#like maybe I'm dumb (TM)

[mellonhead58]

Captain Laserhawk be like

episodes 1-3:

episodes 4-5:

episode 6:

[muppetminge]

look i'm not going to pretend like my generation didn't have models that weighed less than a bag of sand and airbrushing in the magazines and all that shit because we did and that was fucked up too

but i get so like. genuinely freaked out by like filters on social media and those kinds of things. it makes me worry for the girls who are growing up with these things as normal. i just can't help but feel like a filter that tries to *correct* your fucking face in real time must be so so so much worse than what we had? even just the "silly/fun" ones still smooth out your skin and shave off half your nose and reshape your face. so many phones have magic smoothing as an automatic feature on the front cams. so it's like not even an active choice or something you're aware of. and so much of this world is based on selfies and videos so you're gonna be seeing it *constantly*. you take a selfie for fun but the photo is unrecognisable. it's not you. if that's not a breeding ground for body dysmorphia i don't know what is.

and we knew that those "model standards" were unrealistic and unattainable and they still fucked us up! but today you're seeing your peers all made up like that online and logically that must connect into a feeling of like. that should be attainable? but it's still not! and idk but that can't be fucking healthy.

it just feels like to me there's a difference between seeing heidi klum or whoever and then your classmate maria posting pictures with perfect skin, straightened nose, whitened teeth. it's like the insane otherworldly standards we grew up with has been pulled down into everyday life. idk i just don't think it's coincidence that today we have 15 year olds sharing anti-aging routines and wearing 5 layers of makeup just to leave the house. the standards for a normal face has been digitally altered

[parab0mb]

“If Crosscode is so great why isn’t there a Crosscode 2?!”

Crosscode 2:

OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL THING TO WAKE UP TO

[galactic-rhea]

you know, maybe I'm wrong, but my interpretation of Anakin/Vader and Redeemed Anakin is that he pretty much is aware he's terrible. He pretty much thinks of himself as a monster even before becoming Vader, he considers himself one as soon as he had to leave Shmi to survive as a slave alone while he got to become The Chosen One and travel the stars (his basic understanding of love is self-sacrifice), he knows the tusken massacre was bad, he knows murdering disarmed Dooku was bad; he knew turning against the jedi and helping Palpatine was bad; he's extremelly self aware of his violence and hates himself for it.

I think it's easy to think of him as nonchalant or as sort of a shameless dick about it all because his General At War Persona was to be jokey and pretend he's having fun. He's very confident on his ability for Murder (tm), he (tragically) became one of the Best general jedis in the order by becoming good at murder, he's useful when he's being murderous at the right people; so he has no doubts on his abilities on this regard; that doesn't mean he isn't aware of how fucked up and cruel it is, but he keeps doing it, and it's all he knows; he was born in violence, raised in violence, taught to yield a extremelly dangerous weapon, groomed into violence, rewarded for violence, cheered for violence, with Ahsoka then he had to teach violence, and then violence just became something that ran in his blood, it came to him easily, too easily because he was never given the means to deal with such a extreme hyperviolent paradigm. So yep, he knows he's good at murder and little self-preservation.

And he probably despised himself for it, he saw himself as less than a being with human rights, he saw himself as a weapon and he hated not being seen as a person, and at some point he became apathic about it, the fight left him as soon as he had no future with a family. As Vader his hate and anger is just cold fury, is mostly apathy and a void of emotions, there's just pain and self-disgust and regret and old anger, there's not even trying to be something else anymore, it's all he's ever been good at and all he's being asked to do.

So redeemed Anakin (which canonically just means Ghost Anakin lmao) acting oblivious or playing the dumb or victim card it's just something I can't even imagine him to do; like Anakin is aware of being violent and messed up and Bad, but he is completely unable to concieve the idea of having been a victim because besides violence, Anakin's other big trait is that he never ever processes trauma and he horrifically has a history of blaming himself instead of the people who owned him.

This guy, when he was at his best as a Jedi, was pathologically prone to suicidal missions even when it wasn't a necessity, he thinks he's an asset, a means for his superiors to impose their stance and chose to own it, instead of blaming his superiors he just hates himself because he can't stop pathetically reliving when he left his mom behind, when he carried her corpse, when he retaliated against even innocents including kids, when he hurt Padmé, all the times he failed, and the he lived in his personal, fitly created just for him, inferno and had no plans to escape it until one certain sunshine farmer showed up, and all because he thinks he deserves the torture and the abuse and being owned because he's just good at murder and nothing else.

So yeah, no one probably hates him more than himself. Someone could tell Ghost Anakin he's a monster, the worst thing that ever happened in the galaxy and he would say "Yes." And no attempts at arguing or whatsoever, his dignity couldn't be lower if he tried, he would half-heartly agree if someone like Luke said the emperor did him wrong by, y'know, torture him? But then he would also say something like "Well, yes, but cruelty is the way of the Sith, what else could be expected", he's just terribly messed up and couldn't stop himself from defending, at least a little, his literal groomer and abuser and master, and he certainly won't expect forgiveness, like,,,,at all. He can, and will, make excuses for people directly hurting him, but he also would retaliate in terrible ways against anyone, guilty or not, if it meant doing it for someone he cared about.

So Anakin is just...used to being used, and falls easily into being used because it's what he knows best, freedom feels useless and uncertain after he lost padmé.

It's an increíble vicious circle: He worked himself hard to be useful because being useful it's what makes people like him and a means of survival, he then hates himself for being just useful and loosing his personhood, and because he hates himself and thinks he doesn't deserve any sort of...human rights, he keeps on being a mere weapon, an object, but what a good and expensive weapon at least, repeat.

So nope, this guy would be completely unable to even dare to play the victim or excuse himself, even less act as if he doesn't understand he did wrong.

[couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name]

I think instead of the marigold and durango having a Sex Pollen(tm) effect on ben and jennifer they should have just done something like. some of the 43 children have an instant connection with each other?? like luther and sloane. diego and lila. viktor and marcus sorry I still think they should have hooked up in that diner. and maybe that's a bad thing for a reason that doesn't turn them into fleshy lava blob monsters, but that's why reginald doesn't want them together and that's also why sloane is missing, maybe something like if they have kids it'll be dangerous so then the season is about them worrying about gracie?? I'm spitballing off the top of my head here but the 'we're gonna fuck until the universe ends' thing was dumb as hell lmfao

[cassandralie]

Muriel, the Dimmest Little Morningstar

Maybe the question isn't "was Crowley Lucifer?" but who else was also Lucifer? After all, there was more than one Morningstar

or, as Crowley put it more casually,

he doesn't remember them, of course, probably due to Book of Life fuckery, just like he doesn't remember Fufur and Saraquel, who were also probably in the Morningstar Legion (that or the rebels called themselves Morningstars).

Which is why he also doesn't remember Muriel and Muriel also doesn't remember him. Both of them had their memories altered by the Book of Life*

*Sub Theory: the Book of Life erases who you were, makes it so you never existed... but you don't disappear or die. You become someone new. Hopefully this theory doesn't implode later--yeah, that's right, I made that sub joke instead of the other kind involving um...sandwiches.

But, just like Pepperidge Farms, the Metatron remembers.

he didn't say the "dumb" one, or the "stupid" one. Maybe to be polite. But "dim" isn't very polite either. It's just slightly less on the nose than the "not very bright one", aka the Dimmest Morningstar

But what happened to Muriel and their original memories? The same thing that was going to happen to Gabriel, obviously!

Muriel is basically a junior reporting angel. Sorry, scrivener. A no one and they know it.

Ranked so low they didn't know there was a rank under (which there probably wasn't until the Metatron wanted to punish Gabriel)

whatever Muriel did Before the Fall, whatever their name used to be, the Metatron didn't get rid of them because:

that's right, Neil Gaiman the Metatron will need Muriel for his evil plans, probably involving thee Second Coming and another apocalypse.

maybe to keep them out of the way, or maybe because they have power he's waiting for the right moment to unlock.

But he does make sure it's still locked.

Other people have explained that the book is about pieceing together fragments of the past* Maybe Muriel will remember who they are? Remember who Crowley is? Remember what really happened to cause the War in Heaven, the Fall, all that?

Maybe they will remember just in time to stop the Second Coming and the Second Armageddon--with help from our divorced dads, of course.

(*also a missing uncle - Crowley? A fellow Morningstar.

*also an estranged father with a belief in a higher power - Aziraphale? the Metatron?

*and also an exploded Grandmother - God? Muriel's previous identity?)

For further evidence, please note the star and crown on their helmet and recall "everything is meant" TM

This looks like a former Prince of Heaven, Morningstar Legion to me

And that is my theory :)

(if anyone said this first, sorry! All credit to you!)

Now, I'm no published author and barely anyone reads my fics (but the ones who do are Real Ones-- I love ya'll), so I have zero street cred here, and am probably so off the mark my dart hit the wall instead of the dart board, but I wanted to share my thoughts anyway and see what everyone thinks. Please let me know!

(Bonus Crack Theory: Muriel's original name was Lucy/Luci/Luciel. Combine with Fufur, that would make a Lucifer with bad demon spelling Lucyfur.)

[olderthannetfic]

Hi OTNF!! Sometimes I like to read this fandom problem blog that receives submissions from people all over Tumblr, recently this was posted and I wanted to know what you thought of it: The tag types of "Tags update as story is written" or "additional tags to be added" or "Rating may change." Fuck those. I don't care if you add some extra benign tags as the story goes along, and you realise you wanna add more content that's just there, or you realise your fic maybe went a bit harder than you expected. Some stories get their own life. But at the same time, if you knew you'd want to add certain content, or that the rating was gonna go way up from what you tagged in the beginning, why did you not tag it from the start? Especially when the tagged content becomes a big part of the story, or influences the story strongly. And then you find out that the Author already had been planning adding this type of content for a long time, they just FOR SOME STUPID-ASS REASON didn't wanna add the tag until it actually happens. You're supposed to tag so the people can make an informed decision if they wanna commit to your fic, so for the love of the tagging-system, actually TAG ALL YOUR SHIT FROM THE START. Same shit for changing ratings. I hate it when someone plans from the start to make the story explicit, but doesn't change the rating until they've reached the NSFW sections. There's a reason there's a tagging system. So do you just not understand how that works? Or are you just being kind of as ass on purpose? This does not help when avoiding stories with specific content you try to exclude from your results. It's even dumber if the reason is to "avoid spoiling the fic readers", because anyone coming later to the fic is going to be "spoiled" by the tags regardless. And if you know you wanna add porn, or gore, then rate the story appropriately. Rather categorise it too high, than fuck around with people who don't wanna read explicit content. As a writer who uses the Archive, I want to put my 2 cents in. When I'm writing a fic, a long fic for example, I want to tag the stuff that actually DOES appear at that time so that I'm not clogging other tags/people don't think I'm spamming to inflate my readership (And I DEFINITELY do not want something I worked hard on to get reported for spam). I do get the frustration at reading a fic and then something changes like the rating, but as a writer, sometimes things go off script and one thing that's rated T or M might eventually become E just based off the writing juices doing it's thing(tm). To me, the "Additional tags to be added" is kind of like CNTW, it's something the reader has to make a decision if they want to risk getting invested/read that particular fic. It feels very much like a "damned if you do/damned if you don't" situation. What are some of your thoughts on something like this?

--

Writers are always going to vary in their favorite approach, and readers who act like there's one right answer are idiots.

For me personally, even if I'm posting as I write, I do have a solid idea of where the fic is going, and I strongly prefer—both as a reader and writer—to have all of the tags in place at the beginning.

I also don't like over-tagging for warnings and only want to see/use tags for the basic main content of the fic, which does make it easier to know ahead of time than if I tagged every tiny thing.

I think spoilers are a dumb reason not to tag things.

So I agree with the complainer's tastes...

...but at the same time, they're acting like these ought to be rules, and AO3 is designed to accommodate a lot of different people with different styles, so I think their attitude leaves something to be desired.

[rocksibblingsau]

Sharing one of my favorite songs for Country Brickory to distract myself (and hopefully others) from the ✨on-going horrors✨

It's Thoroughfare by Ethel Cane (mother), the lyrics, low-key vibes and the narrative structure feel so fitting to Branch for me and everytime I hear it I can always clearly picture him singing it about and to Hickory. It's just so... them(tm) in everyway that matters (or maybe its just my delusions speaking to me again, but that's neither here nor there)

And it's also a great song instrumental wise and Ethel's vocals on it are just *chef's kiss", so if you haven't heard it, like recommend giving it a listen :D

"You fell in love with America

When you were twelve years old

And by seventeen you knew you had to see it all

You loved your dad and the love he had for your mother so

You had to get out and go chasin' it's sweet call

I met you there in Texas somewhere on the thoroughfare

On the side of the road in some torn-up clothes

With a pistol in my pocket

I didn't trust no one but you said, "Baby, don't run

I'll take you anywhere"

So I hopped right in, outta luck to spend

And at least your truck beats walking

And you said, "Hey, do you wanna see the West with me?

'Cause love's out there and I can't leave it be"

And I said, "Honey, love's never meant much to me

But I'll come with you if you're sure it's what you need"

So we made off for California

To find your lover, driving day and night

And every small-town diner

Saw our faces at least once or twice

But in these motel rooms

I started to see you differently, oh

'Cause for the first time since I was a child

I could see a man who wasn't angry

And he said, "It's been a long damn time since I left Florida

No one left to leave and no one left to love

But now that I met you, I finally know just where I'm headin'"

And we found Heaven in time

Where your western sunshine met my deep Southern wet

And you got lost in it and yet you found yourself

Hard-pressed for air and sweatin'

And you said, "Hey, do you wanna see the west with me?

(Do you wanna see the West with me?)

'Cause love's out there and I can't leave it be"

(I can't leave it, I can't leave it)

And I said, "Honey, love's never meant that much to me

(Nothing much)

But I'll come with you if you're sure it's what you need"

And once we reached the coast you said, "End of the line"

We finally reach the edge, after all this time

I didn't find my love but I still made it this far without it

And then you turned to me and stared into me deep

And said, "Well, maybe not, 'cause look at what I've got

You might not be my love, but, baby, I doubt it"

And you said, "Hey, do you wanna see the west with me?

(Do you wanna see the West with me?)

'Cause love's out there and I can't leave it be"

(I can't leave it, I can't leave it)

And I said, "Honey, love's never meant that much to me

(Nothing much)

But I'll come with you if you're sure it's what you need"

Yeah

Yeah

Yeah, yeah

Yeah

Yeah

'Cause in your pickup truck with all of your dumb luck

is the only place I think I'd ever wanna be"

ignore the horrors, have some Brickory.

[lemon-russ]

Every fuckin night when my meds wear off and I'm back to dumb ADHD brain that doesn't remember how tired and broke I am, brains like, psssst. I think a baby would probably fix us actually. And im like hmmm you make good points unmedicated brain, maybe being tired and broke and living in a house with Hazards (tm) would be not issues with a baby.

Anyways off I go to draw primarchs holding babies again so I don't take pliers to my arm implant.

[shizucheese]

I'm going to use some discourse (?) I've been seeing on my feed as a bouncing-off point for some thoughts and theories I have as of TMAGP 8.

So like...I know a lot of people who are arguing about Gerry being goth vs. not goth in TMAGP are basing it off of the idea that he's happy.

"This Gerry isn't goth because he's happy and not traumatized!"

"You don't need to be traumatized to be goth, you can be happy and have lived a good life and still be goth!"

Um...guys? How often does it turn out that the most cheerful people are the ones hurting most?

Gerard Keaye is living with Gertrude Robinson and calling her "GG", and she's calling him her grandson.

Let me say that again:

Gerard Keay, descendent of Friend-of-Jonah Magnus (and finder of books that eventually were stolen by Jonah that may or may not have eventually became what we now know as Leitners) Albrect von Closen, lives with Gertrude Robinson, whose TMA counterpart was the head archivist of the Magnust Institute, and the Archivist, Avatar of the Eye. And calls her "GG." And she calls him her grandson.

Do you seriously believe for even a second that he was telling the truth about not having had much experience or remembering much about the Magnus Institute?

Do you honestly think for a second that those two are actually grandmother and grandson, even by adoption, and that this isn't just a cover? (Didn't they pull this same shit/ let people assume they were related in TMA, too?)

Like here I am smacking myself because I missed the very obvious fact that "there were no survivors"--in reference to the fire at the Magnus Institute--1) may not even be true for all we know (this is the fucking Magnus Institute, ffs), and 2) even if it is true, only means that nobody who was in the building at the time of the fire survived; it does not mean that everybody who worked for the Institute died.

So here's what I'm thinking: Gerry was absolutely part of the Gifted Kids program. Gertrude was an employee at the Institute. Maybe she was directly involved with the Gifted Kids program, or maybe she was Head Archivist again, but somehow had some involvement, even just tangentially, with the Gifted Kids program, or via some other circumstances ended up getting to know Gerry. Or maybe Gerry ending up with her was just pure dumb luck on his part.

Maybe she and Gerry survived the fire (maybe they were two of the very few, or were the only survivors?) And Gertrude took Gerry in after the fact.

Or maybe the Gifted Kids Program was like....exactly the kind of Bad News (tm) that I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking it was, and Gertrude had enough of a conscious that she grabbed Gerry and fucking ran, and so they weren't even there when the fire happened?

Or, wait, like....

What if the fire was a smokescreen to distract from her grabbing Gerry and running, or was to cover up any evidence of their existence or something so they could go into hiding?

What if Gerry isn't Gertrude's only "grandkid"?

The timeline absolutely does not line up for her to have been one of Gertrude's "grandkids," I'm acknowledging this here and now, because by 1999, when the fire happened, Agnes should have been in her 40's. But we also don't know how different the timeline is in the TMAGP universe or how long the Magnus Institute might have been running this "Gifted Kid Program", or what it involved, or what they would have considered "Gifted" in the context of what they were all about. So like...what if?

And if that's the case, who else might be Gertrude's "grandchildren" that we might recognize?

[lotus-duckies]

Anyway my hot take for why Gentar is the most Confident TM and also the most stupid out of Boboiboy's forms is because of the attitude Boboiboy had going into the fusion

something something his elements are deeply tied to his emotions etc etc insert photos of the ori series' elemental activation

And Frostfire for example was formed out of the only elements he had and it was a last ditch attempt against Retak'ka. He Couldn't do anything else, and this also goes for Glacier and Supra. Fusions that resulted out of necessity so none of them really have distinct personalities, just depicted with heroism and the desire to kill Retak'ka.

And Sori just got a mixture of Solar and Duri's personalities, a symbolic end to their feuding during the arc I think.

Gentar is different from all of these. Boboiboy was forced not to use Frostfire and it was completely uncalled for to make a Whole new One when there were at least 3 other existing fusions to choose from. Considering how much Qually was hyping up his fusion powers, it seems likely he did it for the Dazzle Factor TM (and maybe also spite) (i mean he has a great liking to praise they made that abundantly clear in season 1)

He was probably like "I'm going to make a new fusion and it's going to be so cool it'll literally knock Gopal over and make him regret not letting me use Frostfire"

And of course he later comes to regret that and acknowledge it was really dumb to make a fusion like that in a critical situation, to make a fusion out of arrogance and spite rather than prioritizing the current problem.

His confidence also seems to be at least somewhat surface level, since after expressing his elation at discovering he does indeed have powers, he tries to cover it up

tldr: gentar is confident because he was made for dazzle and spite

[quaggyday]

(Talk of suicide and spoilers for JFA)

Okay this is probably really dumb, but there actually is nuance to Miles awful move to Adrian in Farewell my turnabout.

Was what he did horrible? Yes! It was horrid and even when I got to it I felt a shiver down my spine because my only thought was "Jeez Miles, that's cold". What he did was a really shitty thing to do and we should acknowledge Mile's flaws within the canon.

But simultaneously, there was a reason to what Miles did. First off, maybe this is different cause I'm playing the ds version of AA but Miles only does it when he realizes Phoenix is panicking about Maya's safety. He doesn't yet know Maya is in danger but he trusts Phoenix enough to understand that this isn't normal Wright cornered tm panic. He realizes that prolonging this trial is important even if he doesn't know why yet.

Another thing is that Miles is someone who wants to get out the truth. He understands that Adrian hiding what she knows is only going to hurt her in the long run and with finding out who the actual killer is, plus because the court is desperate for an answer he goes out frigid as his last option.

Mile's is a ruthless person and even though he has grown from AA1 he still has the teeth of a demon prosecutor. He simply changes it for better albeit not perfect reasons.

And there's also the fact he puts his words in Adrian's mouth. Mile's is someone who projects a whole ton and the fact he chooses those specific words knowing Adrian probably doesn't know the context of them means something to me at least. I can't help but feel that in some stupid way, this is the only path he knows to helping her with a problem he's faced. Is it really shitty? Obviously but there is reason.

All in all I made this post cause I heard this line before playing Fmt, and I've spent awhile just thinking about it a lot. What I really wanted to get to is what Mile's did was very wrong but it wasn't just because he was out of character or acting like a piece of shit. There was more to it.

[loominggaia]

darkwingphoenix  Luckily Cyana stops putting on makeup basically 0.69 nanoseconds after she's on Shadow's gondola in my fic. I personally believe once she leaves Evangeline she usually has her hair in a Tactical Braid(TM) most of the time, and starts growing it out a lot. Also, can I just say this? Cerulea looks kinda fine without makeup (Like a middle aged teacher, sorta), and Rodrig is just an older math teacher. Lazuline looks basically how I imagined Saphirra looks oddly weird yet attractive? IDK Teal looks like she has Down Syndrome. Not dunking on those with it, but I can definitely see it. I will also note that Down Syndrome affects intelligence. Maybe that's why she's kinda dumb? And Cyana looks like a fucking 12 year old, wtf? Like a tired asf 12 year old. I fully acknowledge she's 16 but she looks 12 and depressed.

-----

Cyana can wear her hair a lot of ways! A tactical braid would look cute on her.

I agree, Cerulea is quite pretty in my opinion. Her traditional Evangelite clown-makeup really does her a disservice...I laughed when you said she and Rodrig look like teachers because you're SO RIGHT! They look like mean, strict teachers in particular. Rodrig looks like he'll give you detention if you so much as fart in his class.

Teal having Down syndrome is an interesting thought I never considered! Unfortunately I don't think it would fit in to the existing lore, because Evangelite culture is not very friendly to those with obvious disabilities. Since her family has money, they would likely send her to live in a nursing facility and she would not be permitted to marry, as they would fear a man "taking advantage" of her condition.

If anyone has an intellectual disability, I would say it's most likely Danus. It may not be obvious enough to get him institutionalized, but his peers definitely suspect something is slightly "off" about him upstairs. I imagine he has some kind of mild, unspecified developmental delay. Teal doesn't have a delay, she's just intellectually lazy. She doesn't like to think too hard about anything, she'd rather be told exactly what to think and do. I think her face just looks odd here because 1) I drew it very quickly, and 2) her face is at a slightly downward angle, so her features look more "squashed" than they would if she was looking straight-on.

Cyana does look a lot younger without her makeup! She has a baby face, but she'll probably grow out of it as she gets older. We'll say she's a late-bloomer. She looks sad and tired here because she IS sad and tired, her life in Evangeline Kingdom sucks! But one day she will find happiness, one way or another. I'm determined to give her story a happy ending!

*

Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

Read the Series

[theliterarywolf]

Can I have an explanation as to what is the Fyre Festival(?) I don't know if I'm too young or not American enough to know ^^''

Long story short, watch this

Short story long and I mean long, so a good portion in will have a Read More break for the sake of people's dashboards:

We have a trust-fund baby by the name of Billy McFarland. Full-on too much allowance and money from mommy and daddy and nowhere near enough brains to use it.

Billy calls himself making a black card (credit cards for obnoxiously wealthy people) company called Magnises where the premise is basically

Billy: 'Why, yes, this is a money-sink of what is already a money-sink, but with this you get amazing deals on concerts and meeting celebrities~!'

Anyone dumb enough to sign up: 'Um... Okay, at least that last part sounds good. How does it work?'

Billy: 'That's the neat part! IT DOESN'T!'

So anyone would think 'okay, you can't even make something as simple as a customized credit card work, maybe you should stay away from business and investments for a bit'. Not Billy! Because during some big party or whatever, he happened to meet the famous (to some people) rapper Ja Rule! And they got to talking and decided 'why don't we throw a music festival with high-profile acts in the Bahamas?!'

So they actually flew out to Great Exuma with a bunch of influencer thots and Instagram models and lived it up to the fullest. Why? So they could get promo material for a festival that literally didn't even exist.

So determined were they to get this footage that when one model expressed discomfort at getting into a swimming pool (it was getting late and she was cold), Ja Rule told her to, quote, 'Get your ass in the damn pool'.

So they got this footage and started promoting online. And they sold out! Awesome, right? For them to see how much interest they got had to mean that they realized they needed to get infrastructure and hospitality squared away, right?

Ha ha -- WRONG.

Because even other people who were employed by Billy and Ja Rule were telling them, begging them 'we need at least 2 years to pull off something like this'.

But remember! Billy McFarland has horrific denial issues! So he kept insisting that they could make it happen! Also, something something -- taking out a bunch of short-term loans that he couldn't afford to default on -- something.

So they go full steam ahead!

...By not paying the local laborers they hired, the restaurant-owner they hired, the staff they hired--

But, traloo-traley! They day eventually arrives! Excited festival-goers are hopping on their flights to the Bahamas, expecting the highest luxury that their $1200 tickets could pay for.

By the way, is it... too late to mention that tickets only ranged from $500 to $1200? For a two week music festival? With all amenities included? IN THE FUCKING BAHAMAS?!

Festival-goers step out of the airport and are directed onto a school bus. ...Okay. Where they are then driven to a pretty miserable looking beach. ...Okay. Where they see a swathe of disaster-relief tents.

Welcome to Fyre Festival*!

*Note: The Festival barely ended up lasting two days from a combination of festival-goers seeing the shitshow, trying to leave but not having any spending money (because the Festival was advertised as cashless), and eventually being rounded up by the Bahamian Government and taken back to the airport.

Also: In addition to the festival-goers being promised premium accommodations that turned out to be those disaster-relief tents, they were promised fine dining which those who arrived early got... At the expense of the restaurant owner who was never paid... But the rest were granted the boon of withered salad greens and 'sandwiches' made of limp bread and Government-Approved Cheese-Product (TM).

And all of this doesn't even go into the rumors of wild dog attacks, festival-goers attacking and stealing supplies from each other, Billy asking one of the event-planners, an elderly gentleman who was supposedly a long-time friend of his, to go to the head of Bahamian Customs and offer to suck his dick so they could import some drinking water, and of course Billy's scumbag denial about anything going wrong, about needing to pay his employees in the aftermath, or his eventual jail-time.

But this already got so long so, if anyone wants me to elaborate on anything else, it would have to be in response to a second ask.

[lover-of-mine]

IDK enough about when scripts for S7 were written vs knowing 10 eps only and S8 renewal, but I kind of feel like eps 1-5 were written with Eddie/Tommy leading to Buddie in mind and then when the switch happened they changed a couple of things in eps 1-3 (not much, just Buck speaking to Tommy before he headed off after Eddie) and then ep 4 became a mish mash of what was originally planned with Eddie (his whole meeting someone and clicking thing and their "dates"). I feel like they were going Buddie (making Buck jealous while Eddie figured out he liked men in 7a and then going to spend 7b with the fallout of that leading to Buddie) but then found out they had only 10 eps and the woman who played Natalia couldn't come back so they switched it to Buck because it was easier to make him bi/they didn't have a storyline for him anymore if Eddie wasn't dating Tommy, making Buck question everything while still dating Natalia. And THEN they got renewed so instead of pushing Buddie to end S7 they moved it to S8 to give Eddie a better coming out arc, but then had to come up with a storyline for him beyond the nun thing and TM happened to watch Vertigo late one night... IDK maybe I'm crazy, but I just feel like S7 was planned buddie (starting with Eddie/Tommy as catalyst) - even including how they marketed the season before it aired with a lot of Buddie stuff and talking about it in interviews, etc (and that Family Feud ep) after filming the first 5 eps that had been written - and then between only 10 eps and a S8 renewal the plans changed. Does that make sense or am I delusional?

If you're delusional, we both are delusional because I'm right there with you. They already had episode 6 recorded by the time of the renewal but not anything past that, and assuming that the renewal allowed them not to rush things doesn't feel crazy to me. Also I think they switched things around because they realized Buck was more straight forward to get out of the closet than Eddie along with the actress availability, I don't think they planned on shoving Buck on the back burner, they just happened to not know what to do with him because Natalia couldn't come back so they couldn't use her for whatever plan they had about his death, and then they gave him something they had planned for Eddie, because the switch happened while they were filming the cruise, and just kept him in Eddie's storyline for the rest of the season because they didn't plan that far ahead lol the vertigo thing was very clearly a last minute decision because if they had thought about it earlier, they would've expanded the situation to happen all season, imo they could've used Kim in 705 for the conflict with Marisol instead of that nonsense of moving in/moving out, along with actually giving us the backstory on Eddie and Shannon. That deleted conversation with Chris adds a lot and it would be interesting if we had seen some version of it during 701 when Chris is having his crisis about Shannon and talking to 5 girls, and if they had laid the groundwork from the beginning of the season, that storyline wouldn't be so out of pocket. I think it was a combination of the way the actress couldn't come back, the show was renewed early and the way that Buck bi was well received, they kinda realized they could use Eddie being queer to bring the same type of buzz to s8 as biBuck brought to s7, and looking at it from a business perspective, to cram both storylines into one season when they could milk the exposure is kinda dumb, so we ended up with them not knowing what to do for the back half of the season and just winging it. And Ryan said they were getting scrips hours before shooting, so like, it was very clearly we did not plan for this but we need 4 more episodes so they let Tim play in his sandbox of madness.

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

Ok, Dungeons and Dragons au because I can. And because a mutual asked for their main stats and now im thinking thoughts. They've all got the pirate background unless stated otherwise. I'm also only going to give Buttons a race but I imagine that porting them into D&D would make them elves and halflings and the like.

So there's like a few parties going on here. There's Ed's original Adventuring party which has since split up:

Ed: Warlock, fathomless pact, pirate background, Level 17, Str: 11 Dex: 14 Con: 15 Int: 20 Wis: 19 Cha: 20; strong focus in illusion spells, his patron, the Kraken has protected him at pivotal moments but overall their relationship is antagonistic.

Jack: Rogue, Swashbuckler archetype, level 17, Str: 13 Dex: 17 Con: 18 Int: 8 Wis: 15 Cha: 20, Whip is his main weapon and he's not like other swashbucklers tm

Anne: Rogue, Assassin archetype, Noble background (fight me about it), level 17, Str: 8; Dex: 20; Con: 14; Int: 14; Wis: 12; Cha: 17

Mary: Fighter, Champion because it's the best one, Level 17, Str: 20, Dex: 13, Con: 16, Int: 12, Wis: 15, Cha: 9

Fang: Ranger, Beastmaster archetype (I'm sorry from the perspective that it is the worst ranger subclass but yay puppy), Level 17, Str: 20, Dex: 11, Con: 15, Int: 13, Wis: 20, Cha: 13, used to have a dog but it died and it was Eds fault that it died. Now his animal companion is a goat. The goat drinks rum.

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And then there's the revenge crew who is yet another group, they used standard array and get a racial +2/+1 for my convenience:

Jim: Rogue, Assassin archetype, probably some homebrew raised in a cult background that I can't believe they haven't put out yet, or maybe haunted one but that seems wrong, Level 5, Str: 8; Dex: 17; Con: 14; Int: 13; Wis: 13; Cha: 10.

Olu: Paladin, oath of devotion, pirate also seems wrong for him but idk; Level 5: Str: 14; Dex: 10; Con: 13; Int: 11; Wis: 12; Cha: 15, the oath is of devotion to his family which is Jim xoxo.

Lucius: Eloquence Bard, guild artisan background which lists scribes; Level 5; Str: 8; Dex: 12; Con: 10; Int: 15; Wis: 13; Cha: 17

Pete: Fighter, not sure what subclass open to suggestions, Level 5; Str: 16; Dex: 13; Con: 16; Int: 12; Wis: 10; Cha: 8

Frenchie: Artificer (I feel like a homebrew subclass or alchemist), Entertainer background, Level 5; Str: 8; Dex: 10; Con: 12; Int: 17; Wis: 13; Cha: 15

Wee John: Eldritch Knight fighter, level 5; Str: 17; Dex: 8; Con: 12; Int: 14; Wis: 10; Cha: 14; The DM is letting him take a bunch of evocation spells because the base rules for this subclass are dumb as fuck (i know the spells are school locked i just dont remember to which two schools) he will be able to cast fire ball by 13th level. Let Eldritch Knight and Arcane trickster take whatever spells they want 2k24 rogues don't need to be more invisible they do need to be able to cast identify.

Roach: life cleric, level 5; Str: 8; Dex: 13; Con: 15; Int: 12; Wis: 17; Cha: 10; his god is a homebrew deity who is the patron of all things that refuse to die and its holiest creature is the humble cockroach and once they entered the temple and the dm pulled up a gospel cover of I'm a Survivor by destiny's child for background music.

Buttons: Druid, Circle of the Moon, Hermit Background, Hexblood lineage, level 5; Str: 12; Dex: 11; Con: 14; Int: 13; Wis: 17; Cha: 8

Swede: Bard, College of Glamor (mostly because I'm still not convinced his name wasn't stolen by the fey), level 5; Str: 13; Dex: 12; Con: 16; Int: 8; Wis: 10; Cha: 16

Archie: Barbarian, zealot, same background as Jim but a different cult, level (whatever they're at by season 2); Str: 14; Dex: 13; Con: 17; Int: 8; Wis: 10; Cha: 13 (plus an ASI presumably which would go into strength); Archie and Ivan have the same Player that's why Ivan died. Very sad. Oh well there's other fighters.

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Miscellaneous

Zheng: Bard, College of Eloquence or College of swords, Level 17; Str: 9; Dex: 20; Con: 14; Int: 17; Wis: 12; Cha: 20; alternatively? Hexblade Warlock (to parallel Ed) and Auntie is the sword. Same stats if true

Spanish Jackie: Mastermind Rogue, criminal background (it's like a pirate background but less boat oriented), Level 15; Str: 10; Dex: 18; Con: 13; Int: 20; Wis: 15; Cha: 18; retired adventurer who owns a bar that the party doesn't find out has levels until they fuck around and find out in her bar

Ivan: Fighter, Champion, Level 10; Str: 19; Dex: 10; Con: 16; Int: 10; Wis: 12; Cha: 13; player got board of playing a fighter and didn't really flesh him out :(

Izzy: Fighter, Champion, Soldier background (no water vehicle proficiency), Level 3 (he has not leveled up in 8 years, very sad); Str: 15 ; Dex: 14 ; Con: 6; Int: 8; Wis: 5; Cha: 6; I actually rolled this one up. 3d6 no rerolls, no dice box, and if it falls on the floor it's a one. Believe it or not this is after the +2/+1 to any stat. Anyway I'm an Izzy apologist now. Yes he did awful things but truly how can we blame the little guy when his charisma modifier is a -2 and his wisdom modifier is a -3. He had no idea what was going on and he couldn't talk his way out of a wet paper bag.

Stede: Barbarian, path of wild magic, Noble background, level 2 (wow, he's only been adventuring for a few weeks and he's already leveled up!); Str: 17; Dex: 8; Con: 15; Int: 16; Wis: 11; Cha: 10; I also rolled this stat array but this time 4d6 drop lowest. Also he's taking the lucky feat as his first feat. Whether that's at level one because he's human or at level 4 because he's something else is up to interpretation.