#i also have a list of which team(s) they play in which episodes and how much time has passed between episodes if i could figure it out

[kvetchinglyneurotic]

Ted Lasso locker room layout

Season 1

Left from entrance, facing the office: 4 Winchester, 15 Dawkins, 12 Hughes 24 Obisanya, *18 Bockronde/81 Zoreaux, **9 Tartt/14 Rojas, 8 Montlaur, 7 Kukoċ, 6 Kent, 5 McAdoo [showers] 3 Canterbury, 2 Dixon [office] 1 O'Brien, 22 De Maat [corner] 23 Snape, 27 Shannon [boot room] 16 Roberts, 17 Goodman, 47 Robbie, 19 Cockburn, 20 Reynolds, 21 Bumbercatch, 25 Alexander, 33 Rosenfeldt, 31 Garron, 28 McCracken

*Zoreaux gets this locker in 1x07

**Jamie leaves/Dani gets this locker in 1x07

Season 2

Left from entrance, facing the office: 16 Roberts, 81 Zoreaux, 14 Rojas, 13 Maas, 12 Hughes, 8 Montlaur, 5 McAdoo, 4 Winchester, 24 Obisanya, 2 Dixon [showers] 23 Sagredo, 18 Babtunde [office] 1 O'Brien, *9 Tartt [corner] 25 Bekoe, 22 De Maat [boot room] 17 Goodman, 3 Canterbury, 19 Cockburn, 7 Kuckoċ, 20 Reynolds, 21 Bumbercatch, 15 Dawkins, 28 McCracken, 27 Shannon, 33 Rosenfeldt

*vacant until Jamie gets the locker in 2x03

Season 3 Episodes 1-2

Left from entrance, facing the office: 16 Roberts, 28 Barghava, 14 Rojas, 13 Maas, 12 Hughes, 8 Montlaur, 5 McAdoo, 4 Winchester, 24 Obisanya, 2 Dixon [showers] vacant, vacant [office] 18 Babatunde, 9 Tartt [corner] 25 Bekoe, 22 De Maat [boot room] 17 Goodman, 3 Canterbury, 19 Cockburn, 7 Kukoċ, 20 Reynolds, 21 Bumbercatch, 33 Rosenfeldt, 81 Zoreaux, 1 O'Brien, 26 Garvey

Season 3 Episodes 3-5

Left from entrance, facing the office: 16 Roberts, 28 Barghava, 14 Rojas, 13 Maas, 12 Hughes, 8 Montlaur, 5 McAdoo, 24 Obisanya, 2 Dixon [showers] 17 Goodman, 18 Babatunde [office] 10 Zava, 10 Zava [corners] 10 Zava, 10 Zava [boot room] 9 Tartt, 3 Canterbury, 19 Cockburn, 7 Kukoċ, 20 Reynolds, 21 Bumbercatch, 33 Rosenfeldt, 81 Zoreaux, 1 O'Brien, 26 Garvey

*De Maat and Bekoe don't have lockers during this period

Season 3 Episodes 6-12

Left from entrance, facing the office: 16 Roberts, 28 Barghava, 14 Rojas, 13 Maas, 12 Hughes, 8 Montlaur, 5 McAdoo, 4 Winchester, 24 Obisanya, 2 Dixon [showers] *vacant, **vacant [office] 1 O'Brien, 22 De Maat [corner] 18 Babatunde, 25 Bekoe [boot room] 9 Tartt, 3 Canterbury, 19 Cockburn, 7 Kukoċ, 20 Reynolds, 21 Bumbercatch, 33 Rosenfeldt, 81 Zoreaux, 17 Goodman, ***26 Garvey

*18 Babatunde but ONLY in 3x11 (he still has his locker listed above in this episode — he's just in there twice)

**23 (name indistinguishable) but ONLY in 3x11

***28 McCracken but ONLY in a handful of scenes in 3x12 (the rest of the time it's still 26 Garvey. 28 Barghava also still has his usual locker)

EDIT: forgot to delete the treatment tables post-season 1 🥲

[rwbyrg]

Hello again! I was wondering, in your own opinion, what moment(s) for both Oscar and Ruby, really implied that there was much more going on with the two character, in the sense that their relationship was starting to evolve? Also what do you like about those moments? To add, do you think we will see it much more in volume 10?

Hello!! I think, generally speaking, all of their focused scenes imply there's more going on or that their relationship is evolving in some way. RWBY doesn't have filler. So when characters - especially ones as central to the narrative as these two - get focused screen time together (and romance-y tropes), it's done with intention.

Ruby's arc is about many things, but especially about how she's pretty much the last silver eyed warrior that can face Salem. Meanwhile, Oscar's arc is about defining who he is while under a curse that robs him of his identity. And in their first meeting, Oscar comments on Ruby's eyes, and she asks him who he is. Even their first lines to each other are mirrored in how they're spoken!

This scene really shows that their character arcs linked from the very beginning.

We get all the stuff I mentioned in my last post and more and none of it is necessary to do if it's not building up to something. Which it very clearly is.

I have no doubts we'll get to see more of their shared story in V10 onward. The V9 epilogue - what was supposed to be the final episode of the season - works as both a closing point for the Atlas arc, and a kick off for the Vacuo one. It's setting the stage for what is to come. A non-extensive list of what we know we're getting so far:

Nora's and Winter's character arcs; both of them struggling with responsibility, grief, and guilt.

Weiss will almost certainly be getting some focus by extension of that as well. Especially because her arc has always been about her family.

Ren being more open and trying harder to support those around him.

Qrow, more hopeful than he's ever been before and how much it's propelling him forward.

And then we have Oscar.

Oscar and the merge. Oscar Pine, Little Prince, pining at Ruby's grave in the desert. I talk about this set up a lot, and it's difficult to explain succinctly because it's got a lot of complex pieces at play (and has been going on since their meeting, as mentioned above). But if I were to try and break it down as simply as possible:

Ruby's fatal flaw is her grief. Her silver eyes are powered by, and the embodiment of, the preservation of life. She doesn't want to lose anyone else that she cares about and cannot bear the weight of responsibility that comes with it alone. So much so that she almost abandons her own identity via ascension because she is offered the choice to do so. She stays true to herself in the end as someone that fights, not for those she's lost, but for those she hasn't lost yet. And the narrative, through all their interactions, but especially the Tea Party, has placed Oscar front and centre in the position of who Ruby hasn't lost yet. Oscar, who wants nothing more than to be a part of the team that he keeps pushing away. Oscar, who just wants to be who he is, to preserve himself, but is being robbed of that choice via the merge. Something Ruby, can't protect him from.

RWBY loves to make its pairings thematically complimentary and it loves pushing characters to their limits. There is no way that the scenes and setup between Oscar and Ruby haven't been intentionally building to something big with how much their respective and shared conflicts are directly playing off of each other. There is no way CRWBY - with their limited budget and resource constraints - dedicated all that screen time to these two for it to not pay off at some point. And given this arc is the last one... now's a good a time as any for it to happen.

[lol-jackles]

Walker episode 11 review

For the last two episodes I theorized Cordell was setting himself up as bait in order for his team to catch the Jackal who eluded them for 5 years.  It's why he won't loop them in, especially Cassie, because of course they would never go along with the hairbrained plan.  But I'll have to wait for the next episode to see if I'm right as this episode takes an unique approach (for this show) by taking place mostly in the beautiful nightmare that Cordell is trapped in where Emily and Hoyt are alive, their two families intact and happy, yet also emotionally charged and distant.

The reunion between Cordell and Emily is done to the soundtrack of mournful melodic strings that made me think of Ireland against the ocean's cold wave. Disclaimer, I've never been to Ireland.

It's August's graduation day and Cordell and Emily arrive at the farmhouse where everybody is, including Stella and August who didn't travel with their parents.  A call back to the start of the season when Cordell's worried about "the quiet' with his kids were already out of house or on their way out.  

Cordell asks Liam, who arrived from New York City, if he knows why Stella isn't talking to him.  In the real world, Cordell went looking for his wayward daughter before he was abducted by the Jackal.  Liam brushes off Cordell's concern and gives him a disgusting-looking smoothie to drink, a concoction that the Jackal feeds his paralyzed victims.  The front door of the farmhouse opens on its own and Abbie complains that the unseen dogs will get out.  In the real world the Rangers find Cordell's motel room containing files of the Jackal's first victim. The ranger figure he must have been grabbed as he was leaving through the door.  Back in the dream world, Cordell walks through the door and spots a shirt on the ground (is it his?) and he's immediately grabbed from behind by Hoyt.  While it's a callback to season 1's reunion between them, the tone of the scene plays differently, telling us that the Jackal must have ambushed Cordell from behind.  Then Hoyt says Stella is Cordell because she's "not here".  

Que title card, which is done inverse of its usual color.

We are treated to the first scene of Abbie, Emily, and Geri together cleaning mushrooms from Abbie's famous secret mushroom hunts.  Emily is sad and doesn't want to face with what comes after.  Cordell overhears from another room and is surprised by how emotional Emily is over August's impending graduation, which reflects Cordell's own quiet dread over his youngest child leaving home.

The scene switches to Cordell and Bonham playing a poker game using chips Emily gifted him before her death. But Cordell is distracted because he's forgotten something important.  Bonham tells him to retrace his step and Emily is frustrated that he doesn't look at his "what if" list and says she tired over doing everything herself.  Cordell asked if he had taken her for granted.  They're facets of Cordell's identities talking to him, perhaps Cordell is tired of trying to be there for what everyone needs.  The front door opens by itself and Emily complains that the still unseen dogs are going to get out.  

When ever Cordell asks what is wrong, the front door opens.  Twice when Cordell goes through the door he finds Hoyt, who remenist when he was a lad he came to the ranch on Abbie insistence during a time when Cordell supposedly didn't know he was there, though Cordell must have known because this is his mind.  Abbie told Hoyt how Cordell holds on to the quiet, which Cordell insists he never told his mother.  Of course Abbie and Hoyt knew, he is Abbie and Hoyt in the dream world.  Abbie kept telling him that he "doesn't have to be here" while Bonham is being sassy, again facets of Cordell's personality as we never seen Bonham be sassy, just Cordell.

Hoyt says he will ask Geri to marry him because she deserves the best, which Cordell agrees that she deserves the best though not necessarily agreeing about the two of them marrying.  I don't think Cordell wants to marry Geri just yet, they barely moved in together before he freaked out over the missing shirt gift by the late Emily.

Liam joins Hoyt and Cordell, bringing drinks.  More food by the Jackal?  After Bonham, Liam is behaving very un-Liam like.  He's distant and also focused on the present.  Liam says, "it's time to go" and Hoyt claps his hands, and the scene switches to the Jackal clapping over an unconscious Cordell to test his awareness.  Immediately afterwards they arrive for August's graduation ceremony taking place at Ranger HQ.  Stella is in near tears, unsure she could be brave as her father, whom she misses so much.  Stella is the only one not wearing black and instead wears a bright red dress. The auditorium type room is flanked by rows of potted plants which represent the forest where he's being buried in the real world.  We see from Cordell's pov from the ground as Hoyt and Sadie studies him from overhead and complains about underestimating the length of the grave to accommodate Cordell's tall stature. Me: Ha I knew it, Jackal had a partner which was why 1) he/they were never caught and 2) of course it takes two of them to capture Cordell. 

Cordell sees August on stage and for a moment Cordell thought he missed his son's graduation. There's been an underlying fear of missing August's graduation through the episode like when he missed Stella's graduation because he was abducted by Grey Flags.  

Me: Oh that's right, bad guys are kidnapping Cordell right before his children's graduation. Once was bad enough but twice? Stella and August are going to feel like curses to their father.

August is trying to hold back tears as he gives an eulogy while Cordell, flanked by the late Hoyt and late Emily, watches with growing denial as the scene changes into his funeral.  August talks about his father's love for Shakespeare, a call back to season 1 and 2.  I'm convinced if Lindsay hadn't left, the show would have expanded on the Shakespear reference in Cordell and Linday's banter.  Emily passes out rosemary flowers to everyone for remembrance, earlier Emily asks Cordell to remember his "what if" list.

All the characters in Cordell's dream have to act like their real-world counterparts, but also not like their real-world counterparts because they're actually facets of him.  Emily and Hoyt are most like their characters, likely because they're dead.  I debated if they are really Emily and Hoyt visiting Cordell from the afterlife because he's close to death.  They interacted with the rest of the Walker clan to give him strength through them: Stella "my love" is told she is brave, August finds strength in his emotion, Abbie and Geri told everything will be alright, that Geri deserves the best - because Cordell deserves the best and he needs to know everything will be alright when his kids fly the coop and sometimes he's tired of being the one who is supposed to be there for everyone but feeling he has failed them.

Cordell sees his black casket covered with blood-red roses, the same color as Stella's dress.  In the real world, the Rangers are searching the forest and Luna finds an empty shallow grave.  He calls Cassie to say Cordell must have been moved from the grave, so not only is he near but still alive.   Luna and Cassie celebrate too early and Luna gets attacked from behind.

Cordell and Emily are left alone together. He opens the casket only to find it empty.  Emily pleads for him to wake up, but he rather be with her.  Dirt begins to fall on him, which doesn't seem to bother him.  Emily says, "He's right there". James, Trey, and Cassie arrives at the now-filled grave and Luna no where to be found.  James and Trey dig Cordell up as Cassie follows a blood trail to look for Luna.  Trey, putting his military medic skill to use, gives an antidote to Cordell and his first words are "He's right there". 

James stays with Cordell while Trey runs, following Cassie's screams upon finding Luna on the ground, bleeding. She cradles Luna as he appears to die in her arms against the same mournful melodic strings music when Cordell was reunited with his late wife.

Score: 8.5 out of 10. I point deduction for Cordell not saving himself.  Half point deduction for giving Cassie the Sam Winchester treatment and killing off her boyfriends two seasons in the row.  If the next episode says Cordell set himself as bait, then I'll return a point.

ETA: speculation - Cordell set himself up as bait by using the first victim's profile, which acts as a kind of notification alert to the Jackals. My guess is the Jackals killed bunch of unconnected random people to hide their true target and hence why they can't be found. Back in 2002, John Allen Muhammad wanted to kill his ex wife so went on a sniper killing spree in DC, killing 17 people, with the intent to make his ex wife look like just one of many random victims and he will remain undiscovered. It was almost a fluke that he was discovered sleeping in a rest stop.

[azurityarts]

hewwo >:) 5, 6, and/or 7 for the pmd ask game? if another asker hasn’t requested them already :3c

Heyoo! :D

5. Which Pokemon from Gen 7-8 would you consider potential hero/partner options, outside of the regular Starter Pokemon?

I know this question is about Gen 7-8, but quick mention to Zorua! Would LOVE to see that little fucker as a hero/partner option in the future.

I think some good ones from Alola (excluding regional forms/variants) would be Rockruff, Mudbray and Fomantis? Rockruff is a pretty obvious answer, but I feel as if the latter two could have potential?

Galar's difficult; to me, I feel like I'd prefer most Gen 8 Pokemon as NPCs 😭 Going with Rookidee and Chewtle for now though!

6. Favourite Special Episode?

Special Episode 5 is an easy sweep for being just excellent in so many different aspects: narrative, overall place in the grand plot, focus on characters, setting, music, the quotes, Grovyle and Dusknoir just being Normal Enemies I Swear—the list goes on!

But I gotta give a mention to Here Comes Team Charm! It's not the most significant SE by any means and doesn't have any major implications for the main plot and its characters, but I need you to understand that hearing their theme for the first time had me do a double take to remember what game I was even playing??? LIKE WHY DOES IT ACTUALLY GO SO HARD THOUGH???

Spike Chunsoft where's the return of Team Charm because oh yeah they ALL have megas now LMAO

7. Favourite dungeon(s)?

Gonna rattle off one of my favourites from each of the games! (I think a large part of my decision-making was the dungeon's theme whoops)

Great Canyon was absolutely one of my highlights from Rescue Team! Nice place in the narrative, captured the feeling of the trek to Xatu really well. But it's definitely up in my rankings just for that theme alone- LIKE LISTEN TO THIS REMIX BY DRAZORLEAF

Okay this one may not be necessarily a favourite dungeon, but story time! When I was playing through Explorers for the first time (idk how I was able to go in blind in retrospect lol), I noticed that Crystal Crossing had Absol as a potential recruit! So I spent like a solid hour or more running through floors, trying to recruit one (because well. you know me.), and that was my very first experience and encounter with:

Something's stirring...

So yeah, thanks Crystal Crossing for letting me get an Absol, and also thanks for giving me Realization of the Horrors

Glacier Palace: Great Spire is absolutely CRIMINAL for having that godsend of a musical score and only lasting FIVE FLOORS. Makes sense that they didn't want to drag it out, and I think the overall impact of the track would have been lessened if they made the dungeon fighting itself a slog, but MAN what a fucking banger.

The Tree of Life dungeons are also both great; perfect OST for the moment, but also really darn nice visuals—the crackles/streaks of life energy in the environment were super pretty omg

[austinslounge]

The PR anon is back(I’m just going to call myself that from now on). I wanted to clarify some things.

First, Zoë/Channing breakup. We all know who the real cheater in this relationship is. Ironically, Kaia claims that she’s queer and doesn’t miss an opportunity to make out or get too handsy with other women. Btw, when she was dating Elordi, she was behaving the same way. There are pics of her that look like she’s kissing Cara’s neck while still dating Jacob. Anyway, back to Zoë. General public is not that invested in Austin as we are. For them, if the breakup article comes out this month, it will look like two people starring in Caught Stealing suddenly end their relationships one after another. I’ve seen people talk about Austin/Zoë kiss on set without realizing that it’s acting. It also doesn’t help that some people project traits of the characters onto the actors(sometimes even subconsciously). So, if both Austin and Zoë end their relationships in a short period of time, while playing lovers on screen, it won’t look good. People who are speculating right now are the minority, but still, I understand that if a breakup has already happened it’s safer to delay it a bit.

There is also a blind item, which cannot be trusted, but I want to mention it because I haven’t seen anyone talk about it even in this fandom. It is from the YouTube podcast “Blinded by the item” Zoë/Channing episode from October 30th. ”Yesterday’s announcement was just first shoot to drop. The A- list offspring actress has gone a little too method with her current role and that is going to break up another relationship, this time with an A- list model/actress and an A list actor”. I don’t know where they take these blind items, probably from Crazy Days and Nights, which is not credible at all. It’s like flipping a coin, sometimes they get it sometimes they don’t. But yeah, this is total bullshit, there is no way in hell Kaia is an A-lister🤣. This blind item doesn’t mean anything, just laugh at it and forget. But anyway, not letting two couples from Caught Stealing break up while shooting is a smart strategy.

Next, the instagram story of Austin drinking beer(He was drinking Corona, it is beer, I assume?). After the GA concert, a lot of people were talking about it, but no one has the clip itself, because apparently Kaia deleted it very quickly. I assume either this is true, because a lot of people were talking about it, and the detail that Austin was drinking Corona specifically, so someone must have recognized the brand, or someone made this whole thing up and other picked up on it. Either way, it’s not that important, because Kaia never posted anything with Austin for whatever reasons. I was always wondering, why Kaia can’t just post an instagram story with Austin in the background or something? This would be a better damage control than any forced pap walk. I mean, you two “live together” and “spend your free time in private” blah, blah, blah. Will one story or pic be such a violation of privacy? This is not giving “private relationship”, it’s bordering on paranoia at this point. There are plenty of celebrity couples that are private, but don’t avoid each other at all costs like these two. Austin obviously, doesn’t post anything at all, but Kaia on the other hand is very active, she posts everyone(except Austin).

It’s interesting that their teams used Page Six for damage control, when they had to shout down engagement rumors they used TMZ. TMZ and People are used for the most important statements, they are usually the ones celebrities use to announce breakups, pregnancies, engagement etc. Tabloids like L&S, Daily Mail are good for spreading rumors, making questionable statements or writing 10 articles a day about meaningless pap walks. Page Six seems to stand somewhere in between. Celebs use it to buy some time and do damage control, as it’s not complete garbage, but not a totally reputable source either. I genuinely can’t understand why couldn’t their teams send an article to TMZ again? Breakup rumors are more serious than engagement rumors(Both started by Deux Moi by the way). Why can’t they send another “going strong” article to People like they did in May? Maybe because TMZ or People would shut down break up rumors once and for all, unlike Page Six.

If they have already broken up, there could be several reasons why they are delaying an official statement. Zoë/Channing break up is just my assumption, it can be the main reason, one of the reasons, or not the reason at all. We don’t know what their teams are planning behind closed doors. Everything is too strange, I just want Kaia Gerber to go away, but overall I’m completely calm, if they aren’t broken up now, they 100% will eventually. Of course, I want it to happen sooner rather than later, because I’m so tired of the shippers and Gerber baby nonsense.

Like I said previously, doing pap walks after DM article is just complete madness. Even though, subconsciously I’m ready for forced pap funeral walks. Just please, spear us the Cabo photos, they are too awful.

Hey PR Anon! 😁

In answer to your comments:

Yea, Kaia's behavior has just been really strange ever since this whole Kaustin relationship in general, but certainly even more so this year. I mean, is kissing someone else in the lips considered cheating? 👀 Because if so, then she's "cheated" multiple times. She's queer, soooo.... Imo that's like Austin kissing another girl (even one who's just a "friend") on the lips. Most would consider that cheating on Kaia.

But when Kaia does it -- 🤔

Btw, when she was dating Elordi, she was behaving the same way. There are pics of her that look like she’s kissing Cara’s neck while still dating Jacob.

Did she? 🤔 Because I was following the Jakaia relationship pretty closely back then, and I actually never saw Kaia behaving like that with other women when she was with Jacob. Keep in mind too that it was during covid, so there probably just weren't that many events and parties being held and photographed during that time. She and Jacob seemed pretty joined at the hip.

I know that prior to dating Jacob however, Kaia was getting pretty close to Cara 👀, but that was all before she and Jacob officially got together around August/September 2020.

You may have to share some receipts with me Anon, because I don't recall Kaia behaving like that with Cara while she was dating Jacob.

Anyway, back to Zoë. General public is not that invested in Austin as we are. For them, if the breakup article comes out this month, it will look like two people starring in Caught Stealing suddenly end their relationships one after another. I’ve seen people talk about Austin/Zoë kiss on set without realizing that it’s acting. It also doesn’t help that some people project traits of the characters onto the actors(sometimes even subconsciously). So, if both Austin and Zoë end their relationships in a short period of time, while playing lovers on screen, it won’t look good. People who are speculating right now are the minority, but still, I understand that if a breakup has already happened it’s safer to delay it a bit.

I definitely agree with you here. Even if everything is totally innocent, you're right, the optics wouldn't look good atm.

If Austin and Kaia broke up already, it has not been a good time to announce a breakup. She's been busy promoting LS, SNL, and some other film of hers, he's been busy filming Caught Stealing, then there was the whole Marcello thing, so any announcement around that time would have made her look like a cheater, then, Austin's costar Zoe broke up with her fiancé Channing, etc. It's just been a crazy mess lol 😆

If they have already broken up, there could be several reasons why they are delaying an official statement. Zoë/Channing break up is just my assumption, it can be the main reason, one of the reasons, or not the reason at all. We don’t know what their teams are planning behind closed doors.

I totally agree. 💯

Everything is too strange, I just want Kaia Gerber to go away, but overall I’m completely calm, if they aren’t broken up now, they 100% will eventually. Of course, I want it to happen sooner rather than later, because I’m so tired of the shippers and Gerber baby nonsense.

Girl, same!

Like I said previously, doing pap walks after DM article is just complete madness. Even though, subconsciously I’m ready for forced pap funeral walks. Just please, spear us the Cabo photos, they are too awful.

Oh gosh, PLEASE not another Gerber Family Christmas vacation in Cabo! 😭😭🤣

[sweetiesicheng]

jeonghan - episode

word count : 636

-

"three, two, one, start."

"okay! let's go this!"

"come on! hurry!"

an episode of "going seventeen" was being filmed. this episode was going to consist of a scavenger hunt, but the catch was that each member of seventeen was partnered with a member of the filming crew. this episode was also featuring the point system that was created in the "don't lie" series and was continuing from a previous recording. every team also had a small camera because half of the camera crew was partnered up.

and who were you partnered with? your boyfriend, the one and only, yoon jeonghan.

"okay, we have five things to look for," you said to jeonghan, who held your hand. you looked through the list in your other hand before recognizing something, "oh! i saw this one when we were moving the equipment! come on!" you started to turn around to run off, but you couldn't move much since jeonghan didn't run with you. "babe, come on!" you said to him.

"we don't need to do anything. i have enough points," jeonghan said to you. he was clearly ready to just find a place to relax instead of playing the game.

"you're in third place, jeonghan."

"so? i have the first place prize, you," he said and started smirking at you.

"yoon jeonghan!"

"yes, my love?"

-

after somehow getting jeonghan to move, you managed to get a few of the items on the scavenger list. jeonghan started getting competitive, which made your time together s lot more fun.

"over there. i see it!" jeonghan suddenly announced. both of you hurried to a light post, where a flag was tied to the post. you stepped onto the concrete lip and jeonghan held your waist while you untied the flag from its spot. "we gotta hurry back."

"okay," you replied and jumped off the ledge.

the two of you hurried to run back to where the game started at. you passed by a few teams along the way, still looking for items on their respective lists.

“hey! they have the flag!” you heard dino yell, making some of the others look at you two.

"y/n, hurry!" jeonghan yelled at you as you two ran. vernon, dk, and a staff member started chasing you but gave up half way through.

"i can't run! you know that!" you yelled at him.

"after all of these episodes, you can't keep up?" he questioned and looked back at you with a grin. he held his hand out to you, and you grabbed it despite knowing you'd slow him down a bit.

the two of you made it back but noticed that some of the guys had also just made it back.

"what place did we get?" he asked one of the crew members.

"let me check your items first," your coworker replied. you and jeonghan handed her the items and she checked all of them. "jeonghan and producer y/n...second place!" she announced to everyone.

"really?" you asked and turned around. "what about you guys?" you asked since there were more teams.

"we didn't get everything," seungkwan mentioned, "we just ran back here because of the time limit."

"we had a time limit?" jeonghan asked.

"i didn't know that," you mentioned and looked at your friend.

"y/n, you're literally a member of the production crew," your friend replied.

"listen, i think jeonghan's antics in this show have rubbed off on me," you replied while starting to walk to the others. jeonghan holds your hand as you two walk. "at least we got second," you said to him, "i think the prize is good."

"doesn't matter to me," jeonghan said to you. "got my prize right here," he said and kissed your forehead.

"yoon jeonghan! stop flirting on camera! edit the forehead kiss out!”

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale’s Top Ten: Least favorite episodes of Miraculous Ladybug (as of season 5)

With Season 5 finished and my posting of my top 10 favorite episodes, it’s time I crank the meter the other way. Now some rules

1. Like always this is my personal opinion, and if you liked these episodes, that’s great. I would love to hear your reasoning

2. I will be judging them SOLELY of what was shown in the episode, not by any leaks that came out before or after. I’m solely judging on what is seen and confirmed

3. Word of warning, I will be pretty vicious with my critiques. Also profanities will be thrown.

Now before I go into them, I should give some congratulations to some episodes no longer in my bottom 10

Captain Hardrock: You are still a lame episode, but not the worst you are actually decent in comparison to some of these.

Stormy weather 2.0: Clip shows still are awful, but there are worst things

Frozer: In the grand scheme of things this episode really wasn’t important and there are worst character writing

___________________________________________

10.Sole Crusher

Revisiting this, it really isn’t a good episode for ML. I don’t know what was more Shoehorned in, Zoe’s character arc of replacing Chloé or the lucky charm.

It also makes little sense that Marinette would be the one pushing for Zoe considering her experience with Chloé and her family (especially after Season 5 revealed her trauma).

Now Zoe isn’t a bad character, but she will always be seen as the replacement Good bee, and she deserves better writing.

Honestly it could be argued Queen banana should be here, but that episode is too much of a s***post that I get more enjoyment out of it. This is trying to play this straight and it don’t feel right.

9. Qilin

This episode has a some things going for it, great akuma design, decent action. But it also has a ton going against it. It’s in a series of episodes I like to call “Thomas’ gets political” and I will tell you this, he sucks at it.

I would try and explain further but I am aware I would butcher the topic, all that should be said is, racism tackled poorly and Marinette says she will pay for a ticket that her mother didn’t deserve to get in the first place.

Also the animation looks off in the episode, it just looks so bleh. 

8. Migration

Remember that whole reveal that Luka knows both Ladybug’s and chat noir’s identities and how he kept that to himself?

Well that FINALLY gets addressed. And are Ladybug and chat noir mad at him? No. No consequences for him.

The whole episode acts like he is such an important character but this is one of 2 episodes he’s in where he has more than 2 lines.

Then he gets to travel the world with his dad because monarch found out he knows.

Kagami got akumatized twice and she knew Ladybug’s identity, step up your game Luka.

Also the fake out with Rose was bulls*** and everyone knows it.

Also the entire episode had everyone but Luka lacking brain cells.

I don’t rank it lower because while it annoyed me greatly, there are worse offenders on the list.

7. Animaestro

Astruc complains for 22 minutes that nobody cares about him anymore.

Also Marinette teams up with her bully which after watching Derision, WOULD BE THE LAST thing she would do.

This is the worst example of the Creator calling out the audience, There are other episodes like this but this one is the least entertaining. And if the ending of season 5 is concerned. “I’ve seen your writing, so I can FUCKING CRITIQUE IT YOU ARROGANT PIECE OF…”

Okay, I’m calm. Point being. It’s his call out the critics episode and it sucks

6. Furious Fu

I HATE Su Han.

He is a worse version of Fu in every stretch of the imagination.

The episode where Su han shows up and starts making demands is stupid. The only thing he has going for him is his fighting style which he never teaches the two people that could have needed it!

The episode isn’t lower because despite Su Han’s impact, he really doesn’t do much and he is just there to be a nag later on. Also Fu’s akuma looks dope as hell and gave Fu some slack.

5. Feast

So remember how Su han showed up in the last episode. Well he and all the other guardians were gone for over 100 years because they lost to a 4 Foot blue dog made by a hungry child.

This episode isn’t as bad as the others as a stand alone, but knowing the lore makes it sound so completely stupid. Like Fu was HAUNTED by his past and we find out it was because he was hungry when training and the guardians COULDNT handle that? All trained to fight miraculous users should they go rogue, couldn’t beat ONE DOG. The mysterious order is incompetent as heck.

It’s just so stupid. Also Fu was acting irrational af over all this didn’t help.

4.Reflekdoll

I want everyone to know how massive this is, Reflekdoll is no longer my least favorite episode.

For anyone that follows me, my SEETHING hatred of this episode is well documented.

I won’t go on about how the tropes were horribly done or ignored, how off the banter was, or even how stupid everyone is this episode. Because I’ve discussed it in length.

I will simply say, Thank God there is Passion, so if people want a GOOD kwami swap episode they can watch that one.

3. Miracle Queen

I’ve talked about this episode to death on here. But really the only flaws with it are the last half of the episode.

The drama of the first half is great. But the ass pull of a memory wipe, the clear degradation of Chloé’s character, and just the simple giving up of Hawkmoth, he could have easily still won if he pushed a bit longer. The ending was depressing but also a clear example of how the writers put themselves in a corner with no way out.

The only thing that makes it worse is Fu’s replacement (Su han) ends up being a worse teacher.

Also considering how they spent season 4 quickly getting Marinette and Adrien out of the relationships with the love rivals, even they realize it was a dumb call.

__________________________________________

2. Ephemeral

Hey, let’s make an episode to explain why Adrien can NEVER know his father is the villain.

This episode is the go to justification of the writers on why Adrien will always be sidelined. It was also the unofficial reveal of the sentimonster theory before it was said pretty much outright in season 5.

The worst akuma design. Marinette gaslighting, gate keeping chat noir at its worst.

Gabriel wins and gets his wish.

And none of it mattered and no one remembers it except I think Sass. So it was pretty much pointless.

Not even the ladrien and cute reveal could save it.

And don’t even get me started on how pointless and avoidable it is.

It’s almost funny because despite how pointless this was, it’s still better than number 1.

1. Re-creation

So many cool concepts, great designs. Marinette dropping a piano on Gabriel. So many great things. But it also had some flaws, like having Adrien sidelined, and the focus on heroes from the specials for practically no reason. But all of that could be forgivable if the ending lands…

It really shows how an AWFUL ending can fuck up everything.

Imagine having 5 seasons of fighting to stop a villain from getting the miraculous to make the wish only for him to WIN! Yes he wins. He gets to make the wish, you know the wish that was said should NEVER be used. Of all the stupid, asinine, Shark Jumping BULL SHIT. Who the fuck APPROVED THIS HORSE SHIT?!

So he gets his wish, and he gets a statue HONORING HIM. What the fuck? Adrien, who was ABUSED now sees his abuser as a hero and EVERYONE THAT KNOWS THE TRUTH IN HIS LIFE IS HIDING THE TRUTH FROM HIM. Nathalie, Marinette, Felix, Kagami. Even PLAGG!

And the whole utopia crap, everything is just perfect now, because the villain got what he wanted.

That’s a great lessons for kids! (Blatant Sarcasm)

But let’s really dig in, the ending left a LOT of things vague. And hilariously ALL OF THE POTENTIAL OUTCOMES ARE SHIT.

1. Emilie was revived and Nathalie got healed.

So Gabriel gets everything he wanted from the wish, justifying everything he did and he gets treated like a hero and another person hiding the truth from Adrien. Marinette knows everything that brought this about and is keeping that from Adrien, but is justified slightly because it could encourage Adrien to try and get his father back with a wish. Also brings up the question of who took Emile’s place.

2. Only Nathalie was healed.

Gabriel ended up with Emilie like he wanted, gets treated like a martyr, Adrien is technically an orphan, Marinette is knowingly lying to him about his father and Adrien continues to get Gaslit.

3. Emilie is revived, Nathalie is healed, and memories were altered

Gabriel’s wish basically shaped EVERYTHING how he wanted, meaning he is still in control of Adrien’s life even in death. Even his own wife. So while this removes Marinette covering for him intentionally, it just means Gabriel was so much worse.

4. Nathalie’s healed and memories altered

Gabriel gets to be with Emile and has shaped Adrien’s life even in death. Everyone basically puppeteer by him as he died. Sure he’s dead but he also retconned for his redemption, which is bullshit.

Now there are people that defend this ending/potential ending.

I’m sorry but, unless they revive Gabriel and he gets exposed, Adrien finds out the truth, and he gets held accountable for his actions. I can’t feasibly imagine this ending being good.

The writing staff aren’t going to do Anything about this, they are just going to move on to Lila as the main villain and say the Agreste plotline is over.

If they Do, do something, I’ll happily take back my words and alter my view of the episode but right now.

It’s one of the WORST season finale’s I’ve seen in my life.

[ranbling]

So I've decided to rank the episodes from s7, and here are my list

1. Step Nine, best episodes of this season hands down! Bobby's backstory was already tragic and the writers just love to make him suffer

2. Abandon Ships, also an iconic episode, started the season with a bang, its a shame it went downhill later on. Showcased the team's dynamic in its finest, had great moments for everyone!

3. Rock the boat, Athena and Bobby were perfect in this episode, loved seeing them being badasses! The 118's storyline was good to, but I dislike how they played out the councilwoman storyline later

4. Capsized also iconic, all episodes of the cruiseship arc were great! The banter between Lola, Norman and Julian was soo funny and I wanted Julian to stay on the show. Bobby and Athena were great, I loved that Hen decided to rescue them, I need more of her and Maddie!! Still kinda mad that we didn't get Lucy

5. Ghost of a second chance, it was an okay episode, Maddie and Athena working together is always great, I loved the scenes between Maddie and Chimney. Bobby carrying the baby while Amir is watching them was also great! I loved the moment between Buck, Eddie and Chris, my only complaint about the episode is that it introduces Kim

6. There goes the groom, I wasn't totally happy with this episode, I wanted the Madney wedding to actually focus on them, but Doug had more screentime than Maddie :/ loved Chimney's parts (also the Buck and Eddie moments in the beginning). Maddie and Chimney deserved to have their dream wedding, not this

7. You don't know me, the only saving grace of this episode is Mara! I love her and the Wilson family! Also the moments between Maddie and Eddie and Buck were good, but the Marisol's nun storyline and the date ruined it for me

8. Buck, Bothered and Bewildered. Nope, i disliked this episode, it wasn't the 100th episode I wanted. Buck being confirmed as a bisexual is the only good think about it, but I hate the way how they did it. I wanted the episode to focus on the 118, maybe a BBQ at Bathena's place. They brought Harry back, but acted like he disappeared after this episode.

9. Ashes, Ashes... Only thing I liked was the converstation between Buck and Eddie which showed us how well they understand each other and Ravi being back for a minute. I hate the councilwoman and Mara being taken away storyline, how Bobby said goodbye to everyone because he wanted to kill himself, Kim showing up cosplaying as Shannon and Bobby getting a heart attack

10. All fall down. This episode was a mess and not in a positive way. I'm happy that Mara is with Madney, but thats it. The pacing was weird, the order of the scenes made no sense (looking at the date scene) and everything was super predictable.

[deadheaddaisy]

What’re your most rewatched ENT episodes? What about your most rewatched Stargate episodes? (And do you think those have anything in common, like similar plotlines or similar themes?)

Oooh, now that's something I hadn't ever considered. Let me see.

By now you should know that I don't do anything by half measures. So I managed to cull my list down from over 200 to 79 of my most-replayed episodes (and this does not mean they are the highest-rated or best, just what I rewatch regularly, sometimes for certain scenes only, sometimes because they're good in the background). I went for both SG-1 and Atlantis as they both overlap with Enterprise in air-dates (The Storm overlaps with Babel One and Unending in timing, for one, and now I feel really ancient since SGA is 20 years old and the others are way older).

Green shows my go-to, will always rewatch these when I need something on. The other colours don't really matter for the purposes of this ask.

Most of these are quite action- or humour-heavy. Hathor and Bound are very much "the guys get brainwashed by pheromones" though I find the women of the SGC far more capable than Enterprise's in taking back their base (knocking out several men to do so, partly out of frustration and partly to stop being attacked themselves). There's also the issue of consent and what happened to Daniel, though that's kind of sidelined. 

Friendship and found family are big, big drawcards, and there are several excellent episodes across all three series that highlight this, which is what I love most of all in my shows. Fighting back against a takeover makes an appearance across all three, too, which makes Foothold, Prometheus, the Storm arc, and Midway so enticing in Stargate; and Shockwave, The Catwalk, and Chosen Realm (okay, the second half, as the first half makes my blood boil) in Enterprise. 

On the whole, I'd say most of these episodes either show the crew/team/individuals kicking ass and taking names, or facing natural disasters (especially Inferno), alien threats, or war time. I also love individuals showing their true natures and growth (hence both versions of Proving Ground, Death Knell - Samantha Carter is an absolute badass in this one - Sleeping Dogs, the Romulan/Andorian arc, Malcolm's Section 31 arc, Rodney's sister episodes (David Hewlett and his sister bring their true sibling dynamics to both).

And then humour, of course. John Billingsley is a hoot in The Other Guys and Bound (and I love Phlox in all the Enterprise episodes, natch), and then Rodney's performance in Duet and Harmony makes my day. And Window of Opportunity, Wormhole X-Treme and 200 are among the very best of SG-1's line-up. 

I am a big fan of (space)ships, hence my love of episodes introducing these (aside from the NX-01 and NX-02, naturally). Thor's Chariot introduces us to the sexy beast that is a Biliskner-class Asgard warship, with Earth's Prometheus making two appearances; in Enterprise's Proving Ground we see the Kumari Andorian warship (and then again in Babel One, getting the living hell blown out of it, sadly); and in SGA, an Aurora-class battle cruiser in Inferno (not to mention the Daedelus showing up in The Siege). 

I love Marauders because it shows Malcolm in his element, being an actual tactician and playing with his big guns; while Hoshi shows how all that training he gave her made her a crack shot; even if the whole Klingon storyline doesn't do much for me.

Vox Sola introduces my rarepair and I dig it for Hoshi and T'Pol's interactions (also in Sleeping Dogs, plus Hoshi insisting on using all the torpedoes). For me that's very much a Death Knell and Upgrade kind of situation - and Foothold, go Sam yet again! - for SG-1. And then Elizabeth and John facing off in The Long Goodbye - the diplomat against the military leader? Yes, please. Plus, the kiss! 

I have Exile in there even though I hate the stupid nightgown-wearing what the hell because it's such a Hoshi-Malcolm-centric episode, right down to Tarquin using an avatar that looks very much like Malcolm - short, dark-haired, light-eyed. I imagine Hoshi feels safe around Malcolm so Tarquin uses that look as part of his stratagem to trick her into feeling at ease. And also because Hoshi shows just how tough she actually is when her people are threatened.

This is already way too long an answer, or I'd go through every episode, but as you can see, several of them cross over in themes, across all three series, and it depends on what I'm looking for at the time.

Thanks for the ask!

[scotianostra]

Happy Birthday the Scottish actress Neve McIntosh.

Born as Carol McIntosh on 9th April 1972 in Paisley, McIntosh grew up in Edinburgh, where she attended Boroughmuir High School. She was a member of Edinburgh Youth Theatre in the late 1980s, appearing in Mother Goose and Doctor in the House. She moved to Glasgow to attend the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, after which she was in repertory companies at Perth and at The Little Theatre on the Isle of Mull.

She next played in a Glasgow stage production of The Trick is to Keep Breathing. She then played in the RSC production of Dickens’ Great Expectations in Stratford, and starred as Portia in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice at the Lyceum in Edinburgh. In summer 2009, she performed in the Sylvia Plath play Three Women at the Edinburgh Festival. Her career coninues on stage both here and in the US.

Neve appeared in American director Mark L. Feinsod’s first film, Love And Lung Cancer. Alongside her many TV appearances, too many to put them all on here without it looking like a shopping list, the ones of note, to me anyway, include the brilliant Psychos, with Dougie Henshall, Trial and Retribution, Dr Who, New Tricks and again with Henshall in Shetland series four. McIntosh also teamed up with two other Doctor’s in an episode of Sky 1’s 10 Minute Tales playing the wife of Peter Capaldi’s character, and alongside David Tennant, in Single Father, a BBC drama. She portrayed the part of Anna, the sister of the dead wife of Tennant’s character.

In 2017, McIntosh played Kay Gillies in the BBC One drama The Replacement she came back home to team up with Martin Compston in Traces and recently put in an appearance in the excellent Tin Star and the podcast series Getting Better - The Fight for the NHS.

Neve's latest role, according to INDB was in the reboot of All Creatures great and Small playing bookkeeper Miss Harbottle

Neve has said that she’s proud to have been consistently acting throughout her career, speaking in The Sunday Post she says, “It’s nice just to be consistently working. There was a time when I had a bit of a wobble, but a lot of acting work had dried up and I think loads of people thought they wouldn’t work again, but it’s building back.

[absolutebl]

I've been thinking obsessively about story structure lately. Are there any BLs you consider particularly well structured/paced? Or at least very typical? Especially for Thai BL, since so many are 12 episodes and that makes it easier to compare. I know we can all think of examples of shows that just kind of happened without any structure...

Now in the above post I wasn't thinking specifically about pace. I think that post is more about what you're calling structure (the narrative backbone brought to light via the script).

Thai stuff is always gonna be slower paced than Korean stuff. Because it's longer and jsut less tightly controlled by the directors.

Also something like 4 or 6 act structure (popular in China, Taiwan, and sometimes Japan) will often FEEL slow to western viewers.

I think the pace of a show is partly a judgement call on behalf of the viewer, but also heavily cultural, so let me try to explain.

Structure, Pace, Plot

Structure, or the writing of a narrative script, can be divided into plot vs pace as follows:

Plot: movement of characters through time (scene by scene) and space (setting) and the people they meet along the way (dialogue).

Pace: how the plot is executed in terms of which scenes follow which, length of scenes and shots, presence or absence of flashbacks, cuts, voice-over work, but also literal words on the page - staging instructions, dialogue sentence structures, monologuing, and so forth.

Plot = what is written in the script

Pace = how it's written in that script

This is going to get further complicated once an entire film crew gets ahold of that script.

Plot is characters moving through time, space, and interactions in the show AKA WHAT the characters are doing.

Pace is how that script and story now in the hands of the performers is relayed to the viewers using camera angles, dialogue delivery, staging AKA HOW those characters are filmed.

Plot is the responsibility of the actors and script writers to convey.

Pace is the responsibility of the directorial and editing teams to convey.

Thus a part of the world that has good talent but poor production values (like Thailand, Philippines, or Vietnam) will always be weaker on pacing. But they can churn out something raw and brilliant IF they have a good script.

On the other hand, a place that has great everything but just really likes to mess with story structure and style, like Japan, might ALSO have weak pacing because that isn't their focus or interest.

In the first case, they lack the editing talent, money, and technology, in the second they just like to play with structure A LOT.

But it means each country that produces BL ends up needing to be judged on its own merits and choices (or lack of options) IMHO.

So, I stand by my list above. I think of it as representing all round story execution to the capacity of the country of origin. They are still the best story, although by western standards that story structure may feel a little off - depending on how you feel about that country's style of BL.

I might add a few to the above list (from late 2022-2023)

Semantic Error - of course. This show is perfect, after all.

The Eighth Sense - Korea went gritty and tense, outside their comfort zone, and executed it sublimely well

Love Tractor - Korea frmly and entirely in their comfort zone but the pace never lets up

Jun & Jun - a master class in pure sappy fluffy romance but still knuckle biting tension, I was upset at the end of every episode that i couldn't watch the next one INSTANTLY, in TV that = pitch perfect pacing

Tokyo in April is... - this is paced beautifully for Japan, very tense but with Japan's signature artsy atmosphere, it's not it's fault I didn't like the story

Laws of Attraction - this is a plot-based pacing story, like UWMA, and these tend to be the ones Thailand paces best using plot to amp up tension, unfortunately that best can still feel a little weak on actual story strcture and basic plotting, e.g. they can go off the rails easily like Manner of Death or KinnPorsche, but at least this kind of Thai show keep us intrigued for the next episode.

I'm gonna mention Bed Friend here as a lesson in pacing. If this show had stuck to it's guns and stayed 8 episodes, rather than stretching to fill 10 at the last minute, it would have been a near perfect high heat show out of Thailand. But it didn't have the confidence, and it likely wanted the money from those two added episodes. It's a real shame.

I gotta say I think this is the fans. fault.

People always want more of a good thing, or more of the same thing, it's why we get shitty 2nd seasons. Sometimes what we need to truly better cinema is LESS of the good thing - better editing, tighter scripts - because that way the pace will be superior.

Bah, anyway,

Be you didnt' want a film lesson with your spontaneous ask?

[blookyblooky]

#08: PORTAL!!!

Our story starts in the year of our lord and savior 2005. The seniors at the DigiPen Institute of Technology have a simple-to-do (Citation needed) senior project: Make a video game. A group of 'em, Nuclear Monkey Software, decided to make a first person puzzle game called Narbacular Drop. What the hell does "Narbacular" mean? No idea, but it makes the game easy to look up. You play as Princess No-Knees. That's not her God given name (Thank God), she's just called that because she can't jump. She got trapped in a dungeon by a demon because she was late on the Hospital bill, but there's a twist - The dungeon's a sentient being called Wally, and he can create portals! And thankfully, Wally's benevolent enough to let you use that to your advantage.

The game is played uniquely from a first person perspective (Hold your applause. No, seriously, your hands will fall off and sewing them back on is not within budget). You place portals at the click of your mouse, two at a time. One has blue eyes, the other has orange. These portals are only allowed on a natural surface and won't work on artificial surfaces, like metal. There's also switches, lava turtles to help you cross that piping hot magma, and boulders that can crush you. That portal thing sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it? No? Good, it'd be REALLY bad if we got dragged kicking and screaming into court over this portal thing.

Screenshot of Narbacular Drop

The game was shown at DigiPen's career fair. In the audience was one Robin Walker, who you might know as the person behind Ricochet. 

(Wait, he's NOT known for Ricochet?)

Sorry, what I meant to say was "Who you might know as one parent of the Team Fortress franchise". He thought the display of innovative puzzle design and disability representation was marvelous and contacted Nuclear Monkey Software, offering to show their work to fellow Valve employees. When they presented the game to Valve, jolly ol ' Saint Newell rose up from his dingy folding chair, spontaneously decided that the entire team was on the nice list, and gave them the gift of having jobs working at Valve Software. Two years later, the award-winning video game Portal was born!

[Please note that Narbacular Drop is responsible for the video game Portal and not responsible for the creation of the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, which was created in a pursuit of making shower curtains more hygienic.]

Portal itself was sort of like a side project in the scheme of things. It had a measly ten people on board, which might not seem measly with all the solo, self-made indie devs out and about these days, but it wasn't the norm with Valve. And that's not to mention that Half-Life 2's episodes and Team Fortress 2 were in production as well. The small team resulted in a lot of design decisions geared towards smart allocation of resources. Need other characters in the narrative but don't want to model or animate another person? Make spherical robots! Don't want to make a bunch of new assets? Reuse some from another game! Want to justify the use of reusing assets from another game? Make them set in the same universe! The person behind that other universe will complain, but it's a net gain. It's enough to make a grown scientist cry. Except me. I'm too busy taking notes to cry.

Portal is also a REALLY good demonstration of Valve's usage of play tester feedback to determine what sticks and what doesn't, kind of like how we use test subjects to determine what's shippable and what should be destroyed and left to rot in a vault. You know that whole "narrative" thing? Well, that didn't really come up until the testers asked about it. The idea of having Advanced Knee Replacements to justify the lack of fall damage stems from the snotty little know-it-alls yakking about how weird it was that the protagonist was surviving falls that a man from our competing company couldn't. And let's not forget the Weighted Companion Cube, which was brought up to encourage players to bring a vital object with them to puzzles (A box in specific). It also ended up adding to the plot of the game, giving the player a revenge angle while also giving an idea as to what the final boss would play like.

It'd be foolish not to bring up how Portal released. You see, Portal was a part of Valve's "The Orange Box", a collection of older and brand new spanking new games: The older titles make up two of the games (And older is pushing it, they were still pretty young then), Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One. The new games were: Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Team Fortress 2, and Portal. That's right, those folks at Valve dropped three big hitters on the same day, and they even made ports for the consoles of that generation! Except the Wii. You couldn't get any of these games working on the Wii if you got the finest minds from Aperture Science and the louts from Black Mesa working on it. But enough of all that, let's talk Portal!

Portal puts you into the brain of Chell, a Aperture Science test subject that's been in stasis for quite a while.

Our ever-so stubborn, orphaned, pudgy protagonist.

She finally wakes up but doesn't even get the chance to get her bearings, for a mysterious voice (GLaDOS, or Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System) starts yapping about testing! Enticed by the idea of receiving cake (Because who isn't a little famished from stasis?), she complies, and is introduced to portal technology! After getting through all 19 chambers, Chell is rewarded with a nice freshly cooked incinerator. But she's already lost her appetite by then, so she passes, and this annoys GLaDOS, ruining her already cracking guise as an apathetic emotionless robot. After traversing through the seedy unwashed parts of the labs, Chell finally gets face-to-face with GLaDOS, who, after having her morality core incinerated, tries to kill Chell with deadly neurotoxin.

A Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System

Dying's not in her schedule, so Chell proceeds to destroy all of GLaDOS' cores, which causes the facility to blow up, leaving Chell and GLaDOS outside in the aftermath. But Chell, luckily, gets dragged back into the labs by the Party Escort Bot Luckily in a relative sense. better to die in the Aperture labs than to die in the Black Mesa-created hellhole outside.

A still image of the ending

Like the story, the gameplay itself is pretty simple, but it grows more layers over the course of the game. The Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device is our pride and joy.

The Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (Or Portal Gun for short)

You place a blue portal, you place an orange portal. Neither specifically are an entrance or exit, whichever one you enter, you go out the other. The fun comes from the tests. A common application of the device is the use of momentum to gain the speed and height needed to reach an area. Or in the brilliantly put words of GLaDOS, "Speedy thing goes in, speedy thing goes out". And you might be asking "What the heck's stopping me from just placing a portal where I need to go?". Well, there's various materials that are, in mild terms, absolutely awful as portal conductors, gray tiled floors and metal just to name the main culprits. And that's not to bring up the other part of the tests!

See those buttons? Those are our state-of-the-art 1500 Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super Buttons! They activate something if you press stand on them, but they won't stay pressed. That's what our Weighted Storage Cubes are for, and they come in Companion flavor too!

1500 Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super Button and Weighted Storage Cube Demonstration (Cube and Button for short.)

Your best friend, the Weighted Companion Cube

Generally, you'd want to watch out for all that filthy... Goo down there in the pits. We have no idea what it is or where it came from, but we do know that it's incredibly acidic and you'll probably die in 4 seconds flat.

Goo Demonstration

Look out for our High Energy Pellets! You'll be atomized if you don't. Your job is to lead the pellets from the launchers into the portals with clever placement of Portal. Although the pellets fizzle out after a certain amount of time, as long as they keep going through a portal they'll stay active.

High Energy Pellet Demonstration

You might be asking "What's that thin, blue field of particles in front of the elevator? That's our Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill. It disintegrates unauthorized materials like the cubes, and while it won't disintegrate your portal gun, it'll snuff out your portals.

Emancipation Grill Demonstration

And finally, there's our Turrets. It's all the matter of whoever gets the drop on who. To ensure relatability with children every turret comes with a child-like personality. And if the children wakes up and starts to cry after the turret guns down a home invader, it'll play a lullaby to placate the child!

How to NOT deal with a Turret

How to deal with a Turret

Want some extra challenge in the chambers? Try out the Challenge modes in the Bonus Maps! Don't think those make the chambers hard enough? Well why don't you try out our Advanced Chambers since you think you're such a death-defying acrobatic smartass?

The Bonus Maps menu

Speaking of smartasses, if you want more tests to go through then you can look to the internet, as smartasses all around the world have made their own map packs, which you can download you can install more bonus maps by importing any you’ve downloaded online into the game. Alternatively, some might be “sourcemods”, which you just place in the sourcemods folder (and if you don’t have one by default then you can simply make one yourself). Of course, it’d be silly if we didn’t bring up Portal: The Flash Version, notable in that it came out before the actual game itself did! It’s popular in its own right, having a lot of Portal’s obstacles, but its own puzzles which are presented in a 2D space. It was popular enough to spawn a map pack that has its levels and original obstacles put into the realm of mind blowing 3D!

Portal: The Flash Version's menu

So where is Portal now? Well, it has a sequel (which has its own set of mods and custom maps), some non-canon side games, a compilation with its sequel on Nintendo Switch, a RTX version, a appearance in a LEGO game, a GEICO commercial, a educational program, A LOT of sourcemods for that sequel released on Steam.. I’d say it’s in a good place right now. This has been a Aperture Science blogpost, and we thank you for reading all the way to the end. We hope to see you again soon!

[jamiesfootball]

Some random fic questions for you!

1) in the Leverage AU you definitely aren't writing, which episode(s) are you most excited to (definitely not) adapt?

2) how did you come up with the ideas for the subplots in OGYGGI(YHNBGL), and how did you go about weaving them all together? (also typing that acronym requires. concentration)

3) free space! answer whichever question you wish people would ask about your fics

Aaaaaah, I love random fic questions! Thank you!

1) in the Leverage AU you definitely aren't writing, which episode(s) are you most excited to (definitely not) adapt?

While I have a massive prompt table (that I shared somewhere in my leverage au tag forever ago), I'm fairly sure I won't end up using all of them. That said, there are a few episodes in particular that have been added to the Web Of Character Arcs and are for sure getting used:

The Juror #6 Job (with Roy as the juror)

The First David Job / The Second David Job

The Broken Wing Job

The Grave Danger Job

The Three Card Monte Job

The Rashomon Job

Of the ones I'm most looking forward to adapting, I think The Three Card Monte Job is at the top of my list. It's going to be the Jamie's dad turns up episode.

Now. For job titles I currently have on the chapter list:

The First Second Job

The Little Sister Job

The Equity Trust Job

The Juror #6 Job*

The Just Married Job

The Faberge Dilemma

The Hammer Job

The Broken Wing Job*

The Son's Gambit

Special Note: The Broken Wing Job, while it shares a title, is very much not a fun little one-off romp and is not a 1:1 retelling of the episode it's named after. The Juror #6 Job, on the other hand, is very much like it's namesake, only with Roy in the place of Parker trying to learn how to get along with people without cracking skulls. Growth, baby <3

2) how did you come up with the ideas for the subplots in OGYGGI(YHNBGL), and how did you go about weaving them all together? (also typing that acronym requires. concentration)

(I rely on my phone for the acronym now)

The subplots were very much a listing of 'here's everything I wish they'd handled differently in the finale, now what can I do to fix this?'

Jamie - I think we know this one. His dad. That scene of him visiting his dad in rehab. This was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. This is what took it from 'hey I wrote a thing about Roy and Jamie discussing him reaching out to his dad' and turned it into a multi-chaptered behemoth

Roy - very much did not care for the fight in the last episode, and what (to me) felt like a lack of resolution. Did very much like that he decided to go to therapy. Decided to spin it so that the fight was why he ended up in therapy. Now I get to talk about both of those things as much as I want- yaaaaaaaay

Sam - Why. Why would you definitively have Akufo say Sam would never get to play for the Nigerian team. And then have the next thing be a shot of him on the Nigerian team. WHY. So the basic outline of Sam's subplot in this fic is him vs. Akufo, who has built a Nigerian restaurant right around the corner from Sam's restaurant.

Colin - I'm so sorry, buddy, but that kiss definitely outed you. There were cameras, bud. There were so many cameras....... HOWEVER. That is not the totality of Colin's arc! Colin's arc is very much a 'what now?' sort of thing that I shall continue to be vague about.

Keeley - Look, the show may have been lazy in her plot lines, but they left a lot of solid, strong storybeats to play around with. Her subplot really focuses on the rebuilding aspect of everything: rebuilding her relationships with Roy and Jamie, rebuilding her company under the weight of crushing guilt and debt that she now feels to her best friend for bailing her out, rebuilding her image after the leak, the breakup, and Shandy (jesus). She has a lot going on, and due to the messiness of her interpersonal relationships, there's no one area that doesn't affect the others.

Beard - Beard and Jane happy ending my beloathed. You weren't even in the first draft, but boy if I didn't find a way to sow the seeds of your inevitable destruction by lowkey giving Beard a new foundation for his support system

Nate - I just feel like they got him like. 90% of the way there. There's just a little more fine-tuning on his character arc I'd like to spiff up.

Higgins - just kidding nothing to fix here, I love him for who he is. Someone's got to keep a level head around here and keep the boat moving forward

Isaac - oh I'm sorry did you think I forgot about my boy the way my show forgot about my boy? Nuh uh. Subplot for Isaac.

As for how I weaved them all together? I've got no idea. Really, I don't. When I started to outline everything, they all just- slotted in together. I think a part of what made that easy is I have this (usually unmet) want for characters to interact with people outside their immediate plot lines in meaningful ways, which ultimately makes them part of the plot line. For example, if Sam is struggling with Akufo, then it makes sense that Jamie, someone who likes Sam, would already have sought Sam out for his own reasons. It's not like I'm doing backflips to get everybody in the same room. By wanting to be in each other's lives, they naturally become part of each other's plots, whether they realize it or not.

3) free space! answer whichever question you wish people would ask about your fics

Okay, this one stumped me, so instead I've found a question from one of those ask games:

What fic are you most excited about publishing/updating next?

The next chapter of OGYGGIYHNBGL! It is written! It is obscenely long! Longer than the first chapter! 22k words and 66 pages! But it is badly in need of edits and still has the odd [bracket fix this later] and I've just been so burnt out lately that every time I look at it I want to cry.

But that is my goal for this weekend! I want to get a decent chunk of this thing edited. I'm quite excited for it to finally see the light of day.

[jacquelinemerritt]

Dragon Ball Z: Abridged Episode 20 Review

Originally posted on October 30th, 2015

Conflating anime with wrestling is, unsurprisingly, an amazing decision.

“Namekimania 2011” is my favorite episode of Dragonball Z: Abridged, and it is my favorite for very good reasons: the episode is packed to the brim with great jokes, Team Four Star experiments with their approach to adaptation in it, and it even manages to find time to focus on the heroism and honor that are the crux of the source material.

In fact, “Namekimania” is so good that I could just list off all the great lines from the episode and end the review here. But I’m not gonna do that, because that’s no fun (though the strays are loaded with quotes this week because I have no self-control).

Let’s start with the key joke/device of this episode. “Namekimania 2011” has Team Four Star making the bold decision to reframe a somewhat inconsequential fight between Vegeta and Recoome (played by Ganxingba delightfully mimicking the staged charisma of a professional wrestler) as a live televised pro wrestling match.

And it works wonderfully, because Team Four Star commits fully to this device, incorporating an audience track of cheering and booing, having Jeice and Burter serve as announcers/commentators, and giving us “recaps” of what we’ve missed on the few times they cut away to other characters.

The “anime fight as pro wrestling” device also works extraordinarily well because it captures the ridiculousness of both of the mediums. Fights in anime are generally ridiculous affairs, with characters breaking the laws of physics and rules of the established universe very frequently, coupled with over the top blood, screams, and emotions. Wrestling similarly is over the top, with heroes and villains appearing as ridiculous caricatures, as well as allowing the wrestlers to clearly and blatantly disregard the rules in order to get an audience response.

When combined, the ridiculousness from both mediums complement each other, with the unreasonable action and caricatured fighters blending seamlessly, and it’s especially fun to see how the live commentary of Jeice and Burter serves to enhance the thrill of the fight itself.

“Namekimania” also finds time to embrace the hyperemotionalism of anime (its other extreme) in two scenes. The first is Gohan’s speech, as he walks slowly towards Recoome, broken and battered, that he is the son of Son Goku, the one man who can kick Recoome’s ass, and the second is the scene where Goku steps out of the spaceship, which pairs an 80’s rock song with a series of slow clips showing him gradually exiting the spaceship. With that scene, we know something is coming, and some serious shit is about to go down.

Rating: 5/5

If you like this review, please consider supporting me on Patreon.

Stray Observations

Recoome’s introduction speech is the greatest thing ever, and I will fight you if you say otherwise.

Gohan: “Who are you talking to?” Burter: “The audience.” Jeice: “We’re doin’ commentary, mate.”

Recoome: “Because the name’s Recoome. And it rhymes with doom. And you’re gonna be hurtin’, ALL…TOO…SOON!”

Recoome: “Silly Vegeta. The only thing Recoome sells, is merchandise!”

Spokesperson: “Spacey’s. It’s good food. In spaaace.”

Krillin: “Hey, Gohan, look! He picked Vegeta, like a…” Gohan: “Like a Vegetable, yeah.”

Krillin Owned: And we’re up to 12 with a lovely Recoome Kick.

Krillin: “Seems he threw my nervous system out of whack there. Can’t quite feel the pain. There it is. Owwwwww.”

[mildlyinterestedcreature]

do you have a favorite sciencey topic? if so tell me all about it! or if it's something not sciency that's cool too (if i got to rant you get to rant lol)

well it's not science at all but i will now be presenting my ranking of the halloween heists from brooklyn 99 (so spoilers for the whole series i guess)

Okay so I love all of them but I least beloved would be season 3. I think it's totally in character and a good heist but I don't find it quite as fun as the others. I do adore Amy's lipreading, though, and I think the way Hitchcock was involved was very fun because on the first watchthrough you can kind of tell that Hitchcock is lying when he opens the blinds, but then you'd assume that he was really trying to win for himself. One of the things that makes me love this episode a little less is how Jake comes off - which of course he acknowledges and it's not like he does it again, but I kind of hate that expression Amy gets like "why is he like this" when Jake does something immature which makes me wish we could see more of how Amy fell in love with him and how his immaturity turned from obnoxious to, well, however she sees it in the later seasons. I'm not sure because we don't have much insight on that.

Next up is season 2. Again, it's a great episode but it just doesn't quite give me that happy chemical. Part of this is because this was back when the heist was only between Holt and Jake, and then they'd just have to recruit the others for them, which isn't as fun as a free for all. Also the later seasons are just naturally more fun and exiting because of all the recurring characters and how many twists and turns you know to expect.

Then season 1. It's iconic because it's the first heist, but it's also just so fun. I love how since it's the first one you didn't know what to expect so you had no way of knowing that Jake knew what he was doing pretty much the entire time. I love how Jake assumed that Holt used one passcode for everything because of his age and Holt just kinda looked upwards and said "That would be an .. astute assumption" I love how shocked Holt is and how you can tell this is going to be an event every season. However, with it being the first one come the absence of later beloved recurring heist characters and twists and team ups.

Season 4 was very fun. I love how they thought it was Terry the whole time, I love how Gina planned the whole thing around the fact that no one knew she had false front teeth, I love that it's been going on just long enough now that you can tell there's something fishy about Gina just being out so soon. And this is Bill's first appearance, always a win. As you can see I do very much like this one but it just doesn't quite measure up in my head.

Season 8 cannot be blamed for not being top of this list. It had so much pressure riding on it as the very end of the series, it was never gonna do every single thing perfectly. But damn did it do well. Terry crashing through the wall like the kool aid man, Gina's surprise reveals, the fact that it's a two parter. And of course the very end, when they all had emotional conversations in the bullpen was the saddest/best thing ever. Holt saying that if he'd had a son and he'd turned out like Jake he'd be very proud is just the cutest. Rosa and Amy, the sleuth sisters, had an awesome talk, and of course that final shot of Jake smiling from the elevator warms and breaks my heart at the same time. But, like I said before, it can't help but leave you feeling a bit empty. Because you're never gonna see another heist.

Season 5's heist has the best twist ever and I love it so much. I love the cumberbund, I love the way the proposal plays out, I love how Jake and Amy look at eachother, I love how Cheddar was sent to get the cumberbund as Holt lifted the huge box thing up using a pulley system from his office but then it wasn't Cheddar - it was just some common bitch! Somehow, however, this one is still beat by

Season 7. I think it's kind of obvious why I like this one so much - Rosa wins. But there's also the fact that it was attempted thrice and she secretly won all three times, and the fact that it opens with people running around in easter bunny suits completely unexplained. I love Rosa. I love that she wrote her name in fire. I love the infinity gauntlet aspect.

But season 6 must be my ultimate favorite. It's just so fun. The fact that Terry is covered in gold almost the entire time, the band, the fact that it takes place in may instead of on halloween because of an accident that turned out to actually have been faked by Terry. The fact that Cheddar's toy is replaced like three times, the fact that Jake and Amy both literally bought taser presents for each other somehow? Like they both separately planned that and found those presents somehow. I love that Rosa just fucking taped Charles in a box and shipped him off?? I love Terry's dancing when he wins, and I love that by the end Kevin had come around to the heists.

[adultswim2021]

Robot Chicken #59: “President Evil” | September 28, 2008 - 11:30PM | S03E19

Man, I simply don’t care for this TV program. I’m also a little tired of the needlessly exhaustive way I cover it. Sure, I have the good taste to skip an inconsequential channel flip segment here and there, but me going sketch by sketch?? Just so I can briefly describe it and then be sassily dismissive of it? Who needs it! 

This one has Dig Dug, but real. This one has a sketch where a dad is mean to a doll. An Oceans movie but it’s more guys (some of them weird). And, I guess I’ll type slightly more about this one: A Tiger Woods sketch which I didn’t find funny until the end, when the reveal is that it’s a Nike-style ad and the slogan is “Tiger Woods: Mostly Chinese”.

The show does what it often does by having the final sketch contain a bunch of themed-sub-sketches. This time it’s nasty young people in a movie theater, shown very briefly between parodic movie trailers, but for some reason the Dig Dug sketch and the Oceans sketch isn’t part of it. Hell, they show ads in movie theaters, so the whole episode could’ve been this, and then they could have called it “Robot Chicken goes to the Cinema! Ah! What luck!”. 

The sketches in this are: A Michael Bay movie but it’s only explosions, a Gerald Ford movie that’s just him falling down the stairs in slow motion, A genre parody called “Young People on a Rythm Team”, one where Yogi Bear kills people and then Boo-Boo gets revenge called Ram-Boo-Boo, and they all fucking suck. The Yogi one is especially bad; it’s just Yogi killing people and then Boo-Boo as Rambo is basically tacked on to the end of it. 

The last trailer is 2001: A Space Odyssey but with boobs added to it, and this is accomplished by having a Playboy model named Robin Bain appear over the movie via greenscreen, with her shit out. This is pretty bird-brained, and even though I like almost any nude woman, I think Robot Chicken should stay in it’s lane when it comes to stuff like this. That being said: I checked the DVD to see if it was uncensored. It is. Huh! I suppose this is technically a first for Adult Swim, then, even though one had to wait until DVD before seeing them.

Anyway, I looked that woman up to see if she’s done any you-know-what with a you-know-what, causing it to you-know-what all over her you-know-why scenes, like the kind I like, but this cursory googling revealed that she is mostly a writer/director now, just like I'm not. Good for her.

EPHEMERA CORNER

MAIL BAG

I have a list somewhere of the weirder things turner S&P bleeped out on [AS]. My favorite one is "Bush Meat" from Black Dynamite. Stupidest one has to be a Loiter Squad episode where a character mouths a swear word in a silent film and they bleep it out even though there's no audio. Kinda related, I think pretty recently they cracked down on on-screen gun suicide, or at least when you actually see them pull the trigger. They cut it out of a Lupin VI episode. I could talk all day about S&P.

Those are both insane! I remember a showing of Back to the Future II (not on Adult Swim, obviously) that bleeped "butt-head" in a scene where Future Biff and 50s Biff say it to each other over and over, but later left in "ass". That stuff is so puzzling.

Kon writes:

Robot Chicken got cancelled because zoomers these days don't even know what action figures are, maybe they should bring it back with freaking IPADS, okay???

If they brought back Robot Chicken but it stared iPads and I could pick the shows that were playing on them??? I would be IN HEAVEN. If I could make Skibidi Toilet be on every screen, even better

it so funny to call robot chicken RC it make it sound like you are talking about the soda lol

If you like that you're going to love my soda-themed parody of the National Anthem, it goes like this:

♪ Oh Say Canned R.C.

That's all I got.

you omitted the best part of that final sketch which is the co-worker non-chalantly saying "hi larry" as he's about to gun mr. henderson and carol down.

Sorry, my friend Brayden, who probably wrote the last bag mail, is going to call me out for reusing my old "Oh Say Canned R.C." joke which I did on a message board with 5 people on it probably like ten years ago. He is probably testing to see if I will steal from myself. I just wanted to say right here and right now that it is my right and my prerogative to do whatever I want with all words. ALL. WORDS. Anyway, yes, that is funny, and it's a reference to McLean Stevenson's celebrated follow-up to M*A*S*H, Hello Larry.

the guy who plays Larry is a real star, sad he shot himself to death, removing himself from the canon.

I hope I mentioned this elsewhere, but Tim & Eric sung that guy's praises to high heaven on various commentaries (the Valentines Day Watchalong most recently). I don't know, I just like the idea of them finding a capably funny actor in the midst of all the eccentrics they cast. It is my favorite thing to think about.