#going to liveblog a smidge

[readysetjo]

The Hunger Games (2012)

[tanoraqui]

Dungeon Meshi Liveblog: Falin's Back! Everything Will Surely Be Okay Forever, Now

the bath scene is so good and not just for shipping reasons, honestly. Falin going, "I hope you guys didn't go to too much trouble to save me? That magic circle looking kind of fucked up..." and Marcille going, "NO IT'S FINE, EVERYTHING IS FINE NOW AND WAS WORTH IT, WE'RE GOING TO LOOK BACK AND LAUGH."

And Falin going directly to offering mana, in a way that's clearly standard for either mages in general or at least Falin to Marcille, and Marcille very reasonably freaking out because by all logic there's no WAY Falin should have any energy to spare right now - she must just be being self-sacrificing! And even if she does have a smidge of energy, who knows how soon she'll need it again! She died in her last fight!

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Lolll Laios (twice Chilchuck's height, width and weight) is more of a lightweight when it comes to alcohol.

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*delighted jazz hands* Practical Worldbuilding & Considerations By The Characters! See, THIS sort of detail is why I'm reading the manga.

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Consume! That! Which! Would Did! Consume! You!

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I love this casual dinner discussion. They're all so deep in the weirdness now. Of course, Laios immediately proves that he still has them all beat, but it's really been a full-party descent into being absolute freaks by the standards of basically everyone else in the world.

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Chilchuck's side-eye game is really impeccable.

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That's such a fond little big brother smile, I'm gonna cry!

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LOOK THEY WERE HAPPY AND TOGETHER, EATING DINNER AND HOLDING EACH OTHER FOR UP TO LIKE THREE HOURS! I could just stop here...they'd be happy and reunited if I just stopped here...

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Obsessed with how the cover of the next volume implies that Falin is going to be, like, a real character now, rather than almost immediately resuming her role as elusive mcguffin/white whale/sexy lamp.

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This is so fuckin' cool, and creepy for them to wake up to. All the flesh is just melted off!

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The dragon ribs and giant pool of blood, with monsters forming out of it. the floating book, single gesture and en pointe pose. Falin helpless and somehow corrupted in the background... AESTHETIC.

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Nothin' but #thatbitch from my "school's first ever genius student"!

Srsly I could spend all day watching Marcille ancient magic!counterspelling these blood pterodactyls one by one. Her research is validated, and not just with an arguably self-serving resurrection! She has skills that are vital to saving all their lives! She's so fucking good that the Mage drops them all in a pit rather than continue to uselessly throw monsters at her!

[tarisilmarwen]

Ahsoka "Fallen Jedi" Liveblog

Let's go let's go let's go let's go let's goooooooooooooo!

Oh I'm so excited for this I already know there are Developments.

Hype hype hype hype.

Oh we're starting off with complete silence are we? Okay.

Sabine trying to raise Hera. :(

Ahhhh yes it's the "Ahsoka and Sabine butting heads about saving Ezra versus stopping Thrawn" convo Sabezra fandom predicted.

"Can I count on you?" Low blow Ahsoka, recalling Ezra's own words.

"I know how much Ezra means to you." *falls into this line, dies*

Oh don't let Huyang get shot, come on now, you already had him get blasted once.

Buncha trailer shots in this episode I'm guessing.

"Stay together. You always did better that way, in my opinion." Ha ha ha this would be a sweet line if we had ever actually SEEN Ahsoka and Sabine working together. *grumbles*

Hera going off by herself to go help Sabine and Ahsoka lolol. That little face she makes when she says, "Watch me."

Baby Jacen is still super precious.

The GHOOOOOOOOOOSSST!

This sequence would have been the perfect spot to drop Zeb in, you know. Just saying.

Go girls go, go, go, you need to get on that ship before it leaves!

And it's my favorite new villain couple.

If Shin could have a bit more personality she'd be more interesting but "feral" is wearing thin.

OH AND NOW WE HAVE A TICKING CLOCK DEVICE.

There were people complaining that this moment where Ahsoka wipes Marrok was lifted from "Twin Suns" but in context... no it's just Dave's usual thing for cool samurai finishers.

Oh wow Shin looks extremely unnerved at Marrok dissipating into green Nightsister mist.

Did... Morgan take all the guards and droids with her? Just leaving Baylan there by himself to handle Ahsoka huh? What a bitch.

"One must destroy in order to create." Nooooooooo they really don't Baylan, that's grade A horseshit.

And stinks of Empire and Sith apologism.

The map is gorgeous. Wish they'd turn the saturation and contrast up just a smidge more so the colors could POP.

Oh this music cue is great!

YES! LET BAYLAN CUT LOOSE. Man is a beast.

Ahsoka's trying to disengage long enough to get the map. :((((

Ha ha, nice. Mandalorian trick.

Ooooof the map burned Ahsoka's hand?

Ahsoka where's your shoto blade?

Right, like Sabine's dinky little blaster is gonna do anything to that map, sure Ahsoka. You just burned your hand on how super overheated it was and all it was doing was generating hyperspace coordinates for a cross-galactic jump, you think a shot from a small firearm is gonna pierce it?

Oooooh that angle-back closed-eye look from Baylan... he's telepathically reading her like a book isn't he?

"Your family died on Mandalore because your Master didn't trust you." WELL I'M JUST GOING TO PATENTLY IGNORE THAT BECAUSE NO FILONI, YOU CANNOT JUST DROP THAT IN LIKE THAT.

Getting real tired of character motivations being reveals and not outright stated from the start.

ALSO WHAT EVEN THE HELL IS HE TALKING ABOUT???!???

THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN REALLY NICE TO ACTUALLY SEE, OR YOU KNOW, TALK ABOUT BEFORE THIS MOMENT.

Anyway as I said, excising this bit entirely from my personal canon, Clan Wren is fine, they're just in hiding like all the other Mandalorian clans.

"And I... to serve a greater good." Ohhhhhhhhhhh I see what you did there, nice paralleling Baylan to Thrawn.

SABINE CHOOSES EZRA.

(I mean I knew it was coming because I was spoiled but still.)

Sabine, Sabine, my poor heartbroken babygirl, this is such a human choice, it's not the choice a Jedi should make but then Sabine isn't a Jedi, I maintain that this is all still playacting and cope that Ahsoka is indulging.

Sabine is falling into the classic Attachment trap but also there are no good choices here. She could try to destroy the map, but I seriously don't think it would work, and then Baylan would just kill her and take the map back anyway.

Maybe she could run but with their ship damaged she wouldn't make it far, she'd have to hide in the woods and avoid Shin and Baylan and whoever else she's stranded and fight them all off by herself for who knows how long until maybe Hera gets there. And she has no way of knowing if Hera's coming.

Oh ouch, I thought Sabine was having a "What have I done?" reaction to handing Baylan the map, but no, Shin is just choking her.

HERA MADE IT.

See it takes Baylan deliberate sustained direct contact with his lightsaber blade to destroy the map, no way was Sabine's blaster gonna do shit to it.

SABINE DID NOTHING WRONG, I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL.

Again, guys, this would have been the perfect sequence to have Zeb in.

Uhhhhhhhhh I would move away from the ring if I were y'all.

HO JEEZ.

OH BOY.

WELP.

Chopper sounds really unnerved.

THE WORLD BETWEEN WORLDS. THE STAR VOID.

Unless it's a weird-ass Force vision lol. Which is still possible.

Yeeeeeeeah I'm going with Force vision, Anakin should be blue and glowing, shouldn't he? Unless things work differently in here.

The Imperial March is not reassuring.

Okay well... that was a thing.

I'm starting to wish Deborah Chow had been showrunner for this, Filoni is doing... okay-ish (not really) but I really think this story needs and deserves a director willing to go all-in on the emotional resonance and beats of the story.

Which isn't to say the Kenobi show didn't have its problems (ho ho boy could I list the nitpicks and writing issues I had with it) but Ahsoka isn't quite reaching the highs it needs. Everything is way more subdued that I think it should be. I don't know how much of this is the writing, how much is the short mini-series format, how much is the cinematography or the directing.

THAT BEING SAID I AM HERE FOR SABINE MISSING EZRA SO MUCH SHE SACRIFICES HERSELF AND THE MAP FOR THE CHANCE TO FIND HIM.

See everything about her motivations makes so more sense if she's in love with him, sorry Filoni, the ship is still sailing.

Baylan got a bit more characterization here and got marginally more interesting, while Shin just... continues to be wet paper. RIP Marrok we hardly knew ye. Hope they explain the green mist shit soon.

Natasha's shoulders must be sore from carrying this show lol. Someone please let Sabine hug Ezra, she will feel so much better.

[blackjackkent]

So ... before you start your Durge playthrough - I thought it'd be interesting to see if you have plans for it, now that you have finished the full game? Are you going to just take it as it comes, or do you now have a sort of plan in mind for which romance, which characters in the party, which path to take through and which choices to make? Or a bit of both?

Good question haha! The truth is I don't really know - there's a smidge part of me that is nervous bc it's been a long time since I liveblogged a game where I already knew much of the story, and never to the degree of detail that I've started doing with Caden and Hector. So Rakha's story (she has a name now!) is going to be... an experiment on some level, haha. And I'm planning to kind of play it by ear and figure out what works and what doesn't. (Feedback from y'all on this point always appreciated tbh.)

I'm also given to understand that Durge starts out amnesiac so I'm trying to not go in with too many preconceived notions about her and kind of let her evolve slowly. I do have the vague thought of Resist Durge with a Wyll romance, and of trying to lean towards party members/choices I didn't spend so much time with on Hec's run, and of at least starting out by taking every Durge-specific option available and then adjusting that tendency based on how she develops and what serves the story. (EDIT: [taps earpiece] I'm being told this policy is a good way to eliminate the NPC cast very fast so maybe not EVERY option. XD)

Beyond that... your guess is as good as mine! XD Am hoping it will be an interesting adventure to find out.

[windienine]

liveblog

alright. here to find out what the deal with this game is.

i was born in the late 90s, and tales of symphonia happened just a smidge before my time (i had a gamecube, but i was six and it was largely a mario party/animal crossing machine. i didn't really start playing non-pokemon jrpgs until i was twelve or so.)

i played the 3ds port of tales of the abyss when i was thirteen or fourteen years old, stressed as hell, and happily overlooked the fact that the plot was kind of everywhere for the fact that there were a lot of cute and angsty guys in various states of shirt-having. watching a stream of abyss in recent weeks has illuminated some of what i'd overlooked at the time (some good, some bad) AND i have been told by several friends that symphonia is a more cohesive experience and potentially more up my alley.

and: i trust u!!

so, i'm going to try and play symphonia (my hand-eye coordination has only gotten worse since i was thirteen) and liveblog it (spotty history of that too, chief) and tell you whether i like it.

if this works out, look for liveblogs may be found in the "symphs" tag on my blog.

[sonohban]

now this is liveblog is about to tread dangerously into vent territory (tw mental health stuff from a few months ago) but i just got to the scene where gohan attains ssj in the hyperbolic time chamber. this came as a surprise to me because i thought he got it during his fight with cell so this hit that much harder. i have some thoughts about reworking the scene a smidge and it has to do with when you’ve beaten yourself up so much mentally and you’ve been holed up inside your head for so long that when someone tells you it’s ok to go easy on yourself a certain way you just lose it. senior year was absolutely terrible for me and i put a lot of tasks onto myself that i felt like i couldn’t handle and i had built up such a rapport with many people i looked up to that i felt like i was caving and turning out to be a failure to them in my pinnacle moment (thesis lol). i was texting about this vaguely without going into too much detail with a postdoc friend who i looked up to the most of all, and they said something to the degree of “you’ve already done so much, it’s ok to rest” and i could FEEL something in my brain snap and i just started sobbing. anyway um i’m drawing a comic you’ll see later lololol

[darkicedragon]

Liveblogging Danganronpa 2

Hajime, no. XD;

She’s sus of him, pfft.

Yes. XDDDD

Liiiiiiiies.

He’s just going to get there and everyone’s going to be in the clearing, aha.

Nope, he’s alone. XD He’s the last one to play it?

Yes, that’s exactly how it works.

...I have ZERO memory of this. o-o;

Jay noting player character is so tall, compared to Hajime, who feels about chest height when walking around, haha.

Is Mahiru the next victim? Yeah, okay, I remember waaaay less then I thought, pfft.

I agree, pfft.

Huh, no envelope like with Fuyohiko?

8l

8′l

Think you could have chosen a better place to mention this rather than surrounded by everyone else.

Cuuuuuuuute.

Daytime rendezvous at the back of a shop, and making sure to conserve his energy. Definitely nothing happening here. 😏

But really, are they trying to feed Nagito or something? Did they move him?

Ruler of the world has a lot of personal space.

Very sus.

He really is lonely, huh, if he just expects people to turn away from him as soon as he opens up. qnq

Out of context quotes continue to be so much innuendo, pfft.

Human hunting??

So with a password, pfft.

I still can’t with his Ultimate name, dammit. XDDD

Yes. Show him how to breed properly. 😏

Yeah, fair, haha.

Never mind. XD

And they’re both great because of that. qwqb

Just a smidge.

[double-moonlight-lonelyeyes]

TMA 162 Liveblog

No one wants a raw feed of my emotions while listening to the latest episode, but we've begun to get used to not getting what we want, now haven't we?

So more backstoryish stuff, I'm guessing from the summary? Any chance we're actually going to LEAVE the cosy (goddamn brits) cabin by the end of the episode?

Gosh I'm nervous. What's going to happen?

G E R R Y ! ! ! ! Gerry is going to happen!

He seems so...chipper. You can hardly hear the years of childhood trauma.

Omg he and Gertrude like each other so much!

So Gertrude is really going the "hiding in plain sight" route as far as the tunnels are concerned, huh?

Sure sure, Gertrude, a post-ritual world would be an unimaginable hellscape, just rub it in why don't you.

Yeah I'm leaning in to the theory that others have posited that the End is getting the raw end of this deal and is not best pleased.

YES. Thank you, Gerry! Give us some optimism!

Wow Sasha really was the only qualified person in the place. S A S H A! HHHNNNNGGGGGGGG.

I mean, Elias does totally strike me as the kind of person who gives off an aura of "Actually we tried having a lady archivist and it sucked. No more of that nonsense!"

Wait wait wait wait wait.... TIM/SASHA CONFIRMED????? How much of that was just joking around...?

Sasha knows everything about everyone??? Hhdiidjhdbh Jon was the ONLY ONE who didn't know about Martin's CV.

TSUNAMI OF BACKSTORY

Gertrude Robinson: Stone Cold Bitch CONFIRMED

Okay all this talk of burning down the Archives is shooting straight past "foreshadowing" and into "orgy of evidence" territory. Now I'm half convinced it's a red herring...or thinking Watsonianly, the Web is trying to push Jon in this direction, meaning he's gonna end up doing something different out of pure spite and/or stupidity.

"I find it highly unlikely this Sasha even ever existed at all." Jonny. Turn on your location. I jUSt WAnt To tALK.

Jon...are you...okay?

More modeling of healthy relationship dynamics!

So we're agreed that the correct decision is to leave the cabin. "Cabin".

HELL YEAH! APOCALYPSE ROAD TRIP! LET'S GO!

I don't say this often, but I would totally welcome a few episodes of monsters of the week to fight and/or befriend as we trek toward London. Whatever is out there, I expect it to be just comprehensible enough to tell a good story with and not a smidge more.

[mylordshesacactus]

Canon Pokemon:

Fuck it y’all have been getting liveblogs anyway if I’m gonna punish everyone for following me I may as well do it right. 

Puddles: My perfect chunky son. Puddles is a bulbasaur and he is the best boy in the world and I love him very much. He doesn’t like to battle; there’s no like, trauma or phobia involved, he just doesn’t enjoy it so I don’t ask him to.

Needles: Needles is a small zigzagoon. She’s one of what I call the “neighborhood acquaintances,” in that she’s not really one of “my” pokemon in my direct care and an active part of the story, but she sticks around and I look out for her. She’s kind of like a feral cat that you feed and keep an eye on, set up a warm spot for if it’s cold, and would catch and take to the vet if she was sick.

Smidge: Ralts who lives in the backyard, another of the acquaintances.

Rat Bastard: That one fucking wingull who hangs around my house and won’t leave. He knows what he did.

Buckler: The actual most pathetic wailmer in the history of the world. He lives in a pokeball because he is a whale and I really can’t just walk around with him, and me and the team are patiently training him up to be slightly less pathetic. This is a long process because evolving him is gonna take Entirely Too Fucking Many whale candies but we’ll get there in the end. He’s a nice boy and worth the effort.

Mac and Havarti: Havarti is a kind of cheese. I named my heterosexual birds Mac and Cheese. Havarti is a pidgeotto and also highkey the BEST pokemon I’ve ever caught (three stars, 100% on all stats, hell yeah), which was convenient because she was also my first pidgey and I made her canon before I figured out the “appraise” feature. She is the buffest bird on the entire earth. Mac is her Excessively Tiny spearow husband. Havarti has distinctive violently protective girlfriend tendencies. Mac is steadily and determinedly training so that he can fight alongside his giant buff wife and I think that’s very valid of them both.

Galileo and Copernicus: A pair of male rattatta. They are excellent mouse husbands. Galileo is more of a tank, and Copernicus is more DPS. They like to train for health and enjoyment, and take great pleasure in a good, hearty battle just for the sake of it, but get anxious and frightened if placed in the position of having to have a battle for genuinely high stakes.

Haven and Respite: My very good lesbian dogs. Haven (......once I can like, catch a good female to be her, shhh, she’s totally here just go with it) is a growlithe, and Respite is a poochyena. Respite is brave and defiant but never had a trainer or a team behind her, and as a result of having to fight on her own for so long has a tense, wary personality and doesn’t trust strangers much. Haven comes from a competitive battling background and left because she didn’t like it; the constant sense of needing to win or prove herself wore her down (her trainer was very competitive, though she was released willingly with no hard feelings when it became obvious that they needed very different things to be happy), and she got tired of the hostility. She still practices to keep her skills up and is happy to help train others, but reserves all-out battling for situations where it’s important--to defend the people she cares about, not just for the sake of the fight itself.

Beacon: One of the few true resident fighters, alongside Mac and Havarti, Beacon is the Umbreon I just evolved this morning and am very excited about. He’s gentle, but ruthless in a fight and by far the most dangerous of the group. I don’t know much about where he came from before he presented himself to us, but I suspect that like Haven, he comes from a competitive background; unlike Haven he doesn’t bother with honor. Beacon is a fan of the preemptive strike and the book of dirty tricks, and is very protective of weaker people and pokemon. I suspect that he also left a trainer behind, and that his previous experiences were significantly more negative than Haven’s simple dissatisfaction.

Canonically, training teams/battle groups would be Havarti/Buckler/Mac or Galileo/Copernicus/Buckler, in the case of having a good clean fight for the sake of it; Haven, Respite, and Beacon are the ones who’d step forward if something goes very wrong. The difference between “Hell yeah, let’s do this!” and “Everyone get behind me.”

[overlordofthelollipopguild]

Charmed Rewatch

My week has been hell so far, so to continue getting through it, I’m going to start Charmed rewatch and liveblog. 

If no one wants to see posts i’ll tag “charmed rewatch” or “charmed liveblog”

Otherwise, I hope you guys enjoy my likely sentimental yet also probably a smidge critical posts. 

Eight seasons, this is going to take a while lol. 

[ligbi]

Animorphs Liveblog #1

I borrowed Animorphs from some friends and liveblogged my thoughts for them. I thought some tumblr folks may enjoy them as well. Animorph content warning for fucked up shit. For kids!

The Invasion 1996 Jake is a Lizard, and this weird CG render of him in a shoe is actually pretty damn good for the time. I forgot about the flipbook corners. 

Everything I tell you is a lie, but you have to believe me The Andalites promised they'd rescue us, and knowing what I know I do not believe that a smidge Marco and Jake already already friends, Tobias is a new, awkward guy, Rachel is Jake's tall cool cousin, and Cassie is black and 'mythical' So begins the heteros Tell me more about Jake's brother Tom and how you two have become distant Cool one sentence into each girl and I love them both already. Fuck the patriarchy! But also being a girl in public is scary Ha. Ax murderers.at the construction site. Ax. They're 13 right? Babies but also I call bullshit on towns with walking distance malls Marco was right Jake the idiot Shit wait which one dies how bad will I regret reading this? I get Tobias man. Looking at that sky. Also Cassie just "ufo" Marco is looking to make a buck off a ufo sighting. Okay Jake is a dweeb so says Marco Oh no baby bird you're clearly the best dude curse eager bird men We all just stood there like fools Hey the ship is burned and some of it has been melted! Also blue lights because all technology has glowing blue lights Jake's family has a minivan (oh god these are small children), and Marco wants to be on Letterman. Letterman Oh god right it's '96 you have to Go Somewhere to Call Someone. Wow 96 was I was 5 I just turned 27 Technology Rachel wants to Solve the spaceship and Cassie points out Star Trek is monolinguistic. As with all series, Girls. Blue deer-taur with no real mouth and extra eyes on stalks with scorpion tail. I've been meaning to re-read Wrinkle in Time, but I think when I first read that at like, 10, I pictured those blind creatures like this Please note, I recall fully reading one (1) of these books ever to completion. Rachel turned into a squid in that one Yes Ax does look like he can kill. I assume he does at some point Jake is almost crying upon seeing Ax, who already feels like a friend. Due to time travel and reincarnation, I am scared to find out why this is Yes I Am Dying. Oh aliens. This is not Ax, is it? Whoops Cassie's family are vets. And she's ready to jump into helping Hey whoever you are, just saying, it sounds like you're implying literally every other alien in the universe wants to kill us. Which is fair but Yeerks. Rat sized gray-green slug parasites ...How does this Andalite (right?) know none of them are controlled by a Yeerk right now? Marco is a bit of a pragmatist Oh jeez lingo uh let's see: Yeerks have Bug Fighters, a Blade Ship, Dracon Beams which destroy things to a molecular level, Andalites have a Dome Ship and Z-Space is a thing Expected Yeerk takeover time: A year or less Yikes Hey Jake fuck you get the box Ugh so straight Got the cube and hey look a hologram of their family WOW MEAN Ok so most (all?) Andlaties have a morph power to Alteans! blend in and hide also we acknowledge they are young Cassie and Tobias for best kids right now Two red streaks for Yeerks Bug fighters these are He looks at Tobias and feels weird like a chill. Normally I'd call Gay but predestination/time-travel/something is up ...How do they know how long two Earth hours are? Oh shit Visser Three. And he can Morph that's uh legit concerning? How'd he get that and what horrible things have he done? Has? Have or has? Also, what WILL he do? Third black ship, and what's his alien touched Tobias' head and did/conveyed Something Oh cool construction equipment just pfffff'd out because a giant battleaxe ship with scimitar wings Was this ship designed by the Hork-Bajir, who have blades on their wrists elbows knees and tails, and t-rex feet and falcon-beaked snake heads with three horns. Who are good people but all (?) controlled Taxxons are Big centipedes with lobster claw hands, jello eyes, and a top mouth that's a pointy circle Again, I demand quick satisfaction as to the positive vibes they get from Andalite1 Ah Visser Three is a controller of an Andaltie. Who was that Andalite? Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul is a mouthful So if he takes over enough places, Visser will become One. Who's the current One? Oh cool we're being targeted because we're over-populated compared to other species Humans behind the Visser? Is it ya'll? Please be ya'll I love me time-travel angst Now V3 is a big Monster and we're blowing up ships and I know this is a construction site but where is anyone else? Aw Jake you wanted to help. That's dumb but aw Death count: 1 Are Taxxons the ever-hungry aliens I've heard about? Or do the Yeerks just think it's fun to eat a dead guy? Oh cool those were Human Controllers and Jake seems to know one. I assume it's big bro? Most people are crying and Macro pukes I HEAR THAT FRIENDS Split up? Jinkies Rachel knows bad words. WHAT ARE THE WORDS K.A.APPLEGATE. TELL ME THE FORBIDDEN LANGUAGE (I assume Son of a Bitch from context but shout out to Rachel if it's Fucker) They can kind of speak English? Ghafrash? Hobo man: maybe dead? Probably dead Jake's strongest real memory is of aliens smiling at him. Get it boy-you're a child get nothing please So you're not close with Tobias, but you know he has a cat named Dude. Also: Cat is named Dude I love it BTW Jake, noticing another dude is Glowing? ;) Oh dang so Tobias doesn't know his Dad, Mom just left him around ten, and we're on a coast, with his aunt living on the other because his uncle is on this one How long does it take to morph? This sounds like a concerning amount of time Multiple minutes. Alright. Nightmareish. Side note: semi-crouching warped human with long butt and stubbed feet stage of morphing in the corner here Watching someone morph into a cat is giggle inducing. I will cherish these times won't I Telepathy is a good, easy answer to lots of questions about weird powers and communication Two year old string in a messy room. Boy Ha naked. Also the cat instincts mean ...oh dear this is gonna cause problems Why does Tobias get to decide Jake is the leader also why Jake? Not why like bleh why him but plot-wise something is the pre-meditated choice Homer the dog. You watch The Simpsons boy? Taking the dna puts the animal in a trance and it doesn't hurt to morph Bones feel like they should hurt yeah that sounds right Scrapping sounds are wonderful Right you're not just A Dog you're The Dog you took from Awww you're not a bad dog Jake. And Tobias is a good kid. And damn it I did not want to right about the brother. Cassie has a farm and big brother Tom is in a club called the Sharing He's obviously a Controller, but also "It's just sports" I'm pro-anti-sports but anti-cult clubs UGH WE HAVE TO RECYCLE Jake pls Wildlife rehabilitation. Convenient to touch wild animals also a cow Plus zoo mom so let's all be giraffes Dang kids with their fireworks, taking over humanity and making cops somehow worse Marco is scared and picky and right poor kid Who also has reasons? Tell me more Mom body was never found, Dad can't be around people. Ouch Cassie is not only cool enough to have clothes, but can control the morph enough to play centaur "We want them real bad" jesus yeerk cop, tone it down will ya? Hey you look like your brother- come to our yeerk cult Help endangered species? You mean like *eyebrow waggle* Is Tobias/Rachel a thing? CD game we were going to play on my computer. Wow Hey not-Tom, why would these kids have read anything in a newspaper? Wow this is shamelessly manipulative and creepy and thanks Applegate for teaching kids to be reasonably creeper out by overly forceful and manipulative folks Jake honey Marco is right please stop living in denial Let's remind Tobias, who is already a hawk, about the time limit Feathers made of wax. This boy is going to fly too long in the sun And then he was naked because boys don't care about that too much I guess?  So as long as the DNA isn't bad for any reason, the state of the animal doesn't matter. What about dead animals? Let Tobias be superman. Poor kid Yeerk pools have Kandrona rays, and Yeerks have to go back into a pool every three days. Yeerk home sun particles Protect this child who can't fight for himself but will fight for the world Time to infiltrate I guess? Gotta sneak into this night volleyball game They live near a beach I suspect this is Cali, like all kid lit about young teens unless it's from the UK Can you grab a morph from a friend if they've changed into a whatever? Kids and Adults? Smidge weird Poor actual Tom trying to protect Jake They Would notice a horse wouldn't they? Tobias hun no please don't make excuses I know being human sucks but come on Oh course the Assistant Principal is a big bad Convert or kill. Yeesh Evil cops also Cassie being Black makes vague threats uhhh worse Let Jake be a dog! Ok but just pet all the animals? Lizard yes but deer? Wolf? Buzzards? Wildcat? I just climbed into my locker all cool like playing it chill because everyone climbs into lockers all the time This is a very small lizard The animal brains being way more in control is fucked up Cool so you just almost was stepped on, lost a body part, and have a still semi-alive spider inside your body after having seen an alien be eaten and knowing your brother is alive but controlled and may be sent to kill you. For kids! And of course the brain slug pool is under the school Do ya'll remember that Nick show about the bully who like, was about to die or was cursed, and he was a dog and only one kid could hear him and no one remembered him and he had to do a bunch of good stuff to be human again? Locking children into animal forms is a special kind of 90's torture I think Rachel/Tobias is a hard thing and good because someone needs to love this kid my word I appreciate Marco though. Hey shit head this is a dumb plan but you're my best friend so I'm in or what fucking ever. Asshole I liked Cassie's little speech about Mother Earth Marco named the band. Marco is a good shit, but what does it even mean that Jake's always been a Lizard? Are you calling him cold-blooded? Flaky? A bug eater? No family guest passes for the zoo? I don't know what Bush Gardens are but is this that? Roller Coasters and Monkeys Big Jim the gentle gorilla. Also bless Jake for riling Marco up Let's drive! hits wall Go right says Jake. Marco goes left You had a chance at a rhino Marco has a dark and tanned face Male siberian tiger. I assume if you turn into THAT animal, you can be a boy turning into a girl hyena or a girl becoming a boy turtle right? He's majestic and doesn't seem like he cares about you as long as you don't run Lol ya'll almost died from a tiger? Sure you did Jake's mom is a writer who is opposed to any TV but her own. Dad is a jokester. Is it Jake's mom who dies? I know a mom dies Dad is a doctor Cassie where are you did you get home from the zoo are you okay? Okay Rachel and Tobias are just a thing already ok. Oh cool the cop has Cassie I fear for her We are Controllers. We are here to... Kandrona, Please give us the girl for... evil? Great plan If you're so advanced, why don't you have elevators- me at Akio So large underground city, small pool, cages 10 people per, aliens, construction equipment Can Tobias communicate with Cassie from where they are? Yeahhhh people volunteering to be controlled by evil alien slugs sounds sadly right. And hey, you get to watch TV Poor Tom. And Rachel is ready to fuck shit up. One alien of each two kinds dead, and a human controller flung somewhere to maybe live? Elephant and Tiger time And Marco is a gorilla Later you would think about this moment WHY WHAT'S ABOUT TO HAPPEN TOM'S FREE AND WE'RE SAVING CASSIE RIGHT? Can horses stairs? V3 thinks they're Andalites. Ouch. Also where's Ax? 8 legs and 8 arms with 3 fingered claws, and 8 heads, tall as a tree. Vriska's aliensona Oh good and it shoots fireballs from its mouth Mouths Jesus Marco just twisted a guy in half and his guts spilled out. Alien guy but still Gotta love half morphed elephant ladies with shriveled trunk faces Something happened to the cop, and Cassie won't say what. Hum Tom is captured again. But you all saves One (1) human woman. It's a fucking start kids. And Tobias done fucked up. Wonderful. End Book #1. 

Oh cool now I can finally start listening to Morph Club, an Animorph pocast by some cool kids

[neutralvld-feed]

S3E2 LIVEBLOG

Spoilers under the cut!

• RED PALADIN HERE WE COME

• *hissssssss* go away you galra ship

• nvm it’s lotor’s generals

* HAVE I MENTIONED IM GAY FOR THE DISAPPEARING GALRA LADY

• shit they’re all cool af i love it

• WE GET TO SEE ALL THE GALRA GIRL SUPERPOWERS THIS IS COOL SHIT

• oh shit lotor is one smart mf who knows how to manipulate

• VOLTRON COLOUR DISPUTE

• pidge’s description

• keith’s little huh/scoff

• KEITH IS AN ANGRY FUCK

• “we must allow the lion to decide” this is gonnnnaaaa be fuuuun

• hunk’s love for the yellow lion my bby

• THE LION IT LIVES BUT KEITH’S “PLEASE. NO” “No, I don’t accept this.”

• shit lance really stepping up this season

• RED LION TESTING TIME

• ALLURANGST. OR ALLANGST. WHAT DO WE CALL THIS. SHE CRY. OH DAMN.

• oh my god. i never loved the vld bad guys but NOW. NOOOOOOOOOOOW.

• lance wants to see the mermaids again. pidge wants to see the alkari again.

• LIONSSSS ASSEMBLE

• “This one’s for you, Shiro”

• BLUE ISNT RESPONDING TO LANCE BLUE WHY WHY WOULD YOU BREAK THE BOND BLUE DAMMIT

• Lance trying to convince blue to open up “Are you from outer space bc your body is out of this world”

• “HEY ITS THE BLACK KITTY” (- disappearing galra lady im super gay for)

• “MAYBE PIDGE WAS RIGHT, I AM THE GOOFBALL” LANGST

• “KEITH PROBABLY TRAINED IT [THE RED LION] TO BITE ME HEAD OFF

• yoooo i like lance’s lion switch justification bc he has actually changed these last two eps. just a smidge. he’s still lance though thank the heavens.

• lotor’s a smart fuck here’s a villain i can get invested in

• KEITH’S ATTEMPT AT LEADING YOU CAN DO IT YOU DORK

• RED/LANCE TO THE RESCUE MY SON

• oh fuck stop attacking coran you heartless monsters

• LANCE IS HAVING FUN

• KEITH BEING PROTECTIVE OF RED

• LANCE HAS A LION YEEEE

• kick dat ass

• lance’s goodbye to blue i cry

• allura’s pink armor :(

• these colours are so confusing

• NICE GOING KEITH

• "YOU WANTED ME TO LEAD VOLTRON, THIS IS HOW I LEAD”

[blackjackkent]

My exciting announcement for the week is that I got accepted onto the writing team for this enormous BG3 mod set in Athkatla (the main setting of Baldur's Gate 2)!

[excited bouncing] :D

This is probably going to be taking up a little of my writing brainpower going forward; I am definitely excited to see what we end up putting together and to share it with the rest of the BG community when we get to that point. :3

-----

On a related note - a more general BJK writing update for those interested, since I haven't really given one recently...

I definitely overdid things a little bit for a while and have been dealing with a smidge of burnout which has sort of lagged me out on fic recently. My mood has also generally gotten walloped by the general state of the world at present. So I've not been quite so pedal-to-the-metal so far this year as I was in 2024 and that's probably going to remain the case (especially now that I'm going to be working on this mod) so as not to burn myself out further.

For a bit at least I'm probably gonna focus less on ask prompts and more on getting some AO3 fic turned around. Open Your Eyes and Fault Lines are both still in progress (so sorry to the anon who was so excited about OYE bc I know the next chapter has taken forever 😭 ) and will hopefully have updates soon, and I have a number of (mostly Jaheira-oriented) one-shots also in the fire.

(There's also a J/K chapfic that I have been making noise about for months, but I keep stalling aggressively on it so I am back-burnering it for the time being. It will still get done but I need to take a break on it.)

Even though I'm not doing as many meme prompts, I will still be doing some here and there, and I'm definitely still open to receiving requests and suggestions. :D

Anyway, this is all a very long way of saying that my pace has slowed down a lot but I am still here and still mostly writing BG stuff even though my liveblog is now Veilguard, and hope to have something new to show y'all very soon. :)

[tarisilmarwen]

“Twin Suns“ Liveblog

Am I prepared?  Not remotely.

Whew boy, this is gonna be a roller-coaster.

...Have I got tissues?

Hang on, I might need tissues.

Okay, ready.

Go.

Oh okay good, we start right with the preview clip that I didn’t watch.

‘cause I was deliberately trying to avoid spoiling myself for anything.

And Maul is just a little unhinged.

Side note:

Maul fans unironically (repeatedly!) compared this scene of Maul screaming obscenities into the desert to Stitch going out into the woods looking for his family.

If that doesn’t tell you everything you need to know about them, I don’t know what does.

Anyway...

Maul plotting to draw Obi-Wan out by...???  Wrecking shit?  Endangering people?  I guess?

Whatever he’s planning I don’t like it.  Holy toledo Maul is batshit.

He is just... not taking things very well is he?

I think Ezra’s rejection cracked him, guys.

Pulling out the holocron shard...

Hang on... hang on hang on HANG ON IS MAUL DELIBERATELY GONNA SEND THE VISION TO EZRA?

Like he did back in “Visions and Voices?”  When he wanted to let Ezra know he was coming by freaking him out?

Is he gonna lure Ezra into the desert to deliberately endanger him and flush Obi-Wan from hiding?!

THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT HE’S GONNA DO, ISN’T IT?

Oh stars, dear genre-savvy please be wrong please be wrong please be wrong.

aNYWAY here’s the titlecard.

With no fanfare oh wonderful.

I hate this.

Cue nighttime on Atollon.

Awww, sleeping Ezra!

Nice to see that he and Zeb are still sharing a room.

This scene has some great direction and atmosphere going on, A+ animators.

Oooooh and the MUSIC!

Uh-oh, the Sith holocron is glowing.  Bad sign.

Oh shit.

“Senator Organa confirmed his death.”  Ha ha ha yeah, Senator Organa lied through his teeth, Rex.

Lied.  Through his.  Teeth.

“You’ve heard it before and it was just a trick.”  Except it was actually Maul dicking around with Ezra before dropping in to pay him a visit but okay, sure, whatever you say Kanan.

“I wanna go to Tatooine to check things out!”

Oh Ezra.

My precious son.

My sweet little “I will SAVE everyone!” blueberry.

Worried Spacemom is worried and no-nonsense.

This conversation is so sweet.

And it almost looks like Hera will hug Ezra?

Hug please?

Hug?

No?

Awww, no hug.  Drat.

Heh, Ezra being sneaky and tryna grab an A-wing.

And Chopper’s coming along too, natch.

“Hey!  What are you doing?”

HE’S ESCAPING, RANDOM PILOT.  HE’S ESCAPING.

s’how Ezra rolls yo.

AH HA HA HA THE LITTLE SHIT IS PRETENDING LIKE HE CAN’T HEAR.

So precious.

Awww, and apologizing to Hera before he goes.

Spacemom is gonna be so mad when he gets back.

“YOU ENDANGERED YOURSELF AND THE MISSION AND YOU LOST AN A-WING YOU ARE GROUNDED YOUNG MAN GROUNDED!”

Hi Chopper.

Nice touch with Ezra’s startled jump making the A-wing swerve.

Once again, I just love how this scene is staged and directed.

So quiet.

So nice.

And pretty music.

Aaaaaaaand this is where Ezra loses the A-wing.

Only question now is who crunched it.

Oh oh oh oh ominous shadow, not good not good WHO IS THAT IS IT MAUL?

Uh-oh, there’s Sith holocron pieces it’s a trap MAUL TOTALLY LURED HIM THERE.

Tusken Raiders oh joy.  That’s... that’s great.

WHY AM I ALWAYS RIGHT?!

I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEEEEEEEWWWWW IIIIIIIT!

Maul deliberately gave Ezra the vision to lure him there to put him in danger to get to Obi-Wan I HATE BEING RIGHT.

OH CRIPES.

OH JEEZ.

DO NOT HURT EZRA.

Oh shit hi Maul.

Just summarily disposed of the raiders once they were no longer of use to him.

No big.

See, this is why I don’t understand the people who cry about Maul having so much character development.

He’s still a muderdick who uses people like tools to get what he wants.

He only marginally cared about Ezra because he thought Ezra was gonna be swayed over to his side and now that Ezra’s proven he ain’t gonna do that Maul has no compunctions siccing Tusken Raiders on him to bait Obi-Wan.

So like a Sith.

Anyway, Ezra and Chopper are now stranded in the Tatooine desert, how fun.

Uhhh gughhg ghgg DON’T DO THAT MAUL, DON’T BE CREEPY.

Shades of “Visions and Voices”.  Nice.

HA HA HA HA HA THAT SIGH OF EXASPERATION FROM CHOPPER.

���DAMMIT ORGANIC UNIT EZRA BRIDGER YOU ARE GONNA BE THE DEATH OF ME.”

*le follows*

And cue sandstorm of course.

I hate you Maul.  I hate you so much.  Why u do this to my blueberry?

Just... just no hesitation.  He didn’t think twice about stranding Ezra in the desert and putting his life in danger to take advantage of Obi-Wan’s compassion.

No, I’m not over it.  Even with everything I thought was gonna happen this episode I DID NOT FORESEE THIS.

WHAT AN ASS.

Ohhhhh oh Ezra no baby no.

Ezra! D:

Chopper!

Ow my heart, Taylor’s acting in this scene is so good.

Side note: holy COW the sand dusting!  I love how it coats everything.

Also:

OW MY HEART.

Ezra “I screwed up again” Bridger everyone.

*sobs quietly*

MAUL, LEAVE EZRA THE HELL ALONE, STOP MAKING HIM HATE HIMSELF.  OH FORCE.

*sobbing not so quietly now*

Ezra...

...

OBI-WAN!

i’M SORRY I NEED A MINUTE IJUSTLAFKSNL--

*GROSS SOBBING*

*blows nose*

I NEED A MINUTE.

...

Okay, back.

AAHHHHHHHF HHHAAAAA OF COURSE OBI-WAN KNOWS HIM.

Many talks with Yoda I presume.

Watch all the fanboys whine about how this messes with canon.  Ha ha no.

Obi-Wan is on record for lying to Luke about Vader.  I think it’s quite within the realm of possibility that he conveniently failed to mention Ezra.

Him and Yoda.

Sorry y’all can’t deal with the fact that the old wise mentor figures lied to their trainee.

The voice they got for Obi-Wan is SO GOOD.

“Where you should never have been.”  HAAAAAAAA.

Small little jab at the canon purists there.

Also, let it be known that Obi-Wan is also on record for stretching the truth to Ezra.

You know damn well that Luke is the key to destroying the Sith, Kenobi.

But he’s gonna go and make it out like Maul was manipulating the answer the whole time.

Which... isn’t exactly wrong, just not the whole truth.

SO like Obi-Wan.

Oh HI HIIIIIII.

HELLO.

YOU’RE STILL CREEPY MAUL.

PLEASE GO AWAY.

Obi-Wan making Ezra leave, aww.

Go blueberry!  Go home!

“See you soon, apprentice.” UUGGGHGGHHHGG GUHHHHG NO.

DON’T YOU DARE, MAUL.

Ohhhhhh, this is good stuff.

Such great dialogue.

Ooooooooh, Maul threatened Luke.

Bad idea.  Baaaaaad idea.

He’s going down.

oh hO HO HO HO HO HO!

This is it guys!

...Wow, that was quick.

Woooooooow okay.

Was kinda hoping for more lightsaber flurries.

Obi-Wan just smacked him down like nothing.

The fanboys and fangirls are gonna be piiiiiiiiised lol.

Actually I kinda like this.

Was hoping Maul would go down like a pussy.

...Almost feel bad for him too, well done show.

Not a lot of fandoms can make me sorry for the villain like that.

Okay, let’s go back to Ezra.

AWWWWWW spacefamily feels!

I love it.

LUKE CAMEO! :D

Aaaaand gorgeous sad music to close us out.

I... I actually really loved it!  Maybe a smidge disappointed we didn’t get a longer lightsaber battle but then, this was never really about that was it?  The time for revenge and grudge matches is past, it’s time for hope and new beginnings.

Think they told a much more meaningful story this way.

...”Zero Hour” is gonna hurt.

[foxstens]

why is this story so fucking sad