#i saw that post and was like i happen to have a higher quality version of that exact screenshot

[areyouafraid]

[ravenclawloverofseverussnape]

Lily was a pretty, popular 15 year old, who behaved like all pretty popular 15 year old queen bees. She was fearless, resolute, affectionate to many and admirably sure of herself but also thoughtless, self-centred, lacking in empathy, reactive, quick to deflect blame and expected to be worshipped. In short, she was the golden child. She’d have grown out of her worst qualities and into her best ones, but unfortunately never got the chance. Severus had her on a pedestal despite there being an undertone of classist contempt in all her interactions with him even as children because he had nothing else to measure her up against. And then she was murdered, it was partially his fault, and that pedestal got raised 100 feet higher. He really needed a true ride-or-die friend (or ideally, an adult who wasn’t worthless) and never had one. I don’t know if JKR intended Lily and Severus to read as a ride-or-die friendship that he fucked up by being awful, but that’s not what she put on the page. She put on the page a brittle childhood friendship of convenience that was doomed to fail once Lily found less weird people to hang out with.

I don't know which user sent me this but thank you very much, you inspired me to make this post.

I agree, because the interactions I've seen in the books don't help me much: there are people who think that she didn't see the extent of the Marauders' bullying of Snape, I respect that point of view but I don't agree with it for one thing.

Professor Slughor said she was very intelligent, which i would have let slide, but does she believe everything the other Gryffindors tell her that Severus? Is she so gullible that she believed that James really saved Severus?

Severus tells her that he went to find out what's wrong with Remus, so that everyone can see that the Marauders are not heroes, what does Lily do? She accuses him of being obsessed with them, Lily says that Mulciber put a spell on Mary (a Gryffindor girl who happens to defend her) and when Severus points out that is exactly what the Marauders do to him, she He talks about how: "at least they don't use dark arts" which that simple phrase drives me crazy because for any good friend it wouldn't matter if they used dark arts, I would support them to defend themselves in any way, because Severus didn't use dark arts when he was a student to torture, but rather; in case of defending himself, to occupy him.

I'm going to say something, do you really think she's smart? If she were really smart she would have tried to ask Severus' version, not even a simple: are you okay? did anything happen to you? she didn't even ask that and for me that's a failure.

Lily is the one who blames Severus for the bullying he receives at school, you know with that of "at least they don't use dark arts? If she's so smart, why the hell doesn't she know that there's an entire school that teaches (to a certain extent?) the dark arts, she doesn't empathize with anyone, if she was such a good friend why didn't she get help for Snape? And the only time she "defends" him, she doesn't do it well.

Side note: any spell, be it washing or levitation can do damage depending on how the user uses it, the dark arts must be explored to defend against them, whether they are dark arts or not they do damage anyway.

In Snape's worst memory he only talks to James , I saw an interesting post where she mentions that Lily points out that James changes when she's around, good girl you're on the right track, she takes out her wand but..... doesn't she do magic with Item? If she's so smart, doesn't she know how to do non-verbal spells? and I would let it go that maybe she didn't defend him because she was scared of Sirius and Peter, but isn't she supposed to be popular? she could have called someone or just come in fighting.

Or he could have undone the spell but what did he do? He spoke to James alone, only taking out his wand to show.

Later Severus calls her a mudblood, she coldly replies: I would wash my pants Snivellus which only gives me a hint: Lily knows that Severus is poor, the theory that "Lily doesn't know the extent of Severus' domestic abuse and bullying" no longer applies, this little snippet confirms it for me.

Then we move on to the scene, Snape apologizes to Lily, she argues that he calls people like her mudbloods, why would that be any different, at which point I tear my hair out, because it shows that she is capable of tolerating insults as long as they are not directed at her, because if they are directed at her now it is a problem.

Then she marries James Potter, which (Snape aside) makes him a masochist to me, because who would go out and marry a sex offender? (take note: the worst memory was sexual harassment) James went on to harass her and what do they come up with? becoming parents in the middle of a war.

Then there's the hunt for the Potter family, anyone would think that Lily would have her wand on hand or even James would have it on hand in case Voldemort could find them, but no, that night Lily forgot that she is a witch (here I criticize the writing of this character).

In short: I don't like how superficial she is, her mentality that Gryffindors can do whatever they want because they are good, her lack of understanding of Severus' situations, how manipulable she is that she falls into the absurd, the fact that they want to sell her to me as "Miss Perfect" makes me a little angry.

[humanradiojmp]

A tale of two GummiGoo plushies.

I had briefly mention in the Pomni plushie post that there was a whole story about the GummiGoo plushie. And now that I have the one on the left, I can tell you what happened.

Not long after episode 2 came out I rewatched it with my mom and my brother. They were both equally traumatized about the confetti explosion of the gummy gator and both heard about how i would like the plushie of the character. Fast forward a few weeks and my mom (bless her heart) and told me but not really that she got me the plushie for my birthday and how proud she was to find the website all on her own. However, when I saw the “official website” on her phone, soemthing didn’t seem right. I borrowed her phone, took one look at it and said, “Mom, this is bootleg.”

My mom’s reaction:

So now there was this whole dilemma of what to do about getting a real plushie (since she knew the studio got most/all of their funding from their merchandise) as well as did she just get scammed. Especially because here bank was like “hey, you sure you trust this place?” But, as you can see, we did get something from the bootleg, so her money wasn’t just taken, but it’s still a fake. An impersonation of what he could only hope to be.

Today, I got the real one. And you can see, there is definitely a difference. For one, the real one (left) is bigger, and noticeably more saturated with the colors. The expression and overall shape is also different. Fake GummiGoo almost looks worried or apprehensive while Real GummiGoo is pretty confident in himself. Not as noticeable with the picture, but the bootleg has noticeably cheap, likely polyester fabric making him up, while the official version has much softer higher quality fabric. Bootleg is also less filled with fluff and has some give, while official is form as a rock. I will say, personal preference, I do like plushies with a little give so it’s better to hug, so that’s the only win fake one has over the real one.

Either way, I gave the fake one to my brother because he was like “I’ll take it” and I put real GummiGoo on the shelf with the others.

[mariacallous]

Recently, I was using Google and stumbled upon an article that felt eerily familiar.

While searching for the latest information on Adobe’s artificial intelligence policies, I typed “adobe train ai content” into Google and switched over to the News tab. I had already seen WIRED’s coverage that appeared on the results page in the second position: “Adobe Says It Won’t Train AI Using Artists’ Work. Creatives Aren’t Convinced.” And although I didn’t recognize the name of the publication whose story sat at the very top of the results, Syrus #Blog, the headline on the article hit me with a wave of déjà vu: “When Adobe promised not to train AI on artists’ content, the creative community reacted with skepticism.”

Clicking on the top hyperlink, I found myself on a spammy website brimming with plagiarized articles that were repackaged, many of them using AI-generated illustrations at the top. In this spam article, the entire WIRED piece was copied with only slight changes to the phrasing. Even the original quotes were lifted. A single, lonely hyperlink at the bottom of the webpage, leading back to our version of the story, served as the only form of attribution.

The bot wasn’t just copying journalism in English—I found versions of this plagiarized content in 10 other languages, including many of the languages that WIRED produces content in, like Japanese and Spanish.

Articles that were originally published in outlets like Reuters and TechCrunch were also plagiarized on this blog in multiple languages and given similar AI images. During late June and early July, while I was researching this story, the website Syrus appeared to have gamed the News results for Google well enough to show up on the first page for multiple tech-related queries.

For example, I searched “competing visions google openai” and saw a TechCrunch piece at the top of Google News. Below it were articles from The Atlantic and Bloomberg comparing the rival companies’ approaches to AI development. But then, the fourth article to appear for that search, nestled right below these more reputable websites, was another Syrus #Blog piece that heavily copied the TechCrunch article in the first position.

As reported by 404 Media in January, AI-powered articles appeared multiple times for basic queries at the beginning of the year in Google News results. Two months later, Google announced significant changes to its algorithm and new spam policies, as an attempt to improve the search results. And by the end of April, Google shared that the major adjustments to remove unhelpful results from its search engine ranking system were finished. “As of April 19, we’ve completed the rollout of these changes. You’ll now see 45 percent less low-quality, unoriginal content in search results versus the 40 percent improvement we expected across this work,” wrote Elizabeth Tucker, a director of product management at Google, in a blog post.

Despite the changes, spammy content created with the help of AI remains an ongoing, prevalent issue for Google News.

“This is a really rampant problem on Google right now, and it's hard to answer specifically why it's happening,” says Lily Ray, senior director of search engine optimization at the marketing agency Amsive. “We've had some clients say, ‘Hey, they took our article and rehashed it with AI. It looks exactly like what we wrote in our original content but just kind of like a mumbo-jumbo, AI-rewritten version of it.’”

At first glance, it was clear to me that some of the images for Syrus’ blogs were AI generated based on the illustrations’ droopy eyes and other deformed physical features—telltale signs of AI trying to represent the human body.

Now, was the text of our article rewritten using AI? I reached out to the person behind the blog to learn more about how they made it and received confirmation via email that an Italian marketing agency created the blog. They claim to have used an AI tool as part of the writing process. “Regarding your concerns about plagiarism, we can assure you that our content creation process involves AI tools that analyze and synthesize information from various sources while always respecting intellectual property,” writes someone using the name Daniele Syrus over email.

They point to the single hyperlink at the bottom of the lifted article as sufficient attribution. While better than nothing, a link which doesn’t even mention the publication by name is not an adequate defense against plagiarism. The person also claims that the website’s goal is not to receive clicks from Google’s search engine but to test out AI algorithms in multiple languages.

When approached over email for a response, Google declined to comment about Syrus. “We don’t comment on specific websites, but our updated spam policies prohibit creating low-value, unoriginal content at scale for the purposes of ranking well on Google,” says Meghann Farnsworth, a spokesperson for Google. “We take action on sites globally that don’t follow our policies.” (Farnsworth is a former WIRED employee.)

Looking through Google’s spam policies, it appears that this blog does directly violate the company’s rules about online scraping. “Examples of abusive scraping include: … sites that copy content from other sites, modify it only slightly (for example, by substituting synonyms or using automated techniques), and republish it.” Farnsworth declined to confirm whether this blog was in violation of Google’s policies or if the company would de-rank it in Google News results based on this reporting.

What can the people who write original articles do to properly protect their work? It’s unclear. Though, after all of the conversations I’ve had with SEO experts, one major through line sticks out to me, and it’s an overarching sense of anxiety.

“Our industry suffers from some form of trauma, and I'm not even really joking about that,” says Andrew Boyd, a consultant at an online link-building service called Forte Analytica. “I think one of the main reasons for that is because there's no recourse if you're one of these publishers that's been affected. All of a sudden you wake up in the morning, and 50 percent of your traffic is gone.” According to Boyd, some websites lost a majority of their visitors during Google’s search algorithm updates over the years.

While many SEO experts are upset with the lack of transparency about Google’s biggest changes, not everyone I spoke with was critical of the prevalence of spam in search results. “Actually, Google doesn't get enough credit for this, but Google's biggest challenge is spam.” says Eli Schwartz, the author of the book Product-Led SEO. “So, despite all the complaints we have about Google’s quality now, you don’t do a search for hardware and then find adult sites. They’re doing a good enough job.” The company continues to release smaller search updates to fight against spam.

Yes, Google sometimes offers users a decent experience by protecting them from seeing sketchy pornography websites when searching unrelated, popular queries. But it remains reasonable to expect one of the most powerful companies in the world—that has considerable influence over how online content is created, distributed, and consumed—to do a better job of filtering out plagiarizing, unhelpful content from the News results.

“It's frustrating, because we see we're trying to do the right thing, and then we see so many examples of this low-quality, AI stuff outperforming us,” says Ray. “So I'm hopeful that it's temporary, but it's leading to a lot of tension and a lot of animosity in our industry, in ways that I've personally never seen before in 15 years.” Unless spammy sites with AI content are stricken from the search results, publishers will now have less incentive to produce high-quality content and, in turn, users will have less reason to trust the websites appearing at the top of Google News.

[veronika-tserber]

Hello there! I just saw that you are doing free analysis of the 2nd house. I'd like to have one. My D.O.B. is 18th September 2004. Time - 1:42 A.M. Place of Birth:- Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.

Thankyou 🫀

Hey! ❤ Here we go!

The data:

2nd house in Leo

The Sun in the 3H

Sun conjunct Mars and Jupiter

Sun sextile Saturn on the AS

Venus in the 2H

Venus opposite Neptune in the 8H

I use the Whole Signs system! :)

Firstly, if you don’t know what Sabian Symbols are, please check my post HERE. ❤

So, your 2nd house in Leo tells me that your self-esteem and identity are closely linked to your material stability. Simply put, making money boosts your self-confidence greatly. The ruler in the 3rd and the 3H stellium in Virgo definitely point to the potential to earn money by using your intellect, and communication skills, and being detail-oriented, service-oriented, and analytical. I am sure you are quite perfectionistic and responsible.

The Sun is at an Aries degree, and the Sabian Symbol is called: “A Flag at Half-Mast in Front of a Public Building”. It’s essentially about the wish to be remembered after you die, and since it’s the symbol of your Sun, you definitely want your personality, accomplishments, and service to the community to be your legacy. You don’t want to simply make money - you want to become someone who brings value to people and the community (this is supported by the fact that your North Node is in the 11th house of social groups, causes, and higher aspirations/ideals). You need to be recognized for your talents and self-expression, and with Mars and Jupiter conjoining your Sun, you probably have or will have an actual, practical game plan and vision for how to make that happen. It could involve pursuing higher education, and being really driven and ambitious in your studies.

The Sun/Mars and Sun/Jupiter conjunctions are a big deal - the planets are cazimi, which makes them big parts of your personality. Although Mars and Jupiter aren’t at their most potent state in Virgo, they are still fiery, masculine planets that point to your strong ambition and courage to act upon your ideas and plans. You can be prone to identify yourself with the action that you take, the goals that you have, or/and your beliefs and philosophy about life. Nonetheless, these planets give you the strength to overcome obstacles and stay strong and firm in the face of difficulty which will be key to how you achieve material stability and a greater sense of self-worth in life.

The 2nd house also relates to our health and stamina, so I feel like with the Sun/Mars/Jupiter, you are blessed with great vitality, energy, and physical strength.

With the ruler in the 3rd, and Mercury + Jupiter here, you definitely are driven to learn, and education is important to you, as it's also a doorway to a better income and stability in your life. I feel like your father figure has been a positive influence, and someone supportive of your ambitions, goals, and education, or someone who was also hard-working and expected excellence out of himself and others.

Saturn sits right on your AS, which is not an easy placement, but one that definitely makes you strive to become the best version of yourself. You might have trouble relaxing, and be prone to overthink, though. However, if you manage to use Saturn's energy in a positive way, it can help you reach great stability and abundance in life, as it makes a sextile to the Sun. So, definitely, with time, you will learn how to raise the vibration of your Saturn, and strive for excellence and quality in all that you do without getting burned out! At least, I hope so!

As I said, your 2nd house is about much more than simple survival - it’s about the drive to leave a legacy and be remembered as a worthy, helpful, and responsible person and Saturn can definitely help you reach that standard. Let’s take a quick look at the Sabian of your Saturn and the AS - “A Leader of Men Wrapped in an Invincible Cloak of Power”. That's amazing. It's also at an Aries degree, which adds an extra sprinkle of leadership ability. This symbol urges you to lead and work for the good of all people, not just for personal benefit. Some of the keywords include: quiet, unassuming strength, charisma, huge personalities, leadership, and its honors and responsibilities. The negatives can be: “shows of superiority”, abusing power, megalomania, and “having the weight of the world on your shoulders”. I think all of this speaks for itself.

I am curious to know how this Saturn on the AS has played out so far in your life - I see that you are relatively young, so maybe you’ve experienced more of the lower vibration of this placement such as having authority figures try to suppress your self-expression, or being burdened with huge responsibilities/having to grow up too fast, too soon. It’s no picnic, and Saturnian cycles will be keys to your development as a person, as well as to your ambitions and position in life. Saturnian cycles: 7,14,21,28 (Saturn return - really big deal!), etc…Definitely, the focus in this lifetime has a lot to do with becoming an authority figure, taking on responsibilities, being a leader, but also being of service to others - perhaps through your communication skills and intellect. I'd advise you to look deeper into your chart ruler, the Moon, and the fact that it’s placed at the apex of a T-Square. That’s a major clue to your service and self-realization in this lifetime, although the squares in the configuration have wide orbs.

Now, let’s finally take a look at Venus in your 2nd. It’s at an Aquarius degree, and the Sabian is called “Children on a Swing in the Safety of a Huge Oak Tree”. Venus here can bring blessings to your ability to make money, and you probably love to spend it on things that enhance your personal beauty or your home aesthetic. It can definitely point to overspending, especially since the Sun is the ruler, too, but I feel like your Virgo stellium can quickly get you back on track in that regard. The oak tree is a symbol of enormous strength and reliability, and the children’s play shows our ability to rest and enjoy knowing that someone or something is taking care of us. It can speak of being blessed when it comes to money and simply enjoying life while resources flow to you, easily. However, the opposition to Neptune is really jumping out to me, so let's take a look.

Neptune at a Piscean degree and the Sabian is all about social class and status. It’s in the 8H, so perhaps, you have visions and ideals of wealth and power and tend to see people as standing on different “levels” of prestige. You can dream of climbing to the top and acquiring a lot of power and wealth, and the message is to focus on your own position, and not worry about who’s “above” or “beneath” you. Careful with becoming delusional or manipulative when it comes to other people’s money, and the drive to acquire them, though. I checked out Placidus, and your 2nd house cusp is at the 20th, Scorpio degree, so I feel like you could actually be quite attached to money - especially as a source of control and safety. I have no doubt you have issues with being controlling - there is no other way with Saturn and that Virgo stellium.

This opposition is giving me bad vibes, not gonna lie. This is a big stretch, but I feel like you could have grown up in a social institution, or have had a significant financial loss in your life, or some other type of loss of safety and stability. Sometimes, Saturn on the AS (especially if it’s exact) points to being an orphan or growing up really poor/limited. The Sabian speaks of the “safety of a huge oak tree”, which can be related to being under the wing of social security and religious/social institutions. When we pair it with Neptune at a Pisces degree, and in the 8th house, it starts to feel like you haven’t had this kind of security, and you haven’t been able to simply be like those children playing and enjoying a carefree existence.

That's one scenario out of many possibilities, and if I explore all of them, this post would be 30 km long. 😀 If you are open to it, we can discuss it privately, as I am curious to know how this aspect has manifested for you. It would be helpful if you remember what happened at the time Saturn was transiting your Neptune, which was around the middle of 2021!

But all and all, you can become an authority figure by using your strong personality and communication skills to serve and lead others. This will help you reach your goal of leaving a legacy and being remembered for your deeds, and it's also the key to your financial abundance and prosperity. Just be careful of illusions and losses due to unrealistic expectations or self-destructive tendencies.

Please, let me know how all of this resonated for you, and have a great day/night! ☀🌙☀

[allthemusic]

Week ending: 11 June 1953

Okay, I think this is actually coronation week, as we see the return of the coronation song we saw, in another version, and another new, relevant song. Also, another version of Terry's theme from Limelight, but that's less coronation-relevant and more just a thing that happened.

Coronation Rag - Winifred Atwell (peaked at No. 5)

So, this is basically the same song as the last Winifred Atwell offering, Britannia Rag. A medley of vaguely patriotic songs, all done in a ragtime sort of style.

It's maybe quicker? I certainly can appreciate the raw skill involved in playing quite that many notes that quickly. But otherwise, I've not much new to add.

The "pub" style piano gets grating very quickly, but there is a bit where it lends the lower notes a sort of fuzz that sounds like a swarm of bees. Not necessarily intentional, but slightly cool.

In desperation for something to say, I googled this song to see if there were any interesting stories about it and found only one rather sad BBC Radio 2 write-up, that even says that "Truth be told, Coronation Rag isn’t a spectacular piece of music or even one of Winifred’s best-loved tunes." Which just about sums up Coronation Rag.

I guess I said it last time, but it's cool that one of the big hits celebrating the Queen's coronation was from a Trinidadian black woman who'd moved to Britain - the Commonwealth taking a starring role in the post-Windrush fifties! That surely says something about Britain's changing national identity and values, right?

In a Golden Coach (There's a Heart of Gold) - Dickie Valentine (7)

And we're back to this song, this time by Dickie Valentine. I think I quite liked his last outing, but I'm not sure he can save this song, which is, like last time, historically interesting, but musically quite dull.

Dickie's version is slicker, and has been jazzed up with more instruments, which I like. It feels a higher-quality affair, with some vaguely patriotic brass, and some of the strings at the end that are really quite slick and smooth. There's also a fabulous bit of dreamy xylophone (celeste?) in the introduction, which was a fun surprise.

Unfortunately, you've also lost what made the last version interesting, which was the spoken-word introduction. Its loss makes the song feel a bit more modern, but much less interesting, at least to me. I don't always love spoken-word bits in songs - in fact, I often dislike them - but for this song, which is so tied to historical events, it felt right, like a newscaster offering commentary.

And when Dickie starts singing, I have to actively stifle a yawn. There's a reason I was so focussed on the instrumentation. Dickie sings so slowly, and enunciates so carefully, and I just can't get past it, especially when the lyrics are so safe and sugary. Yawn.

Actually, this would be a great lullaby, genuinely. I think if I had a baby in 1953, I would play this version to put them to sleep.

Terry's Theme from Limelight - Ron Goodwin (3)

This repeat appearance, on the other hand, is probably an improvement on Frank Chackfield's cover.

I said on that song that it felt familiar, like something I might have heard on Classic FM in the background - I suspect, hearing this version, that I might have just been recognising Ron Goodwin's version, which is, compared to Frank's version, a much higher-quality affair.

Whereas Frank's cover came from the hazy world of light music and orchestral easy listening, Ron's has some genuine classical heft to it. I couldn't say why this is the case, except that it just feels like it has more textural variation, with the quieter bits hitting less hard and the louder bits hitting harder, so that the theme, when it comes back in after the quiet bits, feels genuinely magnificent.

It also gives more individual instruments moments to shine. I can hear individual violins making a break for it with the counterpart while the cellos take up the theme, or flutes going off on a little fanciful twiddly bit, or a harp plinging away as some oboes cut across and the horns prop it all up. I like it, the orchestra feels like an orchestra should, all individual personalities and quirks!

I assumed, given all this, that Ron Goodwin's version might be the original, but no. Neither Ron nor Frank were the originators of this song. Which means I can legitimately play the "who did it better" game - and while Frank's version wasn't bad, per se, I do think Ron's is superior.

Well, that was a repetitive collection of hits. We had Winifred Atwell's repeat of her previous hit, then a cover of an already dull song, then a cover of an instrumental. At least they were all reasonably different, I guess, but I can't say I was thrilled when I realised what I had lined up today. Still, my favourite is pretty clear, at least in my mind...

Favourite song of the bunch: Terry's Theme from Limelight

[wilwheaton]

Hi Will, I saw your tags about being a functioning alcoholic for years.

As someone who doesn't drink and doesn't really understand the draw of alcohol, what about drinking made it appeal to you? No judgment, I have my own struggles, but what do you think drew you to alcohol? Was it the taste, the social aspects of drinking, the feelings it gave you?

Thanks for the cool posts, love your work!

It's complicated. The shortest version is that I sincerely like the experience of having a cocktail. I like brewing and drinking beer. In moderation, it's not a bad thing. My problem was I couldn't -- I can't -- drink in moderation.

I'm a child abuse and exploitation survivor with narcissistic parents who hurt me so much, I had to end contact with them for my own mental health and quality of life.

For around a decade, starting in my early 30s, I spent most of my time and my energy trying to communicate to them how much pain and trauma I had experienced, hoping that they would accept their role in it, and we could heal together. And for ten years, they refused to acknowledge a single thing that happened to me. My father continued to be my bully, and my mother continued to support him, blaming me for everything he did to me.

I didn't understand why they were so cruel to me. I didn't understand why they treated me like a thing, while they clearly and obviously adored and loved my brother and sister. It hurt so much, at some point made the connection that drinking in excess made the pain disappear for a little bit, with the added benefit of being an act of self harm. I started drinking more and more and more until I was a functioning alcoholic, numbing my pain and pouring the evenings away in search of the bottom of a bottle I could never find, hoping that maybe I'd just fall asleep in it and never wake up.

That wasn't healthy, and it was having a terrible impact on my family. With my wife's help and the support of a couple friends who have many years of sobriety, I was able to make the choice to stop drinking alcohol, and to start intensive therapy to heal the wounds I was hoping to numb. Every day, I make the choice to continue not drinking or hurting myself. As of today, it's been a little over 2300 or so days, taken one day at a time. Today is another one of those days.

Alcoholism isn't a solution to anything, unless you're looking for a guaranteed way to have a shitty, terrible, painful life that ends before it otherwise would.

Last thing: I knew for at least a year that I needed to quit drinking. I didn't know how to do it, because I thought that AA was the only way, and I didn't want to be involved with a group, or have to pretend I believed in some kind of higher power. But a friend of mine, who has like 15 years, told me they didn't do AA. They worked with a therapist and a support network. So that's what I did and it is how I've stayed sober.

I know that AA works for some people, but it isn't the only way, and I wonder if I'm not the only person who didn't know that.

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (October 9-15, 2022)

Supreme shock sensation of our times: a Godzilla comic released on schedule! Godzilla: Monsters & Protectors - All Hail the King! #1 dropped on Wednesday. I'll confess I forgot about it for a couple of days; your priorities get scrambled when you're recovering from knee surgery. This is a direct sequel to last year's Monsters & Protectors; I don't recommend going in blind. Two big reasons to pick it up: Gabara's debut in American comics (in a dream, natch) and a professional Xilien troll who muses over which reaction .gif he should deploy. Yeah, me too.

Toho released a teaser and this very cool still for the upcoming short Fest Godzilla 3: Gigan's Attack, showing off the Showa Gigan replica suit Shinichi Wakasa built. It's strange to see it opposite FinalGoji (presumably the same stunt suit from last year's Godzilla vs. Hedorah short). I guess it's just his destiny to face Godzilla suits that are barely holding themselves together.

I cannot hope to comprehensively cover the deluge of Godzilla merchandise forever threatening my bank account in this column, but I would like to spotlight this enamel Baragon pin, designed by Christian Gonzalez for Ghost X Ghost. When I saw it my hands simply moved to order of their own volition.

The Dino De Laurentiis King Kong films are getting format upgrades. StudioCanal has a 4K restoration of the 1976 remake slated for November 28, while Umbrella Entertainment is bringing King Kong Lives, long out of print in the States, to Blu-ray on January 18. Neither company is American, but 4Ks don't have region codes and I hear Umbrella Blu-rays are typically region-free.

Probably neither will be a buy for me. The color grading on the 4K King Kong doesn't look great, and the special features don't measure up to the Blu-ray Shout! released last year. I will grant that the King Kong Lives Blu looks like a winner, with great packaging and new special features including a Ray Morton audio commentary. (They had to be new; the old DVD didn't have a thing to mine.) But it's not exactly one of my favorites, and since Shout! recently picked up the rights to it, I'd rather hold out for a version I don't have to import.

Just over a year after it premiered at Fantastic Fest, Iké Boys is out on digital courtesy of (they just keep coming up) Shout! Factory. Hopefully a physical release will follow, because this heartfelt American tribute to tokusatsu doesn't deserve to be buried in the Google Play Store. Set in the last month of 1999, it concerns a pair of Oklahoma tokusatsu geeks and a Japanese exchange student trying to prevent the apocalypse, empowered by the obscure 1969 anime film that predicted it. It's very low-budget and hits a lot of predictable coming-of-age beats, but it's got a good heart and Yumiko Shaku (yes, Akane in Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla) classes it up. Also... it's not often I'm pandered to so directly. The director's one of us, to put it mildly.

Big thing are happening on the bootleg circuit... a couple of them last week, but I never posted about them on Tumblr and this is the first installment of this column. Yesterday, Skeweds Translations posted fansubs for What to Do with the Dead Kaiju?, Toei and Shochiku's kaiju comedy with no U.S. release outside of film festivals in sight. The film is catastrophically bad, I'm sorry to say, failing as a satire and as a genre exercise; Day of the Kaiju handled the same premise far better in a quarter of the time. But if you're so inclined, you can find a copy of the movie itself on the cat site... along with a higher-quality copy of Shin Ultraman than was uploaded there previously. I don't know where these things are coming from (Zarab?), but I'm not complaining.

And in the how-can-this-be-real category, a treat for your ears: the recently unearthed Hong Kong dub of Hanuman and the Seven Ultramen. As in Godzilla vs. Megalon, Ted Thomas, Chris Hilton, and Warren Rooke voice many of the characters. You won't believe the words coming out of their mouths—I don't think they did either. Between the child murder, checkmated atheist, and Hanuman's unquenchable thirst for carnage, this was always one of the kaiju movies with the most jaw drops per minute, and it just got better. A VHS containing the dub turned up in Lebanon; @Redcome40977685, @PrissMegaforce, Omayyad, and Elie Al Hajj got it digitized and @spacehunter-m synced the audio up to a fine-looking widescreen version.

[natsubeatsrock]

Natsu Ship Tier List

I said I like a lot of ships with Natsu before. I've also seen a lot of pairings for Natsu from others on AO3 and FF.net. Let's be more specific as we rank them from worst to best.

Of course, before we get too far into this...

Lucy Tier

This tier is a throwback to the post that inspired this one.

Natsu and Lucy

It sucks and I hate it.

Let's move on.

Bottom Tier

This tier exists because I decided to look up several different ships for this tier list.

Natsu and Igneel

There's just about one thing worse than the incestuous vibes this one gives. The mental image of this happening. Yeesh.

Natsu and Gildarts

This one is helped by the fact that it's not involving a human and dragon relationship. That's it.

Natsu and Wendy

The real reason this fails for me is that Wendy absolutely sees Natsu as an older brother figure. That's not changing anytime soon, regardless of their age.

Low Tier

This is a tier of ships that I don't really like.

Natsu and Mavis

This lands at the bottom of this tier by the simple virtue of involving Mavis. I'm not going through arguments about pedophilia or stealing Zeref's girl for any reason.

Natsu and Laki

I have to look at any Laki ship and think, "She likes men?" This is still the case, even if it involves my favorite character in the series.

Natsu and Bickslow

[Remember to copy-paste the previous entry before posting, but switch Laki to Bickslow and men to anyone.]

Natsu and Freed

I can't understand the logic behind Freed being with Natsu in any meaningful sense. I might need to watch episodes 73-75 to get this.

Natsu and Loke

I don't know how big the Nalu/Lolu fight is that the solution could be "just ship the two guys together" for fights between fandom. But I'm not a fan of that trope in any iteration.

Natsu and Anna

Do I hate the idea of a ship between Natsu and a Heartfilia? Honestly, it just rubs me the wrong way.

Natsu and Cobra

It's not that this pairing is bad. I have to imagine breaking up a pretty nice pairing that Cobra's already in. 

Natsu and Elfman

[Remember to copy-paste the previous entry before posting, but replace Cobra with Elfman.]

Middle Tier

This tier has okay ships. I might read a story from here if I'm in the mood.

Natsu and Laxus

I'm not really interested in most Laxus ships. This would be more interesting as a BroTP. 

Natsu and Ikaruga

I saw a story with these two together, but that's it. There are better ships between Natsu and a swordswoman. Or Natsu and another person with pink hair.

Natsu and Sayla

Same as Natsu and Ikaruga, but they're both demons. Yes, I'm giving that as a reason for the advantage.

Natsu and Brandish

This is a couple bonding over their shared interest in messing with Lucy. It's really that simple.

Natsu and Sting

I'm pretty sure this doesn't have the same hangups as Natsu and Wendy. I could be persuaded into seeing this as a romantic ship. 

Natsu and Hisui

Yes, I know they've barely interacted. If you couldn't guess by now, I don't care.

Natsu and Levy

This would be a tier higher if I didn't like Gajevy as much as I do. Two of my favorite characters in the series are in one ship. 

High Tier

Ships in this tier are ideas that I'm willing to read and write stories for.

Natsu and Ultear

This is the higher-quality version of my thoughts on Natsu and Levy. I like both characters and don't need to worry about a canon ship breaking up. (cries in Graytear and Last Ages)

Natsu and Gray

This is the only ship where it's okay to consider Gray a tsundere, as far as I'm concerned. The second set of OVA openings is the Gratsu anthem. Fight me!

Natsu and Meredy

Remember what I said about pink hair ships? Easily the best example of fandom making a ship work for me. The start of my descent towards madly shipping Natsu with other characters.

Natsu and Mirajane

No, it's not the Dragneel-Strauss ship I'm known for liking. It's still cool in the right circumstances. 

Natsu and Cana

The ship behind my first story. There's a lot I like about this one, but not enough to put it in the next tier.

Top Tier

These are my absolute favorite ships involving Natsu.

Natsu and Juvia

At first, it was about intangibles like aesthetics and involving characters I really like. Once the Avatar arc happened, I wanted this ship to happen more. Fan stuff is just gravy on top, and it's great gravy.

Natsu and Erza

This is my favorite ship within the Strongest Team which involves Natsu. The intimidation factor is often overplayed by fans, in my view. Incidentally, I also have three top ships I'd put on a similar list for Erza (Jerza, Grayza, and this).

Natsu and Lisanna

The top and bottom of my tiers shouldn't be too shocking to anyone. This ship has been my favorite for Natsu ever since first going through the Edolas arc in the manga. Mashima should have done more with these two. I will hear no counterarguments.

Let me know if I forgot any worth mentioning.

[maxwell-grant]

OK, I know this will probably be painful, and I may be a bad mutual for asking but...would you be willing to identify what, in your opinion are the bottom five worst Shadow adaptations, and give a detailed breakdown of why they were so lousy?

Oh christ, okay. I don't think you're gonna get as much of a detailed breakdown for these compared to some of the others, because I take more issue with adaptations that do have good qualities but also big or deep problems to talk about.

For example, I can't include Garth Ennis's Shadow in this list because the comic has a lot of strong points to it, despite a deeply, deeply detestable take on The Shadow's character, where as the rest of the Dynamite run doesn't reach neither the lows or highs of his run. Likewise, Andy Helfer's run has a couple or a couple dozen moments every issue that make me want to tear something to shreds in frustration, but it's also at many points a really good comic with great art and some occasionally very inspired writing. Really, I'd just be repeating myself talking about what I hate in those.

But, fine, let's list some of the others.

I think I'm just gonna have to get the elephant in the room out of the way here, and address that I won't be including Si Spurrier's 2017 Dynamite mini in this list, and I think at least some of you might be angry it's not Number 1 by default. I'm doing this because I intend to one day really revisit it, think about it and it's reception and what it was trying to do, and talk about it on it's own, now that it's been 5 years and everyone has moved on and we can maybe talk about it without kneejerk hatred driving everyone nuts (your mileage may vary on how warranted it was).

I'm also not going to be talking about James Patterson's new novel, because I haven't read it. It seems to be considered a forgettable potboiler by mainstream critics and a resounding failure by everyone who likes the character whether they've read the book or not, and frankly I don't have it in me to learn what the fuzz was about anytime soon, I got my hands way too full as is.

And I won't be including the Batman x Shadow crossovers here, because again, they do have a lot of virtues that put them far ahead of some of the really worst Shadow media, and I've talked enough about how badly I think they mangled The Shadow, which is really the big problem I have with them (well, that and Tim Sale blatantly copying a Michael Kaluta cover, that was really shitty). I don't really hate them anymore, I just get tired and frustrated thinking about parts of them, I said my piece as is. Really, my frustration over this comic is what inspired me to start writing about The Shadow here, so I guess in a way I do owe it at least that much.

5: Archie Comics's Shadow

I think some of you might be wondering why this isn't ranked higher, but to be honest, I don't actually harbor any hatred towards this. I mean, I have to include it, but I find it kinda silly that some people even today actually care about the existence of this comic enough to hate it.

For fans back then? Oh yeah, obviously, but this dropped to such instantaneous backlash that it never really got to live past 6 issues. Really, everything wrong about it can be understood immediately from the covers, and I've actually read the comic in it's entirety to see if there was anything worth taking. I found only a couple of things of note but, no, this really is just a painfully mediocre superhero comic that happens to have a couple of Shadow names in it. If anything, it gets too much credit.

The actual contents of what it is are never going to justify it's reputation, but the existence of it and the disproportionate response to it is the funniest and most enduring legacy it could ever ask for. This whole comic is The Shadow's version of Spongebob's embarassing Christmas photo.

4: David Liss's The Shadow Now

This is another "The Shadow as an immortal in modern times" comic and I think you may have noticed the pattern with those by now. I may revisit this eventually and I do have some moments from it saved for reference, but overall: It sucks, and it doesn't even suck in a way that lets me talk much about it, it's a diet version of Chaykin's Shadow. If Archie's Shadow is a generic mediocre superhero comic wearing The Shadow's name, this is a generic crime story playing beats from movie. The Shadow is an asshole and not even a grandiose or sinister one, he just feels like a sleazy douche in a costume. The art is a 50/50 coin toss between appropriately moody and "Google images with a filter on them", I don't remember anything about the plot other than Khan had a bomb again and he had a daughter, and there were new versions of the agents and the Harry stand-in turned evil and Lamont shacked up with Margo's descendant which, uh, no. I don't really hate this but I really have nothing nice to say about this comic other than Colton Worley's art is nice sometimes. I can't really muster anything else to say here.

3: Invisible Avenger

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ

ZZZZZZZZZZ...

...uuh, wha-

Yeah, I remember nothing about this one other than it's painfully boring and nothing about it, nothing at all, works in the slightest and I drift off to sleep even now trying to give this a rewatch. To be honest pretty much every other Shadow serial not starred by Victor Jory sucks and I don't really have anything to say about them, this one is just the worst of the lot. I dearly wish there was a good Shadow tv series but, if it was going to be like this pilot? Good riddance.

2: Harlan Ellison's The New York Review of Bird

This isn't really a Shadow story as much as it's a Harlan Ellison story that happens to feature The Shadow, but man am I glad that Ellison's "Dragon Shadows" was canned, because holy shit what a goddamn nightmare Harlan Ellison writing The Shadow for real could have been, going purely by the one time he ever touched the character. New York Review of Bird is a purely farcical parody story that wears real, real thin even before "Uncle Kent" shows up, and we get to see in it what is by far the most detestable and irredeemable take on The Shadow ever put on print, and not even in a critique or deconstructive way or anything that could be remotely worth discussing.

I don't hold any particular affection for Harlan Ellison and his writing (despite liking some of it) and I've come to notice the major red flag that is finding someone who looks up to Harlan Ellison in any capacity as a person, and this story in particular really feels like Ellison aggressively trying to channel his jackass tendencies through every line, just him being nasty because he built a personal brand on being nasty. The only reason this isn't Number One is because it's a very short story that saw zero influence or reputation, and thus it only exists as a brief mention in The Shadow wiki, and a brief mention is all it really calls for.

1: Howard Chaykin's Blood & Judgment

I'm guessing most of you already knew this one was in the top spot before I started writing.

I would actually rather not write a big piece on Blood & Judgment, because I think (or at least I hope) it's influence on The Shadow has waned a lot over the years and I would prefer to draw it the least amount of attention possible, but if I HAVE to talk about this, I guess I'd rather just vomit this out of my circuits now instead of giving it it's own post.

I would prefer to use a less unpleasant image on my blog, but if I'm going to talk about this comic, there's no image to better convey it than this drawing of macho asshole Cranston holding a sexualized mannequin at gunpoint. By leaps and bounds, Blood & Judgment is the most misogynistic Shadow story I've ever read. It's ironic that Chaykin justified the rampant misogyny he gave The Shadow with the idea that this is just a man from the 30s would act like, when he admits in the same breath that he never even touched the stories, and he wrote a story more sexist and demeaning to it's female characters than anything, literally anything, written in the Shadow pulps. It's almost impressive even.

I'll paste some segments from Randy Raynaldo's review

In Flagg, he intended to present his own point of view on American society while keeping his work tongue in cheek and acessible. But this vision dimmed, and Flagg had become a vehicle by which Chaykin could play out fetishes and portray gratuitous and stylish violence.

In The Shadow, stripped of the political and social veneer which was supposed to make Flagg unique, Chaykin's sensibilities and excesses become disturbingly apparent. For all of his liberal posturing, Chaykin's work demonstrates zero difference from the same kind of mentality exploited and made popular by similarly violent popular culture icons like Dirty Harry and Death Wish.

More than half a dozen individuals are indiscriminately and violently murdered in the first issue. Although the victims are characters who played major roles in the myth of The Shadow, we feel little sympathy for them, even for those of us who knew these characters at the outset. Who dies is unimportant, it's how they die that is the fascination.

Chaykin uses sexual decadence as a means by which to establish villains, and undercuts this device by making the protagonists as promiscuous as the villains. For all of Chaykin's seemingly liberal leanings, he demonstrates very little sensitivity in his portrayal of women.

Because everything works on rules of three, this comic also follows the pattern with other works mentioned here, as this isn't Howard Chaykin writing The Shadow: it's The Shadow reimagined as a Howard Chaykin character. He looks and acts exactly like Reuben Flagg and the typical macho protagonist of Chaykin's other works, he's a cynical sleaze with an entirely new origin who half-assedly dons a garb to machine gun people, and I already wrote a separate piece on why the machineguns are kind of emblematic of everything wrong with this take.

I understand that Chaykin has, or used to have, a big following of sorts, and I've tried to wrap my head around this for years, but I genuinely still don't get why Shadow fans stomach this comic unless they happen to be Chaykin fans first and foremost, I really don't. Everything, fucking everything Shadow fans hate about modern depictions of the character can be traced right back to this. The parts that stuck and changed the character for the worse, like him being defined as an immortal, bloodthirsty warmonger who got all his skills and powers from a magic city in Tibet, or Lamont Cranston being a coward who fears and hates the Shadow, or his agents being expendable slaves, stuff that has been ingrained into the mythos through this and the Alec Baldwin movie and other comics, to the point that people now think of it as the norm, that it's the baseline of what The Shadow is, and I hate it, I genuinely fucking hate it,

I hate it so much that it's a big part of the reason why I created this blog and why I want so badly to get to write The Shadow, because I plainly couldn't stand not having ways to tell people that this is all wrong, that this is actively shooting down the character's odds for success, and that they are missing out on something really great, because the well has been tainted with garbage that won't go away and everytime I read the words Shambala in a Shadow comic, even an otherwise good or great one, I get just a wee bit cross.

The only semi-redeeming aspects I can think of for this comic is one or two cool moments, like when The Shadow hijacks a concert using his Devil's Whisper or when he tames dogs with a stare. Just breadcrumbs of "not garbage" amidst an ocean of anything but. I hate that talking about why I hate this comic in-length can almost feel like I'm still enticing people to check it out of curiosity, but if you wanna do that, fine, just know this: The worst part of Blood & Judgment, even if you don't care at all about what it did to The Shadow, is that it's boring.

It is a deeply boring comic. If you like Howard Chaykin to begin with, you'll probably like this okay (although even Chaykin fans told me that this is his weakest work and that even he seems to agree). If you don't, I plain don't see what you could get out of this.

The comic itself is just nothing. It's the comic book equivalent of a pre-schooler trying to get a reaction by swearing. It has nothing whatsoever other than half-assed attempts at shock value. The plot isn't there, the ideas are stale, the dialogue is needlessly oblique and comprised entirely of unfinished sentences, interrupted conversations and one-liners without build-up. The characters are all unlikable and uninteresting stooges with no personality, or joyless cartoons. There's no heart or emotion or logic, and it isn't even funny enough to succeed as just an outrageous exercise in 80s excess. There's nothing in here.

I get "why" it was popular enough at the time, a rising star creator penning a modern revival of an old character based on controversy that pissed off the old fans, it's an old story that still gets repeated today. But manufactured controversy is not a replacement for storytelling and it rarely ever exists to benefit the people who actually want to enjoy the stories, it only benefits those for the crude benefit of those who want to sell you something out of the controversy.

I guess they got their money's worth back then.

------------------------------------------------

Phew, okay, I did it, I finally vomited out a piece on Blood & Judgment and some others, allright, let's put this piece of negativity behind us now.

[g-on-ef]

Ngl big fears of mine are 1) They screw over Striker's character (ex. He follows Stella's orders without complaint, his business pitch isn't true/his true motive isn't "down with the monarchy", basically turned into your usual generic "must be better than everyone" villain pls I just want him to be at least a decently fleshed out morally grey villain/anti-hero) and 2) They screw over Stolas' character somehow (take away his character development or don't even bother developing him, continue to side with him instead of acknowledging that both Stolas and Stella are in the wrong cuz ye, those two don't love each other anymore but its still wrong to cheat on your spouse and assassinate your spouse respectively, I just want the owl dude to realize his mistakes and flaws and improve as a character).

Also, I really hope they don't force Stolitz cuz as much as I like it, I don't want it forced without any development. Like, at least have Stolas realize that he's been treating Blitz, and by extentions, imps in general, badly and try to improve as a person.

Nonnie I have so many feeling about this so hear me out

When Striker was first introduced I thought hey this guy is cool interesting and definitely an asshole who is impressed by Blitz I'm in love.

His first interaction wit Moxxie I PERSONALLY emphasis on the word personally think he was genuinely trying to see if he was as good as Blitz.

I mean here you have an imp that started his own business so he had to hired someone who was as equally impressive as him.

Most likely he had an idea what Moxxie was like since Millie's parents told him about her they probably told him about Moxxie and he wanted to see if they were right or not.

As the episode progresses you see how an equal he is to Blitz and Blitz is obviously attracted to him since he asked him to join IMP and Striker said yes so obviously these two were impressed wit each other they wanted to work together.

Now onto the speech, y'all I know I made a post about it but damn I can go forever as to why the speech is so fucking amazing and how it relates to the outside world and just everything about the speech just gets me so excited !!!

When you hear it your just like oh shit he's right everything about Hell and it's monarchy and how Blitz is means nothing because at the end of the day he's still following the status quo he's still doing what Hell and everyone thinks of IMPs.

Serving those higher than them.

And it's just Striker is a threat because he brought up some good points and it got you thinking about how EVERYONE views IMPs I mean we even saw a glimpse that the imps hated are annoyed and hurt by how others view them a glimpse along wit Striker's views were enough to get me thinking this character is gonna become a threat to Blitz and even Stolas and the monarchy that runs hell.

I mean he's the first one to openly insult a royal {Blitz doesn't count because of his relationship wit Stolas} so again all that is a perfect recipe for a morally grey character that's gonna become an interesting character that'll be a threat to everyone around him.

... ... ... And than we get to the ending ... ... ... Again I ain't gonna lie I was disappointed. Because like you nonnie I want this character to be fleshed out into a morally grey anti hero character.

I want him to become a threat and start inspiring his people to fight back, to show the royals who really runs hell.

Like this could lead up to such an interesting story tackling a lot of heavy topics basically the adult version of ATLA still be light hearted and funny but dealing wit sensitive topics.

But this is an "adult" cartoon where the humor relies heavily on sexual innuendos, cursing, inappropriate gestures, and other things that can't be shown in children cartoon characters.

If they can have Striker use Stella as a stepping stool to reach his goals that'll be fine wit me cause he can still be a morally grey character. Sadly I don't see that happening.

I don't think Vizipop and her crew are capable enough to handle writing such complexity due to many reasons one being character growth.

Unfortunately nonnie they already ruined Stolas's character.

For me I will take any form of development even if it's small, Stolas had that in the second episode he saw that his actions were hurting his daughter and he chose her above anything else.

When he saw that Via was hurt he chose to put aside his flirting nature and chose to get Via outta the theme park and take her where she wanted to go.

And than episode five happens and we are back to square one.

For me I would have had Stolas and Blitz renegotiating their agreement and have Blitz keep Stolas company like the two spend quality time together that way we can see them become aquaintencess then friends then lovers you know have a healthy normal relationship.

Have Stolas see the errors of his ways have Blitz grow and learn to love himself and accept himself and just watch the relationship happen naturally but again this is a cartoon for "adults" and it's aim for "adults".

We are five episodes in and have yet to see Blitz or any characters grow as individuals, hell we haven't even see them grow closer as a group it basically feels like I'm watching a bunch of random coworkers fighting each other and putting up wit each other because they have to.

Episode three had an opportunity to give us Loona and Blitz moments but all we got were drunken Moxxie horny teenagers and pacing that had no idea what it was doing.

Hell even episode four had it's moments where Blitz and the crew could've worked together but instead was dragged out.

Imma be honest with y'all though I saw no point in that episode I really didn't.

I personally think the episode were Stolas is sad could give us development but if imma be honest with you I think it's gonna be more of a flashback episode than anything else I wanna be wrong and I hope I am.

Honestly I feel as the show progresses we are gonna get Striker being a generic villain that'll give everyone a reason to hate him and BlitzStriker and Stolas would most like not suffer as much as we all think he should.

[a-bit-too-much-of-a-zelda-fan]

LinkedUniverse Fanfiction Ch. 17: Swords, Shields, Arrows

Stop! You’ve Violated the Law!

So, you’ve stumbled upon this original post for my Linked Universe fanfiction. That’s okay, it happens to everyone. As of March 2021, I’ve uploaded the entirety of this fanfic to my Archive of Our Own page. Along with finally giving the story a name–Oops! All Links: A Linked Universe Story–I made substantial edits to some of the chapters. These range from minor stylistic revisions to fixing a gaping plot hole that kinda completely broke the character conflict in the earlier chapters. I also renamed and renumbered (but not reordered) the chapters. Specifically, this is now Chapter 19: Please, Don't Scare the Customers

The AO3 iterations of these chapters are the definitive versions. So, if you would like to read this fanfiction, please do so on AO3, right here. With this embedded link. Hehe. Geddit? Link?

Note: My screen name on AO3 is FrancisDuFresne. Yes, that is me. I am not plagiarizing myself.

Anyway, for posterity’s sake, the rest of the original post is below the cut.

In this continuation of my @linkeduniverse fan narrative, Wild and Four go on their own errand to find weapons to replace the resident amnesiac's busted sword and unwieldy Stalfos shield.

Word Count: 1482

Twilight and Wind had already left Madame Viliafore’s shop by the time Four and Wild had located an armorer. The town of Selggog was even busier in the late morning than it had been the previous evening. The sights and smells bombarded the two young heroes. Wild glanced down at his companion. The Hero of the Four Sword had to walk more briskly to keep pace with him, on account of him being a good deal shorter.

Four had planned to help Wild pick out new weapons once they had found an armorer. That was the main reason Warriors sent the two together. The moment they’d entered the store, however, Wild gravitated toward the higher-end swords. He picked a sword, tossed it between his hands, twirled it, shook his head, and chose a different one.

Four looked at the shopkeeper as Wild repeated this routine. The burly man behind the counter eyed the young knight warily. Four guessed his customers didn’t often test his weapons inside the store, if at all. Wild slowed his motions. He grasped the hilt of the sword he had been swinging with both hands, lowering it from above his head. When his hands were at waist-height, he stood still a moment. He took a deep breath.

The shorter of the Links watched in anticipation. The taller released his left hand’s grip and picked up the sword’s scabbard, then fit the blade easily into its place. He looked at Four and nodded. He strode to the shields, grasped an iron heater shield about half his height, fitted it on his left arm, and shook it a few times. He shook his head and tried a few more.

Wild stared at one shield for a moment before tilting his head to one side. He suddenly took off at a jog toward the opposite wall. He jumped, threw the shield to the ground, landed on it, and skidded a meter before he hopped off again. The shopkeeper had had enough. “Hey!” he growled, crossing his arms. “This isn’t a soldier’s barracks, kid. You’re scaring my customers!”

The young hero picked up the shield and checked the face of it for scratches. Content to find none, he faced Four and nodded again. Then he cast a glance around the shop. The Links were the only customers to be seen. The two of them exchanged a quizzical look. Wild turned to the shopkeeper. “Sorry, sir,” he said, “I’ve found what I want.”

The Links strode to the counter. Four passed a shelf with bundles of ten arrows each. He grabbed all fifteen of them. They placed their selection before the shopkeeper. The man scrutinized them. “What are two kids like you going to do with a knight’s weapons and my entire stock of arrows?” he asked.

Four looked up and stared the man in the eyes. He knew he was only fifteen but still didn’t like being called a kid. “There are actually nine of us,” he explained with a very slight edge to his voice. “We’re travelling a long way. Between monsters and bandits, the roads are dangerous.”

A few seconds passed before the shopkeeper cracked a grin and let out a bout of hearty laughter. Before either Link could recover from his confusion, the man planted his palms on the counter and continued. “Hell, whatever you say. So long as you’ve got the rupees, you’ve got the weapons. Let’s see… two hundred for the sword, three hundred for the shield, and three-sixty for the arrows… that comes out to eight hundred sixty.”

The Links winced at the number. Four shot a glare at Wild. Wild shrugged. He didn’t want to show how embarrassed he was that they were dropping five hundred rupees just because he needed new weapons. Thinking back to his conversation with Sky and Hyrule the previous night, he decided to try haggling. The young knight imitated Hyrule and put a forearm on the counter. He looked the man in the eyes. “Four hundred,” he declared boldly. Four saw the mistake immediately and shook his head.

The shopkeeper laughed even harder than before. Wild’s half-baked cocky expression faded. “Oh, boy,” the man said when he calmed down, “I know what you’re trying here, kid. Word of advice, huh? Never insult someone by offering less than half the starting price.”

Wild gulped. “I… um…”

“Save your breath, I can tell you have no clue what you’re doing. Let’s say seven hundred and call it even.”

Eager to avoid any more awkwardness, Wild just nodded. Four opened his wallet and withdrew three silver rupees, four purple, seven red, nine blue, and fifteen green. After placing them on the counter, he looked back in his wallet to find it almost empty. He sighed then stuffed the arrows in his pouch. Wild grabbed his weapons and the young adventurers went to leave the store. Four shot off a quick “thank you” before the door closed behind them.

Wild quickly fastened his new sword and shield to his baldric. “Right,” he started, “now to the caf��.”

Four sighed again. “You’re lucky that guy’s well-humored. That could have gone really badly.”

“How was I supposed to know what to offer?”

They started walking. “I dunno, but definitely not less than half.”

Wild’s shoulders slumped. "The Captain is gonna be on my hide for weeks.”

Four gently nudged his partner’s hip. “Don’t worry about it, he’ll probably appreciate that you picked such quality weapons. I saw the way you tested each sword. Where’d you learn that?”

“Part of knighthood is being able to choose the equipment that will keep you and your wards safe.” Wild went silent a moment. He remembered how the Master Sword had nearly fallen apart from the abuse of the Calamity. “When I’m out in the wilds, I take what I can get. Give me a choice and I’ll take the best I can find.”

“You didn’t pick the most expensive ones, though,” Four pointed out.

“I didn’t like the most expensive ones. This one,” he tapped the pommel above his right shoulder, “was weighted and sized the best for me. I know my abilities and my limitations. I can kill with virtually anything you give me, Four. Still, my own skill only carries me so far. My gear needs to pick up the slack. As the knight sworn to protect the princess of Hyrule, I’m most valuable when I’m at my most lethal.”

Four had to give it to him, that was solid reasoning. When he himself had forged the Four Sword, he put care into every strike on red-hot metal. In a way, he viewed the sword more as a piece of art than an instrument of violence. Wild had a point, though: Before everything else, a sword is meant to kill. Still, something bothered Four about his partner’s phrasing.

“Wild, your value isn’t just in your ability to slay evil,” Four said, careful to avoid the word kill. Wild looked down to his companion. Four couldn’t identify his expression, so he continued: “I don’t think you give yourself enough credit. You’re kind, caring, and humble to a fault. You had the weight of the world thrust on your shoulders, and nearly died protecting the princess. You lost your memory, but you still soldiered on and saved Hyrule. And you were able to wield the Master Sword, which is a testament to the purity of your soul.”

The shortest Link looked skyward and smiled. “Just look at all of us Links. We share a love for life and a sense of justice that drives us to protect the light. That’s what binds us, what summons us whenever Hyrule needs us most. I’d bet all four of my lives that we aren’t the only Links there have been or ever will be.”

A few seconds passed. Four glanced at Wild. The Hylian Champion seemed lost in thought, as if he were walking on autopilot. The young smithy had had to make sense of four fragmented personalities to achieve his full potential. He still couldn’t make sense of Wild sometimes. He figured, as the other Links had, that Wild came out of his adventure the most psychologically damaged of all of them—even more than Time.

Wild was shocked out of his reverie by a little girl shoving past him trying to chase her friends. The sights and sounds of Selggog rushed back to him. He stopped walking and shook his head to clear it. Four waited a few paces ahead. “Sorry, were you saying something?” Wild asked, still a little dazed.

Four walked back, reached up to put his hand on his friend’s shoulder, and smiled. “Not really, no. Let’s head back to the café and meet up with the others. They probably picked out some good food.”

“Yeah, sounds good. I’m down for a second breakfast.”

“Hah, you always are.”

[abiteofnat]

If you’re reading this, I’m coming back to Chicago, beetch

The non-existent rumors are true. After a brief 10-month exit from the city to soak up the fresh air and social distance-friendly suburbs, I am now returning to Chicago as a single, slightly more anxious version of myself. While I’m still trying to kick some of the anxiety and OCD that COVID-19 pushed from “lifelong tagalongs” to “all-controlling demons”, I feel 97% ready to be back where I feel most myself, and cannot wait to welcome that change. While that 3% still makes me a little uncomfy and hesitant, I’m a believer in pushing your boundaries to allow yourself to grow, and also, I am really sick of suburbs food. 

Ha! I joke. I wouldn’t move downtown simply for access to more diverse & higher quality food... or would I? All I know is while there are plenty of gems in the North Shore, I’ve eaten take out from all of them ten times over, and I did not foster my dislike of cooking out of nowhere. My parents do not enjoy cooking, my sister pretends to enjoy cooking, and I will cook if it is 5 ingredients or less. My latest speciality is a toasted bagel with butter, hummus, and EBTB seasoning. Voila. So when it comes to dinner, we are living off of a carousel of suburban favorites, and are losing steam as we are still not comfortable with dining inside (or dining inside in the city, where the fun food is). 

All of this to say, it’s exciting to imagine what life is going to be like in a few short weeks. While I’m still extra precautionary, I can’t wait to have my own space downtown, where I can enjoy coffee on my little balcony (!!!) and dream of the days friends can come squeeze into my studio safely while I lay out an entire table of sharable spreads and snacks from Ema (Charred Eggplant Spread is the best one, don’t fight me). 

So you may ask, how did you come to this decision to move to the heart of downtown out of seemingly nowhere, you hermit? 

It starts with my mom and I having a brief, simultaneous breakdown and coming to the conclusion that we would both feel comfortable doing a staycation downtown, as long as we wore masks, sanitized always, and braved the cold to eat outside. This was big for me! As a person with real OCD, not cute TV show “I have to keep my pens straight” OCD, this would be the most exposure I’d had to a lot of uncontrollable variables since the pandemic started. If you’re thinking, “you get to spend a weekend downtown in a hotel with your mom, shut up”, know that I hear you. I am unbelievably grateful that I’ve gotten this time with my parents, and that we can do a staycation. However, having anxiety comes at a cost, and that cost is blowing everything way the fuck out of proportion instead of being able to rationalize it sometimes. Let’s! Normalize! Having! This! Discussion!

So, we went downtown in early March for a two-night stay, and oh my goodness. The realization that we got to be in a different space, and do different things, and eat different food for a weekend made it feel like a legit vacation, and not like we drove 30 minutes to get there. The view from our room was of Michigan Ave, and hearing the traffic and seeing the people out and about instantly made me feel a sense of peace I wasn’t expecting. I’ve lived downtown for 6 years, but it always shocks me how much the city feels like an extension of me once I’m in it after being away. My mom and I went out for a walk (gentle yet forceful reminder to please wear a mask), then decided to grab dinner while we were out. The plan was to bring it back to the room, but there was a warm spell, and there just happened to be a table for two at Topolobampo on Clark, and suddenly we were sitting on the patio under the lights eating masa quesadillas dipped in a spicy salsa verde. It just happened!!! 

Before getting downtown, I was tentatively looking at apartments for the spring. I was looking at Lincoln Park, Old Town, maybe Lakeview, and came across a listing in the Gold Cost that caught my eye. That one was swiped out from under me within days, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the area. Then I discovered another unit that was available, and couldn’t shake it from my mind. Over mushroom tacos I discussed it with my mom, and we decided to go see it. Totally not what I had been planning for in terms of location, but why not? 

Once we polished off breakfast the next morning (Eggs Benedict with fried eggs, extra hollandaise) we headed out to see the place. Let me say I have never seen my mom fall in love with a single apartment I’ve lived in, and she was ALL. FOR. IT. Unreal reaction on her part. Once I saw the west-facing views and the incredible natural lighting, I was 100% in as well.

We spent the rest of the weekend wandering the downtown area, enjoying another dinner outside at The Gwen and my mom’s first visit to the Starbucks Reserve Roastery, which was 95% more empty than I’ve ever seen it given we went in a pandemic at 8:30PM. Shit on Starbucks all you want, but that Roastery is an incredible use of space (in non-pandemic times) and the coffee & Princi pastries are really, really good. 

When we got back home feeling refreshed and like we had actually gone on a vacation, I jumped into apartment shark mode real fast and signed as many documents as the very kind realtor could send over. One week later, whabaam, I was a Gold Coast girl. Ahem, *lady*. What better way to celebrate than going to Somerset and having the Rapini & Roasted Garlic Flatbread and Wild Mushroom Risotto? No clue. As I sat outside, yet again with my mom, I felt a wave of excitement come over me and realized, this is it. This is the sign and feeling I’ve been waiting for, telling me it’s time to move back to the city and start over. The creamy, herbacious risotto also helped solidify that. 

SO. After all of that, the news is I’m moving, and you’re probably wondering why I shared all of this on a blog about food. I meant for this post to be about everywhere I ate during my staycation, but realized quickly we ate at some very basic places - DELICIOUS, but still basic. Oops. Below are all the dishes I had and a rundown of the flavors, textures, etc., however don’t expect to find any new, revolutionary restaurants. Sorry! 

1. Topolobampo 

This Rick Bayless restaurant has been around forever, and unfortunately, you can tell by the interior. We’ve eaten here as a family a couple of times before, but never had a noteworthy experience. I can confirm that in a pinch, the patio covered in fun lights & mini piñatas, and the sharable, filling bites will do just fine. This was my first time going to a Mexican restaurant as a non-alcohol drinker, and instead of my typical mezcal margarita, I opted for a Fresh Limeaide which was refreshing and flavorful. We split the Guacamole and Chips, which if you’ve ever stopped at the Frontera in O’Hare, you know is good as fuck. It’s smooth, creamy, tangy, and topped with chopped onions and cilantro for a little crunch. It’s not the most life-changing, but it is consistently satisfying. Next, we got the Mushroom Tacos and Masa Quesadillas. The Masa Quesadillas were a fun surprise, as instead of a tortilla, the masa is what makes up the outside. They are almost like empanadas and stuffed with gooey, melty cheese, and come with a spicy salsa verde on the side. I would come back for these alone - they’re rich yet light, warm, and comforting, all the things you would want when dining outside when it’s still a little chilly. The Mushroom Tacos were quite frankly unreal, because whatever they seasoned the mushroom slices with and grilled them on made them taste unlike any mushroom I’ve had before. There was definitely some meat crossover on the grill, so don’t order those if you’re vegan, or ask them to prepare the mushroom separately. I however was LOSING MY MIND. Over mushrooms. The joys of being vegetarian! 

2. The Gwen

On a happening Saturday night in Chicago, Upstairs at The Gwen is sure to be a packed scene. Located in River North, this hotel bar/restaurant offers a somehow cozy rooftop filled with loungey couches, fire pits, and ambient lighting, even though you’re surrounded by apartments and skyscrapers and there is nothing “cozy” about River North. Every table was filled, yet since you’re outside and it’s fairy spread apart, it still felt safe. I got my new classic, a Lemonade, and we got the Burrata to start. With sourdough, roasted beets, squash, pomegranate, pistachio, & arugula, this plate was nothing short of mouth-watering. It has textures! It has flavors! It has pomegranate seeds, the TikTok must have of the moment! The bread was 10/10, the burrata was 8/10, and all of the toppings made for a very find bite of salad on their own. For my main I got the Lobster Fettucine, a beautiful bowl of “charcoal fettuccine with saffron-tomato sauce, lobster, calabrian chili butter, and basil-brioche crumbs” as listed on their website. Take any of those ingredients and it’s going to be delicious, but all of them TOGETHER? INCREDIBLE. The chunks of lobster were huge, absolutely making the dish worth its price tag, and the sauce was flavorful, unique, and unlike any sauce I’ve tasted in the last few years. It’s typical to do a squid ink pasta with seafood and tomato sauce, but the saffron added a new element I very much appreciated. 

3. The Starbucks Roastery 

I KNOW. THIS IS A TOURIST DESTINATION. All I am saying is if there’s no line, go get an iced latte with two packets of sugar in the raw. That’s all. It’s really good after something like, I don’t know, Lobster Fettucine. 

4. The Penninsula 

You cannot go wrong with hitting up The Penninsula for breakfast or brunch, especially if you are staying there and have the option to do room service. Typically we would go to Pierrot Gourmet, the cafe in the ground floor of The Penninsula, however it has been closed temporarily. If there’s one thing to order with your breakfast, it’s the smashed fingerling potatoes. Delish. 

5. Somerset 

Somerset is becoming a quick go-to of mine for an impromptu dinner downtown, given it’s in the heart of Gold Coast and is cute if you’re sitting indoors or outdoors. The food is nothing too innovative, but it is done well, which is the most important part with “cuter” restaurants that may focus on the Instagram appeal over the food sometimes. Each time I’ve gone I’ve gotten the seasonal flatbread and a pasta or risotto, usually something with mushrooms, and it’s always been plate-licking good. To drink, I got -you guessed it- a Lemonade! For dinner I went with the Wild Mushroom Risotto which was everything you could hope for in a risotto, topped with olive oil, herbs, and local parmesan. We split the Rapini & Roasted Garlic Flatbread which was as it sounds, flatbread covered in rapini, garlic, and ricotta, which added a nice crunch and had enough rapini to feel like it was replacing a boring vegetable side dish or salad. The patio vibes were wonderful, the judgemental girls in the greenhouses looked like they were having a good time, and our waiter couldn’t have been sweeter. I will be going back to try the Fontina Arancini, which I just noticed on the menu. FRICK. 

So there you have it, a very long-winded explanation of the last few weeks of my life and where you can find me on a staycation in Chicago. Hopefully once I move back to the city I’ll have endless new spots to try and won’t be basic anymore! 

Until next time, Happy Eating!

-Natalie 

[snkpolls]

SnK Episode 67 Poll Results (for Manga Readers)

The poll closed with 254 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results for the Manga Readers’ poll. If you wish to see the results for the Anime Only Watchers’ poll, click here.

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RATE THE EPISODE 246 Responses

The response to this week’s episode remains overwhelmingly positive, with 97.6% of responses giving it a score of 3 or higher. 

This is the first episode where I have absolutely no criticisms, so im quite happy with how it turned out.

Voice acting was top tier

perfect

Emotional 

Great Job! I'm glad my favorite character's death was so emotionally misered.

Forget Attack on Titans, this episode was Attack on my Feelings ! 😭

I want to rate it a 1 because of Sasha but a 5 because of how well it was done... so 1.5

Absolutely loved it

Perfect

ASIDE FROM SASHA’S DEATH, WHICH MOMENT WAS THE MOST EMOTIONAL FOR YOU? 247 Responses

Connie’s heartfelt admission to Jean seems to have stolen the hearts of the plurality of responders (36%). That is followed by a tie of 18.2% responses noting Eren’s breakdown or EMA’S tense reunion as the most emotional moment for them. In third place is Gabi’s tragic declaration about her struggles with 11.3%. Other responses were, in order, Jean lamenting all of the deaths occurring, Gabi and Falco realizing that Zeke betrayed them, Hange scolding Eren for forcing the SC to intervene in Marley and Levi and Eren’s confrontation.

Connie telling Sasha and Jean that they're special to him made my heart hurt knowing what was going to happen mere minutes after. I honestly saw me and my two best friends through them, and it was gut wrenching seeing Connie and Jean's reactions. Even Mikasa's reaction broke me, to be honest. They all lost a huge light in their lives.

WHICH MOMENT SURPRISED YOU THE MOST? 222 Responses

So this question was meant to only go on the anime watchers poll and ended up here somehow. Thanks to the 222 who were good sports and responded anyway! :P The most shocking moments that took place in this chapter/episode was the revelation that Eren went rogue from the Survey Corps, that Zeke was collaborating with the Survey Corps, how the Survey Corps treated Eren, and that some Paradisians seemed to be turning to nationalism, in that order. 

Not sure why we're being asked as manga readers which moment shocked us the most since we already knew everything that was going to happen this week

HOW MUCH DID SASHA’S DEATH HURT YOU? 249 Responses

When it came to Sasha’s death, it would appear that it broke the hearts of the overwhelming majority of responders, with 81.1% giving it a rating of either 4 or 5 on the tragic scale. 

Broke my heart and I'm still crying over it three days later. Honestly though, it was greatly done. 

3 years later it hit me, Sasha is dead ;_;

Cried my whole soul and body. Rip sweet Sasha

I thought Sasha's death would've been more emotional.

WHOSE REACTION TO SASHA’S DEATH AFFECTED YOU THE MOST? 250 Responses

Sasha’s death elicited various reactions from the main cast. Two different responses tied at 36.4% noting Connie and Mikasa’s reactions to Sasha's death as the one affecting them the most. This was followed by Eren’s at 13.2%. The rest were, in order, Armin, Jean, Levi and Hange. 

I don’t cry at fiction much, but Sasha’s death got me more than I thought it would. I feel like seeing Armin and Mikasa’s reactions in particular is what got me.

The way they animated Armin and Mikasa bawling over Sasha's body and the inclusion of Call Your Name made it all the more emotional. I think by "Assassin's Bullet" they also meant a bullet through my heart because man did that hurt to watch. 😭🤧

WOULD YOU PISS YOUR PANTS IF LEVI WAS GLARING AT YOU WITH MURDEROUS INTENT? 248 Responses

A bit of a joke question, but we wanted to know if Levi appeared as threatening as he seemed. 80.2% seems to think so, admitting their incentive to piss their pants. In contrast, 19.8% don’t think the Captain’s such a scary guy!

THE FULL VERSION OF “ASHES ON THE FIRE” BY KOHTA YAMAMOTO (THE PREVIEW SONG) IS NOW OUT. IF YOU’VE LISTENED TO IT, WHAT DO YOU THINK? 236 Responses

“Ashes on the Fire” has been released to rave reviews, with 88.1% of responses giving it a 4 or a 5. Nobody gave it a 1, either. Yamamoto-san, thank you!

OVERALL, HOW WELL DO YOU THINK MAPPA ADAPTED THE MARLEY ARC? 251 Responses

In spite of the relatively vocal complaints about the adaptation of certain elements of the Marley Arc, it would appear that the overwhelming majority of responders seemed pleased with it, with 51.4% giving it 5 and 37.1% giving it a 4. 1s not present. 

I've been a bit bothered how Mappa follows the Manga like a slave, using the panels as scenes and not adding anything in between. Sure it works for Manga, but it feels weird to me to watch in Anime how Eren grabs Armins hand and they don't give a transition where Armin pulls him in, but just show him inside the airship next. Just little things, but bothers me a bit. Overall I'm really enjoying their choices.

The show looks BETTER

I was fine with the episode. The quality of animation dropped but I understand that every scene cannot be animated on highest level. MAPPA has done a great job with the Marley arc. They shown the character development and bonds between the warriors perfectly. We had some cuts here and there but overally was okay: 8/10 for me. 

I’m so pleased that MAPPA has taken the anime. I’m still more of a fan of this particular series’ manga than anime though.

DID SASHA’S DEATH AFFECT YOU MORE WHEN YOU READ THE MANGA, OR SEEING IT ANIMATED WITH VOICES AND MUSIC? 249 Responses

As noted above, Sasha’s death seemed to be a hard hitter for most. Comparison of the adaptation vs the original allows to discern which hit the readers/watchers the hardest. Just one percent shy of a majority (49%) thought that the anime made it much more tragic. 30.9% noted that the impact was roughly similar across both mediums. On the flip side, 10.4% thought that the initial depiction of it in the manga was the hardest hitter. There were also a couple of write-ins. 

I dont remember I sped run reading the manga, kinda regretting it

I knew it for the first time in the manga, so it had a more powerful impact (I cried for a whole week. Not kidding) and the anime managed to make me cry as hard as in the manga. Though, I already was aware and grieved so it wasn't as bad

Got Spoiled :( so kinda meh, saw it coming

When the music kicked in after Connie announced she was gone, my heart broke into a million pieces. 

Let's be honest, Sasha's role was over after she killed the titan in the village and saved Kaya. After that she was just there. She got zero development, zero important moments, zero depth. Her death effected many characters and helped them to develop. Sasha's death was sad but at least brought some important changes in others. 

Not a Sasha fan so I was not really that affected but having a death in the series always feels sour

I think for me, they're both even.....mostly. There's just something about having been waiting for the chapter leaks on reddit with a bunch of other people and most of us collectively grieving at the same time. Once bigger pages of the chapter started coming out, it made me cry. I didn't even cry during serumbowl when I first read it and that had plenty for me to be even more upset about.

Honestly while reading manga I hated that Sasha’s last word was „meat”, it seemed so ridiculous. I’m happy MAPPA made it look more serious with music. Actually everyone’s reaction for Sasha’s death had more impact on me than the death itself

HOW DID YOU FEEL WHEN YOU SAW GABI KILL SASHA IN THE MANGA? AND HOW DO YOU FEEL SEEING IT AGAIN NOW, KNOWING HOW GABI’S ARC DEVELOPS? 247 Responses

Gabi is perhaps the most controversial character introduced post-time skip. Whether you’re a proud member of the Gabi Gang, proud hater of the 12 year old or just a neural party, everyone can admit that. With Sasha’s death at her hands, many seemed to offer up their opinion on the kid, back then and now. A slight plurality, 31.2%, stated that they did not hate her back when 105 first released and they don’t hate her now. 23.1% note that although they were rather upset with her back down, they are not (upset/angry) any longer. On the flipside, 25.5% state that they still hate the kid, as they did back then. Finally, some were simply neutral. Classic. 

Quite a few write-ins, as well.

I hated her in the manga but after watching the anime, I’m not happy about it but I understand why she did what she did and don’t hate her as much anymore.

I was extremely upset about it before and am still extremely upset about it now, but for different reasons. I hate her less but am not any less annoyed by her brainwashed hatred of the Paradisians, although I understand her much better and realize and empathize that she's just a kid who's been used by her country in the worst way.

Gabi Braun Must Die

Broke my heart and was upset, but understood where she was coming from (thought about her perspective only)

Sasha shoulda killed this cunt while she had the chance

It’s war, she did as she needed to.  Her arc is fantastic 

love hate relationship 

I didn't like her but not because of Sasha death (that's war consequence) and it's the same now

I really hated her with my whole heart and soul, but now that it has been all explained, that she had character development, I even like her now

I used to be angry about it but I understand why now, Gabi is just a victim of Marley’s control just like anyone else is, it’s a shame this is the results of it. She’s still at fault but I can’t hate her so much for it

I feel tired of Gabi hate. I disliked her in the manga back then but now I feel neutral towards her, because she has changed. Yet, I wish she took less screentime. 

SORRY for ranting! I don't understand the hate on Gabe. Yes, I know she killed a Paradise character which was present in series since its beginning and I understand Sasha's fans are upset Sasha is not here anymore because of her. but those people do not analyse Gabe as they should be. Every character belongs to a different side and each side is blinded by what heir belives in. It is okay to not like Gabe but I don't tolerate hate on her. I THINK THIS QUESTION SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN INCLUDED AT ALL.

Initial hate, understanding after some thought

Understanding her situation I know I shouldn’t hate her, but I’m choosing to be petty and hate her anyway 

I liked her much more than I like her now. She was a much better character back then, her killing Sasha (a one-note comedic relief) was cool and brought some spice to the story. Now she just exists to spout themes and convenient exposition and to be an aimbot

i dislike her, even if i understand her

I dont like Gabi. Never did. It isnt because she killed Sasha tho. I just dont care for Gabi tbh BUT i can totally understand her actions and do not blame her for it after seeing the destruction and killings

I was and still am upset about Sasha's death, but from the start I blamed it more on the circumstances than Gabi.

I loved her then, I love her now and it probably wouldn’t change even if she killed my favourite characters. She’s my cinnamon roll

Gabi did nothing wrong, killing a soldier in the battlefield is not a crime.

See, I WANT to like Gabi since she's obviously changed, but knowing she killed Sasha nonetheless will ALWAYS prevent me from having any love or respect for her. She will always be my most hated character

MAPPA ADDED AN EXTENDED SCENE OF FLOCH AND OTHER SURVEY CORPS RECRUITS BEATING GABI AND FALCO. HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT IT? 240 Responses

MAPPA added an extra scene of Floch and Friends raining down copious amounts of gratuitous violence upon two 12 year olds (MAPPA is pro-child violence???????? Find out when 111 is adapted). 48.8% seemed to think that it was a decent addition, even if just for the SC’s characterization (or perhaps you enjoyed seeing that?). 22.5% thought it was a bit over the top to feature. Finally, 16.7% did not care. 

I didn't like it. But, it was def a believable reaction from them.

I just wish it was enough to kill her

I liked the additional characterization of Floch & co.

Great addition, it was implied in the manga so the scene fitted well. Still, it was horrifying to see how vile the scouts were to two kids

How about an option where we're glad Gabi got beaten to a pulp but not when Falco was?

ORA ORA thing, but we viewers get hurt too. 

Didn't feel bad about Gabi getting beat up, but I did feel bad seeing Falco get beat up. Poor boy didn't deserve that

A nice addition 

I thought it was a great choice to highlight the continuing violence and feelings of vengeance from both sides even more. and I thought it contrasted really well with Jean's decision not to throw the kids out of the airship.

The people glorifying this scene annoy the shit out of me

It's a good way to hint the "Yaegerist" perspective to anime onlies

MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA

The Gold Experience memes are funny

It was an IC scene for people like Floch + I feel bad for the kids

The way they shot that scene made the recruits seem like mindless, gross-faced animals storming towards the kids to beat them up. I liked how they were dehumanised like that, considering that most faces amongst them belonged to the ones who support the rumbling. 

It hurt to see that but good scene though

Feel empathy for Gaby. Violence don't solve problems

Now THAT'S what I call fan service! Who needs big-boobed, big-ass females or shirtless guys with and when you can just have the most hated character get the tar beaten out of them xD

I can see why they did it. MAPPA's not dumb and I'm sure they anticipated a massive onslaught on hate towards Gabi specifically, so it was their way of trying to satisfy the haters. Falco didn't deserve it tho.

It was a good addition

GREAT JOB MAPPA

I hate Gabi too but that was too much beating up a child, yet it also showed how shit Floch and the others are.

Apparently some people never noticed that Gabi and Falco got beat up, probably because it happened in the background. So it was good for MAPPA to call attention to it.

I love Gabi but she had that coming. No need to hurt Falco though. :(

OVERALL, HOW WELL DO YOU FEEL MAPPA EXECUTED THE REVEAL THAT ZEKE IS A TRAITOR TO MARLEY? 240 Responses

The reveal that ZOOK has been working against Marley for years on end is one of the most important ones in the series, really. So it was important to have it be executed in a rather decent manner. The vast majority of the fandom thought that MAPPA did a fine job. 52.1% gave it a rating of 4, 27.5% gave it a 5 and 17.1% gave it a 3. The couple of the other respnders gave it a 2, with no 1s.

IN THE END, DO YOU THINK EREN’S ACTIONS IN MARLEY WERE ULTIMATELY JUSTIFIED? 242 Responses

A question to remember… Were Eren’s actions in Marley ultimately “justified”? A plurality, 44.6% seems to think so. In contrast, 24% disagree. And 31.4% still aren’t sure to this day.

SIMILARLY, DO YOU THINK THE SURVEY CORPS WAS ULTIMATELY JUSTIFIED IN TREATING EREN AS THEY DID? 244 Responses

When it comes to the SC treating Eren as they did, the division is much less pronounced however. The majority, 60.7%, think that the SC had quite the justification for treating Eren as they did. On the flip side, 19.7% think that there was such justification for behaving in such a manner towards Eren. Finally, the same amount of responses stated that still can’t be sure to this day.

NOW THAT WE’VE GOTTEN A CLEAR SHOT OF YELENA, DID MAPPA DO HER JUSTICE? 243 Responses

YELENA is here. Queen 👑. Or well, maybe not. Who am I to say? In any case, her appearance was received well. 52.7% thought MAPPA did very well and 33.7% went on to declare their love for her. Just shy of 10% noted that MAPPA could have done a little better though. 

Kinda wish her hair was like neon or something idk

Need more eps of her to decide, she didn't get much screentime and lines here. 

I don't like Yelena, but yeah I guess they did good.

In the manga she was a creepy-looking person. MAPPA made her unique, interesting and mysterious. I love her voice and her stoic, relaxed self. MAPPA did a good job.  

QUEEN!!!!!

Great adaptation but I still don't like her as a character

Don’t care about her 

don't really care

I hate her and I don't care about her.

WHICH SCENE FROM THE PREVIEW ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? 247 Responses

Such a colorful chart for this one. It would appear that slightly over a quarter look most forward to seeing Crykasa at Sasha’s grace. Slightly less (21.9%) want to see Sasha enjoying Niccolo’s cuisine. In third place is the scene with Connie, Jean, Mikasa and Niccolo at Sasha’s grace. The rest are, in order from most to least, Onyankopon and Yelena teaching the Survey Corps about the Port, EMA talking at the shooting range and Hange and Armin learning about Marley’s technology.

HOW HYPED ARE YOU FOR THE UPCOMING TIMESKIP FLASHBACKS? 239 Responses

The time skip flashbacks seem to be a hit. A little over 51% are super stoked about seeing them animated. Slightly under 24% state that they’ll enjoy them, but are looking forward to other things more. In contrast, 22.6% are ready to go crazy (from a positive standpoint)! Wooo! 

Enjoying AND dreading it at the same time

I just want the centipede

Boring. The only thing what interests me is Historia teasing Mikasa about her crush on Eren. The rest is too jolly. 

I'm looking forward to see Yelena's insane self be animated. That, and more Zeke.

THE MOST RECENT LIST OF FUTURE EPISODE TITLES SHOWS THAT EPISODE 12 WILL LIKELY END AROUND CHAPTERS 109-111, LEAVING CHAPTER 112 (EMA’S ARGUMENT) FOR EPISODE 13. EPISODE 67 WAS ALMOST ENTIRELY ADAPTED FROM CHAPTER 105, PROVING THAT ADAPTING DIALOGUE-HEAVY CHAPTERS FAITHFULLY CAN EASILY REQUIRE THE FULL 20 MINUTES. WITH ONLY 16 EPISODES - AND SO MANY WHICH ARE DIALOGUE-HEAVY - DO YOU THINK THINGS WILL END OFF WITH THE INITIATION OF THE RUMBLING (CH. 122), AS HAS BEEN SPECULATED BY MUCH OF THE FANDOM? 238 Responses

The manner in which the Season will end is a mystery to even the manga readers. Where will it end? Will it have many cuts? These are the questions. 36.6% seem to think that MAPPA will somehow manage to both end it at Chapter 122 and cut as little as possible. 26.5% don't believe ending on 122 is possible. 12.2% do believe MAPPA will end the Season on 122, but only with many notable cuts. Finally, just a little under 20% are simply not sure. There were a few write-ins as well. 

I hope not, too many cuts would be required 

The is no way they're making it up to 122, at first I thought they were going to finish it off with Eren's head getting blown off in 119, but now that seems like a reach too. Now I think MAPPA is probably going to end this first half of the season with Eren and Pieck's "where is the enemy?" and the warriors arriving to Shiganshina 

I’m not sure right now so I’ll have to see for later episodes for the cut-off point, if it isn’t the Rumbling then it’ll be when Gabi shoots Eren

MOVIE

I'm conflicted. I'm sure they'll end at rumbling because it's the only reasonable point to cut it, but I feel like they're running out of episodes. Then again I'm feeling the same about the state of Manga, there's just too little chapters left to end things up well.

I don't really want to think too much about it, I just want to enjoy the anime lol

I fully expect 119 to be the end

What was the point of rushing Reiner's chapters if you are going to slow down later. Goddamn it MAPPA. 

It'll really depend on the pacing for the next couple episodes, but I'm with a bulk of the fandom that see Chapter 119 Two Brothers being the end point for The Final Season. IF they were to skip the opening and maybe the ending, I can see them transitioning from Eren's head getting blown off immediately into his transformation and the beginning of the Rumbling. But even that is quite farfetched. 

I have no idea, I'm a little worried now. Wouldn't be the first time a lot of content gets cut but if they insist on reaching ch. 122, I just don't see how you do that without butchering a lot. If that happens, it would probably lessen my enjoyment of the season.

Yeah, I think it will have a lot of cuts, but I believe that it will get there because Ymir falling in the tree was in the trailer

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

It's amazing seeing how each week, something with SnK trends! ^^

It still baffles me just how much people insist on hating Gabi, especially when her arc has shown tremendous growth in the manga. Reiner was no better than her when he was a child and continued to insist that Paradisians are devils and chose to further destroy their lives even after sleeping under the same roof as the 104th for 3 whole years and forming personal bonds with them. Yet, his actions are forgivable but Gabi's are not? Both characters have shown remorse for their former beliefs and misdeeds against Paradisians. Both realized that they were in the wrong. The characters have forgiven Gabi. Why can't y'all do the same? People who want Gabi to suffer are no better than they accuse her of being. 

Well done episode which managed to capture the emotions of sasha's death perfectly

monke

I really appreciate Gabi as a character. She has spunk and a strong character arc in which she changes and grows more than anyone in the last 30 chapters of the manga, save maybe Mikasa (ignoring how Eren, Reiner, Armin and maybe a few others changed during the timeskip). It makes me sad seeing people wishing for her to die and praising Floch and the others for kicking her.

Gabi absolutely deserves the hate she gets

I absolutely love to see the anime-onlies mass hate of GabBitch, does my heart good xD

Boring ,too much Gabi she is annoying

Time to strap in: wild ride ahead!

Gabi Braun is the WORST character, her arc was poorly written and the moment she kills Sasha solidifies her rightful place as most hated character

No development has made me stop hating Gabi. The wound of Sasha's death will ALWAYS overshadow any crocodile tears Gabi may cry.

Kudos to Jean's and Connie's voice actors. Emotions were so raw and natural.

so good! they're really nailing down the emotional beats so far!

Dialogue-heavy but still amazing! Also the music was great

I didn't felt anything when Sasha died. Even the first time, in the manga. She hasn't enough personnality for me to care. Erwin and Bertolt's death were more saddening for me. Stop hating Gabi. She was in grief and she did what Marley brainwashed her to. And Sasha killed people right in front of her, so…

1 chapter was too little to be adapted for an episode, you could tell some scenes were stretched to fit the runtime

The music they chose for the scene of Sasha passing was also the same music they used when the Survey Corps first donned their capes and Eren found out Marco was dead... man, that song is gonna hit harder than ever now

It didn’t help with the overwhelming amount of hate Gabi is getting. I hope Mappa does her justice because she’s a great character but the Anime only seem to hate her because its a “funny” “popular” thing but it really isn’t... shows who really is paying attention to the story and the people who are watching it because it’s popular and trendy 

People who are hating on Gabi do not understand the themes portrayed in AoT

Pretty solid overall. Wonderful bits of animation such as the ODM bits and the solid character acting from Sasha going down, Mikasa and Armin is distress, personal highlight being Gabi's reload animation. Good ost choices, nice addition of Samuel and Daz to foreshadow their conflict later on in the story, and great work from Connie, Gabi and Eren's VAs.

Friendly reminder that just because we hate Gabi does NOT mean we don't "understand" the story or themes. We just don't care because Gabi is a bad character.

U mad at Gabi for what she did ? Did she kill Potato girl for no reason? Imgine a kid, at least 3 years younger than the 104th, made fighting on WARS and praised for it, brainwashed by Marley that Paradisians are devils, and these devils came in her home, killing her friends and this WOMAN killed in front of her eyes two people who tried to protect her. Don't be mad at Gabi. Grieve for Sasha, okay, but stop hating Gabi. You're the worst when you do it

Hey Gabiatans: as long as you're not threatening the VA or other RL p olle, it's PERFECTLY fine to hate Gabi. Period. We don't have to like her, and it's not like we don't "understand" her just because we hate her. I "understand" a lot of Germans were forcibly coerced into joining the Nazi regime, but I don't have to pity then for any consequences that came for them.

Leviiiiiii

I was surprised that Mikasa and Armin crying over Sasha had no voice over. I thought it was still effective but I'm not sure if I prefer it. Other than that, the character animation was amazing this episode. Gabi's hands as she reloaded the rifle and Armin crying were my favorites. Overall, everything was pretty perfect and I love it when a chapter gets adapted in full with basically no cuts. One of the best episodes in the series and a proper send off for Sasha.

Wonderfully done episode! They truly did Gabi and Falco's perspectives justice. Also, seeing Eren's expressions and reactions in animated format was clarifying and super well done, too!

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 227 Responses

Thanks again to everyone who participated! 

[system76]

Behind the Scenes of System76: Sales Team

The System76 Behind the Scenes series aims to give readers an inside look at the people behind our mission. This week, we spoke with VP of Sales Sam Mondlick about the challenges of conducting business during a pandemic, and how long it’ll take the Sales Team to make a certain blog author a millionaire.

You know. The important things.

Take a moment to describe the different functions of the Sales Team.

The Sales Team itself is currently made up of two different positions. The Customer Experience Specialist (CES) is the first line of conversation with System76 with regards to anything order-related. Their job is to make your process from purchase to shipment as easy as possible and provide you with as much information as you might need, such as giving status updates about orders or answering questions that may have arisen.

The other position within Sales is Account Management. They’re the people you talk to from first inquiry to System76 about products. These guys help anyone, from my 80-year-old grandma who’s looking to transition from Windows to Linux, to Fortune 50 companies. They deal with a wide variety of customer base, so they’re pretty much experts in getting the customer what they need.

Then there’s the Product Management side of Sales. The Product Manager stays up to date on all-new technology, and then informs and directs the team. The position was built to ensure System76 is at the forefront of new and exciting technologies, whether that’s within the Thelio product line or in the form of updates that come to our laptops. And that could be as simple as tracking memory updates from DDR4 to DDR5, or with PCIe 3.0 updating to PCIe 4.0. For things like that we’ll track and update products throughout their lifetime.

What is the guiding principle for how the System76 Sales Team operates?

The Sales Team philosophy we push is what I call, “Consultative Sales.” We’re here to be an assistant to the user in order to get them the right product for the job; we’re not going to upgrade you for the sake of upgrading. The team is there to understand what you want to accomplish so that they can get you the right machine with the optimal performance for your use case.

What factors into the decision to introduce a new product?

There’s quite a few factors internally that we’ll go through. Looking at our product line we ask ourselves, is there something that’s missing from it? And if we do find something, what are the benefits to it? How is it going to make us as a company better, and us as a provider of Linux-based technologies the right fit for our customers?

For the Lemur Pro, battery life had always been a high-value item for our customer base. Before the Lemur Pro and Darter Pro were introduced about 2 years ago, the average battery life on a System76 computer was about 3-5 hours. The ability to introduce a product with a higher battery wattage allowed us to extend battery life almost threefold. That value is really what drives a product forward. 

What is your team’s background with Linux?

A lot of the team members have a background in Linux as users. That’s what we tend to typically hire and bring on. They are apt in review and understanding, and helping customers that have specific tasks and needs within the Linux environment. Charles was using Raspberry Pis in order to do some cool things, and Bradley used Ubuntu even before he was hired. The same can be said for Jeremy and John. They all believe that Linux is the right tool for people, and they showcase that for incoming customers. Even if they’re not tech-savvy within Linux, there’s a background there with using it and seeing it in the wild.

What challenges did the pandemic present when it first started?

I think at the very beginning, the biggest challenge for us was the loss of the team camaraderie. A lot of Sales is personal relationships, and the team feeds off of each other, so having everyone in the same area was a huge benefit pre-pandemic.

In the first month or so after it started, there were definitely challenges with productivity and communication because Sales works a lot with Engineering, Support, and other departments in order to give the customers the information they need to make an educated decision, or to update them on the status of their order.

But, I think one of the best tools we have is our employee messaging client. That was already ingrained in us as something that was used pre-pandemic that really started to show its value post-pandemic, especially with the team members being in different homes—and in some cases, different states. It allowed us to provide our staff with as much as they needed to make their environment feel like they were still in an office, still able to get the camaraderie, and still able to get almost the same instantaneous response as they would in the office, but now done remote.

Our ability to put tech first, especially within Sales and Service, is one of the things we do really well. We never throw people at a problem. By that I mean we don’t delegate a problem up the chain to solve it. Instead we work for a solution, and our people evolve into that solution. From my viewpoint, we’ve established that a remote environment is as productive as an in-person environment, which has opened up the door for System76 to grow. Instead of working within a local pool, we’ve now moved to the ocean. Whereas you used to have to hire and work to provide resources for new hires to move to Denver so they can work with the team, now we can bring on team members from pretty much anywhere on the globe to come help make System76 better. 

System76 has seen steady growth in the past year despite drastic political and economic changes. What do you attribute the success to?

I think we’ve matured as an organization. We have introduced products and product lines that are meeting and exceeding a lot of different customer requirements. When I look at our desktop line from when I started seven years ago, our options were the Ratel, the Wild Dog, the Leopard, and the Sable. With production moving in-house and the introduction of Thelio in the last two and a half years, keeping in mind both Intel and AMD, we’ve gone from offering a four-desktop solution to nine.

Laptop and desktop quality has also increased in the last seven years, and a lot of that has to do with what we’ve done in our new manufacturing facility. We have made leaps and bounds with regards to what we’re doing with software engineering now. There’s a huge demand for what our Software Engineering Team has done, driven by Jeremy and our open firmware/open EC that speak to a lot of people. Companies are looking at an open source solution instead of proprietary because they want more control over what their team and their organization are doing.

One of the things we’ve noticed is that our business clients have grown. There’s significantly more support and drive from both the end user and the corporate side to make it so Linux is a valued and desired solution for their teams. Today, I can probably put a Windows 10 machine next to my Pop!_OS 20.10 machine and accomplish everything in the same amount of time or faster. Maybe I’m not using the same applications, but anything I as a businessperson could do within Windows, I can now do with Pop!_OS or Ubuntu. The Linux ecosystem is continuously changing, and that only helps us as a company.

You’ve been at System76 for quite a while. What’s it been like watching the company grow?

It’s amazing. When I started at the company, I was really the first Sales-oriented person. I was the 8th employee at the time, and now I’m the 5th-oldest employee of System76 out of over 50 employees. So it’s huge, man.

When you look at a lot of big corporations, change is hard to make happen. It’s looked at as too different, too risky. But here, change is really something we strive for. We work to be different, to be new, to figure out new ways to help our customers or create solutions to help them, or figure out ways that can change us for the better that you just typically wouldn’t see from a corporation.

What was your favorite moment?

When I first looked at System76, back when we were only offering Ubuntu, I saw the beginning of something very similar to another major player. Very grassroots, very much specialized and hardware-specific. They also created their own operating system, so when I interviewed in 2014, I made comments during my interview with Carl that I expected us to probably produce our own operating system as well. I thought that would be our endgame as a company. At that time, and Carl might contradict my memory on this, but I remember he didn’t think that would ever happen. And then in October 2017, we released the first version of Pop!_OS. That made everything come kind of full-circle for me.

The following year, we brought hardware inside in order to make it the best that we could. So in three short years from me starting, we took what we were doing and elevating it to something that only a handful of companies do, and do well. Our potential is really limitless from what I’ve seen so far, and it’s very apparent with what we’ve done with Pop!_OS since its release, as well as where we’ve taken Thelio. I bet you we never thought we would’ve implemented something like i3 tiling into Pop!_OS. I really goes back to how we view change. We embrace it. We see it as trying to do something better than we did before. Carl and the Engineering Team view software as always being about revision, and we bring that philosophy back to hardware and back to the company as a whole.

[dramallamadingdang]

My mind is blown.

I’m totally serious. And this is a seriously long post, for which I apologize, but you might think it worth it in the end.

I did some fiddling with my Simming computer while solving the mystery of the super-lag/abysmal FPS rate in my TS3 game. While I was reading up on things to do that might improve that situation, I ran across this MTS forum post. It's about NVIDIA graphics settings (meaning, settings outside of the game, controlled by the video card itself) that improve the appearance of TS3 in-game. Now, maybe among the more gamer-types out there, doing this kind of stuff is common knowledge. But I didn't know, and my gamer husband never saw fit to inform me of these things, for which he’s gonna get a whuppin’ :), and my mind is blown, so I thought I'd share info for other non-gamer-types like me who don't know about this stuff. :)

After I fixed my TS3 game and tried out the NVIDIA settings and they made my TS3 game look awesome, I wondered what would happen if I applied the same settings to TS2. I had to test the game anyway because part of my problem-solving in TS3 was to update my GPU's driver to the version that was released about two weeks ago instead of a 5-year-old one. *laugh* I feared this would screw up TS2, but Mustang Valley and my creating set-up, at least, are fine with it. (Might be a totally different story when I play a regular, active, populated neighborhood, of course!) But I figured, what the hell, let's make a profile for TS2 with these settings, too. The worst that could happen is the game freaks out and I have to revert back to the default settings.

Well, the game didn't freak out and, in some ways, it looks a lot better. I'll go into more detail about that, via many pics, behind the cut. In front of the cut I'll say this:

You need an NVIDIA graphics card. I mean, I'm sure there's ways to do the same things with AMD cards. I just don't know how. You can't do this stuff with Intel integrated graphics. 

Moreover, you need a decent NVIDIA video card. In the linked MTS post, the OP has a 700-series card and the guy who posted the settings was dubious about whether or not the OP should mess with this stuff because it might cause lower FPS rates and lag in TS3. But I'm gonna venture a guess that you could do this with a lesser card for TS2, since it's a much less demanding game even when it's all tricked out. And either way, there’s no harm in trying. (For the record, my card is a GTX 1050Ti. It's decent, the best card I can put in my Simming machine without needing a stronger power supply, and it’s more than adequate for both TS2 and TS3, but it’s certainly not high end.)

You need the Nvidia Profile Inspector, if you don't already have it. It's freeware, and you can download it here. Note that it's a program for Windows; I have no idea how you’d go about doing this stuff on a Mac.

Once you've downloaded/installed the Profile inspector, open it up. It looks like this when you open it:

Under the drop-down at the very top (circled in red in the pic), there's a huge long alphabetical list of games and programs, old and new, that you can create an individual graphics profile for using this program. This means that the settings you choose will affect only that program and no others. So, if you play other games, Sims or otherwise, or use other programs (my CAD program's on the list, yay!), you might want to fiddle with those, too. But anyway, for TS2, find Sims 2 (with no "The". And it lists all the EPs, too, but just pick the base game) on the list and choose it. Then, plug in the settings in the post I linked to above. They’re all in the drop-downs for each setting, so all you have to do is click and choose the right setting. When you're done, click "Apply Changes" in the upper right corner of the program window. Done. Easy-peasy. It'll take you two minutes to do, if that.

Then load up your game, and in your graphics settings you can (and probably should) turn off the game's native edge smoothing. It's being overwritten with much stronger anti-aliasing, so there’s no point in having it turned on. In the pics below the cut, all of my graphics settings are at max except that edge-smoothing is turned off, I have no lighting or shader mods installed, and the game is in windowed mode. (It tends to look better that way.)

Now as to what it looks like... There’re a bunch of pics behind the cut. I'll say up front that the changes are subtle. Don't expect miracles in a 15-year-old game! :) But for me -- since I'm pretty damn picky about how my game environment looks, what with wanting high-res and stuff - they make enough difference that I'm definitely keeping these settings in place. 

I don't see much difference in neighborhood view -- including skyboxes/horizons -- aside from meshed stuff having smoother edges and a bit (not a lot, just a bit) better texture quality/clarity. Rather, the main difference that I see is in the on-lot textures. There is better clarity and more depth, even in things like basegame carpets. It affects objects, walls/floors/terrain paints, hair textures, everything. (Well, OK, I didn't notice much difference with clothing and other non-hair CAS stuff, but all I had available to look at was my defaults and Maxis clothing, and...yeah.) 

Overall, you get a higher level of detail and more depth, even close-up, without having higher-res textures. (But if you do have high-res stuff, it looks even better than it did before, with no further increased resolution.) Which means that you get better-looking textures WITHOUT contributing to pink flashing at all.

So! On to the pictures, none of which are edited in any way except for cropping/resizing and adding text. No sharpening, no fiddling with brightness/contrast. Nothing. I wish I could give you “before and after” pics, but...nope. You’ll just have to take my word that there is a difference. Which you can verify by fiddling with your own settings. (Don’t worry about breaking your game or anything. Since these are settings that exist entirely outside the game, there’s no way you can hurt the game with them. :) ) So, pictures...

And now for some hair...

Unfortunately, all I have to show you are my own hair textures, which are neither Maxis-match nor Pooklet-y. However, this graphics profile does tend to bring out extra depth in all textures, including hairs, and with hairs specifically it does nice things to hair ends so that they aren’t so stringy-looking. I’m assuming other textures would also gain extra definition/depth.

One (and only, so far) bad thing about using this profile: It gives you better transparency. Unfortunately, this means that if you use hairs with transparency issues, the issues will be more noticeable, not less. I’m slowly weeding out such hairs in my collection, but I noticed that on the female hair in the first hair pic, there’s a transparency that wasn’t noticeable before, right next to her neck, about half-way down it, on the viewer’s right side. It’s hard to see on the sized-down pic, but it’s the bit that appears to be a blue-ish dot. So, if you do use a lot of hairs with transparency issues, you might want to use a not so high transparency sampling setting. That might help.

As for other stuff that goes on a Sim’s body, I didn’t notice any huge difference in the stuff I looked at, but what I had to look at was limited since I didn’t fire up my full game with all the CAS CC. :) I think my default skintones and the body meshes themselves might be a bit smoother/less pixellated...but that also might be my imagination. :) I do think accessories like glasses and jewelry would probably see some improvement.

So, um, yeah! If you made it through this post, I hope you found the info relevant to your interests. :) I wish that I had learned that you can do this a looooooong time ago!