#imo i think taking breaks when it stops being fun is a good way to keep going with poll blogs longterm

[foundfamilyhq]

[judesmoonbeauty]

A Day With Jude Jazza: Chapter Two "13:00 Working at Raven & Lunch"

TW: Weight discussion. Idk if this really needs it or not, but I added it just in case.

Please expect grammatical errors and translation inaccuracies. This is a full translation. Creative liberties are taken for characterization and smoother translation process. Cybird owns everything. Re-blogs are appreciated, but please do not post my translation elsewhere. Thank you for your support! ☾.

I’m working hard at Raven today too —

(I’ve been working non-stop, but I wonder if I’ll be able to finish this….)

The moment I gulped at the mountain of documents in front of me…..

Jude: Do ‘em perfectly.

He showed up and said that, so I stopped what I was doing and puffed my cheeks.

Kate: Isn’t there some kind of reward for your girlfriend who works so hard?

Jude: What kinda reward?

Kate: Hmm, like taking me out for lunch…?

Jude: ….Tch.

Then his finger came up to my forehead,

Kate: Ouch!

I reflexively squeezed my eyes shut because of the force of the forehead flick —

(…..It doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would.)

Opening my eyes, he let out an annoyed sigh and turned around.

Jude: Let’s make tracks.

Kate: What?

Jude: Lunch, let’s go.

Kate: Coming!!

Kate: It’s my first time coming to this restaurant, but it’s super delicious.

Ellis: Good, I’m glad you’re happy Kate.

While eating a tasty meat-dish and chatting with Ellis,

Jude: ……

I heard the sound of a fork being put down next to me, and when I looked over he had stopped eating, leaving the fatty part untouched.

Kate: That’s such a waste.

The plate was silently brought to me, as if telling me to eat, so I ate the fatty portion.

After that, Jude made an exasperated look.

Jude: You’ll gain weight if ya eat like that each ‘n every time.

(Actually, I have been a bit worried about that recently….)

Kate: Isn’t it because you’re handing your plates over to me, Jude?

Jude: Didn’t say t’eat it.

Jude: Yer the one sayin’ it’s a waste not t’eat it.

(I can’t deny that…..)

Jude: ‘N ya eat more sweets than me’, innit?

Ever since we started dating, I felt like it was a waste to leave any of the fat and sweets on the plate,

So when I look over, the plate gets closer to me, and before I know it, I end up eating it.

Ellis: But I think it’s nice to see Kate eating it deliciously.

Kate: Ellis……

Ellis was sitting across from me and kindly smiles.

Feeling a bit happy, I brought the dessert to my lips without hesitation.

That’s when Jude’s fingers stroke my thigh under the table —

Kate: Urk!

Jude: Ya really have put on weight, haven’tcha?

His warped smile irritated me, so I lightly pinched his hand.

Kate: This is what I do to people who say such things.

Jude: Ha, don’t hurt none.

His hand let go of my thigh, and he took a bite of the dessert,

Jude: Ya can work back the weight gain.

This sentence translation has been updated. Previously, I rendered it as, “Work back the weight gain.” However, い is used at the end of the sentence (which can soften what’s said), so I updated it to the line above because the other sentence sounded too blunt imo. Sorry, I’m still learning.

He didn’t seem to like the sugary taste, and immediately put down his fork.

Jude: Got the perfect job for ya.

Kate: What is it?

Jude: Deliver all o’ the finished documents to the department heads in the company.

Kate: That much?!

Thinking back to all the documents left on my desk, I felt overwhelmed.

Jude: Kate.

Kate: Yes, [MUMPH]

Bite by bite, he feeds me his dessert.

Kate: Wai-, Jude, Ju-

As soon as I gulped down the last mouthful, he flashed a wicked smile.

Jude: Ya ate desserts for two, so ya can work fer that much, yeah?

Kate: —You DEMON!

Jude: Ha!

As we glared at each other, I heard Ellis’ heartwarming voice,

Ellis: Hehe, Jude and Kate, you both look like you’re having fun today too.

Jude & Kate: Ain’t havin’ fun. • I’m not having fun.

And so, the lunch break ends.

[Event Master list] [Next - ⏱♡ 16:00 - Negotiations at Twilight]

I want to be spoiled and fed by Jude too.......

Dividers: @.adornedwithlight

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[missinconsistent]

The Haikyuu movie is *the* Kenma movie, and I'm living for it. I won't get too into spoilers pertaining to the match, but I will talk about some things in the movie, so if you want to go in blind then stop reading here and go watch the movie!!

I did not expect the movie to explore Kenma and Kuroo's friendship as much as it did, and I love it so much (I didn't read the manga, btw so this was such a surprise). The series already shared quite a lot of flashbacks to their childhood and them playing volleyball together. But, it was always framed in a way that Kuroo kinda dragged Kenma along into playing volleyball with him. I never really expected these childhood flashbacks to mean any more than that. The movie really explored *why* Kenma played volleyball thanks to Kuroo. It really emphasized how important playing volleyball *with* Kuroo meant to him.

Like the scene back to the summer camp when Kenma is thinking he'd rather not play volleyball over playing a video game or watching volleyball, but then Kuroo calls his name and reaches his hand out is just so sweet. Especially considering that Kenma is most likely thinking how this is Kuroo's final year.

I am obsessed with how Kenma's friendly rivalry with Hinata actually parallels his friendship with Kuroo through flashbacks. With Kuroo being the friend that got him to play volleyball, and Hinata being the friend and rival that really pushed Kenma to take a match seriously, and see how fun it can be.

And idk if my take is different, but I really like how Kenma doesn't have a Tsukishima arc. The match doesn't make him fall in love with volleyball, but it just makes him realize that even if he doesn't love the sport, he loves a good and interesting match with his friends. He doesn't care about nationals. He just likes playing against Hinata, in particular (imo). But I think that's what makes the match between them so damn investing.

It's so refreshing to see the movie mostly revolve around Kenma's pov and see this character break out of his shell and push himself. To decode Hinata in an attempt to beat him and have his expectations blown away. Seeing this competitive, smug, and serious side of him is such fan service and I love it lol.

The scene when the match plays out from Kenma's eyes is so (chef's kiss). It's a bit nauseating, but it genuinely is my favourite moment in the movie. The way Kenma's eyes are on the ball before darting across the court, glancing over at his teammates and opponents, and back to the ball again. When it even shows Kenma taking a fall, Lev checking up on him, and Kenma just shouts to focus on the ball, I was just floored with how well it immerses you in the match. It just really has you on the edge of your seat, and quite literally puts you in Kenma's head to know this guy who is seemingly indifferent to volleyball, in that moment, is having the time of his life.

It's such a good climactic moment that's so different from other concluding matches from the series prior. It's not about big final builds up to the final strike, or block, or whatever move the characters are doing. It's just about being in the moment. About Kenma being in the moment. And it's such a brilliant and unique way to end the match.

[24hlevi]

I know we've got Lottie x innocent reader.. But what about th othe yjs 🤔🤔🤔

ooooh 🤭 imma give a few thoughts for each of them cause i love this but can't come up with full hcs sorry. thank you for continuing the innocent reader vision anon 🫶 also this is more with their adult versions in mind!

shauna -

- shauna adores your innocence, she literally thinks it's the cutest thing ever when you two first get together, how you haven't done anything like smoking or drinking, how you wear whatever clothes you want without realizing the way people look at you in said outfits

- she will subconsciously baby you tho, she will of course stop if you say for her to but she loves babying you :( not in like a weird way but just in a nurturing way that shows she loves you dearly

- she has such a thing for marking you up for everyone else to see how your hers and hers only, a smile always forming on her face whenever you don't try to cover it up and you two go out being given weird looks by the amount of hickeys on your neck

- she tries to start out slow with you during your first time with her but she can't help but get rough at the sounds of you whining and moaning just for her :(

nat -

- she's the one who enjoys your innocence the most, the fact that you have barely done anything rebellious in your life leads nat to being the gf who will make you do reckless things and live life to the fullest, maybe getting arrested in the process (oops)

- nat also thinks it's kinda cool that you two are polar opposites when in public and you're wearing the cutest thing possible and she's just in her leather jacket and jeans, she'd rather die than use the word aesthetic for how pleasing it is, but that's what it is lol

- nat is also the biggest on the corruption side of things, to just break down those innocent walls that stop you from whimpering her name underneath her is like winning a prize to her and when you finally let go of feeling shy and innocent, she is going to make sure you know you're hers

- thinking of her teaching you how to ride her strap for the first time and she slowly coaxes you into moving your hips faster and make more pretty noises for her, smiling at your whines before flipping you over and just pounding into you

misty -

- misty definitely takes advantage of your innocence, most of the time without you even realizing it, which makes it better for her in the end when she makes you do things that you wouldn't do otherwise without her there, it gives her a sense of pride and that she's needed

- she also just thinks it's cute when you have little to no idea what's going on or when people try to flirt with you and you just think they're being nice, misty is one to get jealous, but just so she can take you back home and make sure you remember who you belong to

- misty is the second biggest on corruption imo, she loves how innocent you are, buying you pretty revealing clothing to wear around the house so she can have you whenever she wants and seeing your eyes widen when she grabs you by your hips pulling you towards her gets her going so bad she will take you right then and there

- roleplay is huge for misty, especially medical themes, and she loves opening your mind to those things and show you how to have fun and have a good time as well even when she's three gloved fingers inside of you and is degrading you beyond belief mixed with praises

tai -

- the only normal one (jk), tai is one that thinks it's cute and enjoys the way that your innocence is genuine and how it's just how you are, not like you're doing it on purpose or something

- tbh tai doesn't seem like she would get jealous because of it, will she glare daggers at whoever is attempting to flirt with you to the point they back off? yes. but she won't be verbal about it 😭 you go over to her wondering why the overly kind person just left and she's like "ah idk babe" acting like she wasn't killing them with her mind

- tai will make you be verbal with what you want, she won't do anything until you tell her what it exactly is that you want, loving to see the way you break down crumbling and soon start begging for her to do something, anything

- you cannot tell me this woman doesn't have a thing for being called ma'am, like you'd say it as a joke and she would immediately change up and tell you to say it again which leads to a newly found word to use when having sex

van -

- van thinks your innocence is a little silly at first (affectionately), how you don't realize the certain things you do would be seen as flirting or not noticing when others are flirting with you, they think its silly

- they definitely show you all kinds of movies you haven't seen before to expand your horizons of cinema and entertainment, especially the more spicy ones to open your mind to some things 🤭

- van grins so hard when you tell them you wanna try something that you saw in a movie or something else and immediately drops everything to do it, they'll take their time with you to make sure you actually want to do it before going down on you like never before

- van is into experimenting with anything, whatever you wanna do they will gladly do for you, you basically become their pillow princess/prince and they will make sure the neighbors can hear cause they just love the sounds you make when they're pounding into you with their strap

[jules-makes-stuff]

Been seeing ppl on reddit argue about magic in fantasy for a while and I don't want to lose 3 hours bickering over there but I have *thoughts*

By now hard and soft systems are pretty well known but people ague againt hard systems because it "takes away the, well, MAGIC of magic". I think people aren't considering tone and the overall goals of a work and are conflating personal taste with truth again.

In my mind it really depends on the above though. Say you are Hoffman writing The Golden Pot. You want your work to be dreamlike, ethereal, like a half remembered song. Everything operates on dream/fairytale logic and emotion is reality. You should absolutelt NOT explain magic. It should be a strange force adhering only to narrative and emotional forces.

If you are writing a magical realism piece, like One Hundred Years of Solitude, the magic again is there to emphasize the absurdity of reality people at the time faced. Explaining anything takes that away. Same with horror or something like Metamorphosis. You don't know why this is happening and that means you cannot stop it or it doesn't matter how it happened, only the consequences.

Then there are more classical fantasy stories like Lord of the Rings. Magic is something ancient and grand and mysterious.... and none of the hobbits have it besides stray magic items. That is what people miss, I believe, when using this example. Gandalf isn't our pov character. Most characters there do not have magic or only have limited magic w very specific limitations, tools essentially. So we can follow along and anticipate how these will be used. There is big, scary, unknown magic, but it is usually something used by the opponents or characters that come in and out of the narrative. And I think that's a good balance! Its fine that we dont know the science of magic, because we understand enough when we need to, we can make predictions and there is enough wiggle room for something like Gandalf the White to happen. A looot of fantasy had followed this setup: the mc has only a few well defined spells and magic items, the world has more deep magic.

But, I personally do like harder magic, if the mc is supposed to be a wizard (or the equivalent). I would call most battle shonen hard magic (I think this is where ppl might want to kill me) becauss in a good battle shonen we know what everyone can do and we can plan along with the characters and predict how the fight will go. When a problem is solved in an interesting way we can go "I should have seen that comming!"

In BAD versions people yell really loud and whoever yells loudest about friendship (once we wasted enough screentime to call the third act done) wins. And this here is my problem. Because I have seen stories where characters do the same with magic and it breaks my immersion. When magic used by the mc can suddenly do anything and everything what is the point? I'm no longer following a story w interesting twists and turns, Im waiting for the author to say "ok thats enough we can push the win button now". And listen, obviously its a made up story, none of this is real or matters, but its the authors job to keep the illusion alive that it isnt.

This is different from creating a mcguffin that can do anything once and having a quest about it, there getting the item is the challenge, not using it.

And a system being hard doesnt mean we need to know the science behind it, just that we need to know what it can do and the limits. In avatar they can manipulate the elements w martial arts. Period. Why? How? The spirits said so. Most ppl fuck up hard magic imo by starting to write a thesis about magical physics or overcomplicating it instead of taking 1 simple idea and exploring all the cool things that it can do. Witch Hat feels super magical and yet all there is to magic is drawing magic circles and we actively learn how to draw them in the series and the way the characters problem solve w magic and their try-fail cycles are super fun!

The point of this ramble is that I need structure that fits the narrative goals of the work. If we're doing a dream like narrative throw away explanations. If Im a wizard playing mind chess w other wizards you better tell me what chess pieces we have.

[aribirdie]

Wicked: A Review

Alright, I've watched it like a billion times now. And now I have really figured out what I think about this movie.

Lets get the simple good stuff out of the way:

I really love the little details that have went into this movie, the world building, the well-done CGI, basically all the visuals are incredible. The costume design is whimsical and fun, giving a lot of character to the movie. (although I think the asymmetrical buttons on the green jacket that Nessa wears at the beginning is really unflattering, just because it gives the illusion that shes sitting in her chair uncomfortably. She slays like every other look tho so it gets a pass lol.)

I also love the larger inclusion of animals in the movie, giving more reasons to sympathize with them (live, laugh, love Dulcibear). The music is incredibly well written, and I feel that 90% of the music carried over really well into the movie. The scene that really stood out to me in this movie HAS TO BE the dancing scene in the Ozdust Ballroom, the music being silent, then swelling and changing as Glinda joins in. Elphaba CRYINGGG?? it gets me every time.

Now onto the more wicked stuff:

HOWEVER, I think that the 10% that does NOT carry over well is incredibly apparent and even hurts the movie. I think that the spoken parts of the music, namely in No One Mourns the Wicked, where the movie just lets the music cue play, having the governor whisper the word "green." In my opinion, it takes a lot of punch out of the lyrics, and how looked down upon she was at birth. This happens at various times in different songs throughout the movie, but this feels like one of the more obvious and somewhat distracting instances. (Of course this excludes the parts that were written to be spoken, most prominent in The Wizard and I).

Elphie/Erivo

Another major issue I have with the changes to the music comes from how, specifically Cynthia Erivo sings some of the more iconic parts. I know we've all heard the iconic riff, but I wouldn't have a problem with the way she sings it if the movie didn't stop breaking the momentum that part of the song purposefully builds. They keep cutting Cynthia off, breaking the tension, then expecting the audience to care when they try to go back to where she was. When in fact, the would need to rebuild that climax all over again. Now that part of the movie feels more like waiting, impatiently and bored, for her just to do the thing. Rather than being on the edge of our seat, anticipating. And dont even get me started on the "it's MEEEEE" in Defying Gravity

My final gripe with the movie regarding Elphie is her friggen visions. Do they effect her or not? Can she physically see them or are they in her head? I need to movie to stick to its own logic PLEASE. Because in The Wizard and I, she sees the vision on the statue of the Wizard. However, later in the movie while outside Dr. Dillamonds house, it seems so powerful that it knocks her back, and she sees it in her head now. I totally respect that this movie may be making a stylistic choice with her visions, but I really need to know if this is a magic thing she can do (as the Dr. D scene implies), or if its just her being idealistic (Wizard and I).

Erivo does a great job both acting and singing as Elphie. I do think some of her riffs are a little over-chewed, but who can blame her? Such an iconic role, I'm sure she just wanted to leave her own personal mark on it. (and I personally think her "maybe some of us are just different" bit in the first scene with Dr.Dillamond is hard to watch shes #notlikeothergirls. It could've been delivered more as a crashout to make it more compelling imo) However, there is one scene in particular that completely destroys some of the humor of the original musical. Humor that helped keep the whimsical nature of Oz prominent throughout the original show. Right at the beginning of Loathing, where Glinda and Elphie are writing to their respective parents, has the fun moment where Glinda tries to describe Elphie. And Elphie simply describes Glinda as "blonde." In the musical this line was used as a device to encompass how that seemed to be the only word to encompass how annoying Glinda is to Elphie. In the musical, Elphie says it like "shes just a typical blonde," making her seem like a walking eye-roll for Elphie. However, in the movie this line is flippant, a simple fact. Glinda is just blonde. I think that the line delivered this way implies that Elphie doesn't really concern herself with Glinda. Which goes against the next 15 minutes of what the movie describes. The movie shows them feuding, shows how Elphie talks mad shit to Nessa, and yet shes just "blonde" to Elphie?

Glinda/Grande

I really miss the yellow dress, I cant lie. I feel that the change from yellow in the beginning of the first act to her iconic pink during/after the Ozdust Ballroom (Dancing Through Life) strips some subtle character building from her. The yellow in the beginning helped show her off as a flat, blonde, rival. But then when she really connects with Elphaba she changes inside and out. She becomes pink, a mix of colors, as opposed to a primary, simple one. She becomes a more complex character that we as an audience see differently.

Side note: I also think that she is too platinum blonde, it really washes Ariana out, making her seem vaguely beige in comparison to the vibrancy of Elphie. And throughout the movie, it doesn't change with her, which I think the change to pink from yellow would have really helped to highlight.

I know that this next one is really about to make some stans very mad. I think that Ariana is just not camp enough to be Glinda. I know, and I'm sorry to all her stans, but I think that she was just really flat to watch in comparison to Cynthia. While I think she has some shining moments like "I didn't get my way" causing her to be carried by her side-character friends, or "I can't hear your responses because this is a letter," there are far too many moments where the jokes or subtle silliness of Glinda has falls short. (then when Kristen Chenoweth comes out it really feels like a smack down on Grande tbh, the MOUTH SMACK WAS SO FUNNYY)

Example: When Glinda and Elphie are exchanging secrets after Dancing Through Life, there were so many opportunities for her line delivery to be expressive and out there. But instead she says it all in one sentence in the same tone. "okay I'll go first" could've been delivered in a more, begrudging silly way, to emphasize that she really wants to go first. Rather than said in one flat tone. I think it really would have given Glinda more character, and more chances to become a sympathetic person for the audience to connect with.

Now, I hear you all chanting: "SHE WAS FUN IN POPULAR!!"

And you are SO right. Popular is really her chance to shine, and to be silly, over the top, etc. And she does take this chance, but this feels like a glimpse into the Glinda we could've had. In the scene afterward, Glinda is back in her muted pink uniform, washing her out again, not even a glimpse that shes different from her experience with Elphie aside from the fact that she sits with her now.

Now I hear you chanting once again (damn yall stop yelling): "MAYBE SHES ONLY BOISTEROUS AROUND ELPHIE, SOCIETAL PRESSURES MAKE HER ALL DEMURE AND MUTED, ETC"

AND TO THAT I SAY i disagree. The train scene shows Glinda being the same amount of expressive as she was in the BEGINNING OF THE MOVIE. She talks more but at the same tone/level, AND HER CLOTHES IN "ONE SHORT DAY," WITH NO OTHER CLASSMATES AROUND ARE STILL MUTEDDDD. I know that this movie is meant to try to tone her down a bit so that she doesn't come off as completely ridiculous.

HOWEVER I really think it means that we lose a lot of her character, and we lose what makes Glinda a fun sympathetic character. In the movie she's less lovable because she's less silly, making it harder to feel like we're losing an integral part of the story when she leaves Elphie. ESPECIALLY in her costumes, the vibrancy was such a wonderful contrast to Elphie's dark black clothes. I am so sad they nerfed my comphet girl. These changes make Elphie and Glinda's split feel very different. In the musical it really feels like they've changed eachother. Whereas in the movie, we see Elphie change, but Glinda barely seems different (thanks to the lack of drastic/noticable costume changes #bringbacktheyellow, and the fact that she seems muted in tone with classmates, AND the Wizard/Madame Morrible).

I truly hope that for the second part of the movie, she really shows this contrast off better (spoiler alert), between how happy she was being best friends with Elphie to how sad she is to put on a happy face for the people of Oz. I really hope she allows herself to act more out there, just as her side character friends do, and just as how Elphie/Cynthia even acts at times.

GELPHIE

alright, now that all that's out of the way, i feel that it is incredibly important to mention that I am a GELPHIE TRUTHER. Glinda is the only one who truly knows that Elphaba DOES care what others think, and dances with her. Glinda is the first to accept Elphie and to call her beautiful.. I know that Fiyero becomes more developed in the next act, and maybe it will convince me to accept the heteros (/j). BUT if it follows the musical (as it almost definitely will), GELPHIE all the way.

"maybe you're not as powerful as you think you are." Is one of the most heartbreaking lines in the movie for me. And not because Glinda is "being mean," but because it sounds likes she's hoping that Elphie isn't. She doesn't want Elphie to go, she doesn't want to shake up the world. She wants to be able to be WITH her. But she can't take that leap. She can't go against everything she knows, sending her with a cape into the world during Defying Gravity.

Despite being different people on different paths, they truly accept each other, and make each other better people.

If that isn't a love story then I don't know what is.

If you read all of that THANK YOU. I hope you enjoyed my takes or at least got the chance to see the movie from a different perspective. While this movie has some issues I think it was practically perfect.

TLDR:

Casting: 8/10

Costumes/set design: 9.5/10 (the Ozdust Ballroom is STUNNING)

Singing: 10/10

Adaptation from Original: 9/10

Overall: 9/10

[megatruxfr]

So Batwheels is really fucking good, actually.

I wasnt expecting shit of this show but its actually well made. The songs are actually REALLY good. Especially "Harmony" and "Tough Buff" are stuck in my head!!

Tough Buff is BY FAR one of my favourites. I love how the show constantly variates between genres and tries new themes and music styles instead of the same bouncy electropop. Tough Buff is with coutry electric guitar and it sounds like something Morgan Wallen would sing imo. Like its such a good song! I LOVE the chorus especially.

Same with Harmony. The chorus is AMAZING and the voice actors sing absolutely beautiful. I love it when you can hear voice actors enjoy their work and put their heart into the script. They genuinly bring these computer animated characters to life. Thats what happens in Batwheels.

The next song, "Roll with the Changes" is also a favourite of mine. Its bouncy, fun and happy despite being the main score in a sequence where a character (Bam btw) is chasing one of his tires through Gotham while also having to prevent Prank from pulling a shitstunt.

The songs in this show are so original. I really have to stop underestimating kids shows because i was SO wrong about Batwheels i cannot believe it. I gotta say i'm BLOWN AWAY BY BATWHEELS. I expected it to be some sort of Paw Petrol with talking batman vehicles but its actually this original educational show and it approaces some very serious topics. One time Redbird feels unheard in the group and he thinks his voice and opinion doesnt matter. One time the Batwheels give Buff a nickname he actually really doesnt like and they continue to call him by it and because Buff has trouble speaking out about it he ends up driving off. Bam has numerous times where he's insecure about his role as a leader. Batwing jumps into a lot of situations she thinks she can handle herself, but she turns out to need some help. Bibi is insecure about her image multiple times and cares a lot about how people see her. These characters have problems and issues and they work on themselves and I LOVE IT SO FUKIN MUCH!!! This show handles topics i have seen multiple times before way better then i thought! Insecurity, trouble speaking, fears, feeling pressured, feeling alone, feeling like you can't ask for help, not liking something about yourself, taking care for yourself and giving yourself a break...

There is an episode about body insecurities-

THIS SHOW IS A GODDAMN ACHIEVEMENT!!

I hope for a next season, because this shit is fire. Song are good, characters are good, voices are good, animation is good, show is really good! If youre a parent, caretaker or big bro/sis of any young kids, i HIGHLY recommend this show. Its very educational, its good looking, it has beautiful colorful animation that isnt too flashy, there are no really violent fights, characters are very well designed and have good voices, its more then enough to keep kids busy :D

Also the bad guys are called The Legion Of Zoom. Yes, i in fact am willing to say how much i really love that name but i will not bc this blog is already an essay about a preschool show.

Anyway, Batwheels = AMAZING.

[aesolerin]

Did you ever hear about that digital presentation/lecture one of the Red Hook fellas gave on how they put together the game visually and inspirationally? (Fun Fact: Jester turned out the way he did because Bourassa hates the DnD Bard stereotype, lol) I'm mentioning this in particular because he went over Leper as an example in terms of symbolism incorporated into his design

(which, side tangent to that: Leper's blocky and metallic aesthetic was inspired by Iron Man! the more you know, lol)

This was put out onto YouTube before Red Hook made it fully clear DD2 was gonna be a thing, which made it all the more notable when people later realized that one of the pictures used on that slide was of Leper's DD2 character design. So, everything he was talking about here was likely with Leper's canon DD2 backstory in mind. This is important because:

One of the points Bourassa mentioned was the fact that Leper has a "broken sword for a broken man".

That by itself is already brutally sad, but rest assured! It gets worse if you think about it long enough. After all, do you remember when that happened in his backstory? If not, lemme stop being coy for a moment to help you in drawing some conclusions:

The Leper's sword broke in killing off his advisors.

It wasn't the diagnosis that got to him. Neither was it leaving his kingdom behind. It was in breaking the oath he made to himself that he would protect everyone in his kingdom. Because, treacherous or not, his advisors were still part of his kingdom. It was only a small handful of people, sure. And yes, it's true that they couldn't be trusted to take actions in good faith once he was gone. And it likely was the right thing to do, at the end of the day.

But justifications don't erase the stark truth that he murdered his own subjects in cold blood.

And THAT shattered him (and his sword) more than a simple diagnosis or self-exile ever could.

Because, the thing is: someone can believe that their actions were objectively the best possible option and justifiable, while considering those same actions subjectively horrifying and unforgivable. After all, murder is still murder no matter the motivation, and some folks deeply take that to heart.

~~~~~~

Of course, this is only true if I remembered that presentation correctly, as I haven't tried to look it up to verify it, lol. You got any thoughts on it, yourself? Assuming you hadn't already realized that on some level, of course - for all I know, you could have drawn this conclusion a long time ago and never brought it up because you thought it was obvious! xD

Or, on the other side of it, there's no reason you should feel the need to change how you characterize our fave Leper buddy, y'know? Though, imo, it's not particularly contradictory to how we normally characterize him. This is just another angle you could look at him from if you wanted to in your writing, shippy or otherwise!

(Though speaking of shipping: this creates another interesting level to think about Leper's dynamic with Jester, no?)

(Maybe Jester needs to get his king to forgive himself by comparing their past actions. If Baldwin finds nothing wrong with what Sarmenti did, which was spurred on by a much more selfish - if entirely sympathetic - motivation, why should Baldwin go about putting his own actions on a pedestal of guilt? Unless he's implying that he's supposed to be morally better than Jester, which I'm p sure both of them would hate to draw as a conclusion.)

(Or maybe Leper sees it as another way they can understand each other that others may not grasp. That while they may be stained by their past actions, it doesn't make the two of them inherently unlovable or deserving of suffering. It's a burden they can help each other bear due to their own personal experience with it.)

(Or maybe Jester is tired of all this masturbatory self-flagellating fuckery and would much rather he and Leper get down to something a bit more literal in its sexual nature. Wouldn't put it past the Silly fella)

thank you much for providing that link to the video! which i will in turn provide in full, because it is a very fun and thought-provoking talk overall, not just the Leper stuff!!

(and, as someone who's played lots of bards, ☹ [but i will point out i've never played one of those horny bards at least])

i do very much agree that retaliating and killing his traitorous advisors was a huge turning point for Leper, and a source of at least some degree of internal conflict for him.

was it a moment of freedom and liberation, finally justified in doing something about those poison-tongued sycophants?

was it a moment of horror and regret, killing treasonous-but-still-subjects of his?

was it a moment of resignation and cold calculation, defending himself against attackers seeking to kill him?

was it a moment of inevitability and hollowness, knowing something of this magnitude was bound to happen after his diagnosis?

some bits of all four? fluctuating day-by-day, nightmare-by-nightmare?

as Bourassa said, a broken sword for a broken man. no matter the literal golden facade he puts up, Leper is still a broken man looking for something as he battles the horrors of the Hamlet/the world. at least this is an unexpected connection he shares with Jester, right?

i will admit it's not something i've commented much on in my fics, as Jester's trauma is just so much more, but i certainly have thoughts!

way back in my first DD fic, Dreams, Jester notes that royal blood on their hands is something they share, and Leper smiles as he says “Hence the beauty I see in your bloody finale. Such cruelty and abuse should be responded to in kind."

in Bow, something about the assassination attempt seems to have severely fucked up the Veiled Emperor's sense of trust.

believe me friend, when it is finally revealed, i am going to have so much fun 😊

these are some wonderful(ly painful) thoughts you've shared, and again thank you for putting this talk on my radar!!

[jazzypizzaz]

Fanfic writer interview meme

thanks @obstinatecondolement for tagging me!

How many works do you have on AO3? 79

What's your total AO3 word count? 337,715

Your Top 5 stories by kudos

Sweet Dreams Are Made of This DS9, Quodo cuddling, Odo is a blanket. Of all my fics this is the one I’m most perplexed by its kudo count. Are people that hungry for hurt/comfort pre-slash? Was it on a rec list of a popular blogger I’m unaware of? I don’t know, like it’s very nice it's good fic, but not one I think about often.

What Is This Feeling, So Sudden and New? DS9, Quodo, Odo adjusts to being solid, drinks all sorts of drinks, and has a sexual awakening. Now this is the fic I’m most proud of. That makes sense. Sexual tension! Plot! Emotional beats paced just right! (imo)

like to the lark at break of day arising OFMD, Stede/Ed’s first time, silly but emotional sex. This one I posted just at the right time in the fandom, and I had a lot of fun with it. Dumb banter, Stede gets carried away, Ed nuts and cries, I’m hitting all my favorite tropes lol.

Made Me Feel (Shiny and New) DS9, the sweetest hard Quodo, slow banging D/s double bluff. I never question a smut fic doing well. I assume you’re in it for the same reason I wrote it lmao.

Down On My Knees (I Wanna Take You There) DS9, Quodo, blowjob and tentacle sex. Ditto. :-P

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? 

I always try to!!! The exception being if I’m not paying attention to fandom at all at the time, I go through phases like anything.

As a reader, I love to comment for the author interaction -- especially because sometimes you mention something you liked and it unlocks a whole interesting train of thought from the author about the behind the scenes insights, like a bonus meta. I’m obsessed by this pairing, you are too, please tell me everything hell yeah.

Do you write crossovers? 

I’ve written one Glee/TNG and one Glee/Harry Potter. Not generally though.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? 

Yes. Oh idk whatever I think is hot that the character also might be into. It has to be goofy, somewhat ridiculous, and definitely too many feelings are involved... 

Have you ever had a fic stolen? 

Not that I know.

Have you ever had a fic translated? 

I think someone asked me for permission once or twice, but I don’t remember if I saw the final result.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? 

No, gosh that’d really have to be the right person because it sounds maddening as a process. The potential to be more fun?? But potentially more frustrating.

What's your all time favorite ship? 

Oh you know. Somehow I started writing for rubber head aliens and never looked back.

What's a WIP that you want to finish but probably never will? 

I’m bad at starting things (there are tons of fic prompts I squirrel away for a rainy day), but compulsive about finishing them. If I have more than a couple hundred words written, by jove I’ll figure out a way to get to something I can call a final product that I share, even if it's several years later. 

Even when I’ve posted WIPs, almost the entire fic was written, I just needed to iron out details in the second part and only published the first part to stop myself from messing with it. Actually, exception that proves the rule (?) Coin-Operated Boy is my first true WIP, where I have a long list of ideas brainstormed, but I’m writing a bit by the seat of my pants rather than having all the plot points mapped out already. We’ll see how that goes, always fun to try something new!!

I’m also still committed to finishing the fic I started where Quark and Odo meet in prison and escape together based on this one comic about Rocket/Groot I read. I have like 7k written but there’s a looooot of rough sketchy bits and both details and broad strokes I have to figure out first.

What are your writing strengths? 

Managing tone? Something I enjoy doing anyway -- zipping along on a wild ride from goofy to angsty to heartfelt to absurd and back again. I’ve also been told I’m good at weird banter lol.

What are your writing weaknesses? 

Awkward run on sentences where I’m trying to pack too much in at once. PLOT ??? WHAT IS PLOT why can’t the characters just have a lot of feelings for no reason idk idk. being heavy handed with metaphors and ~themes~

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet, but want to? 

I want to write for Phlox sometime. I’m sure there’s a Quark rare pair I haven’t touched yet that’ll get obsessed with enough for a oneshot lol.

What's your favorite fic that you've written?

“What Is This Feeling?” has my whole heart. 

"Dinner for One" also has a special place - getting out my Sisko family feels, plus I pulled off making Siskuark happen (briefly) lol.

--

@wowbright @chacusha @quodo-brainrot tagging you if you want to participate I'd love to read your respones!

[sakumasmut]

This came out. Insanely long and wasn't even the original idea but! I hope this was enjoyable to some extent (I love the idea of partially 5-eccentric use producer/reader)

I adore the idea of Natsume voyeur in the balance of 5-somes with them, probably taking notes and prodding to get more information out of not only the producer but his nii-sans preferences for next time. Who knows? They have knowledge of all the hidden rooms, so when Wataru finds a preferred time of day- or Kanata finds a perfectly humid spot, Natsume's able to take note and plan to fulfill that moments potential. No one goes unsatisfied after a certain point of expose all together.

Shu's appreciation of beauty and intricate details, but also need for control or comfort when with you? The next time you're available, there will be conveniently placed lingerie set and a key for privacy in a room with a beautifully intricate couch and a set for tea- any toys or clothing you find specifically arousing joining in weekly after your first time getting comfortable.

Kanata is feeling restless or needs relief from his duties at home, unable to meet without being interrupted or egregiously watched? The next corridor you end up in leads straight to a private pool, doors mysteriously locking behind you- feet casting a shadow from behind the door, with the verbal affirmation of it being a subordinate looking out for you two- Kanata resurfacing to see you from the water. It's dark but otherwise surrounded by mood lighting and the regular toys, lube and towels laid out for aftercare.

Rei's schedule isn't working out for their meet-ups and/or the producer isnt satisfied with how often they've had time to be intimate? Natsume and Wataru set up an elaborate approach to making Rei's schedule disappear and rile him up/making the producer enticing to have him fuck you hard in the student council office, with either the possibility of being caught or privacy all according to your preferences. There's a convenient delivery to the student council room of food and snacks for you to both recover with, no hurry to stop anytime soon.

But don't think Wataru and Natsume won't have their own plan for you though, either intrigued or just because of simply wanting to see their beloved producer,

Opting to go one of two main routes to make both parties happy and depending on positions, hypnosis and build-up through the day to make either party snap comes to mind- although they both adore when the producer takes them by surprise.

Wataru twirls you around and reaches for your waist more while flourishing by to practice- he'll bring out dramatic flair or lead you through any situation he finds you fancy to amplify your arousal or any spark of feelings throughout the day. Though he's skilled at reading the pattern, break it and maybe get him to play a part for you and he'll bend to your will...

Natsume does it throughout the halls, brushing your hair behind your ear or playfully fixing your collar to slightly make you more pliable via words and touch (this can absolutely lead into hypno over the long period), having you under his influence or slowly making you build up to snap and take him instead. Natsume is happy to see the tables turn much like Wataru (imo), especially when you show you're strong enough to use his abilities against him in a way that's not too malicious, ending in the best time they (seperate or together) have had in a while.

-🛎 anon (oh my god that was long, I hope this was ok,,)

whew, that was pretty interesting. definitely does seem hard to get all of them together, so looking into how they separately treat you when the others are absent is good. everything they do still combines to be a pleasant surprise for the others, like shu’s lingerie being a treat for all of their eyes, and them messing with rei’s schedule maybe inconveniencing him but getting him steamed enough to take it out on you carnally. definitely a fun time with all five of them sharing you

[monstersinthecosmos]

🔮

🔮 Any advice for writers working through burnout or writer’s block?

!!!! Yes, absolutely.

I have three main approaches to this for myself, and I know everyone's brains and writing habits are different so yknow like take it or leave it or modify it to your own needs but here's three things I always fall back on when I'm stuck.

Be kind to yourself.

Be honest with yourself. Is there a reason the writing needs to be done NOW? You are not a machine. If it's not there, it's not there. Obviously this doesn't apply if you have deadlines to meet but if you're writing for fun, don't get so twisted up about it that it's not fun anymore. WHAT ARE WE DOIN HERE FELLAS?! It's okay to take a break and recover until it feels right again, you don't have to fill a quota.

Set extremely small goals.

I try to write 100 words a day because I have ADHD and I get crazy burnout and/or I go into creative frenzies where I binge write for 3 days and don't do the dishes. There's a balance in here somewhere lol. An easy goal and a routine can help a lot. 100 words is a joke. But there are days where it's a HUGE struggle. But it's still doable, and I walk away feeling like I chiseled away at the idea a little bit.

I can't stress enough that you can't push yourself THROUGH burnout, and this can go to any type of burnout. (I feel this way about house keeping too LOL). You're drawing from an empty well. Be honest with yourself, be kind to yourself, set a realistic goal. If you're burnt out you're not gonna sit down and crank out 2k in an evening, you just aren't, and if you try to force it you're just gonna feel worse when you can't do it. Be gentle. Make easy goals. Ease yourself back into it.

And don't forget, sometimes chiseling away is just exactly what you need to do. I sometimes go weeks where I put in 100 words at a time on a fic and then finally I make it through the hard part and 6k floods out of me all at once. Chiseling away is good. You will find your way back when you get through the hard part.

(Also, even if you're chiseling away with garbgae & nonsense, that's okay! You can edit it later! A sloppy first draft is better than no draft!)

Refill the well.

Speaking of drawing from an empty well; creativity requires an input and an output, imo. That's my personal opinion!! Sometimes you need to take a break and work on the input stream, too. Take a week where you watch a movie every night instead of trying to write. Reread a book from an author you admire. Stare at some paintings. Listen to your headphones in the dark, whatever the fuck it is !

You're running on empty! And it's not just the basic human energy to function! It's the creativity! It's the inspiration! If you're writing a fic, revisit the source! Remind yourself why you like it! If a movie or song or picture gave you the idea for your fic, go back to that! Absorb it, replenish yourself!!!!!

I know sometimes when I talk writing stuff that I speak about it more like, idk philosophically? And I know others might have technical advice, like write scenes out of order, change the font, sit in a different area of the house, find a friend to cheerlead! All of those things can work, too, and I try them sometimes. ((I have more to say about this and about how outlines are my lord & savior when writing with ADHD and trying to chisel away a scene at a time)) But like, all of that I think is a bit secondary to just being kind to yourself and taking care of your mental health first and getting yourself back into a place where you CAN be creative and find that drive again.

My life would be a fucking shambles if I couldn't make lil routines for myself with the ADHD and Brain Problems and whatnot and I leave myself an hour every day to write, right before bedtime! 9-10pm every night I'm CLOCKIN IN! And for me it's like a lil reward at the end of the day, so that I can like unwind, end the day, stop worrying about whatever else I didn't get done, etc. Making space for it as a fun activity and a reward is essential for me, and I still get stuck sometimes, but going back to these ideas helps me a lot!!!!!!!!!!!

[my-lunaberg]

Hello! I saw your post on asking ab ppl's opinions on the DSMP and had so many thoughts to share I actually went to my pc to write this, lol. Long ask incoming, sorry.

I started watching the DSMP in august of 2020, specifically right after the Techno vs. Dream duel. At this point in time, the Dream SMP tag had only like ten posts--not exaggerating, you would scroll and see the same few posts over and over again cause there was almost no fandom. I followed the series pretty much religiously all the way up to the prison break, where I then basically had to stop watching cause my life was falling apart (paying attention to streamers all day every day causes you to fail classes, who knew?)

So I guess I don't have a lot to say on the ending, other than it certainly was an ending. I think the crew did a good job with what they had, I liked the realization c!Tommy had towards c!Dream and what was once an innocent intention of server unity twisting into something else. I think using the nuke to blow everything up to start anew was a cop-out, but I also know (or at least feel like) the server itself was falling apart IRL and they had to bring it to a conclusion somehow. (Because of that, I knew the server wouldn't get a "season 2")

You mentioned how you liked it on a thematic level rather than emotional, and it really made me think about how my own interest manifested. I was certainly invested in these characters and their stories, but I only carried an emotional attachment to c!Tommy and c!Dream (and DreamXD, but only because I love deities in fiction).

I think, story-wise, the DSMP had many elements that hit hard, c!Tommy's abuse being one of them. During the prison arc, when c!Dream is being tortured constantly by c!Quackity, a large part of the fandom rooted for c!Q because c!Dream was an abuser and deserved the dehumanizing treatment. And boy do I have some opinions on that, lol. Because of the nature of the DSMP, I never thought of it as a teaching element, and your comment on that only being prevalent to children's media struck a chord--because, yeah, that makes sense. The target audience for the DSMP is a bit skewed, because it does take place in an all-ages video game, but the storyline and characters themselves would never get a G rating. I always considered the DSMP to be a bunch of people having fun exploring the different ways they can write a story/character, without any real end-game in mind. They did marvelous, too, in my opinion. I don't believe the DSMP was ever meant to be a literary marvel, or whatever the video-game equivalent is, so for a bunch of then-friends just throwing ideas at a wall and seeing what sticks with the fans, it did it's job.

People now, coming into the fandom for the first time, or looking in from the outside trying to analyze it, don't understand it, imo. It's not that the narrative can only be experienced at the time it was written, because no, you can watch and re-watch it thanks to VODS and recap channels. But so many people hear stories of it being a great time and a great story with great characters and then analyze it to put it on a pedestal only to see that its a piece of fiction with many flaws. Not understanding that the SMP wasn't created to be role-playing server, that never even crossed their minds. It was meant to be a place to have fun and explore a snapshot. That's not saying the cc's shouldn't have made the story in the first place, it's just highlighting how out of control the SMP got due to influencers' fame and fun writing. It was a product of its time because everyone was together, quarantined, exploring how far they could go in a virtual setting. Sorry, rambling a bit. I just think that a sensation like the DSMP can never be repeated on such a scale, and that feeling is why so many outsiders expect so much.

Hope this makes sense, haha. Sorry it's not juicy discourse, but thanks for listening anyway.

No its fine, thank you very much for telling me this!

I initially started watching I think right before the exile arc started but by the time I figured out how to best watch it and caught up with it, it had already been going for a few days, then I followed along with it for a while until I lost interest sometime after the big clingyduo v. Dream fight. Then in late 2022 I was at a local comic con and saw someone in a ghostbur cosplay and some people carrying around a big lmanberg flag and it just made me feel so nostalgic that I wanted to rewatch/finish it, and because I thought it would be fun I also made this sideblog to liveblog it. Im pretty sure dsmp was already over or at the very least getting close to the end by the time I did that, so it gave me a kind of distance that definitely affected my experience with the show.

Like, I think if I had kept up with it throughout (what i would consider to be) its decline and then had to witness that ending after all that, I would definitely feel more negatively about it, so I understand why it was upsetting for a lot of fans, but as it stands, I can mostly just remember it as an overall good piece of media that started stumbling towards the last quarter or so and then ended in a way thats fine, although not particularly satisfying on an emotional level. Like, Dream and Tommy's whole storyline was essentially about the cyclical nature of violence and I think ending the cycle is the best way to resolve that kind of story and in theory, having them make amends before they both die together sounds good to me, but idk, in practice I just didnt like it lol. I think its mainly because their attempts to make Dream seem more sympathetic were kinda too little-too late; Dream didnt have his own pov when most people did which automatically dehumanized him in the eyes of the audience, which was brilliant for the manipulative and unpredictable villian character that he was, but I feel like the CCs didnt really realize that that was the case and didnt feel the need to show stuff from his pov, when it was actually vital imo

You said that people coming into the fandom now come into it with these expectations and I think thats true, but I feel like people who have been following it since the rp properly started also tended to put it on a pedastal because of how genuinely impressively good it was in the beginning, and then when the finale was Like That, a lot of them were insanely disappointed. I also think thats where a lot of the discourse revolving around the ending sending a bad message comes from — a lot of people think of it as something very polished like an actual tv-show when thats simply not what it is or ever was. Its just people fucking around and having fun, and when people just fuck around, theyre not really thinking about "being responsible to their audience" or whatever. Take it from me as a writer lol, I have plans for ya-novels that touch on serious topics and with those I do try to be mindful of the fact that my audience is younger (although teenagers are obviously not children and already dont need to be taught via their media anymore imo), but when Im just writing a little short story I'll usually make it as fucked up as possible just because thats fun to me, yknow

[termagax]

sometimes people do ask me for advice on how to love their own art more and i always feel bad that i dont have very good tips. but i think the thing that helped me get so comfortable is that my own art is all super self-indulgent, so when i want to look at content of like, my ocs or whatever, i HAVE to look at my own stuff. it means i look at my own art a LOT, and i have an intense fondness for the subject matter, so it helps me feel better looking at it. even the ones i dont so much like i can smile and go but my friend is here!!!!

combine that with a naturally very analytical eye. i am the Noticer i always notice every detail in my own art and the other art i look at and with a lot of time and practice i have a pretty good sense of critique that i dont invest a lot of emotion into? like you guys have seen me blab abt my pieces before i notice every shortcoming and its just a matter of a)accepting that the piece needs to be finished at some point regardless of if i can fix it and b)knowing what to do better on next time. it also helps to use that eye to look at VERY old art and compare it to what you do now. i love looking at art from when i was like. 12-17 and comparing it to current stuff, you can see the foundations for a lot of what i do now and it really helps to get a benchmark for how much x amount of time will do for your skill. im especially fond of doing year-gap comparisons, youll see me post all the time abt what i was up to this month last year because i think a uear is the perfect amnt of time to see my art grow. close enough that a lot of the process is more or less the same and you remember making them but distant enough tjat there is marked improvement and visible change. being able to see your progress REALLY helps u feel better imo, it gives you a sense of "if this is what i did this year, imagine where ill be NEXT year"

thats the other thing i do is like..my art is ROUGH its messy and fast and i like it that way. it makes every piece lower stakes because i know i can just do it again. or finish this one whenever i feel like and move on to something else. or come back in three weeks to change something. im not very precious with my work. i keep everything in one massive file and take grainy screenshots of my program to post stuff and i have no file organization and i regularly lose them on accident to autosave failures and other such stupidness. but i think u have to break that sacredness in order to lower the stakes for yourself. it helped me overcome a lot of my art anxieties and self loathing when i just accepted that like. if i rlly hated something in my sketchbook i could just tape something over it. or tear the page out. if a drawing isnt going well i can just delete the layer or erase the whole thing. its not sacred and messing up isnt the end of the process, yk? this is also why i try not to spend more than like. 2 hours on any given piece. because then i sunk cost myself because i Have to see it through and then i push out a picture i dont like just because i felt like i Had to finish it.

in general just try to notice when your art makes you feel bad and investigate the source of those bad feelings and try to mitigate them. i always burn out when i try to "finish" a piece "properly", so i stop working on something once i stop feeling it. i hated looking at my own work so i only drew things that made me happy to look at. consistency in style/process bores me so i dont bother with it. your art is FOR you. you are the only audience that matters. the process has to be fun or you wont ever want to do it. GO FIND THE FUN

[f0point5]

It’s actually crazy how fast Landos attitude changes and how fast I go from liking him to being annoyed by him yk. It’s literally the way you said it, if he gets 3 wins in a row he’s acting like he’s ALL THAT and as soon as he’s P5 or lower he acts as if someone just took a way a childs cookie honestly. Also you can literally tell that he’s BEYOND pressed about Oscar having won the sprint race because he mentioned it in the goodbye video of McLaren as well - he can NEVER stop mentioning how he didn’t get one so far yk. It’s always:“ yeah Oscar won a race, not me though I haven’t yet” and I’m like ”man can you try to not always make it about yourself”. All of that self-pity is making him unlikeable imo it’s just too much. I get the frustration but your self pity won’t get you anywhere. He needs a lot more mental strength and he needs to stop focusing so hard on what others do. As well as always mentioning Max ruining everything etc. It shows weakness to do so. Drive your race and if you can’t make it past max well then that’s on you and your team. It’s so obvious that his ego is hurt, it continued to show ever since Silverstone, and it progressively got worse.

I have a lot of sympathy for Lando, because I think along with maybe Alex Albon, he’s one of the very few drivers that genuinely asks themselves “what if my best just isn’t good enough”. Whereas drivers like Carlos have an h breakable self belief I think Lando really does think “but what if McLaren gives me the car…and Max is just *better*” and now he’s probably wondering “what if they give me the car, and Oscar is the one who wins”. Like, I think he feels that more than the other drivers, and that has to be hell in that competitive environment.

Also because he’s never allowed to just celebrate a podium anymore. When George is on the podium it’s “wow didn’t you do well today” while when Lando does it’s “always the bridesmaid never the bride eh Lando”. He may be the British media darling but he does get ribbed about it a lot. If I were Lando I probably also would be like “what do you want to me to do? Throw out a spike strip in front of Max’s car? He won AGAIN and I didn’t congrats you can read numbers”.

And then Oscar gets the sprint win and he’s like..I can’t catch a break. I think he brings it up all the time because it’s always on his mind.

My random hot take is that lando is secretly terrified that McLaren will build a championship contending car next year. Because the second the car can win, he will become the problem, and he knows it.

I just think he headfucks himself and that can’t be fun, so I do feel bad for him in a way.

On the other hand it’s like…baby shush. Idk why McLaren are not reining him in more tbh. But then again, he tends to get away with it. But fr if he starts next year off well they’ll have to pull him in for more media training.

[magicwhiskers29]

Taking a break from my regularly scheduled staring out the window to give some thoughts on Pikmin 4 now that I've finished it! (finished the main game, anyway)

Spoilers, of course, ahead!

Great game! I enjoyed it a lot! I will be being obnoxious about it, but having waited a decade for it, I feel that's justified

I wasn't sure I was going to like the Rescue Corps during the first hour or so, but no, they're extremely fun. Their conversations at the end of the day/night are often completely insane, but I live for it. Highlights include:

Shepherd explaining that she hired Bernard because he delivered packages faster than any one else (probably through illegal means)

Collin telling Shepherd his current job was the hardest he's ever had, after listing a bunch of taxing jobs

Literally any time Yonny talks about his experiments ("glow pikmin are immune to all hazards" "yonny how do you know this? yonny!?!?")

Dingo's guilty conscience about leaving Bernard behind causing him to confess the truth of the incident when Bernard was just talking about stolen pizza

Bernard claiming that sleeping is an integral part of his job

Shepherd abruptly stopping the ship after the fake credits for Oatchi was really sweet too; it really helped to sell the moment.

Olimar in the second half was a really nice addition. It was good to see him defending the fact that Moss didn't need to change, at the end, even if it meant leaving her behind. They were a fun duo.

AND LOUIE! "Grade A troublemaker" indeed... I was waiting for him to show up and cause trouble the whole game, and he sure did! His memos in the voyage log are hilarious to read through (I particularly enjoyed the one about him planning to just make random nonsense up to use as a report to send to the President, since he's kind of just been vibing and enjoying the planet, rather than looking for Olimar) And goddamit, Louie, you've got to stop controlling final bosses!!! He's awful. (Never change, Louie)

Gameplay-wise, I think I definitely miss Pikmin 3's multiple captain system, but Oatchi can feel like a suitable replacement. Some Dandori challenges and night missions where it was optimal to control him separately definitely gave me back the feeling of piloting around three captains at once. "Go here" was definitely more of a thing I used because I was too lazy to find the way, as opposed to proper Dandori efficiency, though, on account of most commands being better if you want to send Oatchi or your captain somewhere.

In general, Oatchi is definitely a little OP too (I mean, I killed the final Empress Bulblax in one spicy-spray-fueled rush....), but is also really satisfying to control, so I won't complain too much. And I think the advantages you get from riding with him are interesting when you have to decide whether it's better to keep him with you for rushes and ease of traversal, or send him off to do something for multitasking, in Dandori challenges. He's a certified good boy.

Ice Pikmin were a wonderful new edition to the roster, I found. There was less incentive to just freeze water, rather than go in with blues, than I was expecting, which was good! It helped them to feel more balanced. The limited damage from them also helped, here, though definitely less so, because ice pikmin are, of course, still very much combat-viable. I've seen it suggested that creatures killed whilst frozen should not drop nectar/ spicy spray, and yeah, I agree there. Most of the time, that is not a disadvantage over using non-ice pikmin for the kill, and can also be actively advantageous. But they're not jarringly unbalanced as some other types have been before, imo, so I definitely think positively of them.

Night missions were way more fun than I expected! I went in with a lot of trepidation, but I love the general concept. It makes a lot of sense that when we finally get night missions, they're defensive endeavours, and we haven't just spent 3 games avoiding the surface at night for nothing. I enjoyed how they increased in difficulty by stacking and creating factors like the extra Lumiknoll, and Smokey Progg egg(s). (Also the Baldy Long Legs. Aghgh. It was a problem.) I didn't really find myself using items like the game kept trying to suggest, though. Only the occasional emergency lightning if something was at the Lumiknoll, or my usual spicy spray.

Glow Pikmin were really cool for the night missions, too. They have a great design, and their mechanics are definitely tailored excellently for night missions. Teleporting to the active player's location is a must-have, and Glow Mob keeps you in the habit of charging like you would usually rush really well. The glow seed mechanic for them was well appreciated, and the ten I made for the Cavern for a King were used to their fullest! (Not exactly like I was able to leave them at the sublevel entrance like I might with all the others...) I am a little sad how they completely invalidate blues in caves, but that's mostly because blues are my favourites; I only used them in the last cave anyway (Along with the blues, of course!) They are kinda just Bulbmin+, but that's fine; they're used uniquely

For the most part, I thought returning pikmin were handled well, too.

Reds got less use than I thought they would, but I think that's because of the three pikmin limit. (Why would I bring out reds for combat when I could just spicy spray the pikmin I actually need for overworld use?) Though their use in Giant's Hearth and the Frozen Inferno was really interesting, I will say.

Yellows felt like a proper staple for the first three or four areas, though did start getting less use, though I think that's just because areas stopped being designed for them. (I was definitely missing them in night missions for those Baldy Long Legs...)

I've already discussed blues a little, but I do appreciate how a lot of what water there was was tailored for using blues rather than wings, ice, or Oatchi. I think they could absolutely benefit from a secondary ability like most other types have, to give me a reason to use them in caves other than personal biases, and glow pikmin only make that more obvious.

Purple Pikmin are back, and I think their reworks were done well! A 1.5x damage multiplier instead of 2x, and lack of stun on impact make them considerably less OP when compared to Pikmin 2, whilst still retaining their core characteristics better than 3. Locking their onion behind a challenge most people will leave until later (people like me. I haven't actually done it yet, but I will) helps to keep them balanced too, so you won't just steamroll with a squad of all purples.

White Pikmin are back too, and whilst they, strictly speaking, only got nerfed, I still think they're pretty good here. Glow pikmin can't match their speed, and I think of their two abilities, that's the more valuable one, anyway, since poison isn't really used much until the final area.

Rock Pikmin cannot be matched by glow pikmin in any way, and are still as good as ever, though, woah, the final area really shafted them. You can't get them in the final cave? And you don't need them for anything? :( (maybe they know my defensive strategies of going in with only rocks to avoid being crushed too well...)

And Winged Pikmin aren't nerfed exactly (unless you count their ai being slightly wonky at times in their pathing for carrying things back), but they definitely have significantly less to do. Like rocks, they aren't in the final cave, though I think I definitely would have used them if they were, so maybe that's on me for not bringing them in.

Otherwise, I adored Dandori. I platinumed all the Pikmin 3 collect the treasure missions with my dad on the Wii U back in the day, and the Dandori challenges gave me that exact feeling again. I'm very excited to go through and platinum them all. (Though I think that might be a little easier than in 3, considering I found it fairly easy to platinum, or come very close to platinum many on the first try...)

Dandori battles were fun too! Nobody ever wanted to Bingo Battle me in Pikmin 3, but now I can have Olimar's trash AI! Yay? Seriously, Olimar's ai is probably a little too bad in some of the early Dandori battles, because it felt like he wasn't even trying. The Louie battles were really good, though. Those felt like an actual competition. (And the final Olimar battle, but that one to a lesser extent.)

I'll talk briefly about areas too, and say that, whilst I think they were lacking in variety compared to usual, I did very much still enjoy their gimmicks and map design. The Serene Shores are a great example of this, with the tide gimmick being fun to work around, and the sand castle overlooking the rest of the map being an excellent base.

As for the caves, the Pikmin 2 callbacks were wonderful (even if the Engulfed Castle did leave me terrified. Seriously, my only other Pikmin post before playing this game was me talking about being terrified of the Submerged Castle...), and I thought the new ones were cool too! The Subzero Sauna, Frozen Inferno, and Below-grade Discotheque, for example, with their interesting use of ice pikmin, use of red pikmin, and cool boss respectively.

Of course, the stand-out cave is the Cavern for a King, which, despite mostly just being a boss rush, has such creative ways of increasing difficulty on past bosses, that I have to praise it. It's incredible how just adding water can make the arachnorb bosses more challenging, and fighting the Smokey Progg without access to a proper glow mob definitely felt scary. The Ancient Sirehound was an excellent final boss too, with its gloom phase being actually decently challenging and intimidating. (Though I wish it had water and poison phases too, for completion's sake) It was definitely appropriate for the final cave!

I'd be remiss to not at least mention the music. I don't think I like the ost quite as much as I like Pikmin 3's (but that is a personal staple...), but that's not to say it's not great! There are still many stand-out tracks such as the tough enemy theme (which?? Just?? Went so hard???), the Groovy Long Legs's theme, Hero's Hideaway's theme, the Dandori challenge theme, and of course, the Ancient Sirehound's theme (with references to Pikmin 3's boss theme, my beloved), to name a few.

So yeah, it's a great game, and one I would definitely recommend :)

[niemensch]

My slightly different, but very much inspired by this, take on how this escalation into (very) dirty laundry reveal might go:

Shang Qinghua introduces it in a desperate attempt to stop the tensions in the peak meetings. Nervously laughing as he explains about a fun, strategic game he has discovered on his travels, that supposedly helps one relax.

SQQ? At first: Doesn’t give a shit about this idiotic, inane game of his.

One game later, losing miserably to everyone else: He’s the Peak Lord responsible for the defense and strategies of the sect, can anybody blame him for instinctively honing his skills in psychological warfare in this game? Obviously, he is more motivated now, him losing first was part of his strategy to figure out everyone’s play style, stop being ridiculous, Wei Qingwei.

YQY? He’s about to reject, tired after the meeting wrangling the Peak Lords into some coherence of order, just wants to try to convince SQQ to drink tea with him later. Looks to the side to do so, seeing SQQ ready to ignore him the second the meeting ends, packing his scrolls already, smiles good-natured and gently and proceeds to wrangle everyone into staying for the game with subtle guilting and jabs at their empty calendar for this day for the shameless (SQQ and LQQ) ones.

LQG? He’s a natural. Wins the first round so fast even Shang Qinghua does a double take. He’s just vibing, full laser focus, enjoying it. At some point ‘Why is everyone so emotional about me winning?’ when Wei Qingwei slams down his tea cup so hard it shatters after LQG makes him take more cards and proceed to win immediately after. Starts winning the next round. The next one too. The Peak Lords start working together to defeat him.

Tensions start to rise, their head disciples attempt to convince them to leave the game, hesitantly, use the wrong words, immediately aggressively shut down by the now defensive ‘I can win’ of every Peak Lord.

Shang Qinghua suddenly attacks with stacked UNO card attacks and absolute chaos breaks out.

SQQ loses his entire mind about it, accusing SQH of being a slimy vermin who only knows to use underhanded tricks. SQH doesn’t expect to get insulted like that, snaps back at him about how SQQ’s the slimy one - sabotaging the sect’s arts fund to pay for prostitutes (it’s actually SQQ paying the brothel workers there who are part of his spy network).

The Peak Lords can’t believe it at first, exception Qi Qingqi lol, then see SQQ’s defensive face when he is questioned. YQY tries to intervene, makes it way worse, gets shut down by an enraged SQQ, who taunts him for his cowardice and inability to be honest.

Cue SQQ turning to SQH back in anger and revealing how he’s the one that’s been using LQG’s peak’s funds for literature to start a clothing business that’s miserably failing. (It’s actually SQH paying his demon spy contacts + networks with the business as cover-up lol)

LQG on the side: My peak has a literature fund??

….ending here cause length ( that’s also why the other Peaks didn’t get their moment here sry) but I think my general outline of events is communicated with this? Didn’t include the Play or Die dynamic here but it definitely would work with this too imo.

Someone put a Uno game cards in Cang Qiong's monthly Peak Lords meeting. Please. PLEASE. Instead of a fuck or die, a play or be locked in forever or something like that. Definitely everyone would uncover all the dirty laundry of EVERYONE PRESENT just because of that game. Please. I NEED IT