#other than the fact that this was for a contest i feel like i improved a lot while making it and its one of my fav drawings ever ..

[stellabyystarlight]

Rookvil fanart i made for a contest with the theme "love", unfortunately i lost but i suuuuper love how it came out so i wanna share it here hehe 🫶

[pankielovesfan]

How would Fan react when learning about the reveal? Read my fun long ramble!

I need to put this down somewhere. Here is my fun not so structured analysis!!!! this is something i think a lot about. of course I do.

I doodled a small little graph of reactions I think he would go through that I will elaborate on further in the paragraphs below. I'm not sure about the order but it'd be something like these stages when processing it - most likely.

This is analyzed from the idea that Fan did not previously predict this in any way or expect it, but I do also suspect he might know! (Which, I'll explain later for his reaction to that.)

Fan's an incredibly emotional and impulsive person, he would definitely have a strong outer reaction to the information. This may be biased coming from me since Fan is my favorite to analyze but aside from Suitcase he would probably be handling it the worst after being told about it, OR just having the most notable reaction! This is considering he was not made to be a contestant but to devote his love, identity, and purpose to the show, which makes him revolve around the show much more than anyone else - since it is a built-in interest in him that he's dedicated his entire existence to, even when he tried to build himself beyond it- he still surrounds himself with Inanimate Insanity even after his elimination. It is forever tied to his mind and interests contrary to many contestants who try to separate from the show and competition entirely.

Fan's most substantial development in Hatching The Plan was the fact that there were many possibilities out there for him to discover for himself (and that others were there for him through that change and discovery). While he recognizes this and states on Fan's Fantastic Features that he's trying to test his limit and push past his comfort zone (notably while in a safe controlled environment where this change can occur comfortably for him) he is still "stuck" in Inanimate Insanity whether he recognizes this or not. He is at Hotel OJ, surrounded by the contestants, and he is still on MePhone4's island, like any other contestant. While Fan has convinced himself that he is more than just a fan of the show and that he is improving as a person, this development is still slow (obvious, coming from a person such as Fan who struggles with it) and he is still heavily attached to the core of his personality - the core which he was built to be in the first place. His love for the show is so clearly his own dedication and passion, and it truly does feel like his own CHOICE to love the show as much as he does. Even if he was created for it, it is a part of him that he loves and puts confidence into.

I swear these earlier points play into this bear with me,

So once Fan is told he was created by MePhone4, after the initial shock dies down, he would be in denial of it, of course, as Fan would react to any new information he had not considered about the show. Some "It can't be"s and some "There is absolutely no way"s being said by him, especially if he had not foreseen this coming. An instinctive reaction coming from Fan (which would also apply to Test Tube) is immediately questioning it, wanting answers- most definitely from MePhone4 himself. I don't think he'd believe Cobs if he told him, maybe not even Suitcase or Test Tube, he'd need to find the evidence for it and piece together if this even made sense at all.

Once he starts to consider it and all the pieces fit together for him as he looks back on everything, he'll let go of that denial. That's when it first really hits him. One of his first reactions is positive. He'd find validation in the fact he was created specifically for the show, he'd be honored and glad he was an actual piece of the show- not just a viewer or contestant, he was actually part of the show he loved so much. Fan puts a lot of his confidence into being the number 1 fan of inanimate insanity, as everyone knows, and being questioned on this or having people challenge him always strongly shows his insecurity over it. But knowing that he quite literally is, without a doubt, the biggest fan of inanimate insanity- and that he actually had this purpose and that he was made for what he loved to do- that would validate him immensely. He would thrive on his notion for a while until the existential crisis started to leap in.

He'd try to be acceptant of it, and this time around he would be in denial of his own emotions. He'd try to show how well he was taking this and to pride himself in being the biggest ii fan ever, so he puts up a confident front which is obviously not normal to anyone who sees him. He'd try his best not to think about the other implications of his existence being made for reality TV. He would try his best to appear in control and unburdened to prove to both others and himself that he was taking it well. I don't think this stage in his realization will go on for long. I think this would fluctuate a LOT depending on his mood.

At one point he does start to question himself. He overthinks his existence and his emotions, and if they are genuine- what if what he feels is fake? Just generated love? What if he truly doesn't like Inanimate Insanity? What's a real feeling from him and what's a fake one?! A million thoughts that some may not even make sense but this is where the existentialism really gets to him. Every time he felt excitement or love for the show, was that even his own emotions? Was that just made by MePhone4 so he could get some appreciation for his show- and maybe he'd get mad that MePhone4 kept dismissing him. Maybe he'd wonder why he was made if he's not being recognized and rewarded for how much dedication- if it was even his own- that he put into appreciating MePhone4, a dedication that was going unnoticed or deemed annoying by him.

Something I mentioned earlier, about Fan learning to embrace new opportunities for himself and about how he was still trapped in the show. He realizes he is forever tied to the show, and all his attempts at making changes for himself and being more than just a fan suddenly feel... meaningless to him. All he was ever made for from the start was to be a fanboy of the show, and he had tried to build himself around that. But those efforts were for nothing if this is all he ever was- just a fan. That was his entire identity, he was never anything other than that. This is all that could ever come out of him. So what was the point in trying? His shell might've been the only place he'd ever felt safe in anyways- and once he remembers it, his old coping mechanisms seem incredibly tempting. Fan would retreat back into his shell. Things just seemed so much simpler if he did, he wouldn't have to deal with all this overthinking if he just stuck to what he was made for, something he already had found so much comfort and significance in. He uses his shell to cope once again, regressing, turning back to his purpose. This would be how he copes with this new information, by embracing what it taught him that he was. He'd be in this state for a while, he'd probably try to pretend he never even learned anything and creating a false reality of his own security. Being a fan is still important to him, and something he feels so deeply about that he's urged into fully embracing it again. early season 2 fan is back babyyyy!

Not sure how long it would go on for, or even how long it would take for him to go through these stages, but this is somewhat of the process I believe he'd have! I think Suitcase and Fan should have a talk about dealing with all of this. possibly. I feel like it will boil down to "if it feels true to you, that's all that matters." for Fan dealing with this. I could definitely see Suitcase saying something similar to him.

As for him reacting to it after already having theorized this would happen or at the very least suspect it, I think it would go similar to that one drawing I made. He'd be proud at first, and it wouldn't sink in as fast because his pride comes first! But to have it actually confirmed to him would then send him into that same realization as stage 3 of processing it. Something something, it goes the same after this.

Anyways i love fannnn i could talk about him for hours boy i love you i wonder if we'll even get everyone's reactions to the reveal or if they'll even tell anyone else but if we do Fan would definitely have a prominent reaction to it <- guy who loves fan saying this. look at this bias

[topazadine]

How to Build a Sustainable Writing Habit Through SCIENCE (Fuck Off, NaNoWriMo)

This is a lightly edited repost from a previous post on my mostly-defunct blog, topazadine.com. I feel like it's an excellent thing to highlight now that everyone's wondering what the hell do to after NaNoWriMo showed their ass as anti-creative idiots.

I have never liked NaNoWriMo and think, frankly, that it is a garbage tool for new writers. If you've done it and enjoyed it, that's great, but overall, it is not the best way to build motivation. At all.

But why is NaNoWriMo so bad? (Other than the current controversy.)

It encourages younger writers to think of writing as something they do during the months of October through November. Not something they do all year round, day in and day out. People will prep for weeks to do a whole novel in one month and hinge all their writerly hopes on that one singular month.

We won't even get into the fact that November is the absolute shittiest month to try to get a novel done because the holidays are coming up, and many working-class people are busting their asses off to get extra hours in before Christmas.

Writing is something you do all. the. time. It is not bound by a singular month. It is not limited to a certain time of year. And when you are working to complete a draft, it doesn't matter season it is. What matters is that you get it done.

So let me show you something better. But first, why should you listen to me? And why is my method an improvement over a shitty organization's AI-riddled contest?

I wrote the first draft of my novel, Poesy (104,323 words) in 39 days.

That’s an average of 2,647 words per day. It is also about twice as much as the typical person aims for during NaNoWriMo. I did not set out to get it done in any given time period, but I still completed way, way more than NaNoWriMo would require in just about the same amount of time (plus 9 days).

I didn't have a buddy group. I didn't have checkins. I just had me and my keyboard and my secret weapon, which I'll show you in a bit.

How is it possible to get so much more done without that external motivator?

Simple: I compete with myself.

You Need to Develop Intrinsic Motivation

What in the world is intrinsic motivation?

Intrinsic motivation is defined as the doing of an activity for its inherent satisfaction rather than for some separable consequence. When intrinsically motivated, a person is moved to act for the fun or challenge entailed rather than because of external products, pressures, or rewards. Frontiers in Neurobiotics

That is, in essence, what we do when we’re writing for fun; or, rather, it should be what we’re doing when we write for fun.

A lack of intrinsic motivation is why people who see novels as a get-rich-quick scheme tend to burn out when they realize that most writers make less than minimum wage. That's called extrinsic motivation, and it doesn't work well for things like writing, where there may not be any easily-defined goals or motivators. Most of us are not going to become rich from our writing.

Here's why extrinsic motivation is unhelpful:

Extrinsic motivation does not always work best; sometimes it can make us perform poorly at certain tasks. For instance, studies reveal that high stake rewards, like cash bonuses, can hinder cognitive capacity. This happens because they shift our focus away from the task and onto the outcome. We can become preoccupied with rewards and all the things that come with them, such as our social status, instead of just doing the work. Extrinsic rewards also tend to narrow our focus on a defined goal and reduce our ability to see other possibilities, hindering creativity. Studies find people perform worse on tasks requiring imagination and ingenuity when they are offered extrinsic rewards, such as higher pay. Nir and Far

And, well, note that "performing worse on tasks requiring imagination and ingenuity." Extrinsic motivation is literally the WORST motivator for writing specifically.

NaNoWriMo is extrinsic motivation, which is not anywhere near as powerful or sustaining as intrinsic motivation. You want to get the shiny achievement award, so you just bang out 50,000 words of slop because you want to say you did it.

You're not motivated by anything but the outcome. That does not a sustainable writing practice make.

But there’s something about intrinsic motivation I want to highlight, because it’s crucial to what I am about to show you: the challenge.

Sometimes writing is a total slog because we’re worrying about all the other things and not on the words themselves. We’re fussing about whether we will ever get published, if we’ve added enough tension in a certain part, if our mom is going to read our porn and realize what a freak they raised.

You cannot think about those things while actively writing.

Instead, you need to focus on the writing process itself. John Schinnerer, a psychologist and life coach, explains further:

Remember as you are in the process of achieving your goals that the enjoyment comes from the doing not the attaining. It is important to find contentment in the act of pursuing the goal while placing less weight on the actual fulfillment of the goal itself.  PsychCentral

So we know you need to find the challenge fun, and you need to focus on the act of putting the words on the page.

In other words, you need to make it a contest with yourself. Here’s how.

Use a Word Count Spreadsheet

Finally! We get to why I’m telling you this! It's free, it's easy, it can be done all year round.

A daily word count spreadsheet is an amazing way to stay motivated and to keep pushing yourself to write because you can literally see the wins rack up. Every day, the word count jumps significantly, which can be much more motivating than just “oh, I’m at 8,453 words.”

More importantly, you’ll start to want to beat your “high score” from the day before.

I’ve highlighted one of the cells so that you can see the simple formula that you need to set up: it’s just yesterday’s count minus today’s count.

Put that in one cell, then click and drag the bottom righthand corner of the cell, and it will populate the rest of the cells in that column with the adjusted formula (B4-B3, and so on).

This is very easy to create. All you have to do is copy-paste the wordcount from your document into your spreadsheet, make sure you have that super-simple formula, and you're done. I have severe dyscalculia and can still use it.

But you can see how much this really helped me:

Things started to really ramp up right at the end because I was getting so motivated by the word counts of the day previous. I wanted to beat yesterday’s high score and keep going.

At the beginning, I was writing maybe 1.9k words; by the end, I was an absolute demon, regularly breaking over 2.8k and then some. On the last day, when the rest of the family was in a post-Christmas hangover, my butt was glued to my chair, banging out those last few thousand words.

Psychologists and life coaches agree that self-competition, a type of intrinsic motivation, is one of the best ways to improve.

Michelle Gibbings, a workplace expert, explains:

When you compete with yourself, you don’t become fixated on what other people are doing; you set the direction and speed. You put yourself in the driver’s seat and control your progress, setting meaningful goals rather than focusing on the progress of others. Michelle Gibbings

Making a word count spreadsheet like this is the definition of setting your own speed and controlling your progress. You can decide on a threshold you always want to hit and then feel very satisfied when you go beyond that.

I set my threshold at 1.5k words every day so that I didn’t feel bummed out when I had an off day and couldn’t get a lot done, but I really wanted my average to be around 2k, so I’d periodically check how close I was to that. If I had a terrible day or was busy, then I’d want to make up for lost time and write more the next day so I kept my average.

Now, I live a life that is quite advantageous to consistent writing: I’m single, I’m childless, I work from home, and most of my hobbies are pretty low-key.

Your life doesn’t look like mine, and that’s totally okay.

There’s no need to match the speed I showed here.

What matters is that your schedule works for you, and that you are consistent.

If you’re a caretaker or have a strenuous job, then set your threshold at just 100 words and aim for an average of 500. However, you’ll be sad if your spreadsheet has a blank cell, so you’ll want to get down at least something, even if you only have 15 minutes to write.

Plus, it’s so encouraging to see the word count go up day by day: much more satisfying than just seeing it in tiny font at the bottom of a Word document or Google Doc.

Or getting some dumb t-shirt from an organization that is actively trying to murder creativity for commercial gain. (Oh, and they protected an actual pedophile from consequences for months on end while he continued to groom children. But that was last year's controversy.)

There’s another reason why this particular method works so well for writers, though.

Word Counts Banish the Urge to Edit

You know you shouldn’t, but you do it anyway. A single word here. A removed sentence there.

The first draft is just about getting everything out, not fixing everything that needs fixing. That part comes later during your five billion revisions where you tweak every single word.

Revising means you have less to work with, which means you have less development. You can get rid of anything that shouldn’t be there when you’ve gotten to that very satisfying “The End” page.

If you are motivated by the spreadsheet method, then you are screwing yourself over if you edit.

Your word count went down! It looks like you did less than you did! You’re losing! Best add more, and fast!

(I had to include my placeholder chapter names; it was obligatory.)

Use strikethrough! Now you know exactly what you’ll be getting rid of when you get to the end of your draft, but you’re not decimating your word count. I removed the entire beginning of the book; that scene is super cute, though, so I later turned it into its own one-shot on my AO3 page.

I prefer doing that because then, if you find that you actually wanted to keep that scene or move it elsewhere, all you have to do is copy-paste from the old version, remove the strikethrough, and you’re all good.

So that’s my tool. It’s really that simple.

But even though it’s so simple, it works wonders for your motivation and consistency, which are crucial for a good writer.

Are you going to give it a whirl? You may find it nervewracking at first, but I encourage you to sample this method, especially if you have a hard time getting motivated.

And if you enjoyed this article, maybe you'll consider purchasing my debut novel, 9 Years Yearning.

This is not the book I drafted last year; it is in fact a prequel of sorts to that first novel. However, it helps set the scene for Poesy (the sixth book in the Eirenic Verses) so that you'll be all prepped for the masterpiece.

9 Years Yearning is a coming of age romance that follows the life of two young soldiers as they go from sorta-enemies, to frenemies, to friends, and then finally to lovers. It is a short read; you can probably finish it in about 2 hours all the way through. Perfect for a weekend romp.

If you do read my book, please don't forget to leave a review!

Reviews are essential to success on Amazon as they boost visibility. (Yes, even bad ones.) Always leave reviews, no matter how short, to support indie authors!

[skulljackxiii]

GrojBand Comeback Tour - Kin Kujira

Support me over at Patreon: www.patreon.com/skulljackxiii

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Note: When looking back at the show and remembering what Kin was like, he didn't feel that much different than his brother, but I guess that was part of why they got along so well. Anyways I thought that in this version, he plays more in his role as a genius, where he's more dedicated and prideful towards his intellect. Of course I'm still keeping him as a weird and hyper personal so that he easily goes along Corey's and his brother's antics, but he flips a switch when it comes to his projects. Let's say that something goes wrong with one of his inventions or if something offends his knowledge, he would be go on a tirade and start cursing left and right when he's alone, though comedically he would immediately calm down in front of his friends as if nothing happened. He never directly goes off or shown to have any kind of hostility towards anyone, but there is only one exception, Kim. Whenever Kin sees Kim, they both can't help themselves but get hostile and have this kind of pissing contest against one another to see who was more smart. Kin doesn't exactly know why he's so honest when it comes to Kim or how she gets on his nerves so quickly and the same could be said about her as well, the only one that seems to get a clue is Konnie.)

Role: Kin is one of the key members of Grojband, taking the many vital roles as the band's keyboardist, audio technician, and remixer; many of the final music productions is almost entirely relied on him. Along side that, with his knowledge of science and machines, he's also relied as the band's auto-mechanic for the maintenance and repairs for their tour bus.

Bio: Kin lived in Japan most of his life with her brother Kon and the rest of the Kujira Family, along with another named the Kagami Family. Parents of both families were inseparable friends who spent many years together, thus he and his brother grew up knowing the children of the other family, Kim and Konnie. Kin was fond with Konnie and treated her like family, but for he couldn't quite get along with Kim. Whenever he saw her, he would start to flare up and butt heads with her over every little thing, especially when it came to academics. This is because unlike Kim, Kin was not born as a prodigy, in fact he did quite poorly in school to a point where at times even his brother would have better grades than him. It bothers him at times, especially when he compares himself to a natural born genius like Kim, but that didn't discourage him from improving his mind. Kin has always prided himself with learning and especially towards things he didn't know or quite understood.

For years, he constantly studied, analyzed, and improved all his effort in order to surpass Kim and show that his hard work could overtake her natural born talent; though she didn't make it easy and would gloat whenever she came out on top. As this continued, Kin would only grow from all his failures until one day he finally did it and beat Kim in a subject, that being music. His hard work paid off and since then both him and her would go back and forth trying to out due the other in all kinds of fields. Despite whatever awards or recognition either one gained from their rivalry, they didn't pay heed as they solely focused on one thing, each other. 

One day, his parents were informed to be transferred overseas for work, so the Kujira Family, along with the Kagami Family, moved to America. With his weird personality, it didn't take long for Kin to get along with people in his first couple of days. He was quite the busybody as so many people tried to get him into so many after school clubs and communities due to his dedication and intelligence. But the one that finally got him was actually a band from his brother's classmate, Corey Riffin. Kon wanted them to play music together since Kin already accumulated many music awards from being a ceremonial pianist and a composer. He was hesitant at first, but after hearing Kon out some more and finally meeting Corey, he was more than willing to join up.  After meeting Corey in person and hearing his dreams, his words resonated with Kin and made him really want to see what he'll do next.

[rhiarin]

AU Headcannons of the the Day part 2: Giulietta Capecchi ✨

• Giulietta's life is similar to the game but.....Has a troubled relationship with her parents (except her sister). She was always trying her best to make them proud to her, but sometimes, they are really strict to her, and feels that she failed to make them proud.

• Giulietta loves fashions! Giulietta even tried to making dresses of her own, but it takes some time for her to practice making them, but her skills are slowly improving. She even pick or chooses the right ones that fits for attending some fancy events or etc.

• Giulietta loves drawing. She has draw several sketches on her notebooks and can also made some few paintings. She even draw with her sister Lucrezia, or Philomena, and spent hours of sketching and painting. Giulietta also wants to learn drawing realism too, but she knows that it takes some time to improve her arts skills.

• Here in my AU where Giulietta and Philomena's friendship will never fell out. Philomena feels she cannot do anything fun without her. And that's why their friendship always stays forever (I hate that PS just broke up their friendship).

• She and Lucrezia had a strong sisterly bond. They're always been playing together, walking some cities in Concordia including the whole Elysium Fields, having a harmless playful fight sometimes, but what most always do together is having a picnic.

• When she was a little girl, Giulietta was hiding at Georgina's prospect gardens, crying behind the oak tree. This is where she met Georgina, and Georgina's instincts kick in because she saw her crying with some wounds on her arms, so she decided to take Giulietta inside and clean her wounds with care.

• Giulietta views Georgina as a "mother figure" because of how she treated her very kindly than Franca. She also got learned to do cross-stitch, crochet, and embroidery by her, and also learned to floral arrangements so that's why Giulietta won the flower arrangement contest. Georgina also teaches Giulietta to draw realism too, because Georgina is a very excellent at drawing too so she decided to teach her step by step. Sometimes she also gives Giulietta some fancy dresses even though Giulietta feela it's kinda embarrasing to wear.

• She and Seamus had a first meet during he was delivering some invitations for Mr. Alastor's parties, Giulietta and Seamus spending some time together in other parts in Elysium Fields like planning some secret dates, enjoying some peaceful moments in the shores of Elysium Fields.

Fun Facts:

• I headcanon Giulietta's birthday is 2/11/1878

• Giulietta loves reading history

• hates long legged spiders(especially the huntsman)

• A pet lover. She loves both cats and dogs

FINALLY I FINISHED HER AU HEADCANONS!!😵😵 Sorry guys if it's too long for me to finished cuz of my loss motivations, for me kinda weird for thinking and making her headcannons, so that's all....

(Imma do Georgina next 😵)

[casp1an-sea]

OK I’m going to share my thoughts on Dancing with the Stars this season because I don’t know why I haven’t done that yet. I’ve been obsessing over it.

First of all, why was Anna Delvey on the show? Like it doesn’t make any sense. Maybe they were trying to cause drama or something, but it did not work. She deserved to be eliminated that early. like watching her made me feel uncomfortable and like you could tell the people around her were uncomfortable too. Originally, I didn’t understand why she was getting so much hate aside from the fact that she was uninteresting. But I watched a TikTok, where someone explained how they hated that she was on the show because she was in an illegal immigrant being allowed to stay in our country to perform in a dance competition, meanwhile, so many others are being mistreated and deported by the government. And God that pissed me off so much.

Second thought, I’m not a fan of brooks and Gleb. The constant reminders that they’re sexy and hot and having a showmance was just annoying to me and distracted from the dancing.

I know a lot of people have been making jokes about Jenn Tran dedicating her dance to Taylor Swift rather than an important person in her life like the other contestants did. And I did this too at first, but I was thinking about it and honestly, I think it’s just as valid and meaningful that she chose to dedicate this dance to an artist because she explains that the reason she’s doing this is because Taylor’s music got her through a really difficult time. And honestly, if it were me, I probably would think to dedicate my dance to something like Star Wars before thinking of dedicating it to my family. Because the things that we love often are what we spend the most time of our lives consuming and can help us get through those difficult times when those important people in our lives like our family cannot or choose not to be there for us. And even if it seems more shallow, there is a real level of emotional connection to that thing.

I love Chandler but it’s really is annoying to me when dancing with the stars gets celebs that have actual dance experience. I’m not saying she deserves lower scores. I think she deserves the scores she got and I’m glad that she got them. I just don’t think she should have been allowed to compete the same way I don’t think contestants with prior dance experience should have been allowed to compete in previous seasons. If they want to do something like that They should have a spin off show. I also don’t think it was fair that she got to perform her song on Disney night. It just seems like an unfair advantage because she already had experience with and was comfortable performing as that character and experience dancing as that character even if the Choreo was vastly different. But that might just be me. I still enjoyed watching the dance though. And I do like the song.

all right complaints aside let’s be a little bit more lighthearted

I think it’s no shock that I love Ilona and Alan, everyone does. I think she really embodies what dancing with the stars is about not just in her personality and what she stands for, but also with her dancing. the way that she truly has visibly improved from the start to the finish. She might not necessarily be the strongest dancer, but she still a good dancer and has definitely learned from her time on the show. Other contestants like Joey and Chandler we’re doing pretty well consistently and while that’s great and amazing and I think they deserved the scores and placements that they got, having a dancer like Ilona is just really refreshing

I really liked Stephen and Riley’s freestyle. Not going to lie originally I only watched this season for Stephen. I was a competitive gymnast for 13 years and I still have a lot of complicated feelings with that experience. I decided not to watch gymnastics at all Until this Olympics, So this was my first time watching it again after I left the gym. So when I found out that Stephen was competing on Dancing with the Stars, of course I was intrigued. I’ll have to admit he was not the strongest of the finalists and I think he deserved fourth place. But his freestyle was my favorite of the night. Originally, I was a bit skeptical because I felt that there was not much dance moves in it, but that didn’t mean that I disliked watching it. There was just something moving about it and maybe the song helped but that was just part of it on my second rewatch I genuinely was brought to tears watching it just all of these experiences with gymnastics in the past flooded me. It was so powerful. I just can’t stop watching that dance. It was probably my favorite of the season not because of the dance itself, but because of the way it made me feel.

Monster night was my favorite. I loved it. I pretty much liked every single dance. yup

I don’t know what made this season so special but I’m glad everyone sees it

and lastly, my opinions on the final placements.

I think I liked them. I know a lot of people are attacking Joey but I was fine with him winning. I thought it was going to be a tossup between him and Chandler and I think the both of them were pretty evenly matched throughout the whole season. Neither of them were my favorite groups. I didn’t dislike them. I just liked Ilona and Stephen more but I think the placement that they got made sense and I’m not really mad that Chandler got third think her and Joey could be swapped and it would still make sense.

I think Ilona deserved second like I said before, to me she really embodies what dancing with the stars is about. And it’s no secret that she had the public vote and she deserved it. I think the show isn’t just about good dancers but also about a dancers improvement so it makes sense to me that The most improved dancer should get second place. now before the finale, I would have put Stephen in fifth. and that’s not saying I dislike him. I’m just saying I felt he wasn’t the strongest of the dancers. He was still good and he still improved, but I don’t know if I would put him over Danny. I think if they hadn’t decided to let everyone stay for the finals Stephen would have been the one going home. At least that’s my guess. But I am very glad he got to stay. Like I said, his freestyle was just phenomenal and this put it over the edge for me. I think he deserved fourth. He had a stronger final performance than Danny did and that’s really what determined it for me in the end.

I think Danny‘s placement in fifth is fine. his final dances weren’t my favorite. The Barbie and Ken one was funny and I liked it because it was fun, but I don’t think it was the strongest performance. I think he really did improve as a dancer throughout the show and he deserved to get into the finals.

I’m overall happy with how it ended and sad that it’s over. If the tickets weren’t so expensive, I’d go see them on tour.

[jiwonzone]

⋆｡°·☁︎ HOW CLOSE IS JIWON WITH HIS MEMBERS? . . . ⸝⸝☽˚｡⋆

𓏲 ๋࣭ ࣪ ˖☁️ JIWON + HANBIN (HANWON) . . . 94%

"hyung, we're doing so well with this?" "jiwon-ah, don't distract me"

ever since hanbin's introduction on boys planet, jiwon has admired hanbin's talents and looks. throughout the show, he also admired how hanbin was always willing to help other contestants despite how they're all competing against each other to earn a spot in the top 10. jiwon is not used to opening up about his feelings, but thanks to hanbin and his reassurance, jiwon knows he can trust hanbin with anything that he needs help on, weather it's giving him advice or tips, or just comforting him on his though days.

𓏲 ๋࣭ ࣪ ˖☁️ JIWON + JIWOONG (2JI) . . . 98%

"jiwoongie hyung, can you give me acting advice too?" "of course jiwon~"

jiwoong is actually one of jiwon's role models. he was always shy when he saw him around, but after being grouped up together multiple times, he's gotten over his shyness and nervousness. jiwoong was happy to know that jiwon idolized him, and as they grew closer, jiwon got to see more of jiwoong's funny side of his personality. he's one of the few people that can make jiwon open up and expose his more outgoing personality. if you ask jiwon who his favorite hyung is, he'd definitely answer jiwoong.

𓏲 ๋࣭ ࣪ ˖☁️ JIWON + ZHANG HAO (JIHAO) . . . 97%

"all i did was talk once, and i'm already tired" "me on a daily basis"

the two most introverted members of jebewon. because of their similar personality, they get along very well and can relate to each other a lot. however, when they first met during boys planet, they were pretty awkward with each other at first, but when they were grouped up together during one of their missions, they managed to get along after a bit. even though they weren't close, jiwon knew he could come to hao when he needed help with something, and would always appreciate hao's honesty.

𓏲 ๋࣭ ࣪ ˖☁️ JIWON + MATTHEW (WOOWON) . . . 95%

"matthew, your korean is good" "thank you jiji, your english is improving too~"

matthew's bright personality and smile is really contagious, because whenever matthew is with him, jiwon is always in a happy mood. matthew is the only one in the group to call him by a nickname 'jiji' because he claims that it sounds similar to jiwoong's name and doesn't want them to get confused when he calls them (which jiwon doesn't understand; his name and jiwoong's are completely different spelling and sounding and he can differentiate between their names when matthew calls either one of them, but he doesn’t seem to mind the nickname).

𓏲 ๋࣭ ࣪ ˖☁️ JIWON + TAERAE (TAEWON) . . . 100%

"shut up, you’re messing with my train of thoughts" "i thought you didn’t have a brain and now you say you have thoughts?

another part of the '02z, jiwon and taerae trained together, so they've known each other a lot longer than they know everyone else. they like to tease and bicker with each other, most fans call them an 'old married couple'. because they've known each other for a while, they often share the same thinking and relate to each other, and they could tell each other's mood by just looking at each other. jiwon knows that taerae has his back when he needs it and often goes to him with any problems he has.

𓏲 ๋࣭ ࣪ ˖☁️ JIWON + RICKY (RICHZ) . . . 100%

"ricky-ssi, why are you so good looking?" "genetics" "oh please"

jiwon and ricky are both known for their killer visuals and the fact that they both have a very wealthy background prior to debuting. even though their personalities are total opposites, they clicked together pretty quickly, and ricky is another person who can bring about jiwon's loud side. they both like to go shopping together, and often times, fans see them going to luxury shops together while out. they also love to play around, tease, and bicker with each other, but they always laugh with each other in the end.

𓏲 ๋࣭ ࣪ ˖☁️ JIWON + GYUVIN (JIGYU) . . . 98%

"why are you tall..." "why are you short" "you know what, nevermind"

jiwon and gyuvin are like a tom and jerry type of relationship. they love to tease each other and make fun of each other often. they team up with each other when it comes to teasing and babying yujin or also teasing ricky, so they're also considered to be partners in crime when it comes to teasing with the other members. jiwon finds gyuvin's persona funny and gyuvin often cheers him up when he's feeling anxious or not doing well, which jiwon appreciates.

𓏲 ๋࣭ ࣪ ˖☁️ JIWON + GUNWOOK (GUNWON) . . . 97%

"he hugs me everyday" "i have to hug jiwon hyung, or else my day wont be good"

though opposites personality wise, jiwon seemed to easily click with gunwook. even though gunwook is younger than him, jiwon often feels protected by gunwook. he feels like he can rely on gunwook when he has troubles and often goes to him for comfort, as he says that gunwook's hugs are the best cures for a bad day.

𓏲 ๋࣭ ࣪ ˖☁️ JIWON + YUJIN (JIJIN) . . . 94%

"yujin-ssi is such a baby~" "hyung, you act the same way as me"

like gyuvin, jiwon adores yujin and is often babying him. to him, yujin reminds him of his younger brother, so he like to tease yujin from time to time but also help him when he needs it. although yujin seems to be annoyed by it, yujin actually has fun with the attention he gets and likes to bicker and tease jiwon back, just like they were real brothers.

[aza-writes]

Revenge or Revolution

Chapter 1

• District 2 • Six Years Before the Revolution •

My calloused, tough fingers work fast as I braid the feathers around the fishing hook. I tell myself to make the wire tighter in my head before my mom says out loud a minute later.

"Tighter, Ivory! Or, do you not care about winning?" my breath gets caught in my throat. I hate when she uses that tone, it means she's disappointed. I hate disappointing her.

"Yes, mom. I'm sorry." I know better than to reply with anything else. I pull tighter before one wire slips from my finger, unraveling the whole thing.

"It's fine." Her tone shifts as she lets out a sigh. She's still disappointed,  but more subtle in showing it while accepting the fact that I still have areas to improve in. I feel worse now. "Just take a break. Go work on your flashcards."

"Yes, mom." I go into my room away from our "future Victor workstation." My mother came up with the idea when I was very little and I gave it to me as a birthday present for my fifth birthday. That was ten years ago. Ever since I've been training.

My mother has been very controlling with all my training and preparation aspects. She wasn't abusive in any way, she wasn't even mean. I felt love from both my mom and dad. They told me they loved me, but only when it was deserved or earned. It makes sense for love to be conditional, you wouldn't want to love an idiot loser who can't even give you something in return. There are many ways to earn love in my family, but most of them come with being the best at something like getting the best grade in the class or winning one of the many stupid contests they hold at school, and there are a lot. It's one of the many ways competitiveness and drive are instilled in kids in District 2. Not that I mind the competitions, they're mostly fun. They're also a way for me to win another medal or trophy for the case in our dining room. I fill with pride when my mom smiles and announces to our family, basically the whole neighborhood since she insisted the windows had to be open to "let in the fresh air," that she was the mom of a winner. 

And it wasn't that my mom was mad if we didn't win or if we came short in one of the many events or training exercises in a career district, she just added another thing on the list of things my sister, Clove, and I need to improve on. She doesn't do it because of reputation or anything, she was just concerned for my sister's and my future. Mostly mine since I'm older. And her efforts aren't in vain. Even at fifteen, I hold the title for the female with the highest ranking in the district, in all aspects. 

Bow and Arrow: Perfect Spear: Perfect Swords: Perfect Axe: Perfect Knife Handling: Beyond Perfection

Most people specialize in one or two things, but my mom insists I'm a "well-rounded tribute" because you never know what the arena will be like or what weapons will be available. It's also why she has us practice specialties of other districts. Climbing trees like Seven, fishing like Four, simple engineering like Three, and stuff like that. It's what allowed me to beat out all of the older students. If there was one thing they weren't good at, I could capitalize on it. 

It's also why my mom pushed on survival skills just as much as combat. "The poor districts may not be able to fight as well, but they are scrappy as hell. They know how to survive on nothing because they have nothing. So you have to outsmart them." Followed by this speech was an extensive lecture about every victor ever, how they won, and why they won. I've sat through that lecture so many times I'm able to pick up on the patterns of each district. One and Two are similar in how they are the strongest in combat, but Two is better with a variety of weapons instead of just one or two. Three was brains, Four always had something to do with water, and Seven was best with close combat. The rest are a scramble of dumb luck since there weren't many victors from those districts. A lot of them only have one or two victors of each gender that are still alive. 

Even now as I study my flashcards I'm learning about the other districts. My flashcards include plants from every district and every region of Panem where the games could potentially happen. I look at the many plants, roots, and barks and name what it is, their identifying features, and how they can be utilized. Eat, poison, medicine. And if it's poison or medicine I have to then state how it would help or hurt someone. I got these flashcards on my fifth birthday along with the "victor station."

I don't know why my mom makes me go through these flashcards, it's been months since I got one wrong. And I only got it wrong because it was one of the new ones added. 

I toss the deck to the side of the bed as I look at the clock on my desk. 4:45. Clove should be finishing up her training soon. If my training is enough to get me in the games, then Clove won't have to go through all of this. Mom will have her victor, she might let Clove stay good enough to earn respect amongst the District, but not high enough to have her be chosen to volunteer. As much as it is an honor to be chosen to volunteer and win the games, in the end, you're still killing people. 

I go through some of my other decks of flashcards for another fifteen-ish minutes. Identifying soil, matching the bite to the bug then the treatment, and other simple survival trivia that I can't learn firsthand in District Two.

Tap... Tap Tap... Tap Tap Tap... Tap Tap... Tap

Right on time. 

Clove's signature knock echoes from my door, indicating mom gave her approval for her to be done with training for the day. She knocks this way to politely ask if I'm in training or not. Instead of walking into my room and risking interrupting me. I don't know why she started it or even when, but it's been our tradition as long as I can remember. A smile grows on my face, excited I finally get to spend more than a few minutes with her. 

"Come in, Clove." My door opens, Clove peaks in with a small smile on her face. 

"Has Mom dismissed you yet?" Her voice is in almost a whisper, worried she's interrupting me. Even though she did her knock and I gave her verbal confirmation to come in, she still asks. 

I nod my head, even though Mom hasn't come into my room and officially declared it yet, but it's the time she usually would come in. "Yes ma'am, I'm all done." In a millisecond she comes in and hops on my bed next to me. 

Fragments of her uniform are still on, just not as prestige as it was at the beginning of the day. Her shoes, tie, and jacket are off, and her school dress pants have been replaced with softer trousers. The only thing that remains the same from the morning is her hair up and her collared frilly tank top that the younger grades wear, reminding me of her short time between the end of the school day and training. Since I'm older and it's a more formal part of my day, I have designated time to train, but for her, she goes directly from school to a private trainer. Most kids don't start practicing until they turn ten, sometimes they wait until they're twelve. Like me, Clove started her training when she turned five and started weapon and then combat training two years ago when she turned eight. Our training has been almost identical, starting with practice weapons and survival skills starting at five, then combat training beginning when we turned eight. Although we were trained in all weapons, there was an emphasis on knife handling. It was a long and short-distance weapon that provided an extra level of protection. 

Clove sits right next to me on my bed, our shoulders touching. "How was your day?" Her voice is soft. Well, as soft as hers can be. She isn't annoyingly loud, but she isn't weak by any standards. She is confident in herself and her abilities. She's the smallest girl in her grade but she scores higher than them in every aspect. I hope this doesn't mean anything though, that my training is enough for me to gain the win for our family and she can slow down her training. Maybe she can even enjoy her childhood without thinking of how every second she isn't training, she is failing our parents. 

"My day was good. School is school. Training is training." She leans her head on my shoulder and I rest my head on hers. I'm not a fan of any kind of physical touch, but I like Clove's. Her's was comforting. "How was yours?"

Her hands reach for mine. "It was good. I got the highest grade on my history test." 

"Atta girl." 

She smiles softly, relishing in the praise. "Thanks." She sits up and looks at me. I can't make out her expression. It's worrying but also very matter-of-fact. "Mom was mumbling to herself at the victors station. What happened?"

I meet her gaze, a small smirk appears on my face. "I can't make a fishhook." I giggle a bit, trying to make her not nervous. Anytime I'm not doing something perfect, Clove worries. I get it. I have high expectations this year. Not just my family, but the whole district. If I won these games I would get the title of "Youngest Female Victor" ever, giving another "only," "ever," or "first" victor to add to their collection. It's still hard for my district to talk about the 65th Games. Saying it's not fair that the youngest victor is from District 4. They might be able to tolerate District 1, but 4 is unacceptable. Me winning might start a chain reaction of children training at the age of five, producing younger and younger victors. 

Clove's eyes search mine, trying to see if I'm worried or not and if she should be worried too. "But you'll get it, right?" She sounds like mom. So much like mom. 

"I'll get it. Besides, it's not something I 'need' to know."

"Don't say that. You need to know everything so you get in. So you win." Her voice is earnest, stressed. As many people come home to District 2, there are even more that don't.

"Trust me, I'll be okay. And if I need to fish I'll use a spear or something." I snuggle into her, trying to calm her nerves but she is as stiff as a board. Even my reassuring words aren't fixing her anxiety, but I know what will. "Clove?" a mischievous smile grows on my face, " Do you want to grab the nail polish?" 

Her eyes immediately light up and she runs into her room. I hate the feeling of nail polish, but Clove is still at the age where she likes to do girly things. Mom might also like it, an added bit of "flair" for the cameras when I get reaped. Making my stylist appreciate me more thinking "she'll be so easy to work with." 

My life has been planned around these stylist, stylists I don't even know. My mom crafted my appearance around them. She had me grow my hair out so if they want to cut it they can. I keep my skin as clean as possible so it will be easier for them to do makeup. My whole life revolves around the games. 

Clove comes back holding a large, dark red box. "Can I do yours first?" Her smile is wide, we finally have sister time that doesn't revolve around training. Time to relax. 

••••••

Series Masterlist

[overtheimaginationwall]

Favorite boss(es) in No Straight Roads?

Least favorite?

(Sincere apologies. I've been holding this one for more than a year in my box, so I hope you don't mind a really late reply ^^")

(Also Happy 3rd Anniversary, NSR!! 🎉)

I will tell ya honestly - they all are my favourites!

Tho if to be more specific I decided to set them up by TOP.

1. Sayu

Oh Sayu, my beloved <3

The Best Virtual Idol and The Reason I bought this game in the first place!

Her music and style of battle was the most fun and dancy! I still vibe to it to this day-

Sooo many references to Internet Culture and Digital Art fills my heart with warmth and gives me determination just like her song itself as well!

Funny Useless Fact: She is the only boss I've beaten on Rank B on my first blind playthrough!

2. DK West

He's OUR MAN, He's THE BEST!

My second favorite and at the same time the hardest for me to beat.

I personally didn't adore RAP genre at first and never seen anyone preform it as an actual entertaining battle until he showed up...

HOLLY MOLLY DESPITE ME BREAKING MY THUMBS WHILE GOING THROUGH THE PAINFUL DODGE GAME - HIM AND ZUKE RAPPING FELT LIKE I'M WATCHING DISNEY-

LIKE-

I STILL HAVE IDEA IN MY HEAD TO MAKE A SORT OF ANIMATIC WITH "FIRST ENCOUNTER" ALONE!!

Anyway, despite damaged fingers - 10/10, would fight again!

Funny Useless Fact: When I was drawing him for the first time I listened to his theme on loop for 4 days straight in order not to get myself distracted or lose motivation, so I finish the piece.

3. Yinu

Oh, sweet child...

I love Yinu and her theme lots even if I'm not that big of a fan of Classical Music. And her backstory...Gosh! It made me cry a lot.

And I'm still feel ashamed of breaking the piano ;;-;;

Love the pace of how music goes with the fight and it feels even better when you get into actual rhythm. There were issues that gladly wore off thanks to practice and fighting this boss over and over.

Tho those slamming cords haunt me whenever I listen to the song off-battle-

Funny Useless Fact: I didn't like her Mother at first but when I read more about her and relationship with Yinu my opinion completely changed. And this is why I would nominate No Straight Roads for The Best Storytelling and Character Design.

4. EVE

Two-faced, tall woman.

Used to be one of my favorites but due to some circumstances I can't look at her the same way I used to but I still adore her as a boss!

I honestly love her style of the fight and music that changes depending on who you play.

Tho fighting her is literally like eating a lemon but eventually you kinda just accept your fate and roll with weird artistic antics happening around you.

And EVE herself as a character is so fascinating. Like this is the moment where I started to see that these aren't just bosses, they are actually characters that tie this little but complex story together bit by bit. And this is why I would nominate No Straight Roads for The Best Storytelling and Character Design AGAIN!

Funny Useless Fact: EVE was supposed to be a next character to have a complete and detailed art of but due to my forgetfulness, difficulties with her design (and many other things) - it was never finished but I hope to get that dusty sketch out of WIP folder someday.

5. Tatiana

The Bitch. The Boss.

I don't really like her music and rhythm but I can forgive that since it is kind of fitting for conflict between her and the BBJ.

She tries to hide her true image throughout the story and the fight but ultimately crumbles cause escaping from the past isn't the best option to improve.

I love her design and personality and I wish there were more villains like her. Strict, simple, stoic and yet well-written.

Funny Useless Fact: I've never drawn Tatiana until NSR announced their release on Steam with addition of Fanat Graffiti Contest that I certainly didn't want to miss out on. It was difficult but I did it and ngl, I am still proud of the results.

6. DJ Subatomic Supernova & 1010/Neon J

I can't really say anything much about both of them. Sorry, guys...

Their designs and personalities are fun and well-made but due to one of them being the first you fight as "tutorial" and the other appears only at the end of a fight. (1010 band doesn't count as an actual boss to me more like a part of it) They didn't struck me much as the others did...

I will say this thou: their backstories are interesting. One is an academy astrology teacher with a goal of achieving the stars and other is a war veteran who just wanted everyone to live in peace and he himself despite everything never stopped his passion for doll-making and making people happy.

Just simply, beautiful...

Cool Science Fact: Their VAs are GOLD!

[panelshowsource]

ok i finally listened and i watched taskmaster nz series 2...8 times

and i'm ready to offer my reaction & thoughts but please understand this is over 3000 words (which means it is too long to proofread) and it is so bc i do not know how to be concise but also bc i decided to a PROPER brain dump so if you like reading this kind of thing enjoy and if you don't do not click keep reading!!!

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS WORD VOMIT INCOMING

i KNOW what i said. i KNOW i said i'd kinda watched s1 of taskmaster nz and it was okay and jeremy and paul were okay and guy william's outfit scarred me for life but all in all it was okay, and i can't say nz humour (which, and i stand by this, is a bit monotonous) is my fave, and i wasn't that excited about watching international taskmasters in general so i wasn't prioritising it. i know what i said!!!!!!!!!

but

i did what i was told incessantly to do and i watched taskmaster nz series 2. it's...it is. it is what everyone said it is. it's fucking hilarious. it's so good. it's one of it not the example of a perfect cast with perfect energy and synergy and banter and friendship and competition. everyone tried so hard and succeeded and failed in their own hilarious ways. the tasks are half-original, kinda-inspired (if not appropriated), simple even when they're cerebral, and very core-of-taskmaster-y. CHEF'S KISS — by tm nz standards

i watched the entire series...8 times? i have A LOT of opinions and i wasn't gonna get into all of them because i don't love to debate and am scared of being roasted lmao, but i'm being brave!!

BUCKLE UP FOR MY BRAIN

➜ imo there is no standout contestant, it's a matter of taste and they're GREAT, but all in all i think the season wouldn't have a single chance of being what it was — in its total chaos, moments of innocence, moments of genuine friendship — without david correos, who was more or less the heart of the season. it's very obvious and very cute he is friends with paul, laura, and guy irl (guy mentioned their team is actually in an improv group together he's very close to laura and presumably david), and real-life friendships bring out a series panel's comfortable dynamic much faster than if they're meeting for the first time. and on that note —

➜ as much as i enjoy non-comedians on the show, especially when they're people i really like, the cold hard truth is that the very very very best series of taskmaster are comedian-only lineups. pls do not come into my inbox rn with your recency bias and yell about s16 this is a dead serious, studied fact: series 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9 (i am excluding recent-ish series because legacy takes time to establish itself but imo 12–14 were very strong) being the epitome of tm, it's not a coincidence these lineups are more or less ALL standup comedians (richard osman gets a pass for producing cats does countdown and being, arguably, the ultimate comedy superfan). a big reason for this is that non-comedians — and they almost always admit this, in interviews or on the podcast — are very aware that they're out of their element, are the odd ones out, feel the additional responsibility of having to find their place and suss out the dynamic and be funny and fit in. sometimes they're not really that funny and it is what it is (and it's the show's job to edit them and encourage them in a way that will = entertainment; they know what they're signing up for, or the risk of them not fitting in well, when they cast these people). other times, it's not that they're not funny or capable, but that these overwhelming feelings hold them back: they don't pipe up, they don't speak when it's not their turn, they don't challenge greg or the other contestants, they don't fight, they don't tease. yes, when it's their turns to speak, they're often silly and fun, and when they do the tasks, they're often silly and fun, but they just don't hit their comedic potential — because they don't know how or they don't let themselves try. very understandable! it's very intimidating being on TASKMASTER with PROFESSIONAL FUNNY PEOPLE including GREG AND ALEX who are LEGENDS. but the best thing about comedian contestants other than their comedy is that they want spotlight and they want to be the centres of attention and they will take risks, so they (usually) make the most of their time, whether it's the recorded tasks or in the studio. THE POINT, IF I MAY BRING IT BACK, BEING TASKMASTER NZ SERIES 2 — matt heath not being a standup but being 1) an extrovert, 2) your standard entertainment industry attention seeker, and 3) very good friends with jeremy means we didn't get these obstacles from him. if anything, he was more relaxed and game than everyone else in the room at the start of episode 1 because he is already in the accepted graces of the literal taskmaster. he tried really hard, he fought hard, he teased hard, he laughed a lot. i get that being a funny guy radio dj may not seem that different to being a comedian, but it is, and he was SO good! —and every contestant who is a friend of a taskmaster is always good, that's another studied conclusion

➜ why was david naked all the time lmfaooo body positive KING his haircut is also adorable. speaking of a lack of clothes guy's shorts length was lovely for the eyes

➜ momentary disgression: i'm SO interested in the story david told on the podcast about russell howard going to one of his shows and then, like, immediately leaving as fast as possible when it was over because he cringed to death or was scandalised or something—imo it wasn't very clear just what david was implying russell said/felt and i'm really curious. if anyone has insight into this pls send it to me

➜ i don't think jeremy or paul get much better than season 1 and ultimately they're both just okay, and they will always be what holds tm nz back from reaching tm uk-levels of god-tier tm. i know a lot of people will like paul because he's attractive and he is friends with rose (and others) and from time to time he is amusing. sometimes that's all it takes, and if that's all it takes for you, that is well and nice. but...personally...i can't get over how QUIET paul is...alex isn't half as quiet as paul, very often asking questions throughout the tasks and making little passive-aggressive comments at someone's effort or even just looking at the camera...paul is so often just there doing and saying absolutely nothing, EVEN when he's involved in the task, and a healthy 60% of the time he's asked a question he does a very forced deadpan "okay" that just...like it's not funny — it doesn't hit that comedic beat — after the first hundred times. he may just not be a lightning quick improv kinda guy, and i think the inherent one-dimensionalness of his character hinders him, but idk he could offer SO much more during the tasks, especially when he already has a good irl dynamic with so many of them. there are times, during the tasks, he could just not be there. i also don't necessarily understand his character in that during the tasks he's exceptionally shy/reserved to the point of being mostly silent but then in the studio will pipe up and act "normal" in a way that seems like the real paul and not the character paul. idk. i just think...why isn't he more present and also more consistent. (and i'm gonna say something controversial here but i also watched guy mont spelling bee and paul was not very funny on that — again, quiet — and i think the truth is he might be a little boring at times. i said it. im sorry to everyone :() i think this is a common criticism of jeremy but i will agree that, while i do like him especially when he actually lets himself be silly and banter-y, it is BEYOND ME how he just flies through the prize tasks and the scoring. the prize task is practically show and tell with no comment at all from jeremy instead of a dialogue between the contestants and the taskmaster, and then half the time jeremy doesn't explain his scoring for anything. often i'm left thinking "how could someone show up with this bone-shakingly good prize and jeremy just nods and smiles and goes 'okay who's next'?" and maybe it's not jeremy, maybe it's the editors, but it drives me INSANE when that happens. greg would spend the whole hour going over the prize tasks if he could, just cuz he loves the banter and ragging on people — and the show is noticeably weaker when the banter is lost. hence my issue with, to bring it back around, banter-avoidant paul. (also sorry if it's annoying when i compare taksmaster uk and taskmaster nz, i don't mean to do it tooooo much but it's unavoidable at times, pls understand...) (also, i'm saying all of this without even commenting on the actual dynamic between the taskmaster and his assistant, but i'm not gonna touch that — despite the fact the greg/alex dynamic is the heart of tm and what every single contestant ever praises most about the show.) SO i do think the series having matt for jeremy and david (at least) for paul did help encourage them in being funnier than they may have been otherwise. (was guy williams being on series 1 why paul was..idk...like he was...on series 1? i also recently learned a lot of people don't like guy williams lmao very interesting...)

➜ it's hilarious to me that jeremy is OBSESSED with sports and greg LOATHES sports (except the darts lmfao)

➜ ngl i have always wondered why taskmaster uk didn't use their increased budget to do, like, 10% more landscaping — i get not wanting to make the place look TOO manicured but would it really kill them to just fix the cracks in the driveway? idk — but then i watch nz and do feel like it's a little too much of a set hahahah but i like the outdoors they really have a nice big yard to play in (the sewage ("legally it's not ☝️") pond is a choice tho...)

➜ i read about 100 reddit threads about te reo māori, how prevalent it is in school and culture, how many people speak it or even want to speak it, its roots, its appropriations — and the majority of new zealanders said they don't really care about it, it's not actual practical in the way chinese or german or whatever is, they don't think it should be mandatory in schools over other languages, etc. i found these reactions 1) mildly suspicious but idk how conservative the nz sub is but also 2) really surprising! BECAUSE there is WAY more te reo in the every day language of, at least, the new zealand convo i have witnessed on a few nz panel shows than i think they realise. the ones i've heard the most are a few different greeting lines to open episodes, pākehā, whanau, and kai, but there are TONS of te reo words and phrases sprinkled into everyday language and i felt like i was googling so much (even if the meanings were relatively obvious from the contexts). very interesting! off the back of that i had absolutely no idea people in new zealand said "en zed" to refer to nz in any capacity but it makes sense i just never thought about it before

➜ something i adored about the series — that we see less and less of each series from series 1 of tm uk — is editing in reactions from the panel in the studio while they're watching the task vt. it's HILARIOUS watching, say, tm uk s1 and seeing romesh smacking tim on the back, josh pointing fingers, roisin with her hands in her head, etc in real time as they're watching the tasks for the first time. editing this way also helps express the group friendship and harmony, which is so important to a successful season. tm uk NEVER does this anymore and it's one of my biggest criticisms of the show — but this series of tm nz did it so much and it was HILARIOUS watching the panel falling all over each other laughing at everything. they're so goofy

➜ the fake paul with the moustache was, in fact, a dish, whoever he is congrats on being hot

➜ very random moments i liked:

"you think she's doing great things for women in those boots? 🤨💅"

it was so underrated that guy's idea to transform a room was to turn it into a farm and he had people in animal costumes being sheep or whatever that shit was HILARIOUS

matt ziptying a brush to a helmet to look like an ancient roman cracked me up so hard "husband to a murdered child" ??? smh

when laura was trying to rope the cameramen into american pie-ing her wedding cake and paul went "don't ask them...because one of them WILL do it"

"a tongue kiss with an extra 10%? i'm not sure—" "10% extra, maybe thumb up bum" ????

matt forgetting his hometown and saying "i was born in oxford in england! i forgot… that was fucking ages ago!"

"because david eats something doesn't make it food :|"

"this reminds me of my mother's music group ...i hated every one of those bitches" like?? LMAO i NEED the story behind this comment

"one is south african, one is filipino...but they both like their balls...swiss"

"i'm fairly certain i'm not gonna crush this challenge, but i know at some point you and i are gonna box and/or wrestle, and i'm gonna crush that one"

matt being so serious that his dream animal is a horse

"i probably won’t even need the other food colouring but how good is it not to have paul in the room?"

why was jeremy so into those urinal cakes?? like okay jeremy hmm

every time jeremy and urzila flirted

when paul was convincing laura to go through with the sabotage and they agreed david probably wouldn't fuck over his team but guy definitely would lmfao

"tell me a little about yourself" "i'm paul" "...interesting. i love that about you"

it's hard to top david and guy being actually naked for the tie task but i actually think guy's farmer's tan stole the show

when guy was looking for paul in the rain and said "the irony is if paul was here we could talk about this weather, he loves that sort of shit" LMAO

urzila being the ghost of abe lincoln was actually genius and she deserved more flowers for that lateral thinking

♪im gonna gonna drown you / in your own blood♪ why is that so catchy?? "matt matt run him over like a cat" "david you shouldnt run over cats" but fr during the diss track task when matt said he was gonna eat their asses and also while they were dissing guy matt went "he's good looking though" 💀

in the secret shoelace task david said "i take solace in knowing that everyone else has go through this as well" was like a fucking mirror of the time josh widdicombe did a secret task and was like "i'm not the one who has to watch this five times" hahahaha also when they had so much time to kill paul was just reading the entire story of rumpelstiltskin please

when guy realised, during the milk/microwave task, that he should have listened to paul and like angrily laughed "i'm furious! i'm furious with everyone! this is a disaster!" you don't see that side of him often and it was so funny

➜ regardless of whether these yielded funny results (they did anyways of course), these were most of my favourite ideas for tasks:

transform this room when the lights go out

shoot a chocolate fish into the fishbowl and say the name of a different animal with each shot, most powerful animal wins

create a diss track about the members of the other team

the fucking abe lincoln one

the milk/microwave task (hilarious on both tm nz and tm uk)

also i personally want to play the celebrity name game from that one live task

➜ all in all the series had quite a few very simple tasks — build a tower of onions, squirt the sunscreen, fly, make the loudest noise — and that's something i really cherish and appreciate and feel is at the heart of what taskmaster is all about. i'd say tm nz, being in its baby era, is able to get away with having a lot more simple, straightforward tasks, which are far superior to some of the incredibly convoluted ones we see on tm uk. i see people say alllllll the timeeeeeee "it's not the tasks that matter it's how to contestants react to them + the editing" but i do not agree — plenty of tasks are duds because they are duds and not because everyone else failed to find the entertainment value in them. i would love to see tm uk work harder to bring the tasks back down in scale and convolution bc tm nz has been able to come up with quite a few that have never been done before so i know they can too

➜ something else this series does VERY well is little morsels on top of the established format: laura's sabotage, the brussell sprouts that kept floating throughout other tasks and then appear in another task!!!, paul and david's trip to christchurch, laura rounding up their girlfriends, the shoelace secret task, paul lying and fucking with the magnet, the crew "accidentally" (though i do believe it was an accident idk if we'll ever know) turning the lights off on david, even the abe lincoln task that took place outside of the taskmaster ranch — all of these things contributed to the format being more than just task/score, task/score, task/score. they felt like little cherries on top, extra content, at times extra suspense. felt like every episode had something a little extra funny in this way. very impressed by this stuff!

➜ task complaints:

alex has talked before about one of the central concerns of post-production being the ordering of the tasks and particularly choosing the very first task they show, which sets the stage for the panel. i actually feel like this series didn't do a good job in choosing their very first task, which surprises me bc that seems like an easy thing to get right with this series' group + task lineup. not a big deal but something to consider!

in the live task when they had to choose a weapon and half something (which i LOVE the idea of), it bothered me that they didn't measure by percentage and instead by actual kilo

is it just me or does tm nz feel like it sends a LOT of balloons into the air? have they ever specifically confirmed they retrieve all of the balloons they let go? ngl the amount of balloons they send off + the amount of food waste can sometimes be distracting

the piggy bank live task was totally fucked like the length of time it look paul to get the pictures of the piggies to jeremy was ridiculous and heavily disadvantaged everyone — and they didn't even show us all the piggie drawings????? HELLO I WANNA SEE THE PIGGIES??

jeremy giving guy's new zealand pillow 3 points was the worst scoring decision of the series

frankly it was GROSS when david sucked all of the room temperature tomato juice cans. but one thing i've noticed is — it may be a me problem? maybe an american problem bc we don't eat beans the way brits do? do nzers eat beans on toast? anyways — when it comes to people licking/eating cold/room temp canned goods. because i can name 10 different times i've seen contestants lick baked bean juice or spaghetti hoop sauce off their fingers and i just cannot imagine eating those things in any amount not heated up. cold bean juice? BLEGH

okay i'll wrap this up now because i wrote an incoherent outline of a thesis on this series but it was FUN as HECK and i'm so happy that funny people get to enjoy the legacy of a fan favourite series (on the tm podcast, guy seemed to take a lot of pride in this when ed mentioned it<3) and i like them all and i wish they would come back and do another 10 episodes. paul if ur reading this make it happen

[confinedmadness]

A Case of Withdrawal Symptoms: Ace of Diamond

I’ve followed the Ace of Diamond series (both anime and manga) regularly for years and to this day. Ace of Diamond remains one of my all time favorite stories. Act II, in particular, I feel was even better than the already amazing Act I.

I avoided reading the last 30 or so chapters for a while but the other day I finally read everything and now I feel so in need of something to fill the DnA shaped hole in my heart. So today, I decided to just write about a few of my favorite characters in the manga. Along the way, I’ll also slightly touch upon story points and character relationships/interactions.

～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～

Kawakami Norifumi

Nori is my favorite character in the whole Ace of Diamond series, hands down. There is no contest, not even close. Nori is not only a character who we see from the very beginning of Act I and continue to see until the end of Act II, Nori is a very well-written character. He develops gradually in a believable way and at a realistic pace. He is someone whose growth we get to witness.

The best part? Nori is one of, if not the most relatable character among the main cast because he is not a genius, he is not particularly attractive or strong or smart. He has above-average baseball skills at best, with a relatively quiet personality that does not stand out, but a whole lot of resolve and mental fortitude.

I’ve said this before in a post I wrote way back, and I will say it again: Nori is the kind of person I strive to be. Good at what he does even if he’s not out-of-this-world amazing. Dependable and trustworthy, someone the people around him rely upon. Hardworking and resilient in the face of being looked down upon. Most of all, does not give up on improving himself despite being around people who are naturally better than him.

It’s so easy to lose motivation to learn something when someone else younger and newer comes along and has the abilities you don’t. But Nori reminds me that there is value in improving yourself for your self, that consistency is gained through hard work not “natural talent”, and that center stage cannot shine without the backstage hands.

At the end, when Furuya told Nori directly how much his presence makes him feel at ease, I just cried. Because yes, I did say that everything Nori represents is a good thing to work towards, but it’s also true you may not receive as much recognition as the geniuses. And being acknowledged like that? Hits you right in the feels and the tears of joy just won’t stop.

Miyuki Kazuya

I think most people who know me in real life or who’ve read my blog think Miyuki is my favorite character because I fangirl about him a lot. Miyuki has a lot of traits I love about a person: talented but hardworking, serious but knows how to have fun. In fact, no matter how much I love fanfiction and fanarts, I tend to be really picky about the ones featuring Miyuki because I find that they often forget or ignore the facets of Miyuki’s personality that I love. 

Fan creations tend to depict Miyuki as quiet, cold, and aloof. But for me, the best parts about Miyuki is his fun-loving, goofy attitude and his whole-hearted love and passion for baseball. He likes annoying enemies, poking fun at friends, laughing at other people. He’s not stuffy about hierarchy and judges people based on merit not seniority. He loves new challenges and finds excitement in playing with or against strong baseball players.

And yet, no matter how much I love Miyuki on his own, I feel that his relationships with other characters are some of the best in the series. A lot of his character growth is spurred by a relationship with another character instead of a more individual progress like Nori’s.

In terms of baseball and as an athlete, his rivalry/friendship with characters like Mima and Narumiya are some of my favorites. I love the wholesomeness of their rivalries. There is never malice or spite when they go against each other in games. Narumiya is probably the person in the series who has known Miyuki the longest. I’ve said this before but I love that Narumiya and Miyuki call each other by their first names. It emphasizes the fact that they’ve known each other since childhood. And now here they are, the stars of their respective teams.

In terms of leadership and as a person, his growth was shown a lot through his partnership with Sawamura and Furuya, his relationship with the Seidou coaching team, Chris, Yuuki, and Maezono, among others. He changes from being relatively self-centered, to thinking more about his teammates and the team as a whole. He learned to be more mindful and sensitive about others, as well as knowing that he can rely on his team as much as he is relied upon.

Finally, his friendship with Kuramochi is one of the most stable, most frequently depicted, and also often overlooked relationships. Though never explicitly stated in the series, Kuramochi is probably the closest thing Miyuki has to a best friend. They don’t have many really emotional moments together, but they understand each other and have each other’s backs. Kuramochi is the person Miyuki confides in when he has problems. And they’re both the first to notice something good or bad about the other. I don’t know about you, but that constancy is amazing. Regardless of whether they remain close in the future or not, I think a friendship like theirs is something to treasure for life. 

Sawamura Eijun

DnA is one of the few series whose main character I love. I think it was in one of my first ever posts about DnA that I mentioned how Sawamura is someone you really want to cheer for. A lot of anime/manga, especially in the sports genre, tell the viewers/readers that *insert main character name* makes you want to support them and help them succeed. But, Sawamura is one of the very few who actually makes you feel that way.

Personally, I believe this is due to the effective way the author shows that Sawamura is a multidimensional character. He has a very clear base personality that defines him as a person, but like every human in history, he is not just that. Different situations and even the shortest moments can bring out anger or frustration or even silence.

Sawamura is loud, optimistic, hardworking. But he can also get annoyed at his teammates, can feel jealous of his rivals, is susceptible to judging people without getting to know them, or can put far too much pressure on himself unnecessarily. I love that the series shows all of this unapologetically. He is not good with certain types of people, but even if he never becomes their best friend, he learns to get along with them. These types of character building make him human, and make you appreciate his usual noisy, laughing self even better.

My favorite part about Sawamura is how open he is to both learning new things and being corrected when he’s wrong. Not only is he willing to be taught, he does not ignore people that point out his mistakes. Of course, he gets embarrassed but he apologizes if he hurts someone, and trains when his skill or knowledge is lacking or wrong.

If not for this attitude, Chris would not have taught him all the baseball basics he clearly lacked, he would not be close enough to Miyuki to experiment with his pitches together or hangout in his room, Kataoka would not have given him the chance to be on the roster, Okumura would have stayed disappointed in him. He would never have been good enough to be the ace of the team.

And what’s even more amazing is that it’s not just the readers who go through a getting-to-know phase with Sawamura. His own teammates go from getting annoyed at his yelling to actually looking forward to hearing it, from wanting to support him to being supported by him as well, from cheering him on to relying on him as their ace.

～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～

I don’t know if I’ll do something like this again, but I definitely want more DnA content coming my way because I am missing it so much. Tereading the series right now only makes me even sadder, but what can I say, I love making myself happy-sad.

[shootingshinestar]

Starlight boys picks + current thoughts pt 01

✨️

Starlight boys is another survival show that I am currently watching along with Project 7 + Universe League. However, the missions and auditions are what caught my eyes. The show has the Chinese survival standards mixed with Korean contestants, so there is alot of tension between the east Asians... the SEA contestants lowkey vibin ngl. Now, with ep 06 released, I want to show who my picks are!

-------------------------------------------------------

Shao Zi Heng

This man is my number 1 till the end... from his audition to his backstory, he has caught my eye. He can sing very well and has an eye catching dance! Plus, his visuals are a nice addition 👌 he has the fiery spirit and determination to debut in the number 1. I admire his passion, especially within an intense environment!

Hangyul

He is so sad 😭 this is like his 4th survival show??? Bro, he can't really catch a break fr. Anyways, hangyul has these mature and sensual vibes to him that I like, hehe (he is actually a loser 🤪). Not only can he sing and dance, but he also has amazing stage presence. Seeing him wanting to debut still is very encouraging since he is passionate about being idol!

Junhyuk

Another former idol who got done dirty by his company, junhyuk, showed his powerful presence and energy within his audition! I was shocked at how well he performed monsta x! And the way he shined as the center for ateez guerrilla - I was GAGGED! Like he really embraced his inner yunho- wow- definitely become one of the top picks for sure!

Pentor

Not only does he have an amazing smile that captivates the audience, but he has an amazing voice suited for jazz and slower songs! Pentor is super stable as well! The fact that none came after his spot is actually funny ngl... I just hope he gets more screen time as the show is ending soon 🙏

Sungmin

Babygirl sungmin is also a vocalist and amazing dancer! I was hoping he would show his performance more as I felt he shines well with his dance moves as shown in fantasy boys! (He was one of my picks from that show) I hope sungmin gets a dance dance soon~

Syo

Ngl I feel like syo shines as a soloist? He has the potential to shine on his own rather than a kpop group. But I would glad if he made it too! Syo has been improving his vocals and performances throughout the show! He is too adorable not to catch my eye ^^

Micheal Wu

It's kind of unexpected, but I really like Micheal wu storyline and his motivation to be an idol! I enjoy his dancing! I feel like if he were to debut, he would definitely be trending for being a foreigner and have iconic English quotes~

Sun Ying Hao

Main slayer 💅 From the answer team, Hao was one of three that caught my eye. Maybe because of his visual, but his presence is so obvious! Like, wow, he stands out so well! I feel like he would do so well in variety shows, and his outgoing personality shines there! I also admire his ability to call out the bs on ep 2... pretty unexpected to see that on survival shows 🤔

Minjae

Minjae is also really good as singing and dancing along with Hangyul. I'm just not sure if he is going to get more screentime/storyline... I feel like he needs to have solo screen time, so see his full potential.

-----------------------------------------‐-----------------

These are the top 9 picks so far, but there are plenty of others that I'm watching afar, so I haven't decided that they will be in my lineup. Who is your lineup?

Pt 1 | pt 2

[dwampyverseawards]

THERE'S AN IMPOSTER AMONG US (AND I DON'T JUST MEAN THE PLATYPUS) VS THE SEER

There's an Imposter Among Us (And I Don't Just Mean The Platypus), by @kittyhazelnut

Submitted without relevant reason or propaganda.

The Seer, by @/imaginashon

Relevant reasons for submitting: I feel like this fic in particular introduce many people into the fandom and inspired many more fic writers and artists. The amount of AMVs of this one fic I have seen as a child is more than what I've seen for some other fics I have read. The fact that the author as recent as post-2019 still has to remind people that a sequel isn't coming proves how much love the fic got.

Propaganda: This fic was basically an introduction for fanfics to me, and I sort of became a silent observer on some part of the pnf fandom for a time. The fic not only inspired me to write my own fics and ideas of my favorite characters going on epic adventures, but also introduced me to the author/artist of the story and inspired me to improve my own art skills. As far as other propaganda goes; Phineas' character, costume and powers were amazing, Ferb's obsession over denying his 'magic' sword is hilarious, and we may have not gotten the looks that the cast got in AYA if this fic didn't blow up like it did.

Contestants may add their own propaganda however they see fit, provided it does not put down the person they are against, and if they continue it will be added to the next poll they are in. All round 1 matches were randomly generated, and anyone may drop out at any time. One of these contestants was not tagged because their fic was submitted on the old/particularly influential clause.

[virginmiri99]

Generation Loss - The Experience So Far

Generation Loss (or “Genloss” as it’s been come to be called) is a live horror passion project created by RanbooLive, the personification of what normal people think of when they hear “tumblr.” To explain what Genloss is in a nutshell I would describe it as Jerma Dollhouse but created by a Lemon Demon fan who loves online horror. This isn’t a diss! This is simply a fact! The “live horror” experience with real time audience voting which impacted the story was impressive and I think the cast was able to succeed with their vision of half improv half scripted story! 

My personal experience with Genloss is polarizing, though. I wish I could be fully impressed by the story; I went in with an open mind and simply left shrugging my shoulders and saying “yeah, that was alright.” To fully understand the Genloss experience let’s jump into my full review. 

The overall story of “Genloss” follows main character Ranboo discovering his perceived reality might not be what it seems as he goes through a series of trials attempting to escape “Showfall Media,” an evil corporation turning the lives of “contestants” into a television show. 

EPISODE ONE

The first episode opens with a character selection screen and chat choose shark head pickle body. Then, Ranboo waking up in an unfamiliar cabin with an electronic mask on his face. Unable to leave the cabin, he’s forced into a goofy cooking show parody with Charlie Slimecicle. It's set up in this episode that the mask has the ability to wipe Ranboo's memory.

    This first episode opened with controversy and polarizing reviews from Ranboo’s audience, some loving it and others disliking the premise and criticized the lack of horror. In context of the full story, the lack of horror makes sense if the characters are being put through an experiment in the form of a parody of a television show, yet the execution from the production was lackluster and left many people confused (me included). If episode one was meant to create a false sense of security which would be shattered later on I wish we were given more overt hints that there was something lurking beneath the surface. The episode starts with a question— “where are we?” as Ranboo looks around the cabin and realizes he cannot escape. Though, a pin is put in this question as the cooking show portion starts, leaving the audience waiting for the story to return to the question it opened with. The criticism I see often for the first two episode is the lack of pacing, which I agree with. The story full on stops for what feels like an attempt to drag out time. If the cooking show was detrimental to setting up the story, I wish there was more to it than Charlie and Ranboo goofing around for an hour and Sneegsnag found trapped in the basement. 

EPISODE 2

Episode 2 starts out much stronger, in fact I wish this was the first episode. It starts with Ranboo waking up chained (badly) to a chair and the Puzzler (played by Jerma) telling him if he doesn’t find the correct key he will be shocked with 65 million volts of electricity. Objectively a hilarious situation. Ranboo escapes and finds Charlie on an operating table and is told to find the key within him to escape. As Ranboo rips Charlie open he finds he is full of slime and toys, and for a brief moment we get a glimpse to the real world as the mask malfunctions and Ranboo sees the true reality of Charlie bleeding and screaming in pain. As the episode goes on Ranboo goes through many other trials at the hands of the Puzzler and he slowly begins to realize the true nature of his reality.

     Episode two’s standout had to be Jerma who gave it his all as the Puzzler, completed with full makeup and a commitment to the role. If anything, this episode made me laugh the most with great quips from Austin Show, Vsauce, and Jerma. Sidenote: I liked how Valkyrae was giving her all as Rat 1 meanwhile Sykkuno clearly did not want to be there as Rat 2. Episode two also improved on the idea that Showfall is putting people through trials for entertainment, but that doesn’t make watching them play a board game for a good 40 minutes interesting. It was worse than when I’m forced to play Candy Land with kids. I didn’t find the scenes particularly engaging, or necessary to the plot as I was just simply bored. I clapped in glee when Jerma shot Niki because it finally meant something was happening beyond my most boring day at work. I also cried with laughter over Vinnie getting an anvil dropped on him. Top tier comedy right there. Overall, all the “trials” didn’t seem particularly worthwhile and dragged out. The story beats this episode include Ranboo beginning to discover his decisions are not his own and his reality is warped, finding out Showfall isn’t as goofy as it may seem and it’s all a show—a set, and he walks off the set wondering where he is. Though, all of this happens in the last 10 minutes. I love the concept Ranboo is going for but I was left frustrated with how long this episode dragged on for the conclusion, I wish one of the trials was cut or they all lasted about 5-10 minutes with relevant plot information tied to them.

EPISODE THREE

Episode three is the standout of the trilogy, with high production levels and awesome visuals, and jam packed with story in just a 45 minute period. It opens with a cinematic shot of the Showfall Cooperation, setting up the scene for our finale. We see Ranboo talking directly to the camera, breaking the 4th wall to question what’s going on and where he is. Ranboo meets a man named Hesch who tells Ranboo that he’s taken control of the facility and that Ranboo’s experience has been broadcasted. Hesch (HOW DO YOU SPELL THIS NAME???) tells Ranboo he will help him, and guides him through the facility. As Ranboo progresses he learns how Showfall erases and replaces people's memories and “resets them” for their experiments, and Ranboo grapples with the torture and pain he caused unknown for him. After a bit of digging Ranboo finds the control room and is instructed on how to shut it down. Failing, Hesch abandons him and Ranboo is left to escape on his own. As Ranboo looks to escape he finds multiple streamers all in perfectly crafted sets talking to their cameras like drones, unable to notice him. He runs into Charlie who is also streaming almost as if he was programmed to and snaps him out of it. The two look to escape and get attacked by security. They find Hesch who is dying and Hesch tells the cameraman to fuck off. The shots turn cinematic as Hesch tells Ranboo he’s not himself anymore, and asks who he thinks he is, and who we was "before all this". The question perturbs Ranboo and Charlie as they cannot answer and Hesch tells them they have to destroy Showfall and get their lives back. With purpose, Ranboo Terminator style stabs an employee and sees wires come out of them. As he tries to destroy Showfall Charlie is attacked and killed by security and Ranboo is captured by… HESCH?!?! 😱 Ranboo wakes up in a torture chamber and Hesch tells him he completed “the experiment” and says the point is to find who is worthy of “joining the cast and moving on to the future shows.” Ranboo says he doesn’t want to join and he is given two options: Live or Die. Chat votes die and Ranboo is killed by an iron maiden closing in on his head.

This episode was the standout BY FAR. The episode feels like a video game level, which is a cool visual as Ranboo searches for the “heart” of the facility. Ranboo gave it his all in the final scene which added to the experience and felt very immersive. The visuals and costume design were impressive. I was genuinely super into it and was desperately voting DIE during the final scene. I commemorate the cast and crew for being able to pull off the experience live so well. I have no bone to pick with episode three as it was perfectly rounded (even with a few scenes feeling just a little too long) and think it concluded the story well. 

OVERALL

My full perception of the story is overall neutral-positive. The theme of being a content creator presented in a horror setting where you feel controlled and under constant scrutiny by the public eye is a wonderful idea to explore and have people reflect on. Being a Twitch creator is a unique experience and to see now these creators express these emotions of what they’ve been through is fascinating and intriguing. The final episode of Genloss was a standout with the theme of control and how your reality can be tangled, and I enjoyed the conclusion Ranboo presented. Horror is a subjective genre and what some people find scary, isn't scary to others. I personally didn't find Genloss unnerving beyond it's surface themes, which is completely fine! I cannot critique how someone creates and engages with horror because we are two different people with different experiences. Ranboo's genre of horror falls under the "internest horror" genre much like projects like Marble Hornets or the Backrooms, which isn't inherently a bad thing. It just simply was not my thing, but I appreciate the atmosphere he created with his genre of choice.

That being said, I still have a few criticisms for the experience as a whole. Unsure on how to present my points I've decided to create some type of numbered list... for the internet!

1) One of the main points of criticism I've seen from people is the issues with pacing and the filler that made up most of episodes one and two. The show's premise is how Showfall is brainwashing people for entertainment and putting them through trials to see who moves on, but the issue is the trials aren't particularly interesting and drag on and on. That damn Mouse Trap board game will forever haunt me as the most wasteful 40 minutes I've ever experienced. If this theme of trials continues in the future I suggest shortening or cutting down the time on them--there's no shame in a shorter episode! I found the carousel trial and laser beam trial most engaging because they were short and funny (Austin was a standout!). I think the filler hindered the project and didn't let the story brethe, leading to the overall story being unpolished and underdeveloped.

2) Other than the issues with pacing and filler, what irks me most about Genloss is it's a conglomerate of different scenes and ideas from Ranboo's favorite movies which left me wondering if it was a homage or just plagiarism. References to other works in your own isn't necessarily a bad thing, but my issue comes from how Ranboo presents these ideas less as a homage and more as a "hey, you see that? I was doing 'Saw' you guys get it? 😏" It irks me to see people referencing the Truman Show in regards to Ranboo's clear reference to it in episode 3 in their theories as if everyone in the world has seen and understood this movie. The Saw references felt just as out of place, almost as if they needed a plot to fill up time and just defaulted on Jigsaw. Ranboo even admits it in his postmortem— “I got to make a Saw movie but with Twitch streamers!” Is this experience his own live horror show about what it feels like to be a content creator, or is it a Saw movie with Twitch streamers and movie references? The message begins to feel polarizing and lost as it feels more like Ranboo wanted to create something referencing all his favorite medias, and not a stand alone concept. Even as someone who greatly appreciates the Truman Show and Saw I don't think there should be required watching to understand the themes of someone else's project, this isn't school. It just feels tacky, cobbled together, and out of place.

3) My finale critique is menial, but also a big portion of the project: the cast. Now, I know what you're thinking, but this is not me advocating for a different cast or professional actors--shocker! I know. The story is meant to critique and give an original perspective to the content creator lifestyle so it makes sense to cast recognizable Twitch personalities to achieve this goal. It's just... many of these creators don't have years of writing or acting experience you would expect from a big production as such, leaving the project feeling lackluster even when it's honestly pretty impressive for what it is. I won't criticize these streamers for a lack of experience in acting--they're entertainers, not actors--but some of the acting really did take me out of the experience. The best way I can describe the acting is imagine the most annoying guy in your class. Now imagine he's doing a Morty from Rick and Morty impression. These streamers aren't trained to emote the way many actors are, which is why their sadness, fear, and confusion are indistinguishable from each other with the same whiney voice that annoys me and takes me out of the performance. I think they bit off more than they could chew with how large the cast became, meaning wires would get crossed and people weren't on the same page. Sykkuno was there for a paycheck, and Jerma was giving it his all. I think this project could've been more well rounded with a smaller, closer knit cast.

In summary, I think Genloss is about three episodes too long; I think the story could’ve been much more compact rather than split into three episodes that felt largely of filler. Ranboo mentions this is a precursor for a larger series, so I don’t see the harm in having one (or two) big stream(s) to set up the story of Showfall Media which dives into the unique feelings of a content creator. Maybe it wouldn’t have created the hype needed for future stories, but also think the long, boring episodes also have the potential to kill the momentum of the story. In the future projects I hope to see a more tightly written story with the same production and direction levels of episode three, with an equally as enthusiastic cast. I especially want to highlight how Ranboo mentioned in his postmortem that his broken mask in episode 3 didn't indicate a face reveal, but his own complicated emotions he has attached to the mask and how he feels like taking it off would "end the show." I think that's a particularly interesting outlook and I like to see him express it.

I enjoyed Genloss by the end. The first two episodes debuted with a rocky perception, but it came together at the end which is cool. I don’t think it was a mind blowing project, because at its heart it’s a passion project by a 19 yo and not Martin Scorsese (even if my dad says Ranboo will dance on his grave). It was impressive for what it aimed to be and had some good themes going for it. It may suffer from surface level flaws as a project created by someone with no experience in the film industry, but at the end of the day it was a pretty good project. He had a vision and he executed it. I hope future instalments build on the presented story to create a more cohesive theme, but for now it's nice to see it released! Though, I don't think I would recommend it to anyone. Not even my dad. And we never even got to see shark head pickle body...

[inventors-fair]

Basic Bits: Back to Nonbasic Winners

Wow. You guys stun me with your creativity every week, and this was clearly a popular contest, which means even more quality designs. Lots of gushing to be had in commentary, but the gushiest is about to follow.

Endless Vista by @halfsilveredmirror

This is absolutely one of those cards I passed over dismissively, before doing a double take and coming back to it. At first, this just tracks as Terramorphic Expanse with extra steps, but the way it works allows for some really interesting interplay. If you have a solid nonbasic in your hand but have already used your land drop for the turn, it can be fun- especially if that land enters tapped naturally, in which case this actually gives you more mana than Terramorphic would- since you can play the basic next turn untapped. Obviously there is the concern about Terramorphic #3 and how much it improves consistency in lower power decks, but I honestly think that’s pretty negligible. This design is an excellent example of how a very small change can completely alter how you play with a card.

Lake of Valkmir by @hiygamer

Okay, so one thing I expect to mention in the rest of commentary (when I get around to it) is how “can’t” is more interesting than “can only” when it comes to magic restrictions. Given the Kaldheim flavor, I expect this was made to play with foretell, just like Vega. However, let’s consider this from the other end- if you had made the second ability “spend this mana only to cast spells from exile”, this land would SUCK. Power level wise and also as a design, it would be restrictive and limiting. But by selectively preventing a common use for the mana, you gently guide the player towards using it for the intended purpose, while still allowing for clever players to use it for other shenanigans. Powerstones are a great example of this same principle= imagine how bad they would be if you could only use the mana to cast artifact spells. Anyways, rant over, good design, love the flavor text.

Forsaken Barrens by @misterstingyjack

There were a lot of Desert cards this week, so it seems only appropriate that one of the winners is the one that ties them all together. Historically, Deserts have a unifying theme of sacrifice/graveyards, which few other land types get to claim. This slots right in there with the rest of them, and honestly reads like a real card to me. Cycling the amonkhet lands lets you color fix, or use it to get an extra use out of your sacrificing deserts. It’s just such a cool card that does so much with one ability. If I had any nitpicks, it would be that I thiiiiiiink this should have the gray frame instead of the gold one? Since the inherent mana ability is colorless and not any color? Feel free to fact check me on that one though.  

See you soon for the runners!

[forjustice]

[Johto Moon Festival '24] when you're in a making people uncomfortable contest and your opponent is allie desrosiers

[Author's Note: This post references Discord RP events and a version of a muse (Princess Allie from the anime) that isn't on this blog, but I'm posting here because I haven't had the motivation to set up the other blog she's supposed to be on in forever LMAO. @kokorowoutsu would be familiar with this muse and her plot, which will be covered below. In addition, feel free to have your muses hear and/or witness the argument she gets into here. Enjoy >:3]

Of everyone at the entire festival, she must be the only one who isn't happy.

The curse that Asimov--the Paradox Human Volo of Fallenverse--had placed on her had consequences far beyond those he had described to her, and she had a feeling they were fully intended. Enemy to Pokémon, enemy to children--when all hated and feared her, there was not a single place in public she could go without at least one of those two taking notice in the worst possible way. Far from simply having no Pokémon and no friends her age, she was more or less relegated to being a shut-in save for the early morning when no one was around on the streets to cause a scene in front of her. Perhaps, if she were not so foolish as to steal from him, his other self, and someone they knew--and perhaps if she was not so foolish as to attempt to harm his kin--she could have avoided all this. Perhaps if, even if she was foolish enough to do all that, she could have still avoided all this if she had not had the hubris to directly offend an ascended once-human Legendary like Asimov who could be just as vindictive as any classical god of legend could be--combined with all of a human's spite. But she didn't. And now she's here. And now she's angrier about her incurable curse than ever.

The countercurse work of the family of her fae betrothed, Maël Everspark, mattered little. At least most of the Pokémon around her now would simply turn their backs to her instead of immediately startling at her presence, but she learned the hard way that the improvement wasn't so helpful with children when one of them pointed at her and started wailing on the first day of the Festival. Since then she's had to only come on the festival grounds as soon as it opens before too many families appear on the scene--and then on her way out she's had to ninja dodge every child she saw just to avoid a repeat of what happened on the first day. Whatever. She's not going to let that ruin absolutely everything for her. She heard there were some cute Pokémon up for adoption. And if there's any sign that the "enemy of Pokémon" curse has lessened, she's going to get one, whether they like it or not. She saunters up to the Pokémon adoption bazar as soon as it opens.

"I'd like to have a--"

But the reaction of the Pokémon is instant. The three non-Ditto Pokémon remaining in the fields immediately run to where the Dittos are. She looks to the Ditto, which she had shittalked in a group chat just the other day, though now she'll take them because she's desperate--no luck there either. They don't seem agitated--they're too confident and too wholesome to be fearful or hateful of a child, as other Pokémon have acted due to the curse--but this is the one person on the festival grounds who they won't try to impress. One by one they turn around and pretend she was never there. Not only do they sense the curse, they can practically feel the snobbery radiating off her, fully aware they are only a last-ditch choice. They know they deserve better!

The attendant of the pasture narrows her eyes as she notices the response from the Pokémon.

"I don't know. I'm not sure if you would be the right fit," she says, looking nervous. She has worried a little about letting that Volo guy take a Pokémon despite the fact one of them did in fact come up to him. Part of her still wonders whether he had indeed been a full kitsune in disguise, though of course, she could see Airi and the Handsome Ditto looking happy with the man and his family as they romped about the festival grounds.

"Then I want to spin the mystery wheel," Allie demands. She yells to the guy who's running the wheel today. "HEY! Order up!"

The man looks up from setting up the wheel, jarred by her rude entitlement; he gives her a stunned 'what the heck is this girl for real' look before composing himself and calmly asserting the rules.

"Festival staff have the right to refuse service to those who are rude to us," he says.

Allie blanches--she knows she's potentially ruined her chance of getting a Pokémon. Then she puts on the biggest fake smile and tries again.

"I'm sorry, sir, for my behavior," she says, offering 1,500 Pokéyen as she goes up to him and lowkey shoving it in his face. "May I please have three spins of the wheel?"

He squints. He doesn't like the vibes that this redo is giving off, and he hasn't failed to notice the further entitlement in the way she handed him the money so he simply shakes his head. Children must learn that their actions have consequences--a lesson this child has clearly yet to learn, despite having been served so many of them.

She looks like she's about to protest, but then realizes: The main adoption center lady hasn't said no yet. She'll go bother her some more before she bothers him again.

"Excuse me, mademoiselle," she says, "but I don't see why I can't have a Pokémon."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible, miss," the attendant replies. "None of them seem interested in you."

"Well, I'm interested in them," Allie huffs, stepping forward like she's going to force her way in if she continues to be denied.

"We can't give a Pokémon to someone who they're plainly afraid of, " she says, gesturing to the three hybrids cowering in fear of Allie. "There was a gentleman here the other day who seemed to understand that perfectly."

"I'll take any Pokémon. Not just those three. Those Dittos don't look afraid of me. Give me one of them!" she demands, trying and failing to stop the desperation from creeping into her voice.

"We also can't give a Pokémon who doesn't wish to bond with a potential new Trainer." She sighs and shakes her head. "I'm dreadfully sorry, Princess, but we're going to have to ask you to leave."

Leave? But…

"I don't see why I should," she says. "They may not be interested now, but who says they won't be interested later?"

"Even if that were true, you were terribly rude to my colleague. As I've said before, I don't think you're a good fit for this adoption center," says the attendant, firm with an even and professional tone of voice typical of those in customer service when faced with unholy amounts of Karenage.

"I know I'm just a kid who makes mistakes, but trust me, I'm really nice to Pokémon!" Allie begs. "Please--"

"You ought to apologize instead of begging, Your Highness."

"Sorry," she grumbles. "Can I have a Pokémon now?"

The attendant shakes her head.

"My father is a King." A snarl creeps into her voice. "What if I told him to make you give me a Pokémon?"

"Your father has no jurisdiction over Johto, and you threatening us with him has only confirmed I have made the right decision. I will not ask again. Please leave."

Allie stares, dumbfounded. She was sure the threat would work. She should have known by now that there were people in this world that begging, pleading and namedropping wouldn't work on, but she keeps trying over and over again in the hopes of getting a different result. Then she begins to frown. Then, her stare turns into a glare.

"If you don't let me have a Pokémon...I'll take one myself."

She shoves her way past the attendants with little resistance, not even a "Wait! Stop!"--which should have been her first sign that everything that happened past "I'll take one myself" isn't actually happening. In the dreamlike vision that she thinks is real, she tears past the entryway to the pasture and the Ditto flee before her, leaving the hybrids completely exposed. She sizes them up, looming over them as Hana the Munna trembles in her shadow, thinking about who to pick. Finally, she turns her attention directly to Hana, and grins a spoiled little grin.

"I'll have YOU."

She makes a dive for Hana as it, too, turns to flee, seizing the poor creature in her grasp--but as soon as her arms wrap around it like a Pinsir's head-claws using ViceGrip, they completely phase through the Pokémon's tiny body as though she's a ghost. Then the false scene dissolves, and Allie finds her face hitting the dirt in a patch of grass on the edges of the festival, with the booths of the festival far in the distance. Above her, Asimov stands, looking supremely exasperated as he shakes his head--and she realizes that whole sequence past the moment she decided to try and take a Pokémon by force is his doing.

"You haven't learned anything, it looks like," he says disapprovingly. "Tsk, tsk."

She scowls as he walks away on his digitigrade legs. A Volo himself, he has all of Risenverse Volo's self-importance in every step. She glowers at him bitterly as he gets further away, and thinks to herself:

If learning to be better won't break the curse, what's the point?