#obviously there’s other stuff development teams are talking up about their new stuff

[ivys-garden]

Life Series Session Recap and Alliance Analysis

Pearl opens her episode clarifying she and Impulse did nothing wrong. Finally I don't have to write “get over double life, tumblr” every week.

Yes, another Saturday means another instalment of the Life Series. This session was far more chill and slow paced than last weeks, ironic considering that this week's Wild Card was a perpetual speed increase! Going from a complete time freeze to full hyperspeed. Naturally, this led to about a 7.5 on the madness scale, so let's see what those teams were up to.

The Final Girls - (Scott, Cleo, Pearl, Impulse & Bigb (not anymore ;3 ))

On the topic of Pearl and Impulse, Cleo decides that they will fully enable all of they're future actions. Yes, she might sigh when they talk about all the evil stuff they're going to do, but she's fully on board.

Right about now Scott is probably regretting being team mum for three chaos gremlins as he's already had to instruct them not to give Gem any more reasons to kill them & had to break up the fight that was issued once they all went Matrix mode.

Speaking of Gem & Joel, a new development in the great drama sees Impulse explain himself and apologise to Gem. She doesn't buy it but it's the thought that counts. During this apology Pearl, the attack dog, is ordered by Gem and Impulse to slaughter grian. So while Cleo and Scott go off to make friends, Impulse and Pearl pop over to Rens for some very serious murder discussion, with an eventual “let's murder Grian” party forming consisting of Pearl, Impulse, Ren, Martyn, Bigb, Scar & Jimmy. If even a fraction of these people stick to this next session Grian is pretty firmly doomed.

In other news Scott manages to make allies with the Bamboozelers through several means, including staring at Jimmy's ass. Cleo & Impulse have a little caving adventure and Impy manages to make a working Creeper farm that they may or may not be sharing with Renwood. This leaves Pearl once again building the tower, which is good since she has arguably to much experience in that

While building the tower we get more Drama! Grian and Mumbo managed to get a quick kill on Scott early on the session by digging a big pit under the tower and spleefing him in. Mumbo and Skizz later come back to this trap only to be discovered by Pearl. The Suits try to get her to lure Scott over, but Pearl is far to loyal for that…. But not loyal enough to kick them out, reasoning that it would be really funny if it happened twice. On top of this she negotiated the ability to kill grian without them stepping in, very useful given her current plans & the second spleefing doesn't work anyways, so no harm no foul.

No one would actually agree to luring their team to their Death intentionally… right Bigb?

I'd say I'm surprised, but I'm not. He's worked again every team he's been in except Nosey Neighbours. I guess the “B” must stand for “Betrayal”

Bigb pulls the same thing Pearl did only not under the pretence of a joke, when Grian is around to actually make sure his team gets the kill, actually agreeing to lure Scott and doing it INFRONT OF CLEO. This being the second time this has helped to them, Cleo immediately goes off to find Scott to warn him about the traitor…Scott still falls into the trap anyway but that was a skill issue on his part. Bigb actually tries later to gaslight Scott into thinking that he didn't mean to betray the team, which almost worked until he started saying Cleo was the traitor, which obviously Scott would never buy. Oh he also did this in earshot of Cleo so she set her attack dog (Pearl) on him.

Bigb also later betrays the “Let's Kill Grian Gang” and warns Grian about the plan to murderficate him. I guess someone hasn't gotten over Double Life after all.

The Fast And The Furious - (Joel & Gem)

Actually, the fast and the paranoid might be more accurate as while Joel is just off having a grand old time prattling speed bridging, Gem is terrified that everyone is out to get her and doesn't seem to understand that putting your base on the main path means more people will come visit.

Aside from sending everyone they can to kill Grian and disregarding Impulses genuine apology, the team due doesn't really do much themselves

Gem was officially the last person to lose a life though, with no less than 4 people, including 2 greens, having to help kill her.

Also Joel added racing stripes to the car and… it actually made it a lot less hideous, well done Joel.

The Bamboozelers - (Jimmy, Scar & Lizzie)

Jimmy has regained the title as most confident member of this team…scarily confident in fact, just this session he was able to steal a potential kill from Skizz & kill his teammates, get another good kill on Joel using Lizzie as bait, managing to turn his relationship with Joel around to become allies and reaffirming his alliance with Renwood. Honesty 100 IQ plays from Tim all around.

He did die once this session, but that wasn't his fault and was also incredibly funny to watch Martyn bimbo his way through traps made for Bigb and accidentally kill Timmy. Great job everyone.

Speaking of failed traps… oh Scar… he started of strong, absolutely annihilating Etho in slow motion and living up to the villain he shares a name with by tossing him off a cliff, but after that every single attempt to trap someone fails miserably and he's forced into a cheap kill on Grian that results in him calling for vengeance… wouldn't be to worried about that tho considering Skizz and Mumbo's track record.

The Spanners - (Mumbo, Skizz & Grian)

How are these idiots not dead yet.

They get one (1) successful kill this session, spleefin’ Scott. A trap Mumbo tries his luck with several times after this despite knowing the Final Girls already knew about it.

Skizz gets no kills despite Grians efforts. An attempt to build a super TNT minecart launcher is made… on Scars mountain… and Grian spends several.minutes explaining to his worst enemies how the trap works… and then he and Mumbo stand directly under where they know the TNT will land. Yeah obviously Jimmy sneaks in and pulls the lever to kill them.

A second attempt to launch TNT is made, but this launcher is pathetic and ends up being turned into a party game. oh, and then Grian gets hotguyed by Scar. Grian immediately screams vengeance and blows up the reputation board, ranting about how little it meant since he was in good favour… which only proved he never read the damn thing but it's the thought that counts.

In their last hoorah for this session the team goes on a proper hunt The Bamboozelers as they hide in Joel's car. Mumbo sneaks up to pure lava on them… and burns himself to death. He then tries to hypersonic pvp Gem and you can guess how that went. He then joins in trapping Gwm in a big hole and burning her, only for the kill to go to Ren anyway.

These guys are Doomed. Especially because Final Girls & The Family are allied with Scar & The fact that Renwood actively wants to murder them.

Predictions: Grian goes Yellow next session, Mumbo goes out-out and Skizz is somehow still Red.

Renwood - (Ren & Martyn)

We actually covered everything these guys did already, The Grian Murder Crew, Martyn being a trap bimbo, Ren allying with Impulse to make up for beheading him, really the only thing we haven't discussed is Martyns strange choice to make the first 5 minutes of his episode unlistenable

The Tuff Guys - (Etho, Tango & Bdubs

Etho finally admits they're the comic relief. Like any good comic relief, these three stooges spend the entire session failing at everything. Tango fails on the same trap 3 times. Bdubs almost kills himself in said trap. There's more fights and bickerings than you could count on 15 hands and a toe

Oh also Tango also perma-died to Pearl after going invis and being pumped full of arrows.

Honestly it's not a question of if someone dies next session, it's a question of who.

[dg-outlaw]

Why No Love for Red Hood: The Hill?

I think it's all in the marketing and about what's being delivered versus what readers expected.

So I almost made this post on a reblog, but I didn't want to overwhelm that thread. Plus, I'm not sure if people get mad when someone does a long reblog on their short OG post? Anyway, the point of that post was that Issue 3 of 'Red Hood: The Hill' came out and no one's really talking about it, especially Jason/Red Hood fans.

I think the biggest problem (IMO) with this series is that someone wanted to write a story about The Hill and some new characters (which is fine), but like the 'Batman: The Hill' comic (which I think this series is sort of a sequel to), it's banking off a known character, Red Hood, to be it's selling point. "Come for the Red Hood, but stay for these other characters and their story." All fine and good, but a little deceptive when the marketing leans more toward it being a Red Hood (and new 'Outlaw' friends) story rather than one where Jason is a random guest star.

Series description:

In Gotham City’s early days, The Hill was one of Gotham City’s most dangerous neighborhoods, one that required the residents to band together to keep themselves safe when the police – and sometimes even Batman – wouldn’t. Now, as the Hill finds itself gentrifying, old habits die hard as the vigilante known only as Strike works with her team to keep the town safe—but she’s not alone. Jason Todd, one of the Hill’s newest residents, is more than happy to don the visage of Red Hood to help Strike keep his new home safe. But a new villain is emerging from the shadows. Will Red Hood, Strike and the Hill’s small militia of vigilantes be able to keep their home safe?

And this brings me back to the marketing and advertising of this series, especially versus the Batman: The Hill comic.

Obviously we can see the artistic parallels between these two covers (above). Overall, good job and nice throwback, but... there's a major difference. These two are not similar.

The first cover has "THE HILL" in bold, prominent text and Batman is in the background. This says that Batman is part of the story, but he seems secondary to whatever's going on in the foreground, which is mostly true to the story.

The second cover has "RED HOOD" prominent in the title with "The Hill" as secondary and smaller. Jason is also front and center with Batman looming behind him (who only just showed up at the end of issue 3. There's only two more issues left). The character of Strike, our new protagonist and The Hill's main hero, is down at the bottom and barely in-frame, further suggesting it's more about Jason (and maybe Batman) than The Hill or other characters. Again, clever marketing and nice design nod to the original cover, but deceptive when it comes to the series content. I don't necessarily blame the cover artist here as they might've been given a different brief on what the story was about and I get the fun throwback to the old Hill cover, but these covers are almost reversed in terms of Bat-character prominence.

In the original, Batman was more intertwined in that comic's story than Jason is in his series, which further adds to the audience letdown. If anything, this series needed to go with the coffee shop musician strategy: play a bunch of cover songs to win over the crowd and then slip in your original music (OCs) here and there. Once you have your audience hooked, go all out with your original stuff and then throw in 'Wonderwall' just for kicks and to keep them invested.

Ultimately, I think the biggest problem of this series is pacing and balance. The series needs more Jason to allow readers time to invest in the new characters, but as those new characters develop through their interactions with him THEN Jason can fade back as a partner character or just random character who comes in to help out. As it is, he's a guest star in series called, 'RED HOOD: the hill' with most of Jason's actions being 'day-in-the-life' stuff or a random action panel or two.

If anything, I think Red Hood #51 and #52 did a better job of establishing Jason as a main player, but also working alongside a new hero (Strike) and citizens of The Hill in solving a case. The covers above also display a more balanced composition and preview of what you're getting. Yes, you're reading a Red Hood comic, but there will be some other significant characters playing in this sandbox that you should care about and watch out for.

Sadly, I think the untrue message DC will take away from this series if it doesn't do well is that: (1) Jason is NOT an instant seller so let's shelf him because he couldn't carry this series (that he's barely in), and (2) readers don't like these new characters (most of which are BIPOC and/or LGBTQ), so let's ditch them and do more Batman stuff. 🤦‍♂️

And that's unfortunate because I think there's potential here had this series been executed in a better way. I see where the writer wanted to go with these new characters and they actually seem like an interesting and cozy bunch, but I feel like I'm stepping into an already established found family/friend group, but I don't really know them and I'm the outsider. So eventually I'll find a random distracted moment to quietly say bye to my friend Jason and slip out before anyone notices... like the socially awkward introvert that I am.

[fannyyann]

Keeping up with the Florida Panthers (aka Sara Civian interviews Matthew)

EP Rinkside: What's something away from the rink that’s making you happy these days?

Matthew Tkachuk: I would say, just, I'm lucky at this time of year. Especially across the whole country, it seems like it's freezing everywhere. It's beautiful down in Florida. And we just moved into our new practice rink recently, so that's been awesome.

EP: There was a quote floating around from (head coach Paul Maurice) from before the nine-game win streak and before you started getting hot on the scoresheet. He said people are going to say “Matthew Tkachuk is back,” and he's going to say you never left. Did you see that?

MT: I did, yes.

EP: How did you feel about it, and what's your relationship with him like?

MT: Well, Paul's been a very important part of my last few years. He’s one of, if not the best, coaches that I've ever played with. He's been very important for my development, and I just think that he trusts my game, and I trust my game. I wouldn't say (the puck) was going in early, but I haven’t changed one thing, I'm still doing the exact same thing, it's just finding a little bit more success right now.

It’s been a great year for our team and as of late, it’s picking it up a little bit for myself. Hopefully, we can just keep trending into the second half of the year here.

EP: How important is that trust between a coach and a player and how is it developed?

MT: I just think that he's always given me the right leeway, but still expects me to play the right way. He knows that there's some parts of my game that (are unique) I need to maybe take a little bit more chances than the average player. He gives me full leeway to do that, but also expects me to work my butt off and to lead by example.

EP: We always talk about “buy-in,” it's kind of cliché at this point, and you guys obviously have that factor. But how does something like that start?

MT: I just think being so close to winning it all last year has made it very, very easy to come back this year and have that immediate buy-in from the guys wanting to win a championship here. So many returning guys who are so close and so upset with not finishing it off. There's a lot of motivation.

EP: Do you have a favourite moment from last season's run?

MT: I would say, probably all of the series-clinching wins, the series-winning goals. The overtime winner in Boston, the overtime winner in Toronto, the last second one at home against Carolina.

All three of those are by far the greatest goals I've ever been a part of.

EP: I feel like we're not as a society talking about Sam Bennett enough. Can you give us a little bit about what he's like off the ice and what it's like to play with him?

MT: He just plays so hard.

He was one of the first guys I met when coming to Calgary, and we've been so close ever since. I'm so happy that we got to play together again down here in Florida. He was the first guy I talked to when I got traded, and we've just been so close for eight-plus years now.

It’s so fun that we're able to play with each other still, we just have such great chemistry on and off the ice. He just plays so hard and he complements my game so well. And off the ice, we're just super close and have a great group of guys that pretty much do everything together away from the rink.

It makes it so much fun to come to the rink every day, work with them, and then when we leave the rink, do stuff together.

EP: If you became the commissioner of the league today, what's the first thing you'd change?

MT: Overtime until somebody scores. No shootouts. And no back-to-backs. I don't know if we need any more back-to-backs right now.

EP: Other than you, who has the best chirps in the league?

MT: I'd say the guy who chirps a lot on our team is Brandon Montour. He has some good ones. Nick Cousins has got some good ones. (Ryan) Lomberg, too. They all have some good ones.

EP: Best advice your dad ever gave you?

MT: Two things: Compete and be a good teammate.

EP: Last year you gained some recognition outside of the hockey world, and it kind of sparked, like, a debate about personality in the NHL. I've always wondered What you actually think about this whole conversation, like, do you like being kind of the personality guy in the NHL?

MT: Well, I’m never going to not be myself. I grew up with great parents that taught me great things and around a great family. I’ll carry that for the rest of my life. I’m not trying to do anything, and some guys are (quieter) and that’s OK. This is just how my personality is.

EP: Can you give me three words to describe the current Panthers?

MT: Oh, I would say very fast. So fast. Close – we’re a super close team.  I've never seen a team like this where, you know, we're going to dinner on the road and we're having, you know, 15 people reservations and everybody hanging out with each other. it's been awesome. Fast, close, and fun. Nobody has more fun than our team.

[ecto-hazard]

I just rewatched ii s1 (fucked up right?)

im just gonna make a post compiling some barebones concepts that im curious about. cause with the latest reveal, im wondering how much previous stuff might become relevant.

Obviously this was made years ago by a bunch of kids so its possible that most of the details can be disregarded as random bullshit. It does seem like they put a lot of work in creating retcons though so I have reason to believe theyre building off their previous work on purpose but i could be wrong and thats fair. im gonna post about it anyway tho

ii16 spoilers discussed under the cut

Who Mephone created (or rather, didn't create)

Mephone supposedly made every contestant for the show, but there's a couple vague characters.

Fan: weirdly enough he's in a gray area cause he appears as a background character before s2, but he also glitched out in that one episode, so its unlikely he wasnt created by Mephone. But yknow.

Apple: Apple is a fan character who was submitted to the show, and this is addressed in canon. It's possible that mephone made her and the other fan contestants based on whatever the submitters asked?

Bow: she randomly shows up after an ad read. Mephone doesnt seem to even want her to join, but he receives a call from Adam to insist she join. Mephone seems quite resistant to the idea (which would be weird if he made her?) Most interestingly, she's the only one in this list that Mephone couldn't recover.

Dough MIGHT be one mephone didnt create, but it seems pretty likely that Mephone would create him as he was specifically requested by adam to get bow back. Dough does seem like something he'd throw together really quickly to cover his ass

The reason any of this could be relevant is that if they arent created by Mephone, they probably cant be deleted by Cobs.

Adam

Stuff about Adam (the character not the guy) has been kinda quiet lately? He was supposedly the producer of ii, and pays mephone apparently? He clearly has a role to play since he showed up in one of Mephone's memories and seems to be a creation by cobs. So observing his actions in s1 might be valuable, especially since cobs would be able to manipulate the show through him.

Some notable actions of his:

Insisting on Bow being in the show. This is doubly interesting if Bow isn't one of Mephone's creations. She could be an industry plant of some kind?

Telling Mephone to keep 4S out of the season finale. This is supposedly to keep the finale from going crazy. If Mephone had been successful, he wouldve been killed by Mephone 5. Its possible this was on purpose so 4 could be destroyed and replaced

Investing in another season. at the end of s2, despite things going wrong, he tells Mephone they're going to do another season. He sweetens the deal by offering a raise and agreeing to get Mephone an assistant (Toilet). Cobs clearly got invested in this show, so it makes sense he'd encourage more of it from the shadows.

Mephone 4S

Yeah talking about 4S isn't anything new, the fandom's obsessed with him. I am too.

The implications of Mephone4 being in 4S's body never really got explored in s2. I guess they were similar enough that it didn't really matter. But he clearly still has some relevance in the modern series. One of Mephone's memories shows him getting developed as a replacement for 4, and he actually appears in Invitational, Sorta? Clearly Mephone's bothered by the sacrifice he made.

At the very least, the show's reminding us that he existed, so maybe he still does exist? I don't think he's going to necessarily make a comeback or anything but I dunno. It seems like he might be able to talk to Mephone in his head so maybe there's something to that.

Evil Paper

Im just gonna be upfront that I don't have a dissociative disorder and its not my place to talk about how it works or what is good or bad representation so I'm not gonna get super deep into talking about this. I'm just curious if the team has any plans for addressing Evil Paper. They seemed to make an effort into writing Yin Yang more thoughtfully (whether or not they actually succeeded, again, not my say). I could see them giving Paper similar treatment. If they did I doubt it'd be very plot relevant though.

Is the Taco we got the Taco we were supposed to have?

I've actually seen this conversation circulate a little bit already. This sort of debate could apply to any character really, but Taco is perhaps the most interesting example because she's so involved in the latest episodes AND because Brian actually addressed a tweet about this.

Taco behaves like a goofy idiot for the majority of s1, only revealing at the end that she was faking it so she would make it to the end. She specifically says she was "built to win" (the quote Brian addresses), and shows a much more competent side when she actually competes. In fact if it weren't for Bow's interference, Taco would have won the challenge (another case of Bow being weird).

This all seems to imply that Taco may have been intended to win the series by Mephone. Cobs points out to Suitcase and Knife that Mephone had "high hopes" for them, so it's not unreasonable to say that maybe certain characters were liked over others. Mephone never seems to give special treatment openly, but that doesn't mean that when he made certain contestants he didn't at the very least expect them to do well.

What is highly unlikely though is that Taco was created to be a twist villain. This results in Mephone's death after all (though the activity of Bow and Mephone 5 also could be to blame). Especially since he had pressure from Adam to keep things running smoothly, it just wouldn't make sense that Mephone would specifically create someone to toss a wrench in things. Most likely Taco developed like this on her own accord.

But that also raises the question, if she wasn't meant to be a villain, what was she supposed to be? How much of the taco we have now is the Taco that Mephone created? We don't actually see how he reacts to her "reveal" because he's in the middle of running away from 5. But everyone else clearly never saw it coming. OJ specifically comments that this doesn't seem like "the Taco he's been competing with all this time," and while that's written in reference to her reveal, it also could mean she WASNT the Taco he'd been competing with. We do get a hint or two of her true self in previous episodes, but its possible she wasn't ever supposed to be like that.

I think its possible Mephone4 created her as a goofy goober joke character initially, and over time, she changed. She developed into a more tactful and villainous character with her exposure to the contest.

A few things in the most recent episodes might allude to this. One thing being how in ii15 she discusses how she became aware of how much the contest is changing everyone, herself included. Secondly, in ii16 she tells Pickle that at the time she didn't consider how her actions were going to hurt him. This is a really shitty apology and no excuse for it, but it ALSO could mean that at the time, Taco really didn't think about it. In S1, she claims that she was just using him, but we don't know how aware of herself she was back then. Its possible that there was a past version of Taco who wasn't deadset on winning no matter the cost, and being in the game changed her.

Anyway these have been my slopthoughts. It's like 9 pm and ive been writing this for like an hour. Maybe most of this wont get addressed at all in the series, but I figured i might as well compile it down since I just finished s1

[mundanemoongirl]

I just finished Gideon the Ninth and I have THOUGHTS

I’ve seen people talk about this book for a while but never about the plot, so I pretty much went in blind. I wish I knew before reading it that there is a glossary at the end. I was so confused for most of the book and would have gotten invested a lot faster if I understood the terms. That one was on me. My bad.

Okay so obviously there are some issues—every book has their own. It took me over a hundred pages to really get into the book because I didn’t understand the world or plot. I think more can be explained at the beginning. It’s such a fascinating world; Muir should give us much more of it. My other main issue is that sometimes there are paragraphs after paragraphs of dialogue and each line has a dialogue tag. There’s only two people talking. You don’t have to keep telling me who they are.

For a book I thought I wouldn’t like for the longest time, I was pleasantly surprised. Like I love it so much that I got on here to share my thoughts, which isn’t something I usually do. It’s not my favorite, but it sure is unique and entertaining.

I love the different houses and how they interact with each other. I actually wish we learned more about them. We understand the Ninth House, but what is life like on the different houses. I at least liked the little bits I learned about the fourth with the child soldiers. I also like that each necromancer has a different title because each house serves a different function. But seriously, how are you gonna casually write about princesses and give no details about what they do on their planets?

This book has some of the best character development I have ever seen. Especially with Harrow. She and Camilla were my favorites so I’m glad they made it to the end. I also think it’s really funny how there’s all these fantasy names and then there’s Camilla.

I like when Gideon gets more depth too. She went from seeing the fourth as bad teens to trying to protect them. That was one of my favorite parts.

I can’t believe Gideon forgave Harrow. I’m glad she did because I love them, but I have held grudges over much less offenses. I like that Gideon comes off as abrasive at first but the more you learn about her you realize she’s really compassionate. It’s amazing considering the environment she grew up in. Such a great character.

I LOVE the trials. I just love when people slowly figure things out, and this is also when I started understanding necromancy so I was really into the learning. I also appreciated that even though Harrow and Gideon hated each other, they made such a good team and that without trying, Gideon made such a good cavalier.

I often say I like the idea of enemies to lovers and not the common execution of it, but this book embodies that idea perfectly. Gideon and Harrow never become lovers, but the emotional growth they go through and the passion they have for each other kinda represents that feeling. They don’t need to be lovers for this trope to work. This is exactly what I’ve been looking for instead of just an asshole male lead who was never actually going to kill the female lead and they’re both attracted to each other from the start. Nah, these two despised each other and still worked through it. Other authors need to take notes.

The ending was so good. I loved Cytherea flirting with Gideon while fighting her. There’s something about evil characters having a soft spot for a character that is so appealing to me. I’m also an absolute sucker for characters from the far off past existing in the present. Give me this and I will love you forever.

Cytherea is actually a lot like the villain in my wip for the exact reasons I like her. The more I thought about it, the more surprised I was about how much my wip ressembled parts of Gideon the Ninth considering I wrote this stuff before reading the book. The houses are like my clans, the necromancy is similar to the spirits, and both sets of characters are shuttled off to a new location that is full of death. That’s probably like I like this book so much.

Also—the quote “And God said, ‘And I am not enough.’” is one of the best quotes I have ever read. It solely makes up for all the book’s flaws.

So that’s it. I hope Harrow the Ninth is just as good. I get scared to read sequels now because certain sequels are genuinely the worst things I’ve read. I also hope the next book goes more in depth with the worldbuilding. I’m excited to continue this series.

[jewishcissiekj]

hi let's talk about her

Honestly I have so much to say about her. so much. so here's some of it

-Asajj (NOT VENTRESS THAT'S HER LAST NAME ISTG PEOPLE JUST HATE USING HER ACTUAL NAME AND IDK WHY I GUESS IT'S A COOL NAME BUT ASAJJ IS ALSO A COOL NAME AND)

-Asajj was last seen in canon in the Dark Disciple novel. Where she died. I would never recommend that book to anyone so if you haven't read it yet please don't. In short, after becoming a Bounty Hunter in The Clone Wars she grew out her hair, got a cool yellow Lightsaber and for some reason teamed up with Quinlan Vos to try and kill Dooku. They didn't manage to do it. And Asajj died (was fridged) trying to protect Quinlan. The Bad Batch will not contradict that, as was said by the creators. So this is just a summary for anyone who hasn't read it because I wholeheartedly believe that book is bad

-I have not watched a single Bad Batch episode in my life. As a disclaimer. I started the first one, watched their TCW arc and saw memes screenshots clips and spoilers but I do not know this show. I will watch it now that Asajj's there tho

-She does not have the same outfit anymore! It's a change, and we haven't gotten a clear look at her new design so idk how to judge it yet. Might be to look less recognizable, but it has a very different vibe than any of her prior outfits. There's a leftover shoulder pad and probably some other stuff from her last design but I feel like they kinda clash with the new one and tbb's design language in general. The Bounty Hunter look has a very TCWish feel to it and this one is a sharp turn in another, much more casual direction. I'm not inherently against it but I guess we'll see how it looks in action soon

-In my opinion the hair looks like shit. I don't think she should have hair ever. I don't understand why she can't be bald. Why is she bald when she's evil and has hair when she's a padawan (good) and when she is "redeemed"? guess we'll never know. It's a leftover from the cancelled Dark Disciple TCW arc design (and the Dark Disciple cover and promotional material ofc) and it's bad if you ask me but to each their own and if you like it good for you

-Her Lightsaber!!!!! Same case as the hair in terms of irl development but I like it so much better. The yellow just fits her character and it's pretty. Would love for her to find another one and get back to dual-wielding (I know that won't happen)

-The bag and pouches make me so happy as a design element do you think she carries a (tooka) cat in there

-Now, visually she looks great and the animation style is smoother and nicer than TCW (as is the quality), but what about the direction the character's going in? I didn't like her being dead before, but I felt like it was somewhat better than her being shoved into being a cameo character in new content. If you can't touch her after a certain point, you also can't mess her up. But I do wonder where they're going with her. A few questions:

-Asajj in canon is a directionless character. Also, a partially nonsensical and inconsistent character in her choices and storylines. I've talked about it a lot but in short she just feels messy. What's her purpose in life? Her motive? Her origin story doesn't really make sense, even. She's a Bounty Hunter, sure, but why? If all she wants is revenge on Dooku and maybe money (which was pretty much the case in Dark Disciple), what's she doing after the Empire? And more importantly, why?

-Obviously, the question I haven't asked yet because I don't like it: How the fuck is she alive? Nightsisters have a weird relationship with death but seriously, how?

-She's a Force User after the Rise of the Empire now, so what does he do about that? Is she founding The Path? Fucking around and finding out? Making a not-Jedi-not-Sith order with other force users she finds? Is the Empire after her? Do they know she's live?

-What about her girlfriend? Is Latts Razzi safe? Is she alright?

-Why is she in The Bad Batch show? Are we making her into a cameo character or is there a purpose? Why'd they bring her back? For fun? What is she doing after the show? Floating in dead space? Cameo-ing? Will we have a book?

-OK enough for tonight but if we see Quinlan Vos in the show I'll become violent (/neg). We probably will (he might just get mentioned idk).

[coffee-at-annies]

So you’re new to hockey and ppl keep mentioning this big scary thing called the Trade Deadline (TDL).

What is it? It’s the last day of the regular season that teams can make trades and the traded players are eligible to play for their new teams. Trades can still happen but the players can’t play so you only really see it for AHL players.

What are trades? When two teams trade resources between then during off-season, preseason, and regular season.

Resources? Those are human people! You are correct and wrong. Trades come in a lot of shapes in sizes but will usually include one of four things:

the contract for a major league (NHL) player

the contract for a minor league (AHL) player

the rights for non-NHL/AHL players (sometimes considered prospects tho that can apply to any NHL-hopeful players still considered developing)

(prospects include college players under contract, players in lower leagues like the WHL or QMJHL who have been drafted but aren’t old enough for the AHL, players still playing over seas, etc) (and yes usually ahl players but I wanted to be specific)

Draft picks for the upcoming draft(s) (ie eventually a shiny new boy)

There’s a bunch of stuff that goes into trades beyond just “I give you all of our bad players you give us all of your best players” despite the way fans and the media talk about trades. Stuff like roster limits, the salary cap, no trade clauses, etc and this is where you get things like salary retention or conditional picks. I don’t understand all of it. I am not a contract lawyer.

Why trade players? To make your team better or to set up your team for the future.

To make your team better: obviously adding more good players will help push your team from good to great. Especially if you’re trying to make a deep run in the playoffs and need depth scoring or are worried about injuries.

Set your team up for the future: there’s 32 teams and not 32 playoff spots. Many teams won’t make it. Team that think they won’t make it will trade their good players, usually those on an expiring contract to teams that are looking to make a playoff push because they can get a lot of stuff in return. That stuff could be other players that may fit better on their team, but it’s usually also draft picks so the team can draft shiny new boys that could grow up into being the best player on their team.

But wait! Some trades make my team worse! Yeah that’s because of a thing called the salary cap. Sometimes you have to get rid of a player to be able to afford a new player. That’s why trades usually include players going each way, money out and money in. Sometimes this means you make a trade with a second team to make cap space before making that trade with the first team.

What do you mean by expiring contracts? Contracts have limits. They end. At the end of them you have to get the player to agree to sign another contract with you, usually considered an extension of their current contract, especially if they sign the new one before the official end date. This is what a contract extension is. If you don’t think they will sign, then it makes sense to trade them during the season to get a return on investment because otherwise they can say no thanks to any contract you offer and they’re gone during free agency and you have nothing to show for it. (That is if they’re a UFA - unrestricted free agent. RFA - restricted free agent - is a status for new/young players in the league and it means there’s more nonsense around what a team is required to do before you can just walk away).

(Gonna get into pens specific stuff now sorry if you’re on another team and were finding this helpful).

This is why everyone thinks we’re going to trade Jake Guentzel btw. A) he’s a very good player. B) he’s in an expiring contract (1UFA). C) if he doesn’t want to re-sign with us (aka extend his current contract) then we can’t stop him from leaving and there’s 7 years down the drain with nothing to show for it. (that’s a lie he has a cup ring). D) people like to speculate about trades. E) people love to be like what if you gave us your good player and we gave you our bad player and remember Jake is a very good player. F) the pens kind of suck right now. we aren’t playing well enough to guarantee the playoffs. we don’t have a lot of trade capital (prospects and draft picks) to go out and get better players (plus we’re up against the salary cap). and we don’t have a lot of boys who are good that it makes sense to trade away. G) enter Jake Guentzel.

I’m not saying we will trade Jake, just trying to give an explanation of people think we might. There’s as many reasons not to trade him as there are reasons to trade him. A) he’s Sidney Crosby’s favorite winger. B) he’s one of our top goal scorers. C) the modified no-trade-list (m-ntc) means he has a list of 12 teams we can’t trade him to. he can be traded but if the top team that wants him is the top of his no trade list, well that trade isn’t going to happen. D) he’s injured. he’s eligible to come off ltir immediately after the trade deadline but that could discourage interested teams. E) he may cost too much to trade. Dubas may not get a price that he thinks is worth trading Jake for. not every trade is guaranteed. F) finally, we don’t actually know how contract talk is going with his agent. he loves the city. he’s one of the faces of our team. he loves playing with Sid. the reason to trade him is if Dubas doesn’t think we can re-sign him and we don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors.

Hope this helps! Let me know if I can answer any questions

[stelladess]

On power creep, card games (mostly as an example) and gacha. Also how to prioritize what characters/cards to try and get. Kinda felt the discussion around power creep in the context of gacha is often kind of... incendiary and not very helpful, we are all here to have a good time.

So, this was mostly some stuff I have been thinking about in relation to Arknights, because I do not play Star Rail as seriously and play no other gachas then those two. I have played the yu-gi-oh card game since I was a little kid (some of my earliest memories is learning the game from my brothers or playing Kaiba the revenge on PC) so I am coming at this from a primarily TCG perspective and with the prior background of "has played game which has been made unrecognizable by power creep, and still loved playing it." So obviously, this already predisposes me to not see power creep as the biggest deal.

So... first of all, the incentives that causes power creep! Well this is pretty straightforward, the way a trading card game or a gacha makes money is by making you want to spend money on new cards/characters. You also need to have a solid team or deck as a whole, usually you cannot just brute force your way on a single powerful card or character. As a result to prevent players from just getting one strong team/deck and then never updating again is why we end up with power creep, since the option of just outright banning cards tends to piss people off even more and is straight up not a thing they do in gacha games. As a result, since players will usually not want to spend money/pulls on a character who will not improve their team/deck, especially when its so often chance based what you even get, it means that to make people keep pulling packs you gotta upgrade the power over time of new units. Generally the developers want to keep this at a slower pace, since it feels bad if someone gets a great character/card and then one month later they are weak, and if people feel like what they put in do not pay off they will not keep playing. But occasionally there are bigger bursts of power creep to kind of bring the state of the game to a new level, often brought on by accidentally making something too strong, at least that is how I think this goes from my experience. But for example, if when Typhon came out her damage was worse or just on par with Rosa, how many would have pulled for her? Sure you´d get some who would because they like her story, personality, design, etc. But not that many would have if we are being completely honest here.

This is not to say that power creep cannot be a problem, especially if too severe, as already touched on earlier it feels really bad when your favorites no longer hold up. I just want to highlight that it is an inherent part of the game that cannot really be avoided. It can also add a big pressure to feel like you have to keep up by getting all the new characters or cards, which can cause a lot of stress due to the random nature of who you get. Which is where the other thing I wanted to talk about comes in....

You do not need every strong or limited character. And in fact you wont use most of them because you have finite team space. In a trading card game you focus in on a playstyle you like, or a few if its affordable enough, and then focus on building and enhancing those instead of getting every good card in the game. I think this is the healthiest way to view it in a gacha too. Prioritize who suits your playstyle and your team, or to fill weak spots you got (or you just like as a character of course). You do not need all the top tier characters in the game. You can skip multiple top tier characters in fact and still do just fine, these games are not balanced around the assumption you have *every* single one of the best characters or cards. And in fact, having to slowly make adjustments to better suit your needs is, to me at least, one of the most fun parts. And a lot of the strategy and fun of these kinds of games disappear if you have access to all the strongest options and can just brute force things. It is not healthy for your mental state to fret over having to have all the best options and it makes the game less fun, to me at least. These games assume you only have maybe half of the top tier options, and you can beat pretty much everything with that if you put some effort into strategizing, which is fun~!

[hyperfixatedonstuff]

for a game/comic series with far more men than women tf2 writes their female characters very well.

like miss pauling, the administrator, and zhanna are the most prominent female characters and they’re all REAL CHARACTERS.

Miss Pauling is shown to be very good at her job but they also develop other parts of her character. For example, in Grey Mann’s death scene we learn that she isn’t just blindly following the administrator. She’s aware of what she’s doing and while she’s not fully aware of Helen’s plans, she knows that they likely aren’t well intentioned but she still follows through. In her scenes with the administrator(their death specifically) we see more of the trust she’s put in her starting to crumble or at least falter. Then with Zhanna she opens up about failing and not knowing what to do.

Even though a huge joke of her character is that she only gets one day off we still get to see part of her off work. In Gargoyles and Gravel we get to see that she’s creative and enjoys fantasy games and that she’s a bit nerdy! I just think it’s so sweet that she’s a woman dedicated to her job but that isn’t ALL she is yk?

And we get to see her relationships with all the different mercs! Like when she offers Sniper tips on disposing bodies or when she breaks down in front of Spy or when tfc Spy is pretending to be Heavy! She’s taken seriously by the other mercs and they often look to her to decide what to do next but it’s clear they also view her as their friend and i just like that a lot.

This is kind of a mess but my point is that she’s a very complex character that isn’t needlessly sexualized and watered down. She’s given equal and in some cases more development than her male counterparts.

Then there’s Zhanna, who is originally introduced as Heavy’s sister and then becomes Soldier’s fiancée. My favorite thing about this is that she’s capable of being both. I know it sounds stupid to say but in so much media women loose so much character once they’re paired off with a man. But Zhanna doesn’t! She still does stuff on her own like breaking herself and Soldier out from the tfc team. And then another thing is that her feud with Miss Pauling actually makes sense. Obviously Miss Pauling isn’t interested in him but when they first meet and go to New Zealand and Soldier and Pauling try to have that conversation abt her ofc it’s suspicious. Pauling was suspicious of her so ofc she’d be suspicious in return. But when Zhanna finds Miss Pauling stressed out abt her job and the australium and Pauling confides in her, she puts aside her doubts and reassures her that they are a team and they’ll figure it out!

Then there’s the Administrator. I don’t have much to say about her besides the fact that she’s constantly credited as a mastermind and everyone respects/fears her power.

This was completely unprompted and random so it’s very unorganized but i just wanted to talk abt it bc the way some of the tf2 fandom talks abt women sucks and it makes me happy that the writers don’t write them in that way ig.

[addictedtostorytelling]

Hello! I’m sorry to bother you with this random nonsense LOL.

While I was watching CSI for the first time in a long time something started to bother me, I’m currently watching season 3, and oh boy really? The show runners want me to believe that nobody in one of the bests crime investigation labs of the country realized that Grissom was been jealous of Sara and her handsome dumb boyfriend ? Like for real?

My boy went from talking constantly to Sara about her lack of private life and excessive working hours to calling her on her days off and giving her punishment cases, calling her when she should have been in some seminar away and making her work in a case instead of relaying on the rest of the team (I think that maybe he was thinking she would take the boyfriend to the trip 🙊) He even acted like a meanie in front of the team, Nike was dying for some solo murder cases yet he called Sara away from the vineyard with the boyfriend.

So I get annoyed because there’s obviously something going on with them, he brought a CSI the same age as the Juniors of he’s lab saying that he trusted her, a man that doesn’t give his trust way easily and nobody on the lab or his team raised an eyebrow? He was mean with Greg when he had a crush with Sara, but as soon as he realized she wasn’t feeling anything for Greg he suddenly got nicer with him! An yet the show thinks that nobody knew anything about them or even suspected and it was surprise pikachu face when they found out they were together? I know that this is more a rant than anything and sorry again, but I would like to know what you think about it 😅

hi, anon!

so re: the issue of no one noticing grissom is jealous of hank, i think it’s helpful to keep in mind who all knows what and when.

by s2 and s3 of the show, no one on the team knows grissom and sara’s pre-vegas relationship history, and no one on the team has witnessed any kind of “incontrovertible evidence” that would prove for certain grissom and sara have romantic/sexual feelings for each other (i.e., no one has ever caught them in delicto flagrante or overheard them confessing their love for each other or seen photographs of them acting coupley pre-vegas, etc.).

that so, team graveyard’s individual levels of awareness range from “totally oblivious there either has been or is any romantic element to grissom and sara’s dynamic at all” to “convinced grissom and sara used to be fuckbuddies but are now awkward exes.”

however, given that sara is now publicly known to be dating someone else, i think all the other members of team graveyard would agree, at present, she and grissom are not carrying on any sort of sexual and/or romantic relationship (even if at some point they may have done so in the past).

moreover, even those teammates who may be convinced grissom and sara used to be somehow “involved” prior to and even shortly after sara’s move have by now witnessed developments suggesting that stuff is ancient history, such as some fairly public spats between them (see, for example, episode 02x15 “burden of proof”) and the fact both of them have pursued romantic entanglements with persons other than each other in the meanwhile (i.e., teri miller and possibly jane gilbert for grissom and hank peddigrew for sara).

that so, “i bet grissom is stewing over this” probably wouldn’t be anyone’s first thought upon hearing sara was dating hank; they would only “get there” if they were to witness some evidence to actually suggest such were the case.

the question then becomes: does anyone on team graveyard actually witness any evidence to that end?

and i believe not.

__

the first time grissom becomes aware of sara’s interactions with hank is likely during the events of episode 02x14 “the finger.” however, he doesn’t show any visible reaction to that news at that time as he is too busy trying to rescue catherine, so it’s not as if his team members see any signs up front to suggest he is at all thrown by sara starting to see someone new.

though we can perhaps read his subsequently dismissive behavior toward sara in episode 02x15 “burden of proof” as suggesting some hurt feelings on his part, it’s doubtful anyone else on the team—including sara herself—would see correlation between sara going out on a first date with hank one week and grissom keeping her out of the loop on his investigative activities the next.

—and particularly not when grissom and sara then spend the next several months on something of an upswing (see episodes 02x16 “primum non nocere,” 02x17 “felonious monk,” 02x21 “anatomy of a lie,” and 02x23 “the hunger artist”), with grissom unaware sara continues to see hank following that initial date.

then even come s3, when grissom learns for the first time sara is still seeing hank and starts actively punishing her for it (see episode 03x01 “revenge is best served cold”), the other members of team graveyard don’t necessarily have an unobstructed view of what’s going on.

they all have themselves known sara has been seeing hank ever since january ’02, so they probably assume grissom has been privy to this same information—not realizing he has, for whatever reason, “missed the memo” on what is currently going on in sara’s love life.

come september ’02, they have no clue when grissom hears hank send sara his salutations via warrick, that interaction marks his first introduction to the fact that maybe ~something~ is going on between sara and hank; that so, they don’t realize his heavy-handed management of her throughout the duration of that case represents him punishing her.

they likewise are unaware grissom learns the full truth of sara and hank’s relationship a week later during the events of the tom haviland case. while we as viewers are present to hear phillip gerard actually deliver to grissom the devastating news, no one else on team graveyard save sara herself is in the room then—and it is supremely unlikely either grissom or sara reports on these happenings to them subsequently.

the case itself is then so whirlwind no one probably realizes grissom’s pissy behavior throughout the middling parts of the investigation has anything to do with him having recently had his heart stomped on; they just assume he, like everyone else, is stressed and flustered by the aggressive legal tactics of haviland’s defense team.

though grissom eventually addresses sara directly regarding what he has learned, again, that moment is a private one, so all in all, the events of the haviland case probably pass without anyone on the team besides grissom and sara themselves having any awareness of grissom’s big “oh my god! the woman i love is having sex with a beefy, blond ken doll!” freakout.

two weeks then pass in show-time between the events of episode 03x02 “the accused is entitled” and episode 03x03 “let the seller beware.”

maybe grissom mistreats sara for their duration or maybe the poolside incident represents a discrete occurrence. either way, i don’t believe the other members of team graveyard have much reason to connect sara having a new boyfriend to grissom chastising her.

the way they see things, grissom calls sara in on her day off to work a solo case, then gets peeved with her for taking too long to respond to his page. once she finally shows up to accept the assignment, he dresses her down a bit for being slow to answer his callout but still ultimately grants her a primo 419 scene to herself. she is herself annoyed with him for having unreasonable expectations regarding her availability when she is supposedly off the clock.

neither nick nor warrick has any reason to read romantic jealousy into grissom and sara’s confrontation; it just looks like workaholic grissom is vexed not everyone on his team is as singularly devoted to the job (and lifeless outside of it) as he, and sara is resentful of being scolded even though she did ultimately come in at a time when she technically didn’t have to.

for nick, there is also the added wrinkle that even though he officially outranks sara, grissom seldom gifts him the kind of interesting solo homicide investigations he does her, and he is himself jealous sara keeps getting all the cool assignments. he feels he would gladly come in during his off-hours if he got some hot murder case all to himself and so is reproachful of sara for acting put-upon in that same situation.

while to us as viewers, there is a very clear “grissom is jealous of sara’s relationship with hank” throughline running through these first three episodes of s3, to the other characters, there isn’t.

it just seems like grissom is being a grump with sara because she took too long to show up at a crime scene—which is not behavior they would consider “out of character” from him just generally.

sara is certainly not the first csi grissom has ever faulted for having a better a work/life balance than he does!

all of the above said, i think it makes sense no one on the team realizes grissom is jealous of sara’s relationship with hank. i can believe nobody actually makes the logical leap from “sara shows up a little bit late to a crime scene and grissom seems mad at her” to “he’s smarting because he feels like she’s slipping away from him and doesn’t know how to cope in a healthy way so he starts lashing out with her, using his supervisory position as leverage.”

there just aren’t enough dots outwardly visible for them to draw that particular connection, you know?    

as for the larger notion of why i'm okay with the idea none of them notices anything romantic going on between grissom and sara until s7:

while there is perhaps enough evidence on the table for certain teammates to suppose one of them might be attracted to the other or both of them might be attracted to each other, there is nevertheless no singular instance which would by itself prove they are (eventually) carrying on a secret long-term committed relationship.

and absent incontrovertible evidence of that nature, i think there are several good reasons why the members of team graveyard wouldn’t necessarily realize grissom and sara are a secret couple prior to episode 07x24 “living doll.”

for one thing, there is perhaps more nuance to the situation than there might appear to be at first blush.

while it’s true until the s7 finale, no one on team graveyard knows with 100% certainty grissom and sara have been in a committed romantic relationship for two years, everyone does have their own perceptions of grissom and sara’s dynamic and different levels of insight into what exactly their history is together leading up to that point.

though some members of the team are almost entirely clueless grissom and sara have had any kind of ~thing~ going on over the years, others possess slightly more canny views.

catherine is probably the team member who is most aware of gsr out of anyone, possessed of some “close to the truth” insights into early gsr, though she becomes less accurate in her reads on them over time.

her initial impression when grissom first hires sara to the lab in 2000 is seemingly they are sleeping together (see episode 01x03 “crate n’ burial”)—a notion she may or may not be right about.

however, just due to their age gap and her own baggage regarding romantic relationships, she also seemingly misjudges the nature of their bond, assuming what they’re doing is rooted solely in sexual attraction rather than love: an older professor in midlife crisis falling into bed with his much-younger student, who is herself either using him to work through her daddy issues and/or trying to “sleep her way to the top.”

and in fairness to catherine, in s1, grissom and sara are often overtly horny for each other on the main in her direct presence (see here and here).

she then seems to think they continue to carry on a sexual/romantic relationship for the first few months sara is in vegas, only to suffer some kind of nasty sara-initiated breakup circa mid-s1 (see episode 02x15 “burden of proof”). from there, she observes grissom apparently becoming interested in teri miller and later heather kessler, while sara moves on to dating hank peddigrew.

though catherine surmises, based on grissom and sara’s weirdness around each other for the next couple of years, there are still some sticking points between them even after their “break-up,” she also supposes, since “things ended badly between them previously,” there is no real chance for reconciliation—hence why she advises grissom to try to make peace with sara at work and learn how to manage her as an employee rather than an ex-girlfriend.

by s4/s5, she is convinced they’ve finally gotten over their past fling and are able to work with each other sans lingering resentments. and by s7, she is sure enough there is no longer anything going on between them romance-wise she even feels comfortable gossiping to sara about grissom’s other supposed romantic prospects (see episode 07x23 “the good, the bad, & the dominatrix”).

she is then thoroughly surprised when she learns, contrary to her assumptions, grissom and sara have actually been a couple—and living together (see the deleted scene from episode 08x12 “grissom’s divine comedy”)!—since 2005.

meanwhile, warrick appears mostly oblivious regarding grissom’s feelings for sara (see his comments about grissom’s supposed singledom in episode 06x23 “bang-bang” and his failure to notice the romantic nature of grissom’s gesture of bringing sara the veggie burger in episode 07x01 “built to kill” pt. i); however, he does seem savvy from the very beginning to sara’s attraction to grissom, as we can infer from his comments regarding her jealousy toward grissom’s interactions with jane gilbert in episode 01x20 “sounds of silence.”

we don’t know if his sense of sara “having a crush on her boss” continues past s1 or if he ever develops any notion her feelings for grissom may go beyond a more superficial level of attraction, but we do know he is surprised to learn about gsr overall in s7.

by his own admission, nick remains pretty “in the dark” regarding all things gsr from start to reveal—a source of embarrassment for him once their relationship becomes public knowledge come s8 (see episode 08x02 “a la cart”).

while he does realize grissom will sometimes “rush cases” for sara’s sake (see episode 01x16 “too tough to die”), he apparently never alights on the real reason why, and not only does he have no notion grissom and sara have a romantic relationship ongoing between s5 and s7, but he also appears to be largely oblivious to any pre-vegas history they may have shared, as we can judge from his seeming incomprehension when the day shift trace technician dorsey makes oblique mention of it in episode 04x11 “eleven angry jurors.”

further evidence of nick’s total lack of insight into gsr can be seen by the absence of certain behaviors in him: you can bet if he, like warrick, had any idea sara had feelings for their boss, he would likely tease the hell out of her about it, as he does once grissom and sara are married in the later seasons of the show (see, for example, episode 11x03 “blood moon”); the fact he never does give sara a hard time over her and grissom’s dynamic can be taken as proof positive he reads nothing romantic into it.

the same can also be said for his persistent jealousy over the special treatment grissom proffers sara during the early seasons of the show: his consistent failure to realize why grissom so often allots sara primo cases while simultaneously denying them to him suggests a lack of comprehension on his part. he doesn’t understand grissom is playing favorites based on his romantic feelings for sara; he just thinks it’s bad management—and maybe indicative grissom holds some kind of grudge against him.

finally, greg’s level of relative awareness or unawareness regarding gsr is harder to place, as there isn’t really much direct, unambiguous evidence to go on.

on the one hand, greg is sometimes the object of grissom’s jealous behavior regarding sara early on in the show (see, for example, episodes 02x11 “organ grinder” and 05x16 “big middle”), so he could have some clue grissom carries a torch for sara, same as he. however, on the other hand, since one could also interpret grissom’s antagonism as having more professional motivations—i.e., as grissom, as greg’s boss, being annoyed at greg for goofing off—it’s also possible greg doesn’t catch on to the fact that grissom actually considers him a romantic rival.

likewise, while greg, who pays close attention to sara’s behavior, may at some point pick up on the fact sara shows signs of attraction toward grissom, he also may view her effusive, eager, “pick me!” behavior in grissom’s presence simply as her being a suck-up rather than as her wanting to marry grissom and live happily ever after with him.

ultimately, greg could fall anywhere on our spectrum of awareness from “knows next to nothing” (like nick) to “has a good idea there’s something going on but just isn’t 100% sure of exactly what” (like catherine) before grissom’s big s7 reveal.

when taken altogether, i find these various levels of awareness regarding gsr among the team members plus the relative accuracies and inaccuracies of their assumptions fairly realistic.

it makes sense to me the characters wouldn’t necessarily be able to figure everything out, let alone get all the details right. it also makes sense to me some people’s perspectives on the issue—like catherine’s and maybe greg’s—would evolve over time, given grissom and sara’s relationship itself evolves, too.

—which brings me to the next reason why i'm okay with the “no one figures everything out pre-s7” going line:

because of how “economy of information” works within the narrative.

even for as little as we as the viewers see of grissom and sara’s relationship as it plays out on screen, we ultimately see way more of their romantic development cumulatively than the other characters on the show ever do.

while each member of team graveyard has witnessed at least a couple instances of ~telling~ interaction between grissom and sara, no single one of them has witnessed all of those moments combined in the same way we as the viewing audience have.

moreover, even for what moments the other characters do all individually witness, they also don’t get to see the “connective tissue” between those moments in the same way we viewers do, either—i.e., the solo scenes, like the ones where the viewer is “alone in the room” with grissom and sara as they reckon with their feelings for each other.

all of the “between the lines” and “inside the character’s head” stuff that informs our senses of how much grissom and sara love each other and what pathways their relationship takes over the years is inaccessible to them, so while it’s easy for us as viewers to see the bigger picture, it’s much harder for them to do so.

—which brings us to another reason i can buy them all not knowing:

because of the preconceptions they all bring to the table.

each member of the team has their own ideas of who grissom and sara each are as individuals, including what their social, romantic, and sexual inclinations might be; what actions they each would and would not be likely to take in any particular circumstances; what their dynamics are with each other; etc., etc.

for example, while catherine seems to view grissom as reclusive (see her comments about his “hermetically-sealed condo” in episode 01x04 “pledging mr. johnson”), she nevertheless also seems to believe he has what she would deem a healthy interest in women, dating, and sex (see her exposition to sara in episode 07x23 “the good, the bad, & the dominatrix”).

in her view, for as geeky and antisocial as grissom is, it’s still not necessarily unthinkable he would be attracted to sara, much less act on his attraction to her—as, after all, he is, underneath all of his bookishness and introversion, still your “average red-blooded american man,” who is not above being sexually interested in the attractive young woman at his office.

meanwhile, catherine probably considers while sara is attracted to grissom on a surface level, she also, as catherine sees things, broke up with him not long after moving to vegas (see episode 02x15 “burden of proof”); that so, catherine likely believes after mid-s1, any interest grissom might have in “rekindling” things with sara would most probably be unrequited, as while sara is seemingly—in catherine’s view—comfortable accepting the favors come of grissom’s attraction to her, she doesn’t necessarily want a romantic relationship with the man (see, for example, sara and catherine’s conversation at the beginning of episode 04x02 “all for our country”); she will, catherine believes, happily string grissom along without any intention to ever gratify his desire.

by contrast, nick likely initially believes grissom has little to no interest in women and is far too much of a workaholic to even consider carrying on a dating life. then, even once he starts to suspect grissom might have a girlfriend come s7 (see episode 07x11 “leaving las vegas”), he probably is of the belief grissom would never date someone from the lab, because to do so would be against the rules.

the same guy who gets after nick for the kristy hopkins debacle of s1 (see episode 01x13 “boom”) wouldn’t likely date his own subordinate, right?

as for sara, if nick is at all aware of sara’s sometimes flirtatious interactions with grissom—which, honestly, he canonically encounters fewer of than other members of the team do—even so, he probably doesn’t read too much into them, as, from where he’s standing, sara seems to flirt with all of her male coworkers, himself included (see, for example, episode 06x21 “rashomama”), to generally harmless effect. the sara he knows is a natural tease who likes to rile the guys around her up, but she seldom ever means anything by her coquetry; if anything, she uses it more as a defense mechanism to cover up her insecurities than to actually form romantic connections.

if he had to say what sara’s “type” was when it comes to men, he would probably describe some traditionally handsome meathead who sara can boss around; he wouldn’t expect she was into grissom—and especially not because he himself views grissom as something of a father figure and may implicitly assume sara, who is his same age and at the same place in her career as he is in his, feels the same.

all of the above said, i think a big reason why no one on the team sees gsr for what it is despite it staring them in the face is because they’re all looking through colored lenses of one type or another that camouflage the view.

if you don’t see grissom as the kind of guy who has any interest in women, then it’s easy to explain away his weird behavior around sara as him just being an overbearing boss or having paternal protective feelings toward her. if you think sara dumped grissom years ago, you wouldn’t expect her to be his live-in girlfriend at present.

and that brings us to the final reason why i'm okay with no one on team graveyard knowing about gsr pre-reveal:

because we all tend to ignore that which we are accustomed to.

beyond the ambiguous nature of grissom and sara’s interactions themselves or any knowledge gaps or presuppositions in play, i think one of the main things which prevents catherine, warrick, nick, and greg from recognizing grissom and sara are an item prior to the end of s7 is, frankly, grissom and sara have been grissom and sara since day #1, and everyone’s used to them, to the point where a lot of the ~weirdness~ doesn’t even register anymore.

those two geeks have been standing way too close to each other, finishing each other’s sentences, staging uncomfortably intense staring contests, lobbing strange innuendos, having weirdly charged tiffs, being way too openly defensive of each other, etc., etc., since the very first day sara walked through the door to the las vegas crime lab.

and maybe initially their teammates wonder if anything ~more~ is going on between them than just “friendship,” but then over time that bizarre intensity between them just becomes a baseline.

while particular interactions might temporarily resurrect old suspicions for various team members, nothing to definitively overturn the “it’s just platonic weirdness” assumption ever occurs.

so eventually, everyone becomes inured to gsr.

—hence the shock when grissom finally reveals their relationship to the team at the end of s7.

anyway, i've long overwritten the point now, but suffice it to say: of all of the unrealistic aspects of csi, to me, the idea grissom and sara manage to keep their romantic relationship a secret for as long as they do isn’t necessarily one of them, even given their teammates are trained observers. they're essentially able to “hide in plain sight,” using their teammates’ blind-spots and misconceptions to their advantage.

could they have kept their relationship a secret indefinitely, had natalie davis not forced them to “come out”? probably not—and especially not given how their relationship was trending toward the end of s7 and beginning of s8 anyhow.

those kids wanted to get married.

but i can buy they managed to do so for a couple of years—and especially because they were undoubtedly super careful about covering their own tracks.

your mileage may—and from the sounds of things probably does—vary.

but i can believe the byline here.

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time.

[heavymachinebun]

The Deep Cut Deep Dive: Overthinking the Deep Cut Dynamic in Excruciating Detail (An essay by @TerminatorBuns)

This was originally posted on Reddit, but I want to share with Tumblr to see if Tumblr likes this format more. Also because I'm close to finishing a second essay about Deep Cut, focusing on Frye.

Deep Cut is great, I love them, and their relationship dynamic lives rent free in my head. The one thing Nintendo did for us this time is drop story mode lore for Deep Cut on Day 1, and it has fleshed out their relationship dynamic in IMMENSE detail, enough to rival what we know about Off the Hook. How much detail are we talking about, you might ask? A FUCKING LOT it turns out! We're talking about Tableturf secrets, we're talking about Frye's feet, we're talking about the implications of Big Man's breakfast on the course of his artistic development, this shit goes DEEP. I don't know who needs to hear this but Splatoon idol lore is the meatiest part of Splatoon world building and an absolutely BONKERS ride. I want to take you through that journey if you haven't been on it before, or just need more fuel for your lore headcanons.

I wish this was a bit more academic but I didn't have the time and patience to cite everything with game screenshots, so I'm assuming whoever is reading this has already played the story mode and has a rough idea of what I'm talking about. Spoilers obviously. At the very least I hope this will be an entertaining rant, feel free to yell at me in comments about stuff I got wrong, I welcome the discourse.

1. A Bunch of Theatre Nerds

Deep Cut primarily differs from Off the Hook in one way: they do not specialize in music, but in THEATRE. Each of the two humanoid idols are designed from the ground up to represent two different forms of traditional Japanese theatre, and it ties deeply into their dual roles in the game. The important takeaway is that each idol excels in one art, but struggles at the other, and we will explore what this means. Let's talk about Shiver and Frye; Big Man is a special case, we'll have to put a pin in him and come back to that.

2. Shiver is Rakugo

Shiver is a performer of Rakugo, or Japanese seated story telling. Deep Cut's day job as newscasters is represented as a Rakugo performance, and Shiver brings a fan and a little table to the job, both common props in Rakugo. Shiver exhibits all the qualities of a strong Rakugo artist, she sits in a Seiza kneeling position with excellent posture, and delivers the news with wit and poise. She has excellent, sharp facial expressions that she directs straight at the audience, she uses her fan to gesture in ways to attract attention, and she punctuates her delivery by tapping her fan against her table to create little sound cues for a listener. Her approach to drawing an audience to her words is multilayered and complex, and her vocal skills as a storyteller seems to parallel her strong vocals when singing (not that you can tell how good her diction is since she speaks in warbly Squid-Gibberish).

Frye is much less skilled by contrast, for a number of reasons. She doesn't even attempt to sit in a Seiza stance, and in fact can barely sit still without attempting to wiggle off her cushion. From a general speaking perspective, Frye fails to establish eye contact with the audience because she's always staring at the other two performers, whoever is speaking at the time. She also lacks all of Shiver's propwork and has no intentionality in her gestures. She compensates for her weak delivery with goofy, high energy antics that are charming in her own way, and this is what earned Frye a reputation as a fidgety gremlin baby compared to the cool, sophisticated Shiver. Before launch that was everyone's impression of Frye, but the arrival of story mode dropped a massive bomb on us that flips the dynamic COMPLETELY UPSIDE DOWN. Feet are involved, let's discuss.

3. Frye is Kabuki

Story mode showed us Deep Cut as a hilarious team rocket like villain team, but the bigger takeaway is that we finally see Frye in her preferred art form: Kabuki stage performance. Frye's entire villain persona is a stage act, she thrives as a stage villain and has the charisma and skills to back it up. I should note that Frye doesn't practice pure Kabuki with all of its strict discipline, but Frye isn't full, or even partially Japanese herself, since she's very much South East Asian in design. She has her own, maybe(?) SEA inspired take on stage performance, but some of her stances in the later sections of story mode are unmistakably Kabuki, it's clear where she draws inspiration for her style from.

Villain Frye is amazing, she's confident and charismatic, and genuinely menacing in demeanor before her fight. She has a professional code of conduct as a villain: she states her intentions clearly, paying respect to the player before her boss fight and offering to negotiate before fighting. She's the only one who correctly uses her smoke bomb correctly to make a dramatic exit, and she names all of her meticulously choreographed attack patterns like a proper anime villain.

Conversely, story mode is where we finally see Shiver struggle. Her villain performance is fun, yet inconsistent: she's unnecessarily melodramatic and overacts every scene, and she throws petty insults at you before breaking character to just try to run you over with a shark-bike. She fumbles her smoke bomb and becomes increasingly frustrated everytime you knock her down, unlike Frye who doesn't break character and recovers immediately after she is downed. Shiver still makes a fun, campy comedy relief villain, but she visibly loses the confidence and dignity she had as a Rakugo performer, highlighting how much she is out of her element. In Shiver's defense, she does manage to pull off that absurd sleight of hand in her intro where she switches her mask for her fan while delivering the spiciest piercing gaze, while Frye just chucks her mask off screen instead. Once again Shiver's dexterity in her face and her hands are her strongest tools.

4. Frye's feet

I feel like an absolute lunatic writing this section, but I assure you there is genuinely a need to discuss this topic in length. Forget Frye's forehead for a second, her FEET are easily her most important assets. Frye uniquely emotes with her feet more than any other idol the same way Shiver emotes with her hands, except Shiver's hands don't have enough lore significance to fill a whole section. Frye's feet DO. I would go so far as to say Frye's feet are one of the most SIGNIFICANT visual tools we have for contextualizing the difference between Frye and Shiver's entire professional art forms. Strap in.

For starters, Frye's footwork is MONSTROUSLY powerful. Take a look at her during her boss fight, she's playing an instrument, and hopping up and down on an Octostomp like it's a goddamn circus ball. It doesn't take a single eel hit to knock her off balance, you have to send her ENTIRE eel army at her before you can knock her down! I think the eels inside her Octostomp are moving it, so in theory she's not piloting it with pure foot power, but also she kicks it onto its side before she starts blowing into her flute?!! I have no idea, I can barely comprehend what is happening here.

At the same time, her feet fully solidifies her ties to Kabuki. Kabuki is an art form done without shoes, and since she performs her villain persona outdoors, she doesn't wear shoes anywhere. Kabuki is also a full body art form which requires precision footwork, and she has that in spades. This is in stark contrast to Shiver, whose seated Rakugo performance has no footwork whatsoever. Shiver's footwork is comparatively weak as a result.

Don't get me wrong, Shiver has enough footwork to dance in blocky Geisha shoes (I've been told they are Okobo shoes), but it's in a stage performance capacity where Shiver's footwork completely falls apart. Shiver doesn't know how to express body language through footwork, so she DOESN'T. Shiver stands completely in place during her villain performance and tries to compensate with her upper body expressions, but this lets Frye completely dominate her in stage presence. In most scenes with both idols, Frye physically takes up more of the screen through footwork: she positions herself one or more steps TOWARDS the audience and literally looks BIGGER as a result. Frye's full body poses are also wide and faces the audience/camera at an angle that maximizes her surface area to attract visual interest, which is a core Kabuki concept that, again, requires intentional footwork and positioning. Shiver poses with her feet together and her body turned to the side, so her screen presence is minimal every single time. In fact, she uses her feet so little in her villain performance that she's the one member of Deep Cut that fights on a vehicle and has no mobility of her own!

At the same time, Frye's feet are double edged swords and her greatest weaknesses. Take a look at Frye while she is newscasting, what is she doing in her default pose? Yeah that's right, HOLDING HER FEET. Her Kabuki background is so used to full body acting that she's restless sitting still, and she's holding down her feet because they literally want to EXIT THE PREMISES. Every once in a while she fails to contain herself and kicks off in every direction, threatening to kick a hole in Big Man's TV and boot Shiver's table off the stage. Frye's feet are a MENACE.

5. Big Man and Amateurism

Remember at the beginning we put a pin in Big Man? His arms are getting tired so we're letting him down from the wall now.

So how does Big Man fit into this dynamic? Nintendo confirmed that he is their composer, so he provides a music background to the team whereas the other two are theatre nerds. Big Man is unique in that his talents are largely background work, unlike our other two idols who specialize in stage work. However, that makes him a bit of an outlier in terms of theatrical performance. He follows Shiver and Frye around to both their performances but doesn't have much proficiency in either one. As a newscaster he stumbles over his words often, and his villain persona is just his regular persona but slightly angrier. He doesn't really dance and sing particularly well either, there's a sequence in the Anarchy Rainbow choreography where Big Man nearly smacks the other two idols out of clumsiness. Big Man is an odd duck in the Deep Cut trio, and yet, this is a central aspect of his design and his appeal, it's kind of the point.

The central theme of the Deep Cut dynamic is Amateurism, and this ties into Splatoon 3's core theme of Chaos. Each humanoid idol is a master at a specific performance art, and an amateur at the other art form, but the important part is that they show up anyways to clown around, and that in and of itself adds a distinct flavor to the performance despite their individual weaknesses. The chaos of Splatoon 3 is the contrast between a professional artist on a stage next to two absolute goobers, and the chaotic, yet dynamic performance that results from three artists of different skill levels colliding. In that sense, Big Man is the true amateur who shows up to everything in an effort to contribute, and his bumbling inexperience is extremely lovable. This is in direct contrast to the Off the Hook dynamic, as both members of Off the Hook are musically talented and completely aligned in their artistic interests, while the members of Deep Cut have differing interests but will always show up for each other, like absolute BROS.

The Big Man discussion does not end here, however. Big Man's sunken scroll depicts him as a member of the prestigious Manta Clan, with the fanciest dining set while the text describes the Manta Clan's meticulous breakfast habits. Shiver and Frye's sunken scrolls, in contrast, describe the ancient artistic history that both of them descend from. Jumping into story theories at this point, I would personally guess that Big Man comes from a different economic background than the other two. Splatsville appears to have the aesthetics of a rural city after a rapid expansion, many of the buildings are cluttered and old looking in contrast to some infrastructure that looks very new. If we assume that Shiver and Frye's families have lived in this area for quite some time, it would be quite likely that they were poor or middle class, partially explaining their concern for the underprivileged citizens of Splatsville. Big Man on the other hand looks like he comes from the richest, snobbiest kind of high society family. He's a fancy fancy boy.

The more important takeaway is this: Big Man seems to come from a family background that prioritizes formality and rules over personal expression. From this we can make an educated guess that Big Man started his theatrical journey LATER IN LIFE. Shiver and Frye could easily have been practicing stage performance from early childhood through their family history, but Big Man's family traditions doesn't lend itself well to open self expression, and whatever artistic ability he might have gained through his family does not translate well to the stage! Big Man's exposure to theatre would have happened outside of his family, possibly after he gained some amount of independence from them. I'd hazard a guess that his friendship with Frye and Shiver might even be the starting point of his stage career!

Shiver and Frye are letting Big Man, maybe even encouraging him, to perform with them on stage despite him being a relative newcomer to theatre. There's relatively little judgement, they too understand that all artists have been amateurs at some point in their journey, and continue to be amateurs at other art forms even after mastering their own. My boy is doing his absolute best to perform alongside his theatrical seniors and it's so precious. This dynamic is wholesome beyond my wildest expectations, I am HEALED.

6. Tableturf and Artistic Priorities

I added this section last because I only discovered this information after I had completed my original draft, and Nintendo is actively fucking with me at this point. Each of the three idols have personality traits that come through in their TABLETURF dialogue, of all places, and it's kind of the final piece that makes the Deep Cut dynamic click for me. Through their tableturf dialogue we learn a lot about each member's priorities as an artist, enough for us to explore in detail.

Shiver is an audience focused artist. Her focus in tableturf is centered on you, the opponent, and she makes it a matter of personal pride to compete against you and she takes her victories and losses very personally. No matter the outcome she requests a rematch, because her priority is the opponent's experience, as she seeks the approval of her audience. Her eye contact and graceful mannerisms are as sharp as ever up close as she is on stage. This plays well with the second aspect of her artistry, which is the fact that she has a Geisha aesthetic in addition to her Rakugo specialty. Hospitality and direct conversational interactions are a part of both jobs, even if she secretly has a bit of an ego and barely resists gloating if she wins.

Big man is a self-focused artist. He comes off as awkward and shy in a tableturf match, and we get to see a little bit of the bubbling insecurity behind Big Man's jolly smile. Big man's lack of stage performance abilities translates into his social interactions as well, and he uses self deprecation to downplay his abilities and expects to lose, being pleasantly surprised if he wins. What Big Man is primarily looking for is a kind of self-acceptance, as an amateur artist he wants to hone his abilities to a point that he can be confident in himself, and he shows the same anxiety in his social interactions and tableturf games. No matter if he wins or loses, his primary focus is on his own performance, and he mostly comments on whether or not he has met his own expectations. Every small victory seems to do great things for his self esteem and you just want this boy to be happy, let him win at card games.

Frye's tableturf mannerisms is the most interesting, as it turns out, and is actually the reason I even wrote this section (my Frye bias strikes again). The most important detail is that she fails to make eye contact with the player, AGAIN, just like when she's newscasting! At face value this is VERY strange: in the news room she is clearly staring at whoever's talking, but in a direct conversation with you, why does she still not look at you? I've also seen people complaining that she's one of the only players that insults the player after a win and makes no attempt to console the player, and that is completely true. What isn't very obvious is the additional layer of meaning in the same win dialogue that really clarifies her priorities in the moment, and this is a CRUCIAL piece of Frye's characterization. When she wins her first instinct is to tell SHIVER and BIG MAN about her victory.

Remember that Kabuki is a stage performance with multiple artists in multiple roles. Rakugo can be performed solo, and Big Man seems to compose solo as well, but Frye's Kabuki actively requires the participation of other artists, it is a collaborative performancr. This brings us to the realization that Frye is a uniquely TEAM focused artist amongst Deep Cut: her top priority is her bandmates, at all times! Frye NEEDS Deep Cut, her personal style of theatre doesn't even work without friends, and she's fixated on maintaining her friend group as a result. Frye is able to focus on an audience when she is actively doing her job as a Kabuki artist, but any other time she starts spacing out because she simply spends all her energy thinking about ways to impress her bandmates! She comes off as dismissive to the player, because her mind is literally wandering to her band friends, even when they are not around! Deep Cut means the world to Frye in a way that isn't as meaningful for her friends, and she's made herself into the glue that holds this friend group together; Frye is very much the heart of the Deep Cut trio. Frye's dedication to her friends is the actual CUTEST detail in this entire game, I CANNOT believe they hid this information in tableturf. Why is Nintendo like this?!!

7. Conclusion

Splatoon's world building is extremely art centric, and the lore they write for their fictional artists is some of their best, most detailed work. Looking at Splatoon lore through an artistic lens is extremely rewarding because there are secrets and details everywhere. I've obsessed over Off the Hook's similarly complicated character dynamic in the past, and Deep Cut is really making me relive those memories like that dude from Ratatouille, it's hitting me HARD.

In some ways even this write up is only a surface reading, I'm no expert on traditional Japanese theatre or SEA culture and I have no idea how many details can be uncovered by an actual expert. I also have no music background and the Splatoon team hides fricking lore in the fricking OST and I cannot begin to unpack any of that. I fully expect that there's more details I've missed or have gotten wrong, but I hope I've at least established how deep this rabbit hole goes, and how much fun it is to dig through Splatoon lore instead of getting enough sleep.

Anyways the next time someone asks me why Frye is best girl I'm gonna have 3000 words of documentation to show them.

8. Miscellaneous notes

- What is going on with Shiver's shoes, they don't have straps, how do they stay on? Are they glued to her socks? Does she have to take the sock part off to remove the shoe? She has to take her shoes off to perform on a tatami mat, but we can't see what's going on back there feet wise since she has a Rakugo table in front. Is her lower body even rendered back there? I draw fan art, I need to know this stuff.

- Shiver likes to take jabs at Big Man sometimes that he struggles to respond to, being a less experienced conversationalist and just socially awkward in general. It's not necessarily malicious, however, Shiver could just be giving him opportunities to practice his conversation skills and keep him in the discussion. Plus he's very cute when flustered, I dunno that Shiver can resist prodding him.

- Big man is differently abled in a very literal sense. He has no hands or feet with which to emote, he's trying his best to express himself with his flappy fins. He barely has functional vocal cords, just going AY and making warbling fish noises all the time. Big Man's body isn't great at singing or dancing, but it is very good at things that Manta Rays are traditionally good at. He mentions being able to filter feed, and his mobility is remarkably good in swim form. Big Man is also a pretty dangerous predator unless you have the sensor upgrade.

- Shiver's family situation is kind of a mystery, how do they have a tradition of Shark taming if Octarian society is a militaristic dictatorship run by DJ Octavio? I suspect that Shiver was never a part of his army and there are Octarians living outside of his rule. She's definitely a Splatlands native, members of Octavio's Octo Canyon army should have been able to identify Callie and Marie easily.

- Shiver's aesthetic shifts to a violent Bōsōzoku biker gang aesthetic when she boards Master Mega, since he's outfitted with motorcycle parts and wears those bad boy sunglasses. It's a sharp contrast to her polite Geisha presentation, and so is her entire villain persona. This is what I mean when I say Shiver's performance style is inconsistent, but Shiver's two-faced presentation is also super fun to watch and kind of her entire appeal. There's an aggressive pettiness underneath the polite outward presentation and the gap between her two personalities is peak comedy. - I only just recently realized that she's a Geisha with a shaved punk cut and that's amazing: https://www.reddit.com/r/splatoon/comments/xk5mtx/did_yall_notice_shivers_head_is_supposed_to_be/

[keystone8379]

keystone you should talk about something in regards to kirby fighters 2 community edition

Oh you're right I haven't done that yet! Regarding Kirby Fighters 2: Community Edition, there is a metric TON of stuff to talk about here. The dev team is some of the closest friends I've ever had. Smash Tactics is a thing because I was able to test the game over and over again with the members of the dev team. We've spent many hours sharing progressively crazier character ideas. We have created some warcrime moves. (or, well, more warcrime moves. KF2 already has plenty of those) I think, however, the best place to start for CE on the KF2 lore account is probably just a development history.

So it's late September, the year is 2020. Kirby Fighters 2 was leaked, got a trailer, and released all within the span of 24 hours. Soon after that, firubii (you might have seen her before) shows her findings from a Twitter datamine, that being evidence of a 3D Kirby game. "Wow! Awesome! I sure hope it's nothing like Battle Royale!" I say at the time. But I digress.

A few months pass and eventually fish gets in touch with Firubii for I believe checking hitboxes and frame data? We get a few things for some of the weirder moves from characters like Ninja, but the fact that a modder was among us got people excited. The prospect of a balance patch mod was an undeniably appealing one and could breathe new life (and a time) into the game. And one that Firubii was interested in.

March 16th, 2021 rolls around and Fish pings everyone saying that they had set up a poll for balance suggested for Firubii to implement. They also got an all star cast of top players and fighting game expects and colgate and me. because I "have lots of opinions." We're all put into a dev chat and poll responses start flowing in.

This poll was crazy. You had Ninja downplaying Mag like crazy. You had Celica Trying His Best. You had nonsense adjustment suggestions like "Not really that effective." But my favourite would have to be probably Qwertz saying to EVERY balance suggestion box "The game needs no balance changes, only quality of life changes."

So we all in the chat start throwing around ideas while not really getting anything done. This will be a running theme. About a month later I was like enough is enough and starting pinging people for proper balance discussions and locking in changes. There's a few notable things we did for v0.1, including making Sword a LOT faster, giving Hammer Palutena's Lightweight, (the s4 custom move) making Bandana Dee's spears stick into the ground for a few seconds, and making Cutter's boomerangs bounce off walls. That last one was our first real criminal change, as Cutter could effortlessly lock down the entire screen. I spent hours labbing counterplay only to find none and grew to despise the character and suggested massive overcorrections for v0.2. Oops.

Overall v0.1 was pretty good! It had some iffy stuff and launched with a Whip desync in game but other than that it was a success I think. It came out during July of 2021, a little under 4 months from the initial announcement. There's a few public tourneys with good turnouts but run via Parsec and Parsec makes me want to commit violent crimes. Progress on 0.2 also goes fairly well. There's some bad ideas in there like making MK not very fun but overall it's not so bad.

Until development just HALTS. To my understanding, I believe it was something personal Firubii was going through but I don't have all the info. Then again, I didn't ask. Like sure, I'd like to have the new CE versions as soon as possible, but ultimately the well being of the people actually making the mod is the top priority, it's why it's so irritating when people are jerks about CE's slow development. Obviously I want the new versions out. But we all have lives outside of this and sometimes other things need doing.

Eventually 0.2 gets out, at the start of Febuary 2022. It's solid but still has some things that irk me. After a few months, we ask for player feedback on overall balance and specific changes and get not many results. Granted, CE doesn't have much players so balance discussion is somewhat meaningless for a game this unexplored. I think 1.0 fixes all of the glaring flaws though.

At some point, once again, development freezes, and this one was rough. No communication from Firubii led to a lot of dooming, especially with how close we got to actually launching 1.0. We DO actually know why she vanished for so long this time, it's because her house caught fire. It didn't burn down don't worry! But this still caught us all SUPER off guard.

Anyway, CE resumed development and went for a little while, but hit a brick wall when trying to add training mode. I'm not an expert on the inner workings of KF2 but I know Firubii talked to Ryn (yes, the goku in strive Ryn) about it a little bit. I actually posted about this to my Threads account but who gives a shit about threads. That's more or less where we are now. It's been a while since the last tester build but what can you do.

There's also a few other things but there wasn't really a good place for them. Colgate thought it was a good idea to make a tierlist video for a game no one could play. It wasn't. I had to spend the days after that video doing damage control. There was a playlist where people could suggest songs to add to CE, but tbh it was more just an excuse to listen to music in VC while we could still do that. We were gonna move off Gamebanana because the site is run by N*zis but this was during the fire arc so didn't happen. AV also thought it'd be a good idea to shittalk CE and ask to join the dev team in the same day. There was also the time we had to rush out a trailer for Savi's Dream Display but I have a few criticisms about that which I'll share with him one day.

I think that's it? If you wanna download the mod I'll link it right here: https://gamebanana.com/mods/303920

[luchitohamilton]

valtteri´s interview with srf at the austrian gp '23

so when you look at the next couple of years how does your future looks like? hopefully i'll be here for a long time. that's the goal for me so. i really enjoy working with this team and obviously the future is looking interesting as well, there's a clear plan and definitely would like to be a part of that.

valtteri, great race in canada. you got a point for the team, good result, but let's look at the season so far. how do you rate the performance of the car and the performance of yourself?

yeah, i think it is definitely to get a point even if it is just one but it's no lie that we expected more at this point from this year so, definitely we've been under performing a bit compared to our goals but now we need to work hard to get back up there so, we need to try and take every opportunity and now the main thing is trying to improve the package we have. we don't have upgrades this weekend but we have some coming for next week and i think quite a lot relies on that as well so, overall yeah, mix feelings but there´s been some good moments as well.

i looked up some interviews you gave at the beginning of the season and before the season and you were talking about your expectations and you said a podium would be nice, and of course you can always hope for something but i guess like the base was certain kind of expectation. did you misjudge the car and the progress a little bit?

i think i'm still dreaming of the podium because in this sport you never know what happens but by pure performance it's obviously a bit out of reach at the moment unfortunately. i would say... yeah, we had high targets for this year but good thing there's still lot of season left, lots of time to bring upgrades and make differences and eventually then at some point you'll need to focus on next year so, we are still in a "game", let's say, of long term progress you know, and getting there eventually not overnight.

on a good day alfa can compete for 1-2 points, maybe with the upgrades you just mentioned, do you think there's a chance that this will change, for the better of course, during the season?

that's the aim. it's to try out-develop our competition and that way getting more points so, that's the motivation now, to see progress, feel progress and stay motivated and keep pushing.

with liberty media there's has been an american way of promoting the sport that entered formula 1, and now also with alpine selling shares to people that have produced hollywood movies and are with american football teams. is this americanization of formula 1, is that something you like?

definitely there's been a bit more of a show element in this sport now a days, for example, than it was 10 years ago, no doubt, but it has also help grow the sport, you know, it has reached lot new audiences in different countries, different age groups, genders, so, i think formula 1 is, i don't think it's ever been this big so obviously they are doing something right. they are making it look entertaining, the racing is good, there's lots of action for fans apart from the racing as well, like music concerts and stuff and, you know, so. its peaking, this sport, which obviously means it's even more busy for us as drivers and there's more other thing than just the driving but you still do those things because you wanna drive the car so it's ok.

[racingliners]

⭐ for tros, please! xx

fanfic writers directors cut

Again there is SO MUCH I want to talk about with TRoS!!! Like I could go full PowerPoint presentation, but alas it's twenty to 11 at night as I'm typing this so that'll have to be for another day.

So for now, I'm gonna talk about the podium scene in the Spanish GP chapter!

(Under a read more, I got chatty.)

So with Seb being Chief Strategist there was always the possibly of him being picked as a Constructor's representative for the podium and I 1. obviously wanted to write about Seb getting soaked in champagne while wearing a famous white Merc shirt and 2. wanted it to be a Lewis win for Sewis reasons.

The way I do worldbuilding for AUs means that I like to include echos or references of canon/IRL events. In this case in the 2017 season Lewis and Seb were 1-2 on the podium at the Spanish GP, as well as sharing so many podiums over their careers, as well as having a Seb-Lewis-Jenson podium at Barcelona in 2011, so I really wanted to make reference to both of those races.

I also wanted to play around in the "How does Engineer!Seb feel about his F1 career and does he ever miss or think about what he could have had?" sandbox.

Hence why I opened the chapter with the following paragraph:

Sebastian hadn’t been able to pinpoint the exact moment he’d stopped feeling like an imposter when he walked through the paddock entrance. It had just… happened. He’d scanned his pass while chatting with James Vowles and stopped feeling the watchful eyes of every paddock photographer, pundit, commentator and journalist leering on him. He no longer felt like Seb the Red Bull prodigy turned reject playing dress up, but that he finally matched the words on his accreditation – Sebastian Vettel, Chief Strategist at Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport. (It was a wordy job title, but he adored every single letter).

Sebastian's happy, and most importantly comfortable in his new role in the F1 world. That is until he's told that he's been picked to be the Constructor's rep on the podium and a lot of stuff shoots up to the surface.

As Seb looked into James’ kind eyes, all he felt was a slight tightening in his chest. And yet, he didn’t want to let anyone down, or more accurately didn’t want to disrespect the team, by saying no. “It’s just champagne Seb,” James Allison clapped a heavy hand on Sebastian’s shoulder that just about managed to pull him back into the present. The bright blue sky, the roar of the crowd, the concrete beneath his feet, and the eyes of all of his colleagues now trained on him. “You might actually enjoy it.” Seb half forced himself to let out a small laugh and nervously pulled at his ear. “If you wanted to see me soaking wet before now, you should have just asked.” He said with a shy grin, and thankfully everyone either rolled their eyes or tutted instead of looking at Seb with concerned glances.

Seb Vettel 101: When faced with the realisation that 10 years after having your F1 driving career crushed to pieces you're finally going to stand on the winners step of the podium - be slutty to distract your colleagues from your impending crisis.

Sidenote, writing about Seb and his developing friendships with the other Mercedes engineers makes me so happy, you cannot even begin to imagine

I was in two minds for the longest time about whether or not to write the podium from Seb's or Lewis' POV, I eventually settled on Lewis because I wanted him to have his "oh wait Seb's kinda hot" moment, because as we know the Mercedes engineers look very good in their champagne sodden shirts.

But before I switched POVs, Lewis in typical Lewis fashion bounds into the cool down room on cloud nine and he manages to lift Seb's spirit just enough that he willingly walks onto the podium of his own free will. And (shockingly) Seb actually has a very nice time. (Mercedes 101: Always listen to James Allison).

As the British anthem ended and the German one began, he went to glance down at his mechanics, but hearing a quiet but definitely there voice singing stopped him. Sure enough when Lewis looked over his right shoulder and peered past Jenson, he could just make out Seb quietly mouthing the words to the German anthem. Lewis quickly looked away, not wanting to make Seb feel embarrassed, and quietly smiled to himself as he inhaled the warm afternoon air and felt the sunshine on his face. ... He set the trophy down so he would have his hands free to applaud Sebastian, who stared at the constructors trophy wide eyed and slightly breathless. He nervously shook the hand of the official who presented it to him, and looked at the trophy for a couple of seconds before his face split into a familiar bright grin, and he lifted it up into the air to the cheers of all his teammates gathered below, and the quiet applause of Lewis a couple of metres away. He was briefly taken aback by just how relieved Sebastian looked.

Something Seb was always meant to be on a podium with a winner's trophy something.

“Alright!” Seb shouted loudly over the podium music as champagne dripped from the tips of his hair. “Fuck, you got me.” Lewis burst out laughing as he turned to face the crowd and sprayed over the edge of the podium fence towards the team before looking back to see Seb wiping champagne from his eyes. Lewis stepped back up to the top step of the podium, and gestured for Sebastian to join him. He hesitated before slowly climbing the podium steps, and accepted the now half empty bottle when Lewis offered it to him. “Have they always been this heavy?” Seb asked once he’d taken a long sip, weighing the bottle in his hands. Lewis just nodded and put a hand on Seb’s shoulder, smiling at him proudly. “Back where you belong mate.” Lewis said quietly looking right into Seb’s eyes, not wanting the other two drivers to hear. Seb choked out a small laugh before he set the bottle of champagne down by Lewis’ feet. His bright blue eyes still wide and sparkling. “Back where we belong.” He pulled Lewis in for a long hug before either of them had the chance to say anything else. They kept their arms round each other’s shoulders as they stood for the podium photograph, before people walked out carrying team caps and microphones and Seb was quietly asked to leave. He quickly shook hands with Jenson and Daniel before jumping down off the podium. “Hey Seb!” Lewis called out, and Sebastian paused as he went to pick up the constructors trophy. “Wait for me?” “I will.” He said with a smile, and Lewis watched as Seb carried the trophy out of view.

I wanted Seb to mis-remember what some parts of being on a podium (the size of the cooldown room, the weight of the champagne bottles etc) so that when he experiences it for real, it sort of shatters the image he had previously held in his mind and he realises that podiums are fun actually!!! And where he and Lewis belong!!!!! (As the author I DID wail out loud when I came up with that piece of dialogue, thanks for asking😭😭😭).

And yes, dear reader, Seb does wait for Lewis because they're just Like That™️ about each other. To which, we finally lead to, Big Revelation 1 of The Rules of Strategy:

“You good?” Lewis asked, putting a firm hand on his shoulder while looking Seb up and down. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Seb nodded with a breathy sigh. “I missed it, standing on a podium.” Seb bit down on his bottom lip and looked down at the floor as his grin grew even wider. His shirt was still soaked through, accentuating the toned muscles of his torso. For some reason Lewis just couldn’t stop looking at Seb while he wistfully glanced out of the window back towards the podium. The way the sun hit Seb’s hair made it look like it was gilded with gold. ... Lewis shook his head, and forcefully pulled his mind back into focus for his post-race media duties, not wanting Jenson or Daniel to see that he was distracted – even though Lewis wasn’t entirely sure just what had briefly confused him.

Seb is hot and this is the hill I will die on.

Lewis, being Lewis, off-screen fixes his brain back into PR mode and then into driver mode for the post-race debrief so he probably tucks that train of thought deep down in his brain where it can't bother him (when it's actually going to be a surprise tool that will help us later).

I loved coming up with and writing this chapter as it's the first shift in the development of Seb and Lewis' relationship. It's definitely still professional and platonic at this stage, but seeds have been planted at the very least on Lewis' side and things are slowly starting to grow.

[saffronaa]

Clearing up some misconceptions about Overwatch 2 and its "Overwhelmingly Negative" reviews

Okay I just wanted to write something 'cause I saw a lot of misinfo and some confusion about what Overwatch 2 (OW2) even is, especially now that it's getting more (negative) attention again. Starting with what OW2 even is and how we ended up with such a hugely negative reception.

What's the difference between Overwatch 1 and Overwatch 2?

OW2 is free-to-play

OW2 is 5v5 (1 tank instead of 2 tanks)

OW2 has a different monetization scheme. It has a new buyable currency used to purchase cosmetics (mainly skins) from the store and to buy the battlepass

OW2 purchases are all cosmetic items EXCEPT when a new hero is released. Purchasing the battlepass will give you immediate access to a new hero. Otherwise, you will need to play enough games to unlock them.

Everything else in OW2 is either standard update stuff (new heroes, new maps, new gamemodes, etc) or carried over from OW1 (Yes, you keep all your cosmetics from OW1)

Why did they create Overwatch 2?

The original vision for Overwatch was a PvE game:

The Overwatch team, especially at its inception, considered itself an MMO development team. As we transitioned away from that original concept and started creating Overwatch, we included plans to one day return to that scope. We had a crawl, walk, run plan. Overwatch was the crawl, a dedicated version of PvE was the walk, and an MMO was the run. (Source 1)

Overwatch originally intending to be a PvE game was brought up in a Tweet 2 years before as well (Source 2).

Overwatch 2 was meant to be a major sequel with the focus on PvE.

What happened to PvE?

I recommend reading the full blog post, but I'll try to summarize.

Essentially the original vision of PvE was:

Story Missions (co-op gameplay with cutscenes)

Hero Mode (skill trees for each hero to upgrade and play in PvE)

When you heard the news that "OW2 PvE was cancelled", what was actually cancelled was Hero Mode. Story Missions were just released this season. This is still a major blow to PvE, because Hero Mode was the piece meant to give a reason for replaying the PvE missions over and over again.

PvE was cancelled because ultimately it was too much work, and they were not making enough progress at the cost of the original PvP game. (More on this later)

Why is Overwatch 2 receiving so many negative reviews?

I'm gonna give bullet points but I wanna address something first: A lot of people have mentioned the lawsuit against Activision Blizzard for sexual harassment and discrimination (More info) when talking about why Overwatch 2 is being reviewed poorly. While this is obviously a serious issue within the company and the game industry at large, the truth is that if this was the only problem, we would not be seeing reviews this bad. Unfortunately, the average gamer does not care about how game developers are being treated. See Epic Games crunch culture and the lawsuit against Riot Games for sexual harassment and discrimination. Fortnite and League of Legends/Valorant are doing just fine now.

Here is a list of some reasons why I think Overwatch 2 is being reviewed so negatively:

The original PvE vision with skill trees was not realized

Preferring the old monetization scheme of "buy the game once, earn cosmetics" instead of "game is free, buy cosmetics"

Believing the current cosmetics are overpriced

Not having immediate access to new heroes unless you pay

Preferring 6v6 gameplay to 5v5

Frustrated with content delays (Like Hero Mastery)

Expectations for more content on release

Misinformation (like PvE being completely cancelled)

Bandwagoning on the Overwatch hate train

Other pretty standard reasons to dislike a video game (game balance, don't like the lore, etc)

Distrust in Blizzard/the development team

And the last one is one I want to talk about a little more

Why is there so much distrust between the development team and the community?

While Overwatch 2 was in development, Overwatch 1 was abandoned. And the community largely felt that the content brought by OW2 was not worth the time lost for OW1.

OW2 was announced at Blizzcon on November 1, 2019. Since its announcement and until OW2 was released, Overwatch received 1 new hero and 0 new standard maps in 3 years. It previously was getting 3 new heroes and ~3 new standard maps each year.

If OW had kept its release schedule, we would've had 8 new heroes and 9 new maps when OW2 released. We got 3 new heroes and 6 new maps.

When OW2 released, lots of people wondered why they abandoned the game to make a sequel nobody asked for and with not enough changes. The developers are already aware that they made a mistake:

When we launched Overwatch in 2016, we quickly started talking about what that next iteration could be. Looking back at that moment, it's now obvious that we weren’t as focused as we should have been on a game that was a runaway hit. Instead, we stayed focused on a plan that was years old. Work began on the PvE portion of the game and we steadily continued shifting more and more of the team to work on those features. (Source 1)

This was especially frustrating for the people who were only interested in PvP.

But some people did hold onto the hope that the eventual release of PvE would make up for the lost development time for PvP.

And then the scope for PvE was cut in half, and once again the community felt that they were being served half-finished content.

It's been a continuous cycle of:

Overwatch announces a new feature

Everyone gets their hopes up that this new feature will fully deliver on everyone's expectations

The feature does not meet expectations (and is sometimes less than what was originally teased) or is delayed

IMPORTANT: And while this is all frustrating for players, and it makes sense to negatively review for these reasons, please never harass individual game developers. 99% of the time, game developers are just as passionate about the game as you are. You don't know what kinds of hells are going on behind the scenes that are preventing them from doing their job well.

Does Overwatch 2 deserve all of the negative reviews?

Obviously it's subjective, but I just want to throw it out there that I still think that Overwatch at its core is a good video game. I still play and have fun playing both ranked and quick play. I think the gameplay is very good. Everything else surrounding it is very frustrating and discouraging at times.

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s2 ep15: Threshold

I hadn't watched this one the whole way through in a while, since that ending is definitely not one you ever forget once you've seen it. But I forced myself to do it, and, surprisingly, it actually had some good qualities I'd completely forgotten about amidst the whole lizard baby fandango.

The ending really overshadows the rest of the story, which was actually pretty good in general. For one thing, the idea of trying to break the barrier of infinite velocity to arrive home instantly is a cool concept. Considering all the weird stuff they tried over the course of the show, that's not any weirder, and it gave us fun science nerd buddy time with B'Elanna and Harry, plus bonus Tom! Tom rarely gets to do anything science-y, so it was nice that he got to here. This is the first time we see all three of them work together on a project too. They're a good team, and I enjoyed their dynamic a lot- obviously we'll see various permutations of the three of them hanging out together in future eps, but I like the working relationship they have here and think it would have been nice to have more of that. It's also the first time we see Tom and B'Elanna actually hang out together, and they seem to like each other pretty well already. It's obviously not part of a romance plan yet, since the writers were still stuck on the Tom and Kes thing in this one, but it's nice to see them forming a friendship here. (I was not a fan of the 'kiss me before I die, Kes!' nonsense- at least Tom was near delerious at that point, but still, ick.) And I'd forgotten that Tom actually died for a few hours in this one, or at least everyone thought he did. Tbh, the most unrealistic part of this episode was that they thought Tom died, and Harry didn't come to sick bay to cry at his bedside like a lost puppy. Come on, he absolutely would!

The first half of the story actually works just fine- they figure out a cool new way to try to get home, Tom wants to prove himself, so he flies the test flight- it works! They broke the warp barrier! It seems great, until something goes wrong- travelling at infinite velocity is actually dangerous, he's dying, how do we save him? That's actually solid, and if they'd have just left it at that, that would have been great. There were plenty of interesting themes to explore here- the thing you wanted to bring you glory ending up almost killing you instead; seeing all of the universe at once, but only being able to remember bits and pieces before it slips away- I mean, that's a pretty big deal! How would that affect him long term? How much of it is still buried in his mind, somewhere? (They missed an opportunity to use that somehow in a later episode tbh.) That's much juicier than 'what if going too fast turns you into a lizard?'

With more thoughtful writing, it could have been a really good episode. We do get some genuinely sympathetic moments here where Tom talks about being miserable as a kid, and always feeling like he needed to prove himself to his dad, and it's good stuff that lets us see a vulnerable human side underneath the toxic masculinity nonsense they give him most of the time. It's the first episode in the whole series that focuses primarily on Tom, and I do remember watching it for the first time as a kid and being totally invested in Tom's story and caring about him, so it was doing what it set out to do in that regard. But about halfway through, it all gets derailed when it veers off into crazy town.

When they start having Tom turn into a molting lizard creature with the grotesque makeup, and yelling at people like a crazy person, any opportunity for character development gets lost because he's not himself anymore, he's just a crazy monster, and it's become a horror story instead. They could still potentially have saved it if they'd just had him evolve into something actually plausible for humans to evolve into- they've had humanoid species evolve into glowy light creatures or other ethereal, cool looking stuff on Trek before, and it worked just fine. But no, they went with... a salamander.

Why, in the name of all that's holy, would anyone think humans, or any primate, or mammal even, would evolve into an amphibean? Like, we're not even related to salamanders, and they're definitely not superior beings, so where did this even come from?? How high was Brannon Braga when he wrote this script?? And what was he on?? Because it's completely bonkers. And then we get even further into crazy town with an old timey pulp sci-fi monster movie trope of 'monster kidnaps beautiful woman to be it's mate'. Did someone forget that this is supposed to be Star Trek, and not King Kong or Creature from the Black Lagoon? I guess so, but actually, an old timey monster suit would probably have been preferable to what we got here: The goofiest, slowest, fakest giant salamanders you've ever seen. How are they the ultimate evolution of anything?! The away team walks up to them and phasers them practically point blank! They're obviously not as smart as they're cracked up to be lmao. And then the cherry on top of it all- salamander babies. They had salamander babies. They turned actual people into salamanders who had salamander babies.

SALAMANDER BABIES.

And they're adorable. They're actually so cute! Somehow, that only makes it worse. And despite their human DNA, Chakotay (who was obviously still in his bitchy mood during this ep) leaves them there! Even though they could apparently revert the salamander DNA into human DNA super easily, they're like, nah, let's not!

And they tell the Captain and Tom that these salamander children exist, but they're just like, 'gee that's awkward! gonna sweep that one under the rug and never think of it again! lol!'

And then whatever moral they were trying to get across is out the window, because unlike fictional characters, we, the poor audience, cannot simply forget about salamander sexytimes and the poor, abandoned salamander children.

I'm all for episodes where we focus on one particular character and give them a chance to delve into their hopes and fears and motivations, but unfortunately, poor Tom here only got half an episode to do that before he was relegated to B-movie monster shenanigans. It makes me so sad, because it would have been so much easier, actually, to just make this script decent. The mental gymnastics it must have taken to go from 'interesting engineering problem' to 'let's turn people into lizards!' is honestly pretty astounding.

One thing I'd totally forgotten is that this one takes place while that one Maquis guy is spying for the Kazon- and he actually gives them the records from the shuttle flight! The Kazon have the warp ten flight records! Did they ever try it?! Are there some Kazon dudes who turned into lizards too?! Is there a 'Planet of the Kazon Lizards' out there right now?! I smell a sequel! (But really, please. no. no more lizard people and lizard babies, I beg you.)

I thought I would have to go back to pretending this one doesn't exist after rewatching it, but actually, I'm delighted to find that I only have to pretend half of it doesn't exist now! And from now on, when I observe the Trek high holy day that is Threshold Day, I'll carry it's true message in my heart:

Don't get really, really high before you write things.

Tl;dr: Surprisingly only the second half of it was actually bad, but the ending went so disastrously off the rails that it overshadowed what was actually an important character growth episode for Tom.