#taking forever. thus pretty screenshots time

[darth-bagel]

And Tivan'n in KotFE bc I am in Chapter XIII and eugh

[syrupsyche]

Students hunting down the social media of their teachers in the Les Mis Teachers!AU, and finding:

Combeferre's public Instagram, where he posts and IDs all the insects and animals he sees. Sometimes he uploads links to YouTube videos and news articles for his students who are following him to read. He also has a TikTok where he uploads science experiments with Joly.

Courfeyrac’s private Instagram, where he only accepts students if they've long graduated. His IG stories are loud clips of him in the club, so blurry you can't see what's going on. His IG posts are of him with his friends, as well as screenshots of himself roasting stupid people on r/politics.

Feuilly's public Instagram and Twitter, all of which repost or retweet journal publications and news articles written by his friends in the field. Once in a while he posts a piece of woodwork he's made, and Enjolras is always the first to like and comment a 👍.

Enjolras' public Instagram, which has no profile picture, no description, and only the occasional post of current news affairs with a loooong caption sharing his thoughts. One day a student finds his Twitter, which is entirely in Korean, where it's also 90% of him sharing about news that may have gone under the radar (esp. things happening in Korea/Asia in general) and then 10% of him asking the void for dating advice. No one replies to those 💔.

Bahorel's public TikTok, where he has 3 workout videos and 48 duets of him arguing with people on bad history takes. Sometimes he goes on TikTok lives with Grantaire and they talk about bullshit for 3 hours straight.

Jehan's Tumblr, which is solely dedicated to Romantic literature. They invite students to send them asks and they answer them pretty often, usually about book/show recommendations, further readings, and opinions on poets and playwrights. Every so often an anon will send a scathing ask roasting Jehan's taste, and every time it's Bahorel.

Bossuet's private Instagram, where he only allows students who've graduated to follow. Except the app keeps glitching and his students keep getting in, so every day he has to softblock them again. His profile is pretty simple though, just pictures of him and his friends, his food, yearly graduation photos with his students etc. Alas, all of them have EXTREMELY horrendous IG filters on them. He likes it, okay?!

Joly's Twitter, where he retweets mostly cute/funny animal tweets, interspersed with the occasional Twitter thread where he goes on long tangents debunking myths about historical illnesses like the black plague, the cholera epidemic etc. He's currently curating one about COVID in his drafts. It's 80 tweets long.

Grantaire's public Instagram, which has about 1,320 posts because he posts about EVERYTHING. His breakfast, a nice cloud, a store having a clearance sale (in which he will tag his friends and caption "Shall we go?") etc. He treats IG like a group chat with all his 289 followers. A lot of pictures of his friends too. Whenever his students win an award or competition he posts about them as well, just with a huge censor bar to conceal their identity. He uses up all 10 slots for the IG carousel post, with the 10th picture always being a sneaky photo taken of Enjolras that day.

Bonus:

Marius' Twitter, except it took forever to confirm it was Marius because his tweets are in four entirely different languages. The students only figured it out once they saw a Twitter thread where Enjolras and Marius were debating with each other in Korean.

Éponine's TikTok, where it only has one video thus far, and its her sending off Gavroche on his first day of school. She uses her account to roast Combeferre’s and Joly’s science experiments, as well as bully Bahorel and Grantaire on their TikTok lives.

Cosette's public Instagram, which is a pretty popular bullet journaling account. Very aesthetic; students follow her to get some decor inspo and study tips. Her IG stories are pictures with Valjean and Fantine captioned "brunch with my favourite people!! 💫���" or blurry pictures of Enjolras coming out of his bedroom at 2pm on Saturday captioned "Bigfoot sighting #39"

[kairasims]

‼️Forever in San Myshuno update ‼️

Hello lovelies!! I hope everyone is doing well! I’m going to make this HOPEFULLY not so long but I’ve gotten a few messages about my Forever in San Myshuno story and I just wanted to make a post about what’s going to happen with that story.

When I first started the story, I was really excited. I got all the poses I wanted to use and I pretty much had the story, or a good idea of how I wanted the story to go. However, when I started that story, I didn’t have a job and went through a really bad depression due to a lot of personal life things. Eventually, I found a job and then I found a second job. My oldest kid started school and now we have to be up at 5am. My time to play got cut short DRASTICALLY.

I still had the urge to continue the story but because my old ass couldn’t stay awake long enough to take all the screenshots and edit and whatnot, I lost the motivation to play.

Long story short, Forever in San Myshuno IS STILL GOING TO HAPPEN. I thought about scrapping the story and taking a different approach on how I wanted a gameplay story to go but I’ve already grown attached to the characters I made thus far for the story.

For now, the story will be on hiatus until I can think of how I want to build and do the story also how I want to take screenshots. Posting and doing dialogue is A LOT of work and time isn’t really on my side these days. So I usually can only make sims and call it a night.

I will be back with a date on when episode two will be out however in the meantime, you guys can read my awesome albeit short first episode HERE. 😁

Please don’t lose faith, I WILL CONTINUE THE STORY, I just need to manage time a little better and have a schedule set.

Thanks for reading and I hope you lovelies have a great day! 😘

[kindheart525]

Triple Threat was feeling pretty downtrodden after what her castmates said to her. They were so rude, even more than her castmates in Shank! At least those ponies just ignored her, but her castmates now almost went out of their way to insult her.

“The director knew what he was doing, he clearly saw differently. You’re just like Maretha.”

She knew exactly what they meant by this, it wasn’t because of her personality at all. It was because of her size. It always boiled down to that. Haythers, Shank, her professor telling her not to shoot too high, it was all for the same reason. 

When could she get a break?

“Hi there!”

TT looked up from where she sat on the stairs to find one of her co-stars coming down to see her. Pansy Petals had a bright smile on her face, completely clueless to the turmoil she was experiencing.

“Triple Threat, right? You left rehearsal awhile ago but you’re still here. Do you need help getting a carriage cab or something?”

“No, thank you though.”

She tried to muster up a kind smile in response to this offer, getting up to leave before Pansy went on.

“Some of the others were being kind of mean during rehearsal, I heard them talking to you in the dressing room. Sorry about that.”

TT was surprised her castmate had noticed and even more surprised that she seemed to actually be apologizing. It was the most acknowledgment she’d gotten from anypony in Manehattan thus far.

“I just wish ponies would try to see things from my perspective, you know? It really hurts for ponies to say all those things to you. For casting directors to only see how your body looks and completely ignore your talent! I’ve had TWO roles like this in a row, the fat butt of the joke, there’s no way this is a coincidence.”

She began to vent, unable to hold it in any longer and hopeful that this mare would understand.

“I get you completely!”

Pansy was still smiling brightly, a bit too brightly for what TT had just told her.

“They were just being rude and tearing you down when they should have been helping you make better choices. It really sucks, but if you start dieting and exercising more you’ll feel a lot better and start getting better roles. It won’t be this way forever, you’ll see!”

She sashayed down the steps in a way that made TT want to scream at her.

“Ooh, maybe you can start by walking home instead of taking a cab. I can even go with you!”

“No thank you.”

This time TT said it between her teeth, barely hiding how peeved she was.

“I can get home by myself.”

“Alright, suit yourself. See you on opening night!”

As her castmate walked away, TT’s frustration was washed away by a crushing wave of despair. Pansy only proved her point, nopony ever saw it from her perspective. Even the ones who bothered to look her in the eye ended up spitting in her face in the end, all because her body didn’t fit the standard. 

It was always her fault somehow. Apparently it wasn't the constant fat-shaming making her feel bad, it was her weight. If ponies didn't see her as worthy of respect because of her weight, then she was supposed to try harder to please them. It didn't matter that she was perfectly healthy, incredibly talented. It didn't matter that she was a pony with feelings.

At this point she was really starting to lose hope.

~~~~~~~~~~

Previous: Odd Feeling Next: Show Stoppin’

Stairs taken from a Bojack Horseman screenshot

[kepesktribe]

r34. If they could go back in time, would your character change anything in their past? If so, What? + 35. Does your character live in the moment or do they tend to be stuck in the future/past? + 36. How does your character kill time? (For Florentel and Loifa!)

Don't know if I should count the screenshot as spoilers or not but... also trying hard not to spoiler too much of sage quest line but.... hard with these questions... also putting a cut because this is going to be long. Thanks for all the asks @morganaux ! I enjoyed really thinking about these. ~MK

34: Ren can think of any number of things to change (not for himself though) but at the same time, he is aware of consequences for doing so. He has experiences from not only his own adventures, but also his husband who traveled through time himself just to save his father. So as much as he would like to change things, he wouldnt... except maybe listening to his father to join scholasticate as well as training as knight. But then again, he isn't sure if his body would be able to handle doing both. So no. He wouldn't change anything.

35: Florentel tends to be in the moment most the time. His thoughts on the past are more moments to cherish and remember, but not dwell on. And for the future... he has ideas and desires for how he wants the future to be like... but they are just goals. What matters is the moment. The choices in the now. Give thought to the future in them, but not enough to stall the present in indecision, thus making the future unattainable.

36: For killing time, if he has plenty of it, he visits his family in ishgard usually. Talk to Stephanivian about ideas too. But if he can't travel to ishgard, he enjoys just talking with his allies/friends, flirting with Sorrel, and tinkering with his weapons/training. He hates sitting still and doing nothing. He had enough of that when he was bedridden growing up. So free time is spent doing something... anything.

34: As for Loifa... he would change so many things. Save so many of the victims... or... at the least just one. It would eat him alive to think that if he changed certain things, his friends may be in worse shape than if they had gone through the painful experiments. After all, Guildivain DID save them, and himself, from their diseases. Maybe he could have them escape sooner? There isn't really anything he could change without drastic, deadly results. The most he could possibly come up with is hopefully being able to stop himself from killing an innocent. Just a ball of what ifs.

35: Loifa is a mix of past and future. He clings to the mistakes of the past... but is fixated on the goals of the future to the point he has a one track mind most the time.

36: Free time? What is that? He is forever drowning himself in research for Ancel and Mahaud. However, they do make him take breaks... so he drinks with them or reads a more casual book... or goes finds people to help... okay, in truth he really doesn't know what to do when he has free time. Pretty much just going with what the other's decide. Unless sleep counts... because then he sleeps for free time. If the nightmares from their past let him.

[simtanico]

Hi! I don't know if this is an annoying/difficult question, sorry if it is, but do you have any advice at all for modelling sims based off real people? Your sims are SO crazy good. When I try to make them they end up looking... eh... Vaguely like the person? But there's a huge gap between that and some kind of 'spark' some simmers seem to manage to capture.

Hello! Definitely not annoying. Difficult, as in how difficult it is to answer? Maybe. I'm gonna go off on a couple of tangents. But I'm gonna try my best to explain the process. Which isn't really much of one sorry.

There's a handful of tutorials and tips out there regarding reference photos and like... proportions and all that so I won't cover that.

I use that as a general guide of course, but mostly I just save some photos of the person at various angles and focus on one feature or two at a time. Literally going back and forth between reference photo and my game. I think if you try to get everything at the same time, it really makes it easy to get frustrated with whatever your sim looks like at the moment. Making sims in general is a combination of a LOT of things depending on your style.

I can point out ALL the flaws with my sims based on real people. In my experience, it’s about getting the defining features of a person close enough to the real thing so that it resembles them. I don't think you need a complete copy to get the point across, however i do think some people and features are harder to emulate than others. I've been working on some sims for YEARS, and they still don't work out lol

and take a look at this progression on my sim based on Z4ne H0ltz starting back in 2015!

that first screenshot:

Personally, I get a little lost if I work on a sim too much all at once. I find some time away makes me less tired and frustrated. Just pace yourself :)

Also if you need any help, shoot me a message here or on discord. I promise I don't judge or anything.. it's sims who cares lol

TO START...

I suggest starting with the head and its shape. Starting off with a game-generated sim, the first slider I get to is head width. It's usually too dang wide for my tastes. And then adjusting the general position of the the features. You can always change things later, so you don't have to know exactly what you're going to do, but as I've mentioned before, sculpting sims up in CAS is just practice with sliders! Also in the long run, you may want to use Pu+Chi House's Smooth Face Normals slider! I attempt to explain and show what it does here. I've uploaded the slider here: https://simfileshare.net/download/984204/

This is gonna be a doozy sorry in advance if the read more doesn't work

SLIDERS SLIDERS SLIDERS

Big sliders like Pu+Chi House’s face shape sliders dramatically change the face shape, and it could save you a lot of time! I highly suggest using these to get rid of the weird large jaw sims can get.

Play with different sliders and how they interact with one another! Example: jaw width and Cheek Fullness affect the same area. if you need a wide jaw and don’t want cheek distortion, you can use cheek fullness, lower the jaw width slider and then edit the cheekbones from there

 Knowing what sliders move what and how it can work to your advantage is key! I cover this in my reply post about noses.

For visual reference:

I start out with my nose but I want the nostrils to sit further on the outside

so i go in and use the nose width slider and raise it to widen the lower nose:

Then lower the nostril scale slider

Comparison:

as you can see, i kind of achieved what I wanted, but also widened the nose tip too! Welp, that takes another slider I have, Tip Width. And I'll adjust that accordingly! It's really just a matter of what you're going for and what you're going to have to compensate for as a result!

That said, our community has made some awesome sliders that open up so many possibilities and even eliminate the need to do that multi-slider tango. I wouldn't even know where to begin (wish I wanted to make videos because I could talk for an hour about sliders)

For example @pitheinfinite made sliders that can make sims look better and more realistic, I'm jealous at what they've achieved!

They have their Inner Corner to Nose slider that moves an area of the sim's face hat make eyebags and the shadows and lines appear farther out from the inner eye. It saves you from having to use cheek sliders to mimic the effect and thus ruining the face shape you have going

It's truly an INDISPENSABLE slider. One of many!

Since I make sliders, I usually just make some to specifically fix whatever issue I'm having. Granted they're made with general function in mind, which makes my cheater-y way of making things happen more useful in the future. I have about 50 experimental unfinished sliders in my game and can tell you that all my current sims use them for some reason or other. So I'm not working with nothing, I guess?

EYE SPY 👁

The best way to really get nice accurate looking sims is the eyes.

Pay attention to the slant of the eye, the shape and position of the upper and lower eyelids. you can use the game’s Eyelid Height slider, and AWT’s Eyelid width and height sliders (and many more)

and especially where the iris (green) sits relative to the eyelid. getting that shape and eyeball positioned correctly really makes a HUGE difference

I do suggest Bloom’s Eye slider (left and right) that rotate the eyes left and right. That along with their Lazy eye sliders can give your sims a less symmetric face and position the eyes to be FAR more accurate and realistic than the default.

I also recommend their vertical sliders (Eye lift or drop) to help with eye positioning.

I can't stress the importance of the right contacts or eyes for your sims. Of course it all depends on how you make your sims's eyes and all that. Take the last sim i posted about. It took forever and a half to find the right contacts that didn't need severe or intense editing to capture the same vibe the person he's based on. The problem is pretty persistent for me, and I am just speaking for myself when I say this is necessary. Iris size, shading, recolorability, detail, catch lights, and pupil position are things to consider for your play style and preferences.

In addition to seeing what eyes will do the trick, I do edit the catch lights in the screenshots to give the eyes a different emotion or look. (I use defaults that get rid of the game-generated catch lights, and supernatural eye glow.) It's nice when that's all it is and I don't have to go in and photoshop things in and out to make them look human lmao

Perfect, schmerfect

And just know that as long as you have the same vibe or look going on it doesn't need to be perfect! Things will evolve over time, and you can change and perfect things as you go along, but close is better than trying to achieve an exact replica. We are working with the limitations of sliders and the optimized meshes they work on! So yeah there might be jagged bits or the profile might not exactly match and some things might not be accurate, but that's okay! Considering what sims look like at their default, you should be proud! I use the same mf eyebrows on all my sims basically and I tell myself they're just placeholders (yeah, right), but I manage to make them work with what I have!

Sliders, Makeup, and Skins, oh my!

a good base skin is critical, but not the end of the world if you pick the wrong one. They determine kind of definition and types of features highlighted on a sim 100000% and you might lose a feature you like or dislike when you change them! Feel free to switch up between skins you have to find the best fit.

Makeup can be a game-changer though!!! Any details you can add and help make your sim look the most like the person you're basing them off can go MILES.

In some cases, I've actually gotten really interesting results trying to get my sculpt as close as possible to real life references so the makeup makes a difference but don't define the features by themselves. Still, though, I utilize makeup up a LOT. [remember that if you use Nraas, you can layer makeup. Right-clicking makeup will also remove it if it's applied :)]

Here's the last sim i posted about when removing makeup:

no nosemasks really replicates the face-claim's nose (too shiny at the lower part) but it'll do 🤷‍♀️

Freckles, eyebags, highlighters, face shadows, pores, nosemasks, etc are all great!!

The way you move your sliders WILL effect how these look, so don't rely on makeup that adds super-specific detail or goes over an area you know is a jumbled mess because of sliders!

I do have a mess of recommendations and wcifs for skins and makeup. replies tag | wcif tag

[also I love compiling wcif cc lists for my sims it's great]

Finally, I appreciate your comment about my sims, mainly because I know they're not ever really exact copies or as close as I want to be to their real life counterparts, so thanks!! I've seen fellow simmers get really good results without messing as much as I do and I love when people can make really good maxis match likenesses because it's just so damn cool! It's truly a talent. I'm not one of those lucky few, but I like to try my way at it anyway. After what feels like some good progress I'll post a pic here. Even after doing this forever I don't feel like I'm an expert or can get good results in a shorter amount of time, but it's just fun to see the progression (or regression) of how my sims look.

[echoweaver]

Your thoughts on the Sims 1-4

Guess I’m in the mood to do these. Grabbing a tag from @mosneakers​.

Sims 1: The big thing I remember about this game is that it could take your sim hours to cross from one end of the house to the other. Thus, if the sim got up at the normal one-hour-before-work, they often wouldn’t have time to both pee and eat. I got obsessed with designing and efficient house, with the kitchen right outside the bedroom door, so that my sims could get to work with the best mood. 

Then I let the garden go bad, and it would destroy my sims’ mood on the way to the carpool, and it took me forever to figure out what was going on :-D

Sim 2: I remember being thrilled by how much easier it was for sims to get around their house. The introduction of lifespans intrigued me. However, I hadn’t really figured out what I wanted to DO with this sandbox game yet. Playing Sims gets boring if you don’t have some kind of a goal. I’d never heard of a generational challenge, much less rotational gameplay, and I hadn’t plugged into the fan community yet.

I did dabble in mods -- mostly the mod to drastically increase the chance of a sim being abducted when using the telescope so I could make alien babies. I built a household from two CAS-built sisters who were of different races. One of them married a man, and the other a woman, and then I got frustrated that the lesbian couple couldn’t make babies. They adopted, but I was annoyed by how genetically boring their adopted son was. Then I got obsessed with trying to get one of the lesbians to cheat on her spouse to make a baby without being discovered. Where is artificial insemination when you need it?

Later, I created a new sim who married into the Broke family. I got bored and tried to starve Dustin to death to make a ghost. when I removed the door to his bedroom and his needs got very low, he got down on his knees to beg the Watcher for his life. I felt so guilty that I actually turned off the game and never went back!

Sims 3:  This is where it happened for me. Open world and a town that aged with my active household just better matches the way I imagine playing. I even figured out generational play, at least somewhat, before really plugging into the fan community.

I didn’t realize until reading @mosneakers and @natolesims‘s memes that there was so much hate floating around for Sims 3 art style! I admit that I do dislike the child faces. I thought Sims 2 faces were too long and thin. Sims 3 faces seem to have overcompensated by being just a bit too round. Otherwise, I’m quite sure I don’t know what you guys are talking about. LOL.

I don’t think I’d still be playing if it weren’t for NRaas, though. Sims 3′s open world was pretty ambitious, and their data management was totally not up to the task. I spent years offering tech support on people’s blogs when they started to suffer data corruption in generation 2 or 3. You just can’t play without at least minimal mods to clean up save files. It’s unintuitive that a modded game is more stable than vanilla, but it’s just true. Sad, but true.

Sims 4: I have played this very little, not because I hate it but because I am stubbornly determined to finish my 10-generation legacy. A lot of folks just rebuilt their household in Sims 4 and continued to play. At the time Sims 4 came out, I was playing supernatural-heavy games with custom skintones, so I’d lose almost everything if I ported them over. It also turns out that it’s hard to face going from a heavily-modded, 11-expansion experience to a game with base or just one expansion. I have a lot more sympathy for Sims 2 players who skipped Sims 3 entirely.

I have a hard time facing the color presets and closed world, but the game in its current state really seems to have done great things with gameplay. If/when I get the Samples done, I’ll take a look at making the switch. Of course, by then Sims 5 will likely be out, so maybe I’ll skip....

What is your favorite Expansion pack

Generations and/or Seasons. But it’s really hard to choose.

Small pets or Horses?

I really,  really love Sims 3 horses. Since I’m modding pets, it can probably be guessed that I like the animals in general :).

What is your favorite active career?

Yes.

I have had a ton of fun with almost all active careers. If forced to choose, I might go for firefighter.

What is your favorite Lifetime Wish?

Buh. I really dug the Photography one I guess. I just like doing different ones.

Whims or Wants?

I’m sorry. I have no idea what this question even means (blush).

What is your favorite Occult?

I feel like all the occults in TS3 are kind of underdeveloped. That said, witches are pretty cool.

Cowplants, Bonehilda, or the Social Bunny?

Bonehilda

How do you pick your sims names?

I am absolutely OBSESSED with names. I’m sorry I only got to name one flesh-and-blood child, so I let it all out in naming my simmies. I get into the head of the parent(s) and come up with lists from whatever they would like. My saves are very gameplay-directed, and tend to randomize most traits, so I intentionally don’t build a sim to a name or try to make a sim’s name suit their personality at all. After all, when we name our children, we get no say over who they eventually become :).

Do you create a spouse for a sim, or do you go after a townie?

Townie! My gaming style is heavily gameplay-oriented. I want my sims to choose their partner using wishes and attraction and whatever else the game provides. However, I also am incredibly interested in genetic experimentation, so I do allow myself to change the physical appearance of some sims before making babies with them if they are too bland. I populated my Samples save from scratch, largely using downloaded simalikes of real people. I have NRaas set to use existing sims in the town or in my sim bin, to generate new ones. So basically I do my best to have the most interesting genetics pool I can so I don’t need to edit faces.

Do you prefer to follow storytelling Simblrs, or do your prefer gameplay Simblrs?

I’m not totally sure what this is asking either :-D. Are “storytelling” simblrs the ones that largely use the game as an artistic medium for screenshots using poses and whatnot? My play style is to play the game and build stories from it, so I’m not entirely sure what category I fall into myself.

I suppose it doesn’t matter because I follow both. I’m not terribly drawn to dressup challenges and lookbooks.

What year did you join Tumblr/Simblr?

I have absolutely no friggin idea. I tried to look back in my email archive to track notifications, and that failed. I came back after three years, so it has to be at least for years before I returned....?

[eventyrstuff]

So I started reading Manhwas after Kdramas, and I wanted to make a list as well.

I absolutely love Isekai themed Manhwas - specially historical, time travel and villainess themed. Most of them are based on a web novel but I could not find the novels per se so I read them as Manhwa at Manganelo Site

So here goes the list, I will input few at a time as I am rereading them again.

Warning: Unedited. I’m sorry if I mispell or has grammar lapses. Unabashed fangirling at times.  ALSO SPOILERS. IMMA GIVE OUT A FEW.

Inso's Law - Ongoing (Chapters: 81)

What made me read it: I found the earphone scene in Instagram and I instantly fell in love with Chunyoung. I mean I have this weakness with Black Haired characters. When I read the plot, I knew my tween heart will absolutely love this. The Main Character (Dan-I) woke up to a romance novel/parallel world where in she was friends with these very popular kids (I still can't believe they were 14 at the start). She did not want to be center of attention or to have any relations with the Female Lead and her reverse harem, but come on no one can resist those guys and their pretty faces and weird colored hair. The storyline may be a bit overused but my teenage self is very happy. 10/10

Is it visually pretty: YES. Everyone is pretty. This manhwa is also memeworthy. May not be as aesthetically pleasing as WMMAP but still 10/10

How much do I love the characters: I love Dan-I's internal monologue but hate how she sees herself as just the minor character, everyone adores her! Yeoryoung is the best friend you'll absolutely adore. Ju-In is adorbs. Chunyoung is LOVE. I love Jiho and Eunhyung too but Chunyoung is my ML. Ruda and Yeodan though *swoon* Other side characters are awesome too, but too much characters makes me forget a lot of em. Haha 10/10

Favorite part of the story: I LOVE their friendship so eveytime they show how much Dan-I is important too, all those text messages (especially Ju-In's HAHAHAHA text), Chunyoung is my fave so everytime he is in it I mean damn him and his beautiful hair, enchanting eyes and that smile *faints*, everytime Dan-I state one of every web novel laws, everytime Dan-I breaks the fourth wall and say how bullshit the story is hahahaha

Am I going to reread it again: Yes will do again and again

How do I describe thee: This was my first Manhwa! I'm a sucker for high school setting kind of stories. I really like it, makes me nostalgic of times I spent reading stories back in high school. I admit I was one of those teenagers who fell for the trope of being normal then every guy suddenly likes you *reverse harem for the win* but seriously this manhwa is one of my personal fave for being close to my tween heart. I really thought Dan-I was on a parallel world rather than a web novel as she did not got isekai'd to another person, she's still herself and it's still her family - it was like fanfiction of her own life. I like all characters eventhough, yes it's bullshit to have those kinds of friends (come on! A chaebol, a model in one group of friends in a normal highschool?) It's typical, it' cliche I know but their friendship is really #goals. When I first read this I was really cheering on Chunyoung to be ML, but when I read spoilers that Jiho will be the ML I thought whaaaat I shipped Jiho with Yeoryeoung. Then when I reread it I did saw how subtle his love was and it's really cute. I was really focused on Chunyoung since he has a lot of screen time showing off his affections but Jiho did too on the littlest of things you will see. Well, I'll wait for his time to shine. I just hope Dan-I finally notice them. And I want to know how she will be explaining to them her situation and how everything will be resolved - will she be going back to reality? *that's gonna suck* Also can I have Yeodan instead? Thanks. 10/10

Who Made Me A Princess - Ongoing (Chapters: 81)

What made me read it: I keep seeing screenshots of Athy's various expressions on the comments in manhwas so I searched for it. The plot is interesting, and as mentioned I absolutely love Isekai theme. But this is not romance (mostly), the story focuses on the dynamics of a father and daughter relationship. The main character was reborn as a character on a novel she was reading, Athanasia - the princess who was executed by her father. Knowing what will happen to her when she turns 18, she plans on saving herself. She changes the course of the story in order to survive. 10/10

Is it visually pretty: YES. JESUS CHRIST HAVE YOU SEEN DADDY CLAUDE. INSANE VISUALS. I mean the way the artist drew everything is pleasing to my eye. BUT ALL CHARACTERS ARE HOT. 100/10

How much do I love the characters: ONE MUST PROTECT ATHY FOREVER. Daddy Claude breaks my heart. LILY AND FELIX ARE THE CAPTAINS OF MY SHIP. Lucas is love. Can't help falling in love with Ijekiel/Ezekiel. I adore Jennette. DIANA AND LP'S ATHANASIA ARE DEAD BUT THEY DESERVE BETTER. Anastacius you evil motherfucker, I like you too. 100/10

Favorite part of the story: Every Athy expression. Tea time with Daddy Claude and Felix. When Lily is overprotective. Athy's debutante ball. All the boat scenes are gold. Everytime Claude shows how much he adores Athy even when he's supposed to hate her. When he picks her up and when he shows emotions. When Claude and Felix bickers. When Lucas teases Athy. Best boi Ijekiel/Ezekiel when he shows how much he likes Athy. Adorable Jennette and how she yearns for family.

Am I going to reread it again: Yes and No. Probably up to Chapter 45, I don't think my heart can take after that. Maybe when the manhwa is finished.

How do I describe thee: I AM EMOTIONALLY EXHAUSTED. When I first read this I stopped at Chapter 38,  I read another Manhwa and actually forgot about it but decided to reread again after. I thought this will be a funny, heartwarming story of how a daughter earns her father's love. OH BOY GET READY FOR FEELINGS. I love Athy so much, she just wanted to survive the story, but she was loved, she was finally happy. Claude was like fuck feelings but can't help but adore Athy. I love their relationship so much. It physically pained me after Claude loses his memory - BRING BACK THE FUNNY CHAPTERS. I cannot read that scene in Claude's birthday ever again without bawling. I like Jennette, I really do, but I hate how everytime Claude has headaches (especially when with Athy) he calls for Jennette. It hurts me the way it hurts Athy like I was the one being betrayed. I hate how what's happened to LP Athanasia might still happen ro present Athanasia and it will def break me. I hate Anastacius for being an evil bastard that he is but I hope his growing love for Jennette will be his redemption. This was the first time I did not care for the romance or love triangles (Lucas and Ezekiel/Ijekiel are still precious bbys). Still 1000/10 will recommend even if it's not yet finished. I just want everyone to have a happy ending. Also for my LilyxFelix ship to sail. Thanks. If you have spoilers, gimme.

The Reason Why Raeliana Ended Up At The Duke's Mansion - Ongoing (Chapters: 133)

What made me read it: It was on one of the recommended list and it caught my eye due to the title like pfft how very specific. It's Isekai so I know I'll love it. The Main Character got pushed (literally) into a novel wherein she got the role of Raeliana - a minor character whose death is the catalyst for the story to start. And of course our MC will not follow through the storyline and make her own destiny and survive. She ended up asking for the duke's (Noah, my love) help and became his fiancee, thus starting a butterfly effect for this manhwa's awesome story and twists. 100/10

Is it visually pretty: Definitely, everyone is absolutely pretty and the art is great. Not as insane as WMMAP but I got a lot of meme material. 10/10

How much do I love the characters: Raeliana is def one of top female lead for me, she's bad ass and not as dense as others. Noah, my love, is perfect. Even his brother that I could not remember his name because it's hard to spell. Naomi though is hilarious. Raeliana's family especially her mother. JUSTIN. GRANDPAAAA. SIR ADAM - NUFF SAID. No to Beabitch though but that says something for being villain. 100/10

Favorite part of the story: Chapter 130 hehehehe. Everytime Raeliana is BAMF who saves herself, everytime Noah flirts with her, Sir Adam and his aloofness and chibi self, the emperor's 40% playing pranks, Naomi and the emperor's bickering - which by the way ship it, when Noah confessed, when Raeliana confessed my heart could not take it, ALL THE TWISTS

Am I going to reread it again: YESSSS 100%

How do I describe thee: One of the God-Tier level Manhwa, I read because of Isekai I stayed because of the twist of that Isekai which is freaking mindblowing. Raeliana sets the standard for Female Leads, damn girl needs no man to save her shit. I LOVE HER. I LOVE THIS MANHWA SO MUCH. Noah is just perfect for her like it was really *winks* destined for them to be together. I JUST LOVE EVERYTHING. I love everyone, except that bitch. Also this was a first for me to have the MC admitting they were isekai'd to a novel and realizing her feelings and his feelings and accepting it and I just asdfghjkldfdfse 10000/10 READ THIS AND FALL IN LOVE WITH SIR ADAM WITH ME.

Living As The Tyrant's Older Sister - Ongoing (Chapters: 73)

What made me read it: The meme (you know the one - K.O), if you haven't noticed yet I am a collector of Isekai Manhwa. But this one def made me laugh at all chapters. We have your Main Character being thrown into a web novel (a novel her sister wrote btw) where she play as the Emperor's older sister - Alicia. She knows how the story goes (same old same old where she will eventually die) because she was her sister's consultant regarding the storyline and now regretting how she suggested to change the male lead. As always she devised a plan to stay as a minor character and survive but ended up sleeping with the main lead - Ares. 10/10

Is it visually pretty: Not a masterpiece but definitely meme material, all the screenshots I have stored are all memes from this manhwa 8/10

How much do I love the characters: Alicia is hilarious badmouthing bamf, very pretty very memeworthy. Ares could work on his personality a bit more but when they are together they're comical. Her brother is a typical tsundere and a fanboy. Lancelot is your typical nice guy. THAT BUTLER THOUGH BEST WINGMAN. 9/10

Favorite part of the story: Every meme hahahaha just read it this manhwa is the embodiment of a meme

Am I going to reread it again: Yes whenever I need a laugh ahhahaha

How do I describe thee: I AM WHEEZING. This truly is a comedic manhwa. You can't take it seriously because of the way it was drawn. If you really want a laugh this one's perfect. At times it is cringy when it exag a bit of their reactions but still 100% you will laugh. Not perfect but story is good, I like how it's still given a thought. But read it for the memes you won't regret it. 9/10

Survive as the Hero's Wife - Ongoing (Chapters: 79)

What made me read it: It's on the recommended list and someone mentioned that the art is *immaculate* and it is. IT REALLY IS. Well here comes another Isekai manhwa where the MC is pulled inside a novel where her character will be killed. But this time she was a minor villain character and the Male Lead's wife! 10/10 who are we kidding, I love em all.

Is it visually pretty: this manhwa is a work of art, it is *chefs kiss* visual explosion. Everyone is insanely hot, even the villains. The background, the characters - their hair and wardrobe is truly 1000000/10

How much do I love the characters: I really did fell in love with Canaria and Cesar. Best soft couple. Their luscious hair though so pretty. Noah best boi. Best team of suspicious knights - Miller, Raya, Jax and Ethan are loves. Best friend Ricardo. Even best butler Oscar. 100/10

Favorite part of the story: The visual explosion. Chos. When Canaria is being supportive waifu and Cesar is being an innocent best boy, they are just very soft and loving and I love their scenes so much, that popularity vote in the consort's palace ahhahaha, Jax and his misunderstanding, Ethan everytime he eats (all the time), Cesar's blushing face, everytime we are introduced to a new character because we know they are going to be gorgeous as hell.

Am I going to reread it again: MOST DEF ITS VERY PLEASING TO THE EYE

How do I describe thee: BEAUTIFUL. GORGEOUS. ENCHANTING. Boy, the visual is absolute masterpiece, Canaria's hair alone (love all her hairstyles) and her clothes, I want all of em. Cesar is the embodiment of a perfect male lead - soft boi. Best boi. Pretty boi. I love how he loves Canaria and how they truly support each other since being married at freaking 12 years old. This type of love please.  1000/10 Also, I am a lot curious about that Oscar,I think he is related to the emperor and the lady ghost in Noah's story - a lovechild? *gasps*. Also-Also if you will be reading this at Manganelo, translation at Chapter 76+ is a bit off but still grateful for the translators for what they give

Up next: It’s villain themed time (The villainess lives twice, beware of the villainess the villainess reverses the hour etc)

[lovesickallovermybed]

GIF Making/Sharpening/Colouring Tutorial

hi all! i’ve been asked many times to talk about how i sharpen and colour my gifs so today i will be doing a step by step tutorial on how i do

what you need: 

photoshop (i use a constantly updating one)

a video of some kind

space in your computer

difficulty: medium 

before:

after:

step one: download a video that is 720p-1080p

this is a fairly simple step, however, DO NOT DOWNLOAD IN 4K. what this tends to do is make the frames longer and blurrier whenever you’re attempting to sharpen them than they actually are. i usually pull videos from youtube or use quicktime to screen record videos. there are also lots of resources for videos that are kept on google drive.

step two: in photoshop, go to file - import - import frames to layers

to import frames to layers, you want to have a .mp4/.mov of some kind. i prefer the quality of mp4 over mov because it tends to create better spacing between frames, but mov still looks good!

step three: in import frames to layers, pick the relative part you want to gif.

only pick the first gif you want to make. a lot of times photoshop will run slower on older computers due to the processors within the computer. if you stick to only giffing one at a time, your computer won’t slow down as much.

step four: create the frames, but don’t select “limit to every __ frames”

many people do this and will limit to every 2 frames. while this used to be needed because of tumblr only allowing a 1mb limit back in the day, the limit on gif size has increased to 10mb. the chances of you making a gif that is 10mb is pretty small unless it is large with a lot of frames. if you’re wondering why your gifs aren’t as smooth, it’s usually because you are limiting frames.

step five: make all of your frames .03/.05 sec long 

usually at this step after creating the frames they will come out to be .04secs or .02secs long. if you save a gif at this level it’ll look too fast. instead go to the far right of the timeline and select the three lined box, in this box you will see an option that says “select all frames.” after pressing it all of the frames will be selected and you can go to where it says .02/.04 and change that time. click “other...”, then type in .03/.05. you can chose to change this at your discretion and personal taste. this is just what i NORMALLY do.

step six: now you want to crop and resize your gif as well as remove frames

these are the different proportions that i usually use:

for large full-width: 540x270

for 8 gif edits: 270x152

for longer looking full-width: 540x230

for full body: 270x330 or 270x300

for headers: 700x374

to crop, select the crop tool and get rid of any black edges or any part you don’t want of the image. then go to edit - image size. either do 540px or 270px and adjust the canvas size afterward based on if you had to input the width or the height to get the start of the proportion you want. this is also where you can test your gif to see if the frames are too many and can delete whatever you don’t want.

step seven: creating a timeline 

now that you have the start of your gif, you would think we would move onto colouring, wrong. now we have to make your framed gif into a timeline one instead. in the animation toolbar there is a button next to where it says “forever” and you will click this button to convert the animation to timeline.

step eight: sharpening the gif

okay now this is where it gets a little trickier. what you want to do is go to the top and pick select - select all frames after this all of the frames will be reselected. then click filter, convert for smart filters. this will make your animation all into one single layered smart object. 

after creating this smart object go back into edit and select smart sharpen. the settings i use are pictured below but i will also list them out here: amount: 500%, radius: 0.4px, reduce noise: 50%, shadows and highlights: fade amount: 0, tonal width: 50%, radius: 1px

now, click onto the layer you just sharpened. then right click and select duplicate layer. the shortcut for this is command+j. add a guassian blur to the object of 1px. then, make the layer 22-33% opacity. what this does is blur how sharp the effect is to make it seem more natural and clear.

step nine: colouring

now that the gif is sharp, we can actually colour it. whenever i colour the first thing i do is make a selective colour layer. within this layer you want to go to neutrals first. change these settings based on how you want the environment and colours to look. less black makes the scene lighter, more makes it darker. also go to the white and black categories within the selective layer. i tend to put the black at nearly 100% depending on how dark the scene is, (if it is lighter i usually don’t want to darken it too much), because what this does is keep the noise out from the darker areas of the gif. i almost always also always put white and -100% black to get rid of any black that might be within the white parts of the gif to take the noise out.

after this, i always add a curve layer to brighten and harden the gif. i then add another selective colour gif and adjust according to what just makes the gif look sharper/more colourful. obviously settings are going to be different for everyone, but i almost always use these at the beginning for a good base gif. after this selective colour layer in this scene i added a levels layer and defined more of where i wanted the light to go and the darkness/neutral light shifts. next i added a colour balance layer and changed midtones/highlights/shadows to sort of warm up the gif as well as make certain colours more defined. i then placed a vibrance layer to let the colours other than black and white stand out more. after this i added in another selective colour layer and i used this to brighten the cyan of the dress as well as change some of the red and yellow in the skin to make it darker and more defined. for some reason there was a hue of a blue shadow around the dirt and i wanted it to be black so i went to hue/saturation and changed the blues to being 100% black instead of blue so that the shadow would look darker.

finally, as with any of my gifs, i added an exposure layer the settings for this layer are in its screenshot below. very rarely do i ever change from these settings but you can play around with them as you please

step ten: saving the gif

i was asked many times how i save my gifs and the settings i use so here is how. to save, go to file - export - save for web (legacy). (it may take a moment for your gif to be ready to save but don’t worry this is normal.)

make sure that within the save for web you have perceptual and diffusion selected for how you save your gif. at the bottom you also want to have bicubic sharper as the quality of the gif. as long as your settings look like mine, you’re good to save!

step eleven: you may or may not need this step

occasionally, photoshop will play a trick where even though you saved your frames as .05secs it changes them automatically to .07secs per frame instead. to check this, reopen your gif, convert it to a frame animation, then look to see. you can easily just change the .07 back to a .05 and save for web again right after then replace the slower gif with the faster one

and thus we have:

[adzoic]

[Community Beware] @theeggoman Thread

It’s 8 in the morning, I’ve had like six cups of coffee and I’m ready to go. Today, we’re focusing on a user that’s been repeatedly called out for tracing and theft.

I want to start out by telling you not to send harassment or death threats to this user, as they’ve proven time and time again that they will use and run with it in order to garner sympathy and place the blame on other people.

That is not what I want. What I want is for @theeggoman​ to take full responsibility for what they’ve done and what they continue to do each time they are called out for a situation like this. Which is a lot, mind you.

Tumblr user @theeggoman​, formerly known by these names:

Fooperdoodle, PleaklyandJumba, Pleakly, jombasworld, mistskistrawberryblonde, Jumba, etc.

Has been called out for tracing, scamming, etc. on many an occasion. Their (and I’m using they pronouns because I’m unsure of which pronouns they use. A bitch can be respectful and still call you out.) most recent dive into tracing artwork being taken from the artist Grendel Menz on twitter.

Grendel posted on 12/28/2020 that his vent art was stolen for a Hannibal animatic using the the song Butch 4 Butch Simping by Rio Romeo. Grendel follows this tweet up with two more, confirming the identity of the art thief.

Big yikes, but wait! There’s more. A reply to Grendel’s original thread blows this shit wide open, revealing the fact that Tumblr User @theeggoman​ has, in fact, been at this for quite a long fuckin’ time. 

According to Kyosein on twitter, this shit has been going on since forever.

And it just. gets. worse.

Quoting Kyosein, the twitter thread states:

A follower found their comic, and then noticed similarity (pretty obvious) with some of my work. So they messaged me about it and here all it starting.

Once again, according to the twitter thread: After they had been caught, Theeggoman began to go into hiding. They changed their names multiple times on all of their accounts, hence the laundry list of alternative usernames at the beginning of this thread. 

All of the works they had claimed, with little acception, are traced and copied from different images. Example:

Now, while the thread mentions Theeggoman faking harassment and copying art styles ( I don’t see that sort of shit as the crime it’s made out to be. Seriously, we all take inspiration from somewhere), I don’t think that takes precedence over the art theft and scamming that’s going on here. While on the topic: Yes. Tracing and taking inspiration from someone’s art style is completely separate.

More importantly. Let’s talk about the issue of tracing for profit.

You heard me. On their previous patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/fooperdoodle, now defunct.) Theeggoman made commissions at $50 USD. In which, you pay $50.00 for a traced drawing. 

Additionally, Theeggoman made buttons! That just so happened to also be traced. Example:

The original, adorable illustration by Floofyfluff on twitter:

Versus, Theeggoman’s direct fucking rip-off of a button:

They also had a Youtube channel! A channel where they posted speedpaints. In a video (now either deleted or private, like all of them are) talking about their situation, the fucking “tumblr” layer was visible in the goddamn video. Seriously, Eggo. Do you think people are that stupid? 

Versus, the two works they traced from! Originally by @furpocalypse​:

Y’all need more proof of theft?

‘Cause I’ve got more proof of theft.

Not to mention that the 2019 cover of their Tapastic comic looks suspiciously similar to this tweet back in 2016.

Finally, we’ll get to the aforementioned scamming.

To quote Kyosein’s twitter thread:

They did open an donating money page, for their "goal" to go to an "art chool", showing traced drawing as examples.

And from an article found on Theeggoman in the twitter thread:

SHE GOT IN TO A SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM WITH  STOLEN ART “She has been accepted to Columbia University, CAL Arts and Savannah School of Design and is weighing funding and options.” “She said she prefers a smaller company that cares about the artist.”

 Everything she did until now is using plagiarism, tracing, copying art. To enter school. Making money. Taking all the "rights" on the back of real artists. Promoting their stuff. Lying to their community. We're about to contact the reporter of this article.

And thus, Theeggoman absconds with all of the money they’ve scammed with a sweet little “lol k thx, byeeee” at the end of their donation page:

Here are the screenshots for the article quoted above, or you can really just go to Kyosein’s original twitter thread.

Alright, I think that’s all of this bullshit so far. Again, I’m not asking anyone to deplatform or send death threats to @theeggoman​. That’s not something people will learn from, and as we’ve seen time and time again, it only allows shitty people a platform to whimper about being cyberbullied on the internet. 

However. People should be made aware of what’s happening, what they’re paying for and who they’re supporting/giving their hard earned money to. And making money off of shit that isn’t yours? C’mon, Eggo. You’re an adult and you should know better.

I’ll end this by saying thank you. Thanks for sticking around and reading through the muck of shit with me. I hope you’ve come away from this a little more informed than you were before. 

And finally, to Eggo:

Shame on you.

[amphtaminedreams]

The Women of Euphoria and Personal Style: Lookbook no.8

Hi to anyone reading,

I hope you’re well considering everything going on! It feels weird to want to talk about fashion or TV shows or red carpets or whatever when 90% of my Google searches are COVID-19 related but there you go. It’s all about trying to power through as normal (minus the social interaction) and pretend the world isn’t ending, right? Queue nervous laughter.

And as if things aren't shitty enough, production of season 2 of Euphoria has been postponed until further notice. 

Okay, in the grand scheme of things, having to wait a bit longer for a TV show isn’t catastrophic but it does just about sum up the transition from 2019 to 2020 thus far that after HBO redeemed itself by broadcasting Euphoria in the summer following an ending to Game of Thrones that has made the whole series unrewatchable, the glimmer of hope in me reignited by the prospect of series 2 this year has been quickly dashed. 2021, I’m rooting for you, because it doesn’t seem like things are getting better any time soon, and in all seriousness, I think everyone needs a break from the collective suffering of the last few months.

For me (and undoubtedly for many others if the hundreds of makeup looks and styling videos are anything to go by), Euphoria’s effect on the world of fashion and beauty is unprecedented. I really can’t recall a TV show in living memory that has had as much of an impact on the way young people dress. I mean, this might partially be because the style of the characters already kind of caters to and draws from the target audience but also, aside from Blair Waldorf did anybody really give THAT much of a fuck about what anybody in Gossip Girl wore?

The draw of the styling on Euphoria is that it has something for everyone. The style of each of the main girls, Rue, Kat, Maddy, Jules and Cassie, all of whom I’ve attempted (emphasis on attempted!) to base (emphasis on base!) outfits around, is varied and distinctive but still so current and realistic at the same time. It’s also consistent; even if you don’t own the specific pieces worn by any of them, similar shapes and details reoccur enough in different looks throughout the series that it’s not hard to create an outfit which matches your favourite character’s overall vibe without buying anything new. That’s kinda what I have attempted to do here and without further ado, I’m gonna get on with it! First up:

Jules (Played by Hunter Schafer)

When it comes to whose style is the most experimental, Jules is the obvious answer. A lot of her outfits are what I imagine a cartoonist in the near-distant future will envision their cool girl protagonist wearing. Whilst her ensembles are generally whimsical and girly for the most part, there’s usually a few slightly punk-ish finishing touches thrown in there too be it through chunky shoes or bold makeup or that incredible mesh trench coat she wears in the series finale with the trans symbol on the back which, honestly, deserves a moment of silence. 

There are definitely nods to current fashion trends sprinkled throughout her wardrobe too. I'm not going to lie, despite someone at work seemingly thinking it was an insult to tell me I look like someone who does (I still don’t know but this person has a Rick and Morty keyring so I don’t give it too much weight), I’ve never watched any anime. BUT, that being said, given the abundance of anime screenshots posted by all these aesthetic oriented Instagram and Tumblr moodboard accounts, I have a vague idea of what some of the more iconic characters look like and a lot of Jules’ looks seem to be very much modelled after or at least inspired by them. In a way, I see a lot of her looks as a blend between modern “e-girl”, Y2K skater chick (yes, I’m thinking early Avril Lavigne), and 2013 Tumblr “hipster” a la 2014 Joanna Kutcha and Charlie Barker, and though on paper that sounds like a nightmare combination, it works. I know-if that sentence were a Depop description I would’ve just gained 30 followers.

When it comes to my own interpretation of Jules’ style, it’s definitely something I like to channel when I’m putting together a proper OUTFIT outfit. Meaning an outfit I actually put effort into and thus will most likely want to get a good photo in, lol. The way her character dresses is almost quite Christopher Kane in that it’s fresh and unusual but still understated enough that I wouldn’t walk into a room wearing any of these feeling like I’m doing a Rick Owens runway.

I’m not TOO far out of my comfort zone but still at the same time, I’d be trying something new and maybe a little bit more zany than I'm used to. As for noting where any of these pieces are from, only a few have been bought in the last 6 months, but from left to right clockwise I have marked out those that have in case they’re still available (though be wary of the fact that it seems a lot of online clothes stores are still forcing warehouse employees to work in close confines at the moment and so perhaps aren’t operating the most ethically):

LOOK 1

Corset-Jaded London

Shoes-TK Maxx

LOOK 2

Dress-Motel Rocks

Boots-Koi Vegan Footwear

LOOK 3

Dress-Jaded London

LOOK 4

Dress-Jaded London

Beret-Ebay

LOOK 5

Beret-Ebay

LOOK 6

Mesh Top-Depop

Hair Clips-Urban Outfitters

Kat (Played by Barbie Ferreira) 

Eurgh, Kat. 

I LOVE THIS BITCH.

If I had to choose my favourite character in the show, it would be a very close toss-up between her and Rue, and though I think Rue might just about nab the top spot for her relatability factor, Kat is the girl I want to be or wish that I had been when I was at school. I mean, there’s definitely an argument to be made in that a lot of what she’s doing with her cam work could be seen as a means of validation (Sam Levinson has basically said everyone on the show has some kind of an unhealthy coping mechanism and I would guess due to the circumstances in which her cam girl career was borne and the fact she’s underage, this would be hers) but I do think in other ways we really see Kat reclaim her power and recognise herself for the smart, capable, gorgeous woman that she is. Honestly, the definition of divine feminine energy, and I would completely let Barbie Ferreira/basically Kat if she was also actually 23 dominate me.

Plus! Her! Style! Is! The! Bomb! Definitely the easiest character to base looks around because if I’m totally honest Kat’s energy is pretty much just what I want to emulate in every day life. 

It’s either pieces that are typically feminine, cutesy, and even slightly preppy at times drenched in everything grunge OR vice versa where you have something semi-gothic and then add a colourful, more playful touch in there that harks back to the beginning of the series before Kat had began to explore her identity and sexuality and dressed slightly more Forever 21.

I’d say, not yet with my whole chest, that on a good day the outfits I put together when making an effort aren’t too far off something Kat would wear, minus the more overtly BDSM touches; if wearing a ring choker in London is enough to get me a creepy comment from a gross middle aged shopkeeper (because I apparently forfeited my right not to be perved on when I decided to buy a bottle of Oasis summer fruits), then you can only imagine the kind of looks wearing a full-on harness would get in my conservative OAP dominated hometown. Not the most doable right now, especially considering the only time I get out is to work and to go for a run. The chafing I could deal with but the horrified glares of pensioners whose M&S prawn mayo sandwiches I’ve ruined by simply being in their eyesight not so much.

LOOK 1-

Corset-Urban Outfitters

LOOK 2-

Bodysuit-Depop

Skirt-Zara

Harness-Ebay

LOOK 3-

Co-ord-Depop

Lace-up Corset-Missguided

LOOK 4-

Dress-Vintage

LOOK 5-

Belt-Ebay

LOOK 6-

Coat-Topshop

Dress-Jaded London

LOOK 7-

Fishnet Top-Ebay

Skirt-Urban Outfitters

Maddy (Played by Alexa Demie)

Not gonna lie, I was kind of scared to do Maddy. I’m scared to be posting this, lol! Alexa Demie has played this character for a single season and she’s already one of the most iconic women to grace our screens in years. This is a huge undertaking and I don’t have the bank balance or the body confidence (lmao) to raid IAmGia. 

And this is where I want to stress: THESE ARE NOT OUTFIT RECREATIONS. THESE ARE INSPIRED BY. I HAVE ADDED ELEMENTS OF MY OWN STYLE INTO THEM. PLEASE DON’T DRAG ME. I KNOW, I’M NOT ALEXA DEMIE. I WOULD NEVER ASSUME TO BE ALEXA DEMIE. I’M NOT ABOUT TO TAKE THE LORD’S NAME IN VAIN LIKE THAT. So now we’ve got that out the way (wipes bead of sweat off forehead), let’s continue. 

Everything about Maddy Perez is extra. She has very much been established as a centre of attention character, and her outfits are a key part of that. They’re daring, they’re hyper-feminine, and they are always glamorous. We’re told that she competed in beauty pageants when she was younger and it’s clear that level of excess and coordination and glitz and all-round-boujeeness wormed its way into her DNA during that time. Even the “depression” outfit she wears to school following Nate becoming violent at the fair is costume-like, a 2019 Bratz doll Off-White street style collaboration.

Do you know how HARD I had to try to be HOT!? For these photos. Alexa Demie is one of those blessed women who doesn’t have to try at all, and that translates into the character completely. At any given moment, Maddy could add or remove one item or clothing and be let straight into the VIP section of a club, and that, honestly, is inspiring to us all in these dark times. 

One thing I tried to keep in mind is that she always looks polished and coordinated, I.E the kind of look I would prepare for a night out is something Maddy would wear on an average day. Co-ords and delicate prints seem to be more subtle wardrobe staples along with mesh and PVC and glitter and feathers and fur and basically anything that toes the line between expensive looking and tacky. Yes, I am aware we may toe different sides of that line but please let me stay delusional and believe that’s not the case for 5 minutes. Much appreciated xoxo

LOOK 1-

Bodysuit-Jaded London

LOOK 2-

Bralette-Depop

LOOK 3-

Co-ord Suit-Boohoo

Bodysuit-Boohoo

LOOK 4-

Dress-Motel Rocks

Shoes-Schuh

LOOK 5-

Bodysuit-Zaful

Trousers-Depop

Coat-Topshop

LOOK 6-

Dress-Zaful

Belt-Zaful

LOOK 7-

Top-Jaded London

Hair Clips-H&M

Rue (Played by Zendaya Coleman)

I have a complicated relationship with Rue as a character. When I started season 1 of Euphoria, I was like “Oh my god, this girl is the worst. Jesus, she’s so negative and draining and willingly self-destructive and-”

Then, oh my god is this what it’s like to live with me!?

I will say, to my own credit, that I don’t think I've ever been quite as hard to deal with as Rue (a lot less smashing stuff up and a lot more moping), and to HER credit, by the end of the season we come to realise she’s been through a fucking lot and so it makes sense, but wow. I don’t think I have ever seen a teen show handle drug abuse and mental illness in such a brutal way. It’s quite a talent to be able to show a character cause so much pain to those closest to them and yet do so through a sympathetic lens. And issues aside, whether it’s her occasional social awkwardness or her relationship with her family or watching bloody Love Island (still quite surreal to see Zendaya Coleman witnessing the Amy/Curtis drama unfold), Rue is just my favourite character to follow. 

Her style, though. AH. The thing is, I can hardly drag it, because it’s pretty much what I wear when I’m moping about the house-or just any time I can get away with it to be honest-to a T. I want to stay true to character, but that being said, creating a “Seth Rogen”-esque outfit that’s worth posting on here is difficult. So, with the same kind of artistic license that had me wearing berets whilst cosplaying Maddy Perez, here is the best I could do:

I know, I know, it’s probably too much colour and jewellery for Rue but this is as toned down as I could do and I tried to stick with the key silhouettes we see from her throughout the season; I mean, I can’t see her wearing leopard print but the structure of the coat in outfit 1 is very similar to the one seen in Shook Ones pt.II. I think the bottom line when it comes to her character is keeping things effortless and not overly-feminine; you want to mix street style, athleisure and your dad’s wardrobe favourites like your life depends on it. Plus messy hair and smudged makeup, both of which I’ve already got down according to the completely inappropriate number of customers who’ve asked if I'm tired at work so thanks for that guys, and glitter tears. Lots and lots of glitter tears.

OUTFIT 1-

Dungarees-Vintage

OUTFIT 2-

Trousers-Depop

Cardigan-Urban Outfitters

OUTFIT 5-

Beanie-Depop

OUTFIT 6-

Shirt-Boohoo Man

Sports Bra-TK Maxx

Trousers-Urban Outfitters

OUTFIT 7-

Shirt-Jaded London

Cassie (Played by Sydney Sweeney)

Style-wise, Cassie is a hard one. When putting outfits for her character together, I found myself gravitating towards a direction that’s probably a bit too bohemian for her character, under the guidance of loose terms like “girl-next-door”, “floaty”, “delicate”, you get the idea. She definitely feels the least fully-realised in terms of all the main girls and I think it’s fair to say she’s probably got a bit of self-discovery to do. Most of her storylines in the season are dictated by her relationships to other people: McKay, Maddy, Lexie, her parents and so on. 

Nevertheless, I tried to stick to the airier, more traditionally “pretty” pieces whilst still channelling the confidence and ease with which Cassie pulls them off. Sydney Sweeney has the most incredible figure and I feel like whilst the clothes the on-set stylists put her in flatter that and don’t hide anything, they’re still the focus. It doesn’t feel like there’s anything more inherently sexual about her character than any of the other main female characters despite the way the men within the narrative view her, and I think it’s a testament to the the wardrobe department that to me she still gives off big modern Disney princess energy and a certain innocence even whilst we hear her being continuously sexualised by her male peers. 

If anything, Cassie probably dresses the most like an actual teenage girl, and her style, whilst less distinctive than the other girls, still does a good job of capturing the youth and romanticism of her character. 

The colour palette of her wardrobe tends to be quite neutral, with a couple of pastels thrown in there, and if there are any details, they’re usually quite dainty. Similarly, Cassie is probably the least experimental when it comes to her makeup; we don’t really see her wearing the bold eyeshadows or liners or gems like the other girls at any point.

OUTFIT 1-

Bodysuit-Motel Rocks

Hair Clips-Bershka

OUTFIT 2-

Dress-Jaded London

OUTFIT 3-

Trousers-Urban Outfitters

OUTFIT 4-

Top-Urban Outfitters

Hairband-H&M

`OUTFIT 5-

Top-Urban Outfitters

Jeans-Zaful

Headband-Primark

OUTFIT 6-

Top-Urban Outfitters

OUTFIT 7-

Dress-Urban Outfitters

Hair Clips-Boohoo

SO, I guess that’s it for my Euphoria lookbook! As always, let me know what you think (nicely pls, my ego is fragile lol) and I’d love to hear your opinions on the show too! I really haven’t got this excited over a new TV show in ages and I just think that it does everything so excellently-from the writing to the cinematography to the soundtrack, you can tell each element is so carefully and purposefully constructed. It immerses you into the dramatic highs and lows of being a teenager in a way I haven’t seen since UK Skins and I never thought I’d watch a show which held a candle to that. 

In terms of what I’m doing next, I’ve got a very delayed fashion week masterpost in the works as well as something to fill the Met Gala shaped hole in our lives, which I hope to get up over the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, if you read to the end, THANK YOU! And I hope you’re staying safe and AT HOME where possible. I know this self-isolation feels never-ending and if I’m honest, it is having a hugely negative effect on my mental health, but NHS staff are doing their very best with the shitty recourses they have and whilst it seems that our government have thrown workers under the bus once again, we can all do our bit to combat that by slowing the spread of the virus. Also thank you to anybody who’s out working now in such a scary and uncertain time! I work at a grocery store and can say from experience that the best way to show this thanks is just through kindness and following employee’s instructions without giving them grief for it. Everyone’s scared right now and the best we can do is pull together and look out for each other, as difficult as that might seem at times.

Anyway, sorry for the ramble, and like I said, stay safe! Thanks once again if you read til the end or even if you’re just here for the photos. Appreciate it more than you know either way!

Lauren x

[yuvon-writes-letters]

Hey guys,

Yu, Rai and both Jakes.

Actually..If I talk about my feelings I'm pretty well. Don't tell Jake I said that, but I couldn't be happier about our situation. I mean, we can talk again. Without me being kidnapped and finding a weird Tumblr profile of him. (Which we think was a set up by one of the entities of my world since he obviously doesn't have one. Jake thinks it was goldies doing, I on the other hand don't believe that. Don't ask me why, but it feels like goldie wouldn't do that. And it didn't help me either but only made problems. I was distracted because I was writing the profile (you read it, right Yu? I don't know about the others) and angry. Like, really angry.)

Putting that aside, Jake called me, like he promised :) And it was the longest phone call I had for some time. Most of the time I talked and he didn't get distracted once, just listened to me and everything that happened. And then he started cursing, which is kind of understandable. He apologised for being into stasis. And for this other version from before the 'time setting back' thing. Because I don't find a name I'll call it TSB from now on.

The only problem I have now is going to work, I guess I'll take me some vacation...But at least I'm not as scared of the raven-ass anymore. I mean, I still am, but in the moment I know his steps. And I am not alone.

Jake, I intentionally write the next part in red, please don't read it. That's for Yu.

I know you think that Jake sees you as a threat. If it still is like you wrote in the letter. Jake knows that, too and he doesn't like it. You know him better than I do, of course, but without saying too much...I think it's quite the opposite. Talk to him about that. Even though it's probably not the best circumstances I think he enjoys being with you :)

The next part, purple (damn, I need more coloured pens), is for you Jake.

You already told me that you don't like that Yu thinks you see her as a threat. I only have to say one thing, if it still is like that, talk to her about it. Earlier than later.

The new thoughts about the blood ritual are really interesting. But please don't put yourself in this danger (or not, but I think it's understandable what I mean?) if it isn't necessary. But I also agree with Rai, I thought the same thing for a while. That you desired having someone, Jake, with you. It sounds plausible.

What more was there...Wait, let me reread the letters.

Oh yeah, Rai! One, till now my crow crew seems to still be in stasis (Jake realised that now, too) and two..Please try to take care of your health, yeah? I'm worried for you.

Lis🐾🔥

Ps. Damn...I'm writing this exactly when I wanted to leave the house (I mean, I sadly cannot hide my face forever).

Two new things...I got a message. I mean, it was a threat (because I am the obviously the bad girl that kidnapped Hannah), but I don't care. Maybe that means the stasis is slowly dissolving!

But number 2...I didn't get the vacation. My boss called me almost immediatly. "Under no circumstances [a word is blacked out] Liska. We have July and Alice, Tim and Jenny all want to take free time, too. You are one of our best workers and we can't afford you leaving now. You have no children so you have to wait. Also Max told me that you don't have any problems in family."

So long story short: He wants me to be there tomorrow. Argh, if he would pay me like he's talking that would awesome. And I'll kill Max when I see him next time. (My cousin that thought it was fun to try and steal my work so we both got the rank of 'one of the best workers'. The only problem: Max' title is official. -.- Overall, I'm so much more annoyed than some time earlier. Maybe I should ask Jake for help

Lis,

Okay, the Crow Crew drama is fading a bit, so I'll answer this now. Sorry if I seem disjointed at all, I'm probably going to be going back and forth from conversations to this letter a lot. I can't afford to have them all think I'm compromised, I need to focus on getting out of here and I don't want to deal with their pressure on top of everything else.

Yeah, I don't think the Tumblr profile was Goldie either. Goldie seems to try to be very much a "hands off" sort of entity, like my own. The Tumblr profile thing seems a little out of character for at least my Jake. At least, publicly answering your submission certainly was, though he may have panicked since you sent it in on anon and answered publicly without really thinking about it. I guess I could see him having a Tumblr profile for purposes of following people on social media and watching what they post, though. And then deciding he likes the media and posting a little bit of impersonal things that can't lead back to him. Probably my Jake will say something about that when I hand this letter over to him, stay tuned.

Yeah, I at least read some of the things you sent that profile, and I showed what I had to my Jake too. I'm not sure if I read all of it, since it was a bunch of printed-out screenshots in an envelope, but I read the ask where you told him you hated him (fair at that point but ouch that's got to have hurt) up to when you said you'd found Hannah. After that you sent me your letter telling me time had turned back and the Tumblr screenshots ended.

I'm glad you and Jake managed to talk things out. I was sort of worried about how he'd react, but it sounds like he took it pretty well, considering. I'm... not exactly sure he should be apologizing for the stasis, though. Or the TSB!Jake. Maybe especially not the TSB!Jake. Jakes seem to be oddly different from timeline to timeline, just based on what I've seen of them. TSB has been one of the most different so far.

Oh. One thing I should mention that you might not have seen from the profile: The MWAF used your phone to mock the TSB account, and mentioned that TSB wasn't the only person who could hack, and the MWAF blocked TSB from finding your location. Might want to warn your Jake about that.

A vacation sounds like a good idea :/ It's really hard to go back to normal life right after tragedies or trauma. It feels like the world keeps moving on and you're still stuck in place, and you just want to scream at them that they need to slow down, can't they see that the world is

Good. I'm glad you don't feel alone. It's easier to deal with this stuff when you're with someone else, even if it's not physically.

(Jake, my Jake I mean, if you're reading over my parts of these letters skip to the ||| now please.) I'm not saying he doesn't also enjoy my company. I can tell he does. That doesn't make me not a threat. Like how early on I suspected Thomas, but still thought he was a nice guy and enjoyed talking to him. (Obviously I don't suspect him any more XD ) Still, if you think I should talk with him about it, I'll try to find a tactful way to bring it up.

Yes, because obviously tact is my greatest strength. Sigh.

Like I said to Rai, the underlying desire thing is definitely possible. That'd either mean I'm more obvious about how I feel for Jake than I think I am (very possible, I'm not great at hiding how I feel in person) or the entity has some level of telepathy/mind reading. The reason is that chessboard. Since Jake likes chess, it's clear at least to me the entity expected him to come here at some point. I THINK, if the underlying desire thing is true, I can manipulate myself into wanting specific things by doing things like writing it over and over and repeating it out loud when doing the ritual, but I'm not sure.

|||

It's probably good that your Crow Crew is in stasis, like how it's objectively probably good my outside life is going on without me. Less drama, less pressure.

Huh. The harassment is definitely a promising sign. Maybe you should try contacting Darkness again, same way as I suggested near the beginning? That feels so long ago, but it really can't have been much more than a week, can it?

You... didn't get the vacation. Fucking hell. Is there ANY way you can convince your boss? You really should have time off. Maybe your Jake can help you come up with ideas.

Or at least maybe he can come up with a way to have your boss give you a bonus for your trouble -_-

Oh shit Cleo's interrogating me I'm gonna hand this to Jake now

(The handwriting changes to Jake's.) Hello, Lis.

I agree with Yuvon: "TSB" acts markedly different from myself. There would be no benefit from me promising to be there to find you in the moment, and indeed I would have been falling for a very transparent trap. Even in my possible state of panic, I cannot see myself being there physically, much less revealing myself physically to authorities in the process, unless I was playing the role of bait in a counter-trap. While it is plausible that this was TSB's plan, TSB gave no indication that Yuvon or I could tell that this was the case. Of course, I would have done my best to be there physically in the aftermath of the kidnapping, but not in the moment.

I also agree that the Tumblr profile seems to be out of character for both myself and for "Goldie", though I hesitate to judge TSB's actions by what I myself would do. I seem to vary in surprising ways across universes and even from timeline to timeline, based solely on your current Jake's reactions thus far. I do actually own a Tumblr profile for the exclusive purpose of following social medias I wish to track, but I used a random username generator website for the username and not my own name, and I certainly never posted anything.

The news about the MWAF being able to hack is new to me; I must have missed that the first time I read through the screenshots. That is quite troubling. I suppose I will need to be more careful in future.

I am sincerely sorry your request for a vacation was rejected. I do not know how much you intend to separate your personal life and the Duskwood case, but if your stasis is truly wavering, you may be able to reveal some measure of the danger you are in to convince him to let you flee the area for a small while. Especially since you mentioned in your Tumblr post that you saw a raven note in your wor

Oh.

You need to leave that place. Now. Do not inform your employer of the danger you are in, reveal nothing to him or to anyone, take unpaid time off if you need to. Get your cousin and anyone else you care overly much about out of there too. Invalidate any information you can your employer or coworkers knows about you. Do not tell the truth to anyone, even your cousin. Make up any excuses you need to, ask your Jake for help with ideas if you need to. You may also wish to check that the coworkers your boss listed who are going on vacation are ACTUALLY going on vacation.

This is a priority, Liska. You need to tell your Jake all of this too, especially the part with the note in your workplace. You need to get out of there.

Good luck.

—Jake & Yuvon

(The letter tucks itself into the paper clip with the others.)

[trishmishtree]

[Current as of March 13, 2020]

Dr. Shahed (screenshot above) is an emergency department physician in Ohio who shared this post on Facebook. It’s an account of COVID-19 from the perspective of an ICU doc working on the frontlines in Seattle. Some of my laypeople-friends were sharing it around (and I’ve seen it floating around on twitter and various internet forums], but I noticed that it’s really dense and contains a lot of medical abbreviations and jargon, like it was meant more for other physicians and isn’t really useful for the average reader. So I thought I’d provide a translation for my non-medblr followers who are looking to stay informed. (If you want further clarification, feel free to drop me an ask)

***

This is from a front-line ICU physician in a Seattle hospital

This is his personal account:

We have 21 patients and 11 deaths since 2/28.

We are seeing patients who are young (20s), fit, no comorbidities, critically ill. It does happen.

US has been past containment since January

Currently, all of ICU is for critically ill COVID patients, all of med-surg [medical-surgical] floors are for stable COVID patients and end-of-life care, half of PCU [progressive care unit], half of ER. New Pulmonary Clinic offshoot is open for patients with respiratory symptoms

CDC is no longer imposing home quarantine on providers who were wearing only droplet-isolation PPE when intubating, suctioning, bronching, and in one case doing bloody neurosurgery. Expect when it comes to your place you may initially have staff home-quarantined. Plan for this NOW. Consider wearing airborne-isolation PPE for aerosol-generating procedures in ANY patient in whom you suspect COVID, just to prevent the mass quarantines.

We ran out of N95s (thanks, Costco hoarders) and are bleaching and re-using PAPRs [powered air purifying respirators], which is not the manufacturer’s recommendation. Not surprised on N95s as we use mostly CAPRs [controlled air purifying respirators] anyway, but still.

Terminal cleans (including UV light) for ER COVID rooms are taking forever, Environmental Services is overwhelmed. This is bad, as patients are stuck coughing in the waiting room. Recommend planning now for Environmental Service upstaffing, or having a plan for sick patients to wait in their cars (that is not legal here, sadly).

CLINICAL INFO (based on our cases and info from CDC conference call today with other COVID providers in US):

The Chinese data on 80% mildly ill, 14% hospital-ill, 6-8% critically ill are generally on the mark. Data [in the US] very skewed by late and very limited testing, and the number of our elderly patients going to comfort care. 

Being young & healthy (zero medical problems) does not rule out becoming vented or dead 

Probably the time course to developing significant lower respiratory symptoms is about a week or longer (which also fits with timing of sick cases we started seeing here, after we all assumed it was endemic as of late Jan/early Feb). 

Based on our hospitalized cases (including the not-formally-diagnosed ones who are obviously COVID – it is quite clinically unique), about 1/3 of patients have mild lower respiratory symptoms and need 1-5L NC [1-5 liters of oxygen per minute, via nasal cannula]. 1/3 are sicker, need face mask or non-rebreather. 1/3 are intubated with ARDS [acute respiratory distress syndrome]. 

Thus far, everyone is seeing: 

normal WBC [white blood cell] count. Almost always lymphopenic, occasionally poly [neutrophil]-predominant but with normal total WBC count. Doesn’t change, even 10 days in. 

Bronchoalveolar lavage: lymphocytic despite blood being lymphopenic. (Try not to bronch these patients; this data is from pre-testing time when we had several idiopathic ARDS cases) 

Fevers, often high, may be intermittent; persistently febrile, often for >10 days. It isn’t the dexmed, it’s the SARS2. 

Low procalcitonin; may be useful to check initially for later trending if you are concerned later for VAP [ventilator-associated pneumonia], etc.

Elevated AST/ALT, sometimes alkaline phosphatase. Usually in 70-100 range. No fulminant hepatitis. Notably, in our small sample, higher transaminitis [elevated AST/ALT] (150-200) on admission correlates with clinical deterioration and progression to ARDS. LFTs [liver function tests] typically begin to bump in 2nd week of clinical course. 

Mild AKI [acute kidney injury] (creatinine <2). Uncertain if direct viral effect, but notably SARS2 RNA fragments have been identified in liver, kidneys, heart, and blood.</li>

Characteristic chest x-ray: always bilateral patchy or reticular infiltrates, sometimes peri-hilar despite normal ejection fraction and volume down at presentation. At time of presentation may be subtle, but always present, even in our patients on chronic high dose steroids. NO effusions.

CT is as expected, rarely mild mediastinal lymphadenopathy, occasional small effusions late in course, which might be related to volume status/cap leak.

Note - China is CT'ing everyone, even outpatients, as a primarily diagnostic modality. However, in US/Europe, CT is rare, since findings are nonspecific, would not change management, and the ENTIRE scanner and room have to be terminal-cleaned, which is just impossible in a busy hospital. Also, transport in PAPRs, etc. 

2 of our patients had CTs for idiopathic ARDS in the pre-test era; they looked like the CTs in the journal articles. Not more helpful than chest x-ray. 

When respiratory failure occurs, it is RAPID (likely 7-10 days out from symptom onset, but rapid progression from hospital admission). Common scenario for our patients is: admit on 1L/min oxygen via nasal cannula. Next 12 hrs escalate to NPPV [non-invasive positive pressure ventilation]. Next 12-24 hrs → vent/proned/Flolan. 

Interestingly, despite some needing Flolan, the hypoxia is not as refractory as with H1N1. Quite different, and quite unique. Odd enough that you’d notice and say hmmm. 

Thus far many are dying of cardiac arrest rather than inability to ventilate/oxygenate. 

Given the inevitable rapid progression to ETT [endotracheal tube, aka intubation] once respiratory decompensation begins, we and other hospitals, including Wuhan, are doing early intubation. Face mask is fine, but if patients are needing HFNC [high-flow nasal cannula] or NPPV [non-invasive positive pressure ventilation], just tube them. They definitely will need a tube anyway, and no point risking the aerosols.

No MOSF [multi-organ system failure]. There’s the mild AST/ALT elevation, maybe a small creatinine bump, but no florid failure. Exception is cardiomyopathy.

Multiple patients here have had normal EF [ejection fraction] on formal Echo or POCUS [point-of-care ultrasound] at time of admission (or in a couple of cases, EF 40ish, chronically). Also normal troponins from emergency department. Then they get the horrible respiratory failure, sans sepsis or shock. Then they turn the corner, come off Flolan, supined, vent weaning, looking good, never any pressor requirement. Then over 12 hrs, newly cold, clamped, multiple-pressor shock that looks cardiogenic, EF 10% or less. Then either VT [ventricular tachycardia, aka V-tach] → VF [ventricular fibrillation, aka V-fib] → dead, or PEA [pulseless electrical activity] → asystole in less than a day. Needless to say, this is awful for families who had started to have hope. 

We have actually had more asystole than VT. Other facilities report more VT/VF, but same time course, a few days or a week after admission, around the time they’re turning the corner. This occurs on med-surg patients too. One today, who is elderly and chronically ill but with baseline EF preserved, became newly hypotensive overnight, EF <10. Already no escalation, has since passed. So presumably there is a viral cardiomyopathy aspect, which presents later in the course of disease.

Of note, no wall motion abnormalities on Echo, right ventricular function preserved, troponins don’t bump. Could be unrelated, but I’ve never seen anything like it before, especially in a patient who had been hemodynamically stable without sepsis.

TREATMENT:

Remdesivir might work, some hospitals have seen improvement with it quite rapidly, marked improvement in 1-3 days. ARDS trajectory is impressive with it, patients improve much more rapidly than expected in usual ARDS.

Recommended course is 10 days, but due to scarcity, all hospitals have stopped it when the patient is clinically out of the woods. None have continued >5 days. It might cause LFT bump, but interestingly seem to bump (200s-ish) for a day or 2 after starting, then rapidly back to normal, suggests this is not a primary toxic hepatitis.

Unfortunately, the Gilead compassionate use and trial programs require AST/ALT <5x normal, which is pretty much almost no actual COVID patients. Also CrCl [creatinine clearance] >30, which is fine. CDC is working with Gilead to get LFT requirements changed now that we know this is a mild viral hepatitis.

Currently the Gilead trial is wrapping up, NIH trial still enrolling, some new trial soon to begin, can’t remember where.

Steroids are up in the air. In China, usual clinical practice for all ARDS is high dose methylprednisolone. Thus, ALL of their patients have had high dose methylprednisolone. Some question whether this practice increases mortality.

It is likely that it increases secondary VAP/HAP [ventilator-associated pneumonia/hospital-acquired pneumonia]. China has had a high rate of drug-resistant GNR [Gram-negative rod] HAP/VAP and fungal pneumonia in these patients, with resulting increases in mortality. We have seen none, even in the earlier patients who were vented for >10 days before being bronch’ed (prior to test availability. Again, it is not a great idea to bronch these patients now).

Unclear whether VAP-prevention strategies are also different [in China vs US], but wouldn’t think so?

Hong Kong is currently running an uncontrolled trial of HC 100IV Q8 [hydrocortisone 100 mg IV every 8 hours].

General consensus here (in US among doctors who have cared for COVID patients) is that steroids will do more harm than good, unless needed for other indications.

Many of our patients have COPD on ICS [inhaled corticosteroids]. Current consensus at Evergreen, after some observation & some clinical judgment, is to stop ICS if able, based on known data with other viral pneumonias and increased susceptibility to HAP. Thus far patients are tolerating that, no major issues with ventilating them that can’t be managed with vent changes. We also have quite a few on AE-COPD [acute exacerbation of COPD]/asthma doses of methylprednisolone, so will be interesting to see how they do.

[whats-the-story-tc]

21st of April, 2020

"The One with the Fairy Tale"

(Pssst! If I were you, I'd read this post first before starting this new one!)

I cannot believe this is my life.

A couple minutes before the 8 AM rush hour, a Google Classroom notification from V arrived. Then another. Someone likes a spam, I thought, before opening the first one.

Sigh of relief. It was only the essay I'd already sent her. On to the next one, the detailed info on what we were covering today. The play on the table is both figuratively and literally a fairy tale. V, pretty critical of the play and its character work itself, made sure to bring one particular monologue to our attention, which tackles a rather difficult topic in a pretty simple play about love and longing — human mortality. "(It's my particular favourite, too, but don't let that influence you.)" She wrote after explaining what it was. The last paragraph though, now that was something else. "For those of you interested in an A level (here you imagine me looking at certain people)" she began, and my eyes widened as I read it. Sure, there are literature buffs in both classes, but... I can't help but think it was first and foremost an indirect to me. I mean, I'm probably the biggest nerd out of all of us, and she's always looking at me anyways... I want to dream big and say she wanted me to see it most. I mean, it's a link to an incredibly long essay. The situation speaks for itself.

"Look at this silence," V said as she entered our server at around 11 AM. Once she was here, we (as in all of us) started chatting about the break and quarantine. "It has been Sunday for two months." I declared, V immediately continuing the thought: "That part of Sunday, no less, where the line between the previous week and the next one blurs." Couldn't have said it better myself.

As V spoke about the story, I just leaned back on my bed, letting myself get immersed in the explanation and the sound of her voice while trying to imagine everything. After a while, it all started sounding like the plot of Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute — especially when V said that our protagonists, a human boy and a fairy girl, both had companions of the same sex along the way. And as soon as she said those companions are actually married, I waited for her to take a tiny break in speaking and said "How surprising." According to Bookworm Friend, she laughed, but I couldn't hear it clearly because someone made a noise. Then she said "Obviously..." and basically shaded the whole plot line, though I don't remember the rest of the sentence. And guess what she brought up immediately? That's right. The Magic Flute. I was floored! "That's what I was thinking, too!" I chimed in immediately. She took the words out of my mouth! And, soon as I said that, I got a text from Bandana Friend.

BanF: "Wow the twinning"

It's official, folks. Even from a distance, V and I are sharing a braincell.

Serious shit went down in class, including pointing out some... very suggestive imagery that caught us all off-guard because the thing she mentioned isn't inherently suggestive, but okay, V, you do you. (Obviously, I'm not going into detail here, nor sharing the conversation Bandana Friend and I had here because... this is simply not the platform.)

But what I can share is a really funny bit that caused a bit of a pandemonium in the separate class chat none of our teachers are in. You see, about half an hour into class, The Boyfriend sneezes with what is probably the volume of a medium-sized family house collapsing. About five seconds of absolute comical silence follows, then we just hear V saying "Sorry. I'm sorry." before carrying on. All this caused quite the stir, featuring texts like:

BanF: "The whole house just quaked"

and

Classmate: "Jesus who was this 😂😂"

Classmate: "Tell me it wasn't [V]"

S: "No, her man"

Classmate: "Good heavens I thought it was her 😂😂"

and

S: "I laughed so hard that I thank God I was on mute"

So yeah. That's on that. Bit later, with the words mentioned here, V ended class, and there I was, on Cloud 9, dancing around my room and humming Disney songs from the sudden serotonin charge. That was probably the moment I decided to read the play V spoke about. You see, she didn't assign it because the wording is quite difficult (the text is quite old) and students usually struggle with it, but she said that we wouldn't lose anything by reading it, if we wanted to. And thus it happened that I sat down on my balcony at around 5 PM with the first chapter open on my phone, ready to read.

I knew she'd be right. I trust her opinion and my reading comprehension skill suffers at the stake of my absolute inability to concentrate for longer than 10 seconds. But guys. Some of the longer sections I had to go over at least three times before I understood what was going on! An hour or so must've passed when I read the last line of the first chapter, and the butterflies in my stomach took flight. It was time to text V about it. It was my original plan, anyway. Figure out how right she was, then tell her about it. I was already incredibly nervous, trying to stick to what I'd planned on writing. My fingers typed on autopilot and as soon as I was done, I could barely believe I was actually going through with this. But alas, you only live once, carpe that fucking diem. One big breath. Two biiiiig breaths.

Send.

S: "Well, Miss, I'm not saying you were right about the text of [the play], but I've only read Chapter 1 and I'm already doubting if I even speak [my native tongue]... 😅"

I immediately tossed the phone on my bed and ran away panicking. What will she say? How will she react to seeing it's me again? What does she think? Am I funny enough? Am I bothering her? When will she reply?

Half a minute later (!!!), I see the icon of The Platform That Shall Not Be Named on my screen. No. No. No. Nonononononono. I picked the phone up and unlocked it with a shaking hand. I was not prepared for what I was about to read.

V: "Hahaha, well, babydoll...You do. You're just not used to [the old-timey wording]."

I only had the time to sink to my knees, eyes wide, lips agape, when the next message followed.

V: "Though, once you're already through it, I'm curious about your opinion on the play's stageability. 😄 (given such a word exists)"

You bet your asses all air left my lungs. Not only did she call me babydoll again, now in a way that I could forever remind myself of it, but she basically just prompted another conversation! She wants to talk to me again! And I'll have you reminded, V's basically trusting my judgement based on the scriptbook I showed her at the dawn of time, that she'd never actually seen in action! I wonder what I did to earn all this trust...

S: "I'll see at the end and tell you :)"

V: "Alright :))"

Then, all brave from the double smiley, I had a really stupid and impulsive thought. (Don't yell.) Me being the little shit that I am, I googled stageability and took a screenshot of no results having been found. I took a screenshot, cropped it and sent it to V, my head being completely empty as I did. I acted purely from gut feeling.

S: "Tough luck this time, it seems😄"

V: "i thought so!"

(I can only hope she took it as a joke. But, the way I know her, she probably understood. Still, the me of right now, exactly two days and two minutes later, wouldn't do it.)

And this is where it ended. This is where I ended. My hands, my legs, even my lips were trembling as I tried to process the sudden load of emotion overcoming me. What did I just do. What did we do. What happened here. All this just echoed in my head, and I went ahead and texted every friend I wanted to tell in all caps.

BanF: "WOAAHHHH"

BanF: "you guys have really warmed up to each other"

Even now, as I was typing, I got the chills just thinking about this conversation. If it wasn't for the 'Miss' and my use of formal pronouns in the very first text, it would've just felt like two friends, who happen to both love literature, talking. And this really warms my heart, because there's this fantastic woman, who I genuinely think is one of the best influences on my life and... she just likes me for me. She immediately answers when she can, comes off genuinely happy to talk to me, prompts another thing I can tell her about and all but tells me that my opinion matters to her. Because this is her. I'm almost convinced that I will never hear her outright say that she likes me or she's proud of me, but, should I have any doubts, she does everything to let me know. I just misunderstand her sometimes, not knowing where to look.

When I tell you all this still doesn't feel real...

~ S ♡

[Every story I share here, no matter how specific I get with my wording, depicts actual events from my own life.]

[neriad13]

The Dororo manga is something that has been very dear to me for a long time. The entire time I was watching the anime, I was mentally weighing it against the manga, trying to decide on which one I thought was better. For the most part, it was a pretty even competition...but then an inciting event happened which significantly tipped me in favor of one over the other. But first, a comparison!

Plot Arcs

 - Bandai: There’s a bit more intrigue in the manga, but on the whole, I think it’s about even here. Bandai’s monster form is freaking beautiful in both of them.

 - The Cursed Sword: The anime wins, by a nose. The mood, the tension, the symbolism, the much more obvious love of Tanosuke for his sister - I think this is one of the best put together episodes in the series. 

However, what it was missing from the manga was Dororo’s anger at the world in general and the reason that he wanted a sword so bad. Anime Dororo picks it up by accident, isn’t following Hyakki around to steal one of his swords to begin with and isn’t a person who gets terribly angry. It’s more of a matter of differently written characters.

Would I have liked to see Anime Dororo get angry though? ...maybe. But that wasn’t what the episode was about.

 - Mio: Point goes to the anime. I love how Mio’s story is expanded and how much more personality she’s given. Hyakki’s rampage is my favorite bit of animation in the entire show. 

It’s also interesting how the placement of Mio’s arc affects what Hyakki’s character is like too. In the manga, by the time he’s telling the story as a flashback, he’s world-weary and his heart has turned to ice. In the anime, his heartbreak is fresh.

 - Dororo’s Backstory: Point to the manga by a wide margin. Dororo’s parents are much less complex and interesting in the anime and the whole episode felt a bit rushed. Of course, that’s a lot of backstory to fit in one episode though.

 - Banmon: Hmmmmm. This arc serves a much different thematic purpose in the anime, though it (somewhat) follows the events of the manga. 

On one hand, the sequence in which Tahoumaru dies is one of my favorite in comics, period. It feels so dreamlike and disconnected from reality and in a manga which doesn’t shy away from showing fountains of blood, it’s shocking in that it doesn’t show a drop. 

On the other hand, OH MY GOD Nui’s near-suicide was heartbreaking, the fact that they gave a backstory for Tahoumaru’s eye was phenomenal and I was utterly shocked and elated that Sukeroku actually found his family.

It’s a draw.

 - Fair Fudo - The anime. The fact that I’m having a hard time remembering how it went down in the manga says it all. Also having Dororo be the one to rescue Hyakkimaru this time was an excellent decision.

 - Sabame: Oh my god, the manga. Bad. Bad anime.

 - Shiranui: Gonna go with the manga here. I am forever salty that the anime left out the “I’m a boy” line.

However, the anime also gets half a point for ACTUALLY PUTTING TREASURE IN THE TREASURE HOARD and not rendering that entire storyline pointless. -.-

 - Nue: There’s not really a point of comparison here. It’s the same monster transplanted in a totally different storyline. But, with that said...

Do I give a single shit about Manga Nue?

Nope.

Do I give a shit about Anime Nue?

Yes.

 - Midoro: Hmm. Another toss-up.

I found Midoro’s death in the manga much more affecting. The image of a dying horse, riddled with arrows, spending her last moments wandering among the fallen - that says something more about the grimness of war and the innocents caught in the middle of it than turning her into a horse bomb ever could.

However...I was so freaking THRILLED that Hyakkimaru got to ride her in the anime. My desktop’s background still contains a screenshot from the episode 22 preview of him doing that. Their stories are not so different and in this adaptation, it felt so eerily natural for them to end up together. Their partnership was utterly horrifying and glorious to watch.

Characters

 - Hyakkimaru: There’s a lot to unpack here. The differences between characterizations are like night and day. So, I’ll start by taking you on a journey.

I loved Manga Hyakki’s snark. I loved his aloofness, his sarcasm, his arsenal of ridiculous weapons, his terror at the thought of having a mother who abandoned him, his rage at the thought of other children being abandoned, the way he hated the fox for telling him who Tahoumaru was more than he hated himself for killing him. 

Watching the first few episodes of the anime was kind of difficult for me. It felt like the snark had been surgically removed and thus, was not there to lighten up the intense drama of the rest of the story. 

But, as time went on and I got to see more of who Anime Hyakki was, he grew on me like nothing else. The stark contrast between his gentleness and his seething hatred of all beings who would take advantage of another, human or demonic. His insistent desire to be heard, to be listened to, even if he has to scream to get the point across. His unshakable resolve in the face of an entire world against him. The fact that his disability is something that actually limits him - that he can’t read minds or use telepathy and that learning to speak is something that takes the entire runtime of the show to accomplish - that is compelling. And so amazingly refreshing.

This one’s a draw.

 - Dororo: The World’s Greatest Thief really doesn’t do a whole lot of thieving in this anime (once. literally once. offscreen. unless you count the attempted theft of Hyakki’s reforged swords). But then again, Dororo is also a way different character in this adaptation.

In the manga, he’s much more of a little snot. He’s furious with the world and constantly looking for ways to get back at it. He travels with Hyakki because he wants to steal from him. He’s not welcome in some villages because he’s such an awful kleptomaniac of a child. I do not have trouble believing that this Dororo has a demon in him that Hyakki has to kill if he wants his arm back.

Anime Dororo...is the complete opposite of that. He’s the kindest, most loving character in the entire show. He looks at a horrible world and doesn’t shake his fist at the sky - he tries his damnedest to make it better. 

Both characterizations have their high points and their low ones. Manga Dororo is an entertaining little monster. Anime Dororo is an angel and the prevailing voice of reason. I think it would have been pretty interesting to end up with a character somewhere in between those two extremes, but, alas.

Manga Dororo’s arc is about taking responsibility and figuring out how to be someone better.

Anime Dororo’s arc is about raising someone else up to be better.

Also calling this one a draw.

 - Tahoumaru: THE ANIME, by a mile. Or more. Way more! It’s not even a question. His depth and complexity, his compassion and anger, his deep love for his land, his people and his friends - HOT DAMN IS THIS A WELL WRITTEN CHARACTER. Manga Tahoumaru looks like a missed opportunity compared to him.

 - Jukai: I wasn’t terribly fond of Anime Jukai at first. My first thought upon seeing the Jukai-centered episode was “Jukai’s an asshole =(”

Like, Jesus Christ, please give him a leg. He limped so far looking for you.

But, over time, I came to understand him better. He is a character in stasis, one who has “given up all power”, responsibility and desire. If he does nothing, if he devotes his life to pointless pursuits for those who can no longer benefit from them, then he can hurt no one. 

Anime Jukai is one of my favorite characters now. The kind, fatherly figure of the manga who was delighted to know that Hyakki loves him has his place, but the point goes to the anime here.

 - Nui no Kata: ANIME. Another character whose role was fantastically expanded, to great affect. Her story feels like the chapter that was left out of the manga.

 - Saburota: Anime Saburota is Saburota in name only. Can’t really compare here.

 - Daigo: To be honest, I don’t find either version of Daigo to be particularly compelling. He’s more important as a plot device than as a person. It’s a draw...unless Daigo’s ending from the stage play makes it to the anime, at which point Anime Daigo would win. 

Stage Play Daigo gave me chills, man.

 - Biwamaru: Our resident cryptic shit and spirit guide might be the only character who made the transition unchanged. He’s exactly like his manga self personality-wise and is the only character whose design was not significantly changed.

 - Shiranui: I really like that anime Shiranui actually fed his arm to the sharks! It’s like he took Manga Shiranui’s desire to be eaten by them and actually acted on it. Anime wins.

 - Itachi: Manga all the way. His sole redeeming features were that he felt badly for stripping Dororo and how he subsequently chose to respect his gender identity. Lacking those features...he’s a much less sympathetic and interesting character. He also went down screaming battle cries at the samurai who were attacking him and defending Dororo. 

Overarching Themes

 - Manga: I believe that the overarching theme of the manga is that of otherness and how the world reacts to it. The hardest hitting scenes for me are the ones in which Hyakki and Dororo are thrown out of a village they saved by villagers unable to understand that they’re just as human as them. Hyakkimaru doesn’t struggle to regain his body because it’d be better than a prosthetic one (acid gun leg! c’mon! the heck would you need a flesh one for?? if it gets shot you can just build another) - he does it because he wants to be seen as human, however long he has to fight to do it. 

 - Anime: Individual vs. collective responsibility. Anime Hyakki actually suffered long term harm because of the demon deal. His prostheses and abilities have considerably more limits. He wants to regain his body because he wants to live and experience all the things he’s been missing. But...in this case there’s a cost. The fact that his actions directly cause calamities in Daigo - that’s a fantastic choice that makes the story bigger than just one person fighting to be human. As much as I love the manga and its themes, I think the anime’s central conflict is slightly more compelling.

The Tipping Point

It was this scene specifically.

The desperation, the futility, the love so strong it destroys - these aren’t things that happen in the manga. 

Manga Hyakki is constantly trying to get rid of Dororo, belittling him, forcibly reading his mind and fighting over something stupid more often than not. He cares about him, in his way, but would his heart crack in two if Dororo died and there was no way he could have prevented it? Probably. For a bit, anyway. Then it would harden again and he’d go back to doing what he was doing without Dororo. 

Their bond in the anime is something else. It is the beating heart of the entire story. It’s the reason why Hyakki is so desperate to get his final pieces back. He wants to be able to save Dororo with hands that can lift a rock. He wants to see the fall colors with him. 

Episode 20 was the one that pushed me over the edge into finding the anime superior to the manga...which is an amazing accomplishment, considering how dear the manga has been to me for so long. 

I cannot believe how excited I am for the final episode.

[f4liveblogarchives]

Fantastic Four Vol. 1 Annual 1979

Thu Sep 12 2019 [09:09 PM] Wack'd: That's right, 1979, even though it's 1980 [09:09 PM] Umbramatic: THE 80S [09:09 PM] Wack'd: Marvel Wiki kinda has to cram these things back into canon whenever there's a break in the action [09:10 PM] maxwellelvis: Which there wasn't really for any of 1979, it seems [09:10 PM] Wack'd: Yeah [09:10 PM] Umbramatic: i would make an 80s joke but that was before my time [09:10 PM] maxwellelvis: Was that the longest arc they've had so far? The space adventure [09:11 PM] Wack'd: I don't know why this couldn't have happened before that but whatever. The alternative is that I create my own timeline and the team is excruciating [09:11 PM] Wack'd: The space adventure was pretty hecking long, yeah [09:12 PM] Wack'd: So we open in media res, with a Sandman fight. Resolved by Sue force-fielding him and Johnny using his fire to freeze him into crystal [09:12 PM] Wack'd: Which I'm pretty sure should kill him but whatever [09:13 PM] Wack'd: He'll be fine [09:13 PM] Umbramatic: sandman: "this is fine" [09:13 PM] maxwellelvis: Really shows the differing level of threat Sandman provokes between Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four [09:14 PM] Wack'd: The president of the bank Sandman was robbing gives the Four a reward: [09:14 PM] Wack'd: A cat calendar [09:14 PM] Umbramatic: cats [09:15 PM] Wack'd: This is canon forever now

[09:15 PM] Umbramatic: AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW [09:15 PM] maxwellelvis: It's priceless! Literally worthless! [09:15 PM] maxwellelvis: Oh, Ben likes it. I can't make fun of it anymore. [09:16 PM] Umbramatic: i love ben [09:16 PM] Wack'd: Also: Franklin wants to join the Four! Reed says maybe when he's older, as though that's a real thing that will someday really happens [09:16 PM] maxwellelvis: lmao [09:17 PM] Umbramatic: don't worry it'll happen once ash ketchum turns 11 [09:17 PM] Wack'd: Agatha has come up from Whisper Hill to invite the Four and Franklin to vacation with her to New Salem! I'm sure this can only go well [09:18 PM] maxwellelvis: We're only going on vacation to the haunted town we barely got out of last time with our skins, in a double-length issue. [09:18 PM] maxwellelvis: What could possibly go wrong? [09:19 PM] Wack'd: An interesting device that's been happening over the past four pages is that at the bottom of each page there's been a horizontal-one-panel cutaway to an occult ritual happening. [09:19 PM] Wack'd: I can't really screenshot that but it's really neat [09:20 PM] Umbramatic: oooooh [09:20 PM] Wack'd: Hahahhaahaa

[09:21 PM] Umbramatic: rip ben [09:21 PM] Umbramatic: he just wants to go to disney world [09:22 PM] Wack'd: So they land at the airport, rent a car, and drive to New Salem. But Ben has trouble finding it, naturally [09:23 PM] Wack'd: Oh look, I found Waldo

[09:23 PM] Umbramatic: but did you find his girlfriend carmen sandiego [09:25 PM] maxwellelvis: Dear lord, we've stumbled into a Renaissance faire! Everyone run! [09:25 PM] Wack'd: Some real good layouts here. George Pérez: great at his job

[09:25 PM] Wack'd: Also: Johnny nearly gets his soul sucked out [09:26 PM] Bocaj: It Happens [09:26 PM] maxwellelvis: Gordon and Susan from Sesame Street have joined Agatha's coven, apparently. [09:26 PM] Wack'd: Well, they're the baddies [09:26 PM] Wack'd: So that stinks [09:26 PM] maxwellelvis: Never trust people who hang out with puppets. [09:27 PM] maxwellelvis: Who know what all the people in your neighborhood do. [09:27 PM] Wack'd: Also if you notice from the two-page spread, apparently the only black people in town 😬 [09:28 PM] Umbramatic: oh [09:28 PM] Bocaj: Bad show, comic [09:29 PM] Wack'd: So the Ceremony of Renewal happens. And what is supposed to be a remembrance ceremony for people killed in the witch hunts and a way to re-energize all of the townsfolks gets hijacked by those guys from the blue panels, who steal all the magical energies to bring back...this dingus.

[09:30 PM] Wack'd: Of all of the things you could've possibly done with unlimited magic energy, really? This guy? [09:30 PM] Umbramatic: dingus [09:30 PM] Wack'd: Oh right the blue panel guys were his henchmen. His impossibly dumb-looking henchmen

[09:31 PM] Wack'd: Was the one third from the right always so...Marge Simpson? [09:31 PM] maxwellelvis: FEED ME EGGS, HOMER [09:32 PM] Bocaj: oh hey i recognize some of these dinguses from the scarlet witch vision miniseries [09:32 PM] Bocaj: When Vision dryhumped babies into Wanda [09:32 PM] maxwellelvis: Somebody brought them back again?! [09:32 PM] Bocaj: 'pparently [09:33 PM] Wack'd: Fight fight fight [09:34 PM] Wack'd: Marv Wolfman: A Man Who Knows A Lot About Gazelles

[09:37 PM] Wack'd: Reed, shattering or otherwise bypassing force fields is a fucking gimme power for your villains. You say you want to fight the Fantastic Four and you get "ignoring force fields" in your complimentary gift bag

[09:37 PM] Bocaj: Reed is dumb [09:38 PM] Wack'd: So the Four get their asses thoroughly kicked [09:39 PM] Wack'd: Normally this would be the part where we cut away, and they all wake up in a prison cell which they break out of, and the plot proceeds [09:39 PM] Wack'd: But this time is different [09:39 PM] Wack'd: And Marv Wolfman is not going to just ignore the fact that this small child has just seen his entire family get beat unconscious [09:40 PM] Wack'd:

[09:42 PM] Wack'd: Franklin uses the power of inconsolable sadness and fear [09:42 PM] Wack'd: It's...*sniff*...it's super-effective [09:43 PM] Bocaj: huh [09:43 PM] Wack'd: Seriously. I like this scene a lot [09:43 PM] Umbramatic: awwwwww [09:44 PM] Wack'd: I like that we're being forced to reckon with the danger Franklin is regularly in. And the fact that he's just a kid. And that for him to use powers he doesn't know he has--for him to be the deus ex machina we routinely mock--he has to be in a real dark place [09:44 PM] Wack'd: And I like Agatha acknowledging that this is hard for him and comforting him [09:46 PM] Wack'd: So uh. Meanwhile. The Salem Seven are conducting a ritual on the roof of the Baxter Building to destroy the Four and give Nick Scratch corporeal form [09:47 PM] Wack'd: This for some reason involves generating a massive force field, gradually pushing all the people of Manhattan back as it encompasses the city [09:48 PM] Wack'd: Spider-Man, the Avengers, and the Defenders all try to break through, but fail [09:49 PM] Wack'd: Only Agatha and Franklin can break through--after all, Agatha's more powerful than her son. (The comic takes this as a given, despite Franklin's existence. Maybe it's a magic thing) [09:49 PM] maxwellelvis: It's gotta be the combined power of the entire Salem Seven that's locked Dr. Strange and Silver Surfer out of the bubble. [09:50 PM] maxwellelvis: Fewer than that and either of them could have broken through no prob, assuming that's the Defenders line-up we're talking about [09:50 PM] maxwellelvis: the Dr. Strange, Silver Surfer, Hulk, and Namor team [09:50 PM] Wack'd: It's not. [09:50 PM] maxwellelvis: Oh [09:51 PM] Wack'd: There's whoever the fuck this is

[09:52 PM] maxwellelvis: I know that guy but I can't remember his name. [09:52 PM] maxwellelvis: Oh, it says right there, Nighthawk [09:52 PM] Wack'd: So forgettable I forgot his name moments after reading it [09:53 PM] Wack'd: Anyway, the Salem Seven's spells are easily deflected. So are the ghostly Nick's attempts to stop her with hail, fire, and lightning [09:53 PM] Bocaj: Nighthawk: strong as two strong guys at night. Owns a jetpack. Is Batman but Somehow Worse. [09:54 PM] Wack'd:

Nick: Why won't you die, blast you?! Agatha: Because I am your mother, Nicholas.

[09:54 PM] Bocaj: Hah [09:54 PM] Mousa The 14: Damn [09:55 PM] Mousa The 14: Someone call the cops, I’d like to report a familicide [09:55 PM] Umbramatic: ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh [09:55 PM] Mousa The 14: This woman completely obliterated her son [09:55 PM] maxwellelvis: Oh snap [09:55 PM] Mousa The 14: Yes he deserved it, just figured you’d all wanna know [09:55 PM] Wack'd: Agatha and Franklin make their way into the Baxter Building where a brainwashed Fantastic Four are waiting. [09:56 PM] Wack'd: Franklin 🥺

[09:57 PM] Mousa The 14: This is legitimately genuinely terrifying [09:57 PM] Mousa The 14: Like, jesus christ that's horrifying [09:57 PM] Umbramatic: y i p e [09:57 PM] Mousa The 14: Like this big friendly ol' teddy bear unle Ben Grimm crushing a child to death [09:57 PM] maxwellelvis: "Thank you, Nicholas Scratch, I feel much better now" [09:57 PM] Mousa The 14: has to be one of the most horryfing ideas in my mind right now [09:58 PM] Wack'd: Fortunately, Franklin manages to break their mind control with the power of love. Also being a god [09:58 PM] Umbramatic: Jesus Christ, how horrifying! [09:58 PM] Bocaj: Unleash your annihilation of love [09:59 PM] Wack'd: And Agatha sets right what has once gone wrong

[10:01 PM] Wack'd: And so the story ends with...Ben complaining there's no reward? I guess?

[10:02 PM] Wack'd: Probably should've ended on a more Franklin centered note [10:02 PM] Wack'd: But overall I like this one a lot [10:02 PM] maxwellelvis: Agatha erased the cat poster from his memory, I assume [10:02 PM] Mousa The 14: I can’t believe we let this woman fall into lost history, she should be in every F4 adaptation [10:03 PM] Wack'd: She's great, yeah