#parallel testing

[reunitedinterlude]

supportive friend

[pippuns]

you ever think about how fucked up it is that shen qingqiu's first mission out of sect was him subduing the skinner, a demon who targeted and replaced people no one would really miss?

very fun how the skinner ended up getting killed and destroyed by someone else who took the place of a person no one really missed

[the-apocalypse-is-upon-us]

are you guys seeing this shit

[bleue-flora]

What's often interesting to me, is Dream spells it out in the finale and people often still don't get it, so I thought it'd be interesting to see what he was actually referencing here. To see where it all started.

[24:27] Tommy: “That first war, me and Tubbo versus you–how it should have ended–why’d you take it?” Dream: “Tommy, you ambushed me and killed me. You stole all my shit! You tried ambushing me in a little cave–you don’t remember that? I feel like you just–your memory is just–gone.”

So here is the ambush Dream is talking about, where Sapnap and Tommy basically decide to just kill Dream and then kept all of his shit. [Death 1]

He gets killed again when he tries to take back his stuff. [Death 2]

Tommy kills him for fun right after he respawns with nothing. [Death 3]

Then after Dream gets his stuff back (via our boy Punz) and he takes the discs to get Tommy to stop, he gives Tommy back his items. But unsatisfied, Tommy goes after Dream, gets one of his discs back and hides it in the little cave. Dream tries to find it, while Sapnap and Tommy try to stop him. They are unsuccessful until, Tubbo brings them axes and they sneak up and corner Dream in the little cave, ambushing and killing him. Once again, taking all of his shit, (including, yes, the other disc.) [Death 4]

[27:58] Tommy: “Think about that, we could’ve been friends but no because you have to figure out the reason you have to get–”  Dream: “Yeah we could’ve but you–you ruined the chance of that long ago. It was you.” Tommy: “I ruined it?” Dream: “You ruined it!”

And I don’t think it’s unfair for Dream to say that in the finale, because for Dream it’s this stream early on, these moments that started it all. It’s these instances of of Dream getting murdered and robbed and made fun of over and over. Him, trying to not just make peace for everyone, but also reclaim respect and peace for himself. It’s Tommy chasing after Dream when he has nothing to kill him and rub it in his face. It’s Dream, even after all of that, giving back their items. It’s these instances of violence taken too far to the point they clearly pissed Dream off and didn’t care or follow his very simple request of just giving an apology and his belongings back that shape my distaste for Tommy and sympathy for Dream. It’s these moments that I feel like are gone from Tommy’s and our memory that highlight a different story.

[28:34] Dream: “Yeah, we could have been friends if you weren’t a little shit.”

[travelling-hydaelyn]

Lahabrea possessed Thancred before this questline even started which means these are back to back Laha interactions. Here is how he greets the WoL in the Waking Sands immediately after his Disney villain introduction.

Meanwhile in Minfilia's solar:

presumably he took a brief break from running Alphinaud's errands to go dramatically laugh at the WoL

[raayllum]

It's like you said

[mostly-natm]

I did not pass my driving test today!

[spookyjarchivist]

while i do have a soft spot for “hobbits age slower than humans so 33 for them is our physical 18” i rlly dont think that’s how it is bc they get to about the same age as humans before death by old age, i also really dont think we appreciate enough a few things about what this means narratively and thematically

tolkien really said no child soldiers, no 20-something year old soldiers, they’re not really adults yet, they barely know anything of the world we’re sending them to die for it and that’s not okay, not when there are other options

he also addresses this with the hobbits specifically, frodo and bilbo are 50 when they go on their journeys, FIFTY, and we can see that they handle them differently than the others. while bilbo changes afterwards, it’s not in a coming of age like we would see if 50 really was the equivalent of ~27, he just accepts a part of himself he’s been suppressing for years, for him it’s accepting that getting older and being an adult doesn’t restrict you from the excitement and opportunities of youth. similarly frodo doesn’t change much either outside of his ptsd, all of his change is trauma, not maturity

now sam and merry are both past the age of majority, but they still grow into themselves in a way bilbo and frodo do not, they mature

but pippin, sweet beautiful pippin grows the most out of all of them. he’s the most childish, always running after his cousins and you can tell he’s not even 30, this is HIS coming of age story, before this journey he’s known nothing of true responsibilities, but by the end he’s ready for when he eventually has to take over as thain of the shire

and i think that this is a really beautiful way of saying something that has started to get really popular in the last few years

instead of being terrified of that big 30, we should be excited for it, we should embrace it wholeheartedly, because it’s the time when we’ve finally started ironing out the last of the kinks in being an adult, we’re growing into our responsibilities and and we can start learning how to cultivate that balance of responsibility and excitement and FUN that makes life living instead of surviving

[ihaveforgortoomany]

The quote at the very beginning of Reverse 1999 (spoilers for the Great Gatsby by Scot Fitzgerald i guess)

Speculation

I haven't seen anyone talk about this quote, I don't blame anyone since the text appears very briefly in which Vertin starts speaking, but I think the quote should be taken into consideration for the game to introduced by this quote + the fact that Fitzgerald's novels are referenced twice in game (the fore mentioned quote and Chapter Two)

The quote:

"It eluded us the but that's no matter - tomorrow we will run faster stretch our arms out farther .... And one fine morning - So we beat on, boats against the current, borne ceaselessly into the past"

This is the final line in the Great Gatsby published in 1925 as the penultimate novel by Fitzgerald, the final being Tender is the Night (I haven't read yet but probably should later heh).

This describes the tragedy of Gatsby's dream, an effort to reclaim the past and his love Daisy Buchanan that ultimately ends in his death. The line can be interpreted as either the inevitability of the past coming back or the futility of obtaining your dreams because of obstacles or the "current" (for Gatsby this is his social class and the hedonism of the Jazz Age/ 1920s).

So... Reverse 1999 introduces us with this quote and notably we hear Vertin say "No, it is not, the storm is coming" almost as a response to the quote.

This is again speculation but it sounds like the quote here sets up the narrative themes of the game, the concept of being trapped or doomed by your own past is made into a literal (physical?) entity of the storm - actively stealing away the future away from 1999. It sets up how Vertin stands in opposition to the Storm and seeks to find the truth and return to the year 1999.

I may explore this further but the game narratively deals with themes of being defined the trapped by your past (Forget Me Not, Manus Vindicate) vs moving forward to the future (Druvis, Vertin, etc) which can be seen in very chapter and event story so far.

It should be noted that the Great Gatsby is tragedy, if this is implying that Vertin's goal is ultimately doomed to fail it is too early to make concrete answers (but 100% we all on the pain train with no breaks and orange snacks).

In short the quote could be establishing Reverse 1999's theme of attempting to reclaim/ go back to the past vs moving forward to the future.

(Wow this is long)

[art-is-kayos]

Phone games

[reunitedinterlude]

slaps (1, 2, 3)

[slutforpringles]

2013 Young Driver Test Silverstone | 2023 Pirelli Tyre Test Silverstone

[scullysconstant]

SAM HEUGHAN and CAITRIONA BALFE

Screen Test | Last season’s announcement

[reformedmoth]

I'm not sure I can explain this well but I did not think Egwene was "broken" by Renna. Rather she had to negotiate some really complicated questions in a state of incredible duress and subjection. The foremost question: what is a weapon? This very question has troubled me since the introduction of the Aes Sedai and their oaths back in season 1.

I always felt a degree of artifice in the oaths, as for the Aes Sedai the question of weapons, which is related to that of violence, is fluid and mutable. This episode highlights this especially well by asking us to consider why the water pitcher might be a weapon. I was given the impression, by how eagerly Egwene drank from the pitcher in the end, that she wasn't able to touch the pitcher even in the absence of Renna. Nor was she able to drink from it when Renna asked her to pour a glass of water for herself either. Which makes the idea that it's all a matter of intent/belief tricky, because why should the pitcher still be a weapon when Egwene is alone and dying of thirst?

The person whom the pitcher is most a weapon against is Egwene herself. One thought I had is no matter what we might say the pitcher is always a weapon, as is the One Power. The potential for violence cannot be stripped from the thing itself. One cannot simply believe it away. In the same way Egwene is human even if Renna insists she is not.

Therefore, when Egwene touches the jug she violates one of Renna's laws. She already violates them by simply existing, btw laws remain the GOAT of all weapons. Even in compliance there can be resistance. This is an important thing to show, because I often see resistance portrayed as one thing only. The way it's often represented almost casts a moral judgement on those who simply do what needs must to survive, those folks are seldom seen as heroes. The fact this scene was interspersed with Ryma and Basan's more conventional resistance adds weight to this idea. Egwene may not fully know it but in touching that jug she was not defeated, in fact it was one of her most magnificent moments so far.

[raayllum]

They stared into the inky black above, patiently waiting for the stars to share their knowledge, their guidance, their brilliant light—and one day, the heavens finally reached for them. Held them. Blessed them.

—Patience

[vethbrenatto]

Campaign 2, Episode 51 “A Test of Pride” // The Legend of Vox Machina Season 2, Episode 9 “A Test of Pride”

Inspired by @tameila​‘s tags: