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lutiaslayton · 1 year ago

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Random update on the transcription of the Eternal Diva novel, aka probably the one that most people don't even care about that much to begin with

(though you should, I haven't translated it yet but I spotted a few words here and there that caught my attention such as Luke mentioning Misthallery multiple times. Also there is in the introduction a novel-exclusive scene with Janice in it, just fyi.)

To those who didn't know, most of my free time as of lately has been put into the transcription/translation website I have dedicated to the Japan-exclusive Layton content that we never got to see, and more specifically I have been transcribing the Eternal Diva novel. Because yes, now you know, Eternal Diva was adapted into a novel and none of us non-Japanese fans got to read it. And boy this novel is going to drive me insane because I have been working on it for literal weeks by now.

In terms of progress, I have reached the part of the story in which Puzzle 004 is about to start, aka right after the end of the "Layton McGuffinned a helicopter that thinks it's a grasshopper" part. I have transcribed up to page 119 (+ the ending is already transcribed and translated because past me felt like it), and there are now 74 blank pages left for me to fill. And then the translation will come, too. I am totally looking forward to it. Can you feel the enthusiasm in my exciting punctuation.

This is the shortest novel of the list (200 pages if I count the blank ones), and this is the only novel that has furigana everywhere (aka the only one of the four I can actually read somewhat properly). Yippeeeee

Anyway if you want to take a look even though only the beginning and the end are translated for the time being:

You can take a looksie right here!

The reason why I'm going through the entire transcription first and that the full translation will only come afterwards is because, at least in my opinion if I were to view this as a reader instead of as the person uploading the content, this means that you guys get to know the story faster than if I progressed through both the transcription and translation at the same time.

After all, let's see it like this: sure, you can't read Japanese, and for the most part, neither can I. But since it's been transcribed, it means that you can easily copy-paste the Japanese text into DeepL, or Google Translate, or any translator of your choice. Sure, it's more work for you and if you are of the lazy kind you will still have to wait the same amount of time regardless (not saying it in a derogatory way), but at least it gives the choice for the ones who want the whole story to get it somewhat faster.

I don't speak Japanese, and I am not translating things as I go, so I have only a vague understanding of what is going on in the novel (and obviously, the fact that I know the plot of the movie is a huge help). But I can already tell you this much:

We get the lyrics for the ending's song, obviously. This is part of what has been translated so far.

The whole novel is not divided into chapters, but rather into smaller scenes/sections (however you want to call it). Some are narrated by Luke, some others are narrated by Janice (and/or Melina, I guess it depends on the context). Just like the three main novels you may be slightly more familiar with, the narration is in first person.

Since the only narrators who showed up so far are Luke and Janice/Melina, I don't think the scenes from Emmy's POV will be included (aka the one in which she questions Nina's parents, the one in which she is with Schrader, and the one in which she finds and rescues Grosky in the middle of the ocean). Perhaps they are going to appear later in the novel, but I highly doubt it for a number of reasons (number of pages in each section, and titles of said sections).

The novel starts with an exclusive scene under the POV of Janice. It takes place three years after the case, and she is just finished singing for the last rehearsal before the opera she will play in the day after — it is The Eternal Kingdom, which she has not sung in three years, and the next day will be the second time ever this opera will be sung in a theatre with a public. Of course, no eternal life game planned this time. Janice also gets a letter of encouragement from Whistler, which is pretty sweet.

Unless I missed it and it somehow happens in the part I did not yet translate, the intro of the movie in which Luke and Layton solve the case where Don Paolo decided to mess with the bells of Big Ben is not at all mentioned in the novel. Luke in the novel doesn't give the introduction-narration speech that he does in the movie, we jump straight into the scene in which he is shown in Layton's office pretending to be pointing at culprits (and we get a fun little scene showing what led up to him doing it). Go read it, it is translated, and I do not want to spoil for you the opportunity to read Luke being a dork all over again.

We switch to the flashback telling the actual events, and this is the part that has no translation yet. I won't give many details as a result since I don't know the things for sure myself, but as I said earlier, I saw a few words that I recognised here and there: notably, Luke mentions Misthallery on at least two occasions. If memory serves, one of them is when Grosky shows up to "arrest" the puppet, and I think Luke went on a small tangent to give a small summary of the events of Last Specter (aka how he met Grosky), and also mentions Descole (though he does not give his name, since I'm pretty sure that he didn't hear the words "My name is Jean Descole" at the time, and only learned that precisely upon meeting him again in ED). On another time he mentions it, from what I vaguely understood he may be making a reference to Naiya, Janice/Melina's friend who can be found in Misthallery and who is also a singer (she's the NPC who is meant to represent the singer of Paxmaveiti, just like Yuming is meant to represent the singer of Mysterious Flower in Miracle Mask). Pretty inconsequential, but it's always fun to have continuity nods and references to the actual plot of other stories.

Finally, back to three years later, we get an epilogue narrated by Luke which is the exact same scene as the movie: Layton and Luke are listening to Janice's opera, and at some point Janice shows up to say hi. Luke also mentions what happened to the rest of the participants after the case throughout those three years; most are just what we see from the credits, but the novel still gives a few more details in some cases:

By the time of the original trilogy, Amelia is studying abroad at a foreign university, and she recently sent a letter to Layton and Luke, saying that she is grateful even after three years.

Luke is friends with Nina, who comes by at Gressenheller every now and then, and he even considers her a rival of sorts due to Nina having a good memory and studying well. (also what the heck Luke why are you talking about getting to college and how you're worried that she may be admitted to college before you do, you're THIRTEEN)

Celia Raidley and Pierre Starbuck got married "just the other day" (yes, the ship is now officially confirmed beyond just the one image from the movie credits) and the tabloids are going wild over it.

Luke is reading Annie Dretche's latest mystery novel, and he can't put it down. Annie apparently told him that she has been writing faster so that Bargland (the guy who said he did not have much time left due to an illness) can read them at the hospital. Seems like "six months" turned into three years after all, good for him!

Anyway, that's all I have to say for now, I hope you enjoyed the rambling. I hope this will reach some fans of the movie who would be excited to get a few more details!

#professor layton #professor layton and the eternal diva #eternal diva #lutiasgithub #professor layton transcript #eternal diva novel

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hainethehero · 10 months ago

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Stucky headcanon of Steve & Bucky meeting in the 21st century...

(Bucky's POV)

"Wait- they're sending who-?"

Natasha sighs over the line, probably pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration at his antics. But Bucky could honestly care less. Because he wasn't feeling too charitable based on the news he'd just received.

"Look, SHIELD wants him, and he's a cool guy once you get to know him," Natasha tries.

"I don't care what SHIELD wants. They know I work alone!" Bucky spits, "I don't need some military mascot trailing after me and my team!"

"He's not a mascot, Barnes. Steve's a cool guy-"

"I don't care, Natalia."

"Look, you can be as pissy as you want, it's not gonna change anything. Fury's already gotten his file and he's probably being debriefed right now."

"The fuck he is," Bucky growls, cutting her off and stomping his way to the elevators. He jabs the button to Fury's floor, leaning against the glass wall with his arms crossed. His nose twitches, several sweet but not overpowering scents filling his senses. It's a soft, floral note that confounds the fuck out of him because none of the agents he works with smell like that.

It's all manly and clean with woody musks.

"Thirty-sixth floor. Fury, Nicholas J." the elevator announces, as if Bucky needed any introduction. He steps out onto the floor and frowns at the scent that seemingly grows stronger the closer he gets to Fury's main office.

He hears the man's voice and slows his stomp to an even pace, trying to make out the figure seated with his back turned to the outside. Fury is leaning against his desk, a finger pointing at something in the file the other man is holding.

"The mission is simple, get in, get out, minimum casualties."

That's Bucky's cue. "Thought this was a one-man job."

The blonde man sitting suddenly rises to his feet, an air of mystery around him and politely offers his hand.

"Hello, I'm Steve."

Bucky narrows his eyes at him, taking in his face which looks so perfect it's almost porcelaine. And his lips are the brightest shade of baby pink the assassin's ever seen. Not to mention how soft his hand looks as it awaits his own. Bucky subconsciously flexes his metal fist, glad it's still hidden under a glove. He does his best to show his utter disregard for the man, guessing he was probably used to being in the spotlight all the time.

"I work better alone. You know that."

Out the corner of his eyes, he can see the man quickly retrieve his stupid hand, sitting back down quietly as if he'd been dismissed.

Well, he had.

But the redness on his cheeks made his embarrassment clear. Barnes felt a little satisfaction in knocking down Captain America a peg or two.

"Well, Captain Rogers has been added to the scheme. He is at your disposal. And when I say disposal, I mean he's the reason why the mission is minimum-casualty- coded."

Bucky glares at Steve again, irritated at the fact that SHIELD thought it'd be a good idea to toss some random into his team, less than two weeks before their mission. He didn't like to be undermined. And this felt exactly like that.

"I don't need help-"

"These orders come from the top, so there's really nothing I can do, Barnes." Fury sighs. "Now, quit pestering me and help your newest teammate get acquainted with mission training. Goodbye."

Bucky rolls his eyes and stalks out of the room, stopping only briefly to address Rogers.

"You comin' or what, Spangles?"

Steve's face was a mirror of discomfort as both men step into the elevator. Bucky jabs the button to the training rooms and leans against the wall, arms folded again. He sniffs discreetly and realizes that the soft, floral scent hadn't left his nose at all. In fact, it had gotten stronger now that he thought about it. He sideglanced Rogers and realized with much surprise that it was him.

Some wretched part of him wanted to call Steve a grandma for smelling like that but even he had to admit, the scent was oddly beautiful and a welcome change to the usual stink of SHIELD and its hypermasculine environs. He takes in Steve's civilian fit and probably for the first time that day, let intrigue win.

As a science and history buff, it was pretty incredible to see a man who'd been plucked straight out of the forties. His sense of style was reflective of that. Soft khakis and a simple white t-shirt under a black leather jacket. His hair was neatly combed and styled in that church boy fashion, with some strands curling down about his forehead. Yeah, Captain America was the perfect polished soldier, if he'd ever seen one.

But Bucky was too annoyed to be inquisitive at the moment. Maybe he was overreacting and overly pissy with the new recruit. That didn't mean he couldn't appreciate how good-looking the guy really was. He was a total doll face, what with the blue eyes and long camel lashes and the pouty pink lips. In some other circumstance, he imagined he'd be asking Steve if he could order him a drink. He could see himself sitting at a bar, talking shit with Rogers all night. Though, he didn't think the great Captain America even frequented bars.

When the elevator announces their level, he steps off and quickly realizes he's not being followed. He turns and asks Steve again if he's coming, and pauses in his tracks.

He recognizes the look of pure disassociation on the man's face almost immediately. Blue eyes were shadowed by a deep frown and blank stare. His brows were set in a confused frown and he seemed to be holding his body tightly, as if he'd fall apart if he didn't.

Then, as quickly as Bucky noticed it, it quickly melts away. Rogers nods awkwardly and follows him to the training room.

"Holy shit."

Bucky watches as Rumlow approaches all sweaty and gleaming. He notices the way Steve's face lights up when he recognizes the man and his skin prickles a little. He chalks it up to Brock's natural tendency to raise his hackles.

"Rumlow," Rogers greets and it's bordering on robotic.

"Rogers, didn't expect them to bring you in already."

Bucky frowns at Brock. "You knew about this?"

"Heard a rumour a couple weeks ago, didn't think of it til now."

The team approach them and Bucky notes how Steve takes a little step back, probably feeling cornered or something. He imagines the dude's got mad stories to tell about the war. With passing interest, he wonders what kind of dreams the Captain has.

"Captain, this is my STRIKE team. I'm assuming you've met Rumlow, my second in command. After him, Rollins. Wilson is one of our newest recruits but we've worked with him before. He's pararescue. And our specialists, Lopez and Murdock."

Steve smiles and signs a greeting at Lopez when he realizes that she's deaf and- what the fuck, why was that so adorable? Bucky narrows his eyes, trying desperately to feign nonchalance when, in fact, he wanted to coo like he usually did when Alpine did some cute shit.

Then Steve's eyes meet his and his smile disappears as quickly as it came. He tries not to take it personally, after all, he had been a total bitch to the guy. But, whatever. Captain America was sort of adorable. So what?

He clears his throat and addresses the team, "We have roughly two weeks to prepare for this retrieval. And now, thanks to Fury, we also have to bring Spangles into the loop. Let's get to work."

He watches as Steve heads on over to the punching bags with Rumlow. He wasn't in the proper gear to train so Bucky assumed he was asking Rumlow for a quick run-down of their training schedule. He tries not to feel offended that Rogers had gone to his second in command, rather than him, the team leader.

#steve rogers #james bucky barnes #bucky barnes #stucky #stucky headcanon #marvel #mcu #steve rogers is a bottom #bottom steve rogers #sub steve rogers #pretty steve rogers

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anarchy-and-piglins · 1 year ago

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Random bird facts! (Mostly about birds from my country cause that's all I really know but they're really weird birds here so you get some neat facts!) . My country's airforce mascot is the Kiwi bird. A very well known, FLIGHTLESS bird. Which I will never not find funny. . When we were trying (and failing) to do a flag design referendum, one of the actual flags proposed was a clip art and ms paint rendition of a Kiwi bird with laser beams being shot out of its eyes. Sadly, that option did not make it to the final voting stage. But it got close. . Kiwi birds lay a single egg that is roughly about 2/3rds of its total body mass. The thing is MASSIVE for it's size! How it doesn't kill the bird is still a mystery. . Kiwi bird feathers are very similar to fur, they have WHISKERS, they take up the same evolutionary niche of most rodents, and their nostrils are at the tip of their beak rather than the base like most other birds. The point of the nostrils being there is to help them sniff out little grubs and fruits in the leaf litter on the forest floor, but it also has proven useful during floods as they will simply flip their beak up like a snorkle and bob their way to dry ground. They're not great at swimming but they are great at floating. . Kiwi birds are nocturnal and watching them play on trail cams and nightvision cams is incredibly entertaining, they are so goofy, highly recommend. . Most of my country's birds are flightless as the islands they live on were mostly predator free until the introduction of humans. Due to the isolation, they all ended up evolving to take up a lot of evolutionary niches that would normally be filled by other animals. We have birds that are very similar to rodents and we used to have bird that took up the grazing/hunting niche that looked like massive ostriches called Moas, they most likely hunted smaller birds and grazed on ferns and grasses, and the only thing that dared to hunt them before humans was a giant fuck off eagle that was known as the largest eagle in earth's history called the Haast eagle. Sadly they both went extinct but we still have viable dna stored in labs so....could possibly bring them back? Maybe? Not sure if that's a good idea as they probably wouldn't do well with humans.

. We have the world's only alpine parrot! The Kea! They're our equivalent to crows as they are just as intelligent, but like if a crow had a knife and knew how to use it cause Keas have massive beaks and no fear of humans and have been recorded tearing open CARS to get inside because they saw something they wanted. Tourists are often told to NOT feed the Keas and keep all shiny objects and food hidden in the trunk of the car so the Keas won't see it through the windshield because they CAN and WILL destroy your car/purse/vehicle/bags/etc... to get what they want. They are not actively malicious btw, they're just like toddlers with inhuman strength and no sense of boundaries. They're very curious and playful, again they're very similar to crows and ravens, and they love playing in the snow! . We also have Kaka's, the Keas slightly more shy and better behaved cousin. Only slightly though. I got bit by one who saw I hid a bag of chips in my backpack and it landed on me to try and undo the sipper on it so I wrapped my arms around the bag to hold it shut and it literally looked at me and slowly pinched my arm with it's beak while staring at me like "open the bag, OPEN THE BAG! I want treats!!! How dare!" Didn't break skin but still, little guy was basically threatening to eat me if I didn't give my chips.

. Kakapo are our super endangered flightless parrots that look like fuzzy green melons I swear. There's been attempts to try and get them repopulated but unfortunately, unlike the Kea and Kaka, Kakapo are very....stupid when it comes to reproducing and I will not say more.

. We have giant fucking pigeons called Kereru and they are notoriously bad at flying to the point there are warning signs on roads near where they live that warn drivers of them potentially falling out of the sky.

. The majority of our birds are named after Pokemon naming conventions! As in Pokemon are named after the sound they make, and our birds are too! If you listen to their songs or the sounds they make (such as with the Kereru, it's mostly quiet but it has a whistle feather that makes a sound when it flies which is the sound it's named for) they sound very similar to their names! I think it's cool!

. We have burrowing penguins.

OH THESE ARE WONDERFUL!

I actually knew quite a bit about the Kiwi bird because I did a presentation on them in middle school for some reason (we all had to pick an animal and I was a weird kid I guess) but I love the bird facts :D thank you!

#asks

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ruvviks · 1 year ago

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i don't really know your ocs yet BUT i do love hearing random facts about people's characters so! please tell us some funy facts about them :3c

THANK YOUUU i have. i have so many guys LMAO i will yell about the cyberpunk clown brigade >:^) here's all of them for you. a quick introduction

and some more facts about them under the cut!!

vincent's dad is from the south and while vincent's accent has been mostly transformed into whatever night city's accent is his roots will sometimes be very much audible. vitali can perfectly mimic his southern accent which is even funnier

a lot of them have had a crush on mikhail at some point. mikhail has had a crush on several of his friends as well at some point. he's still single now

thibault and eddie have a cooking channel together :^) they both love to cook and their videos are super helpful and like. actually cheap and easy meals. and TASTY meals. and they're funny as fuck together

cato loves pink. so much. who cares about having to stay out of sight as a merc she's dressed up in at least one [1] hot pink piece of clothing at all times you cannot change this about her

lauren used to go to college with vitali she was one year below him and she Knows about his. uh. reputation. in college. he fucked around and found out a Lot let's keep it at that for now which is really funny considering lauren works for him now

cato and thibault are insane when they're together they cannot be stopped. they're besties they're worsties they're wanted dead or alive in six countries they would set each other's car on fire they would blow up the whole city for each other they're married they're divorced they're enemies of the state. don't get me started on what happens when you throw vincent in there. don't let those three do gigs together

people used to call vitali "v" when he was younger as well. this becomes interesting when vincent comes around and everyone calls him "v" instead. it's fine they've learned to live with it

vincent and vitali are t4t also and that's very important to my brain. night city's sexiest and most powerful couple fr

#asks #mutuals #spratshack #ask:cato #ask:eddie #ask:huxley #ask:lauren #ask:mikhail #ask:shiro #ask:thibault #ask:vincent #ask:vitali #oc asks #that's all of them i think LMAO i love them all so much

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chibivesicle · 2 years ago

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Trigun Stampede - Episode 4 - Stampede’s direction is clear; this is an action packed sci fi series on a desert planet.

Any resemblance to an anime or manga with an old fashioned Western setting is not the the creative direction for this. Or as I’ve been thinking - Trigun Stampede is a sci fi series with the thin veneer of a western. The veneer is shown at the beginning of our episode 4 with western sounding music and three random dudes grilling worm meat over a fire discussing how fresh meat is the best, though one guy wants to be all trendy and try a plant based meat product. I think this is the writing team trying to be clever but it seems to fall flat. The more I watch this, more of a bone I have to pick with the writers; it keeps coming off as passable but it could be much better. This also goes into the story boarding, but we’ll get into that a little later on.

I’m also wondering how worms have muscles, but maybe we can go with alien worm biology hand waving explanation.

While enjoying their red worm meat, they spot a single individual walking alone in the desert carrying a cross, stating he’s well dressed for his own funeral and even has his own tombstone.

This is our introduction to Nicholas D. Wolfwood, the previously characterized wandering priest/clergyman who also works as a hired gun [anime] or religiously associated and trained assassin [manga].

The intro scene ends with a hot and sweaty looking Wolfwood. I will say, they worked hard to get a nice reflection in his sunglasses and he does sport a little of his trademark stubble, but he does look a lot cleaner.

After the OP, the action returns to Meryl and Roberto listening to the news as Vash sleeps in the back of their land rover like vehicle. Vash has been blamed for the destruction of Jeneora Rock and apparently hasn’t eaten since yesterday as Roberto offers his uneaten sandwich to Meryl.

Roberto gets to comment that only god knows why Vash is acting like Vash since young and inexperienced Meryl is expecting him both to eat more yet, struggle with sleeping due to his feelings of guilt that they are both aware of.

It really seems that Roberto is our info dump, make sure you understand our intent with our limited actions of what we decide to animate for our characters. Since the fact that Vash hasn’t eaten shows that he’s lost his motivation to live/ is feeling super depressed etc etc. has to be told to us by Roberto only with Meryl looking sadly at him.

Meryl then manages to almost drive right into Wolfwood and with Roberto’s help, she only nails him with the satellite trailer instead of hitting him head on. This scene is very slapstick and seems oddly out of place since Stampede has been taking itself very seriously the entire time unlike the original anime or manga.

Meryl rushes to the nearest gas er - recharge station to save the strange man she just almost killed. We see at least a nod to the original design of the plants with the light bulb station sign and a covered arch for parked vehicles.

As the group rushes in, they find the station owners shot and killed, likely looking like a station robbery. There is a noise that allows Vash to find a child hiding in a locker who looks shocked, unable to speak. At the same time, the injured man, seems to be quickly recovering able to add color commentary.

He takes the lead on some sort of ceremony for the remembrance of the dead, having taken a bottle of water from the station, sipping it before tossing some on the graves and attempting to do a poor ceremony.

It starts out passable but then quickly fails catching Meryl’s attention calling his possible job into question. She asks him if he is a priest using the term 牧師 bokushi. Interestingly, the original anime’s translation chose to use priest while the more literal translation is pastor/clergyman/reverend/minister. Though the bus driver does call him a preacher at one point.

In this version he clearly states he’s not a priest but an undertaker.

Stampede uses the term 葬儀屋, sougi-ya, which translates to funeral home or can also describe an undertaker = funeral director. Therefore, this is the second shift in a main character’s job in this version and will change aspects of his character by default, just like how it has changed Meryl’s in these first four episodes.

This is a good time to pause and compare Wolfwood’s introduction in Trigun and Trigun Maximum. It will help frame how the rest of this episode plays out.

In the anime, Wolfwood doesn’t appear until episode 9, Murder Machine after Vash’s battle against Brilliant Dynamite Neon on the sandsteamer. A glint of light catches Vash’s eye and they find a man collapsed and leaning against a cross in the desert.

After the bus driver pokes him commenting he’s a well put together dead man, he pops up and stutters that he’s been saved! Showing that he’s got a sort of silly side.

After leaning that it was neither Milly or Meryl who saved him and introducing himself as a priest, he thanks Vash after he’d drank all of his water. Vash is not pleased with this strange priest having consumed all of his water and this leads to the infamous giant introduction of Vash’s made up name which is blown by Milly blurting out he’s Vash the Stampede. Once Wolfwood’s shock calms down he offers his hand to Vash and introduces himself as Wolfwood, at his service.

Of course he also can’t help but mention that if he killed Vash he’d get the $$60 billion reward and Vash would prefer he not point this out in public.

The entire introduction of Wolfwood is playful, you get the feeling that he’s a sort of prankster and has a good sense of humor though it has a dark and sarcastic undertone.

The manga is quite similar as Wolfwood introduces himself almost immediately as well. Again, Wolfwood is shocked that this weird guy is the infamous criminal and is prevented from blurting it out to the entire bus. I love how blunt Wolfwood is with his comment that ‘everyone’s damn dumb’.

And he again introduces himself to Vash, also offering his services as well.

Either way, both of these introductions show how playful of a character Wolfwood can be at times and how he’s portrayed as a friendly guy and very approachable - which makes sense if you are a religious official (or traveling under the guise of one). Plus, the anime and manga both highlight that he was stranded in the desert due to his motorcycle breaking down forcing him to walk instead. This forced him to carry his cross which is both literal and metaphorical for his character arc.

In Stampede, Vash feels a bit awkward as Meryl and the unnamed undertaker argue while the putative orphaned child looks shell shocked. He walks over to the child and pops a lollipop in his mouth before offering another one to the kid. This allows for him to have a small inspirational monologue to the child.

He states outright that he’s an orphan and that - No matter how heavy the cross that you carry, you still deserve to eat. That you still deserve to laugh.

This sounds a bit like Wolfwood, a way of trying to connect with someone else. After the kid silently looks thoughtful, he returns to give his bill to Vash for $$20,000 which causes Meryl to have another meltdown about his rip off of services. Which with that abrupt change again makes me groan about the the awkward pacing and oddly placed slapstick style humor with his bill.

Roberto calls him out on not only his criminally high cost bill for services, but also notes that for being hit by a car he’s looking pretty good. His reply is that he’s tough. And that it’s his saving grace.

And with that suspicious look from Roberto, we hear a weird high pitched whine and the ground begins to rumble as the entire group is eaten by a giant sandworm, charging station and all! The next time we get a close up on Wolfwood he’s got a crumpled cigarette instead of the pink lollipop. This is a point were the story boarding continuity seems a bit off. We went from him having a sucker, to likely losing it as they slid down into the worm but then the link to the cigarette is missing. When did he pull it out? Why now? If they wanted to give the effect of him being level headed and cool, we would have seen him pull a cigarette out of his jacket pocket, place it in his mouth before casually lighting it. That’s how you establish a cool smoker look. Instead, he’s got a almost burnt down cigarette which does not look cool and collected. He just looks annoyed.

After their fall into the depths of the belly of the giant worm where the silent child continues to act odd. We see everyone sliding into the worm which is fine and we get to have Roberto info dump more about how worms are sort of collective organisms that have electrons to communicate with each other.

The little baby worm glows indicating that it associates with giant mama worm, hence all the little baby worms can hang out inside it unharmed. Silent child is excited by the glowing worm and dashes off!

Vash of course wants to save the child and with time being of the essence the nameless undertaker tells them to split up and called Vash とんがり tongari which is needle-noggin’ in the anime translation and spiky in the manga. I always thought the anime choice of needle-noggin’ was a clutch translation decision, really getting at the teasing intent of the nickname. With spiky hair and the fact that Vash is oblivious to things from time to time. It is pretty early for the tongari nickname to be dropped - that’s a sort of post 2 year time skip nickname.

He proceeds to assign nicknames to everyone else as well, Meryl is little missy and Roberto is uncle downer. Vash is surprised by the nickname - though I am too Vash! As he’s not as spiky with his more ruffled hair. Meryl is upset and just wants a man to call her by her name and Roberto doesn’t even argue with his. Meryl you are 100% valid, no one on the planet wants to respect you.

Though in the original he does always have nicknames for others but more of calling the insurance little sisters and variants of that instead which sort of works . . . but he isn’t particularly rude about it in the originals.

We finally see that Roberto is indeed armed with a small pistol that he loads before the split up. Keeping with Meryl’s book smarts slowly becoming more street smarts, she’s the one who points out this entire plan is a terrible idea and they should have stuck together for safety.

She’s absolutely right and finds the missing child but clearly is attacked by something. Eventually, the three men all end up meeting at the same location. Is it there they started? Or did they exit the four worm tunnels? It looks a little unclear with the vague background but I’m reading that they returned to the start where Wolfwood is chain smoking away. Likely, he never even went into the tunnel with all the cigarette butts around his feet.

Vash indicates that they can save both of them while the undertaker mocks him for his self-sacrifice and need to rescue them, calling him odd. He then grabs one of the glowing baby worms and bites into it, eating it almost whole spitting out only a small part of it. WTF is this supposed to mean? It just seems odd - I know the set up is that worms are a good source of protein, but did he need to eat one raw? What does this do for his character establishment? Will eat anyone to survive?

Due to him eating the worm, it causes Roberto to both tell Vash that this undertaker might be one of the people who can control worms to kill others. Roberto approaches him with his small derringer wanting to know what is the deal with the giant cross. He knows it isn’t what it appears and wants an answer from the suspicious man with them.

Of course the undertaker deflects this comment stating if he’d want to kill him, he wouldn’t be trapped there with them. The conversation also allows for Roberto to info dump that there are people who can control worms but his theory is off since it seems that the suspicious undertaker is trapped with them.

This doesn’t allow Roberto to relax and he is clear that the statement ‘could kill with smile’ but of course Vash denies this based on his eyes. We only get a vague line of ‘You really mess with me.’ which would have been a line intended for Milly in the anime; in this case for Vash and Vash uses this as his rationale that he won’t hurt them. Vash’s own behavior messes with the mystery man - he won’t hurt them!! There seems to be some sort of emotional ‘something’ to go along with the statement of Vash ‘really messing with him’ but it doesn’t linger for long because Roberto is now missing.

The duo proceed to wander around lost and Vash maintains hope while his downer companion tries everything to get him to give up, they were already eaten and digested, they are lost, they should save themselves. They proceed to be sneezed out of the worm (these sandworms apparently have animal based biology with nostrils) which has another slapstick moment of them being flung back out into the desert. Vash tells Wolfwood to run who argues that they should both run, but both get re-eaten. Since Vash doesn’t run and neither does Wolfwood.

They find the child who runs to Vash and hugs them as he reassures them it will be okay. But he’s called out for being careless and let someone out of his sight all the time. Of course Vash replies that he hasn’t been shot by the morbid man. Yeah, that’s a great rationale there Vash for trusting a man who still hasn’t told you his name!

The kid then runs away and Vash figures out that they are the one controlling the worms with a high pitched sound leading us to the reveal of our next Gung-ho Gun. The inside of the worm then becomes digestive/active with saliva/liquid and Vash just yells for Meryl and Roberto to be given back. Dude! You have a gun. We know you are a pacifist but you can still use your gun! Where is your brain? Is it on vacation? Did you leave it in Jeneora Rock? In Vash’s moment of whatever, he begins to get sucked into the stomach of the worm and just stands there.

It takes Wolfwood doing the big reveal of his large Punisher in what I’d say is an overly long, drawn out sequence to reveal it - is a giant gun! Wow. Even if you’d never seen Trigun before, you could guess it is some sort of giant weapon. Was that really necessary Studio Orange? No, but you think it looks cool. You gotta animate it in all the angles.

He’s able to shoot around Vash’s feet allowing him to move and then blows a hole in the side of the worm. Our worm whisperer escapes out the side of the worm and wishes them good luck on surviving.

Now, I’ve already made it clear that I liked the slow style storytelling of the original anime and even in the manga - Wolfwood will not show what his Punisher can do - until Trigun Maximum after the 2 year time skip. Even though he’s revealed to be a Gung-ho Gun early on, he doesn’t show what his Punisher is capable of - just uses it as a blunt object. We also learn that Wolfwood’s actions are those of a trapped man and not his choice, but something he can’t get out of. The Punisher is how he’s recognized as ‘Chapel’ by Legato though Wolfwood never verbally confirms this at the Jeneora Rock Church. But with Stampede, we don’t need any of that delay - we are going to show you how badass his Punisher is now, which can apparently create a laser beam cannon that literally slices the entire worm open and blood? haemolynth? explodes out into the desert. Wolfwood clearly has leveled up in his weapons.

We jump to a scene of the three random dudes along a campfire with them eating some of the fresh worm meat. Wolfwood teases Meryl trying to get her to eat the worm meat while Roberto points out that a man with a giant cross machine gun is pretty damn suspicious and Vash is like ‘he’s fine, he hasn’t hurt us, he helped us.’

When Vash approaches, Meryl and Wolfwood are still arguing with each other about the worm meat.

Finally, around the campfire, Vash sits down and eats some worm meat, quoting Wolfwood that he still has a right to survive and eat. Wow, deep - and Meryl is excited that sad boi is eating - he’s not going to be depressed all the time! This is also finally when Nicholas D. Wolfwood introduces himself to Vash the Stampede and they shake hands. It took the entire episode for him to introduce himself!

Wolfwood then invites himself into their crew telling them that they should get going - to where exactly sir undertaker? He continues to tease Meryl and get do get a good side profile and finally one of his cheesy smiles.

Then they all go to sleep, with Vash on top of the car to show Wolfwood chain smoking on the roof of the charging station. It then reveals that he was working with Zazie the Beast who tells him that killing his ‘friends’ is his skill and that he couldn’t care less about human lives.

He only glances slightly oddly for a moment before replying he does the job that he has to do. So, even though we have a fast reveal of Wolfwood as a Gung-ho Gun like in the manga, we don’t get his additional monologue that none of this is by choice.

The last scene returns to the place where Knives is collecting the plants and the Doctor is mentioning how Vash is the most human individual, which is why he can’t reach his full gate potential and this is why he’s not able to do whatever Knives wants him to.

Grey the Ninelines is still in the background along with the small blonde girl - not Zazie. Is the small girl also a plant? Tessla? Are they on Knives’ ark ship?

Thus the episode ends with a sort of plot from Knives to push Vash into an extreme corner.

Main points and themes from this episode

1.) Story boarding and flow are still weak. It is still difficult to follow things at this point. Actions and transitions aren’t quite fluid and transitions are choppy. I already highlighted how Wolfwood goes from a lollipop, to falling and then having a cigarette already in his mouth but we never see it happen. There are too many blink and you miss it moments and orientation is perhaps supposed to be frantic. Based on the current pacing if we are to get more of the Gung-ho Guns including Livio, are we looking at a 12-13 episode complete series? Maybe - it would explain the action non-stop pacing.

Along with this point is the writing continuing to be average at best. This is a sci fi story where all the characters are checking particular boxes. I was almost expecting Wolfwood to ask Vash ‘Whose side are you on?’ but we didn’t get that, just him being a morbid, rude, jerk. I think the male character default in Stampede is unless you are Vash, you are a jerk. Roberto is now slightly less of jerk, so Wolfwood is the new jerk.

Does the CGI look pretty? Yes, yes, it does. As my meta nerd friend Merdopseudo put it:

In fact, "Trigun Stampede", more than an adaptation of a manga in anime, it is a demo to promote Studio Orange and its 3D.

And thus spoke the Merdo! Is this a snazzy series with generic character to get as many eyeballs as possible? Looks like it. Is it really sourcing the original material - eh, not the characterization, nor the original themes. We like to invent all sorts of terms and we’ve decided that this is an example of ‘mainstreamification’ taking a series that was modestly successful in Japan and more of a cult hit outside due to its quirky nature. Meryl is now your cute little waifu instead of being an experience insurance adjuster with her junior partner Milly.

This then leads into our characters . . .

2.) Current status of the main cast, now fully assembled per the promotional poster!

i.) Vash - Was pretty lame in this episode, his sad boi trend continues as he is so depressed from Knives most recent actions he won’t eat a sandwich and tries to sleep in the back of the car. He is considerate of Zazie when he thinks she’s a victim of a robbery while Meryl and Wolfwood argue, but puts a lot of faith and trust in a man who is suspicious as all hell based on what he sees in his eyes - through his sunglasses? Which just like Vash, Wolfwood wears his glasses all the time.

Additionally, Vash is rather useless the entire episode, again chooses to plead with Zazie to release his friends, get sucked into the stomach of the worm, unable to move and all this stuff happens and he never even thinks to draw his gun? Look, he may be a technical pacifist, but Vash knows if he shoots the worm with a bullet or two release his feet, the worm is not gonna die. Yet, he never uses his gun at all.

Are we to interpret this as Vash being ‘frozen’ and unable to act? Is this why he needs Wolfwood to do all the work for him? Where is his creative brain coming up with solutions? Why is he so helpless? Does this mean that Wolfwood inspired him to regain his confidence that he lost in episode 3 when he quotes Wolfwood’s words to Zazie? By eating?

Crisis averted - Vash has decided to live by Wolfwood’s deep words (which I’ll get to in a bit). ii.) Meryl - or Can I just get some respect on this planet? Meryl continues to struggle in a male dominated group and has bickered with Roberto, then Vash and now, Wolfwood throughout the episode. She still has to be assisted/rescued etc but at least realized that Wolfwood’s plan was reckless and dangerous - but told no one but herself crawling through the wormtube. She’s intelligent but lacks agency and authority.

She also gets a lot of scenes bickering with Wolfwood and he gets a bit friendly with her trying to force feed her the worm steak? flank? She doesn’t look thrilled and they continue to argue until Vash sits down and eats and she is happy that Vash isn’t refusing to eat.

Without Milly Thompson as a potential romantic interest like in the original anime, are we to see Meryl x Wolfwood as a possibility? It would explain why they keep getting into each other’s faces.

If this is the case, I’m not so keen on it, though Wolfwood in this episode is rather rude and morbid making him not very friendly or attractive. Please don’t go this direction Studio Orange if you are thinking about it.

iii.) Roberto - Our old man info dump. Yep, now with a derringer to match the promotional poster. You need to know more information about this planet and organizations - he’s got it. You need to know how to read a scene or interpret something? He’ll tell you.

I’m sorry Roberto but you are not Milly and we shouldn’t hold that against you. But really, you don’t add much to the plot. At least you didn’t take a single drink all episode, but still haven’t fixed your shirt these past few days.

He doesn’t trust anyone, or organization but he’s just chillin’. Why? What’s your deal man? Or are you just there to have four people in the main cast?

iv.) Wolfwood - Studio Orange what have you done to my man? I gotta be dramatic when it comes to Wolfwood. This is a case where a very nuanced character has been simplified to a rude guy who has no friends and will do his ‘job’.

I don’t even want to dwell too much on his now generic Tokyo hipster design, they shrank his nose and made him have a fair skin tone. Also, why does he also have an untucked dress shirt?

I have more of an issue with who and what he does based on this episode. First, is the change in his occupation when he is traveling around meeting others. In Stampede, Meryl asks him if he’s a priest and he says he’s an undertaker. This is a change from the anime and manga where he originally said boukushi = priest/clergyman but always translated as priest in both; while he’s now, a sougiya or undertaker/funeral director. Hahaha, so funny Studio Orange, a hired gun is an undertaker because he makes people dead. lols. The change from priest makes a huge shift in how he acts. In this episode alone, Wolfwood gives Vash shit for being ‘self-sacrificing’ and mocks him about it while they are in the worm trying to rescue others.

Stampede Wolfwood is not a nice person nor willing to help others because it is the right thing to do.

In contrast both the manga and anime have Wolfwood introduce himself as a priest and later we see him trying to strike a deal with the bus driver as he’s short the full bus fare. He states if he gives up any more money, he’ll starve and the man allows for him to ride for $$80 instead of $$100 (which to be fair, he picked him up midway). This then gives Vash a reason to ask him how he makes money as a priest and why he needs money to help support orphans associated with his church. All of this makes sense, most people who take religious vows/occupations are not flush with cash and Wolfwood is no exception. But what happens next is how Wolfwood demonstrates self-sacrifice towards others.

In the manga young children beg him for assistance and he of course gives all he can dividing it between himself and the children equally, even though he’s an adult. We know he’s not lying, we just saw him haggling with the bus driver.

In the anime, we have a similar scene where he offers two of his three meal blocks to hungry children as well.

Their mother thanks him and the children understand the importance of their gifts even stating they will not waste a crumb. They respect his sacrifice for them. These two scenes show us that Wolfwood very much cares for humanity and innocents who need help from adults. Does he also understand that there is evil in the world? Yes, but it doesn’t make him isolate himself from others and helps in anyway he can.

Afterwards, he walks back to see Vash beaming with a soft genuine smile, which prompts him to state that he was worried that Vash couldn’t smile - you know really smile - not fake cover the empty pain sort of smile. These scenes alone make sense why Wolfwood makes sense to be traveling as a priest/hired gun as in the anime or a religious assassin in the manga. In both cases, we know that despite his failings, he has the underpinnings of religious beliefs and actions. His faith guides his morals and drives the conflict inside himself which eats at him even though he eventually finds peace and acceptance in both versions.

In the anime episode 9-11 allows for ample Wolfwood character development with the rest of the group as he reveals his precision shooting skills to Vash despite lying in Murder Machine - but Vash also states that Wolfwood’s prayer worked and God saved them. Episode 10 Quick Draw has him twisting Vash’s arm into a contest to help out a woman and her son but also gets into the mix, revealing that he’s got multiple guns in addition to his fine marksmanship. Lastly, 11 Escape from Pain has him getting into a philosophical argument with Julius, Milly, and Vash before departing the group. The scene where pulls out his pistol and holds it to his temple to test Julius and Moore.

Murder Machine was an episode where an unarmed Wolfwood jumped into action with Vash to save a single child! This is a man who understands self-sacrifice. We also get his entire uncool dodging of laser beams here:

If we turn back to episode 4 of Stampede - Hungry we can’t even take his interaction with Zazie seriously nor compare it to what he offered previously unknown children. He eats a lollipop for himself and offers the other to Zazie because she might be hungry? We know he gave Vash and Meryl a crazy invoice but nothing says he’s on a budget, nor is giving up a single piece of candy self-sacrificing. Did you get the point Studio Orange? No, because you decided that he’s not that type of character anymore.

Who is this character in Stampede? Not one I recognize from the anime or manga that’s for certain. He’s rude, has his gun Punisher which is now vastly more powerful than previously and is not friendly at all! We know he’s got a job to do for Knives but he’s not really selling himself as a great traveling companion or friend for Vash.

I think that Wolfwood is such a popular character due to his humanity that he displayed in the original series; how he has an internal conflict struggling to navigate life on a shit planet either as a gun for hire in the anime or trained assassin in the manga. He drinks, gambles, smokes and is willing to kill others if they will hurt innocents. Yet, he strives to do his best as indicated by his inner thoughts while playing chess against the random guy in episode 11. He realized it was dumb to bet his entire fare on this chess game and thinks about head butting the man and making a run for it - only to correct himself by reminding him to think of his profession as a priest.

He is also a jackpot character for fans - he’s a priest and a gunman who has principles yet also sins - what’s not to love about that set up? As Merdo put it, even as an atheist, you can’t help but love a character like him. Why Studio Orange passed on this aspect of his character and the leverage of such a trope baffles both of us.

Come on, you missed this golden line when the bus driver and two other guys toss his ‘luggage’ down to him. The bus driver remarks that the damn thing is heavy and to what Wolfwood replies:

Which is the best clever joke that it is full of mercy, if you ever met it, you will have a swift and merciful death.

Or lastly, his words of blessing when he departs from the group which is totally in line with him being religiously affiliated.

3.) Themes for this week. I really don’t have anything obvious. Eat to live? Life sucks sometimes but if you don’t eat you die? Not very motivational all in all. With Wolfwood no longer a priest (or under the guise of being one), the line of a heavy cross to bear rings hollow. BTW, Knives is still really evil.

#trigun stampede #trigun anime #trigun maximum #trigun manga #vash the stampede #nicholas d. wolfwood #meryl stryfe #roberto deniro #zazie the beast #anime meta

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chordsykat · 1 year ago

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Do you have tips on writing strong and even powerful characters who are OCs? I am new to Metalocalypse and I want to write some stories but I don't know how to make a character feel like they're not too overpowered and they fit naturally in the story. How do you do it?

Gosh, Anon, I wanted to point you to an answer I did for this question a few years ago, but... it's been a few years and Tumblr's search function is... Tumblr's search function. So let me just go around again with this one..!

Let's start with the obvious: Metalocalypse is a wonderful opportunity to write a bunch of stuff that's utterly ridiculous and you should not be afraid to do it. People who tell you "you can't have crazy/supernatural/magic powers" in this universe are clearly watching a different show than the rest of us. Go nuts. It's fine.

So, typically my response to this question is the standard one you'd get if you just googled "how do I make a character not feel overpowering" - which is, anything is possible if you write it believably enough. And that is a big part of it, but lately I've looked into the nuances of this just a litte further than I have in the past, and can add a bit more to this wisdom.

Especially. ESPECIALLY-especially, if you're introducing a character into an already-established world, pay close attention to one thing: How are the established characters relating to the type of character that your OC is.

This goes beyond them being powerful, too. Maybe they're normal and pretty vanilla. Maybe they're a bad guy. Maybe they're a bi-monthly curated box of snacks -- hell, I dunno! But whatever they are, your goal in that introductory story should be to not just showcase who this character is - but in order to endear the audience to them, you must make the canon cast believably respond to the type of character they are, preferably in the most interesting way possible. That's it. That's your biggest job as the writer when it comes to making... well... any kind of character introduction, I'd suppose. Another way of saying this would be, don't come out of the gate giving them a gold star in the form of plot-armor and intrigue because this is their story. I'm not saying it isn't their story, but give the audience some credit and make your characters earn their spot as central cast members. Remember: no matter the writer's skill level, readers are always stingier with their gold stars.

Consider Nathan Explosion meeting a random fan who he invites back to Mordhaus, for no reason, versus Nathan Explosion meets a guy who can shoot lightning bolts out of his ass, and he invites him home because in his mind he's already got about fifty new ideas for drinking games with this dude. Both are perfectly viable stories, but if I'm honest, the second one sounds more believable, despite the superpowers, does it not? In the first one, it's less so not because the person is a normie - but because there's literally no reason for Nathan to drag them home excepting the fact that the character exists.

The trick to making characters likable lies in the audience's trust that you're going to handle the characters they already know, in a consistent and in-character way. That's it. You earn it with them, there, and I guarantee they'll eventually stop riding on the shoulders of the canon cast and start willingly hopping onto your OCs' as time goes on.

So once you have this conflict planned out (and make no mistake -- meeting someone new for the first time is often one of the biggest conflicts in any "new kid in town" story), you just gotta make sure your character is consistent with who they are -- both in abilities and limitations. The usual "don't warp the world around them" rules apply. I trust you know how to keep your own character in-character, so the rest is just assuring everyone else is also going to be acting appropriately. That's it.

Anyway, hope this helps as an answer, Anon. And I hope you share your stories with us when you finish them! Best of luck - you can do it! :D

#answered #writing #original characters #mtl oc

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n3ssier · 2 years ago

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HELLO im bacc >;)))

So I keep lookin at your introduction post and fsr I CANT DECIDE WHAT TO PICK- I just wanted to ask like, can ya write a headcanon, but it has both Crypto from Apex and Ppl from r6? Im so super grateful that you didnt mind the emount of characters I requested last time 😭😭 i hope its bot a burden if I request again cause i kinda simp for all of the. 💀

You can just tell me if u dont wanna do this, or just scratch sum characters if its too many :)))))

Can you pleease write a ff (or headcanons, ehatevs ya wnat) where female reader LOVES hugs and is a generally super chill yet chirpy friend and as soon as she gets recruited, she becomes all friendly and tries to befriedn them and after like 1st day of meeting, she alredy sees them as her bestfriend and hugs them from behind as a goodmorning the next day-

Chars: Crypto, Echo, Vigil, Kapkan, Glaz, Jäger (Ik its all the same characters but I cant help my simping, also as i said you can not include whoever you want)

Ik its confusing and as I said before, you aint gotta write this at all💀🤚

ALSO- MOOTS? Saw that you needed friends so we can be bfs >:DD

SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG :( ive had a lot going on and ive also got a job now so i have been short on time but finally got round to writing again!! i hope ya dont mind me doing some hcs and also only doing 4 out of 6 sexy men, bc i worry that if i do fanfics with them all then this will be a v long post bc ill get lowkey carried away😞 (also bc im feeling lazy rn, out here getting up 4am sleeping 12pm😭best lifestyle)

crypto

∙you two first meet on your second day on the job, and he is taken aback by how talkative you are (not in a bad way tho dwdw :)

∙the other legends don’t rlly talk to him outside of the gunfights/workplace so he just doesn’t talk to them either, which is why he was so surprised when you came up to him and tried to befriend him as soon as you’d met him

∙the pride he feels when you start asking about his gadgets goes unmatched, he tries to explain them as easily as possible but gets carried away quickly, leaving you a confused mess and him an embarrassed one as he realises how distracted he got

∙the next morning he’s making breakfast in the break room when he feels you hug him from behind, and he honestly is so tempted to put his hands on yours and stay there but he wants to play it off cool ofc so he just greets you and continues preparing his food

∙this is the EXACT moment he fell for ya

glaz

∙he never expected you to be so talkative or cheery when you joined, but he was happy nonetheless

∙will intently listen to you while smiling and give you facts if he knows any on whatever you’re talking about

∙you guys end up talking for like 3 hours just about anything, he’s kinda curious about you, and ends up asking you a bit about your life in general

∙would make a lot of effort to help and teach you things, seen as you’re new to r6

∙when you come up to him and hug him as a good morning he chuckles before turning around to hug you back quickly and loosely

∙he could get used to this tho

kapkan

∙ngl he is annoyed at first when you talk to him for the first time, he finds the chat pointless, but after an hour or so he lets his guard down

∙he never realised that chatting with people was so fun until this day, or maybe it was just something about you specifically that gave him the good time, who knows !?

∙he honestly thinks ur pretty cute talking about all the random topics that peak your interest, asking him about 1000 questions aswell

∙when he feels your arms around him the next morning he freaks out

∙tries to push you off, as much as he enjoys it sadly he is too flustered and also not used to physical contact

∙he slowly stops pushing you away the more you come up to him and the more you are hanging round with him

jäger

∙when he first meets you he thinks you’re cool asf, especially when you strike a conversation with him

∙similar to crypto, he feels so much pride when you ask about his gadgets, its like a huge ego boost

∙you guys are sooooo chatty, talking about anything and everything, but make the cutest duo

∙you listen to his rambling and he will listen intently to you back

∙there is NEVER a dull moment between you two😭

∙the other gsg9 members are just happy that he has got someone to listen to him so that they don’t have to LMAO

∙when he feels you hug him from behind the next morning he is a little bit confused but happily hugs you back in return, he definitely thinks about it for the rest of the day tho

#apex fanfiction #apex legends #apex x reader #rainbowsixgame #rainbow six siege #r6 siege #kapkan r6 #jäger r6 #marius streicher #crypto #crypto apex legends #cod #mw2 #glaz r6 #timur glazkov

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prysmartin · 2 years ago

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Ready Player One's stuck on my mind again, so

I made this account to post long, ramble-y things occasionally that wouldn't fit on other social media sites. Might as well put it to good use!

Fair warning - Ready Player One spoilers ahead. It's been out long enough that I doubt anyone would care, though, especially after taking a brief look through posts with the tag.

It's a story that's a sort of boogieman for me. Every couple of months, my brain meanders back to this part of the woods, sees the beast, and roasts it relentlessly for how ineffective it is, despite its promising appearance. ...Promising appearance? Shoulda gone Intimidating instead, maybe? I dunno, this metaphor was a weird choice.

A few years ago, our teacher forced us to read it and we all went out as a class to watch the movie. The entire class - teacher included - absolutely hated the book, but found the movie fine. Well, outside of the plot holes, at least... What do you mean no one drove backwards in a race for FOUR YEARS? I'd do that in Mario Kart if I was doing poorly! It's funny!

We unanimously hated the book not because most people hated reading - everyone was pretty invested in the class, as it was "writing and literature in video games", and everyone was more than willing to participate and invest a lot of energy in the class - we all hated it because it was poorly written. We had some other points, but I don't want to get too side-tracked from the main thing I wanna focus on.

In the latter half of the second segment of the story, our Protagonist goes out of his way to play Pac-man. There was, like, an entire page or two dedicated to this. I decided to skim this part, since none of it seemed relevant. That is, until the very end, when our protag gets revived by the random quarter he got doing this sidequest. Turns out, the coin was just a free in-game insta-revive you got for playing pac-man on the buggy 256th stage?

This book was filled to the brim with reference slogfests, and every one before this one was basically one-and-done, having little to no impact on the story as a whole, or even the scene it was tied into. How was I supposed to know this was going to be any different? And even if I did know, why would I want to read through all this when it's not obviously moving the story forward in some way? The coin wasn't even mentioned between its introduction and the final battle! (At least, from what I remember. Maybe I skimmed that over too when it was buried in another reference I couldn't care less about.)

The movie, meanwhile, took the coin and tied it into a relevant point. Our protagonist didn't get it from some random side-quest - he got it from the museum's curator, who gave it to him after he went out of his way to research the guy who set up the main plot about acquiring ownership of the virtual reality world. He learned about something impactful to the guy's life, found a relevant piece of information that would help move him forwards, and THEN got this seemingly innocuous coin that would later save him in the final battle. Sure, it wasn't mentioned until the very end either (at least, not that I recall), but because it was better introduced, it felt like an actually earned moment rather than pulling plot armor out of his rear-end.

...maybe that's where he was hiding the coin in the book?

The weird thing is, the basic plot outline of the story was far more impressive. The movie didn't include any segments of the main villains, IAI, blocking off access to one of the keys with digital Wizards and using the fact that the key was in a no PVP zone to their advantage. It didn't include the main character turning himself into IAI under a false name in order to get high in their ranks and sabotage their grand plans. It didn't include one of the five major key-holders getting thrown off a thirty-story building to his death.

The book had all this and more. Its premise was AMAZING and I love the story it was trying to tell. Emphasis on trying. What the book had in potential, it lacked in execution. The movie, while dulled down in its concept, was better built for its creative medium and better realized as a story, even though it was more of an action movie.

If there's anything to take away from all this, tl;dr: Worldbuilding will only do so much for you. As with any sort of creative medium, it's good to dream big, but better to practice with smaller, more manageable projects.

...that last bit is more just good life advice rather than a real takeaway from everything I said before. Eh, whatever. I could ramble more, as I have MANY more problems with the book, but I think that's enough for one post. Plus, this is only my second post on this site...

#ready player one #storytelling #writing #I still don't know what tags to use :(#writing tips #Fun train fact - RPO stands for Railway Post Office #That fact isn't important but the book's initials are RPO so I thought I'd throw it in

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oliver-and-mushrooms · 1 year ago

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School hasn't even started and I've already stressed myself out. The past few days it's looks like I've been sitting around doing nothing.

But my brain actually been going crazy thinking of stuff. trying to think of things I want to put in my locker, things I want to bring to class, if my bus will be picking up more or less kids and cause the time it'll pick me up to change even though I haven't gotten an email about it, trying to figure out where my locker is, trying to figure out where my classes are, trying to remember what people have said about certain teachers, setting a whole bunch of alarms for the morning and worrying that I won't wake up to them cause I'm heavy sleeper, or that I didn't put the volume all the way up or it was set to a different day or if it was set to pm instead of am. And worrying that I'll forget to take my anxiety meds (yes I have anxiety, what gave it away?) Because I rushed and forgot to take them before the bus, and then I either forgot to put extra in my bag (even though I know for a fact I did that) or that I'll just completely forget about it. I put on an alarm to remind me of meds and that helped but then I worried that it would go off on the bus which is usually very quiet in the mornings and most kids are sleeping, so I put the volume down and then I worry I won't hear it or I did it wrong and it'll go off loud anyway. And i wonder if I'll know anyone in my classes, and if I'll be awkward and mess up the introductions and ice breakers, so I thought of trying to plan out some answers to that stuff but I don't know what they'll ask. And then I think about the fact that it'll be cold in the morning so I'll probably wear pants and a sweater and maybe a coat and hat, but then what if during the day it's hot and I wish I had worn something lighter, even though I wore pants and a sweater for the majority of the year last year. And I worry about missing my bus cause that happened alot last year. And then I think about the fact that I should probably download some episodes of the podcast I've been listening to (the penumbra podcast), but also the fact that I can't listen to podcasts all day like I've been doing through the summer cause I won't be able to pay attention, but I also haven't updated my music in a good while but that probably doesn't matter cause I'll like what I had before anyway. And then I wonder if I'll wake up in time to make my lunch and get my Waterbottle, and that I might get hungry in the day if I don't have time to pack enough snacks and that I always brought a Waterbottle last year because the school has water fountains but only to fill up waterbottles and they don't give out cups so if you don't have a bottle to fill you have to buy one and I won't have money so I'd be thirsty, and if I'll get homework, and if my friends will be awkward around me cause I've missed a bunch of dnd sessions lately even though they're all nice and I don't think they'd be like that. And if someone who has a locker near me or sits near me in class is someone I don't like cause the seats don't really change after the first day and one time last year the guy in the locker beside me told me his friend thought I was cute and it was really awkward. And what if I mess up trying to find my classes and walk into a random classroom full of kids staring at me and if my headphones are charged enough cause if they die and I'm without music or podcasts that would be terrible, and what if I forget them altogether? Has my phone's battery gotten worse? It is an old phone, will it last through the day? And-

Yeah. This'll be great.

#ranting in this post helped but i also didnt?#generalized anxiety disorder #school anxiety #anxitey #first day of school #rant #anxiety rant

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pentechnics · 2 years ago

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I completely agree with what you said about mando. I have seen all the SW movies (including the newer trio loft) but I really don’t remember anything but was able to follow mando s1-2 with no problems. I also wasn’t really watching because it was SW but rather because the relationship between Din and Grogu is so special

YES.

Let’s talk about it!!

I feel like the real magic of Mando, the thing that made it stand out so much, was that Din was just a dude. A random guy trying to live his life and help support his covert. He wasn’t part of the greater star war — no force, no jedi/sith, didn’t even live on one of the major planets — just dealing with the fact that his existence lies within the results of those bigger actions.

My introduction to Star Wars was The Force Awakens and that is still my favorite movie and is near and dear to me (that one and TLJ were the only SW things I’d seen by the time I watched Mando), but I really wasn’t sucked into the SW universe until Mando came out because I just didn’t vibe as much with the bigger picture elements, if that makes sense. There was too much going on and too many strands of the story to keep up with and too many people who just had to be right about everything—

but as we know, DIN DIDNT KNOW SHIT ABOUT STAR WARS. and therefore, WE could know no shit and we’d be right where we need to be to follow his story! What a beautiful concept!

And that doesn’t necessarily go away once Grogu enters the picture — he just has several questions. As do we. And we go with him to find the answers! And that’s where weaving in Ahsoka and Luke made perfect sense and now that Grogu has chosen to not pursue that branch of the narrative we don’t have to be as involved with it, y’know?

And here’s where I get beefy with how Jon is portraying the next arc of Din’s story. It seems — we won’t know for sure until we see the season, but it SEEMS — like they’re going full-on into him becoming the Mand’alor and reuniting Mandalorians. The second part is lovely, we know he lost his covert and needs to figure out for himself what being a Mandalorian means to him now. And finding more of his kind will definitely help him do that. Shared trauma. Group therapy. Love that for him.

I have no doubt that he’ll still be my simple guy. I just don’t wanna have to know all of TCW to be able to understand this season or ‘get the most out of it.’ I wanna not know shit and learn alongside him again.

But more than anything, knowing him as a character, I just don’t think being Mand’alor fits. And that’s just my opinion and I recognize that but listen our mans has lived his life in quiet corners and secluded alleys by his lonesome (covert and Grogu excluded) by choice. Do we really think he’d want this?

And hey, maybe my interpretations are wrong. Maybe he won’t do it. Maybe he’ll go as far as to help reunite the scattered clans into a more cohesive people and then pass off the reins to Bo-Katan or whoever else might show up (not Paz, tho. We know he would never lmao) and then go back to being a simple space dad and raising his kid. We’ll see.

I know some diehard, lifelong SW people that aren’t as into Mando because it’s not ‘classic Star Wars.’ And I know others, including myself, that love it the most for that very reason. It has a little bit of give for the classic fans, like those cameos and mentions of greater things. Those just aren’t the forefront. Which I love!

Plus, at the heart of every Star Wars story is found family, which is exactly what Din and Grogu are. Like you said, my love, their connection is just so unique and special! They and their dynamic are the driving force behind this show — it doesn’t need anything else to carry it. They are why we love it so much. Bigger SW is a pile of puzzle pieces of things that get put together to form a narrative and Mando is more like a poster. It’s all already there, created by a few key elements and has some of those in common with the puzzle, but can stand alone. You don’t need to do the puzzle to enjoy looking at the poster. (Idk if that makes sense but it’s all I can think of rn lol)

The force is just Grogu’s little quirk. The empire’s just the bitch that made Din’s life harder and made it personal when they tried to hurt his kid. He took names and kicked asses, and then he was done with them. Mandalore’s gotta just be the current thorn in Din’s ass that he needs to tweezer out.

Side characters. Assist trophies, if you will. But not the driving force. That’s them:

also I hate the whole ‘repenting for his sins’ dialogue but tbh I think they’re just using that for hype I don’t think it’ll actually be that deep and he’ll instead take the time to come into his own and explore other types of mandalorian life that feels much more like what he’d do but that’s just me. Also I’m still very much recovering from what they did to BOBF so I can’t help but be anxious in general about how this is gonna go. Wouldn’t put it past Jon to shoot himself in the foot with his best work.

Double also, after seeing that thing Jon said I am just pissed that there just seems to be no effort or forethought being put into the timeline of the narrative!!! Hire writers, Jon!! Give Din and Grogu the intent their story deserves, in every way!! Or I’ll bite your face!!

ok rant over thank you for this ask darling!! ❤️

#buckle up babes I have a RANT #the mandalorian

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rocksrntpeople · 2 years ago

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MCU Rewatch - The Incredible Hulk

There are many people who are begging for a proper go at the origin story for the Hulk. The Incredible Hulk shows how Bruce Banner, a brilliant scientist, got wrapped up in his own hubris (and the U.S. military), had a horrible accident, went on the run (from the U.S. military), and finally ended up in Brazil where he got a job and anger management training. All in all, a pretty good introduction for the Hulk on paper. On the screen? This all happens within about 45 seconds.

So you watch this intro and then see Banner sipping a drink and taking a deep breath, and it just feels like the movie is staring you right in the eyes, whispering, Fin.

WHAT THE FUCK.

What the fuck else am I supposed to watch now? You just told me all of the interesting bits, minus the interesting part. I felt like Mason in Black Ops, just getting flashed with images that I just know mean something, are part of something I heard about long ago, but I just can’t tell what it all means.

So this movie begins with visual torture and is immediately followed up by about a hundred questions that are way more interesting than anything that’s actually part of the plot.

What was the incident that happened 158 days earlier? The lab, or something closer to Banner’s current location?

Who the hell is his trainer? Does he know he’s the Hulk? Did he find him after an incident?

Matter of fact, how long has it been since he ran away?

Who is that gorgeous chick??

Literally none of these questions are answered. There are different implied timelines for the initial incident, with both 5 months and 3 years thrown around. My guess is that his initial incident happened 3 years ago and 5 months earlier was whatever happened that got him in Brazil. It’s honestly not even worth Googling.

After you’ve been pumped through the first, and most engaging, half hour of the movie, suffering from story whiplash and generally confused as to where the movie thinks it's going…

…you’ll finally arrive at the point where the movie begins to beat you over the head with the fact that Bruce Banner is Hulk.

Yay.

Where Iron Man was perfectly orchestrated to amplify everything about him through small details that really fit his personality and his world, The Incredible Hulk manages to mirror Banner’s slapped-in existence in some random ghetto.

I mean, how many Hulk-green pieces of cloth are actually hanging in the world? Because I think at least half of them are in this specific Brazilian slum. I mean, even the fucking soda being bottled is god damn gamma green. I bet the producers were like, “Oh yeah, that looks sick with the blood in it; just like how Hulk happened probably!”

And honestly, the rest of the movie is BORING. Holy shit, this is a clear example of what superhero movies were before Iron Man. Both movies were in production at the same time, as they released within months of each other, so it seems pretty clear that the whole Marvel team weren’t sure how this whole, “just make it like the comic book” thing was gonna work out with Iron Man.

Probably shouldn’t have countered with one of the least relatable characters in Marvel who’d also just had a horrific flop of a movie less than ten years earlier, huh?

I mean, obviously some people are going to enjoy the rest of this movie. I’ve mentioned before that I’m actually not a huge fan of action movies. They’re boring. I see why people watch them; it’s the same reason I still love isekai anime; but they’re all the same:

“Omg, some military guy is doing something horrible and one guy is simultaneously wrapped up in it and the target of this military guy, and since this is an action flick, literally no one on the planet — no law enforcement, no governments, no other high-ranking military guy — can stop them except for this unassuming guy who, again, helped (or at least failed to stop) the military guy be evil in the first place.”

The Incredible Hulk does all of this and then has the added bonus of trying to redeem the military guy who almost kidnapped a man and threw him in a hole because he refused to commit crimes against humanity.

Yep, they find an even eviler guy who wants raw power to combat Hulk and lead a new age of super-soldier slaves that definitely would never be approved by anyone and would definitely violate the Geneva convention.

Also, can we talk about the “raw power” trope. Who the fuck wants raw anything?! Even fucking raw dogging ends up with a disease or a kid half the time, so what the fuck is with this “raw power” shit? Does anyone actually think that if they were the strongest person on the planet, but looked like a horrifying monster, that they would be able to do anything significant besides get killed? What’s the end goal there? You become all-powerful, a horrifying monster, win everything and then…go to Disney? Guess what fuckwit, you’re too big to even get through the gates. Have fun with sex too; you weigh like 3 tons now, so hopefully they make car sized fleshlights. Oh, and don’t even ask how much you have drink and smoke just to get a quick hit of vertigo.

This is the kind of shit that completely takes me out of action movies, but not out of superhero movies (because they often answer these kinds of questions, or at least don’t ignore them! We’ll talk about this more when Thanos shows up). And it’s this kind of shit that makes The Incredible Hulk incredibly bad.

On top of all of this. On top of all of the in-your-face symbolism, the dual villains who have completely lost touch with reality and how the world works, the lack of ingenuity and originality, and the missing origins for this origin story.

This movie was horribly cast.

Liv Tyler, William Hurt, Edward Norton, Lou fucking Ferrigno — it’s tough to see how this cast could fail, but they managed it.

Honestly, their acting wasn’t bad, it just totally didn’t fit…with anything! There was no chemistry between any characters, good or bad. The most human interaction we see is when he’s quietly working in the bottling factory. Even as he’s being interrogated and threatened, Norton doesn’t look anything but confident that he’s going to have lunch with Hurt later.

Overall, this movie was plagued by fear. Fear that people didn’t want another Hulk movie, fear that Iron Man would be a total misfire, fear that without big names behind the film nobody would be willing to watch it, fear that the origin story of the Hulk had been overdone.

In truth, Hulk’s story was essentially perfected in the minds of millions with the TV show from the 70’s. Even though many of us are not fans, when this movie came out that’s all anyone was talking about (we had societally agreed not to discuss Hulk); it’s part of the reason they got Lou Ferrigno again, to garner trust with the fans. But, it’s tough to beat perceived perfection, as we will all probably find out when they start trying to remake these movies in a few decades. Tbf though, they could have tried a little harder.

In addition to this, the unreasonably-angry-and-overbearing-military-guy trope is on its way out. It’s just totally unrealistic and annoying to have so much power being put behind such blatant disregard for diplomacy, money, and the most basic sense of humanity, plus of course they always have to throw in a woman to be verbally/physically abused by this character archetype and that’s just not fun to watch (it never was).

While I now agree that Hulk has been done dirty by the MCU as far as origins go, there’s no way to go back now. A new origin movie would flop almost as much as the Black Widow movie and have about as much substance. We can always hope for a redemptive movie for Hulk; there are only about a hundred reasons why the Hulk should not have a standalone movie at all.

My verdict: 2/10

If you want to stay true to the MCU and/or if you have someone in your life who isn’t into superhero movies but likes action films, watch The Incredible Hulk as part of an MCU rewatch. If you aren’t doing a full rewatch, just watch the first 2 minutes and you’ll have a better experience.

Next week is Iron Man 2. We do see him at the end of The Incredible Hulk, where he mentions “putting together a team”, apparently inviting this military guy? But not really, because why the fuck would he even be in cahoots with a big weapons enthusiast?? Also, spoiler alert: this general is not in the Avengers.

Anyways, I truly remember nothing about Iron Man 2 so…

I’m sure it’s fine.

#the incredible hulk #hulk #incredible hulk movie #hulk 2008 #mcu rewatch #mcu #marvel #edward norton #Iron Man

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musette22 · 5 months ago

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OH @brooklynbear32, I love that so much! Ah! I don't mean to hijack your very lovely idea, but my brain is yelling Shrunkyclunks fic ideas at me so I hope you don't mind if I just throw it out here? 🙈

Maybe Bucky Barnes and his sister Becca run a B&B somewhere in upstate New York, and maybe the Avengers manage to save that B&B (along with its owners) from some kind of alien/giant lizard/random bad guy attack one day. Maybe Bucky and Becca are so thankful for this that they decide to extend an open invitation to the Avengers to come and stay at their slightly-banged-up-but-fortunately-not-totalled little B&B (which includes a modest spa) for as long as they like, free of charge. Because they'd like to give something back, and because they figure with all that fighting and saving the world they do, the Avengers deserve to switch off and be pampered a little sometimes, too.

Of course, Thor is off-world again and doesn't even receive the invite, Tony can afford the best hotels the world has to offer so thanks but no thanks, Bruce already books himself into a spa every now and then as part of his relaxation routine, and Clint says he gets plenty of R&R at his farm, but Steve. Steve thinks it sounds... nice. He's curious enough that he looks up the B&B online, and it looks cozy and warm, nothing like the almost clinical, minimalist high-end hotels and spas he's been to with the team. He imagines himself sitting in one of those comfy armchairs, reading one of the many books that line the bookshelves next to the fireplace, and he just thinks it would be... nice. Unfortunately, he's never been very good at doing nice things for himself, or at accepting charity for that matter. Other people deserve it more than him, after all.

But to Steve's surprise, Natasha (who was lazing next to him on the couch while he was browsing) unexpectedly announces she'd like to take the Barnes B&B up on their offer ("they've got four cats, Steve"), but that she'd feel better if someone went with her. And Steve may know that Natasha can more than fend for herself, but he is ultimately too much of a gentleman to tell her no when she asks him to accompany her (Natasha, of course, was counting on this fact. Steve makes it too easy, really).

So off they go, just Steve and Nat, to stay at the quaint little B&B in the countryside for a couple of days or maybe even longer, Avengering permitting.

Cue Steve stammering through their introductions when one of the Barnes siblings, Bucky, turns out to be the most stunning man he's ever laid eyes on. Cue Bucky being inordinately charmed by this tall, very handsome and very buff superhero who effusively compliments Bucky's signature scrambled eggs, insists on taking out the trash, and mostly just seems to want to sit in an armchair with a book and a cup of tea, if he isn't chatting to Bucky while he's going about his daily chores. Cue Steve, who's only wearing a tiny towel, breaking out into a full-body blush when he realises that Bucky is the one who will be giving him his massage. Cue Natasha and Becca gleefully watching these to idiots moon over each other and helping them out (i.e. ganging up on them) by engineering various situations in which Bucky and Steve find themselves suddenly alone in secluded locations. And cue, eventually, Steve and Bucky confessing their feelings, Steve retiring from active duty and taking over co-running the B&B from Becca, who's decided she'd like to go back to college and pursue the law degree she'd always dreamed off.

Once the B&B has been re-christened "Barnes' & Rogers' Bed & Breakfast", even Tony decides to deign it with a visit. There's no way he's going to pass up the chance to a) see Steve wearing an apron, b) annoy him by requesting five different kinds of eggs at breakfast, and c) watch Steve looking truly happy for the first time since they've know him, totally in his element running this quaint little B&B with his charming lumberjack boyfriend and his four adopted cats (obviously, though, Tony would rather go to therapy and talk about his feelings than confess to that last one).

#my brain is running with this oh boy #might even write it??#if that's ok??#who knows??#maybe there could even be a becca & nat romance?? idk??#stucky #oh no I should have been in bed ages ago fml

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joy2paris · 1 year ago

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One week so far in Paris...

Wow, I cannot believe it has been a week already.

I find it a little difficult to navigate how to do these blog posts - I want to share everything, but then it becomes more of a diary as opposed to something others are intended to read.

My mum was with me for 4 nights which really helped me settle in. We were in a hotel in the 13th arrondissement and going to Grenoble to visit my friend in the summer really gave me the confidence to order in French!

Spent the beginning just sorting out admin stuff, like getting a french phone number, bank account, travel passes etc (still needs to be sorted because there is YET again, more admin issues).

This is a random idea, but when I properly move into my studio and get into a routine, I would love to draft up perhaps new sketches for these French websites.

I am not going to lie, with the level of nerves I felt before coming, I have been coping way better than I thought I would. In fact, it is not even a coping type thing. I feel really calm and proud of myself? I really thought I would be feeling really emotional and strange. Perhaps that is to come, as it is still early days haha. I am just excited because I am already witnessing much more compassion with myself, as well as having that, "it is what it is mentality", accepting things for what they are and allowing myself to laugh at my mistakes and not take things personally.

On the Thursday, there was an Erasmus Bar night thing which I decided to brave and go alone. In the end, it had been cancelled and I only found out once I was there. Past me would probably have been bummed and felt like, of course that happened to me, and perhaps even embarrassed. But I walked away from there with a smile on my face because I had taken that step! Just the act of doing that was encouraging. The day after I braved another Rugby night event thing alone. It was a bit difficult at first because I was late and people were already in groups. I spoke to these two lovely girls, who ended up being Erasmus volunteers LOOL. So, essentially their role was to be lovely. I felt a bit disheartened by this and was considering leaving. But then a German girl came down alone too and we got chatting! Relating to people on stuff is always a nice feeling - we spoke about the stresses of trying to find housing in Paris and the other hurdles we have to over come. Then, a volunteer let us know there were some other Germans at this event, so she went to speak to them. I asked for her socials and will be nice to meet with her at some point - then I left. I felt a slight wave of sadness but nothing major.

Progress is not linear, however I do feel like I can see myself becoming better at observing my feelings rather than submitting to them wholeheartedly. Like, feeling a slight wave of one emotion and then turning it up x1000 in my brain so that it becomes overwhelming. And also, just learning to deep everything that concerns the situation. Such as, remembering I have been here for such a little amount of time.

The following day was the meeting at my university. There were so many people outside and I got speaking to the sweetest Spanish girl. She was really friendly and had a good energy about her. A group of guys behind us were also Spanish so they got chatting. We got into the meeting and it was a general introduction type session. It's kind of funny - because everyone hammered into me that French people are "rude", it means that I expect that, and most I have come across have been nothing but sweet and helpful. I believe it is just a kind of, no-nonsense bluntness that also comes because of translating. e.g. they are not native English so it can come across ruder.

Went for cocktails with the Spanish people I met in a really fancy room. It was really giving Parisian with its high ceilings and beautiful balcony. I love the architecture here so much. I've realised I am a lot more interested in that than I think, buildings really stand out to me.

The champagne was open bar and canapes are never really filling, and we all decided to go out to a pub type place after so I was really feeling it haha. I think this event was actually for the university I was originally supposed to attend, but they are quite connected I believe? Especially with all of the socialising so there was a lot of exhaustion in the mix. Already, I have learned so much and realised so much. Being from England comes with massive amounts of privilege, especially language wise. The fact that everyone can speak competent English, and that is universal is so wild. I also got to hear more about Spanish politics; I love that coming to quite an esteemed academic place means that those are the kind of conversations that crop up so early on haha. Also semi means there is a sense of maturity from the guys? Unless most UK guys are just very....immature etc. I don't want to bash them as I usually do, but yeah so far I already feel like I have come across European guys here who can uphold intellectually stimulating conversations but also see you as a human before seeing you for your gender?

One thing that is kind of funny though, is that being British, and specifically London, means I got a lot of questions based on the kind of stereotypes that circulate. I got asked if I was "from the ends" and if it is "dangerous" where I am, what I think of Northern Ireland and the referendum, my opinion of King Charles etc. Spoke about Morocco too as one guy was from there and about my experience when I went. I really do enjoy speaking to new people, but ESPECIALLY people that have a good energy about them. I feel that is something I can tell pretty early on. Equally, I can tell when someone is not the kind of person I enjoy having conversations with, or the way they interact with other people etc - it speaks volumes to me.

I felt so drained after that meet up and half napped when I got back to the hotel. Will do a new post for what else has happened!

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