#i've decided that i'm going to start liveblogging

[front-facing-pokemon]

[unforth]

Alright not to like liveblog my breakdown on main but yesterday was a really bad day after a really bad, like, 4 months, and I've hit a bit of a breaking point and one of the only things in my life that can give is running @mdzsartreblogs , @tgcfartreblogs , @svsssartreblogs , @erhaartreblogs , @tykartreblogs , and @cnovelartreblogs , so that is what has to give. It's been a 99-out-of-100 days thankless job. A small number of people do say thank you and yall I appreciate you so much (HUGE shout-out to the artist I met at Flamecon who gifted me a zine when I said I ran these blogs, @bonesblubs you rock) but I have never done an act of fandom labor simultaneously this labor intensive yet this invisible before and, uh. It sucks. I spend an hour or more a day on this every day, if it's under 2k hours since I started the first of these in September 2020 I'd be shocked. And I do it because I love it but doing it means I don't have time or energy to do other things I love. And I really don't want to just quit, but I can't keep this up.

In a last-ditch effort to try not to just give up, I'm making the following changes:

1. Only watching one tag per fandom for the MXTX fandoms. I am going to check *only* #tgcf, #svsss, and #mdzs. Artwork posted to any other tag, I will not see unless a mutual reblogs it.

2. Reduced tagging (even more). I'm only going to tag characters and maybe overarching au type (eg, "modern au," "fantasy au"). I'll no longer tag creatures. I will continue to tag the same common trigger warnings I already tag.

3. If a work's appearance doesn't make it obvious what it is AND the tags aren't clear, I'm not going to reblog. I can't keep spending 5 minutes or more trying to figure out what I'm even looking at, scared that if I guess wrong the artist will get mad at me for mistagging their work. If I do reblog, I'll tag only the artist name and/or whatever else I can identify for sure.

4. I am no longer going to follow #link click. The fandom is just too big. I've started dreading checking it. If I was more into it and less busy I would make another spin off just for it but neither of those is true. (The art is so good, I hate to do this, but. If you love link click, highly recommend the main tag, lots of great stuff there.)

5. I will no longer tag any non-cnovel content in the art/post. Like, if someone draws, idek, Xie Lian and Marinette from Ladybug, I'm not gonna put any tags for Marinette, just for Xie Lian.

6. Basically if I run into something hard to tag or confusing or unclear, my new policy is I'm not gonna fricken bother.

I think those are everything but idefk, I cried for 3 hours last night and got 4 hours of sleep so I'm mostly fueled by exhaustion and desperation right now and my memory is even more fried than usual.

How artists can help. This is obviously all optional. You do you. But since some people might want to know what would make my life easier, I'm sharing. I'm not claiming I feel entitled to dictate how people fandom or anything like that.

1. Put the tags for the character(s) and ship(s) early in the tag list.

2. If you make art for a fandom that isn't one of the big ones (right now the only big danmei fandoms on tumblr as far as I can tell are the MXTX fandoms and maybe 2ha) I am begging you to use my tracked tag #cnovelartreblogs

3. Do mdzs art? Tag #mdzs. Do tgcf art? Tag #tgcf. Do svsss art? Tag #svsss.

4. Not only artists, but everyone, *please* stop tagging fandoms not discussed and/or depicted in your post. It's gotten to be stupid common for people to blanket the danmei fandom tags with posts only about one fandon (like, svsss-only works also being tagged mdzs and tgcf and 2ha for some damn reason). This isn't about just my sideblogs tbh this is just fandom etiquette that seems to have been forgotten or never learned by many. Tagging unrelated fandoms isn't "reach," it's annoying. People go into the #mdzs tag to see mdzs, not whatever not-mdzs stuff people have decided to tag for ~reach~, and seeing the same post in 8 tags, none of which it's related to, is so damn irritating, and makes scrolling the tags looking for content that IS relevant take that much longer. Knock it off.

Okay. I think that's as much as I'm prepared to meltdown where everyone can see. Thanks in advance everyone for your understanding, and apologies to everyone about to see this 8 times as I reblog it to each sideblog.

At least I'm not tagging it to everywhere. 🤣🤣🤣

[tanoraqui]

Dungeon Meshi Liveblog: Let's Eat!

(That is, let's live, want, connect... oh, you know what I mean by now)

I like how Yaad and the other living villagers can casually talk with the ghosts, because for all intents and purposes they were also ghosts... In fact, those who stayed and spent centuries going through the patterns of life even though all true meaning had been lost long ago were MORE "ghosts" than those who lost their corporeal forms because they wanted to escape so badly that they went wandering... That's so fuckin' good. I wanna eat this writing.

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Kabru just randomly walking out of the bushes the second Laios starts considering politics...love him. He was summoned. His PR spidey senses were going off.

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look at my boy, establishing his own authority.

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Lol this was me when we moved house last month, and my job was to just stand in the new living room and tell people where to put which box or piece of furniture. It's an important job in a task with a lot of people!

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FUCK YEAH, THAT'S MY MAN! HE LOOKS GREAT!

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fucking love the trope of "one savvy friend in the crowd who deliberately gets a supportive chant going." Of course it's Kabru.

Though it's important to note that the first thing someone called was, "The demon-eater's here!", and there was muttering while no one was entirely sure if that was a good thing or not... Kabru didn't start the rumble of the crowd; the rumble of the crowd is unavoidable, and you have to be aware of that. Laios has always been aware of that, he's just never known what to do about it, and so tried to avoid it. But he's not avoiding it anymore - so Kabru started the hype of the crowd.

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They're both right! In order to eat, you need to kill! A memento of a meal IS a spoil of war!

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They're unhappy bros... /laughing

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Shown: man desperately reassuring himself, and psyching himself up to eat this stupid dragon meat

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DADCHUCK. Istg my father has said the same thing to me.

p.s. oh thank god he's fully dressed again. it was indecent.

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Marcille is so resigned to this, and so...determined to see it as her own choice. "We all agreed", "I've got to go" - and I'm sure she does see it as her own choice, in a way, because this is how the world has always worked and she knows that. She knew that going in. Those who do ancient magic are arrested by the Elves of the West, that's just the "natural" consequence. She might've gotten away with it if she'd gone undiscovered, or if she'd stayed in the dungeon forever, but she didn't - she chose to pursue her craft, to save Falin, and to do everything after that, too, and so she implicitly chose the consequence with it. If it's unfair, well, thinking that changes nothing, so it's better not to think it.

Until Laios is like, "Actually, I might have political power now? And I'm SO goddamn tired of myself and people I love being punished just for being different, and interested in unconventional things. Let's try something."

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WELL-FUCKING-PLAYED! GET THEIR ASSES, LAIOS! It's especially great because I'm pretty sure he knows the answers to all of this by now? Power move!

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Is she sitting there completely nude except for jewelry and a short robe. Icons only, honestly. Though "we have the luxury of time" feels like so much of a threat from an elf.

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Hey, you did objectively defeat him! Okay arguably the Lion did but Laios did it first, he just also then talked to him, and got grabbed by friendly vine-tentacles. You didn't kill him, but that's not what Delgal asked for anyway!

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thinking about that post that observed that Thistle's driving madness was specifically getting Delgal home for dinner, to eat all together as a family again, and he wakes up to the sound of the people of the Golden Kingdom eagerly inviting the (new) king to eat, and him responding...crying... What is lost is lost, but life will go on.

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The moment when a character decides to lie to another character for their own good is always so compelling. The little moral quandary microcosm.

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So Yaad did know something of what passed between Delgal and Thistle, that drove Thistle down the path to dark magic. He know what it was his grandfather blamed himself for.

This is SUCH A GOOD AND QUIET-SAD DEATH SCENE, but as a consummate fan of 'actually, living is much much harder than dying, and much more interesting too', I do like to think Thistle lives and has to...figure out what to do with his life. And that 'what to do with his life' ends up including ancient magic mad science with Marcille.

...But honestly, even though that'd be fun for me, it seems almost cruel to Thistle. He's been alive for so long. Those he loved most are gone. He held the demon back from the surface, trapped in those books, for so long, even if it was in no way whatsoever with the good of the world in mind. If anyone deserves this peaceful death in (what he thinks are) his brother's forgiving arms, it's him.

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Unfortunately, my love, as has been ceaselessly proven in this story: that's life.

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Marcille has caught onto one of the major themes! However, this story still isn't in favor of afternoon special Moral of the Story - not of letting the characters wrap things up with a bow, at least. You just go on living and wanting and learning about and connecting with and killing new things, forever! That's how it goes! You never know everything and you're always a little bit starving!

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I really love this grumpy old man, and I want him to stick around and be one of Laios's advisors. He's an old gnome, he'll die as soon as an average tallman would anyway.

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This is a) very touching coming from Mithrun, who is only just regaining his own will to live, and b) almost tautalogical in this story EXCEPT that it is also clear that merely "wanting" doesn't mean you get to continue to live, it only means that you're alive in this moment - you also need to want to live MORE than whatever's trying to kill you wants to live.

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GREAT VISUALS!

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And then it's so small, so small that she could leave it behind entirely but Falin is still so kind that she picks it up anyway! Falin who looks at everyone and everything - ghosts and brothers and mad mages and dead dragons, the latter of whom were both violently oppressing her soul - and thinkgs "I gotta help." She's so good!

I'm really going to need to write a like 2k post-canon character study about how Falin has part of the spirit of a dragon in her chest which unfurls while she travels abroad and curls up again and hides when she's home with Marcille and especially with Laios, and how it's a metaphor for her own independence but also literally there is the spirit of a dragon. At the end of it she figures out how to nurture and commune with the dragon enough to have her own flight-capable wings.

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THIS IS SO FUCKING COOL-LOOKING. AUTOPHAGIC SELF-CREATION FOR THE FUCKING WIN!!

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YYEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

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fuck it, have a collage, because this bitch-ass website is about to cut off my photos-per-post. It can't HANDLE the sheet joy of Falin resurrection reunion hugs!!

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so many people love her, or at least are really emotionally invested in this now!! /sobs

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Lmaoooo

Laios: wracked with food poisoning because he ate raw walking mushroom Falin: great distress! Marcille: trying very hard to help, also thinking sooo hard that He Is An Idiot. [btw I love how it looks like she takes up holding her hair back with a band] Kabru: having his weekly moment, as he has for the past many years and will continue to have until he dies, of wondering if he shouldn't really have just killed this guy rather than let him become king

Kabru definitely wrote this whole ending narration btw. This is his press release from like 40 years in the future. And those kids! An orc kid and a kobold kid, and zooming out to show kids of other races, all playing together and going to lunch together!!

And then they all lived, and hungered and ate and killed and wanted and sought understanding and connected with one another and were part of the great circle of life, as happily ever after as one can get.

This story truly was delicious...in dungeon!

[kerubimcrepin]

LIVEBLOG: Wakfu Season 4, Episode 2 [PART 1]

I miss the grittier, browner Bonta of older seasons...

Agardoes what Jorisn't.

(totally not a joke I've been making for months now)

Moooooom Yugo was MEAN to me. Ngl Qilby was so good in this season, his interactions with Eliatrope are filled to the brim with insane implications.

Even more movie asset reusage. Ughh. The tavern Kerubim talked to Bakara at would NOT still be standing. It's canonically underwater and underground and shit. Like the rest of Dofus era Bonta.

Kettle insulting a pan for being on fire.

Ush will only have the right to insult him if he can stop fucking cats. <3

Both of these are also asset reusages but I'm too lazy to track down from where. The woman is from Aux Tresors, and the man is from Wakfu season 2, is all I can tell without further inspection.

I'm sure there's more stuff I missed, but I'm already annoyed enough that they decided to cut costs at every single corner even without looking further into it...

He's still a catfucker. Sad, oh well.

My beautiful wife.

[start talking shit about Ush as loud as possible the second he is in a hearing distance, in an exaggerated, expository way]

This is some school locker bully behavior, made funnier by the fact that the person actually doing all the bullying is Ush.

The way Atch starts staring here, and Ush immediately says "not here to fight, lol" just confirms the fact that this conversation is 90% all about letting Ush know he is not welcome <3

Something that makes me extremely mentally ill is about to happen, chat.

When it's Wakfu cast, who are Joris's friends whom he wants to impress, it's all "Papa... you're being awfully selfish for not letting us go and fight together with you :))"

But when it's Ush, it's immediately "whether my little Jojo is home or not depends entirely on what the fuck you want from him." as if Joris isn't a 600yo politician and kind of should hear whatever Ush has to tell him, and as if there aren't huge eyes in the sky that he was interested in.

Conspiracy theory: one of the reasons Joris is still single (besides the aromanticism, horrible personality, misantrophy, 20 psychiatric disorders, not wanting to be in relationships—) is that 99% of people who have ever had a crush on Joris were afraid of disappearing under mysterious circumstances.

Kerubim's little mad, unamused look...

I want to point out, once again, that when you actually pay attention to the OVAs and this moment, Atcham and Kerubim always kinda... act like Joris is a child.

Joris expressed that the eyes in the sky concern him? They try to stop Ush from talking to him outright. Because they don't like Ush, because they don't want Joris to investigate this, and because they want him to stay home.

Joris expressed that he doesn't want them to fight Ush together with him because he doesn't want to see them hurt? They don't give a shit, and try to express that in the softest way possible that won't embarrass Joris in front of his friends.

It feels like a mix of holding Joris on a leash, but also trying to wrap him in a cotton wool. Sometimes it helps Joris, sometimes it's just patronizing.

Ngl they do have good reasons to protect their [checks notes] 600-year-old ambassador from this guy.

You have no idea what this moment means to us, Atcham fans. All three of us.

Kerubim's expression..... probably gauging how likely it is that Atcham might start screaming or clawing at something.

Words can't express how much of a Gift this entire scene is.

Atcham looks like he's about to lose his anger management badge. Kerubim looks like he's scared that Ush is going to die or kill Atcham in self-defense.

HE'S SO SCANDALIZED.

The anger management classes + not wanting to be arrested?

KERUBIM SO UNAMUSED.

Kerubim is probably so used to seeing Atcham freak the fuck out about things. It's his brother's special charm.

[wipes tear] He's learned to love the bomb.

...sorry for making references to the band glass animals. it will happen again,. if you dislike that maybe you should learn to love the bomb too.

[malkon-dova]

Shit your pants simulator | Echoes of The Eye/Outer Wilds DLC

outer wilds DLC 1st playthrough liveblog | no spoilers, hints or tips please if commenting! |

PART ONE: Crossroads

(Content features 4/11's session; Writing this pre-game on 4/18)

I did quite a bit of progress!!! After getting reacquainted with The Stranger after a week of not playing, I decided to finally explore more of The Reservoir. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find whatever is making my log scream at me saying that I haven't discovered everything yet. Rip.

But!!! There's always more to find when you're stuck! And wouldn't you know, there's fun little house with a broken bridge I've yet to go to! And with a mysterious passage too!!! :]

And man, I didn't realize how much I've missed in The Stranger till now!! A whole town/section right there that I had missed!! And all because I didn't stay flush-right to the stream :D wow!

The Hidden Gorge is fantastic btw! It's such a cool area, so much to explore!!! And there's those artifacts too!! :) Which, at the time- I had no idea how to use. There's also another dead-people tower, which. I hate. with a passion.

Either way, after gallivanting around the place and navigating the ghost matter maze I finally enter the house and-

jesus christ i nearly shat my pants here. Not the god ray on the eye dude ;o; ohhh my godd. the music too?? aaaccchhhgkkkk. fantastic. makes me cry

And there's one of those locks on the top floor too! I'm sure the puzzle solution is connected to wherever the chain behind the broken wall (where the eye sits) has something to do with it. yet to figure that out though!

Either way, I found this reel about a busted hull!!! and wow!! im glad i pursued that!!! so much info!!! And actual information about the artifacts too!!!

Huh! In order to activate the flame in the artifact, they close their eyes. Well. I suppose the only way to do that for our character is to sleep. Good thing there's fireplaces in the dead-people towers!

oh no.

g. guys. guys. (shaking you). why are the dead people gone. why are the dead people gone. they have disappeared. why are they gone. why is it so dark. why do i move so slow. oh. god.

dude. i wish, i really genuinely wish i had a clip of when i discovered the sleep mechanic worked. it was so funny. but i genuinely was going to start hyperventilating LMAO- i was so scared out of my mind and was stuck on the pause screen for a hot while.

but oh my GOD DUDEEE!!!!!

DUDE! THIS AREA!!!!!!! THEIR PLANET!!!! THEIR MEMORIES OF HOME!!!! THIS IS SO COOL!!!!!! FULLY IMMERSED IN THE STRANGERS HOME AND CULTURE!!!!!!!!!! AND THE GIMMICKS/PUZZLES LOOK SO COOL!!!!!!!!

I AM ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED THOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so! unfortunately, the session ended short and i needed the night to recover hsdgsd

Additional notes: 1) The memories from exploring the spooky area has a cool filter over the memories! The same one when looking into the memories of the experiments.

2) I know the vault is carrying a person. I know it in my heart. I played hollow knight. i know three dreamers and the black egg when i see it. Also I was spoiled on there being a person called "The prisoner" and that just fed into my theory. How do we unlock the towers?. probably with the horror sections. how we communicate? i dont know,, but ultimately i am excited to reach that point and the journey there.

But there's a problem: I am very. very bad with horror. I have nightmares about this sort of stuff. And I saw the gimmick. I hadn't played enough on 4/11 to experience it, but I know I'm gonna have to dodge and weave those gangly motherfuckers (The Strangers) and not get caught by them as I solve the puzzles. I hate everything.

But of course, if there's a will, there's a way.

[Stay tuned for the post-game liveblog today!!! It will be attached to this post in a reblog!!]

[hils79]

Hils Watches Matz Travel Vlog - Part 1

It's been a very weird weekend.

I went to Manchester to visit my sister and it's the first time I've been back since I saw Ateez there a couple of weeks ago. Post-concert bues is definitely a thing, but I wasn't prepared for how hard being back would hit me emotionally. As soon as I got off the train the arena was right there. But there were no Atinys giving away freebies and no general buzz of anticipation and excitement.

I hopped on a tram and saw that the lunar new year lanterns that Wooyoung posed with were still up. Then I went past a bunch of the shops and restaurants we visited while we were there and I legit started tearing up.

I'm sure at least part of it was because shark week and general tiredness but I wasn't expecting to get so emotional over the whole experience.

And then while I was away, going back to the topic of this post, the Matz travel vlog dropped but I couldn't watch it because it's over an hour long and I was visiting family.

But I'm home now and ready to watch it. And because I need somewhere to scream about all my feelings I've decided to make this your problem and liveblog it.

I haven't been fussed about avoiding spoilers so I've seen a few screenshots and gifs but nothing major.

So lets accompany Hongjoong and Seonghwa on a trip to the Star Wars wedding location in Italy. I'm sure this won't be romantic and ridiculous at all.

FFS even the opening credits look like an old married couple's honeymoon home video

Hongjoong making sure we all know Seonghwa isn't late for their date

This is just reminding me of when @storkmuffin was doing commentary on the lego live and said Hongjoong kept praising himself. Yes, baby, you are very good at toast.

Seonghwa hasn't even sat down yet and Hongjoong is making sure he gets his coffee

Sweetie, you look like you were carved out of marble by Michaelangelo himself

You can tell from Hongjoong's amused smile that he is used to this nonsense

Orders coffee for Seonghwa without prompting. I'm fine.

I'm not going to dwell too much on their relationship with food because it honestly just makes me sad.

Aww Hongjoong saying he prefers to be around other people and he gets sad when he has to work in his studio alone. I remember him saying something similar on Fromm a few months back. I think they were flying somewhere as a group after some time off during which Hongjoong had done a bunch of solo projects. He was saying it was nice to be at the airport with the others instead of just by himself.

Oh, good. I thought Seonghwa was going to skip breakfast after saying he ate a lot the night before.

Haha! Seonghwa accidentally put sugar on his eggs.

Hongjoong admitting he did some research on where they could go for the day. We all knew!

This is the opposite of the Lego live where Hongjoong was like 'I didn't wear my glasses because I thought you'd wear yours'

Hongjoong really isn't a morning person. And it's not even that early. He said they'd arranged to meet at 10am

Oh we have noticed!

Hongjoong be like 'I'm happy to just watch you do your thing'

JFC Seonghwa

Apparently you're not allowed to say YouTube on a YouTube video

God, are they like this all the time? Just kidding I know they are.

Poor Hongjoong is stressed already and they haven't even got to the train station yet

This is honestly so fascinating. I imagine most of the time their staff arranges everything they want to do for them so they don't have to worry about things like standing on a train for an hour because there's no seats.

Just like me when I'm travelling, especially in a country where English isn't the main language.

It's funny because when we did our Ateez trip we had one extrovert who was always 'I'll just ask someone' and two introverts who were like 'we can look it up on our phones/figure it out without speaking to someone'

And yet you still look great

Aww! Seonghwa being able to relax because Hongjoong has planned everything. I can relate. Usually I'm the one doing the planning and organising so when I don't have to it's great.

Oops apparently I'm at the image limit already and I've only watched 20 mins of this. Oh well, see you in a bit for part 2!

Part 2

[fountainpenguin]

Short Version: I don't even know how to begin explaining this, so take these 'fic doodles with no context.

Wish Fixers, my chronically unhelpful beloved...

Long Version (City Lights AU #ridspoilers beyond the above implication. Mentions of death and trauma; it gets pretty dark)

Nalooksthrough, I tag you below because I cited your co-dependent toxic friendship comic and said it was cool- If you don't want to click, that's all the tag was :)

So I started outlining my Dale backstory 'fic (Lemonade and Papercuts) since I am the most predictable person alive and of COURSE I can't resist 7 years of trauma and intimacy anxiety <3. But planning a 'fic like this requires many pieces and many questions.

First and most obvious- How did Vicky lure in Dale? From previous planning, I've already decided that since they're the same age (maybe one year off), they probably knew each other in school or activities.

Ex: Squirrely Scouts & Cream Puffs... Not unreasonable- Throughout the series, many kids participate and the organizations seem to have a big following in Dimmsdale. Vicky's sister Tootie is in the Cream Puffs and Vicky is seen bossing them around in the Season 0 episode "Scout's Honor" ("Oh Yeah! Cartoons"). There's a comic by the same name depicting Remy in Squirrely Scouts (after "Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary" but before he gets his memories back in "Remy Rides Again" and I always thought it was cute). I mean, look at him:

Pictures courtesy of the FOP Wiki

It's not unreasonable that Dale - who's also rich - might've gotten into that (especially since Doug is big on the cowboy theming and of all the rich parents, he's probably the one most okay with his son playing in dirt). Something scout-related could be an option even if Dale and Vicky went to different schools.

A friendship that gets increasingly toxic until it spirals into full-on abuse sounds really interesting (and @nalooksthrough portrayed this idea beautifully imo in THIS comic I can't stop thinking about).

Sounds fun to write, so let's go with that. What's next?

Hey, remember when 7 years ago, I headcanon'd H.P. as Dale's godfather because of this doodle in Da Rules that specifically refers to Pixie godparents and depicts a fluffy-haired kid in a purple shirt?

I recently found out I still had Dale listed as a godchild of H.P. on his full character profile on my fanfic sideblog. I was waffling over whether to retcon that (since I hadn't yet done anything with it), but I started brainstorming whether I COULD do anything with it.

I've always written Wish Fixers in 'fic [e.g. Origin of the Pixies] as a therapy business run by H.P.'s dad (which H.P. bought off him out of spite despite not being licensed for therapy) but, like...

Does Jorgen know H.P. isn't licensed? I can't see why he would... As far as he knows, H.P. owns and runs the place- especially given my lore that Wish Fixers has been in his family for many generations. Sounds qualified to me!

In "School's Out! The Musical" (episode that Da Rules screenshot is from), we learn Pixies are at the back of the line for godparent work, even under creatures like unicorns (Hence the Musical's plot requiring them to remove magical creatures from earth before they could assign themselves to Flappy Bob).

I said in a recent liveblog post that I'd always imagined this was a punishment given to them due to H.P. absolutely failing as godfather to Dale- Thus, the origin of the doodle on the page for that rule. But... I never decided what happened.

See, Dale SEEMS like a guy who would qualify for a fairy. He was probably pretty miserable under Vicky's 7 years of torture and he's still holding onto that trauma in his adulthood.

DID he have a fairy?

I'm just saying, we know from S4's "Wish Fixers" that H.P. is legally(?) allowed to make contracts that swap a fairy godparent with a pixie one if godkids choose to sign of their own free will... Hmm... I'm connecting dots I don't think I like... (I am lying).

I mean?? Dale clearly did not get out of the pit due to magical interference. If I'm committing to the doodle being Dale and reflecting an actual godfather-godson dynamic between him and H.P., then something sure went wrong there. I can't NOT make Dale suffer...

What on earth could've made Dale sign a contract for something a fairy couldn't give him? We know from "Nectar of the Odds" canon that he wished to see his dad, and thanks to previous liveblogs, I DO already have a headcanon of Dale being extremely desperate for his dad's love... Hmm... I can work with that.

I went down a rabbit hole trying to answer the question of how Vicky secured lemons for 7 years for Dale (and other kids) to work with. Here are some lemon tree facts:

- Lemon trees bear fruit after only a few years - They can bear fruit multiple times a year (depending on variety) - A single lemon tree can produce 1,500 lemons in one growing season - Dimmsdale is in California - a state known for lemon orchards.

That feels likely... An orchard of even a few trees can keep you going for a while.

But lemonade doesn't sell for much compared to other things Vicky could've set a kidnapped child up to do (Ex: In "Microphony," she has kids doing a bunch of other tasks like answering phones for her babysitting service, painting houses, and washing cars).

So... WHY lemonade? What is going on that makes this the thing Vicky has Dale do for 7 years?

And who owns the orchard? I need Vicky to obtain lemons without being stopped for 7 years.

Is it a Dimmadome orchard? Maybe, but several episodes imply Vicky's not familiar with the Dimmadomes - and she probably would have turned Dale in for cash reward if given the chance - so those are two things I need to keep in mind.

Does the orchard belong to her family? That's a possibility- Vicky is shown drinking lemonade after "Nectar of the Odds." She definitely could've bought it - It can't be too expensive unless prices were jacked up after she lost her cheap labor - but it's a drink she's seen with in multiple episodes. She definitely likes it.

And we know from "Timmy's 2D House of Horror" that Vicky's parents are terrified of her. It's not likely they'd stop her from taking lemons from the family orchard.

One problem... If Dale goes missing when he's about 9 (Closer to 7 or 8 in my planned timeline), Vicky is also 9 or younger. Are her parents scared of her when she's that small and inexperienced in the ways of the world?

In "The Switch Glitch," she's 5 and seems mild and sweet until 10-year-old Timmy mistreats her- She clearly didn't have memories of Timmy, implying she totally regressed to how she acted when she really was 5. Worth pointing out she goes off the deep end and chains up Cosmo and Wanda, so... she IS mean even at age 5. But also, she's 5. She wears the same purple hair bow in "Switch Glitch" (at 5) that she does when Timmy drains the meanness out of her in "Vicky Loses Her Icky," which is interesting.

So that begs the question... Can I turn my Dale backstory 'fic into a double story of Dale abuse AND Vicky going from a pretty innocent child to Totally Messed Up? Keeping in mind that according to Vicky in A New Wish, Vicky IS the one responsible for abusing him and he "spent 7 years' worth of Saturdays in a factory underneath a lemonade stand."

If that's the way I want to play it... Something happened to send Dale and Vicky down the dual victim-and-abuser path, destinies intertwined. And for some reason, Vicky stuck with the lemonade theme.

Dale just says he spent his Saturdays "in a factory underneath a lemonade stand." It's not out of the question he and Vicky made more lemon products than just lemonade, especially given Vicky's love for money (and those 600 lbs of lemons one tree can produce in a year). We can assume they changed locations a few times or someone would've found the trapdoor on Timmy's lawn. Plus when Dale started his abuse, Vicky hadn't started babysitting Timmy, whom she only met when he was 8.

So, I've set Dale up to be lured in by Vicky because they were friends. I like the idea of things gradually getting worse as Vicky slowly morphs from a friend into a very cruel person. If Vicky was bullying him, what stopped him from just... leaving?

Vicky's transformation was probably subtle if he stayed for so long..... I also pointed out in a recent post that Doug's underground milk empire where he uses hypnotized people for labor bears a striking amount of similarities with Vicky's lemonade stand, even down to the general vibes of "trapdoor entrance" (although it's implied there's another entrance in small building).

And if we want to be technical about things... We don't know if Doug and Dale pressed charges against Vicky. She clearly continues to babysit Timmy and other kids after "Nectar of the Odds" (Season 2).

In Season 4 ("Channel Chasers"), Doug remarks that Timmy's parents should've guessed Vicky was evil because of the Chip Skylark song "Icky Vicky," but he doesn't mention Vicky kidnapping his son. That's.... sus. He even offers to buy a car from her in Season 3's "Engine Blocked" (after Dale's escape).

Why would such a powerful guy let all of that slide? Did they just not have enough proof? Did Vicky wipe the place clean? Did Dale "not want to make a big deal about it" because he was so exhausted and grateful, he just didn't want to think about it or struggle with the legal system? Was he covering for her?? Was he scared to speak up?

... Did Dale not tell his dad the whole truth about where he was?

What if Dale was - in some vague and early concept way - in on the lemonade scheme from the beginning, back when he and Vicky were friends and she wasn't so cruel? Maybe she turned on him and sentenced him to the pit before long?

Why the underground-ness of it? Why the lemonade, which probably doesn't turn much profit... as lemonade. Unless you have unrestrained access to tons of lemons that you can turn into multiple products - Dale DID call it a factory - and no one is stopping you from accessing them...

... but how do you set up a situation where kids have access to a whole lemon orchard - presumably carefully maintained - and the adults don't take it away from them (Because... surely they would've found Dale and multiple other kids if they strayed close).

And Dale didn't leave. He does in "Nectar of the Odds" - apparently of his own volition - but not before. Was he kept there mentally as well as physically?

We KNOW Vicky can't be monitoring him 24/7 because "Nectar of the Odds" is the only episode depicting her paying attention to him, while others show her doing many other things in many other places (though it's worth noting Dale says in that episode that "Vicky's kept him locked up for so long").

Did he stay so long because it was the perceived better fate up until he miraculously crossed paths with his dad (via fairy magic) and took the risk? Would he have gone back in?

Maybe it wasn't supposed to get this out of hand. Dale and Vicky were young when this started... Somewhere between 7 and 9 (given that Dale was kept there for 7 years and Vicky is 16 when he escaped and he tells 9-year-old Dev this happened when he was Dev's age).

Maybe there was an accident. Something not just Vicky, but even Dale felt the need to cover up, especially in regards to the orchard and the fact that it needs to be Vicky's consistent source of lemons (and not something she lost out on before Dale's escape... an illusion of ownership maintained. Kids can't own the orchard, but what if they fooled people into believing it wasn't owned by kids?)

Hmm... some kind of accident that got two mostly innocent kids into huge trouble, thus setting up a horribly intertwined fate where if one of these toxic co-dependent friends backs out and squeals, even the squealer might suffer worse compared to trucking along on the cruel existing path.

tl;dr - if Vicky and Dale accidentally killed the orchard owner but they were kids and terrified to tell an adult lest they go to jail for life so they hid the body in the basement (or like ?? threw it to the coyotes or hyenas that inexplicably lurk on the fringes of Dimmsdale??) and are trying desperately to wipe their hands of this by pretending the lemon orchard is still operational so no one investigates until they can figure out a plan, and then Vicky hardens herself as a trauma response and manipulates Dale into believing it was solely his fault and she'll pin him with murder charges if he gets cold feet and turns her in, and he's miserable and gets a fairy (then loses his fairy via Pixie contract through Wish Fixers, presumably in an attempt to negotiate a way to protect himself from Vicky and somehow not gaining the ire of his father) and then H.P. (lawyer and unlicensed yet de facto therapist pulled two ways) is suddenly Dale's godfather and trying to comprehend what the flip is going on between misery and manslaughter while he's also juggling Gary, Betty, and Flappy Bob at the same time in preparation for the Musical because we know he spent 37 years on that plan...

... Would that be one messed-up yet hyperspecifically canon-compliant 'fic or what?

These thoughts have been haunting me all weekend and I HAD to get my "I'm not that kind of lawyer or therapist" joke out of my system, so there's your context. #Sorry. Is this the direction the actual 'fic will go? ... It's not the direction I really had in mind, but ?? It's off the wall and therefore I must shake it in my teeth. I can't not write Dale backstory this horrific. what. hey.

[docholligay]

Doc hi. I know I don’t really participate that much when you do liveblogs and everything, but, with everything that’s happening and most likely going to happen, I wanted to say that I learned from you “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.” I know you didn’t invent that, but I learned of it from you and I think about it a lot. So, thank you.

Good! Thank you!

Basically this is just what I want everyone to take home as a lesson. You do not have to save the world. I would argue you cannot. But you have to try. You have to save A world, you know?

I do the things I do not because I believe I can change the world. I do it so the world does not change me. I do it because I cannot live with myself if I do anything less. I do it so when i die, someone could truly say of me, "She tried. She always tried." That's all I want. Is to be known as a person who tries.

That's all we can do. I know everything is really scary right now. I'm scared too, if we're all being honest. But, I can't give up. We can't give up. Despair is consent, and I won't do it. Every small fight we are willing to take up is an immense act of love for our fellow man. If everyone fought one small fight, where would we be?

It can start with deciding to call your congressman, or volunteering to pack boxes at a food bank, or run a packet pickup for a charity race. These are small things that can have an immense impact. I worked packet pickup for the turkey run. It raised $45,000 dollars for food charities. I yelled at my rep about KOSA (I really should publish my "script for KOSA when your rep is a republican" because this is my gift) and who knows what will come of that, but I tried. I helped with food boxes for Family Service for thanksgiving, and a bunch of families got a full turkey dinner. You can't tell me none of it mattered, just because the world is the way it is.

You don't have to win. You don't have to see the promised land. But we have to fight, and we have to walk. You cannot build a home for yourself without callousing your hands, you know? And maybe worse, but I believe it's worth it. I believe a better world is possible. I believe that, even if a better world isn't possible, there is power and nobility in trying. It matters.

You get knocked down. You stand up. You keep going. You go as far as you can. That's everything. I've been happier failing to be good, than succeeding at a life of ease. I'm the one who has to live with me. I know what's true. And what's true, is that we cannot desist from the work.

[divineerdrick]

Homestuck Beyond Canon Upd8 for September 29, 2024

This is honestly a great time for an upd8.

I'm not doing so hot right now. Both my migraines and my fatigue have decided to start kicking my ass even harder. And I'm a little frustrated with that, since I've been trying to participate in the Path of Exile Runic Strife Gauntlet. But that's going to be hard if my body is going to be fighting me. I'm not making very good time as is, and I can't afford to lose a character due to lack of focus.

At times like this, Homestuck is often a comfortable blanket I'll wrap myself in. This comic has gotten me through hard times in the past, especially with amazing wealth of talent and compassion that's in the community. Even now, with probably a pretty hard chapter coming, I'm very much looking forward to it. I'm hoping we can get some more catharsis for Vriska's arc, and maybe finally give her another much needed breakthrough.

Here we are. Finally behind the 8 ball.

Hah! Also, apparently this is just "Later" so we don't have a definitive time frame. At least that probably means another year hasn't gone by.

That . . . that is a much more upbeat Serket than I was expecting. Hopefully she's not playing strong after her encounter with Scratch. She really does need to take some time to process that and move past it.

Nice boss pick there, in more ways than one.

Okay good! Looks like she did take some time reflect and recover. I'm hoping she actually spent some time addressing things though. Would have been nice to see some of that, but Homestuck has a habit of leaving some things to the imagination.

Looks like some opening up might have happened there. That's good! That means progress has definitely taken place!

Fefeta! Chewing everyone's ear off as usual! It's actually a cute contrast to Davepeta going on one of their usual tangents.

Vriska's never been shy about getting in on the RP action. Much less menacing than a Mindfang RP, but also still very much Vriska.

Hah! Vriska's trying to wrap her head around the sprite shenanigans.

Fefeta! No!!!

Nope. Not gonna explain anything.

No glomping without consent!

Consent and glomp achieved!

Looks like they're literally calling them hells. Also awesome art.

I'm still going with (Vriska), but that leaves the opportunity for Terezi to show up too, just as Aradia showed up with Tavros.

Kinda reminds me of the faint image of the stage at the center of the black hole.

Hey! I got one!

Wow! Really pushing the age difference here. This Vriska is still 6 after all.

It's one thing to apologize. But this is still a valid Vriska. Can you accept her.

And apparently she can't do it.

Wow! She really just peace'd the fuck out!

And that's it for the chapter. Vriska has hit another wall. Despite the fact she knows she should, she can't accept the part of her she views as having given up - as choosing happiness over the mission. She's probably telling herself that this version of her left everyone behind when they still needed her, and she can't accept that. But the simple fact is that version of her is still a valid her. It's still a path she took. We don't see any other versions of Vriska in the bubbles, because but for one well placed punch this was Vriska's fate. Sally "thewertsearch" just got to Vriska's death in her liveblog. Scratch makes it clear that Vriska always chose to fix the coin, always chose to go fight jack, and Terezi always stabs her in the back because she knows what the consequences will be. It's a constant across all timelines. And that Vriska always fights to stay relevant until everyone but Meenah leaves her. And then she chooses happiness instead.

And apparently, Vriska just can't deal with that.

[hrrkikshoard]

After hearing my boyfriend and sister talking about it I decided to start In Stars and Time, and I can already feel the obsession starting. And I've always been entertained by other people's liveblogs, so I thought I'd do one this time.

Ate a star in a very Miyazaki-esque scene

Peeoo peeo is a very good sound and I have instantly bonded with Siffrin for both their knowledge of language and birds

Quest issued: convince everyone to come to a sleepover

Advice from my sister: The first rule of In Stars and Time is be yourself and have fun.

I appreciate a good magical power where you know it's magic because it's Capitalized

v amused by "going further than the first room of the house is considered very rude." Mme stylish one why do you have your unmentionables in the most accessible room in your house?

Me: Oh no, King's Curse? Sister: And not even the regular curse of living in a monarchy!

Calling this one depression.jpeg

Can no longer relate to Siffrin after discovering that they hate croissants. Also very suspicious about this coin now.

I was already thinking that Odile reminded me of an exhausted Peridot SU when she broke out the line "Oh gems." Intrigued as to what she's researching.

Everyone successfully recruited to sleepover!

Because I am Oblivious™ I sincerely thought Isabeau had wanted to deliver a stupid joke and then realized he didn't have anything in the tank once he got Siffrin's attention. This tracks with my personal life. (Both the obliviousness and the desire to deliver stupid jokes at all times.)

Because we just watched Ladyhawke we all agreed that Isabeau's secret is that he's secretly a hawk.

Into the House of Change! I'm tickled by how this feels like the end of a game, great design choice.

Extremely correct opinion and why I wear a carabiner. I forgive you your inexplicable dislike of croissants, Sif.

Hey, House of Change? Why do you even have a death corridor?

(I suppose in a sense death is the ultimate change.)

Oops, I have undergone the ultimate change.

Stop bullying yourself, Sif. Your skills are leet and your hat is dashing.

Siffrin is dealing with having died and being yanked back to the day before much better than I would, even if he's saying things like "Yes. Correct. I was taking nap time."

Square bracket voice? Intriguing.

Loop's little feet kickies are adorable. I don't trust them as far as I could throw them. The star eating dream from the beginning has me thinking that Loop is somehow bound to help us, perhaps against their will.

concern.jpeg

Well, time to head back into the castle!

[princeseerow]

animorphs #1: the invasion: chapters 1 - 4

alright i'm gonna liveblog some thoughts here we go

for context, i've decided i'm going to listen to all of the audiobooks for the first* time

before we really get into it, i have to say, macleod andrews is such a fantastic narrator. i love how seriously he's taking it. he's very good at setting the tense atmosphere pretty much immediately, and manages to make jake's delivery sound believably teen-aged. like, despite being an adult, the way he emphasizes certain words and phrases does sound very juvenile in a good way.

jake talking about how pretty rachel is will never not be funny to me

i really enjoy how well the opening scenes of chapter one characterizes each of the kids through jake's eyes. them meeting up at the mall and deciding to walk home together is a simple scene, but they all feel so well thought out and rounded.

it's so interesting to me that marco is pretty consistently the first person to suggest turning to authority figures. when they see elfangor's ship, he says they should go to the police or the military. when they see elfangor's wounds, he says they should call an ambulance.

omfg yeerks are the size of RATS?

i wonder who exactly the andalites in elfangor's family photo are

elfangor initially just wanted the kids to warn other humans. he then changes his mind, and then gives them the power to morph, citing that it'll be at least a year before the andalites can come and save them and they need to resist in the meantime.

cassie being the first one to volunteer to take on the power to morph is exciting

it's honestly kind of breaking my heart how much of a wide-eyed idealist tobias is in these early chapters

elfangor says the hork-bajir are to be pitied but the taxxons are EEEEEVIL and now i wonder if this opinion has changed any from his time during the andalite chronicles

and that's the end of chapter four! it ends on a cliffhanger before we get to meet whoever this evil "visser three" is that elfangor mentions.

it's such a strong start to the series man i'm so excited

[iguessitsjustme]

When It Rains It Pours Ep 5 Thoughts

I looked at the time and decided that not only was it not too late for me to watch the next episode, but it is in fact time to keep watching. I don't know how long this one will be but my god I hope those two escape their relationships/situationships soon. I can't keep watching my boys get hurt like this. Under the cut:

Okay I looked at the episode summary simply to learn his name. Kazuaki. I got it. And if I don't got it, that's fine. Because I just wrote it and I can always look. Perfect. Go me.

The fact that they are meeting halfway. That is a compromise. That is how relationships work. The fact that they cared to listen to the other and then decided on the compromise. My god these two are already so much better together than they are with their partners (I know he's not really Sei's partner but you know what I mean) and they haven't even gotten together yet.

Are these two gonna fuck?

Currently the opening song which slaps, but if you stick around to the end of the liveblog, I will share extra thoughts tonight. Cause I am pissed at certain characters and their fuckery and I gotta get my rants out of my system.

The TOE.

The gentle caress vs the man that pushed on it to see if it would hurt. The man that was so gentle and held it like it was a fragile thing in case it caused pain vs the man that tried to cause pain. So I'm killing the best friend, yeah?

There is a whole discussion before they actually have sex. Kazuaki is asking if it's okay to do things or not say certain things before actually getting started? He might be cheating right now but honestly, green flag. And also she deserves it. Not that anyone deserves it. But she's fictional and a bastard so she deserves it.

Telling him that he's not bad or dirty? Oh my heart. Oh my HEART.

I'm FINE.

I'm looking you dead in the eye and telling you I'm fine. It's not my fault if you don't believe me.

I NEED to talk about the music in this scene but I cannot because work has smoothed out all the wrinkles from my brain and I need to wrinkle it up again but I NEED to talk about it.

I think that's the first time I've seen Sei smile.

But also these two. They found themselves in each other. They found a piece of themselves in each other. They both knew they were missing sex but I don't think they knew how miserable they were having no one to talk to. Not truly talk to. The deep meaningful talks that connect us and bond us. Neither one of them had that with their partners. They had superficial conversations. Moments of wanting to say something but not being able to. But they found the connection they were missing in each other and I am FINE don't LOOK at me like that.

God I need to talk about the music when Sei goes home too cause my god talk about tone shift. When that bastard is on the screen the dissonance in the music is actually difficult for me to listen to. Oh it hurts my poor little fragile ears.

Do these two need to hurt me like this? Do I not suffer enough already?

Oh she looked at his phone. Good riddance. She doesn't deserve him anyway.

WHY IS THAT BASTARD ANSWERING NOT HIS PHONE. BITE BITE CHOMP CHOMP KILLING HIM WITH LASER BEAMS.

Oh so you all made me watch this and now I have to WAIT. You all wanted me to SUFFER. Biting you all too (but affectionately).

Anyway rant time.

I hate the girlfriend because was she expecting to keep our boy in limbo for the rest of all time? She wants a marriage and kids but she doesn't want to actually ever talk to her partner? She sees him as future husband and future sperm bank. But she doesn't see him.

And don't even get me started on the rat bastard "best friend." Does Sei not have a Line because he doesn't want a Line or because his friend doesn't want him to have one. How alienated is Sei from the world and from others? He doesn't really talk to anyone at work which would be his one place he can talk to people. What would have happened if that wrong email address thing hadn't happened? Why does Sei feel like a parasite in a place that should feel like his home? I have lived with my best friend before and I can tell you one thing for sure. I never felt like a parasite. The reason that place felt like home was because it was both of us. Everywhere. WHERE is Sei in that apartment? Where is he? What are his interests? What are his aesthetics? Where is my boy????

And most importantly. WHERE IS THAT GORGEOUS UMBRELLA THEY USE AS THE THUMBNAIL AND WHERE CAN I GET ONE.

I have thoughts. Many thoughts. It will take me roughly two business days to process those thoughts. Just in time for the next episode I'm told. Which will then mean that it will take me another two business days. What did they put in this show for it to do this to my brain?

I should go to bed. Maybe I will wake up with coherent thoughts. Who knows.

Also this may or may not be the last liveblog I do now that I'm caught up. We'll see how I'm feeling on..Thursday? That's the next episode right? If I don't do another liveblog, then thank y'all for reading my silly little brain thoughts. And if I do keep liveblogging then I'll see you on Thursday.

[onceuponapiece]

so i've been in fandom since i was 15. started with the anime, switched to the manga at some point, dropped off both for years, and now i guess i'm fucking back at it again half my lifetime later. i've decided to reread the manga from the very start and liveblog as i go because i've never been able to like things normally so why the fuck would i start now?

this is mostly for my own records but anyone who wants to join me for the journey is more than welcome. nostalgia not required, conversation encouraged! this will not be spoiler or shipping free.

tl;dr: i wanna yap about one piece so i'm rereading the manga

[not-too-many-eyes]

For some reason I decided that, despite having wrist pain and my right hand currently being in a Brace, it was a good idea to type analysis in my Umineko Liveblog Document (I am at the end of EP 3 no spoilers please)

Oh well, I just think it's interesting how much projection the moms do, and how they Say their motives out loud.

This is ultimately an example of what Battler notices about Chessboard Theory in Ep 2

Umineko Ep 2 Part 56: Fleeting Resistance

In the end, chessboard theory is a technique of thinking where you project yourself on your opponent. So greedy people see their greedy selves inside their opponents...

While most of the characters don’t explicitly use Kyrie’s chessboard thinking, most of them do try to play detective, and project themselves onto the “culprit” in their own ways. Revealing more about themselves in the process.

Which is something Battler thinks about in regards to Rosa in Ep 2.

Aunt Rosa had proclaimed that she couldn't trust anyone who had not been killed. Aunt Rosa's chessboard thinking... saw herself inside her opponent. In other words, Aunt Rosa might have been an isolated woman, unable to trust anyone and unable to let her guard down.

We can apply this to the motive she assigns the servants.

Umineko Ep 2 Part 55: Devil's Proof II

Rosa: “You! And you!! I’ll bet you were all bought by that witch, that your eyes were blinded by gold!! Do you really want money that much?! That’s right, isn’t it?! You want to live the easy life for as long as you live?! What value could a life like that possibly have?!”

(Used the Mangamer tl here since that’s the one I’m actually reading, and since this line was in a picture I thought I might as well transcribe my existing screenshot.)

Umineko Ep 2 Part 60: Banquet of the Witch

I can't let go of the gun that protects my body. I can't let go of the gold that protects my future. But even so, I let go of the hand of my daughter, the person who is my future...?! —-------- Aaaaaaaaaaaaah, what am I doing... I'd had the gold, which would have been worth several million yen. I might have been able to start over with that!! And yet I fell, lost it, and that's not all, my own life is in danger, even Maria's life is in danger?! What has my life been?!!!

This applies to Eva as well, as we can observe that the things she says about others in Ep 1, reflect her/Evatrice’s motives in Ep 3. (Thanks to my friend for pointing this one out.)

Umineko Ep 1 Part 15: The Curtain Rises on Tragedy:

Eva: "I'm the one who would gain the most from these murders. Since I'm going to be suspected anyways, I might as well get it out in the open myself." I had tried to trick her by joking around, but it looked like it hadn't worked. Eva: "The inheritance will be divided between the siblings. But right now, the four siblings are just me. All of the assets of the Ushiromiya family will become mine. Eheheheheh." Battler:  "If uncle Hideyoshi heard you, he'd say 'Could you give it a rest, it's not a joke'..." Eva:  "I'm sorry? No matter how I try to smooth it over, I'll just be suspected anyways, so I was just fooling around. So I've been thinking, from my point of view, this murder might have been planned to cast suspicion on me. Unfortunately, my alibi for last night is weak."

Umineko Ep 3 Part 84: Coronation II

Eva: "...You idiot, isn't it obvious? This is that haughty Krauss nii-san and that sly Rudolf we're talking about. Even if we do announce it eventually, it's certainly too early now." Eva:  "Unless we carefully investigate how to make our next move, it's possible that all of the gold we've finally found will be snatched away by Nii-san." Eva thought she was saying something extremely natural. So when she saw Rosa's expression suddenly cloud over, she was a little surprised.

Umineko Ep 2 Tea Party

Eva nee-san is a real adult, so she's very smart. So she hated the stupid kid, Rosa. She was always a very sly person, and she often lied to me, tricked me, bullied me all the time.

Umineko Ep 3 Part 93: Real Magic

Eva: "...I thought that if I could gain the position of the Ushiromiya Family Head, that alone would be enough. But then, as soon as I saw that mountain of gold, my greed grew. I was struck by a desire to have that mountain all to myself..." Evatrice:  "That's nothing to be ashamed of. After all, it's your natural right as the Ushiromiya Family Head. How could you give up even a bit of it to anyone else?"

While Eva and Rosa share similar motives and reasoning for being the culprit. Natsuhi actually stands out quite a bit, as when she starts accusing the servants and also the 9 year old in episode 1 she doesn’t really bring up the gold.

She assumes them to be the Subordinates of a Ringleader (Genji) like Eva does in Episode 1 since she thinks Natsuhi did it, but assumes the motive is due to Devotion and Obligation to Kinzo.

Umineko Ep 1 Part 25: Besieged III

Natsuhi: "Doctor Nanjo, it truly pains me to say that you are suspicious...! But as Father's head physician, as his only peerless friend, you've been together with Father for a long time. You might even know about Beatrice. Are there any old obligations that you're hiding?!" Nanjo:  "How could there be...!! Calm yourself...!" It was pitiful to watch Doctor Nanjo frantically pleading his innocence. It was probably a normal reaction that anyone would give if they were suspected. Kumasawa was the same. Since Jessica had started suspecting her in the murder of Kanon, she had been totally flustered. That was why Genji's still calm appearance looked so bold. Aunt Natsuhi pointed the barrel of the gun. Natsuhi:  "...Genji. You were Grandfather's number one subordinate. Was Beatrice an illusion you showed to Father, with you as the performer?!" Genji:  "...If by suspecting me, you recognize me as the Master's greatest servant... then it is a great honor to me, regardless of the circumstances. However, I am not the one who put the letter there."

Though her reasoning for Maria is couched in this idea that Maria is a pest that just wants to cause conflict and nothing else:

Natsuhi: "Silence!!! I don't want to label you as the culprit, but there is no longer any doubt that you enjoy making this situation unpleasant and are providing assistance to the enemy!!"

Since this family hates autistic people, and Natsuhi as a character values keeping the sanctity of the family and its image above all else. Nanjo and Genji are loyal servants. Maria is not. They are allowed the “honor” of their motive being an ultimately sympathetic one in service to a greater person, while Maria gets ascribed the unsympathetic motive of someone who only wants to “cause trouble” and nothing else. 

(Though, arguably this could also be a reflection of Natsuhi’s inner fears of just being a “borrowed womb” and how Natsuhi is ultimately a Very Loud and Very Passionate person who is unable to be the “perfect quiet wife” of Krauss, and is commonly told to stay silent, or cool off, or to “know her place.” After all, this family hates autistic people.)

So that’s all really fun and all, but then, as I always do when I think about chessboard theory. I have to ask what that means for Kyrie. She's the one who first brought this up after all! And I’ve been having a blast rereading previous Kyrie dialogue with what I learned about her in ep 3 and ep 2 in mind.

So, I went to look, and the motive she assigns Beatrice is:

Umineko Ep 3 Part 68: The Witch's Written Challenge II

Kyrie: "Yes, that's right. When people have an overwhelming advantage, they tend to get arrogant. And when they do, they want to show off that advantage to the losers, so they sometimes take on small risks. A moderate amount of risk adds a little spice to the joy of victory. It'd be boring to win without any risk." Eva:  "...I understand. I like that kind of thing too... Yeah, I understand it well." Kyrie:  "I thought of a few plausible explanations for the true motive behind Beatrice's letter, but I think this really might be the truth. The emotion hidden behind that letter was... arrogance." Eva:  "...Arrogance." Kyrie:  "She's trying to throw her weight around, looking down on us, as if there's no way we could figure out such a difficult epitaph. It might even be possible, if surprising, that the epitaph wasn't written by Father, but by her."

Considering Kyrie’s favorite hobby is Psychological Manipulation, and has been on the good side of basically everyone while playing all of them. 

Umineko Ep 2 Part 37: Guest of Honor

Rosa: "I must join in as well. If I don't assert myself, those people will quickly forget that there are four siblings." Kyrie:  "...It's pretty tough for you too. Maybe I didn't choose my words well. My apologies." Rosa:  "No, I don't mind. I'm the one who should be apologizing. As a pair of mothers with daughters, we must interact more often. Every time we meet, we talk about something strange..." Kyrie:  "...That's the fault of the atmosphere in this mansion. Once we breathe in this air, everyone gets so strained. Just once, I want to drink a nice, long cup of tea with you, Rosa-san, when you aren't attending a family conference. There's a wonderful coffee shop in Ginza which is a favorite of mine. Please let me invite you sometime soon." —-------- Rosa: "I, I'm sorry, I'm going outside for a second. I'll be right back!" Rudolf: "...What the, what's going on with her, really..." Kyrie:  "It's fine, right? She'll be right back. More importantly, should we begin? Our main topic." Eva:  "That's right. We can keep talking about that without Rosa. Let's return to our discussion." Kyrie:  "..."

I think you can call that an Overwhelming Advantage. So I'm very curious as to where this will lead.

[hils79]

Hils Watches The Spirealm - Ep 36

Okay, so, first of all apologies to everyone who was following my liveblogs only for me to stop 3 episodes from the end because Tibetan Sea Flower dropped. I had been waiting for that drama for 84 years and I simply couldn't wait.

But I've finished that now and I'm back and ready to finish this. Don't worry I haven't forgotten what happened. How could I when the previous episode ended on EPIC TRAGEDY.

Do I even want to come back and finish this? I mean of course but 😭

Oh shiiiiiit! What I did forget is that when someone dies in the game they don't die irl straight away. Well, this is going to be awful

God, this is even worse than when Li Dongyuan knew he was going to die

I mean obviously he's going to leave everything to you

"Do you have a new hot boyfriend?"

Wait has his mum given him the drawing he did when he was younger, and those drawings are of levels of the game? That's definitely ghost girl

Oh, yes, his mysterious best friend with no face. I had forgotten about that.

Ooooh! He's starting to suspect Ruan Lanzhu isn't real, which to be fair I've also been suspecting for a while. There's definitely something up there

Oh shit! I wasn't expecting him to just come out and say it!

Poor Chen Fei looks so shook. Imagine finding out your crush is actually a fictional character

Yeah, I had my suspicions that he was the key to purifying the game

I mean, yeah. However shook Chen Fei is I suppose that's nothing compared to finding out your husband is a fictional character

I really should know by now that Chinese BL dramas never end happily. I have no idea why I decided to watch this.

I don't fully understand how he can exist outside of the game though, and how he has a physical body. Like people have touched him and fed him and shared a bed with him. How is any of that possible if he's only a character from the game?

[striveattemptfail]

i've decided to liveblog all three deadpool movies every weekend until deadpool and wolverine is released on disney+ in october \o/

sept 21-23: deadpool 1

sept 27-30: deadpool 2

eventually: deadpool and wolverine – first half*

eventually: deadpool and wolverine – second half*

likely watching on the nights between saturday and sunday, anytime between midnight and 5am EST. i'm NOT hosting any stream—just liveblogging my reactions. faq under the cut explains wth i'm doing

blacklist #jercy watches dp or unfollow as always. k cool beans thx frens see yall then ✌️

faq (nobody's asked me a question but idc lol)

why am i announcing a liveblog? you must be new here lmao. bc i think it'd be fun to watch the deadpool movies with other people!

but i'm not going to watch on a shared streaming platform (eg: discord, shareplay, etc)? nope. i am just here to liveblog my reaction while watching these movies for the 19203819th time

why not host on shared streaming? i am technologically inept, disgustingly lazy, and an old fart at heart (plus my wifi cuts out often). if anyone wants to watch something with me and we're not in the same room, we're "3-2-1 PLAY"-ing this shit like it's the 00s and we're on a phonecall after 7pm for free minutes. otherwise, i'm happy to watch by myself as long as i can scream somewhere—and tumblr is that somewhere lmao

why multiple dates/times? bc i can't keep a schedule to save my life. i may have a time listed above, but i cannot guarantee them bc i suck lol. call them educated wishes for when i hope to watch tv ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

am i watching each movie for every date listed? no, i am just remarkably terrible at keeping a schedule. the ranges span when it's generally most convenient for me to watch a movie without disturbance but i can't give a definitive date and time bc, once again, i suck lmao

will any specific time be announced at all? ye! i'm gonna try to announce when i'll be watching at least an hour before i start the movie (eg: dp2 @ sept 28, midnight -> announcement will come 11pm sept 27). if i can queue an announcement before a start time i'll do my best but fr i make no guarantees

which version of the movies am i watching? likely the theatrical releases bc that's what's on d+. if i happen to find extended releases somewhere that won't give me a headache, i'll try watching the extended versions

don't you know that [X is problematic / you shouldn't support Y / you need to kys for doing Z / etc]? yup.

(10/04 ETA:) * why are you splitting up watching deadpool and wolverine? i am a wordy mf and liveblogging deadpool 2 took six (6!!) hours as a result. i know liveblogging dp&w is going to take even longer so i'm splitting up the movie to not end up spending 12+ hours on just liveblogging

* when in the movie are you splitting up dp&w? sometime around the odyssey fight scene LOL. it'll depend on how late i'm running whether i'll watch that bit on the first day or second day—just gonna have to play it by ear ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

why are you like this? fam if i knew that answer i would've fixed myself a loooooooong time ago 🙃🙃🙃