#they play 2013 flash games

[jaskersneakthief]

i always forget to post this

Btw his girlfriend is fine.redman is just an asshole

[yelenasdog]

tell me you’re that somebody ✧ (trevor zegras x fem reader)

genre: smut with plot

summary: trevor hadn’t expected anything to come from his routine tinder round-up of chicks for the first party of the summer at the lake house. but in all fairness, she wasn’t expecting anything when she’d downloaded the app in the first place. they’re both in over their heads.

words: 4k

warnings: alcohol mention, cheesy situation lol, smut, fingering, handjob, public sex (or foreplay? technically? whatever she gets fingered in a hot tub), cursing, reader and trev meet through tinder, use of pet name (baby)

a/n: @eminems-skittles and i texted abt this like a week ago and i haven’t been able to stop thinking abt this so. here! cassie ur my biggest cheerleader i love u 🤍 also the song mentioned later in the fic is “love me” by lil wayne btw and it lightly inspired the fic. so. do w that what u will. happy reading! 

The music was loud at the party, and that combined with the amount of drunk 20 somethings and flashing LED lights coming from inside the house would’ve been enough to make her lose her mind.

Key word: would’ve.

But she didn’t. Not yet, anyway. Because in all the noise and smoke and fucking craziness, she had him. And, despite being in a steamy hot tub, it wasn’t the most romantic situation ever, she’d be the first to admit.

The music blasting sounded like it was some kind of Lil Wayne song from 2013 (actually, was that Drake? No, it’s both of them) and the pair was surrounded by a graveyard of half empty beer bottles and cans from where they resided in the hot tub. (All from the girls who took about four minuscule sips from them to seem cool in front of the famed hockey players. That was only before abandoning them for a Whiteclaw the second they got warm.)

But she didn’t pay much care to the scenery, focusing just on the man in front of her. Or, beneath her, if we’re being technical.

Their relationship was a, shall we say, recent development. As in, when Trevor had rented a lake house with his buddies during the off season, and word of the first party had been spread, he’d taken to his Tinder. He’d been tasked with finding the girls, and even though he’d kind of felt like a pimp, he’d scrolled through anyway, finding chicks near his location, matching and inviting them quickly.

He came across her profile, seeing the bio mentioning she wasn’t expecting much from the app, but that she downloaded it for kicks and giggles. She was probably the hottest he’d seen yet (and would see), and he didn’t hesitate to swipe right. He mentally called dibs on the girl, who’s name was apparently Y/n, and not expecting a match right away, he pocketed his phone. Satisfied with the roster he’d created for the party, he stood up, heading outside where some of the guys were already playing a casual game of pong.

He chuckled to himself at the sight before him, Jamie and Alex half asleep in two of the chairs on the pool deck, Quinn on the same page as he scrolled through his phone. Jack and Cole were the two playing pong, while various other friends, some Trevor knew, some he didn’t, lingered about.

Trevor sat down, yawning. He shook his head, trying to rid himself of tiredness, but failing. Conversation drones on, and he mostly ignores it, zoning out. He was snapped out of his trance by the dinging of his phone, which he quickly retrieved, desperate for anything more interesting than what he was currently subject to.

He wasn’t disappointed at what he saw, the notification that he’d matched with someone bright against his lock screen. He clicked, hoping it was Y/n from earlier. It was, and at this revelation, he immediately opened up a chat, not caring that he probably looked desperate.

“Hi :)” he typed out, pressing send. Basic, he knows, but he figured he’d play it safe. He went back and looked at her profile again, swiping through all of the photos. He reread her bio, seeing that she had only recently moved to the area, loved hockey and a few other sports, and was currently still in school, studying for a doctorate. Fancy.

The photos didn’t quite match what the bio said, in Trevor’s mind. There was one of her in tight leggings and a sports bra posing with what he assumed was her dog, another in the garage of some race team, donned in their colors. Which doesn’t seem too far off, but then he kept scrolling.

A personal favorite (yes, it’s only been 10 minutes, yes, he had a personal favorite) was one of her in a rickety bar. It was taken with flash, and her smile was nearly brighter than said flash. It was dim in the photo aside from purple and blue stage lights, a band in the back in front of a crowd of people. Her hand was in the air, wrapped around a bottle of some sort, her other one slung around the shoulders of a guy wearing a cowboy hat. It was her brother in law, Trevor had learned from the bio.

He scrolled through the various pics multiple times after that, landing on one of her in a skimpy blue bikini, smiling on what appeared to be the bow of a yacht.

It caught the attention of Quinn, who’d been on his way inside. He stopped mid sentence, placing a hand on the back of Trevor’s chair.

“Who the fuck is that?” He questioned, leaning in towards Z’s phone. Trevor looked up at him, rolling his eyes and saying “dude, could you get any closer?” Quinn stepped away, his hand still gripping the edge of the chair.

“My bad. Like I said, who’s that?”

“Who’s who?” Jack asked from where he was still playing pong, curious as to what had piqued his older brother’s interest. Jamie, who’d taken Cole’s spot, turned his head as well, hand dropping from where it was mid air.

“Just an absolute rocket Trevor is trying to keep to himself.” Came the voice of Cole, who’d gone inside to get a water and was now back out, peering over Trevor’s shoulder. Z rolled his eyes again, turning off his phone and setting it on the table, face down.

“Well if she’s a rocket,” Jack started, “then is she coming tonight?”

Trevor shrugged. “We’ll see.” He replied, standing up and stretching. “I’m going to get a coffee. Text me if you want anything, ya fuckin’ idiots.” He added, turning and walking inside.

Up until the moment he was walking through the doors of the Starbucks, his phone was still flooding with orders from various numbers. It was a lot of black coffees and everything bagels, and he wasn’t looking forward to carrying them all to the car.

His woeful thoughts of cream cheese and cold brews were interrupted as he lifted his head, planted in place by what he saw.

“Yeah, I guess I should be thanking you for making me download it, but that’s if it’s actually him. What if it’s some creep, huh? I go to his place thinking it’s fuckin Trevor Zegras and it’s some 60 year old named Barnaby Wilson.” She pauses, listening to whoever was on the other side of the phone. “No, I don’t know what kind of name Barnaby Wilson is, nor do I care about a verification system. I care about becoming a murder victim on a shitty true crime podcast.” Another pause.

Then, just as she’s about to speak, she’s cut off by the barista yelling “Y/n!” far too loud for her liking. “Whatever, I’ll call you back. Yes, I’ll keep you updated! I promise. Okay. Love you, bye.” She rolled her eyes to herself, chuckling as she made the short walk to the counter. She grabbed her order with a “thank you” to the barista, before making her way over to the exit.

The exit where Trevor, like an idiot, was still stupidly standing.

“Hey, dude, you gonna order or what?” Some unenthusiastic teen who manned the register asked, obviously not fazed in the slightest by the NHL superstar in front of him.

“Uh, yeah. Just, looking at the menu.” He turned to where a mini line had formed behind him, apologizing to the older woman who had been standing behind him, waiting. He stepped aside, forcing his legs to carry him over to where she had been about to leave.

“Hey, Y/n!”

She turned, eyes wide as saucers upon hearing her name by someone who wasn’t a barista. When she saw that it was the real Trevor Zegras, not Barnaby Wilson, she just about fainted.

“Trevor? Zegras?” She wanted to facepalm at her reaction, and probably would have if it wasn’t from the bag in one hand and drink in the other.

A cocky smile came across Trevor’s face, starting to feel a little bit like himself again at the recognition, standing a little taller.

“In the flesh.” Okay. Maybe a little bit too himself.

“You get my message?” He asked, and she nodded, a small smile raising the corners of her mouth.

“I did. Haven’t responded yet, though. Wasn’t sure if you were the real deal. Not sure if you were some creep pretending to be Trevor Zegras.”

“Barnaby Wilson.” He added, and she grew red at the realization he heard that conversation. A small laugh left her, as her hand with the bag came up to scratch the back of her neck.

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Right.” He added quietly, a smile still cemented onto his face.

“Well”, he started after a moment of quiet. ”I was going to ask you over messages, but since you’re here, I’m having a party later with a couple of buddies. I’d love it if you could make it.”

Her jaw dropped, and she had to play it off as if it was a yawn. Which probably looked stupid the more she thought about it, but who could blame her? In the most typical Wattpad, coffee shop AU meet-cute way possible, she was invited to a party of NHLers, by an NHLer.

She didn’t even give a second thought to her paper that was due in three days, all she needed to do were revisions anyway. She immediately accepted, and after a quick hug initiated by Trevor and plans to exchange numbers and text her the details, they parted.

She got to the car and screamed, before dialing back her best friend who she’d been on the phone with, thanking her endlessly for forcing her to download Tinder.

Trevor, who now was at the back of the line for drinks, texted the group chat to let them know she was definitely coming. Then, he got the notification he had a message on Tinder, seeing it was her responding to his “Hi :)” with a “Hi, not Barnaby.”

That led to where they were now.

When she’d showed up to the party, instructed by Trevor to come wearing a swimsuit, it was like everything stopped.

Much to the dismay of their dates, all of the boys craned their necks to look at the girl who Trevor hadn’t shut up about since that morning, not disappointed in the slightest.

Her denim cutoffs showed off her legs to where they were cut off by a pair of white converse, her white bikini top a slightly lighter shade, not subject to the same daily abuse as the shoes. Trevor had greeted her with a hug, his hand never leaving her back once they parted. He’d made the rounds, introducing her to all his wide eyed friends, before the two of them settled into conversation with Cole about the upcoming Formula 1 season.

Trevor had never given a shit about F1 before. Racing was never really for him. But hearing her ask Cole with such wonder in her voice about what it was like to meet Fernando Alonso, and speak with such conviction about her opinion on the strategy at Ferrari? What they were strategizing, Trevor had no idea, but, fuck, if he didn’t love hearing her talk about it.

The night went on, things got rowdier, and then as they do, they got quieter. She was there for the entirety of it, and at some point, they’d slipped into the hot tub.

It was bubbly and warm, and she’d let out an audible sigh when the water first hit her aching back. The tension from days of sitting hunched up by her laptop as she wrote melted away in the water, and it was divine.

Her and Trevor were joined by Jack and his date for the night. Some brunette named Haleigh. “Like, with a y, but… not… with a y. You know?” She’d added when she introduced herself.

After complaining it was too hot, Haleigh without a Y left the hot tub, going inside to get another Mike’s hard lemonade. Jack sat for a second, his head falling into his hand. He let out a deep, deep sigh of exhaustion, before running the same hand over his face and ruffling it through his hair.

“Jack, come be my pong partner!” She exclaimed, briefly hanging her head out the sliding glass doors, before going back inside.

“Guess that’s my cue.” Jack said, pushing himself up and out of the water. They gave him a sympathetic look, but not that sympathetic, knowing he’d probably be fucking her in give or take about 20 minutes.

It left the two of them mostly alone, in their little bubble at least, only surrounded by a few stragglers. They were either out on the dock, by the bonfire in the backyard, or standing up against the wall, caging in whatever unfortunate girl is the victim of a failed attempt at a fuck, and hasn’t figured out her escape route yet.

But she wasn’t paying any attention to them, and neither was Trevor. His attention was fully on her, where her hand nervously had come up to mess with the charm around her neck. He knew the action itself was fairly innocent, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t let his eyes wander further down.

The way the water droplets were resting upon her slightly burnt skin was downright sinful, some of them still sliding down the expanse of her neck. She looked almost like she did in the picture he liked so much from earlier, all the lights illuminating her in all the best ways. And maybe it was just the alcohol, but Trevor thought she looked angelic.

“Y’know,” he began, his fingertips coming up to play with a strand of her hair, “you’re really fuckin’ pretty.”

She blushed, not that he could tell with all the lights, and looked away, trying to hide the expression that began to tug at her features.

“Thanks. You too.” She tossed back, a breathy laugh leaving both of them. His hand went from the strand of hair to her chin, tilting it up, forcing him to meet her gaze.

“I mean it.”

“Me too.”

It was an immediate response, because she did. She did mean it. He didn’t just look pretty, he looked fucking unreal. But, she didn’t want to say that. Not yet at least. So she settled for pretty.

They held each other’s gazes, and she’s not sure who moved first, but before she knew it, the water around them was rippling. She was suddenly on his lap, his hands on either hip. Her arms were around his neck, and his lips were on hers.

And despite the fact it was fucking amazing, and the fact that his lips were so soft and so perfect, her mind was still running a million miles a minute.

She pulled away, worried that someone would see the two of them. Why was she worried about that? She didn’t know. But she was programmed to worry, it seemed, about anything and everything.

“What’s wrong, Y/n?” Trevor asked, looking up at her with those sweet green eyes.

“Nothing, Trev, it was amazing.”

“Then why’d you stop?” He asked, leaning forward and connecting his lips to her neck, somehow immediately finding her sweet spot. He was relentless, and as she struggled to find words, he hummed against her in question. Her breath hitched at the sensation, and she felt him smile against her, his teeth barely nipping at the sensitive skin. She gasped again, her breath shaky.

“But what if someone sees, Trev?” She managed to get out, hanging her head where Trevor’s shoulder met his neck. He paused his attack on her momentarily, his fingertips smoothing over her thighs, moving up to her waist.

“Look at me, Y/n.” He said, his voice firm but without a hint of animosity or anger. So she lifted her head from her place of hiding, looking him in the eyes.

“Baby, they’re all drunk. They don’t give a fuck. Okay?” He said with a reassuring smile, his question more rhetorical than anything. His hands on her waist started to move her back and forth slightly, feeling where his length was growing through his trunks and her tied bottoms.

Her head fell again, a whine leaving her lips. She continued to move, and Trevor brought his lips up to press a kiss to her temple.

“Just focus on me.” He mumbled, followed by a small “Yeah?” To which she nodded. He smiled again, quickly finding her lips and capturing them with his.

When he asked so nicely, how was she supposed to say no?

It was like the only thing that existed anymore, or had ever existed was Trevor.

He infiltrated every one of her senses, despite the fact they normally would’ve been taken up by the scenery around her. She couldn’t smell the shitty alcohol or the smoke from the bonfire, only the barely lingering scent of the cologne he’d applied before he’d started to welcome guests.

She couldn’t see all of the people around her, just the sight of Trevor, wet curls wildly astray, eyes screwed shut as he helped guide her over his cock.

She couldn’t hear that fucking Lil Wayne (and Drake, and Future, and whoever the fuck else) song, or the boisterous laughter of the hockey players, mixed with that of their dates. (Who’re all laughing just a little too hard.)

She just heard the tiny moans and soft praises that fell from Z’s lips. “You’re doing so good for me, baby.” Was the latest, followed by a groan that she would’ve been worried someone would hear, if not for how enamored she was.

She couldn’t feel the sickly heat in the humid air, or how the water sloshed up against her burnt back, just the slightest bit too hot. She couldn’t feel where the knot keeping her swimsuit tied together was pressing into her skin, or where the grainy feeling of the bench in the hot tub rubbed against her knees. All she could feel was him, his cock pressing against her, his fingertips digging into her, his lips everywhere at once.

And she most definitely couldn’t taste the remnants of the chocolate croissant she’d had for breakfast, or the taste of the tequila shots she’d done with Jamie and Alex. As his tongue lazily danced with her own, it wasn’t any of that that she recognized.

It was the Pink Whitney shot he’d done when the rest were doing tequila, citing that tequila and his stomach didn’t mix. And it was a strange accompaniment, but it was also the leftover tang of the spearmint gum he’d been chewing earlier in the day, stealing a piece from Quinn, who hadn’t offered any to him in the first place. But the strange combination worked, because it was him.

All of it was so much, so Trevor, that it was driving her crazy, but in the best way possible. So when he moved one of his hands from her waist, down to her clothed sex, she almost lost it.

“Trev-“

“You’re good, baby. I’ve got you.”

He ran his thumb over her slit, before sliding his hand down the front of her bottoms, feeling her bare pussy. He wasted no time, easing his two middle fingers into her, stretching her out. The stretch was delicious, and she fully moaned, trying to find any sense that she could to prop herself up entirely on her knees. She palmed him over his pink swim trunks, and he chased the feeling, needily lifting his hips to meet her hand.

She smiled, before mirroring his actions from only a minute ago, her hand easily finding his hardened dick. She ran her thumb over the tip, before she started to jack him off, the water adding resistance as she moved her hand along his length.

But it was all the same to Trevor as he groaned, his hand still pumping in and out of her. His palm perfectly grazed her clit every time he did, and the two of them built up a rhythm as they went. The water around them was moving in waves now, and true to his word from earlier, everyone around them was too drunk to care that they were basically fucking in the hot tub.

As she started to squirm above him, he added a third finger, his glossed over eyes watching in amazement as her mouth went ajar. She clenched down on him, and he could tell she was nearly there. Her hand moved faster in sync with chasing her own peak, Trevor’s doing the same.

“Trev, I’m- fuck! Trevor, I’m close.” She softly cried, her head once again falling back to his shoulder as she rode his hand. He reached his opposite hand forward, groping at her tit, pulling it out of the small triangle of fabric covering it. She moaned at the sensation, and he bit down hard on his lip.

“I know, baby. I’m almost there, too. Shit, you're gonna be good and make me cum, aren’t you? Fuck, yeah. Yeah, you are, baby. Riding my fingers like that. You’re so perfect. So perfect, fuck.

And somehow, they picked up their paces even more, Trevor’s hand slamming into her, while she moved her hand up and down his shaft at a matching speed.

With a cry of his name, and a broken “fuck” from Z, the two came together. Everything went white, and if before everything surrounding her was Trevor, it was like now the two had become one.

She went lax in his arms as they continued to lazily stroke each other, soft kisses pressed to the corner of her mouth by Zeegs.

“You did so good, baby. So fuckin’ sexy riding my hand like that. No idea what you do to me.”

She smiled, tilting her head. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her to his chest.

“I’ve got a semblance of an idea, I think.” She quipped, and he rolled his eyes. She leaned forward again, pausing briefly to admire his features, before leaning forward and connecting their lips in a sweet kiss.

When they pulled away, she nuzzled against him, all of a sudden aware of the space they were in.

“Y’know, you were right, though.”

“About what?” He asked, leaning down. She smiled as she felt his lips on her head.

“Doesn’t seem like anybody noticed.” She giggled, and he let out a “ha!” shaking his head. She was right, he supposed.

Everyone who was inside had either fallen asleep on the couch, or retired to their rooms, Haleigh without a Y and Jack included. The backyard bunch were still all chatting away, and the guys over by the wall seemed to have accepted their losses, as they now were alone, seemingly fighting off sleep as well.

“Guess not.” He replied, looking down at her. She smiled up at him, tilting her head to give him a kiss. He tried to deepen it, but much like before, she pulled away.

“As lovely as your kisses are, and as worth it that it was, I think we’ve contaminated this hot tub.” She joked, beginning to stand. Trevor frowned, his eyebrows furrowing, and his hand not leaving hers.

She raised her eyebrows, as if to say “I wasn’t done”, and so he beckoned for her to continue.

“But, as I was saying, you’re staying here, right?” He nodded. She smiled, shrugging.

“Then you still have a shower and a bed to contaminate too.”

Trevor grinned, standing up and getting out of the hot tub, pulling her out of the water completely. She shrieked and tugged her knees up, her hand coming to grasp at Z’s forearm. He spun her around twice before setting her down, pulling her to his chest. Trevor Zegras had found his match.

“I like the way you think, lady.”

FIN.

hopefully that was good LOL, btw idk if u’ve ever seen shoresey, but this is reminding me too much of that whole “sanguinet got a squeezer from your sweetie of the side of a party island in wasaga beach, buddy.” LMFAOO iykyk. 

anyway hope u enjoyed, rb if u did! love u, go take an electronics break and hydrate and eat some protein. mwah, bye <3

[cityof2morrow]

EP11KB: Sam's Synth'd Staples Cafeteria Awning

Published: 08-24-2023 | Updated: 2-5-2024 (added version 2) SUMMARY “In need of a funkier, more futuristic skyline? The EP11 Kitbash Series (Simmons, 2022-2023) makes neighborhood assets from Sims 3: Into the Future (EA/Maxis, 2013) (and other EPs) available for Sims 2. Sets include single-tile shells and other items you’ll be able to plop on lots. Then, build above, below, in, and around them to create useable structures. Shell challenge anyone?”

Sam's Synth'd Staples Cafeteria Address: 337 Proclivity Promenade Size: ~29x29 tiles. Intended for 3x3 (30x30 tiles) lots or larger.

“Meals are synthesized to order and served by friendly Plumbots. Best of all, there's no tipping required!”

DETAILS Requires all EPs/SPs. Cost: §0-1000 | Build > Columns OR Architecture | 5566 poly Frames are reposited to the BB_Niche1_Master (BuggyBooz, 2012) and glass parts are reposited to the Plain Glass TXTR Repository for glass recolors. Both are included in the Repository Pack (Simmons, 2023). Additional frame/glass recolors are available here under the #ts2recolors and #co2recolors tags. The base of the item is sunken into the ground, so this item will work on unlevel ground. If you play with high-altitude cameras, zooming too far out may expose the sunken parts. Also, some road textures may “bleed” through the glass texture in hood view or when viewed from a neighboring lot. ****Poly count is semi-high due to meshing issues but limiting placement to 1-2 per lot should minimize the risk of pink flashing. Mind your system settings! DOWNLOAD (choose one) Use only ONE version in-game at a time. Version 1 from SFS | from MEGA Version 2 (V2) from SFS | from MEGA

CREDITS Thanks: LordCrumps, Blue Heaven Sims, and Huge Lunatic. Repository Technique Tutorial (HugeLunatic, 2018), Sims 3 Object Cloner (Jones/Simlogical and Peter, 2013), Sims 3 Package Editor (Jones/Simlogical and Peter, 2014), S3PI Library (Peter), S3PE Plugin (Peter, 2020), TSR Workshop v2.2.119 (2023). Sources: BB_Niche1_Master (BuggyBooz, 2012), Beyno (Korn via BBFonts), Oasis Landing (The Sims 3: Into the Future) List of Community Lots (Summer’s Little Sims 3 Garden, 2014), The Sims 3: Into the Future (EA/Maxis, 2013), The Sims Wiki (https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/The_Sims_Wiki).

[metamatar]

u r a very computer-savy guy, how did you get started?

in 2001 my dad bought us a family computer. it had windows 98. i used to play fisher price games on it when i was like 5 years old and was transfixed by watching him do routine maintenance on it. i was excited by defragmentation software. we got internet in 2006 or so. i used it exclusively to play flash games. we tried putting windows xp on that computer at some point in 2008 and it was painful. so my dad spoke to his friend who said have you heard of this thing called ubuntu linux? unix package management transfixed me. i stayed up for the 10.10.10 ubuntu release at 10:10. and then i wanted to be cool and listen to english music like all the cool teenagers so i started pirating music. the rest is history.

we finally got a new computer in 2013 i think but i had become insufferable about linux already. when my uncle offered to buy me a gift from the united states to celebrate my graduation from high school i asked for a raspberry pi 3b.

[all-pacas]

What, exactly, went wrong with How I Met Your Mother?

On January 28th 2023, Neil Patrick Harris reprised his role as Barney Stinson for the spin off show How I Met Your Father. After the episode aired, one of the show’s creators, Isaac Apator, was interviewed by Entertainment Weekly about getting Harris on board:

Hilary [Duff] was so excited to work with Neil. […] They have so much in common — they both were these giant TV stars when they were still in middle school and now they've both fronted the How I Met series.

Hang on. What?

-

How I Met Your Mother, or HIMYM, was a sitcom that ran from 2005 to 2013. While it never reached the beloved status, or ratings, of its similar precursor Friends, it was well-liked and respected, receiving decent praise, viewers, the occasional Emmy nominee — especially during its earlier seasons. It had a solid cast with great chemistry, and, with the premise of the show being that the main character, Ted, was retelling the story to his children decades later, HIMYM had the freedom to play around with its narrative, playing with non-linearity, flash backs and flash forwards, and unreliable narration, all while keeping exceptionally strong continuity from season to season. HIMYM had a solid and devoted fanbase, active fandom, and seemed primed to live a comfortable life in syndication after it came to an end in March 2014.

And then the finale aired, and things all fell apart so thoroughly, and so horribly, that it wasn’t until Game of Thrones that any show’s finale came close to betraying expectations and thumbing the eye of the majority of the viewers as HIMYM’s ending did.

The wedding of fan-favorites Barney and Robin, the focal point of much of the show, led immediately to a quick and brushed passed divorce. The friendships of ‘the gang,’ said repeatedly to be that of family and all-important, fall apart, with Robin leaving for decades and Barney quietly vanishing halfway through. The mother, perfectly cast and played by Cristin Milioti, is killed via voice over. Characters are shoved into position, relationships waved away, and in the final moments Ted and Robin, a relationship the viewers were told again and again was both impossible and would never happen… happened. And that’s a wrap.

Backlash was huge. A relatively-thriving fandom died overnight. Complaints were innumerable: The finale ruined the entire show. It came out of nowhere. It made no sense. The series creators admitted to having written it, in part, in the show’s second season, long before many of the show’s pivotal relationships and character arcs; it no longer worked in the show’s ninth. An alternative ending was cobbled together from existing footage and intentionally leaked. Carter Bays and Craig Thomas’s other projects were repeatedly rejected.

The finale had defenders, but was nearly universally panned, with even those who liked the premise finding fault in the execution. It seemed to come out of nowhere, and slap the viewers and fans in the face. It contradicted episodes and seasons before. How could anyone think it was a good idea!?

Where did the show go wrong?

[fainthedcherry]

When I was a child in 2013, visiting Nickelodeon's site and finding a treasure-trove of Spongebob, Winx and TMNT flash games was like magic to me. BUT MAN. The TMNT flash games are one of the best ever to me I've played in my life. (on an aesthetic stand-point! Turtle Tactics and Dark Horizons are so awesome man, legendary flash games to me.)

Since I am utterly autistic about 4 green alien turtles and their rat dad...Here we are again. With me posting OC cringe 2016 me would've killed myself over :V (cry about it 11 yo/ me, afraid of cringe culture back then, it's DEAD NOW)

Gonna sneak-post my redo of that ancient drawing I did of Alex 2 years ago, for the base-post : D

2 years ago, I used flashpoint to replay it for the first time in years and I remember crying of glee LOL (I still play Dark Horizons and turtle tactis to this day btw). I played Dark Horizons and Turtle Tactics and also TMNT: Throw Back (NO I DID NOT NAME THIS LIKE A MEME THIS IS ITS NAME. I STILL BURST INTO LAUGHTER LIKE A CHILD OVER THE NAME AGING POORLY DUE TO INTERNET LINGO)

Those 2 flash games are just so...Technically advanced?? For its time?? LIKE A FULLY FLEDGED 3D FLASH GAME WITH UNITY ENGINE BASIS? DAMN. And then Dark Horizons? CHEF'S KISS I LOVE THAT GAME SO MUCH. AESTHETICALLY AND THE COMBAT FEELS RLLY NICE TO ME IMO, AND JUST...Everything about THAT flash game, god TIMELESS CLASSIC I COULD YAP ON FOR HOURS ABOUT THIS NO JOKE.

I am enthralled by the designs and art of Dark Horizons, it's why I made this drawing. The game just..Speaks to me on so many levels. IT'S JUST SO PLEASING TO SEE ALL THE ARTWORK I EXTRACTED. As far to my knowledge- it never got released, so I might make a post of just a few favourites I liked from the game. :D

I just wonder if I can post those in the first place, it's after all, not my artwork, from a flash game, and TMNT, so yeah, legal IP and stuff. I unfortunately don't know who the artist if of the flash games, but if I can find that out via googling or digging for credits in the game or the files, I'll see if I can credit them, so that posting will be fairly accredited!!

OH YEAH RIGHT ALSO QUICK BANTER ABT ART SORRY I AM VERY PASSIONATE ABOUT THOSE FLASH GAMES AS YOU CAN TELL,,,

I studied the in-game sprites for a good few hours back then, and did my best to replicate it to the best of my abilities!! I think Mushu maybe could've been done better looking back at it, but I think it was the best that I could do back then. :D Plus, I remember being really happy, excited and proud of this piece, as it reflected something, my childhood self always wanted: For Alex to like.."fake" being an official character LOL. I had sooo many dreams where Alex was hanging out with the turtles and Ninjago and throwing in Power Rangers for good measure, just...Everything I liked as a child, I somehow connected in my dreams via either "OH YEAH THE RAINBOW FAIRY!" or "OH YEAH SUDDENLY PORTAL AND MY MARY-SUES JUST BRAVE IT WHILST THE OFFICIAL CHARACTERS DRAMATICALLY TELL THEM NOT TO GO"

^I had vivid and....Creative dreams as a child to say the least, sometimes even Darth Vader and Eggman appeared as the bad guys, despite TMNT and Power Rangers and Ninjago w/ the snakes and lord Garmadon or however you spell him (I never checked + I'm German so ofc his name might be different in english)- I- do I have to go on about the dreams I FULLY remember I had, as a 6-9 yo/, until I told myself at 10 how embarassing my dreams are and stopped doing so? I DIGRESS. I..Need to be more professional in these, instead of such pure fandom trash oml, I feel bad for whoever actually has to read through my blatant autistic interests as a child and thinking "wtf is he on about" dfgklfdg

ANYWAY NEKST POST IS THE BASE. I SWEAR. SORRY I LOVE RAMBLING

[ifbench]

Pokemon Emerald Retrospective, from the perspective of a first-time mainline Pokemon player

To preface this, before playing Emerald, I had very, very scarcely played mainline Pokemon. I played about 40 minutes of Soulsilver back in 2013, and played Legends Arceus and Violet to the credits in 2022, but not much else.

My passion lies with Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. I played Rescue Team DX, Explorers of Sky, Gates to Infinity, and Super all in a row back in late 2020, and I've been obsessed with them ever since. You can find my retrospectives on those if you look back on my blog.

So why play mainline?

To put it simply, some of my friends were doing it, and I wanted to do it.

A friend of mine boldly proclaimed that they would play every single mainline Pokemon game without reusing any Pokemon species. I decided to challenge myself to do a less strenuous challenge: play one mainline game for every mainline Pokemon region, but I can't use a guide. If I get stuck, I have to ask my friends for advice.

And so, I started Emerald. Why start with Emerald and not Firered? I don't quite remember. But it's where I started.

My first impressions were...rough.

It was slow, clunky, and a lot of stuff I was accustomed to through PMD, Legends Arceus, and Violet, simply weren't there.

Then I got the running shoes, and stuff began to pick up.

I picked Treecko, and named him Apoyime after my PMD Explorers protagonist. With his help, I was able to defeat Roxanne in one fell swoop, thanks to rock's grass weakness.

I caught two more Pokemon on the way there, a Zigzagoon I named Mavy, after the character from Quenched Torch, written by my best friend Sudmensch, and a Tailow I named Tilio.

With them, I made it through Granite Cave, and managed to do it without Flash! I also caught an Aron and named her Serald.

Brawly was more difficult than Roxanne, but thanks to Tilio, I managed to defeat him too.

Then there was Wattson.

Wattson was brutally difficult. I could often get to his Magneton, but every time I did, my team got curbstomped.

It was here that I started seeing the cracks in Emerald again.

You see, Emerald's EXP Share is extremely easy to miss, and doesn't apply EXP to the whole party. Instead, it just splits it between the Pokemon that participated...and one, single other Pokemon, that has to have the EXP Share as a held item.

I really, really hate grinding in games.

So, I visited the Game Corner, and tried to gamble my way to a Flamethrower TM for Mavy.

Even with using savestates for this specific occasion, though, it was a bust. The roulette tables were far too slow, and the slot machines were rigged.

So, I sighed, and decided to ride back and forth on my bike in front of the daycare in order to make number go up.

After hours of this, I managed to get my team up to a large enough level that I could finally, finally beat Wattson.

I decided to take a break for a few months after that ordeal, and resumed my playthrough in January.

And then, there were the HMs.

Before this, I didn't understand why everyone hates HMs so much. Now, I very much do understand why.

HMs force you to reserve either a party member slot for a Pokemon exclusively dedicated to HMs, or to use up move slots on your Pokemon on these moves that are often completely useless in battle.

I sighed, caught a Poochyena for Rock Smash, and named her Hiova.

I pressed onwards, fighting Team Magma atop Mount Chimney, then fighting Flannery in Lavaridge.

Flannery was also very difficult. I had to grind a bit more in order to defeat her, and at this point my patience was wearing thin. I was considering abandoning the marathon at this point.

Not helping this was the fact that the game was very unclear about where to go next. I thought I had to travel through the Route 111, but it was a dead end with nothing but the Mirage Tower.

I did catch a Trapinch here, though, and named her Raga after the Flygon from Tetra's fic Home is Where the Hoenn Is.

Eventually, a friend informed me that I should head back to Petalburg to face Norman, but that he'd be the biggest difficulty spike yet.

And so, I gave up. I turned on a cheat that gave me infinite rare candies, and leveled up my Pokemon that were lagging behind Apoyime.

And so, I took on Norman. It took two tries, but I managed to win!

I had already taught Strength and Shock Wave to Mavy, and decided to teach him Surf as well, making him the jack of all trades of my team.

Thinking it was the next objective, I explored the Abandoned Ship. It was fun, but I got little out of it.

I then saw Wattson wandering around in Mauville, and decided to talk to him, which granted me access to New Mauville.

Gotta say, it's a lot different in the game than it was in the Adventures manga, but it was still cool and fun, and the music gave me lots of inspiration.

Next up, I made my way to Fortree, and was stumped by the invisible blockade in front of the gym until a friend told me to go further, into Route 120.

After giggling a bit and making a bunch of PMD references from the invisible blockades being Kecleons, with the Devon Scope in hand, I returned to Fortree and took down Winona.

Next was Route 120 proper, which was a surreal experience. I had researched it a bit for my fic In Tandem, but playing through it was something else entirely. It was like childhood wonder.

Mount Pyre was really neat. Same music as New Mauville on the inside, which paired with the graves created a very eerie atmosphere.

But outside, there was a fast-paced track that got me feeling ready to take on both Team Aqua and Team Magma.

Then I made my way to Lilycove, where I decided to try a contest with Apoyime.

I failed miserably, getting last place.

And then Emerald stumped me with the most baffling detour yet.

The Aqua hideout was blocked, the ocean routes were blocked, it seemed like I had nowhere to go.

I wandered around for quite a while, until a friend told me that I had to go back to Mount Chimney of all places, and examine a random rock, now that I had the Magma emblem.

This was probably the point where I was angriest with Emerald. More than Wattson's difficulty spike. More than HMs. More than the lackluster EXP Share. More than having to grind.

But I took a deep breath, and pressed onwards.

The Magma Hideout was nothing special, but it got the plotline rolling! Seeing Groudon become active was so cool to see.

And from there, it was a straightforward trip back to Lilycove to infiltrate the Team Aqua hideout.

The Aqua hideout was some of the most fun I had in the game so far. The maze of warp tiles, combined with the great music, and even being able to find a master ball tucked away past a tricky set of warp panels, it all came together to form something very fun!

Then it was a simple surf to Mossdeep, and I battled the Magma grunts there.

After the battle alongside Steven, though, tragedy struck: Hiova turned into a Bad Egg, and I saved before I noticed.

I have no idea why this happened, but Hiova was gone.

After taking a moment of silence to both calm down and to grieve, I looked up what to do in the case of a bad egg.

I deposited the bad egg into the PC, turned off the infinite rare candy code, and went to Route 120 to fetch a new HM buddy, a Marill.

After that, I went back to Mossdeep, and defeated Tate and Liza.

Next up, I began searching for the Deepsea Cave. It was a difficult search, and I managed to find Sootopolis City first, but eventually, I made it inside, and faced off against the evil teams of Hoenn one last time.

With Groudon and Kyogre both awake and both fighting, and after consulting Wallace, I made my way to Sky Pillar.

And...Rayquaza flew out without me fighting it at all. I was honestly kinda disappointed.

After making my way back to Sootopolis, Rayquaza stopped Kyogre and Groudon's warring in a really cool cutscene, and the main plot of the game was over.

But mainline Pokemon is weird. Unlike PMD, the game doesn't end when the plot ends. Instead, there's still the gym, Elite Four, and champion to go.

And so, I battled Juan, and won.

Next up was Ever Grande City, which, side note, really didn't live up to expectations. I was expecting a city as grand as the name implied, but all it was was a Pokemon Center, Victory Road, and the Pokemon League.

Speaking of Victory Road, it was a nightmare to navigate, especially with no Flash and no guide. It took me quite a while to get through it, but eventually, I made it to the Pokemon League.

It felt so tense going inside. I was about to face a gauntlet of the five toughest trainers in the main game, with no Pokemon Centers in between. This was it, my sea of time in Hoenn.

Sidney was relatively easy, but that relatively is doing a lot of work. He still nearly took down Raga and Serald, but I managed.

Phoebe was tough. Her Banette's Curse took down Raga, and she left most of the rest of my team with low health, but I won. Using a revive on Raga, and restoring everyone's HP, I pressed on.

Glacia was easier, about the same level as Sidney, but still nearly took down Serald, and dealt a hefty blow to Mavy as well. But I won.

I just had two trainers left, and this would be my toughest challenge yet.

Drake was brutal, as much as Wattson was. But I had come a long way since then. I just barely scraped by, with Mavy and Apoyime being the only members of my team not fainted when I took him down.

And then, after healing up my team, it was time for my final challenge.

Wallace was very difficult. Almost all his Pokemon were of higher level than most of mine, with his Milotic matching Apoyime's level. And with the move Recover? That Milotic was very, very difficult to defeat.

But I pulled through. I won. I made it into the Hall of Fame.

I consider that one of my greatest accomplishments I've ever done in a video game, up there with beating Champion's Road from Super Mario 3D World solo.

It was tricky. It was brutal. But I did it.

Maybe I'm just bad at mainline Pokemon, but I'm proud.

Emerald, while not my favorite, was mostly a great experience to play through for the first time.

However, it had its flaws. HMs, lack of directions, and grinding made some parts of it a slog.

Overall, though, I enjoyed it, and it was a fantastic start to my mainline Pokemon marathon.

Hoenn is now one of my favorite Pokemon regions.

[bogbees]

a while ago, you posted some gaia figures you'd done up to look like various characters

how

i want to play the dress up game how do i access the dress up game

oooooohhhhhh nooooooooooooooooo

they're all GaiaOnline.com avatars, you'd need to make an account and use in game currency to get the items to dress up your avatar. this currency would be gained through posting in the forums, forum shops (art or graphics or whatever), mini games (you'd need to get waterfox or smth bc all the minigames are still flash based) or daily activities!

(i have 10k+ forum posts and like 12k items. I've had my account since 2008 with LOOOONG bouts of inactivity)

regrettably, many moons ago (2013 at least) there used to be this website that'd use the avatar assets for Gaia and you'd be able to make avatars without the hassle of account making. BUT ALAS. they got wiped fr the internet 😔

that all said, you can make avis with items you don't own! inventory search in the avi builder with ALL items rather than just ur localized invo. it's a terrible search system tho. god awful. colour names are like "carnage" and "wispberry." you want white hair? search "light ivory hair" and you MIGHT find smth applicable. the forums have aaaalll sorts of guides for users to refer to, from making cosplays to nakedness to colour schemes. it is A LOT to get the hang of

(I try to explain to Mel ab it but she's like "this is witchcraft to me. you're speaking in tongues" and im like 😩)

below: my current avi, a clutter avi i made with just wispberry items, my iruka cosplay avi, an avi i made for a runway theme that i turned into an oc, an avi using the invisibility cloak item, a two toned clutter avi. just to give you an idea of how many ways you can style these pixels

everything costs so much plat. Ssoooooo much plat.

[elastijubilee]

2024:

Beauty and the Beast (1946, French foreign language)

The Color Purple (2023)

Time Bandits (1981)

Mean Girls (2024)

Repulsion (1965)

The Uninvited (1944)

Rumble Fish (1983)

Alien (1979)

A Brighter Summer Day (1991, Taiwanese foreign language)

Tess (1979)

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)

Aliens (1986)

Idiocracy (2006)

Looker (1981)

Alien 3 (1992)

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)

Inside Out 2 (2024)

Super Capers (2011)

Deadpool and Wolverine (2024)

Twisters (2024)

Westworld (1973)

Borderlands (2024)

The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

Shocker (1989)

Trick or Treat (1986)

Jaws (1975)

The Wild Robot (2024)

The Thing (1982)

Alien Resurrection (1997)

Late Night with the Devil (2023)

Jennifer's Body (2009)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, I decided in 2019 to keep track of every movie I'd watched for the first time each year moving forward. This year has been my biggest year!

Movies I watched for the first time in 2023:

Glass Onion (2022)

X (2022)

Pearl (2022)

The Witch (2015)

Fright Night (2011)

The Lighthouse (2019)

Knock at the Cabin (2023)

The Northman (2022)

Hereditary (2018)

Midsommar (2019)

Men (2022)

Saint Maude (2020)

The Wolfman (1941)

Psycho (1960)

The Birds (1963)

Vertigo (1958)

Psycho (1998)

Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 (2023)

Suspiria (2018)

Rosemary's Baby (2014 made-for-tv 2-parter)

Poltergeist (2015)

Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)

ANOES 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

ANOES 4: The Dream Master (1988)

ANOES 5: The Dream Child (1989)

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

Friday the 13th (1980)

It Follows (2014)

The Flash (2023)

Oppenheimer (2023)

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)

The Little Mermaid (2023)

The Red Shoes (1948)

Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

The Blob (1988)

Paint (2023)

Mafia Mama (2023)

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Uncut Gems (2019)

The Green Knight (2019)

The Last Airbender (2010)

The Dark Crystal (1982)

The Fog (1980)

They Live (1988)

Office Space (1999)

Fifty Shades Freed (2018)

Teen Titans Go to the Movies (2018)

John Wick Ch. 1 (2014)

Super Mario Bros (2023)

Muppets From Space (1999)

Scream 6 (2023)

12 Monkeys (1995)

Bottoms (2023)

Five Nights at Freddy's (2023)

The Craft (1996, fully through)

I Married a Witch (1942)

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964, French foreign language)

Friday the 13th, Part 2 (1981)

Barbie (2023)

The Boy and the Heron (2023)

The Color Purple (1985)

Violent Night (2022)

The Stepford Wives (1975)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2022:

Staten Island Summer (2015)

Nobody's Child (1986)

This is Spinal Tap (1984)

Shawn of the Dead (2004)

The Wiz (1978)

Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

Licorice Pizza (2021)

Fifty Shades of Gray (2015)

Fifty Shades Darker (2017)

Cyrano (2021)

The King and I (1956)

Carrie (2013)

Carrie (2002, made-for-tv)

The Batman (2022)

Firestarter (1984)

Frozen 2 (2019)

The Fury (1978)

Firestarter (2022)

The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999)

The Bob's Burgers Movie (2022)

The Deadzone (1983)

Sparring Partner (2022, short)

My Fair Lady (1964)

The Untouchables (1987)

Singin' in the Rain (1952)

The Black Phone (2022)

Barbarian (2022)

Nope (2022)

Flashdance (1983)

Crimes of the Heart (1987)

Don't Worry Darling (2022)

The Exorcist (1973)

Child's Play (1988)

Scream 3 (2003)

Scream 5 (2022)

The Fablemans (2022)

Halloween (1978)

Black Panther (2018)

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

Return to Oz (1985)

Newsies (1992)

National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985)

National Lampoon's Las Vegas Vacation (1997)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2021:

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

Dark Phoenix (2019)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

The Wolverine (2013)

Logan (2017)

Deadpool (2016)

Deadpool 2 (2018)

Watchmen (2009)

Wonder Woman (2017)

Aquaman (2018)

Shazam! (2019)

X-Men: New Mutants (2020)

Cruella (2021)

Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021)

The Suicide Squad (2021)

Reminiscence (2021)

My Hero Academia: Heroes: Rising (2019)

My Hero Academia: Two Heroes (2018)

My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission (2021)

Dune (2021)

Poltergeist (1982)

The Babadook (2014)

A Silent Voice (2016)

Rockdog (2016)

Rockdog 2: Rock Around the Park (2021)

Lion King (2019)

Terminator (1984)

Hot Fuzz (2007)

West Side Story (2021)

Spiderman: Homecoming (2017)

Spiderman: Far From Home (2019)

Spiderman: No Way Home (2021)

Looper (2012)

Brick (2005)

Back to the Future Part II (1989)

Back to the Future Part III (1990)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2020:

Mr. Mom (1983)

Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Pretty Baby (1978)

Private Benjamin (1980)

The Color of Pomegranates (1969, foreign language)

Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

Cunningham (2020, documentary)

And Then We Danced (2019, Georgian foreign language)

The Young Girls of Rochetfort (1967, French foreign language)

Love on a Leash (2011)

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999, fully through)

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (2002, fully through)

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)

Blazing Saddles (1974)

The Producers (1967)

Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog (2007)

Death Becomes Her (1992)

Captain Underpants (2017)

X-Men (2000, fully through)

X-Men 2 (2003)

Dust in the Wind (1986)

Phantasm (1978)

The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)

I Eat Your Flesh (1971)

Serenity (2005)

Juice (2017, short, Indian foreign language)

Earth (1998, Indian foreign language)

Protocol (1984)

Voices Within: The Many Lives of Trudy Chase (1990, 4 hr full version)

Clue (1985)

Unleashed (2016)

Fright Night (1985)

Moll Flanders (1996, BBC 2-parter)

Parasite (2019)

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2019:

Irreconcilable Differences (1984)

The Brady Bunch Movie (1995)

A Very Brady Sequel (1996)

Frozen Assets (1992)

Knives Out (2019)

Doctor Sleep (2019)

Santa Claus With Muscles (1996)

Jack Frost (1997, dog sh*t horror)

Home (?, Indian foreign language film)

The Greatest Showman (2017)

Pinjar (2003, Indian foreign language)

Interstellar (2014)

Shock and Censorship (1993)

The Witches of Eastwick (1987)

Beetlejuice (1988)

Gypsy (1962)

The Shape of Water (2017)

The Favorite (2018)

A Small Circle of Friends (1980)

A League of Their Own (1992)

Shock Treatment (1981)

Empire of the Sun (1987)

[buildabearcore]

I really do miss some of the charm BAB used to have. Were these just simple and silly little flash games, sure. But the art is so cute! I cannot for the life of me find the artist responsible for the designs. I don't even think they mention it in the newest documentary. Sometimes I wonder if Sharon Price (the current CEO since 2013) is the sole reason for this modernization (I know she is responsible at least partly). I wonder if Maxine Clark had stayed CEO, Build a Bear wouldn't have modernized to the degree it had (because Maxine Clark still does involve herself with the company, I just don't know to what extent).

My favorite game was Dress-A-Bear, but sadly it is no longer available to play, nor does it have much media left on the internet. If you are interested in playing some old flash games, NuMuKI has a good portion of them available. Or if you want to watch a cozy video about the games, LiSpeaks has a nice one on youtube.

P.S: I have caved and bought the pink kimono for Emmi. I will be posting pictures as soon as I get it :)

[gacha-incels]

blurring out the rest of the post that references the boycott started by Korean female fans and then completely making up what I was making a joke about in your replies to other twitter users. PM fans going beyond the meme to literally stop people from reading. The internet is truly an incredible place lol. loving these replies especially throwing around the term terf and extremist

This last one is incredible. It is truly a case of seeing what you want to see. idk how you can click this profile and read the pinned post and think this. of course they have already created a false image of this blog in their mind that’s easy to protect their poor little gambling game from 🥺

and assuming I know nothing about how these pachinko games work is hilarious. I’ve been watching their evolution for a decade now, of course I played Limbus Company, I know how the exploitive little gambling rates and dispensing of characters work lmao that’s why it’s easy to make a joke about saving an image. this was literally THE joke everyone made about gacha games, especially when LL:SIF was super popular in 2013, that they’re expensive images you can right click and save, plenty of people joke about them as NFTs now that they have entered the cultural zeitgeist as “expensive images”, if you shit your pants over this then you’re too young to be playing these games. If you really cared about spreading misinformation you would delete your tweet, but you prefer to farm engagement and now even korean twitter users have seen it and are confused. I did not word it in a way that would be easy to google translate and even then this “gambling for jpg images” is a colloquial style joke that mainly exists in more western english speaking internet groups. This was a joke I posted for a small group of tumblr users on this blog, of course the terminology is not something I would use if it was going to be posted to 40k people on twitter and even then you went further and posted it with no context and most of it completely blurred out.

This is the last time I’ll address this because I don’t want to go off topic, but I’ll post this as it’s a good example of how information can be completely omitted in order to present a falsified image that manipulates the viewer’s reaction. I find it interesting that the reposter blurred out the most important part of the post that references the ongoing boycott of the game started by Korean women. nowhere in their replies do they even mention this. now why could that be? 🤔 unfortunately this is a flash in the pan ragebait twitter post people will forget by monday, so I don’t expect anyone seeing it to think about that aspect any deeper. Hopefully at least one person will read the information here.

[boroughshq]

EVENT 003: AURA MUSIC FESTIVAL 2024.

Aura Music Festival is back and better than ever! Starting off as a one-day music festival back in 2013 to celebrate the end of summer, it has since grown into a two-day, and now finally three-day music festival! Now boosting 90k fans over a three-day weekend, Aura Music Festival has always strived to host an open and inclusive environment for festival-goers and performers alike. Aura Fest is also highly known for prioritizing deals with local New York businesses over big name corporations. This year, long-time sponsor Glow Nightclub has been honored with the secondary stage name for their decade-long commitment to the growth of Aura Fest. Doors open at 11am and closes at 11pm. Aura Fest recommends guests to use public transportation to get to the festival, and to remember to follow the clear bag policy for quick and easy entry!

LINEUP SCHEDULE: FRIDAY. SATURDAY. SUNDAY.

27 LOCAL VENDORS (festival map)

Flash Tattoos with Electric Ink - Get flash tattoos specifically designed for this year’s lineup at Aura Fest!

Rave Sprouts with Dahlia & Daffodils - Forget to bring your sprouts? no worries! Come to Dahlia & Daffodils booth to make your own clipped sprouts to share!

Luxury Nails - for all your nail care needs!

Hammock Station - The trees in the are have been utilized to provide an array of hammocks for guests to relax in sweet bliss - at least until their 15min limit is up.

Rock Star Crystals - Palm readings and crystal jewelry at the ready!

Blue Note's Rest Zone - Relax with AC, mood lighting, and jazz at the Blue Note’s designated rest space.

Pegasus' Rest Zone - Even though everyone’s recharging, the energy never fades at Pegasus’ rest space!

Riot House's Rest Zone - The Riot House’s rest space provides a cool, rock-n-roll safe haven in the middle of the primarily-pop festival.

Glow's Rest Zone - The biggest rest space brought to Aura by Glow, providing ample seating and good vibes!

Vault's Rest Zone - Vault’s rest space is as elite as it’s bar, providing expensive drinks and a coveted indoor restroom.

WFUS 94.8 - When the radio hosts aren't privately interviewing artists backstage, they’re publicly interviewing and engaging festival-goers with fun festival-themed contests at their tent!

Giant Parachute with Gilded Gallery - Nothing beats the nostalgic, colorful, and cooperative vibes of playing with a giant rainbow parachute- and Gilded's provided two for maximum enjoyment!

Balloon Darts with Grooves - 3 chances to pop a balloon; if you manage to pop one with a vinyl piece inside, you’ll win one free record of your choosing from the collection provided by Grooves at their tent!

The Underground - In preparation for the event, up and coming artists made beautiful art pieces inspired by the festival - be it the vibes of the festival, or an artist on the lineup. Both the original and (much cheaper) prints of the artwork are available for purchase all weekend at the Underground’s tent!

Freshly Churned’s Sweets Tour - Come try a menu of ice cream flavors specifically inspired by the festival!

Puzzles Lawn Games - Everything is giant at Puzzles’ large station - from jenga to bowling to hamster races!

Sunscreen Station Sponsored by Triple D’s - Stay mindful of the sun, divas! Stop by for free sunscreen, sponsored by Diva Diner & Drag Show!

Songbirds & Sangria - That famous house sangria makes its Aura debut at the Songbirds tent, and don’t worry, they didn’t forget to bring a karaoke machine!

Sign Station with Sappho’s - Stop by Sappho’s tent to create signs to support your favorite artist!

Becky's Martini Bar - Providing the best martini’s in all of Aura, hands down.

Cowbells - Millie couldn’t make it, but Cowbells has plenty of tequila to help you forget that tragic detail.

Bit Bar’s Video Games - Play family-friendly competitive video games with strangers or friends at Bit Bar’s tent!

Face Painting with Glazed Finish - For all your face painting needs!

Corner Pub’s Trivial Pursuit - Trivia games galore all centered on different musical artists from this year’s lineup!

Photo Booths - Gather some friends and have some fun with any of the props available in front of a standard photobooth area! With an immediate sovereign printed afterwards, and the option to have the copies digitally sent to you, guests are sure to have some good ol’ classic fun with this one.

Video Booth - Go solo or partner up and step into Aura’s high tech video booth. Accompanied by dramatic lighting and with a variety of electronic music at your disposal, embrace your inner diva or showcase your dance moves in a video made perfect for Instagram!

Earplug Station - Free, cheap earplugs available to help guests protect their hearing!

OOC DETAILS BELOW!

OOC DETAILS.

IC Timeline: Canonically, the music festival occurs over the weekend, from August 30th — September 6th. OOC Timeline: Members will have between August 30th through September 6th to post their initial starters for the festival. After 9/6, no new starters are permitted, but members are free to continue their ongoing event threads until their natural conclusion. An announcement will be made on both days when the event has started and ended. Festival Inspo: Aura Fest takes direct inspiration from two other NYC music festivals, Governors Ball Music Festival & All Things Go Music Festival. Specifically, the location and layout of Governor’s Ball (minus one stage) and the inclusion and sound of All Things Go. As for size, Aura Fest lies in the middle of the two, bigger than All Things Go (13k daily cap), but smaller than Gov Ball (50k daily cap), with a daily cap of 30k attendees to max out at 90k over the weekend. Involvement: Aura Fest is known for sponsoring partnerships with local vendors, many of which have been included in the vendor list above. Characters are welcome to both be guests of the event or employees manning a tent, aiding a musician, volunteering as security or cleanup crew, or anything in between! Food: Small note, but for ease, listing out all the food options available was omitted. Members are free to use their imagination when it comes to what food is available at all the food symbol locations on the map. Threads: Members are highly encouraged to engage in any music festival related threads during this time, and are free to continue non-event threads as well! Just please be sure to tag all event threads as bhqevent003 for differentiation purposes.

If you have any other questions about the event, please do not hesitate to reach out to the main!

[friends-to-lovers-tournament]

Friends to Lovers Tournament: Quarterfinals, Match 1

propaganda under the cut!

Makoharu:

They are the first ship that comes to mind when I think of friends to lovers. I know Free! hasn't been popular since 2013, bug I just love them so much... Makoto's devotion to Haru. There's even a movie that flashes back to when they're kids when Makoto says "I love swimming and I love Haruka". Soft...

Fuyupoly:

Submission 1:

they're from the winter troupe of the mankai company, and unlike the other troupes they're all adults. that said, they all have varying degrees of trauma and emotional stuntedness. it takes them some time to fully open up to each other bc they're all very cautious of each other's boundaries and don't want to cross any lines which initially led to some issues in the group's formation. over time they've learned to bridge the gap while still being mindful of hard boundaries. at one point they have a discussion about what exactly their relationship is (gay) cuz they were talking about how the other troupes have clearly defined dynamics (spring=family, summer=besties, autumn=rivals & teammates) but they don't,, and homare deadass says they're "people bound by a common destiny" which in and of itself sounds very Gay (like why are you as a man bound to other men by a common destiny), but it goes even further because homare starts spouting WEDDING VOWS: "In sickness and in health, for better or for worse, we shall share our laughter and our tears as those with an intertwined fate... How beautiful we are!" THIS IS A DIRECT QUOTE FROM THE GAME AND THE MC EVEN REMARKS "i can already hear wedding bells in the distance..." 

gradually they become closer, in individual sub-units based on who's paired up as co-leads for a play, and as a troupe overall. also two of its members are childhood friends who had a messy 'divorce' in their young adulthood and it took the game breaking its genre to introduce a timeloop for them to finally make up if that means anything to you. one of their troupe songs "precious to us ~bokura no kisetsu" has some pretty beautiful and fruity lines: "The many kindnesses born in me here / Never fail to breathe life into my chest / Even all the pain and bitterness / Have now become dear to me (Ah…Stay with me)", "No matter how many times our season passes / Let us keep living together / Holding our hands, without ever letting go / Let us open up the curtain of tomorrow", "There is no need for words, because once our gazes meet / Joy sparks a light in your eyes", "Our journey, may it be a brilliant one / As our breaths overlap as one"

a lot of their plays has a LOT of homoerotic tension between the two leads too. their first play has tsumugi and tasuku play angels, and it's heavily implied that tasuku's character has an unrequited crush on tsumugi's character. their third play has azuma play a vampire and tasuku play Just Some Guy and it's generally agreed in the fandom to be one of the gayest, if not THE gayest, play A3 has ever written. obviously the vampire thing is very fruity, but there's also how the vampire was longing to bite the human but was holding himself back, and when the vampire left the human in the end, the human was absolutely HEARTBROKEN over it and was swearing they would reunite one day. the stage play of this takes it even further by having the vampire embrace the human from behind and BITE his neck. the fourth play is a watered-down adaptation of Phantom of the Opera where they genderbend Christine into Chris among other things and change the relationship between Chris and the Phantom to one of friendship.... ostensibly so, because there's still a lot of homoerotic undertones in their interactions. i could go on but this should be enough of a sampling taste 

Submission 2:

the writers rlly said "let's take 2 normal guys who are childhood friends and have been into theatre since their school days and have them go through a pre-canon messy divorce, an eccentric poet with a potentially controversial haircut, an amnesiac sleepyhead who can only be awoken with marshmallows but is also somehow extremely athletic despite doing nothing but sleeping and eating marshmallows all day, a man who is so beautiful and mysterious he breaks gender, and a supposed android from a fictional south asian country, and throw them into a blender, oh and for good measure let's throw in some theatre and angst and gay and angst and gay" and the end result was marriage. i mean it took them a lot of awkward fumbling around and conflicts to get there but they got there and thats what matters. ok *technically* in-text they're all rlly good friends and kinda found family BUT they are found family via marriage papers i do not make the rules chief

Submission 3:

The reason why they are so friends-to-lovers to me is because their relationship is founded on quiet and unconditional acceptance of each other—regardless of how flawed they may be or how heavy their burdens and trauma may be. When the troupe first formed (sans Guy who was in another country at the time), they didn’t have any major clashing personalities at the very beginning and generally they were mindful of each other’s boundaries, unlike the other troupes that came before them. However, it’s BECAUSE they were too mindful of said boundaries that it was difficult for them to break down their walls and bond as a team—and there were a LOT of walls to break down, as all of them had varying degrees of emotional baggage and trauma.

In fact, it’s only three plays in that they finally truly start opening up to each other, with Azuma getting the ball rolling by opening up about the deep loneliness that haunted him ever since his childhood. It’s during this conversation that they also discuss what their relationship as a troupe is, because the other troupes have defined their relationship as a team (Spring is family, Summer is best friends, Autumn is rivals & teammates), and Homare goes on to declare that they’re “people bound by a common destiny” and goes on to spew wedding vows: "In sickness and in health, for better or for worse, we shall share our laughter and our tears as those with an intertwined fate... How beautiful we are!" I mean… it can’t get any more obvious than this, really. They are married.

But anyway, Tsumugi says he wants their relationship to be one where while they respect each other’s need for space, they’ll also be there for each other and share their pains and burdens—or in his words: “supporting each other when our burdens become too heavy to bear on our own”—which I think is really sweet because it carries this idea of quiet, unconditional acceptance; they don’t push each other to share more than they’re comfortable with sharing, but with whatever they ARE comfortable with sharing everyone carries the load and pain because pain is easier to bear when you’re not bearing it alone <3 

A later part of the story focuses on Hisoka, a mysterious amnesiac, being terrified of regaining his memories and facing some “sin” from his past that has led to another character, Chikage, trying to take revenge on him. When he confesses this to the rest of the Winter troupe, Homare asks, “How heavy is this sin you bear?” and Azuma suggests, “Perhaps it’s just heavy enough for the five of us to carry together.” (at this point Guy hasn’t joined yet). The stage play adapts this scene into a song called Key to Memory. The key (pun unintended) part is 1:27 where there’s a back-and-forth between Hisoka and the other Winter troupe members (sans Tasuku because he wasn’t in that particular play)

Hisoka: “I’m scared…”

Tsumugi, Homare, Azuma: “It’s okay.”

Hisoka: “My unforgivable sin…”

Tsumugi, Homare, Azuma: “Let’s carry it together.”

Hisoka: “I might not be me anymore.”

Tsumugi, Homare, Azuma: “It’s all right. We understand and we accept you, so let’s go together.”

And it ends with Hisoka singing: “I was afraid to open the door of my locked memories. But if everyone is here, I believe I can do it.”  In both the game and stage play, Hisoka fully regains his memories and reconciles with Chikage (long story). He tells Fuyupoly he can’t go into detail about his past with Chikage because it’s dangerous but he’ll tell them when the time is right, and they accept this saying that no matter what his past is, they know and love him as their Hisoka which obviously is a very sweet thing for friends to say, but it’s also very Marriage-coded to me.

Later, Guy is introduced as an android from Zahra (a fictional South Asian country) and joins the Winter troupe as a temporary member—because he’s stuck in Japan for the foreseeable future—until they find a permanent member to replace him. The other Winter members have a conversation among themselves and agree that regardless of whether he’s really an android or a human they’ll accept Guy for who he is and help him improve his acting, which again harkens back to the idea of ‘unconditional acceptance’. Eventually it’s revealed that Guy is in fact a human who has forgotten his memories of the past and his emotions. He recovers his memories all at once which shocks his system and causes him to pass out. When he wakes up in his room, he finds the rest of the Winter Troupe asleep around the room—which I believe is symbolic of their whole theme of “quiet acceptance”: they don’t want to push Guy to share beyond what he’s comfortable with, but they’re always there to listen to him and share his load if that’s what he wants. He opens up about the memories he recovered, and they don’t treat him with pity like he’s a lost child, but still extend gentle empathy and understanding. They also emphasise that it genuinely doesn’t matter to them whether he’s human or android because he’s Guy first and foremost. It’s at this point that Guy truly lets himself become part of the Winter troupe/Fuyupoly and not just as a temporary stand-in member, because he’s found a place where he’s found himself again and people who will accept who this “himself” is, whether that be an android devoid of emotions or a human brimming with vivid beautiful emotions.

[Mod note: There’s a LOT more but we’re afraid of crashing the post. I (Deli) summarised it the best I can since I’m familiar with A3, but if you want to read the full thing you can check it out on this google doc)

[foxes-that-run]

Coney Island

To Zane Lowe (at 36mins) Taylor talked about Coney Island being about male regret and place everyone wanted to be but now with the lights are off. In this Lyric video Taylor referenced Harry's winding wheels, a metaphor for soulmates. It is co-written with William Bowery, Joe has no credit.

Winding Wheel

The Winding Wheel is a Ryan Adams’ song. (Ryan made a rock cover album of 1989). There is a post about it here. Ryan described it as a metaphor for an “ultimate soulmate”.

13 December 2013, Harry posted 'better still be my winding wheel' on Taylor's birthday. Say don't go was written 2 weeks later.

27 February 2015, the first photos of Taylor with Calvin were posted and Harry posted an overgrown winding wheel to IG

11 January 2018, Taylor put a Ferris Wheel in the open of End Game

11 December 2020, this Lyric Video has a ferris wheel

This is very long, this song hits so many classic Haylor themes that its dense. When it is all written out like this it boggles my mind people would think it is about another muse or several.

Taylor also said on radio about Coney Island:

"Aaron Dessner sent me this track that he created with his brother Bryce, and I wrote the lyrics and the melody with William Bowery. I was coming from a place of somebody who’s been in a relationship for decades and wakes up one day & realizes that they have taken their partner for granted. It speaks to people who are trying to communicate - but they’re two ships passing in the night. They’re trying to love each other but their signals are somehow missing each other.”

She also said ships in the nights about Exile in that interview and in the lyrics of Willow.

Live performances

Coney Island has been played live once, 28 April 2023 in Atlanta. This is one day before the High Infidelity anniversary of April 29. The other song was The Other Side of the Door which has similar theme of wanting a lover back and regret for ruining a relationship.

Lyrics

[Verse 1: Taylor Swift] Break my soul in two looking for you But you're right here If I can't relate to you anymore Then who am I related to?

The opening verse does not pull punches, it ends with 'if I can't relate to who then who am I related to?' Taylor and Harry have a lot of shared history, similar careers and while no one is as big as Taylor Harry is in a small group who can relate. They have respectively sung about being each others soulmate. To loose that is devastating.

Breaking her soul looking is similar to:

Don't blame me "For you, I would cross the line / fall from grace"

Illicit affairs "And you know damn well / For you I would ruin myself / …a million little times"

Slut! "And if they call me a slut / You know it might be worth it for once"

And if this is the long haul How'd we get here so soon? Did I close my fist around something delicate? Did I shatter you?

This again refers to this concept that even apart they are each others person, so to feel they aren’t connecting is a loss

Closing her fist around something Delicate is a reference to the song, which is also about Harry, more on why here. Shattering him is a reference to Falling, to be so lonely. and possibly renegade. Shattered pieces are also in mirrorball.

[Chorus: Taylor Swift] And I'm sitting on a bench in Coney Island Wondering, where did my baby go? The fast times, the bright lights, the merry go Sorry for not making you my centerfold

The fast times, bright lights describe their life, the place to be:

I Know Places: "Lights flash and we’ll run for the fences"

Wonderland: "Flashing lights and we took a wrong turn and we fell down a rabbit hole"

New Romantics: "We’re all here, the lights and noise are blinding"

Is it Over Now: "And did you think I didn't see you? / There were flashin' lights"

Merry-go round, and lost again with no surprises, disappointments refers to the cyclical nature of their relationship.

Blank Space: "But you’ll come back each time you leave"

Style: "And when we go crashing down we come back every time"

Cardigan: "And I knew you’d come back to"me"

OOTW "We were built to fall apart / Then fall back together (back together)"

Sorry for not making me your centerfold breaks my heart, meaning sorry you were not her end game when she thought he would stay with Joe. Lets take Labyrinth as a nice sequel.

Over and over Lost again with no surprises Disappointments, close your eyes And it gets colder and colder When the sun goes down

Maroon "How the hell did we lose sight of us again? Sobbin' with your head in your hands Ain't that the way shit always ends?" The chorus ends sadly, with it getting colder and colder the longer it goes on like that.

Taylor has referred to watching sunsets with Harry, usually in happy, wistful times, but here it is sad, the sun is setting on them. Sunsets are also in:

Out Of The Woods: When you started crying, baby, I did, too, but when the sun came up I was looking at you

Wildest Dreams: "Say you’ll remember me standing in a nice dress, staring at the sunset, babe"

It’s Nice To Have A Friend: Light pink sky up on the roof, sun sinks down, no curfew

Harry and Taylor also posted Sunset photos in Cannes a year apart, which Taylor referenced in the promotion for Cruel Summer, Slut!'s music video also had a similar sky.

[Verse 2: Matt Berninger with Taylor Swift] The question pounds my head What's a lifetime of achievement If I pushed you to the edge But you were too polite to leave me?

The lifetime achievement having no meaning without this muse reflects a theme that Harry and Taylor have sung about the cost of fame in Mirrorball, your on your own kid and Sign of the Times. In Suburban Legends Taylor sings "I didn't come here to make friends We were born to be suburban legends" which to me plays into the idea that they put their careers first and the relationship suffered.

Suburban Legends "I broke my own heart 'cause you were too polite to do it"

And do you miss the rogue Who coaxed you into paradise and left you there? Will you forgive my soul When you're too wise to trust me and too old to care?

Taylor describes Harry as a rogue is a troublemaker Harry has been in IKYWT, "you were trouble", 22 "you look like bad news" Style "James Dean daydream" and Ready for it? "Knew he was a killer first time that I saw him". Harry has also described himself this way in Trouble "You know i’m trouble / I’m trouble with you"

He coaxed her into paradise and left her there in the Virgin Isles in Now that we don't talk and famously the boat.

[Chorus: Taylor Swift with Matt Berninger] 'Cause we were like the mall before the internet It was the one place to be The mischief, the gift-wrapped suburban dreams Sorry for not winning you an arcade ring

Taylor talks about the line of the mall before the internet because it was the one place to be to Zane Lowe, linked above. I love this line, they were the one place to be, the two biggest pop stars in love. I also find a parallel in this line and August, "And say, "Meet me behind the mall" August being the other person, not Harry and Taylor, they meet behind the mall which Harry and Taylor are.

Gift-wrapped suburban dreams refers to Suburban Legends, where Harry and Taylor are the idols of suburbia. "We were born to be suburban legends [...] We were born to be national treasures/ When you told me we'd get back together"

Similar to the centerfold line, not winning you an arcade ring is saying sorry for not getting back together as they had thought. Falling is Harry's perspective on this belief that Taylor would stay with someone else. This time I will choose SOTB as my sequel track. ;)

[Bridge: Taylor Swift, Matt Berninger, Both] Were you waiting at our old spot In the tree line by the gold clock Did I leave you hanging every single day? Were you standing in the hallway With a big cake, happy birthday

In the unreleased Hunger Harry indicates they may have broken up on his birthday "We could ruin a perfect night / On my birthday I made you cry". This may have been in 2015, they had been seen together in late 2014, up to 2 weeks before Harry's birthday. Then Taylor was in Nashville on his birthday and she met CH 3 weeks later.

Hallways are also in 10 songs, generally meeting in them, but here they break up. Taylor also mentioned the birthday line to Zane Lowe as the album came out just before her birthday.

Did I paint your bluest skies the darkest grey? A universe away And when I got into the accident The sight that flashed before me was your face But when I walked up to the podium I think that I forgot to say your name

The accident is a reference to the Snow mobile accident in Is it over now? and OOTW: "Remember when you hit the brakes too soon / Twenty stitches in a hospital room / When you started crying, baby, I did too / But when the sun came up, I was looking at you"

To me, I forgot to say your name at the podium is a reference to Taylors 2013 VMA speech where she said "I'd like to say the person who inspired this song, you know exactly who you are, and now I have one of these!" Harry and Taylor were both musicians, the inspired each other and as evidenced by still writing to each other 10 years later this speech diminished that.

Harry’s unreleased Talk and includes “You forgot my name / Sick and tired of me, I can feel the heat” which, no one forgets his name so I take it as referring to the podium.

[woodaba]

We Wouldn't Have Alan Wake II Without Quantum Break

Remember Quantum Break? The first game announced for the Xbox One? The link between cult classic Alan Wake and surprising studio-saving hit Control? That prominently features Lance Reddick, the much-missed actor who was frequently one of the most electric screen presences of our time?

Don't worry, I barely do either, and I played the game yesterday.

So, a refresher. Quantum Break, announced in 2013 alongside the Xbox One and released three years later, is a third-person shooter starring Shawn Ashmore aka Iceman from the X-Men movies as Jack Joyce (and not Jake Joyce as I constantly remembered him as. In my defense, it's a better name, if only because then his superhero name could be Quantum Jake...), who, after being turned into A Remedy Entertainment Protagonist after a time-travel experiment gone wrong, battles against fellow Remedy Entertainment Protagonist Aidan Gillen aka Doctor Pavel I'm CIA as Paul Serene, over what to do about an imminent apocalypse after Time starts Breaking because of the aforementioned time-travel experiment.

As a rehabilitating former Doctor Who obsessive, I'm particularly open to this kind of time-travel nonsense, but Quantum Break is frustratingly unwilling to capitalize on its own premise. Interesting things happen, sure: people get stuck in causality loops, confront and become acausal time monsters, and live entire second lives in the past after time-traveling, but almost none of it occurs to Jack Joyce: he just spends his time just shooting guys in a series of warehouses and offices. Quantum Break is a potentially interesting story that we don't really get to see anything of, instead anything compelling in the narrative is relayed to us second-hand, by the myriad emails and documents scattered throughout the gunfights, or over the radio, and, of course, Remedy's now-signature multimedia ambitions.

In between acts of the video game Quantum Break, you'll be treated to episodes of the TV show Quantum Break, a live-action c-tier circa-2009 network TV production starring some of the big(ish) names that headline the game Quantum Break, but mostly follows a cast of extras who navigate around the events of the game while working for baddie Paul Serene's Evil Corporation, Monarch.

It's in the TV show that what Quantum Break actually is begins to take shape. Remedy, as a studio, has always been interested - and unusually adept at - pastiche, whether it's the noir comic stylings of their still-astonishing Max Payne duology or the rickety but deeply charming Stephen King love-in that is Alan Wake. And here, they do a genuinely stellar job at replicating the look, feel, and sensibilities of a 2008-2013 network TV Lost/Fringe rip-off that gets canceled after one season.

That may sound backhanded, but I assure you it isn't. I've long been a fan of Remedy, in spite of, or perhaps because I don't think they've made a truly great game since Max Payne 2. In a medium that often pillages relentlessly from Film and TV, Remedy set themselves apart from their competition with the depth of their understanding of the production of film, bringing into games a deftness of set construction and filmic pacing that blows their contemporaries out of the water. Even more-lauded names like Naughty Dog and Rockstar come up short against Alan Wake's hauntingly gorgeous misty woods, best illustrated with Rockstar's Max Payne 3, which matched Remedy's cinematographical flair in the cutscenes, but fell far short of their level design chops and breadth of influences.

Quantum Break is, in aesthetics and production, a genuinely extremely well-considered pastiche of this period of sci-fi television that is now comfortably in the rear-view mirror, the time since its release having given it a real nostalgic charm that would have been dulled at the time of release. It really reminded me of the years I spent watching shows like Heroes, or Flash/Forward, shows that may not have been very good, but are intoxicatingly emblematic of their time and place, hiding just beneath the floorboards of the shows that would actually get to be remembered.

It's a shame, then, that it just fails to really compel on any level beyond appreciation for the pastiche.

Much like the gameplay, the TV episodes of Quantum Break feel almost ancillary to another, better story that we never get to see. The stars of the game feel wasted here - particularly Lance Reddick, one of my favorite actors, who steals the show every time he appears, but is given vanishingly little to do in comparison with a group of wafer-thin characters that struggle to manifest a single dimension, with relational at best connection to the concerns of the narrative. It looks like a particularly budget-strapped episode of Warehouse 13, sure, but it doesn't really feel like one, as the episodes - until the last one, which is a noticeable improvement - are shockingly paceless and devoid of the arcs that would make a singular episode of television compelling. They are, ultimately, primarily dreary, overlong, and constantly highlighting the fact that they are largely interstitial filler.

It would be wrong to accuse Remedy of not having their heart in Quantum Break, as there is too much evident passion to discount, but I do feel like they struggle to find a core to this idea, something that they truly want to explore. Whether I'm playing the game or watching the show, QB leaves everything on the surface, with nothing to really find beneath the surface. It's notable that the game is absolutely filled with constant allusions to Alan Wake - including a full-blown trailer found on a TV moments after starting the game that bears startling resemblance to the eventual plot of this year's Alan Wake II - and that the game started life as a pitch to Microsoft for Alan Wake II: one suspects that they would much rather be making that game at this moment in time than Quantum Break, or that the game is a test-bed of ideas for the studio's future, the act of throwing a thousand darts at a quantum dartboard, and seeing which ones find their mark. It's just that for this effort, precious few of them do.

And yet, the surprise is that by the end, I truly felt like Remedy was genuinely onto something with the spirit of Quantum Break's ideas, if not the execution of them. The television show is the thing that makes Quantum Break live, that marks it out as something worth remembering in a sea of slick third-person shooters with cinematic ambitions. It is the icon of the foundational belief of the Xbox One, that the future of games lay in a synthesis with television, a dead-end future that had already worn out by the time the game was actually released. What remains is little more than a gimmick, sure, but it is one that, by the end, is oddly compelling, even if most of it is terrifically boring to actually experience.

There is a genuine thrill to seeing characters in both video game graphics and live-action forms, shifting between the two seamlessly thanks to some genuinely well-realized digitized actors that still look good today, a shift that blends well with the time-space bending of the plot. Do I care about Jack Joyce, as a person? Not even slightly. Did I still grin when I saw Actual Shawn Ashmore briefly appear in the TV episodes after controlling Virtual Shawn Ashmore? Absolutely. It's the same kind of shallow thrill you get from Cheers allumni showing up for a visit in Frasier, or when the Torchwood crew talk around the presence of Mr. Doctor Who, Esq, but as something that works with what the game is doing rather than distracting your attention elsewhere.

The gameplay portions represent time breaking down with (genuinely cool, if shallow) shards of space and glass and stuttering loops of physical time, but the collision of the Real and the Virtual feels so much more effective in communicating the idea of time and space shattering and colliding into one another. I just wish it played in this space more, focusing on Ashmore, Reddick, Monaghan, and Hope, rather than the cast of goons and extras who feel wholly separated from the game until the final mission.

I'd like to say that I'd love Remedy to take another crack at this idea, with the lessons they've learned from Control and Alan Wake II, but that already feels like a fool's hope. The ballooning costs of video game development make the idea of filming an entire TV mini-series alongside it feel laughable. Sure, Control's live-action segments were plentiful and superbly produced, but they were also far more restrained than Quantum Break, focusing on short segments with one non-big-name actor each in a couple of highly reusable sets. With both this and its open-world, side-questing structure with plenty of loot and upgrades to collect, Control is something largely in line with the realities and productions of modern game development

Quantum Break isn't rooted in reality for even a second. It's a time-locked instant, the most 2015 game ever made, which makes it all the better that it came out in 2016. There's no future in what Quantum Break envisions. It's a failed experiment, something to shrug at and move on. And yet, it compels me regardless, despite the fact that I don't really like it.

We need games like this, I feel. Historical curios like this show that the shifting landscape of the medium isn't a straight line, it splits off into splintered fraying timelines, some leading to nothing, but others spilling back in unexpected ways. After all, Courtney Hope, who played Beth Wilder here, returned for the starring role in Control, and that game feels so keenly like the product of lessons learned from QB, with everything from the live-action segments, the document-reading, and the combat feeling like a progression from Remedy's previous work. In particular, my complaints about QB's narrative taking place almost entirely off-screen evolves into a hugely compelling aspect of Control, with the genuine highlight of that game being reading the endless documents detailing the horrors and nightmares of America transcribed into corporate mundanity.

And while I've only played a taster of Alan Wake II, there's no doubt in my mind that that game, a bona-fide critical darling the likes of which Remedy hasn't had since Max Payne 2, owes a great debt to QB. Not least because its engine provides the framework for the game, but also because, well, it's been in there, this whole time.

Waiting for The Return.

[bexism]

Hi! This is going to come 100% out of nowhere and going to be super long and maybe a bit awkward but I just felt like I should tell you this lol. I feel like we never really get to know with the internet how we effect other people...so here we are.

So I can't remember how I first found your videos like 12 years ago on Youtube but I was absolutely obsessed. I think I watched pretty much anything you posted for Sherlock/Supernatural and followed you on Tumblr. I was going through a really tough time, and your videos/posts helped me! It was around then that you started to post about something called Roosterteeth. I didn't care too much, but noticed it. Then at some point in like 2013, I remember thinking 'I'm going to look into this thing. If the person I follow that also likes SPN/Sherlock/Your Beautiful/etc also likes this...maybe I'll like it.' Thats not something I do, like ever. But since I was so into your videos, I decided to give this thing I had no idea about a chance. I didn't play video games, didn't even know what Minecraft is, so I took such a big chance and started from the beginning. I went down that rabbit hole fast.

Flash forward next summer, I'm a Guardian at RTX in Austin for the first time. My first time ever travelling 100% alone, and to another country! I had the absolute best time. I continued to be a Guardian from 2014-2019, made amazing memories, tired things I never thought I was capable of and made lifetime friends. I also, to bring it all around, was drunk in Austin after RTX and wandered into Jensen Ackles lol. I would have thought it was a hallucination except others saw him too.

When I first started as a Guardian at RTX I was a VERY shy nerd lol, but RTX really helped pull me out of my shell, to the point that I became a manager of sorts there with entire teams working under me. This confidence stuck with me until now, where I am comfortable doing things I never would of been before. I'm comfortable in crowds, in parties, on stage, etc. I like video games now, which I didn't really before. It's completely changed my life. Not just that, but being a Guardian at RTX helped me pull through a severely traumatic few years of my life.

I don't know what would have happened without RTX. I don't know what would have happened if I didn't decide to follow you on tumblr like 12 years ago. I don't know what would have happened if I didnt take a random chance on your interests being similar to mine. But, my life would be very different.

Anyways, I'm done now. I don't know if you'll ever read this, and thats okay! I just saw you again on Tumblr and wanted to let you know that even though it was completely unintentional, and maybe a bit coincidental, you have changed some random girls life :) For that, I really hope you have an amazing life too!

holy crap i just woke up and i'm really emotional, thank you so so much for telling me this. i never knew making silly little vids on the internet could have such an impact, i'm so proud of you for getting out there, doing RTX and growing from it and i'm SO glad my videos led you to that journey. roosterteeth helped me a lot back in the day and to think i'm the reason someone else found them and they helped them too. thank you for taking the time out of your day to tell me this, you've made me feel incredibly special 🥹 ❤️ (also BUMPED INTO JENSEN ACKLES?? that's absolutely wild)