. In the dragon age series, you have an extremely guided experience for what and who your character is (not so bad in origins & inquisition, extrwme in da2), i did not love that, Ik its for some people but I prefer 2 make up my own bullshit. I picked nomad, and yeah we got a vague idea of what happened to Vs nomad family and we had THE CHOISE to talk abt it a bit more, but it wasn't MANDATORY. Not that rping in cpunk was that much of a thing like, at all but, little wins for my own preference lol.

It feels like it fits Night City itseld better... like u come 2 night city and u can become someone entirely new.... ur past doesn't matter, ur in Night City and its time for u 2 make smth else of urself.... or if u grew up there, you can still get lost there and become someone new.... idk its just a vibe i get from it. I honestly wouldv mostly preferred if pasts had some stat based effects instead of story ngl!!! Wouldv been fun!!! But alas im already happy i wasn't forced to be the parent of a child who gets stolen in a very specific circumstance of a nuklear war and now thats my mission (i love fo4 but MAN 😭😭)

[themonkeycabal]

WandaVision Spoilers

Wherein I watch it and have a few comments, but no super deep thoughts. Obviously there are spoilers. 

I'm excited for some fresh Marvel content. It feels like it's been a hundred years. Damn it, 2020.

The only thing I know about WandaVision are the two trailers, and that's it.

Oh, they gave us two episodes right away. Thanks, Disney! Let's see what happens.

Episode 1:

lol, the theme song. And oh man, a laugh track.

So, very Bewitched meets Dick Van Dyke Show right off the bat.

"My wife and her flying saucers." Har har har.

Good set design. Very period. They raided every prop house in a hundred miles.

Hey so, did Bettany and Olsen study 50s-60s sitcoms and the awkward stilted dialogue and physical staging? (Not a knock on them, it's like, throwing me back to all the shows in syndication that I never wanted to watch when I was home sick from school or something, and yet, it was all the was on until cartoons later. Yes, I'm old enough to remember life before ubiquitous cable/satellite tv. Though, we were also poor and late to jump on the cable train.)

Legit question, do people still play bridge? My grandparents had a bridge set growing up, but honestly I never remember anybody ever playing it. My mom was more likely to play Dealer McDope. Yes, that was a real game. My parents were hippies and ran a head shop when I was very little. My formative influences were a little ... something.

"That embarrassing display of beatnik enthusiasm." "I wore a turtleneck." Okay, that was good and deserved a better punch from the laugh track, guys!

I like “My wife’s European” from the guy with the accent. lol

"You move at the speed of sound, and I can make a pen float through the air. Who needs to abbreviate?" Heh.

Honestly, while I appreciate the dedication to the conventions of 60s sitcoms, most 60s sitcoms were not very good (full disclosure, though, I don't really like sitcoms anyway, so I’m probably biased), and while the sitcom awkward setup was very on brand, it's also awkward in a way I don't like. Embarrassing humor hurts me in my brain and my soul. 12 minutes in and I'm sure somebody needs to get to a point here. 

I don't meant to sound impatient, but, really, this was not a TV era I ever particularly enjoyed. I did not love Lucy. Shocking, I know, but there, I said it. The Honeymooners? More like the Honeysnoozers, amiright? There were some things that survived in syndication for far, far too long. But, I digress …

I like Vision trying to figure out what exactly he does for a living. The bits of confusion are all good, but the hamming it up is not something I mostly care for. I acknowledge this is a matter of personal taste, and is no commentary on the acting, because honestly, they’re managing it pretty much spot on. 

The sing along. This is all so awkward. I know it's meant to be, but man.

Yay a strange turn. A turn of strangeness. Good strangeness. I think maybe if they layered some of that in a little more, Wanda and Vision having these blank spots, and not made me suffer through so much sitcomness, I would have liked this episode a little better. Again, a+ follow through on the tropes, but I didn't want to really watch a 60s sitcom with one minute of weird. Needed More Weird!

Good looking end credits.

Episode 2:

Okay, let's move things along. Please don't make me watch another full episode of sitcom with a smattering of strange.

Oh no, I can't skip the 'previously on' of the episode that I just watched 30 seconds ago. Disney! Fix that!

Oh no times two, an awkward sitcom scene. Though, we've moved up more firmly into the mid-60s. So, progress.

Lol, okay, the animated opening credits are excellent. Really quality. Somebody gif those stat!

Man, do they have a different set every episode? I don't mean the set dec, but actual set layouts. That's not a little thing. It's just a three room setup, but still.

Phew, only had to wait about 5 minutes for some 'odd' this time. A toy helicopter in color. Hey, remember Pleasantville? That was a good movie. I haven't seen that in ages.

"Can I give you a bit of friendly advice?" "Is it about the way I'm dressed?" "Yes, but it's too late for that." Heh. Agnes is a delight.

Dottie — oh hi Emma Caulfield! I haven't seen her in forever.

Man, I just had crazy deja vu, during this awkward neighborhood watch scene, but then I remembered, I did actually see this clip before … somewhere? Wait, did I? Now I'm doubting myself. Somebody tell me they did release a bit of that clip at some point. I don’t think it was in either of the trailers. So weird. 

Oh, no, gum is gumming up Vision's works. Har Har.

Weirdness! The radio is talking to Wanda! "Who's doing this to you, Wanda?" Good weirdness. Creepy weirdness. I like.

Hydra was in the watch business, was it? Well, I guess everybody needs a day job. I mean, Howard Stark made toasters. Are these ads a clue? Hmmm. 

Oh, no, Vision with his gummed up works is going to ruin the talent show that is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the children! Gum apparently makes him drunk?

The talent show is funny. But, it's a little too long. 

"Is that how mirrors work?" lol.

"That really gummed up my works, didn't it?" That joke crashed to earth like 12 minutes ago, my guy.

Oh noes, Wanda is suddenly and mysteriously pregnant. Followed by strange banging and and a creepy beekeeper crawling out of the sewers. As happens in the suburbs so often. No, though, it's good creepy. Then she rewinds to a more pleasant moment. And we go to color.

Okay, are we going outside the tv world? Oh, alas, we’re not. How are we at end credits with 7 mins left? Geez, come on. So short, these episodes.

So, is Wanda imagining a tv world where Vision is alive? Or trapped by some outside forces trying to keep her docile in a perfect sitcom world where Vision is alive? Did Sokovia also suffer through cheaply acquired runs of American sitcoms in syndication during Wanda's childhood? Is the mind stone somehow messing with them both? So many questions. Very little to go on at this point, but so far this feels more heavily Wanda’s POV than Vision’s.

Anyway, I mostly liked it, but I also feel like it was slow to get to a point. This is a 9 episode series, and they burned two with drips and drops of maybe something weird is happening. I mean, we know something weird is happening, but 80% of this was a lot of sitcom filler. I get we needed set up, but these episodes needed to move things along a bit tightly. I guess we'll see how this plays out, but so far I'm a little let down. Not much happened. And the episodes are short, so I don't feel super engaged yet.

I guess my thing is, that while I get wanting to play in the tropes, I also think they’re too attached to trying to really faithfully recreate them, and as a result, so far, they’re not really telling their own story within them. But, it is only the first two episodes so far. We’ve got time and I don’t mean to be harsh. 

[onwesterlywinds]

More a writer question than a character question here, though it is about your WoL... my attempts at writing are now leading up to a fight, and I'm wondering: how would you or how do you write about your character's strength? Like if they were in a fight? Would their in-game level and stats constantly increasing translate directly to your story? How does their strength and skill now compare to the average soldier? To Hien or Lyse? What do you think the additional re-joining did?

Usually, when I write out a fight, I’m thinking about two angles:

A. The mechanics of the fight: What words go into describing action, combat, physical movements, etc. I wish I knew how this works, and I will update you when I find out. I’m not trying to be glib here; writing action is very much a weak spot of mine, and I’m trying to improve on it as much as I can. But for me, conveying strength or power isn’t especially my goal while I write out a fight: I try to think about what conveys momentum, energy, and a means to whatever end my character is trying to reach. That leads into the next point...

B. The meaning of the fight: How this moment fits into their progression as a character. What’s the desired outcome of the overall scene? To use writing language, it can be helpful to think of each fight as its own mini-story: what’s the inciting incident, what abilities or knowledge or tools do the character gain or draw upon throughout the fight, what raises the stakes, what’s the “breaking point,” and what brings it all to an end? That might be a helpful way of reframing some of your questions above!

When it comes to the abilities my characters have, for me it depends less on their level progression and more on the entire arc they’ve taken as a character. Ashe is my best example of this: she’s level 80 in warrior and machinist, but her skill with an axe has suffered ever since she was captured and imprisoned by Garleans back in 4.0. She lost a lot of her muscle mass in a short span and has not devoted the considerable time it would take to recondition her strength, because being an Ala Mhigan representative and aiding Dalmascan rebellions is already spreading her way too thin. This is just one example of a decrease in power, and it doesn’t have to be rooted in trauma! Ahtynwyb, my WoL, has stayed relatively stagnant in her abilities since 4.0, solely because the level 70 paladin move Passage of Arms was such a perfect fit for her thematically while the 70-80 moves just weren’t.

And when it comes to strength relative to NPCs (or other PCs!)... go with what you feel. I think lots of us have felt pressure to make our WoLs as close to ordinary as possible to prevent accusations of being “OP” - but in actuality, there’s room for so many Warriors of Light to complement one another without any one of them being the best. In the case of NPCs, Ahtyn is great at defending; she could probably weather any of Lyse’s blows but would have a hard time getting in more than a few counterhits. Ashe could take out more Garleans from afar than Hien ever could, and he’d probably thank her.

On a broader level, having an ordinary character can mean their story of hard work and persistence resonates that much more when they succeed; having an extraordinary character can mean extra responsibilities or heightened moral stakes - and those are just ideas! It’s not the strength that matters, but what you do with it, and that applies regardless of who wins a given fight.

Hope all of this helps! Thanks so much for reaching out. I’d be happy to talk through my own writing steps if it’s ever helpful.