#idk maybe its just me but i didnt expect NO ONE to mention anything at all? everyone always talks about the last chapter

[kamuro-junrenka]

Am i really the only one who thinks lost judgment chapter 7 was insane

[schlattslonghairytoes]

make the cut 🥎

A.P calc teacher schlatt x A.P studio art teacher reader

when the athletics associate at the school you work at asks you to coach the girls softball team, you agree. only to find you share the field with your sometimes favorite coworker.

it had been a few months since schlatts infamous halloween party

and things between you and him were great

well, they were... okay?

you werent even sure anymore, because as much as you were obsessed with this man, and wanted him so bad, he wouldnt make a damn move

you felt like maybe he didnt even like you, but he was also kinda obsessed with you?

it felt like you were making most of the moves, and he "didnt wanna label anything to early" so you were in this weird inbetween stage

a situationship? idk thats what the girls called it

but honestly, it was getting a little boring, he wouldnt take you on dates, or even really make an effort

but the times that were good, outweighed the bad, the nights spent laying bare under the covers, sharing things only soulmates would tell the other

but at the same time he was so emotionally disconnected

it was all beggining to feel more like a task then a blessing

you slowly started to distance yourself after two months, because if he wasnt going to do something soon, omfg you were done waiting

disregarding that burden, something you were actually looking foward to was approaching

softball season!!!

you had played throughout highschool and college, even going as far as playing in division two throughout your college experience

you had applyed for a coaching spot, and you knew you were the most qualified, so the job was rightfully yours

and to add a cherry on top of that, your favorite six girls had told you that they were going to try out for the varsity team!

you knew this would be a good distraction from whatever bull shit Mr. Schlatt was doing

the texting and calling slowed, he stopped visiting your class as much, you kinda just assumed the infatuation phase was over

it was more painful then you let off, i mean you thought there would be a chance you would marry this man.

so a distraction was very well needed, that is, until try-outs began

you walked onto the field the moment school ended, you didnt expect students to get to the field until around four, so you had a soild thirty minutes to plan and set up

you were waiting for your assistant coach to show up, you werent told before hand who it would be, but you really hoped it was a teacher that you got along with

you sat in the dugout, going over drills and planning answers to questions you knew would be asked

when the signature engine sound you had grown so used to, pulled up right next to the field, and a large six foot three, muttonchopped man got out of his car

you felt your sholders involuntarily slouch, and a large sigh escaped your throat.

great, this is just what you needed

what made it even worse was he pulled up in pit vipers and a large toothy grin, one of you were obviosly more happy about this pair up then the other.

"would you look at that, my favorite girl's already here, as usual." he laughed and sat down his baseball bag close to mine

"what are you doing here johnny, why arent you coaching baseball." you said in a unimpressed tone, he raised and eyebrow and laughed

"you dont seem very happy to have me here, i applied to do baseball but they had to many coaches, when they said i could do softball instead i was hesitant, but when they mentioned i would be with you, i took them up on it." his words didnt carry his usual confidence

"did i do something, i mean youre never THIS unhappy to see me" he attempted at a joke but he really seemed crushed

"listen, its just... i mean, well. i dont know, i feel like things between us havent really been going anywhere, it kinda feels like you dont... care? or like me, i dont know, i kinda just thought this thing we had, y'know, run its course?"

every bit of confidence, ego, and happiness left his body the moment you started talking, he was genuinley speechless, you thought he didnt like you anymore?

it was the exact opposite, he actualy convinced himself he liked you TOO much. he went to assure you that wasnt the case, but the approaching loud teenage girl voices shut you both up

"look, it was nice, but maybe were better off as friends, lets just get try-outs started alright?" you smiled softly and walked out to greet all the girls, leaving schlatt with his confused brain

how the fuck was he going to get through the next two hours

no forget that, the next 4 months.

you started tryouts with everyone introducing themselves and sharing how long they have played softball, and what position they usually play if they have

once everyone went, you sent all the girls to do four laps around the field while you and schlatt assessed each one and what position they would start as today

there were 32 girls there and twelve would make varsity and 14 would make JV

but only cutting 8 girls would make you feel so bad, so the ligistics were still being figured out

then you assigned each girl to a position and now it was time for you to hit to each one, schlatt took all the potential pitchers and catchers to the bullpen to start their try-outs

you would bat a ball to each girl, and their job was to field it and accurately and quickly throw it to first base, and if you were hitting to first base, they had to throw it to you.

quite simple.

or thats what you hoped

turns out, playing with d1 and d2 players, is not the exact same as playing with high schoolers

this was going to be an excruciatingly long four months.

[thesimulacrasimp]

🦷🎪THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS EPISODE 3 SPOILERS🎪🦷

Okay i wasnt really planning to make this post but i really wanna. I know everyone is talking about Kinger rn n i would too, but i would just say the things everyone already mentioned, so i wanna talk about my bbg Caine again.

That may sound weird, but i REALLY wasnt expecting a character development for him, thats just always sounded crazy to me: AN AI. HAVING A. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. When im thinking bout it right now i think i shouldve expect it, with Gummigoo being an npc and having real emotions and feelings in ep 2, but i just always thought that Caine will be the same as character and wont get any character development through the show like everyone else does, yknow like in the 2nd ep we got Pomni's development and in 3rd — Kinger's and a little of Zooble's — i knew that we're gonna have that for every other human in this world (aka Raghatha, Gangle, Zooble and Jax (yeah i still think that jax is a human, theres no way hes an npc, that just doesnt make any sense, considering that Goose gave a canon age for him, so i dont believe in this stupid theory, sorry not sorry)) , but seeing Caine having other emotions besides happiness and sillieness (WHICH I REALLY DIDNT FUCKING EXPECT, I ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT AN AI THAT WAS MADE TO ENTERTAIN VIEWERS AND HIS "OBJECTS" (i didnt know how else to call the humans in da circus, srry, english isnt my first language) WOULDNT HAVE ANY REAL EMOTIONS — ALL HED DO WOULD BE FOR ENTERTAINMENT), so seeing him having REAL emotions was something i expected less than anything. JUST LOOK AT HIM BEING ACTUALLY IRRITATED AND OFFENDED.

And of course his almost breakdown scene. I WASNT EXPECTING THIS SHIT AT ALL. An Ai having a literal CRISIS because he realized that hes bad at the only thing he supposed to be good at is just...

And this is not only sad but also scary, you know why? Because when he started thinking about it, realizing it — the whole world started to glitch heavily.

And its DEFINITELY means something. My theory is that this world and Caine is kinda one isnt separating thing — if Caine is feeling good and happy - the world is also good, if Caine is having a breakdown and crisis - the world is also not feeling really good, if Caine is gone - the world is also gone, and now i think that we'll DEFINITELY get another moment in the future where Caine will be having a crisis (maybe even more extreme than that one) to the point where the world will become an absolute MESS of a glitches and the crew would have to deal w this somehow (and all of this probably will be made into a silly haha joke from Caine in the end). Idk how much of it will be the truth in the end - maybe some of it, maybe literally nothing, who knows, its just a theory.

Also this moment made me choke fr. Bro got so deep into his mind that he needed a therapist for HIMSELF

Holy shit that was a big ramble srry bout that, I just really REALLY love my silly goober Caine n i wanted to talk about him. Thanks for reading! And sorry for my horrible english lol

my sweetheart, my scrunkly, my babygirl💗💗💗

[baby-xemnas]

Even tho Bepo does make a few comments about female bears, i wonder if it is more of an automatic response than anything, maybe something like compulsive speciism like you mentioned. Like it’s not something at the forefront of Bepo’s mind but that’s what is expected, that a mink will be with another mink, so that informs what he says out loud. I can’t help but think about how Bepo left Zou at such a very young age too, bc as far as we know, Bepo has been around humans far longer than minks at this point, so i wonder how that would’ve impacted or shaped his development and outlook on such things? In other areas too, I wonder if Bepo felt odd coming back to Zou, seeing the differences between himself and other minks who grew up and stayed in Zou or stayed in closer contact to minks even if they weren’t living in Zou. All this in relation to LawBepo and Bepo’s immediate intense strong attachment to Law, it’s interesting to think about!

yeeee.....

its a single crumb of Bepo's presense on Zou during that arc but i did appreciate when it was noted that "Even though he is from here, he is still an outsider" like thats GREAT thats a bit of worldbuilding i really appreciate making characters behavior more believable - ye no shit...not only did this guy not live with them, disappearing as a kid - he brought humans with him too - he is a complete stranger to the island. imagine moving to a very different country in elementary school - all your formative years would be shaped in accordance to the new place. I love that they treated him like the stranger he is

and GOOD POINT ABOUT HIS INSTANT ATTACHMENT TO LAW like yes of course its logical that he would be appreciative of a person who saved him - but Bepo had ZERO apprehension towards Law and following Law to a strangers house.. ofc u can say that he is too naive and easily trusting but it mustve been so crazy to him to be like wow! not only humans exist (when they met bepo have gotten over that initial surprise and probably hid from adults til pensha found him and beat his ass) but there are nice ones too! yay!!!!!!!!! :D!!

its absolutely compulsive species attraction like "i'm supposed to find a bear mink" and he just thought that way the whole time growing up and didnt even consider humans - and that was fine because he was very busy loving and supporting law - thought didnt cross his mind...if he felt horny he just thought "oh well i cant do nothing about this! idk where bear women are at!"

i love thinking about how weird it felt to come back home (and like i talked abt before i love that bepo didnt go home because he wanted to fullfill his initial wishes to 1) find zunesha on his own - reason he learned navigation 2) find out where his brother go - no he went to zou because (as he himself probably suggested as it was a safest place) law ordered them to lay low somewhere....i love that so much, that law going off on his personal vendetta mission caused bepo to fullfil his personal dream - the one that he put away for so long BECAUSE what law became way more important.

There is a sense of shame and wrong priorities there - imagine that instead of being a sort of triumphant/celebratory visit home where you can boast look at me i'm a pirate like my big brother! No instead he comes home asking for help, for a place to hide, not only for himself but strangers to the island - and he himself is as much a stranger as the humans. oof.

Its hard to imagine he felt that comfortable around minks at first, it was a wishful thinking like here i am among my people - but they look at him (and rightfully so) like an alien - and bepo is too worried about law to care....he is not there to integrate back into society....these people are not his people anymore, his crew and law are his family now

its super interesting and i really am sour forever that we didnt get more about this aside from "he is still a stranger even if he is from here" line about bepo and others being quarantined to a single area - and that one moment where bepo says "even if im a stranger this is my island too" when they are about to help defend zou against beast pirates along with locals

[sonknuxadow]

okay big wall of some of my shadow generations thoughts . spoiler warning obviously

i will start by just saying that this game is soo good like in general. ive said before that i was initially very skeptical of this whole thing but very quickly changed my mind upon seeing the first trailer and im SO glad that it did turn out to be good. this feels like one of the first times in a really long time that theyve put actual care into shadows involvement in a story instead of just throwing him in something for five seconds because they know hes popular. the game IS a bit short but i was expecting that and its somewhat reasonable considering its technically only half the game. but what we did get was great. we are so back .

i love the gameplay i talked earlier about how i like that they put more effort into making shadow play differently from sonic by incorporating his chaos powers into his gameplay, but the doom powers are really cool also and were such a fun addition. ive always wished they would do more with shadow being part black arms but didnt expect it to ever come up again so everything about this is kinda surreal to me

i love love love the optional dialogue i went out of my way to make sure i didnt miss any of it and theres so many cute ones and i have to stop myself from mentioning specific ones on this post because if i do ill be going on forever

also the music was good Obviously thats a given with sonic games. but special shoutouts to the menu music i thought it was a cute detail that sonics side had a remix of it doesnt matter while shadows was a remix of throw it all away. and that all hail shadow remix for the final boss goes sooo hard i was honestly expecting them to use i am all of me but this is cool too

as far as criticisms and nitpicks go. uhhhhh . this isnt that big a deal but i do find it the tiniest bit disappointing that they didnt really leave anything a surprise in terms of the gameplay, if im remembering right they showed pretty much everything in the trailers except for the final boss but im sure everyone knew who that was going to be it was jut the specific form he took that was the surprise. but like i said its not that big a deal especially considering they didnt show much of the story in the trailers so it balances out in a way . also i didnt know what the best place to put this in would be but i just wanted to say i got so excited when i got to the final stage because radical highway is one of my favorite sonic levels . peace and love on planet earth

i also think chaos island was a weird choice for a stage because all the others are from games shadow is a main character in but he isnt in frontiers at all? maybe they didnt wanna repeat games and were running out of ideas so they just threw a frontiers stage in since it wouldnt have any representation otherwise. i dont know.

there is only one real "this sucks" thing for me and its rouge's voice acting. its soo terrible ive never liked her current voice but she sounded particularly bad here to the point where it was distracting..... when it comes to other voice actors who are one of my less liked voices for their character im at least able to say that theyre doing a good job or have improved a lot over the years even if theyre not my first pick. but i swear to god rouge has gotten worse

anyway . good game . the ending made me tear up a little. thumbs up emoji . will probably play sonics side at some point too but idk if ill do it today

[powderseas]

side order is here!!! its real!!! yippee

what do you think of it so far?

ok so im just gonna spit out all my side order thoughts so far

SPOILERS FOR SIDE ORDER AHEAD!!!!!!

EDIT: I ACTUALLY FINISHED THE GAME WOOO (just one run tho lol) im gonna write my thoughts under the previous stuff

OK SO. i think im a little..? dissapointed..? abt sider order?? like im kinda conflicted abt the lore, also i suck BALLS at the game

the thing is i have done 5 runs so far AND COULDNT GET A SINGLE WIN. the most i can do is up to floor 20.... im literally so bad at this game I ONCE DIED 2 TIMES IN AN EASY LEVEL. im newgen guys.

maybe im not fit for rougelike games but like... idk. i feel like me and the fandom as a whole expected so much more from side order. i feel like if the game is gonna make you replay the same stuff over and over again it should atleast have a SOUL CRUSHING LITERARY MASTERPIECE TYPE OF LORE like OE and Alterna

AND CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW DIRTY THEY DID FOUR???? literally called them an irrelavent loser and then sweeped them aside... THEY DONT EVEN HAVE A PALETTE ICON???? theyre not even a secret boss smh.... agent 4 had so much potential I WILL NEVER FORGIVE NINTENDO FOR THIS. and like sure the parallel canon level kind of includes four but that thing is literally an npc??? like imagine what they couldve done with the story if they had included four in it:

when four is left out from the squidbeak splatoon they try to prove themselves by siding with marina with her project. it makes perfect sense. marina and four are both scared of being seperated by their loved ones. but four gets consumed by their anger and jealousy and goes full order mode LIKE DO YOU GUYS SEE MY VISION!!!! i will be forever mad that we didnt get this.

also why is murch out of all the chracters have a pallete??? why didnt they put in captain 3 or something????? sheldon i kinda understand since hes also kinda a part of the squidbeak splatoon BUT MURCH??? get the fuck out!!!

negative stuff aside tho. i love pearl and marina so much. THIS IS THE PEARLINA GAME GUYS!!!!! pearl literally mentions that marina and her sleep in the SAME BED???? marina is so autistic. my little autism creature. SHE MAKES DINO ARMS IN THE ENDING SCENE AUGHHHHHGHHH MY HEARTTT i love marina so much AND PEARL. SUCH A SILLY GOOBER. acht is so precious too... BUT I CNAT BELIEVE THAT THEY MADE THEM WHITE*??? ACHT IS NOT WHITE NINTENDO. anyways i love eight and her little found family full of lesbians. they are all lesbians your honor. we are raising lesbians in this house.

so yeah. i hope i can finish the run atleast ONCE. but like. idk i havent finished the game but side order jsut makes me feel. sad... and lonely...?? unlike octo expension where you could see more and more people using the metros and the chatrooms between marina and pearl are just AUUGGHHH OE IS A GAME. ABOUT CONNECTIONS OK. it makes me feel warm and happy and even though eight became traumatized i like to think that she healed and in the process met so many important people in her life.

in side order i dont see anything in eight*??? is she traumatized??? is she vibing??? is she happy to help??? I LITERALLY CANT TELL. side order makes me feel so cold and empty like do you guys understand what i mean. and its probably becasue it doesnt even take place in the real world. and the thing is. i understand that side order is supposed to be everything that OE couldnt be. i understand that. both games have their own quirks BUT. i just cant seem to make myself love it unlike any other story mode in splatoon...... im really trying to be not biased here but yeah. these are my opinions for side order

AFTER GAME THOUGHTS

HELLO. so yes i somehow managed to win the game. and honestly. the final boss was pretty fun and everyone was so cute at the end omg... but i still think that side order is a bit underdevloped.... i dont even know if ill try to %100 is cuz playing it makes me SO STRESSFUL im glad i get to finish a run BUT i will definetly not be touching side order atleast for a while.... but despite i had plenty of stuff i didnt like in side order the ending managed to make me forget all that haha

[rawmeknockout]

i have some thoughts about degrees of lewdity but this isn’t a review these are just my opinions and observations

i want to preface this by saying, although i like text based smut games, im not some connoisseur and i haven’t played that many. really my deepest exposure is fenoxo’s games and maybe a handful of others i haven’t played in a while.

so i totally went in blind, i have seen the names of characters floating around and ive read a fic or two about it on here if the set up or summary piqued my interest, but i already had some preconceived idea of what it was about and the general set up (i ended up so wrong lmao) so i didn’t bother looking up anything about it because i was fairly certain i knew it was about your player being in college and interacting with the town or whatever

i had the view it was like friday night funkin??? not in gameplay or story but like that generally it has a lot of hype around it and a pretty voracious community (i was already aware of mods for the game so i think that also made me think of fnf which also has a lot of mods) and that most of the appeal is the hype built up around the game. not saying that’s bad but that was my general idea/opinion of it idk why lmao

i was kind of white man jumpscared by the actual contents of the game. i didn’t find any of it triggering necessarily but i didn’t expect it to lean so hard into certain fetishes. im pretty desensitized to a lot of hardcore kinks in smut so it wasn’t a deal breaker for me bc i was still interested in checking out the game, and there’s options in the default game to turn off certain interactions, but i definitely think people should look up the trigger warnings for the game first and not just jump into it blind like i did. i had a totally different idea of the game so i didnt even think i needed to look up what it involved.

in my brief experiences of the game through the fandom, i imagined it as a college student in a sex game sorta akin to things put out by fenoxo now, but it’s more like the first Corruption of Champions (which you can only find through an internet archive these days probably because of the contents of the game idk if fenoxo has disavowed it or whatever but they’ve certainly left that project i believe because they also have a patreon that they rely on)

your character is a high schooler and i believe it’s mentioned they just turned 18? there’s a disclaimer that all characters are 18+ but i don’t think it’s ever mentioned in game or if it is its like a passing thing. not that like,, ages are ever heavily mentioned in any media but i know there are some people who would like it explicitly stated. in my opinion, going into any 18+ game, i just expect all characters to be 18+. id prefer them even older than that but ive never come across a game where i was jumpscared by a minor.

i think it’s set in a high school because that gives stricter penalties and set ups for consequences? if your in college and you skip class no one’s gonna hold it against you because you’re paying to skip school lol that’s the penalty. also high school tends to be a pretty traditional set up for a game it gives the creator the opportunity to involve a learning mechanic and sets a place for interactions and a structured time table for most of the week. another function is that, as a porn game, some people are in to being barely legal and an object of sexualization because of that. the game leans heavily on having authorities outside of the players control because as it turns out the whole town is essentially hell. we are straight up in the devils asshole right now and we don’t even know it.

one of the most stressful things going in on the first game is the need to make money, you owe money to the orphanage caretaker and you need it by the end of the week every week and this mechanic does NOT go away. it increases until it caps out at £2000. the game is in britain? so you know you’re in for a bad time.

the game is pretty hard going in i’m not gonna lie maybe im just a filthy casual when it comes to smut games but i found the penalties for repeated encounters, which are hard to escape from, racked up quickly. i was playing on normal but there is a soft mode, but i personally just wanted the regular experience of the game. i get that it’s realistic, in a sense, to have trauma and stress pile up quickly but if you let it get out of hand you get sent to the asylum!!! which is not much better!!! and when you get out you still owe money to Bailey when you haven’t been able to work 😭 very real very landlord

after playing the default game for a little bit i quickly searched for a better looking mod. part of the appeal of the game is the customizable character. i am fine with a gaia looking avatar but i just prefer the Bees mod avatar. i believe its one of the more popular mods but other than that i haven’t looked for any other, partly because i play in browser. i dont really like to download games if i can help it bc i play on ipad while im scrunched up in bed like a cozy shrimp.

my favorite named NPC is Sydney, followed by Avery. Avery gives you and has old man dick so im weak. Sydney, i haven’t played all of his content because i don’t want to lower his purity 😔 i know a lot of his content is locked behind that but he’s so sweet and cute i don’t want to. i will probably eventually. Sydney is your one bastion of normal interaction (other than Robin and even that isn’t true for long) in a sea of fucked up. Sydney also is a member of a cult. 😀 a cult that you can get involved in at your own risk. don’t do it.

the worst is probably Kylar. at least with high combat you can take care of Whitney, with Kylar he’s just a freak. he’s cute in some instances but in others he’s unbearable. he can also kidnap you and apply the stockholm syndrome status effect. 🤨

i generally, through every game i play, do the typical ‘good guy’ route. even in a game i have a hard time escaping the socially acceptable response and not doing the ‘right’ thing. this is true when i play COC or Trials in Tainted Space or really any game any genre. i’ll probably explore other routes but i wont be happy about it. idk i like to play good guy i like to be nice. my combat skills built up quick as a result because you will get into so many assault encounters but i think thats true regardless.

btw don’t bother with any other job unless you want to do sex work, just work the temp agency the entire week. it’s closed on weekends but it’s the most reliable source of money imo and doesn’t have a strict time table other than opening and closing. you can just go in and work whenever. if you get the boss to like you he’ll give you a bonus too.

i ended up looking for info on certain features and stories of the game which led me to reddit, as searches often do, and i inadvertently found out more info about that game AND the creator which dampened my idea of the game, but not necessarily in the way you would think. while i am generally enjoying playing, although it can be difficult bc it relies a lot on combat in interactions and you don’t like get to fight in a traditional sense (it can be hard to tell how ‘strong’ your character is i guess? lmao), i found out that despite the actual hardcore contents of the game, that include trafficking, there is no abortion feature. which is so funny to type out. however the creator has made it abundantly clear there will never be an abortion feature?? which okay i just have to say that’s a wild feature to have in game anyway but it makes sense!!!! because it’s a porn game where your character can get pregnant!!! but if you use the cheats version that is available in the options, you can delete a pregnancy HOWEVER it makes it very clear in the text accompanying the cheat that “this is not an abortion, this is a cheat”

look, deciding to add that is, in itself, betraying a sort of political stance no matter how much you wish to avoid it. i’ve heard through others that the creator wants to convey the actual trauma of SA, which obviously can include carrying a pregnancy you don’t want, however having an abortion you don’t want is also traumatic??? as someone with a vagina, living in a place where i cannot do as i wish with that vagina, it left me with a feeling of distaste towards the creator and the game. in a game where your creator can get SA’d BACK TO BACK you cannot then deal with the potential outcome of that??? you just have to like carry it if you don’t use the cheat version? it’s easy enough to access but the text accompanying it is blatant.

i believe that this is because the creator relies on donations on their website and because of the contents of the game they aren’t allowed to have a patreon (but don’t quote me on that because i haven’t checked the main site all i know is that certain games have had to change their contents bc patreon wouldn’t allow them to continue functioning on their site as is) which i am sympathetic to, however uuuh making a statement next to your cheat is in itself a way of signaling politics. in my opinion. as someone this actually affects. lol.

i think the creator has made a statement regarding some of the interactions as people in costume? maybe to like give plausible deniability? but like,,, the game is what it is because you made it that i would just lean in to it. they might have a hard time tho finding somewhere to platform their game or gather donations because of that, so i dont think its the weirdest thing for them to deny the contents of their game as how they appear. im sorta just shrug at this moment, i would prefer someone to just take their creation as it is but its probably more to do with the rules and stipulations of places like paypal and certain domains. i wouldn’t know. i dont mean to come off judgmental or like this is some horrible transgression, i get that collecting money online is a hassle if your main source is a smut game and i have no experience doing that so again shrug. if its what they have to do its what they have to do. again i think its like COC where its almost been wiped from the internet and remade into COC2 by the creators, and even then they’ve had to change some of the contents because patreon and paypal are pretty stringent about their rules.

i’ve skipped a lot of the contents of the game because first i think tumblr would nuke me from orbit but also a lot of it is genuinely very dark and triggering. this is not a game you should jump into without looking up the setting and gameplay prior. you should most definitely at least look through the advanced options before starting the game and look at each option you can toggle on and off because it will give you a better idea of what you’re in for.

[jerreeeeeee]

i also read the suffering game graphic novel. here's praises and criticisms. this one is also more negatives than positives unfortunately, i tried to be fair and thoughtful but i did not like it very much

things i liked:

-lucretia prologue establishing that she went to wonderland + talking abt missing the crew. fun & mysterious

-hi mavis and mookie :) they are cute

-HI BARRY sometimes i forget he stalked merle’s family outing. i love that freak

-magnus and angus scene!! fisher showing angus the statue drawing!! ango detective subplot!! this is a nice and natural addition since we know he was sleuthing around the BOB

-merle teasing taako about his date is kinda cute actually love seeing them be friends

-thank god they got rid of the chimera. idk if this is a hot take or anything but its probably my least favorite fight in the podcast its so out of place and unnecessary. there are lots of fights that didnt really matter in the beginning like all the gerblins and the slime swamp in rockport but they were still like getting their bearings and the show was more like a real dnd campaign than a typical actual play, but by the time you get to the suffering game there’s more interesting things to do and you're like god why are we still doing random forest encounters just get to wonderland already

-not a positive per se but i’m not that upset about sterling and his party being cut. i feel like an adaptation would’ve had an opportunity to make that little c-plot matter more, and that would’ve been awesome, but as is in the podcast, i never felt particularly strongly about it? not enough to miss it. idk like magnus and merle were already for ‘trust’ even if it were strangers and taako never seems all that regretful about it (which like. fair. he’s the pragmatist and that’s how the prisoner’s dilemma works. he played the game right because he couldn’t afford to lose, knowing they hurt some slightly-less-strangers doesn’t really change that).

-i dont remember which of the boys discovered it in the podcast but merle noticing the smoke thing is good. he actually is competent and especially in an arc that’s meant to make him feel useless that’s a good little reminder

-i do like that the liches say the bell is very powerful & is threatening to destroy them like both keeping in theme with the rest of the relics and an introduction to the idea that sharing an incredible and dangerous power between two people makes it easier to keep your sanity, similar to lichdom

-griffin getting cut off with the hunger is awesome finally we’re taking advantage of the medium. nothing more to say that choice rules

-posts on tumblr hyped me up for taako recognizing barry’s dick but unfortunately that’s not really what happened and now i’m disappointed. but the graphic novels arent canon so i’ll just have to continue with my barry/taako awkward past one night stand agenda despite it all

-i dont quite know how to feel about the umbrastaff leaping to barry to replace the “love barry, trust barry” moment. on the one hand, having lup actually speak to taako wouldn’t work super well in graphic novel form, not to mention the whole band of projected thought thing was kinda convoluted and they are clearly very limited on time, and taako choosing to trust the umbrastaff in this way is a creative way to get that same effect. on the other hand, its so unclear what even happened or why it changes taako’s mind without podcast context. that’s one of my big gripes, you’re expected to be familiar with the story already, but if you’re familiar with the story, the graphic novels are… worse in every way. also, i really really liked the original scene so even though it doesn’t work, i miss it. this isn’t as effective—we don’t find out there’s a person missing from taako’s memory, his heart doesn't swell at the sound of her voice, he doesn’t know with certainty that she’s someone dear to him. it's just like, another instance of the umbrastaff acting weird. maybe you put together that 'LUP' is a person but you don't have any indication until the moment of remembering how important she is. all of that would be really difficult to get across in a visual medium anyway, but still, yknow, it doesn’t hit as hard.

-ango!! his mage hand is coming along so well!! although. why is his wand just like a stick. did he pick it up off the ground. taako needs to take better care of his boy this reflects badly on him as a teacher lmao

-i felt this way about the eleventh hour too but there’s so many little details of taako and merle’s friendship i feel like they have little asides and jokes together a lot and i love that

-the looming dread of the hunger is done pretty well (as well as it can be with such time restraints)

-merle trying to commune with pan and seeing john instead is good. very ominous and intriguing for new readers and exciting for podcast listeners

-really liked the panel of barry in the red robe against the stars and the bond engine’s white ring as he’s remembering. very cool very cinematic

-i actually also really like the framing as taako remembers, filling in the memories we’d seen previously and clearing out the static while he looks so broken, and merle asking him what he’s remembering, and then finally speaking his sister’s name. its framed very powerfully. i wish he and lup didn’t look awful so i could actually feel something at that part. like they are my favorite characters ever their story makes me so emotional and i just. they’re unrecognizable. the character designs are terrible and taako has spent 6 books now being mischaracterized and flattened to hell so i just can’t muster any emotion. maybe i'll redraw that page someday though because the panelling is genuinely very good

-the ending lucretia monologue is good she's the narrator she's the main character she's everything. love the portraits staticking out and mirroring and changing, and ending on the beach painting is great. very cinematic and a natural way to phase into the stolen century

things i didn’t like:

-i dont think taako’s deepest desire is his own brand of fashion forward athleisure wear if i’m being quite honest. these little things irk me

-why is liches get stitches all the way in the beginning… ill portent for how the rest of this book will go

-i think they shouldve introduced the flaming raging poisoning sword of doom way earlier. the payoff isnt nearly as good without the setup of having been magnus’ white whale for like fifty episodes. maybe they did mention it in earlier books and i just forgot though

-^ i hate his stupid ugly oversexualized stereotyped ass so fucking much its unreal

-why are edward and lydia ugly :( —(they're not ugly because they're chubby they're ugly because their color schemes and outfits are fucking awful) (fr though why are all their colors so muted and dingy?? why are their outfits boring?? at least their heart attack looks are fun)

-oh so there’s just no trust or forsake at all. yeah i don’t like that. in the end no great loss since i don't think it really says anything about thb's characters that hasn't already been said, but so much of thb's characters and arcs have been cut from the gns already

-i get that they’re low on time trying to fit in reunion tour but like come on part of the suffering of the suffering game is how long and painful it is cutting it down really just. makes it not matter as much

-magnus looks no different after aging LMAO he gets like 2 gray hairs and that’s it

-edward and lydia’s lich forms are also boring unfortunately

-no tasha’s hideous laughter on the heart attack mannequin? lame. although i have for the first time realized that dnd shows kinda have a thing for characters uninterested in romance being forced by mysterious powers to be haunted by creepy puppet-like “romance partners” huh

-magnus doesn’t forget kalen?? why cut that out? i guess because there was never closure for it in the original story?

-no boss rush?? that was fun :(

-magnus and taako aren’t surprised merle has kids??? did they know???

-dupree looks terrible but i guess props to carey for giving him feathers even though it looks bad

-just axed the liches’ backstory?? that was kind of important?? the fact that they turned to necromancy out of love for their family & powered themselves with positive emotions too? that like, has relevance later…

-NO BAD LUCK FOR ARMS OUTSTRETCHED? COME ON

-the framing of magnus’ soul being removed is so anticlimactic in general like the POINT of a VISUAL adaptation is to have interesting & cinematic VISUALS its just so messy

-all of arms outstretched didnt look very good in general sorry. its just such a big important moment and to make it so mid… a tragedy

-“i guess we still needed each other after all” doesnt work anymore because they removed all of edward and lydia’s backstory and character but it was an interesting line to me that i wish had been kept. hammering in that liches need anchors is, again, pretty relevant later on, getting rid of that foreshadowing sucks, and it also humanizes these villains in an interesting way that really highlights their powerlust as their downfall rather than just, like, cruelty for evil’s sake. like yes they torture people and find it fun because they’re so distanced from their own humanity but they also truly believed it was necessary for their own safety and seemingly only became sadistic after they desensitized themselves. i wrote a post about this a while ago but idk if i’ll ever post it

-not a fan of barry killing lydia either. idk why, its not like he hasn’t killed other people to protect the boys before. but that’s earlier in the show before we know he’s not just a villain and is in fact meant to introduce him as a villain. now he’s a friend so idk if you can just go back to having him murder people? again its not a wrong choice but it feels like messy storytelling. also like i think seeing a lich grieving her anchor and a sister grieving her brother would pull some heartstrings for him. it would maybe remind him of some people he loves and garner some sympathy and give him some pause. and i liked that in the podcast even though lydia was so distanced from the idea of positive anchors, killing edward just immediately undoes her, fits in with the themes and the way we understand liches to work, another powerful example of what bonds can do, and that's kinda lost here

-magnus’ answer to the bell sucks so badddd lmao when these books NEED context they’re devoid of it but when they actually have the necessary plot points/character arc established for the reader to put something together they have to go and spell it out like the audience is stupid. there was something so raw and powerful about magnus’ original “i’d hate it. shut the fuck up.” like just shutting it down and not even considering it. that’s completely lost when he has to be like “recap time! my wife, julia,” eugh just didnt like that. there are so many powerful lines from balance that i don’t hate on principal that they’ve changed, but there was no good reason to change, and so the new version just falls flat and there was no reason not to include the original lines verbatim? i get not wanting to just deliver a podcast highlight reel and have the gns be their own story or w/e but if you’re gonna do that you have to do it well, and they just keep being worse unfortunately

-they don’t get the chance to go off the grid themselves and choose to trust barry?? come the fuck ON that is IMPORTANT to the STORY

-this may or may not be an unpopular opinion but i’m not a fan of barry’s design either. i don’t like the hair and he’s not fat enough. less egregious than others but its still another instance of being like who tf is that

-barry’s little coin monologue was kinda fun and dramatic and i (finally) liked the visuals of him falling from the sky/silhouette of the starblaster against faerun’s single sun. but i wish they’d kept more of the original. add drama that’s fine but the point of it is to humanize him after we’ve spent so long thinking of him as a villain and a ghost and a force of the story and now it turns out he’s barry bluejeans. he’s just a guy. he loves his mom. he’s allergic to dairy. he’s afraid of the dark.

-especially not a fan of cutting out the “love that defined and redeemed you” and “dull weight in your chest” in barry’s coin monologue. those are important parts of his character. whether you interpret the love and the weight to be for lup or for the whole crew, you need to know that the red robe has lost people, and that everything he does is to try to get them back. he’s the lover and he’s grief personified. his mission is to save the world AND recover his family. thats like. kinda important for his character and role in the story. if you ask me.

-again the “we’ll get em next time” magnus flashback is not BAD but it could’ve looked so much better? carey definitely has strengths as an artist but her fight scenes and character design tends to be very weak so its unfortunate that this is an adaptation of a dnd podcast where those 2 things are like, the most important. idk i feel like i should be articulating what i mean better but i’m not sure how. the fights just are often really cluttered and framed in an odd way that doesn’t look very good or dramatic or dynamic. i don’t want to say carey is a bad artist, i really don’t think she is! but i think she was not the right artist for this project. the magic of a visual medium is, well. the visuals. when they’re mid the whole story suffers.

-taako and merle not just saying magnus is dead is sorta unnecessarily confusing since everyone like assumes he’s dead anyway? idk i don’t understand that choice. kinda fucks with his moment with carey. not a big deal in the end but it does seem unnecessary

-MAGNUS DOESN’T GO SEE FISHER?? the mannequin dies in fantasy costco??? what about johann???

-“you stole half of my fucking heart” i know a lot of people loved this line but it genuinely baffles me. Why Only Half. not only referencing one of the most heartwarming (and heartbreaking) lines in the original show with no context for why its meaningful at all yet—but also minimizing it? why soften that blow? why detract from the raw intensity of that grief? why reduce a very powerful sentiment? an adaptation of balance that doesn’t allow itself to be earnest and wholehearted (ha) about its platonic bonds is not a good adaptation, straight up. maybe its not that deep but it is To Me. maybe it has no real import and i’m just being stupid but like they made that choice to write half instead of just “my heart.” Why, genuinely

-hey what the fuck happened to johann for real though. that was a really important part of the story. hey. hey. what about johann. like are we just ignoring johann. am i insane. how has no one mentioned this. what’s up with johann

-

so all in all, again, rushed pacing, axing of a lot of very important plot points, shoddy visuals.

it did not make me relive the emotional journey of the suffering game and reunion tour. it inspired a vague nostalgia for the first time i experienced reunion tour, reminded me of how much i love the original show, and made me want to listen to the podcast again. especially reunion tour good god i love reunion tour. and it made me desperately wish for a good adaptation. i would do fucking anything for a good adaptation. the longing is making me sick. at least we always have podcast reunion tour.

the graphic novels are just so empty and soulless compared to the original show. i wouldn’t have an issue with changes, except that the changes, at every turn, gut the emotional core of the story that makes it so special, and ruin the strong themes throughout the story. they fundamentally misunderstand what is so good about balance. and also, like, basic storytelling. they’re poorly designed and poorly written, so they don’t even stand on their own as a different story. i'm not expecting an exact replica, but i am expecting good writing, good changes when necessary, and respect for the original beloved story. without those, the soul is gone, the spark of what makes balance so compelling and emotional.

i am dreading the story and song graphic novel. i don’t think it will be any good. the themes and character arcs and plot of the show have been mangled beyond belief so nothing is really meaningful anymore. can we go back to the johann thing for a moment—

[magebutts]

my sincere apologies to everyone who's sick of seeing me talk about all my griefs with veilguard, but i do have more lol

did anyone else feel an extreme lack of connection between rook and the rest of the party? is that just me? like it feels like they spent a lot of time focusing on the interpersonal relationships between the companions and their individual stories, and then rook is just... there. and like i get it, the charcters are important and always have been. but it feels like rook really gets sidelined. (forewarning i also got sidetracked and talk abt a lot of loose story ends and stuff)

and maybe i just missed out on it because i played a shadow dragon who didnt save minrathous, but even their background doesnt feel super important. like i get rook is a hero by happenstance but like.... idk.

yeah idk for an rpg, especially a bioware rpg, i expect more. like da2 might have been super restricted bc there was no origin choice, but at least you were connected to the story. the warden was integral to the story. the inquisitor had the mark and was integral to the story.

and rook was just like... a silly goofy lil guy who cracks jokes no matter which dialogue option you choose and as much as i enjoy the heroes who are like "someone has to do the job so i guess it might as well be me if no one else is gonna do it", it felt incredibly mishandled.

and again, idk, maybe i missed out on a lot bc i did play a shadow dragon who saved treviso and romanced the slowburn guy who had virtually no romancr content which is a whole problem on its own, but... whatever lmao 🙃

oh and as i just saw a post about it on twitter, its WILD that they brought back morrigan AND ALSO ISABELA ???? and you get NO say in their history, when it is very easy to have both of them permanently leave ur party in their respective games. like im sorry, isabela learned the meaning of found family in kirkwall? every game i have ever played, i have never succeeded in getting her to stay even when i was trying to. they couldnt even be bothered to say hawkes name once in veilguard but isabela is gonna wistfully namelessly reference them??? and the fact that a character who could have been trapped in the fade and is never mentioned once in a game that is all about people being trapped in the fade

and do NOT get me started on morrigan and flemeth. we are NOT going to pretend flemeth wasnt a horrible woman who had daughters for the sole sake of creating a posessable vessel. or the fact that in a lot of worldstates, morrigan has a son who we were previously told contained the soul of an old god of tevinter... only to find out that that isnt true, so that boy was also possessed by a fragment of the spirit of an elven god, which flemeth and then solas potentially also stole if kieran existed.

and also never acknowledge the fact that there are still in fact 5 blighted elven gods trapped in the fade, granted they would hypothetically be mortal with their dragons dead but like... theyre still out there.

and dont get me started on the state of the south, i will literally never be able to care about anything else knowing what happened there. and like, idk what bioware expected. we spent three whole games in ferelden + the free marches. and i will argue, that as interesting as the rest of the world is, ferelden + the free marches are the home of dragon age. and that very well might just be me, but i feel like having games set anywhere else created a rift very similar to the rift between andromeda and the main mass effect series

ESPECIALLY with the "secret ending" cutscene (spoilers for that now if you havent seen it)

hinting at the series going even bigger + beyond the fade, its giving pathfinder/dnd outer realms, and im sorry, but if dragon age leaves the medieval fantasy theme to go for eldritch/alien beings, im gone. my interest in the series is dead. implying that everything that has happened has been the design of some greater beings and all of your heroes and their actions were actually someone else's doing all along... its an insult to player agency, and you can NOT continue doing that as much as EA has done in an rpg series. the dissolution of the keep and previous player choices and characters appearing in zero capacity was already a lot, but i could accept it if the scope of the story was beyond our choices. but with solas's dagger being the one hawke found in the deep roads, with darkspawn ravaging ferelden again and there being no mention of alistair or the grey warden who could very much still be alive and in the order, let alone be ruling the fucking kingdom, its fucking insane actually. its insane that the only choice that apparently has any meaning was how you inquisitor felt about solas, and beyond that, if you romanced him. even disbanding the inquisition doesnt seem important anymore, bc there is zero mention of solas and his agents that he had in trespasser.

like yes, sorry, i am mad actualy that no one else and nothing else mattered. the inquisitor and dorian stood side by side and you dont even get to determine their relationship if they arent together. like the man who invented telephones and face time for his best friend can only say "bet u cant wait to go home and see a certain somebody, WINK", not even considering the fact they might not have been friends.

how funny and easy it would have been for varric (ignoring the fact that hes a ghost) to make one singular joke about hawke dating an abomination and rook doing the same. for isabela to mention fenris or merrill, or a romanced hawke. for merrill to never be mentioned again despite being so dedicated to researching and restoring her eluvian. for fenris to never be mentioned despite his ties to seheron and tevinter. for the warden to never be mentioned despite ending one blight just to have two more ravage their country in their lifetime. for the crows to be a main faction and zevran gets two vague unnamed mentions in companion ambiant dialogue. for starkhaven and fucking sebastian vael, a character many people didnt see bc he was a dlc add-on, let alone a highly disliked character who a lot of people with his dlc never even recruited. no mention of hawke or their warden sibling, who were said to have disappeared after venturing to weisshaupt when all the wardens were recalled and the keep went silent. and i am going to harp on this, the cure for the fucking blight. because it is possible, and now with veilguard, we have seen it TWICE in canon.

it really just drives home that actually, the scope hadnt gone past the former heroes, they just cared more about telling their own story than collaborating with the players who make the games possible.

anyways bioware im in your fucking walls, ea i know where you fucking live and i do actually expect better from a triple a studio who was fucking stupid enough to acquire a studio who was revolutionary and famous for their storytelling only to not fucking support that

[hopskipandarump]

today i woke up, thought about the group of old schoolfriends who are meeting in town around christmas, and ended up leaving the fb group they made because, to be honest, im probably never gonna go to a meetup again. i havent gone for a fair few years now, and i remember the last time i went i was just... there, i guess. i wasnt in the conversations, i wasnt really present i guess. just set dressing while everyone else talked about stuff like their jobs or their uni experiences or how life is now theyve moved out of the town or buying houses or their weddings or trying for kids and i just

i dunno

i enjoyed the time we had but i dont think i really relate to them anymore. our lives and interests are all so very different and i feel like i should have quietly stepped away earlier because i wasnt even invited to some of my (during our schoolyears) closest friends weddings

im trying not to sit here and feel like im lagging behind or beat myself up about it because im disabled. theyre not. and i have a lot in my life i enjoy even if its not the usual thing of "get job -> move out -> get house -> marry -> shit out kid" because i never was normal and there was no fucking way i was gonna follow the stereotypical life journey everyone says you have to

i have good friends who i share hobbies with, i know who i am and i know im happy not being in a relationship because the chance of me actually liking somoene that way is so low, i'll never be able to work a "proper" job and thats ok - i'm disabled and i get money to live but i still make a little bit of my own with youtube. i do keep thinking about moving out of my town or saving for a house but i have so much shit tying me to the doctors here and then i have no fucking money and the only way im realistically getting a house is i either inherit it or someone else buys it for me

idk

today is a weird feeling day

i didnt expect leaving the group to feel like a weight taken off my shoulders or anything. i expected to feel conflicted. these are people i was friends with and around for like 3 years before i had to change schools and we tried and i did like them but i think it was more friends made from proximity and fuck man idk im just venting

at least im not the first one to leave i guess, someone who was arguably closer to them also isnt in the group anymore and i dont think she talks to any of us anymore but its not like i would know given that i dont talk to them anymore past maybe one of them commenting on a tiktok or something

this isnt even going into the OTHER group from wales who pretended to put up with me when they didnt like me (other than 2 of them - which out of everyone i mentioned are some of the only people who invited me to their wedding, which i have been invited to TWICE in all the years ive knowsome of these people) and never told me to my face that they didnt like me or want to be around me and that all culminated in them just. not turning up while i waited for them at a convention. and they never replied in the group chat when i asked them where they were and the only reason i know they didnt turn up was because one of the two that i still talk to sometimes told me the group wasnt coming

[land-of-holly]

Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 8 Liveblog

hmm I thought the title would be more...striking? it's a nothing title

whar weird tortures is durin gonna do to his dad?

now thats the kinda kissing i like to see

bla bla balrog

more yelling? more threats?

wait i thought he was almost dead. what they came down here just to let him dig more?

im sure if i knew anything about caves this would be very annoying

durin jr isnt fooled

surprise me i beg u

i don't buy that this is what breaks King Durin free of the ring. Doesn't feel earned

balrog looks cool ig

and now it goes away for another few k years?

have we seen eye iconography before? not surprised that evil throne guy would yoink it

blue wizard reveal??

wow this guy is quick to trash talk his allies

'pity will not defeat sauron' okay it sounds heavy handed TO ME but I didn't say I hated it

this whole plotline feels like it's building to a climax it didn't earn

like we're just getting to know evil wizard guy and he feels very generic villain

the stranger finally has good power control tho

so they're gonna execute all those faithful guys yah? or this is an engagement announcement?

So he's maneuvering them to move against sauron now? YOU SHOULD HAVE JUST MADE TWO MORE EPISODES

do like the white tree imagery

where...are they? restaurant or sm I guess

girl u are gonna have to pick a side too

ANARION MENTION Did anyone not already in the know remember he exisited?

such a pretty dress

narsil!

so do the orcs have an ordered objective besides sack the city?

DON'T GIVE HIM MORE RINGS GIRL WTF

annatar no

HE'S STILL DOING IT STILL WITH THE LIES

the torture!

celebrimbor you're such an elf

NOT THE SHORES OF THE MORNING CELEBRIMBOR THE SHORES YOU WANT ARE IN THE OTHER FUCKING DIRECTION

torture extending life preservation tech confirmed

put that spear down or so help me

banner we've done it fam

the lord of the rings... okay, I CANNOT not let them have this

sauron's "...oopsie i killed him" face is fuckin hilarious

hi glug!

love that sauron never answers to 'sauron' it's always 'i hAVe MaNy NaMeS"

if this is all we get of the bannerage i'll be content but i'm getting the impression this is only the beginning

idk if we've gotten a wide shot of pelargir before i like the huts among ruins look

my boy theo

he is asking for help with his grief! progress!

did u hug arondir like that b4 he left??

nah man that's estrid

her whole deal can't be a romantic red herring

girl you have known him for like a few days stop this like i'm happy for you two but

y'all they tell stories about kings who marry low men they end badly

kemen what the fuck are you doing here

wow kemen's face went on an entire world tour there when he saw isildur

omg he is so bad at this slimy courtier stuff

everyone say yay berek!

isildur tell him

NOT THE HORSE KEMEN ARE YOU TRYING TO INCREASE YOUR DISAPPROVAL RATING TO 100%

the deforestation!

galadriel i stg how do you keep getting kidnapped.

..adar what happened to you

i cannot believe y'all who were predicting elf adar were correct. i hate this but not in a 'this was a bad writing decision' way ya feel?

adar is no one in particular confirmed?

why is he giving he the ring? does he really intent to treat in good faith?

galadriel is that true about your kill count

forgiveness again

i want normal adar back. i don't care if it makes sense

how often  do orcs tend their injured normally?

betrayal!

oh heck

its him

i think adar always wanted to die this way one day

damn girl maybe if the foley guys didnt make ur sword so noisy you coulda snuck up on him

crown of morgoth makes a hell of an offhand weapon

they can't even give gilgalad non boring lines

ARONDIR

nonzero chance sauron would want to keep all the lore of eregion but probably considers the destruction of eregion worth it

did not expect sauron to be the one going over that edge

OH NO HIS ULTIMATE WEAPON his pretty pretty face

spooky i like it

shapeshifer fight!

'the door is still open' obvious setup but i'll give it to them it was thematically appropriate

...i guess the difference is the fight for the 9 he was destined to win

DURIN!

narvi at least!

there'a no ocean there girl if you don't survive that fall he's just gonna go get it

she didn't even make it to khazad dum

damn glug pays the price of treachery

celeborn come get ya girl

oh hey arondir

totally believeable the crown of morgoth would do that to a wound. still don't like it. seems contrived.

get it elrond

damn nori looks so sad that her friends got their homes smashed

Mr. Burrows was wise. Sometimes acceptance is the only way to move forward

so is nori going with the stoors or home?

uah uah ya got yer stick

props overall to tom being a recurring caracter this season

thank you for explaining it all for us stick guy

shut up about his name

now you're just flexing with the singing

i can't fault durin having an unknown brother after the anarion business

the lighting in rivendell is very pretty

they didn't even say where they were, I admire their restraint.

Definitely bit of a hammock season, but a very good one overall. I felt like this should have been episode 9 and they DESPERATELY needed an episode before to bring everything up to finale time.  The final confrontation with sauron should have been maybe 50% less swordfightey and more mindfuckey. Overall a decent ending though!

[slowdripsunrise]

BOOK REVIEW AGAINNNNNNN yippee i have actually been reading... not a lot but well i am ! kinda forgot about this blog ok thats not true i was just lazy and didnt want to write a post. well anyways heres a big post for all the stories i read there are 4 - things have gotten worse since we last spoke by eric larocca, paradise rot by jenny hval, soft science by franny choi, and the country will bring us no peace by matthieu simard ! spoilers under the cut

ok first i read things have gotten worse since we last spoke because i wanted to go on a little kick of reading weird crazy people books at 3 am. and i did! chose this one because i saw it was very short so. anyways i thought this was.... okay. i think what made it a little worse off for me is that i already knew about the whole parasite thing from tiktok, so it wasnt that crazy to me when it actually happened. gonna be honest i do Not remember how the book ends at all so i dont even know if it was satisfying or not. was my experience worsened by it being 3am and me not having any thoughts at all? probably. would i do it again? yeah. i was a lil bit disappointed in the apple peeler part too... i thought it was going to be more relevant than it was unless there are some hidden symbolism meanings motifs going on that i didnt get... actually now that im thinking about it big long unbroken peels of apple + a big long probably worm-like parasite? next to each other thats kinda cool. other than that thought i literally just had now typing this out i didnt see anything else. omg speaking of seeing the tagline and also its mentioned in the book, "what did you do today to deserve your eyes?" crazy ass fuck sentence. i kinda love it actually and this is maybe where i would have like to see the apple peeler come in. she takes the apple peeler to her face and peels her eyes out of her head idk. also i feel like either on tiktok/goodreads they were supposed to be ballerinas? but that wasnt mentioned at ALL? i might be misremembering but that also could have been a cool little anecdote. anyways all this to say i thought the book was alright. i was entertained for like 2 hours. my favorite part of this experience was going on goodreads after and seeing a one star review of the book that just said "men stop writing trauma porn about lesbians." which is SO FUCKING FUNNY. because 1 im pretty sure the author is nonbinary, so hes not a man. 2. WHO IS GETTING OFF TO THIS. sorry i do absolutely not see any fetishization here, and also i think they write stories like this in like collections,, so there are probably people other than lesbians in them. idk i just thought that was funny. jesus christ this is getting long and i'm only 1/4 done. i pity anyone who opens this.

next i read paradise rot by jenny hval, which i had heard was dubbed the "bisexual piss book" intriguing and also a short little story i read at 3am. i did like this one, i thought it was fun and interesting and im a big fan of rot. just in general. vibes were on point. this book was moist. however, not as much piss as i expected. as in like quantities on page. they did talk about piss a lot and by they i mean the narrator. not as horror-esque as i thought it would be but i did like it! ohhh to simply rot away...... would not recommend this to normal people and i like that about it.

soft science by franny choi !!!! really liked this! im going to be honest i do not remember more than one poem from this collection. but i do remember liking them !!! sorry i think i need to train my brain to like and remember poetry more. and not just like the ones from tumblr webweaves even though all of them slay.

finally i read the country will bring us no peace by matthieu simard. i liked this, thought it was super interesting,,, ok i didnt think it was super interesting i thought it was good. god i am trying to program myself out of academic reviews of stupid dumbass books i was forced to read. this isn't like that at all. anyways i thought the whole grief aspect was done very well, the sadness at knowing literally nothing will work or come together to make your life go back to the way it was, go back to being whole again. and that deep deep sadness of not only losing their daughter but also the life they had before, the life they had with each other,,, losing all hope. it definitely got to me i did almost cry i think. i think i have more to say about this but i don't remember it. oh well. i thought the vibes of a hostile small mountain town were cool ! i think one of my favorite scenes was when the lavoie's kid falls from the antenna and they are just standing there doing nothing and simon has to go save him... idk the fact that they were shown as perfect parents for their perfect children and how not great they actually were <- this thought is dumb and obvious you get what im saying. one of my main issues is that the ending did feel rushed... and i was a bit confused,,,, the last line "a bird starts to sing" i couldn't tell if that was meant to be marie and simon hearing birds in the afterlife, in the woods by the bowling alley? or was that just the birds in the town finally starting to sing? because if its the latter i don't really get how simon and marie dying would bring the birds back.. the town is still dying and tragedies will still happen... idk its probably the birds in the afterlife but oh well. ok final thought i think but i think the title in french is interesting. it's called "ici, ailleurs" which means "here, elsewhere" or more like "here, something better. here, a new beginning." i like that, obviously it's what the book is about, and idk i think the translator did a good job at conveying the message. i think i would read this book again but in french, mostly to practice because my french is shit but i think since it only really stays in one setting, there's not a lot of characters, concepts are pretty easy to understand, i think it would be fun !!!! ok im done those are my reviews of all the books ive read in the past week or so thanks to anyone who reads this whole thing you are crazy. peace and love

[just-some-random-blogger]

Its okay to be sad. Feel your feelings. It's normal and perfectly okay. Your writing will always be there. Your mental health should always come first.

aLSO OMFG SHUT UPI CAN BE THE SAME WAY BUT IT'S THAT IM TOO DISTRACTED ALL THE TIME. I'm /too/ talkative and I sometimes i feel like people are like wow not talking to this bitch lmfaooooooo. I'm always like damn my extroversion strikes again 😭

Go ahead and show us!!! I'd love to see it!!

Oh my God I'm a huge fucking metalhead. Screamo is my preferred genre, but it's pretty much all under the heavy metal genre. I'm going to see Motionless in White in July for theeeeeee 3rd? time???? I can't remember, but asdhlasiudhasildh highly recommend listening to them and their album "Scoring the End of The World" . Fucking incredible. Also Amity Afflictions new album "Not Without My Ghosts" . One song on there called "When It Rains It Pours" has been on repeat for the past four weeks for me. 🥲

ALSO can't believe that interviewer didn't bother asking his favorite metal bands LIKE YOU HAD ONE JOB. ONE. 😭😭😭😭

Oh shit i think i just got an idea for an aemond au i could write 😈😈😈😈😈

(: yeah. it is ok to be sad. its just a challenge to navigate

IM ALSO A DISTRACTED TALKATIVE PERSON LOL and im also sometimes on the fence about how people react to me and my learned extraversion AHAHAH

ANYWAY HERE ARE MY TSHIRT DESIGNS try not to mind my annoying watermark. i added it cos of the 'ok anons' i get that i do not trust. i did this for fun and i dont want anyone to do anything but look at this. @lexi-anastasia wanted to see too so heres the big reveal LOL

🤠BONK🤠

OK I HAVE AN ADAM DRIVER AS MAURIZIO GUCCI BRAINROT OK OK AND I REALLY WANTED TO TAKE A WACK AT DOING THE METAL DAEMON TEE BEFORE REPLYING. i know the metal tee it could be more distressed but IDK I THINK ITS A SLAY IM GOING TO BE MAKING MORE IM THINKING OF REDOWNLOADING PHOTOSHOP JUST FOR THIS PROJECT COS I DID THIS ON CANVA AND THERE ARE EFFECTS I CANT ACHIEVE THERE

I PLAN TO MAKE LIKE FIVE SHIRTS SO AHHH IM SO EXCITED HAHAHAHAHAH but also i probably wont redownload photoshop cos its been years since i touched that 😓 lolol

also! im so glad that you mentioned the music you did.

ive heard of motionless in white! i think i tried getting into them but lol i didnt AHAHH i took a listen to scoring the end of the world, as in the song, COS WHAT AN INSANE TITLE THATS SO COOL i loved the song so MUCH!!! i really liked how heavy the instrumentation is! i look for this in pop music a lot and im like 🧍‍♀️ why didnt they go heavier? SO THIS WAS REALLY NICE

but then i kinda giggled when i heard the lead's emo voice T_T HAHAHAH i was like yeah that's about right, i'd nearly forgotten some people sing like this unironically 💀💀🤣🤣 idk i had expected a voice timbre like the singer in maneskin, damiano LOL. i could talk about this more but itd get too long

i also listened to "Not Without My Ghosts", not realizing you were just mentioning the album name, and "When It Rains It Pours". when i was listening to not without my ghosts i thought scoring the end of the world would have been cooler had the motionless in white singer had that kind of voice timbre BUT THATS NOT A SLIGHT I JUST THINK THAT PERSONALLY I STILL THINK ITS A SLAY.

and when i was listening to when it rains it pours, it for some reason reminded me of pain by of mice & men, idk if its the screams or the lyrics, maybe a bit of both. i love that song so much. anyway when it rains it pours was like... ok for me lololol again not a slight but i liked scroing the end of the world better

oh and i hadnt realized ewan talked about that in an interview. i mean, maybe the interviewer was idk nervous or smth T_T LOL. i t be like that. anyway, i hope you have fun writing that aemond au idea my love! id ask you what is is but if you wanted to say then you would have lol.

thank you for dropping by!!! i love you

[rntdry7896]

I hate it when a supposedly 'enlightened' friend do this

I have self esteem issue and is used to my self worth being bad

I have this 2 close friend which is more mature and adult than me i guess? We count as best friend but they sure rub me the wrong way sometimes and i dont have anyone other to talk to other than them so here i am

One of them organized a sports weekly meet. because when we ate out with lots of people, one of the other mutuals kept complaining how shes gaining weight and becoming ugly etc. I didnt specifically say i want to participate but they just put every other group that eat together at that time in. Being indecisive i just goes oh well ill go not pike i do much workout so it might be a good change of pace

In the group theres 2 older male guys there, friend of friend, i consider them acquaintance as best while but idk about them. One of this guy call them guy B. Last week he keep touching and trying to drag me to do sports saying how i should move more and do the sports since im here already at the court. I was sitting at the floor and he grab my arms or my legs trying to bring me. My first reponse is of course freeze. i cannot really react but when he tried other times i just laugh it off and said im still resting/warming up. After going home of course i tried to say to the event organizer /bestie about how i dont like that guy. She just said laugh and joke it off and say thing like "do you hate him more than guy A then?" (I hate guy A but like for other trivials thing) i mentioned like yeah i hate them the same and like how i dont want to go next week, but i really want to meet this other friend and she can just come next week so i just say okay let see then, maybe it wont be that bad next week (because the guys do stop bothering me at the end)

Yesterday happened and the guy did the same thing first he tried to go for my legs, saying "lets go exercise etc" again im sitting at the floor so i cannot move away that fast, but i flailed my legs and say "stop it stop it stop i dont want to i want to sit ill exercise later", he triend the second time and i spoke louder, he stopped maybe cause i did go a bit over loud and people start looking. He went and sit not to far but not near me either. Okay i let it go then because he didnt try anymore at court. I spoke alot with friend and got to catch up, at the end when its time to go home she mentioned shes hungry and all member went out to eat. We ate and chat, the two guys didnt speak much and didnt go to near either so i let my guard down. Later when waiting for me and friend lift to go home, we chat in a circle and i have my back towards this guy and he fucking touched/rub my neck, i really... dont know how to react.. i just say what?? And he said that i have some mark maybe its from the sport :hes wondering if i hurt my self during etc etc" i fucking hate him i hate touching people i dont wven touch my best friend but he touched my skin directly. I rubbed hard and said its nothing its just a mole maybe let it be etc while trying to kept being civil and changing the subject.... because technically hes the friend of my best friend and i really dont want to be overly dramatic

we went our separate way i got on the car and we drove off, i mentione to my "best friend"later how i hate him and he touched my neck but they just say "well thats why you gotta tell them clearly i dont like to be touched dont touch me, you didnt say anything thats why he touched you" ... i just felt betrayed as friend who knows each other for so long i totally didnt expect her to imply that im the one in the wrong... well maybe im wrong too but what he did is more a problem than anything?? She also knows how i am a socially anxious person that is non confrontational, saying how is hould be more like her and be outspoken is just??? You expected someone to be confrontational in just one second??? I may be a little angry but im now just sad, i dont know i feel hurt by all the event and im tired... we changed topic and i talk to her about different thing but that small hurt when i hear her saying things is still there, im venting here

[marinaiguess]

just finished watching sonic prime so why not share my thoughts on it? before i start rambling, i suggest you go watch it on netflix, it definitely deserves a watch.

now

Technicalities first (if i can call them that). So, judging as a viewer and not as a sophisticated critic who has read cinemtaography books, I’d say the show’s direction overall is pretty good. It’s nothing special but it’s pleasing and keeps you interested. The direction, the angles, the camera changes regarding placement and focus are well coordinated with the writing and each emotion each scene tries to convey. So, really, nothing new (i wasnt expecting a sonic show to make groundbreaking ways of storytelling through cinematography), but I believe it is worth mentioning because it plays a huge role on how one views the show. And there were many moments where I realized that a certain angle made the scene look more tense for example.

Animation! I think we all liked the bouncy styled animation, contrasting the hugely popular disney/pixar styled animation (which is good, dont get me wrong, but the animation tecnhique used in prime fits sonic a lot more imo). Also, the facial expressions are part of what made the show so great and enjoyable and I love how much emphasis they put on them, literally perfect. The details in animation, like the animalistic behaviours of sonic and co. and how they were depicted (ears twitching for example) are all very important and im glad they were implemented. And, I know a lot of us are focused on the facial expressions but we shouldnt forget abt the background as well. There definitely was attention to detail, details that were everywhere and completed the overall image of the show.

Music! the music is good what do you expect me to say like, oh that major g in the pirate scene made the scene look more tense but if it was a minor f it would make it a bit more sad and thus more fitting- no. the music was good. not surprised and props to everyone who worked on the music but i just dont think theres anything to add LOL.

Voice acting! Voice directing-wise? Really REALLY good, i wasnt expecting great performances but i was proved wrong and im happy about that. Now, for the main cast seperately? Devon has done an EXCELLENT job with his lines. His sonic voice is a combination of Roger Craig Smith and Ben Schwartz i believe but it’s also unique and very fitting for sonic, despite me not liking it at first. Brian as Eggman is meh for me, very good voice acting skills but i didnt like it that much. Ashleigh as Tails fit surprisingly well and idk why. Kazumi for rouge was a really good one, bringing rouge back to her sa2/heroes era and not the overly sexy and seducing voice she has in the games (i know its abt voice direction as well but yeah). big is meh, i dont like it. knuckles is pretty good tbh. and now, shadow the hedgehog. yes. ian did an excellent job voicing shadow and i LOVE LOVE LOVE his voice in prime, makes he’d sound like that in the games as well. i’ll stop now or i’ll start fangirling. 

Characters! I like the characters and sonic’s crew. the way the show’s written so far though has made me care about the post-apocalypse characters more than the other shatterverses. like, i like them all, yeah, but i care more about nine and knucks and rebel. maybe that was the point. also,HHHH WHY NOT BLAZE? why not silver? hoping to see them soon but PIRATE WORLD? there was a purple cat and a brown raccoon there but it wasnt blaze and marine. lost opportunity. (and rouge should have been the captain in the pirate one fr fr)

And finally, writing. I’ve seen a lot of opinions these days. Here’s mine. Good characterisation. Yes, it might surprise you but the characterisation is actually good. for every character. including sonic. maybe in a different post i could talk about every character but for now, i wanna talk abt sonic. bouncy, energetic, talkative, honest, lively, adhd coded, cheesy sometimes, reckless, extroverted who wants to work on his own from time to time. this is actually sonic. someone who loves his friends but doesnt listen to them cuz he has no patience. someone who conveys his emotions with actions and puts words aside. someone who likes to lay back once in a while, but not when the whole world is broken to pieces. someone who wants to save everyone, puts everyone above him and his needs. someone who cant stop talking, making witty remarks and jokes despite the given situation cuz he never gives up and is always hopeful and optimistic. frontiers gave us a different view of sonic’s character but it’s a very different situation as well. yet, if you carefully compare the two, you’d see how much things they have in common and how prime! sonic is very well written. 

overall writing is okay. characterisation is very good, interactions between characters are very good but some could have been better(some moments were too short for my liking), easter eggs, there are many and are greatly appreciated, many details, the recap of the prev episodes was really funny and clever but I feel like we were deprived of some great opportunities. like, eggman nega with eggman instead of the chaos council. thats just an example. and im not too salty abt it cuz it’s mainly a kids show and it shows. im glad that its enjoyable for adults like me as well though.

thats all folks. no one asked for this but youre getting it anyway.

[yeahiwasintheshit]

Saw that movie, X, that came out earlier this year and it’s clear they’re going for that retro 70s exploitation movie vibe, and if that’s the only thing they wanted to do with this movie, than it worked, I guess. Problem is there wasn’t anything else to any of these characters. It was all very surfacy. Nothing deeper about these characters, but since It was only an exploitation movie, then I guess I shouldnt expect more? idk. Now knowing they are planning a whole expanded universe with this character, maybe they’ll do more with the person(s) who survive in those other movies? i suppose, (trying not to spoil anything) but on its own, I didn’t get much of anything out of this. I wasn’t bored, but I wasn’t too invested in who these people are.

And the main actress Mia goth was fine. I think she did an ok job, a little flat and one-notey, but I feel like they were going for that. I just didn’t really buy this character living in that time. Like the main thing for me is they shaved her eyebrows off, and they have a lot of blue eye shadow on her, and it just makes her look comical or homicidal. And they never mention it. Like I was waiting for them to say something like, “ok honey were about to film your porn scene, it’s time to draw on your eyebrows, it’s such a shame you can’t grow them yourself” but like... it’s just never mentioned. All that’s mentioned about her is that she REALLY wants to be a star. It’s literally the year 1979, and we’re to believe that a person who watches TV and the movies in 1979 is so motivated to being a big star that would they would just walk around with no eyebrows? No big celebrity in 1979 was in movies or TV with no eyebrows, and to think she would think not having eyebrows was ok, didnt feel true for her character, in that time setting. It was just so distracting. It just didnt ring true to any of these characters in this time in history that no one would mention it either. Especially since they are about to film a scene in a porn movie with her. Like she wasnt trying to be famous in like some sort of underground horror movie scene, where maybe you can get away with no eyebrows, she wanted to be a star star, and it just made no sense why she would not draw on eyebrows. I was so distracted by that lol

It was shot well enough, and had some interesting scenes, like there was one over head view of when maxine was in the pond with the alligator, (Chekhov’s alligator? Lol) to me that built some tension, but overall, I felt there were no stakes for these people because right at the beginning, in the first few frames of the movie, we see there was a bloodbath at the farm. We don’t know who or what, but we know most if not all of the people we will meet will die, and for me I don’t really like that kind of framing. It deflates tension almost immediately.

There was also a couple really cheesy kills, like the one in the barn. It was so obvious what was going to happen, it made it uninteresting and a little eye rolling (no pun intended) to watch. Tho there was a cool shot, right before that kill, when the camera pans all the way on the floor and we see what’s right in front of the person and we know what is about to happen next. That was great bit of leading the audience, and built some tension, and when that thing happened I really got the willies. Cause I felt it too lol

Other than a couple scenes that were kinda good, I really didn’t get much out of the movie. I didn’t find any of these people likable or worth rooting for. It’s not that they were bad or evil people, it’s just they were pretty one dimensional characters. And even the villains were kinda dumb. Like there was an interesting scene at the beginning when maxine is in the house and old photos on the wall are shown to her, there was something there. I was intrigued to know more, but they didnt really build on that, and when they kinda reveal the villains motivations theyre really muddled and kinda weak. I felt a few times watching “why?” and there was no really interesting reason.

I also didn’t really like how much the “age” of the older couple was used as a device to elicit horror and grossness from the audience. The makeup on the old people was really pretty good but it was clear it was makeup and it made me wonder why are they putting old age makeup on people instead of just hiring old people (later found out it was the whole prequel/ sequel thing, I guess) But they go out of their way to illustrate that the old people are gross, and they are gross for having sexuality, or having sexual feelings and eventhough they do horrible things because of it, the mere fact of their sexuality was presented as being gross, which again was more of a distraction and kinda off putting.

Idk, I think they wanted this movie to be like really cutting edge and cool, but its kinda vapid and empty. Like the idea of an exploitation movie lends itself to being sort of one dimensional and empty. (pile on the kills and boobs and nothing else than all is good? no) but it just never went beyond that. Maybe they will with the other movies, idk, but im not sure i care enough to find out.