#timestamp: around 06:36:00

[freakinator]

Minute: "I think [Lifesteal] is about standing for something... even if you die for it."

Zam: "Yeah..."

Zam: "I don't think there's an objective answer... depending on who you ask."

Zam: "But I agree, I think Lifesteal is about standing for what you believe in."

[deliciouskeys]

Holy fuck. @xieyaohuan and I are yappers. This is very much unplanned freestyle stream of consciousness conversation about Homelander and Homelander-adjacent things. No promises on the quality, but I thought the conversational flow was pretty good. Topics are timestamped (do not look at the total time, please).

And apologies for the laptop microphone (sounds like at least one of us is speaking out of a jar and no in silico dialogue enhancement could rescue it). I only have one good microphone and that would not work for a 2 way conversation -_-

00:00:00:00 We are recording a podcast, apparently

00:00:57:07 How we discovered The Boys

00:05:40:01 How we became obsessed with Homelander

00:13:28:20 Madelyn Stillwell

00:16:01:14 Nerfing of powers

00:16:57:03 How Xieyaohuan started writing fic

00:20:06:06 How Deliciouskeys started writing fic

00:27:48:15 Deliciouskeys’ previous fandoms compared to The Boys fandom

00:29:52:17 Xieyaohuan’s previous fandoms compared to the boys fandom

00:37:33:02 Reading incoming questions live

00:40:13:00 When did Butchlander click for us

00:47:47:12 Xieyaohuan’s ao3 name: Frenchcroatiansquid

00:50:36:00 “Fears” about season 5

00:56:46:01 Kripke’s idea for an ending (and puritanism)

01:00:14:24 Morality of The Boys as revealed by Termite scenes (yeah...)

01:03:40:02 Homelander getting depowered ending, supe culture wars

01:08:24:20 Homelander & Ryan

01:16:36:14 Billy Butcher’s ending

01:20:31:13 Mothers

01:23:46:27 How fandom has affected our real life

01:28:04:01 Sticking around until the end of a franchise

01:30:06:06 What's stalling Xieyaohuan's fic All God’s Children Took Their Toll

01:36:05:11 What's stalling Deliciouskeys' fic The Selfish Gene

01:43:16:17 Homelander’s behavior in the B6 lab

01:47:46:17 Maevelander

01:50:22:20 Homelander’s various parents

02:00:37:06 Back to Maeve

02:05:27:16 Starlander

02:07:48:07 Viclander

02:09:24:21 Sagelander

02:18:57:17 Soldier Boy x homelander

02:20:38:14 NOTP’s (if there are any)

02:26:16:18 Hughlander

02:27:27:12 Firelander

02:32:35:27 We attempt to come up with underutilized tropes in HL fics

02:36:52:27 Beccalander

02:41:20:06 Homelander x Todd

02:42:49:02 Would we be fans of Homelander within-universe?

02:44:49:14 Homelander-is-a-nerd fanon theory

02:47:34:18 Public vs private display in Homelander’s apartment

02:50:22:14 Kripke’s heavy hand with themes

02:51:29:13 Favorite scene of season 3 and 4

02:53:08:14 In conclusion, we are yappers about The Boys

[the-conversation-pod]

The Very Important Internet BL (VIIB) Awards 2024

AND WE'RE BACK

It's time for NiNi's and Ben's favorite annual tradition: our VIIB Awards! Come join us as we hand out awards for Acting, Ships, Immortal Technique, and Top Tings!

Then, stick around as we talk about our special class awards for queer works that don't necessarily qualify as QL.

We will include the Winner's List at the top of the transcript below (so scroll past it if you want to avoid spoilers).

Timestamps

The timestamps will now correspond with chapters on Spotify for easier navigation.

00:00:00 - Welcome 00:00:55 - Introduction: It's Awards Season Once More 00:02:09 - Acting! 00:08:00 - Ships Ahoy! 00:16:31 - Immortal Technique 00:29:05 - Top Tings 00:41:43 - Special Class Awards 00:43:11 - Special Class: Honourable Mentions 00:47:36 - Special Class: Mark Pakin 6th Man Awards 00:51:13 - Special Class: Standout Queer Narratives 01:06:00 - Outro

The Conversation Transcripts!

Thanks to the continued efforts of @lurkingshan as an editor and proofreader, we are able to bring you transcripts of the episodes.

We will endeavor to make the transcripts available when the episodes launch, and it is our goal to make them available for past episodes (Coming soon thanks to @wen-kexing-apologist). When transcripts are available, we will attach them to the episode post (like this one) and put the transcript behind a Read More cut to cut down on scrolling.

Please send our volunteers your thanks!

Winners’ List:

Rising Star: Aungpao Ochiris Suwanacheep (Dynamite, Cooking Crush; Khaopan, My Love Mix Up, TH)

Best Cast: Modi (Wei Qian), Kurt Huang (Wei Zhi Yuan), Tammy Lin (Wei Li Li), Kim Jae Hoon (San Pang) (Unknown, TW)

Best Pair: Tay Tawan Vihokratana (Karan) and New Thitipoom Techa-apaikhun (Achi) (Cherry Magic Thailand, TH)

Best Actor: Lee Tae Vin (Tae Myung Ha, Love for Love’s Sake, KR)

Best Ghost Ship: Mawin/Ton (23.5, TH)

Best Friendship: Three Must-eat-eers: Prem, Dynamite, Samsee (Cooking Crush, TH)

Best Side Ship: Fire/Dynamite (Cooking Crush, TH)

Best Main Ship: Shiba/Haruto (Doku Koi: Doku mo Sugireba Koi to Naru (Love Is A Poison), JP)

Best OST Song: “Camino” - Let Free The Curse Of Taekwondo, KR (performed by Gogang, music and lyrics by Gogang and Jung Mijin)

Best Music: 4Minutes, TH (Banana Sound Studio, composer: Toy Terdsak Janpan, MS: Pimmata Patpibul, Jeerapat Jongkolsongkroh)

Best Production: Love For Love's Sake, KR (AD: Ha Ye Rim)

Best Original Story: Hwang Da Seul (Let Free The Curse Of Taekwondo, KR)

Best Adapted Story: Toyama Erika (I Became the Star of a BL Drama, adapted from BL Drama no Shuen ni Narimashita by Suzuri Machi, JP)

Best Direction: 25 Ji, Akasaka de (At 25:00 In Akasaka), JP (Dir: Horie Takahiro and Kawasaki Ryo, DP: Hanamura Yasushi, Ed: Kitani Mizuki)

Best GL: Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna (She Loves to Cook and She Loves To Eat) (NHK, JP)

Best Pulp: Knock Knock, Boys! (Kongthup Production/WeTV, TH)

Best Romantic Comedy: Doku Koi: Doku mo Sugireba Koi to Naru (Love Is A Poison) (TBS, JP)

Best Romantic Drama: 25 Ji, Akasaka de (At 25:00 In Akasaka) (TV Tokyo, JP)

Best Genre Romance: Love For Love’s Sake (Wavve Studios, KR)

Show of the Year: Let Free The Curse Of Taekwondo (Studio Him Energetic Company, KR)

Honourable Mentions: 

7 Days Before Valentine (TH) - Experimental

Tadaima Okaeri and Twilight Out of Focus (JP) - Animated

6th Man Awards: 

Dome Jaruwat Cheawaram (Cooking Crush, Jack & Joker)

Title Kirati Puangmalee (We Are, Wandee Goodday, Kidnap)

Standout Queer Narratives: 

Ossan no Pantsu ga Nandatte Ii Janai ka (Don’t Care For An Old Man’s Underwear) (JP) - family drama

Marahuyo Project (PH) - community drama

Love In The Big City (KR) - slice of life drama

Kimi no Tsugu Kaori wa (Fragrance You Inherit) (JP) - family drama

Interview With the Vampire (US) - southern gothic drama

00:00:00 - Welcome

NiNi

Welcome to The Conversation, the Queer Media And Brown Liquor Podcast.

Ben

I'm Ben, the media critic.

NiNi

I’m NiNi, the VIIBs queen.

Ben

And we are your drunk Caribbean uncle and auntie who are sitting on the porch in the rocking chairs.

NiNi

We’re here to talk queer film and dramas, with a special focus on Asian QL.

Ben

So if you like to dive deep into queer stories…

NiNi

If you like cracked out takes on art and commerce in queer media…

Ben

If you just enjoy simping for attractive people…

NiNi

We believe in simping!

Ben

Tune in!

00:00:55 - Introduction: It's Awards Season Once More

*trumpet fanfare*

Ben 

And we're back. It's time for our favorite annual tradition. It's time for the VIIB Awards.

NiNi 

Yes, we are here to discuss all the best things that we saw in 2024 and that you should watch, as well. We've got five main categories in the VIIB Awards. Acting, ships, immortal technique, top tings, and our special class awards.

Ben 

For those of you who are new to us, this is the Very Important Internet BL Awards. NiNi and I started our show on this and we will be handing out plates once again to our favorite boys, girls, and otherwise stellar performers.

Ben 

NiNi got deep into her cups before we started and she was late, so unfortunately I am also deep into my cups already.

NiNi

So we're just gonna have some fun and try to get through these as quickly as possible before we get blotto.

00:02:09 - Acting!

NiNi

Let's start with our acting awards.

The great thing about being an actor is that you're invited into people's worlds that you normally would never be invited into. People want to tell their stories, they want to be seen, they want to be understood. As an actor you just get to go on these incredible journeys that most people are never invited to or never have an opportunity to travel.

Mark Ruffalo

NiNi

And the first award is Rising Star. Our awardee for Rising Star this year is Aungpao Ochiris Suwanacheep, who played Dynamite in Cooking Crush and Khaopan in My Love Mix-Up. 

We love Aungpao on this podcast. We loved Dynamite. It was the first thing we ever saw him do, and we fell immediately in love with the character. And every time I've seen Aungpao since then this year, he has delivered. So I'm really looking forward to seeing what he does next. Very excited about him.

Ben 

I'm so excited for him. I thought he did a great job in both of his roles despite feelings I have about both shows. Congratulations, sir. We will be sending you a plate.

NiNi 

Did we ever decide what we're putting on these plates? We're going into the third year of the VIIB awards and we don't know what's going on these plates.

Ben 

It is clearly gonna be like two Caribbean mason jars full of like a fruity drink.

NiNi 

It’s gonna be brown liquor! [laughs] 

Ben 

Hell yeah.

NiNi 

Amazing. 

*xylophone sound*

Our next award is going to the Best Cast of the year, and this award is for the best ensemble performance, including individual performances, chemistry, and interplay.

Ben 

This is going to go to the cast of Unknown, including Modi–also known as Chris Chiu, Kurt Huang, Tammy Lin, and Kim Jae Hoon. 

This was really a special cast playing off a really complicated dynamic which takes place in-world over the course of years. So we had to watch them play maturing characters in ever-changing dynamics the whole time. Really stellar group performance from them and it resulted in some really standout individual scenes that are easy highlight reel footage.

NiNi 

They were the best cast that we saw this year in terms of the way that they gelled together and the individual performances. So congratulations, plate for you guys from Unknown.

What's our next award, Ben?

Ben 

Best Pair! Best Pair goes to the best couple performance, including individual performances, chemistry, and interplay between them. This is basically going to, because this is a romance show awards, the best couple that we saw from the acting pair this year.

NiNi 

Best Pair for 2024 is Tay Tawan Vihokratana and New Thitipoom Techaapaikhun playing Karan and Achi in Cherry Magic Thailand.

Cherry Magic Thailand was one of the best things that we saw last year, and Tay Tawan and New Thitipoom have been around for a really long time. They’ve been working together for about eight years, and every time they come back they're better and better and better, and I think that Cherry Magic Thailand was probably the best that I've ever seen them. I have not always been a New fan but he has shut my mouth lately, and I love Tay Tawan.

Best pair of the year.

Ben 

I was really impressed by them because taking over a work that is so beloved and having to perform characters that already have very strong, memorable performances is a really difficult task to do. And I think these two did a good job balancing our expectations of their dynamic based upon previous outings with meeting the demands of the work that they were adapting. That was an incredibly well done execution by both of them.

*xylophone sound*

NiNi 

Our final award in the acting category is our Best Actor, and that's for the Best Performance of the Year. Ben, who is our Best Actor for 2024?

Ben 

It's Lee Taevin for his role as Tae Myungha from Love for Love's Sake. 

Lee Taevin really wanted to take on a role like this, and he did such a great job playing the complex layers of darkness and difficulty that his character is carrying in this. It is hard to get too deep into the nuances of his performance without spoiling it for those who have not listened to our previous episode or watched the show. But in a year with some really, really strong performances within BL, the top performance goes to Lee Taevin.

NiNi 

He really stood out this year. I mean, we had a little bit of a hard time picking this one, but we landed up on him because Tae Myungha is such a visceral character. I felt everything that they wanted the character to have us feel. All the confusion, all the despair, I really, really felt the depth of his work.

Ben

Lee Taevin the veteran actor amongst the cast here, and he's the type of actor who clearly elevates other actors around them. That's a pretty important skill for him to have developed at his relatively young age. 

So congratulations, sir. Hope to see more of you next year.

00:08:00 - Ships Ahoy!

NiNi 

Moving on to our ships category.

Ben 

It's time for our SIMPY Awards! Let's go girls!

Hot Priest: Love is awful. It's awful, it's painful, it's frightening. It makes you doubt yourself, judge yourself, distance yourself from the other people in your life. It makes you selfish, makes you creepy, makes you obsessed with your hair, makes you cruel, makes you say and do things you never thought you would do.

Sister: There's something wrong with your priest.

Hot Priest: It's all any of us want and it's hell when we get there so no wonder it's something we don't want to do on our own. I was taught if we're born with love then life is about choosing the right place to put it. People talk about that a lot, it feeling right. When it feels right it's easy. But I'm not sure that's true. It takes strength to know what's right. Love isn't something that weak people do. Being a romantic takes a hell of a lot of hope. I think what they mean is when you find somebody that you love, it feels like hope.

Fleabag, Season 2 Episode 6

NiNi

I'm going to let Ben take it away with our first award in the ship category, which is the Best Ghost Ship. It should have happened and we should have seen it. So who is our best ghost ship of 2024?

Ben 

It's Mawin and Ton from 23.5.

This is how Euro can still win. We're gonna give him an award [NiNi laughs] because they should have let him kiss one of the twins in the last goddamn year or so.

NiNi 

He should have let him kiss both of the twins. He had the chance.

Ben 

We went with this one because there was an interesting narrative reason for them to have leaned into the tension that his character, Mawin, was developing with Ton, particularly because of his crush on a different character. In this case, more than any of them, they should have let them kiss…just a little bit.

NiNi 

Euro, we love you on this podcast. One of these days they will let you kiss a boy. I swear.

*xylophone sound*

Okay, moving on to the greatest of the ships, Best Friendship.

Ben 

This goes to our best besties of the year. This is not an award for the people who are the best at supporting the romantic outcomes for a couple. It is about the characters whose friendship itself is so critical to the function of these characters' lives that it in some ways challenges or even supersedes any of the romances that occur in the work. 

NiNi 

Our winners for Best Friendship go to the Three Must-eat-ers Prem, Dynamite, and Samsee from Cooking Crush, because without their friendship Cooking Crush does not work at all. It is probably more central to the story than the relationships between Prem and Ten and between Dynamite and Fire. They focus on each other and they care about each other and they're allowed to get angry at each other and when they're angry at each other they apologize for the stupid shit that they did.

Ben

We had two veteran actors who I love a lot playing Samsee and Prem with a newcomer in Dynamite. And I think it was really impressive to see the two veterans support the newcomer and create a beloved character as a result. 

This group has a real fight and breakdown in the show that challenges the core friendship itself. I found myself more moved by the resolution of the fight this friend group was having than I was any of the romantic challenges.

NiNi 

Congratulations to the Three Must-eat-ers. We will be sending you a plate.

*xylophone sound*

Ben 

On to Best Side Ship, NiNi's favorite award every goddamn year! [both laugh]

NiNi 

We decided this year that we were not gonna fight over this award. The best side ship goes to the secondary couple who best reinforce the themes of the primary couple's story.

Ben, you tell the people who has won.

Ben 

It's going to Fire and Dynamite. You thought I was done awarding Aungpao. [snickers]

NiNi 

We're never done awarding Aungpao.

Ben

You had this really interesting dynamic with Ten fighting his dad and Prem dealing with his own anxieties where on the opposite side you had Dynamite presenting himself as really forthright and open about what he is and Fire avoiding his mom. These two balanced out very well with their main couple of their show and it's not a surprise that the best side ship went to also the show with the best friendship because the character and relationship writing on this show was really stand out.

This was one of Neo's, not best known performances, but truly one of my favorites that he's done. I really liked what he did with Fire, especially coming off of playing Boston. That man is an incredibly talented actor and we are very lucky that he shows up so often for us.

NiNi 

Congratulations Fire and Dynamite, we will be sending you a plate.

Ben 

I just want everybody out there who thinks I hate GMMTV to know that, while I do have beef with them, I am not incapable of applauding good work when I see it.

*xylophone sound*

All right, Best Main Ship. We are in a romance genre. We're here for couples that we believe can make it. This always goes to the couple whose love story we actually buy into and believe. These are the people you return to. These are the ones you show people and they're like, what should I watch? These boys! Sit down!

NiNi, who is our best main ship of the year?

NiNi

Our Best Main Ship of the year is Shiba and Haruto from Love is a Poison, Japanese title Doku koi: Doku mo sugeriba koi to naru. 

The show was hilarious and had so much heart and Shiba and Haruto's relationship at the center of it all is really what pulled me in. The acting is amazing, the writing is amazing, this is a true battle couple (@lurkingshan). They got together and decided that they were going to stand shoulder to shoulder, back to back and fight off everybody who tried to come for them.

I believe in them. I believe that they'll last.

Ben 

This show has a fist bump involving rings that legit made me understand what it means to swoon. This show whipped ass! It may seem like an oddity show, ignore that part. Just go fucking watch it (@solitaryandwandering). 

This show understood all of the reservations the audience might have from their initial reaction to them and went out of their way to demolish them. This show was fucking fun and I really loved these two so much. I will be thinking about that man's fake posing during their photo opportunities. I'll be thinking about that towel sequence where he threw it on him in the onsen. Don't think I forgot! [NiNi laughs] These guys were great.

NiNi

They even got to have a yukata moment.

Ben 

They sure did! [snickers]

NiNi 

They fell in love so hard and it was delightful to watch.

Ben 

I just love when a couple fights for each other, especially when one of them can't.

NiNi 

My god. He squared up and then got his ass beat. And it was incredible. [both laugh]

No notes.

00:16:31 - Immortal Technique

Ben 

It's time to do some more traditional awards. We're moving on to Immortal Technique, where we talk about technical and production related awards.

This is one of my favorite sections every year because this is the one that rewards you for paying attention to details.

NiNi 

This is also the one where we basically talk about the people behind the scenes, the people whose names are in the credits but who don't get a lot of credit, and we always love to give that credit out on our show.

As a director I, I kind of, I, I have quite a good ability at—at the very beginning when we're first starting to write the screenplay—I have quite a good ability to imagine the film in my head. Like you know even the very first page of, of, of the script as we do it I can start to imagine the camera angles, the music, I can start to feel how the film's coming together and I sort of have this imaginary film starting to be put together and that's right back at the beginning. And uh, in this case we started this process about five or six years ago and then what happens during the course of the movie is that this this film that's playing in my head always gets modified because as you design the sets, you know then the sets that we've designed replace the ones that I originally sort of imagined and then as the actors come on board their faces put fit into the characters I imagined. And so my little internal movie is always changing and being updated so that, um, it's, it's you know it always ends up better. Everything, every time my film in my head gets changed it's, it's improving all the time because all these all these other people are coming on board and giving their input into it.

Peter Jackson, interviewed by Charlie Rose, 2002

NiNi

We're starting with Best OST Song, and this is for the song as recorded. The style or genre, does the song fit the mood of the show, composition and arrangement, production and performance, usage and listenability. Basically, is it a bop and do you think about it a lot? 

So Ben, what is our Best OST Song of the year?

Ben 

This was actually a pretty extensive discussion we had in the background about this one, but in the end, we are excited to award Camino from Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo, performed by Gogang, music and lyrics by Gogang and Jung Mi Jin.

NiNi 

Man, I love this song. Every time it came on at the beginning of an episode, you just felt yourself sinking into the place that the show wanted you to be. It starts off with this acapella harmonizing that just really got you into your feelings. And then a little bit of piano, a little bit of strings, It was very not flashy, but really effective. 

If you have not watched Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo, I don't know what you're waiting for. Listen to the song in context, then go listen to it out of context. It's a great song.

Ben 

I'm rewatching it right now with Emily. We just started the first episode and legit, the intro starts and she's like, it's one of those shows.

NiNi 

Exactly, puts you straight into the right place that you need to be in.

*xylophone sound*

Ben 

Our next award is for the Best Music. This is the use of music overall. Scoring, music supervision, music editing. It's all about where and how music is used throughout the entire production. As usual, we had a lot of feelings about this one. But in the end, NiNi, we decided to award...

NiNi 

4 Minutes. The composer is Toy Terdsak Janpan, music supervisors Pimmata Patpibul and Jeerapat Jongkolsongkroh and done by Banana Sound Studio.

4 Minutes, one thing that it did do well was everything around the production. And the music in particular was very evocative and very effective at setting mood. The show worked very effectively through the soundscape. It was well done. Kudos to them.

*xylophone sound*

Ben

On to Best Production! This is kind of a catch-all award goes into production design and art direction, set design and dressing, location choice, costuming and hair, makeup, and a little bit of sound design color grading and editing. This is about shows that do a good job with their world building, their aesthetic, and basically do they really capture the vibe.

NiNi 

Best Production this year goes to Love for Love's Sake, art director Ha Ye Rim.

Ben 

You've got a person who is essentially isekai'd into another world. Like he passes out in our world, wakes up inside of what feels like a video game. And they have to convey a lot of details about what's going on with the mechanics of the video game and all the ways that the world is behaving around him. None of this is very easy to do, particularly on a very short runtime. And they manage to give us all of the information and details we need without huge exposition dumps. And they do such a great job.

There are some key details, particularly the work they do with Tae Myungha's eyes and his hair in particular. This is one of those shows that really rewarded us as viewers for paying attention to more details than just what was happening in the subtitles or when the boys were at their prettiest smiling at each other. Paying attention was such an important part of really being able to embrace and understand this experience.

NiNi

It was incredibly impressive, the way that they built up the video game world and all the ways that the video game starts to glitch. It starts so subtly, you almost can't tell and then by the time it builds up you start thinking back to all the little things that showed up in the background that told you that the game was glitching. It is really serious attention to detail that they put into this show and for that we award them a plate.

*xylophone sound*

We're going to move on now to the writing awards, the first one is Best Original Story. So that is for premise, story, screenplay, stage directions, dialogue, character voice, all the things that go into writing an original story.

Ben 

This year's award goes to Hwang da Seul for Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo. Welcome back, ma'am, and well deserved. 

My goodness gracious me. Good job, ma’am. This was one of the most stunning experiences we got to have this year. Once again, you were determined to make us love some boys and then break them up for a ridiculous amount of time and make us really root for them to get back together. And holy shit, you did a great job this time. This was honestly such an unexpected and really special experience. 

The reason why we award Original Story is a significant amount of BL is adapted. A lot of productions, for a lot of valid reasons, rely on adapting existing work that already has a fan base that's ready to support it again and advocate for it. It's always really impressive when someone does something original that manages to cut through the noise and become one of the most memorable things we may have ever watched in genre.

NiNi 

The writing of that confessional scene where Shin Juyoung takes his cross off and puts his forehead on the wall and confesses through the wall. I mean, I don't know how somebody comes up with that, but I got goosebumps.

Ben 

There's the bit where Hyunho is going to Dohoe's house to get something. And Shin Juyoung shows up and we just see the three of them staring at each other in a hallway. There is not much dialogue in this sequence, but that is such a charged moment. Incredible stuff.

*xylophone sound*

NiNi 

So from original story, we're moving to the Best Adapted Story. This is for adaptation of a source work from another medium or another culture. 

Ben, who wrote our best adapted story?

Ben 

Toyama Erika for I Became the Star of a BL Drama, adapted from BL drama no shuen ni narimashita by Suzuri Machi. 

This was the first thing we watched on New Year's Eve into New Year's. This was the show that set the standard of the year for me. This show was legitimately funny. In a really short runtime, they captured the total essence of the story. 

What a solid experience to start the year. And good news, gays, theys, and thems—it’s getting a sequel. [snickers]

NiNi 

[laughs] We are. We are. I'm so excited about that.

Congratulations to Toyama Erika, who wrote, I'm sorry, the best line of the year when the writer of the drama within the drama says, “We will drown the audience in the BL goodness.”

Ben 

That line stands alongside “Every fujoshi has a dick in her heart.”

NiNi

Congratulations to our original story and adapted story writers, Hwang da Seul and Toyama Erika. We will be sending you plates.

*xylophone sound*

Our final technical award goes to Best Direction. This award is for overall vision, filmmaking style and visual impact, photography, cinematography, shot selection, and direction of actor movement and expression. This is usually awarded to the directing team, which usually consists of the director, the director of photography or the cinematographer, and the editor. 

Ben, which show had the best direction of 2024?

Ben 

It's going to 25 Ji, Akasaka de, AKA At 25:00 in Akasaka. Directed by Hori Takahiro and Kawasaki Rio, DP Hanamura Yasushi, and edited by Kitani Mizuki. 

We just awarded I Became the Main Role in a BL Drama. And then this show released and I was like, are we doing this again, but moody? And they said, we sure are! 

And we loved it. I cannot believe we got similar premises in the same year and both were standout productions of the year. I'm a sucker for actors playing actors. And I really loved the work that went into this particular show.

NiNi 

The way that the show plays with the camera, inside the show inside the show, the way the camera kind of zooms in to immerse you in the moment, and then pulls back out to show you how fake the moment is.  They really make an effort to blur that line between real and fake, which is a big theme in the show. So very well done.

Ben

My favorite section every year. BL is really silly sometimes and there's a wide range of quality. And I don't think it's always for a lack of effort on people's part. But damn is it really good to have some things that are good enough that you are willing to show it to some of your bougie friends to make them sit down and watch some fucking BL. Thank you to everyone.

NiNi 

Thank you to all of our Immortal Technique winners. You will be getting your plates in the mail if we ever get around to sending out these magical plates. [Ben laughs] But y'all did good and we love you.

00:29:05 - Top Tings

NiNi 

Let's move on to our top tings. All the best things that we saw this year.

Ben 

Historically we've awarded these on some genre lines, but primarily country lines. With the greater diversification of the genre and also the absence of certain countries for economic and political reasons, we have opted to not award based on countries anymore.

We are going to be awarding on genre-oriented categories only. With that being said, NiNi, take us in.

MC: Gentlemen, pray silence for the President of the Royal Society for Putting Things on Top of Other Things.

President: I thank you, gentlemen. The year has been a good one for the society. Our Members have put more things on top of other things than ever before. But I should warn you, this is no time for complacency now. There are still many things that are I cannot emphasize too strongly,  not on top of other things. I myself on my way here this evening saw a thing that was not on top of another thing in any way. Shame indeed. But we must not allow ourselves to become too despondent for we must never forget that if there was not one thing that was not on top of another thing, our society would be nothing more than a meaningless body of men gathered together for no good purpose. 

Monty Python, The Royal Society for Putting Things On Top Of Other Things

NiNi 

We're going to start with the Best GL. Well, there's no competition really in 2024.

Ben 

It is Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna, AKA She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat from NHK in Japan. 

NHK really delivered for us and I was so relieved when they actually came back to continue the She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat story. Because after the first 10 episodes, we were not finished.

The ongoing exploration of queerness and relationships between women in the modern era was just so excellent in this show. It had adult women of various ages interacting with each other across those age lines and trying to support each other in meaningful ways. And we got really great development on the core relationship.

There was a lot of new GL this year and I'm looking forward to some more projects and I hope we have a wider field to choose from next year. But this is unequivocally our winner of the year. Nobody can compete with the chosen family scene. It's over for everyone else. I'm sorry.

NiNi 

I love the way that they expanded the show, expanded the cast to bring in somebody new moving into the apartment building, to bring in Nomoto's internet friend that she turned into a real friend. Really expanding the world and getting more into the relationships between all of these characters, all of these amazing women. I love it so much. It's the best GL that we watched this year.

*xylophone sound*

Ben

Our next award goes to the Best Pulp for shows with a small budget that have a big impact. It's very hard sometimes when you're working on tiny budgets to say big things. And it's really impressive when that show clearly has a strong creative handle on what it wants to do and what it wants to accomplish. It's easy to award the studios that have a lot of money and a big actor pool and can produce a lot of stuff. Something's probably gonna be good if you try often enough. It's always really cool when a small team comes out of nowhere and delivers one of the best things you saw this year. 

With that in mind, NiNi, who is our best pulp of the year?

NiNi 

Surprising absolutely no one, our best pulp of the year is Knock Knock Boys! by Kongthup Production and WeTV from Thailand. 

Knock Knock Boys! was an amazing pulp that used its small budget incredibly well. Some great acting, some sharp writing, just incredible all around. Took what they had and ran with it. I still think about Almond and Latte not having sex at the beach. I think that's one of the best scenes that I've seen this year. A great little show.

Ben

This show absolutely fucks. Go watch it!

NiNi 

Nothing more needs to be said.

Ben 

[laughs] Girl, I am halfway through this bottle. I need to slow down.

NiNi 

I'm so leaving that in. 

*xylophone sound*

Our next award goes to the Best Romantic Comedy. Live, love, laugh. I'm leaving that in as well. 

Ben, What's the funniest and most warmed we felt all year?

Ben 

This year's winner is Doku koi: Doku mo sugireba koi to naru AKA Love is a Poison. 

The show was just that funny consistently for 12 weeks. It's hard to be funny for 12 weeks. This show earned every single laugh it got. And they use their laughs to tell some really dirty jokes.

NiNi 

I just keep thinking about the succulents. [both laughs] The succulents making all those sighing noises. The succulents were one of the best things about this show and if you want to know what that means you should go watch it. It's an incredible show, incredibly funny. I laughed out loud multiple times. It's a delightful romantic comedy.

*xylophone sound*

Ben

Our next award goes to the Best Romantic Drama.

NiNi, who is our awardee for this year?

NiNi

Once again from Japan, the best romantic drama is 25 Ji, Akasaka de, At 25:00 in Akasaka by TV Tokyo. I am stuck on this show in a way that I did not expect to be when I watched it. Just the emotions involved between Hayama and Shirasaki and how long they've been going on and how tangled up they are because they are working together playing lovers and can't really disentangle real from fake.

Ben 

I really think about the way Niihara delivers “Asami-san” across the entire show. And I really feel like this show kicked into overdrive. I think it's around the end of episode four when Shirasaki is struggling with delivering the big confession scene in the drama they're recording within the show. The way we arrive at the end point of that, it's really one of the most effective episodes of television we got in BL this year.

NiNi 

I'm not gonna stop thinking about it ever, I think. Congratulations to 25 Ji, Akasaka de. You get a plate.

NiNi 

Moving on to the Best Genre Romance. This is for romance blended with sci-fi, fantasy, horror, action, and or mystery elements.

Ben 

This year's winner is Love for Love’s Sake from Wavve Studios.

It's really hard to do sci-fi well and give the audience an interesting relationship to sit with. Without spoilers, I really like that the audience has had a wide field of complex reactions to the end of this particular story. I think that that is a really strong indicator of how well the show explored the various things it wanted to do. It's really, really hard in sci-fi to do relationships that are meaningful because in sci-fi, it's more about the human condition and exploring complex ideas. The characters are more stand-ins for societal ideas that the story wants to pick at. 

This was an incredible job with a newcomer, no less, delivering on a really compelling and complex relationship. Man, I'm still thinking about that shoes moment.

NiNi 

My god.

Ben 

Hold on, I'm in my feelings.

NiNi 

The VIIB awards when Ben gets in his feelings. No, it was really so good.

Ben 

He shouted that man's name and he said run and then his shoes let off sparks and I screamed in my house. The scream I scrumpt!

NiNi

This is really a great one. One of the things about genre romances, it's really important for the genre elements to matter, for them to be integrally integrated into the story and the themes. That's one of the things that we look for in a good genre romance. 

Ben 

When Tae Myungha got the ability to see who Cha Yeowoon dislikes the most and he's going around and surveying the field, that hurt my feelings.

NiNi

My lord that was a moment to end moments.

Ben 

This really was an excellent show. This was not an easy decision for us, but this is why this show pushed ahead.

NiNi 

Congratulations to Love for Love's Sake. You get a plate.

*xylophone sound*

All right, Ben.

Ben 

It's time, baby! Show Of The Year!

NiNi

We are ready to award the best fucking thing we watched this year in QL.

Ben 

If you ain't watched fuck-all this year because you're too busy, you got too much else going on. If you only have time for one BL, please go watch our awardee, Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo from Studio Him Energetic Company.

It wasn't even close. I'm sorry to everybody else this year. [both laugh]

NiNi

It was not. It was not even close.

Ben

Look, last year I almost fucking murdered NiNi over La Pluie. [NiNi laughs] 

NiNi

I do remember. 

Ben

We met in person and I almost fucking killed her over the show.

NiNi

But this year it wasn't even a discussion, really. Obviously we enjoyed some other things, but one show really stood out and this was it. Hwang Da Seul is back. And she's killing the fucking game.

Ben 

We already spoke extensively about this show in an earlier episode, but we barely scratched the surface of everything we could have talked about in that show. That was a complete viewing experience. Not a moment of our time was wasted on extra bullshit. This was a stellar show and it is hands down head and shoulders above the other things we watched this year.

NiNi 

I just keep thinking about Dohoe asking Juyoung if he dressed up for him while he starts undressing him. Amazing show, incredible show. We can talk about it forever. 

Congratulations, Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo. You will get a plate. That's gonna wrap up our standard class awards.

00:41:43 - Special Class Awards

NiNi

Now we move into where Ben really gets to enjoy himself. Ben would not do the VIIB Awards if we did not do special class.

Ben 

Here's the background for the new people. When NiNi first approached me about doing a podcast together, she's like, let's start with an award show. Like it's the end of the year. Let's award the shows we really liked this year. And it was all like super queer cinema type stuff. And NiNi's like, okay, but I want to give BL shows awards. 

So we compromised and we put all of the queer shit whose primary goal was not to tell romantic stories overall into their own special class so we could highlight them. We thought this was a good compromise because BL is a romance genre, and the shows that I typically like to award here are not romances. But these are the shows that I support BL for. The market that enjoys BL has enough crossover with some of these types of queer dramas that it enables them to get made. So, it's time to hand out our special class awards so I can once again talk about all of my favorite things.

00:43:11 - Special Class: Honourable Mentions

Ben

Let's begin with our honorable mentions. These go to shows that we think contributed to the genre for any number of various ways.

And I want to say to all of you out there nervously waiting. Remember one thing. No matter what happens tonight, you're all winners. Because as you know, it is an honor just to be *wails* NOMINATED! 

I’m fine, fine, fine. 

Nathan Lane, 1995 Tony Awards

NiNi 

I wanted to highlight in the honorable mentions 7 Days Before Valentine. We talked about this one a little bit in one of our grab bags. This was a highly experimental piece that I really enjoyed and has surprisingly stuck with me. I still keep thinking about it. It's not BL exactly. It's kind of BL-ish. It's not, it's queer, it's not queer. It's very genre, it's also not genre. It's a little bit of everything when I described it in the grab bag, I described it as something that made me feel like I was sitting in a theater watching actors do an experimental play.

Ben 

It is from the same screenwriter/playwright/director who also gave us 180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us. We wanted to highlight that Punnasak Sukee is still working.

NiNi 

It's very different kind of work but, I think, really worth watching. Our other honorable mentions come from Japan.

Ben 

It's time for the Anime Awards. Brother in the booth, play the sound!

*bright sparkle sound*

Ben 

There were about 10-odd anime projects that were BL or BL-adjacent that came out last year, only some of which were reasonably accessible to Westerners.

I want to highlight Tadaima, Okaeri and Twilight Out of Focus. Tadaima, Okaeri  is the best Omegaverse project that came out in this year. Wild time to be in BL. But Tadaima, Okaeri uses the convention of that genre to tell a story about a married gay couple with kids who are still growing their family, and it's really heartfelt. So many stories we watch are about guys getting together and the uphill challenges they fight to do that and whether or not we believe in them. This story was one hundred percent about that belief we had in them. These guys are together. They've already gone through their BL drama. We're watching them build a home. We're watching them raise their son and then their daughter.

This was a really unexpected and really incredible viewing experience. Omegaverse is not for everyone, but truly this was one of the standout narratives that I got to experience this year. I still think about this family at least once a week.

On the other end of the spectrum, Twilight Out of Focus was about a film club at a high school that allows us to explore three different relationships where in two of them, someone is already a known gay. This was a really special show that was unpacking a lot of BL presumptions. Studio Deen came back this year with Twilight Out of Focus. And it's continuing to ask the question in a context where a lot of people's first experiences with queer storytelling and queer identity is coming through BL, what responsibility does BL have to the boys and girls and other kids who are discovering themselves and BL is informing how they're going to interact with their potential partners? This show does this in a really elegant way without dunking on BL in the process. Also, the animation is gorgeous, truly.

Both of these are available on Crunchyroll. Please give them a chance.

00:47:36 - Special Class: Mark Pakin 6th Man Awards

NiNi 

We are moving on in our special class to the Sixth Man Award, or what we like to call the Mark Pakin Awards, because that's who we originally awarded this award to.

Interviewer: What was your preparation as sixth men? 

Jamal Crawford: You have to warm up different. Got my body…I knew I'd be cooling down, so I'm over…I didn't go to the bike, but I'll go to the hallway 'cause. I was stretching when I was on the bench. I was stretch off and I was mentally, more than anything, I would mentally put myself in the game before I got in the game. Oh, they're playing like this. They playing that pick and roll. He's sitting back right there. Okay, he's going for hands up. Oh, he's going for the left hands, okay. So I'm putting myself in, so I'm playing the game before I actually play the game. I'm like, you got more more. How much you see on my other plan? You like this, okay. You got to stick to it right here because I'm trying to send you left back to your right mother. This guy. That one guy is blitzing because he can get up the other guy. So I'm just watching different things, dude, and so I'm putting myself in the game, but I'm making my own adjustments. Before the play even happened.

Jamal Crawford, 3-time NBA 6th Man of the Year

NiNi

This award acknowledges the most valuable and versatile supporting actors of the year for on-screen and off-screen contributions. Our sixth man is somebody who can come on to a project, and just fire away, go right in. Basically, it's a gunslinger. It's coming off the bench and doing everything that needs to get done.

We've got two sixth man awards to hand out this year and I'm going to let Ben take the first one.

Ben

My award is going to Dome Jaruwat Cheawaram for his acting work in Cooking Crush as Samsee and for his composer work on Jack and Joker. 

Dome has been around BL for a very long time. I still listen to the song he sang for Until We Meet Again. This man has been in the streets with us for a long time. And I think he did a really fantastic job with the Samsee character. This man is always working. He is in the background somewhere doing something to entertain people. And we really wanted to acknowledge that this year.

So congratulations, sir. Thank you for all the work you do. And I really hope that people continue to appreciate your presence.

NiNi 

He is a great actor. He's a great musician, and he is one of our Sixth Men of the Year.

Our second Sixth Man Award this year is going to go to Title Kirati Puangmalee from We Are, Wandee Goodday, and Kidnap. He's been around and he continues to be around. And this year he gave us three very different performances.

Ben 

He's been with us as early as Love By Chance and he started with GMMTV for us on Be My Favorite, playing a heel there. Once Gunsmile left GMMTV, he stepped into that role to be the dude we hate. Good job, sir. You're doing a great job.

NiNi

This year he also played people that we liked, so great. He was one of the best parts of Kidnap because his character was entirely unhinged and nobody ever called him on it. Delightful. Every time he shows up, I know I'm going to have a good time. He is a good, solid actor, he can show up and do whatever you need him to do. 

So congratulations to Title Kirati Puangmalee for being one of 2024's sixth men.

00:51:13 - Special Class: Standout Queer Narratives

NiNi

We are on to our final awards, our Standout Queer Narratives of the Year.

Talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, showstopping, spectacular. Never the same. Totally unique. Completely not ever been done before. Unafraid to reference or not reference. Put It in a blender. Shit on it. Vomit on it. Eat it. Give birth to it. 

Lady Gaga

NiNi

These awards acknowledge queer drama works that are not primarily romances.

Ben 

We're going to be talking about five different shows this year. Ossan no pantsu ga nandatte iijanaika!, aka Don't Care for an Old Man's Underwear from Japan, a family drama. We're going to be talking about Marahuyo Project from the Philippines, a community drama. We're going to be discussing Love in the Big City, a very complicated adult coming of age drama,Kimi no tsugu kaori wa, aka Fragrance You Inherit from Japan, a very interesting family drama. And finally, Interview with the Vampire Season 2, a Southern Gothic drama from the United States of all places.

NiNi 

We almost never talk about Western shows in standout queer narratives.

Ben 

That's how good that show is. That's how good it is.

NiNi 

Let's start there then.

Ben

Interview with the Vampire Season 2 continues this narrative. Louie and Claudia are in Europe and we're dealing with the fallout of their attempt to kill Lestat at the end of Season 1. What's so special about Season 2 is honestly, Jacob Anderson. I also want to give some special shout out to Delainey Hayles, who has to take over the role of Claudia in this season. And she does an incredible job. Assad Zaman and Eric Bogosian really step up in this season and play some really stellar stuff, and Emily would kill me if I didn't mention Ben Daniels’ work as Santiago. 

This is fundamentally a gay drama about unwell divorced people. And it remains one of the most compelling watches that I get to look forward to.

NiNi 

I have not watched this one yet. I'm working on cutting down my list this year by actually watching things. So this is on the list, definitely of things that I'm going to watch. It's been making too much noise for me to not watch it.

Ben 

I will say sincerely, as someone who really swoons for really strong actor chemistry and performances, if you had watched Interview, you would not have awarded Best Pair to Doku Koi.

NiNi 

It's standout queer narrative, they don't go into the BL parts.

Ben 

You all see why this award show works the way it does! [both laugh]

But sincerely, that's how good the two of them are. they're not really in a proper romance because they're so fucked up. [NiNi laughs] But goddamn, Jacob and Sam are the two men I look the most forward to playing queer characters. And this show has a complex lens on queerness over the course of centuries, which adds an incredible layer to the performance.

It's hard to do sequels to romantic stories. I loved the second season of Interview in many ways more than I loved the first season, but I would not have been able to enjoy the second season without the first season. That is truly what makes a second season really good, when it builds on what the first season did and elevates that to a whole new level; a really special experience this year. It is rare that I go out of my way to recommend Western Queer TV on this podcast. But in this particular case, I highly recommend Interview with the Vampire.

NiNi 

It's on my list and steadily climbing.

The next show on our standout queer narratives list is a show that we actually haven't talked about yet but will be talking about coming up soon. Fragrance You Inherit, Kimi no tsugu kaori wa from Japan, a family drama. 

Without getting too deep into it, which we are going to do on its own episode, Ben, just give the people a little taste of what Fragrance You Inherit is about.

Ben 

Fragrance You Inherit is about a single mom and her son. And it's about her meeting the son's new girlfriend, who happens to be the daughter of her college crush. The son's girlfriend is the spitting image of her mom, and this is fundamentally a show about really kind people trying to do right by each other as they navigate some unresolved feelings across two different generations. 

This is a show that could have gone a really ugly route, but I really liked that this was fundamentally a show about people trying to take care of each other. And it was a lot of fun watching a show where the primary stress comes from everyone being really polite about some very difficult things. We get to see an older lesbian who knows she's a lesbian but hasn't told her son, navigate the unresolved feelings she had for her closest female friend in college while their children pursue a really meaningful romance between them in a way that I think honors the desires and perspective of all of the characters involved. It's a really special experience and was a real surprise for us at the end of the year.

NiNi 

This is from Ishibashi Yuhuo who also did Our Dining Table, Tokyo in April Is…, I think, and a few other standout Japanese dramas that we've watched in the last few years. 

Ben 

There were not enough shots of shoes. I would not have known it was her.

NiNi 

[laughs] She does love shoes. 

This comes from a manga by Ogawa Maruni and it really surprised me. It's a GL but not a GL. It's about having built, after disappointment, having built really good, meaningful, happy lives, and then having that rocked a little bit by unresolved things from your past and where that takes you. It's also about parents and children. It's also about being honest with people in your life and how not being honest with them can lead to a lot of stress and anxiety. It is a great show. We will be talking about in a lot more detail coming up in a subsequent episode, but we wanted to award it a Standout Queer Narrative Award.

Ben 

We already discussed Love in the Big City in an earlier episode, so we will not go on at length about it here. But we are once again stating for the official record of the VIIB Awards, that this is honestly the show not to miss this year. There is so much that went into getting this show even made.

The entire experience we get with Go Young across his 20s and four difficult periods of his life is honestly one of the most meaningful queer experiences I got to have in communion with other people in the last couple of years. Everything about reading Love in the Big City and watching Love in the Big City is one of the most memorable experiences I've had with queer media in a long time. And I cannot overstate how good this show is and how significant the existence of the show is. 

This show for many ways fills the same sort of place as Moonlight in my queer cinema taste in viewing. I can't really chat with a queer cinephile who hasn't watched Moonlight, and Love in the Big City  is very quickly becoming one of those things. If you haven't watched Love in the Big City do not talk to me. 

Watch this one, for fuck's sake! It's that good. You owe it to yourself to get this into your psyche.

NiNi 

We talked about this show for maybe close to an hour and a half of pre-edit time and we barely scratched the surface. Since our episode went out, we have been continuing to talk about this show and finding new things to delve into. We are not going to talk about it forever, but we could. Watch it, it's worth everything, and it is one of our standout queer narratives of the year.

Our next standout queer narrative is Marahuyo Project from the Philippines. Thank god JP Habac came back this year. I was starting to lose hope.

Ben 

I'm so glad that ANIMA Studios is still in it. And I'm so glad that they came back with a project like this. It felt really special to me in a year where I found myself really struggling to connect with youth queer storytelling, this show said it was LGBTQIA +, and it meant that with its whole fucking heart. And it put its whole ass on the line to tell the stories that it wanted to tell. This was a great viewing experience. And if you care about queer art, this show is available for free on YouTube. Please go give them some support.

NiNi 

I just can't stop thinking about the back of Archie's neck.

Ben 

Mmhmm. And about Adrian Lindayag and everything that he does for queer activism in the Philippines, and I'm so glad that he got to play King.

NiNi 

Amazing show, amazing music, amazing writing, amazing direction. Oh my god, King's fourth wall breaks. Amazing. It was just such a good show with a lot of heart, a lot of real deep complex feelings to delve into.

Ben 

The funniest thing about dealing with the VIIB Awards is, like, each one of these shows would have decimated other categories it was in. Like, Marahuyo Project would have decimated Best Music. It would have been no contest. 

NiNi 

It really would have, it really would have won best music.

Ben 

I almost fought for it. I was like, I don't care. I'm giving it to them anyway. They're like dragging me off stage so I–

NiNi 

[laughs] Shhh, come on, come on, come on. No, shhh, it's time to go to bed, come on.

Ben 

We would have given Love in the Big City show of the year. Interview, if everybody else had watched it, would have definitely won genre romance, flat out. Like, that's how good all of these shows are.

NiNi 

But ultimately they are not romances.

Ben

But that's the point. [snickers]

Our last show is Don't Care For an Old Man's Underwear. We talked about this show at length earlier. This was so spectacular. This was a show where our primary character is an ignorant, misogynist, middle-aged man, and we were rooting for this man very early on in this show. And we loved him by the end of it. This show is so aspirational in a way that even some of our BLs can't really stand up to. Like this show believes that misogynistic old men can do better and have meaningful, loving, supportive, and positive relationships with their families if they just listen to them a little bit more. Good job, everybody. Way to really shoot for the best outcome you could possibly get. 

This show really modeled what relationship rebuilding and healing could look like in a way that I think is really helpful. And I really liked that a very well-known and popular Japanese comedian was in the lead role of this. Dramas like this are often really important because you have people with clout they've earned well outside of the queer narrative space doing really meaningful work in it. And these are the kinds of projects that often reach a lot more people than the BL that we talk about. Like, I feel like more people are gonna have had a gay storytelling experience because of Interview with the Vampire, more than some of these BLs we've talked about on here by a long shot. And I think for the Japanese viewing audience, I think many of them would have probably engaged with Ossan no pantsu far more likely than they would have engaged with any of the BL we highlighted on this list earlier. 

Really important to highlight these kinds of projects because these are the projects that are useful for you to show your friends and family. If you're interested in sharing BL with them, these are very good starting points to get into the rest of the genre because they are not BL, but they do open people's minds up to viewing queer media from places they might not have normally expected to get that.

NiNi 

Well said and I just love Makoto's turns of phrase. I think about them a lot, saying that the idol that his wife likes is the Okita family benefactor.

Ben 

That is exactly where my head went, too. “So Random is the Okita family's benefactor. I understand.” [laughs]

NiNi 

It's such clever writing, the way that he recasts ideas into a way that he can engage with them in an attempt to understand the things that he doesn't understand. I really enjoy that the writing puts him into the role of doing that work.

All of the shows on these lists, of course, because it's our VIIB Awards, these are really the things that we loved watching. But I think I have a special place in my heart for Oppan.

01:06:00 - Outro

Ben

We talk about a lot of shows in this podcast. We highlight a lot of things. These are the things that will be talked about well beyond this year, or at least we hope they will. Please go watch them and be part of that conversation.

NiNi 

I think the other thing that the VIIB Awards forces us to do is even in a year that we're struggling a little bit, it reminds us that, no, actually there was a lot of good stuff, too.

So anyway, there we are. Those are our VIIB Awards. We're gonna put up our final awards listing as part of the transcript for this show. So look out for that when it comes out on Tumblr. But that's gonna be it from us. The 2024 VIIB Awards are over.

Ben

I'm currently showing Emily Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo and Love in the Big City at the same time.

NiNi 

My gosh, so you're giving her the exact same experience we had. Good job.

Ben 

I sure am! [laughs] Can you believe that we got both of these shows at the same time? Like, how did they think we were supposed to process both of these shows simultaneously?

NiNi 

They weren't thinking about us, bestie. They were just like, no, we're just going to put the things out. It's time.

Ben 

Incredible. I just love the idea that a bunch of new Korean viewers who might've become interested in QL following up on Love in the Big City had Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo right there being advertised at them. Like, that is so stellar.

NiNi

That was a very good four weeks.

That is going to wrap us up on the 2024 VIIB Awards. Oh my god guys, we're done for another year.

This year, let's see what's gonna happen. Is Ben gonna not watch in the summer so he doesn't get cranky? Stay tuned to find out.

Ben 

[laughs] No promises, no demands. Love is a battlefield.

NiNi 

Woo. We have drunk too much brown liquor, it is time to go. We out. 

Say bye to the people, Ben.

Ben 

Peace!

[idlingintheimpalapodcast]

New Episode Alert: “It’s A Verse Before I Know It.” Interview with compo67, SPN FanFic Author

Good god y'all. We're kicking 2025 off with a bang. Kasey got to fulfill a fandom dream this week by talking to the incredible @compo67!

Grab snacks cos it's a long one this week. But hell, how do you stay succinct when talking to someone with this kinda bibliography? If you've been around for more than 5 mins, chances are you've read something by Cal. They've got fic for every taste & so many of them are full verses in their own right.

And you gotta stick around to the end to hear Kasey's utter shock that a reference they were sure wasn't actually a reference really WAS! (I promise it will make sense when you listen lol)

Listen on Spotify Watch on Youtube:

Chapter Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:52 - When did Cal get into Supernatural? 00:04:53 - Was there Supernatural bingeing? 00:06:46 - Cal’s intro to Supernatural was bumpy 00:10:27 - Is it Sam or Dean for Cal? 00:15:06 - Mystery Spot thoughts 00:21:20 - Some of Cal’s favorite characters 00:23:54 - Did Cal watch Supernatural to the very end? 00:35:12 - Does Cal have any canonical ships? 00:38:52 - When did Wincest click for Cal? 00:44:12 - When did Cal’s love of fanfiction begin? 00:47:46 - What came first, original fiction or fanfic? 00:51:33 - The Verse Virtuoso 00:58:34 - The Chicago Verse 01:01:16 - The richness and diversity of the Chicago neighborhood 01:02:08 - Has the show ending affected any of Cal’s story directions? 01:03:32 - The comfort of writing 01:06:17 - The breadth and bits of Chicago Verse 01:09:42 - Cal’s personal imprint on TCV 01:13:37 - It Takes Verse 01:20:19 - Big Bang Experiences 01:22:59 - Minutes Past Midnight Verse 01:24:42 - Voicing diversity and being inclusive in fiction 01:39:59 - Palo Alto Verse 01:46:46 - The ebb and flow of writing inspiration 01:50:21 - Deciding between Wincest or J2 01:52:47 - Fielding readers’ requests and making friends in fandom 01:54:59 - Have fic expectations changed in fandom? 01:58:30 - The highs and lows of the SPN fandom 02:01:16 - Does Cal have a favorite fic baby? 02:03:27 - The archiving of fanfic 02:05:52 - What writers does Cal fan over? 02:12:28 - Cal’s fanfic classic recs 02:14:09 - The Compo connection! 02:21:26 - Kasey’s last question 02:23:09 - The dino love comes full circle! 02:28:36 - Words of wisdom from Cal 02:35:49 - Final thoughts and Outro

[felassan]

I was sent a link to an ‘interview with Mark Darrah about BioWare and games’ video that I hadn’t seen before. it’s called “INTERVIEW | Former BioWare Dev Mark Darrah On Crunch, Electronic Arts, Unionization, & More" and [here is the source] link. the interview took place in 2022, so bear that in mind when listening, but it still has interesting insights and things in there. the video description reads as follows:

"Former BioWare developer Mark Darrah joins us for a talk about crunch, workplace culture, accessibility, Elden Ring, and much more." Timestamps: 1:31- Why did you get into game development? 4:12- Crunch 14:05- On Activision-Blizzard & corporate culture overtaking studio culture 15:50- Crunch continued 21:06- Toxic workplace cultures at game studios & why they’re tough to fix 29:13- Unionization in the games industry 36:36- Rising game budgets and why they’re getting bigger 48:00- Elden Ring and game budgets 52:59- Accessibility in games 1:10:38- Relationship between the creative and business sides of game development & corporate directives 1:14:43- Anthem 1:22:16- EA doesn’t understand what BioWare is 1:28:20- Indie development & being bought out by larger companies [source]

the rest of this post is under a cut due to length.

this post is just some notes and transcribed quotes of interest from the video, in case that’s of any use to anyone, for example for accessibility.

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf / 'current or recent general BioWare’

“The culture around crunch has been changing dramatically at BioWare for the last 7 or 8 years, but I would actually think that it’s maybe not the, I don’t believe that it’s the reporting [increasing reporting on crunch in the industry in recent years] that’s causing the changing culture at the studios. And the change in reporting is caused by something, there’s another cause for both of them. And I think it might be that we just have a development, people are getting more experienced, older, and I think that might be what it is. But I don’t believe that we were trying to improve crunch culture because Kotaku was talking about it or Jason Schreier wrote an article about what happened on Anthem. I don’t believe that’s the cause. I think that those are both symptoms of another cause, which is causing the change. And maybe it’s older people in game development, but actually, now that I say it out loud, maybe it’s actually the opposite. Maybe it’s Gen Z coming into the workforce with very different expectations of what work looks like that are causing the change.”

“I think BioWare may have abandoned it, but something that I was working on in sort’ve, the last couple of years at BioWare was Pile of Sand. And the idea of Pile of Sand is to focus the team on a single point or at least as small of a point as you can, and then use that focus to kind’ve cause things to come into being around that. And I know that there are people at BioWare who hate Pile of Sand, but it definitely causes Completion Urgency. In a way that nothing short of crunch or E3 has done very successfully.”

“I’d like to think that.. well. For sure BioWare’s culture today is way better than BioWare’s culture was in 1997 when I started. Or even see it like, you can even see it in the games. But, I mean, it’s not perfect, and there are people in more senior roles, or there have been people in more senior roles that are problematic, and as someone who worked to remove people who were problematic, it could be incredibly difficult to do, because usually there’s no smoking gun. Usually it’s reports or innuendo, or you know it’s, everyone kinda knows, but to actually have something actionable is really hard. And that sounds so terrible because it is terrible, because it is really hard – I’ve burned massive amounts of political capital in some cases to get rid of people who were toxic, but who were in very senior positions.” “I think what’s happened is [in the industry generally] the level of what’s being treated as acceptable has become way lower. Way less is acceptable, and that, I think, is a net good. Does that, is that how you want improvement to happen? No, this is not, you don’t want it to work this way, you want it to be a constant steady state towards better and better culture. And I think, you know, BioWare’s been trying to do that, but I think when other studios don���t do that and then a giant light gets shone on them it actually helps with other studios to say, you know, we also have to take a look at ourselves and think about what’s going on and look at our processes and our culture and our hiring practices and all of these things.”

The host asked how you go about setting that culture where you say, ‘these kinds of things aren’t okay’. “Are there techniques, rules, seminars?” Mark: “I mean, all of those things exist and, don’t get me wrong, I do think that BioWare, I do think that EA has done a better job of this than some of the other publishers and studios have done. So all of those things I do think help, but I do think that honestly the single thing that you can do that helps the most is to get someone of the group that is under-represented at a high enough position to have a voice be heard.”

The host asked about Keywords attempting to unionize recently. Mark: “I’m curious as to some of the details with the Keywords union, because back in 2020, when I was still at BioWare, which, where they’re saying like, they were forced into the office. I wonder if that was a BioWare, I don’t believe that that was actually a BioWare interaction, that it was a BioWare contract. Because at the time, at that time, early Covid days, I was trying to get into the office and it was like locked down, we couldn’t get in to the office, I couldn’t get into the office, I was the Vice President, I couldn’t get into the office. So I’m curious as to the details of that. They are contractors so it’s possible that they were working on something else and they were being forced into an office, I don’t know, it’s possible that something was happening that I’m not aware of. But that specific thing that they were talking about is, just caught me by surprise because we were actually, I was trying to violate the rules and I couldn’t even do it for myself, so.”

On the relationship between the creative and business sides of game development and corporate directives: “[direct orders from corporate], actually, it does happen. There are directive things. I mean, Joplin, the thing that was Dragon Age 4, was cancelled because it was perceived that the next Dragon Age needed to have an online component, it needed to have live service, it needed to have an online component, it needed to be live service, live service. That was, so it was like, there was essentially a decision made at a corporate level about what the game needed to be. And whether that was real or not, I don’t know, but I have my own thoughts on that front, but that’s what was said. And, but sometimes it’s even stupider stuff, like there were people that were like, ‘in DA:I, you NEED to be able to fly a dragon!’ and it was like, this was a dictate, and I judo’d that out of, into us not actually doing it. But that was a dictate that came down. So there are reviews, so with EA there are gates, so you have like numbered gates up to actually, I think there are more gates now. But basically you have a concept gate, a vision gate, a pre-production gate, a production gate, a post-production gate, and like alpha, and things like that. Some of those gates are formal gates, you have executives gather in a room and a presentation is made to them and then they say ‘I don’t like that, do something different’ and that could be anything from ‘I don’t like that your character has a frog for a head’, to ‘this entire-’, especially in the early days, ‘this entire concept is flawed, we shouldn’t make this game at all’. At EA, once things cross a certain threshold they tend to continue, but in the early days games do get cancelled because they don’t get through those gates. So they do have influence because there is, they are seeing the game during development and they are very important people who are expressing their opinions and it’s not entirely clear. I mean, I report to someone who reports to someone who is providing this feedback. So the presumption is they get to say what goes. And I guess they probably do. It’s not actually clear that they do, but the presumption is the reporting line is literally, person reports to person reports to this person who is saying this thing, I suspect they probably get to decide, if they say this needs to be a certain way, it’s gonna be a certain way. Maybe I’m wrong on that but that’s certainly what seems to be the case.”

On Anthem and why it got made: “I wasn’t on Anthem in the early days, but there was a, with some of the executive, EA’s never really understood what the heck BioWare is, but in the early days of Anthem, or let’s say, the days after ME3, there was a sentiment with some of the executives at EA that storytelling games were over. They were done. That we needed something different. So there was a lot of language that was being pushed at Casey, and at Aaryn, that was essentially to that effect, of, ‘don’t you think that the days of storytelling games are over? Maybe it’s time to do something different. And I don’t know, because I wasn’t in the room, I don’t know if that just fed into exactly the kind of game Casey wanted to make anyway, or if they just sort’ve lined up, so yeah. They weren’t, no one at EA was saying ‘Make Anthem’ or ‘Make Dylan’, which is what it was at the time, but there was pressure around, like, ‘probably if you’re making another thing and it’s not another Mass Effect, you shouldn’t just make another story-driven RPG. We don’t want another one of those, we don’t think’. So there was a push towards something different. Some of the early things that Casey was pitching were still, you know, they were multiplayer story-driven things, they were different, but yeah, there was definitely a push from corporate to do something that wasn’t ME, that wasn’t DA, it was something else.”

“It’s definitely frustrating, I did a ‘dear executive, you’re being managed’ video. As an Executive Producer, a big part of your job is managing executives so they feel like you’re listening to them even when what they’re saying is stupid, so it can be incredibly frustrating. I feel like BioWare’s left a lot of money on the table because of the purse strings that are held at the corporate level, like I feel like, porting SW:TOR to the consoles would make a ton of money for not very much investment, and it’s not been, it could’ve been done 3, 4, 5 years ago. The remasters, it’s a frankly, a miracle that they ever got made for ME. The thing that most studios within EA seem to do is they seem to do one thing at a time. Dice makes a Battlefield, then they fix it, then they make a new Battlefield. That makes corporate interaction, I think, a lot more clear [for them]. When Battlefield 4 comes out and it doesn’t do well, they’re given not just the ability, they’re given the mandate to fix it. BioWare’s always had a lot more plates spinning. But I think the consequence of that is, when something goes wrong, it means that there are a lot of potentials that could be spinning, and it means when something goes wrong, it’s less obvious what to do. When ME:A launches and has problems, unlike with Battlefield 4, EA doesn’t say, ‘fix it, I don’t care what you were gonna be doing next, fix it’, what instead happens is the resources get taken away and put onto other things. Anthem fought to have resources to fix itself, but ultimately was always fighting with Dragon Age, to be frank, for those resources, for some of them at least. I mean maybe that’s just an indication that BioWare has stubbornly held on to a structure that is incompatible with EA’s corporate culture, but I do think that having so many plates spinning means that BioWare’s always short of resources. And I think that’s given EA a lot more ability to influence what BioWare’s doing at any moment, because, like, ‘well why don’t you just put those people, we don’t want to keep trying to fix ME:A, why don’t you just put those people onto Dragon Age? Or we’ll take them away and put them onto EA Montreal.’ Whereas if you’re just one studio in Sweden or you’re Sims 4, same thing, is, they got nothing else do, I mean, they do, they absolutely have things to do, but it’s not obvious, there’s not an equal priority, there’s the next thing, which is a lower priority. Whereas at BioWare, there’s always something else they could be doing. And I think it’s been, it’s allowed EA, I think, more control over what BioWare does, maybe, than they’ve had in other studios possibly. I dunno. Probably someone from Dice is gonna angrily tell me I’m an idiot in your comments.”

Other BioWare things

“At least at EA, the executives, the corporate-level executives, the C-suite people, don’t really set culture at the individual studios. But they do control the purse-strings. And because they control the purse-strings they ultimately kind’ve do control everything. So I do think that public companies, or at least, all the public companies that I have worked for, are obsessed with short-term results. You know, ‘your game is supposed to come out in this quarter, and it should’ve come out in this quarter, and if it doesn’t come out in this quarter, it better come out in this fiscal year’. And moving across, so BioWare has a history of sliding games, but the reality is that EA, you can slide from quarter to quarter, but sliding outside of a fiscal year – it’s happened, but it’s really hard, and there are usually really terrible consequences involved in doing so. And I think what is happened to some degree is, corporate culture will eventually infect and take over the cultures of the studios, I believe. So if you look at BioWare in 2008, 2009 and 2010, it was BioWare’s culture with [inaudible] culture kind’ve on top, dictating things at a very macro level. But then if you fast forward ten more years, that EA culture, that sort’ve fiscal, that fiscal culture has sort’ve bled into BioWare’s culture to some degree. So I think actually, to some degree actually I think what EA really wants is they want studios like BioWare to be like, ‘it’s all about the art, man! We don’t care when it ships, we don’t care how many copies it’s gonna sell, we don’t care, we don’t care!’, and they provide the rigor to force that. But instead I think what’s happened, what naturally happens is, you realize ‘that this is a corporation, we need to care about profitability and release dates and all of these things’, but by doing that, that resistance has gone away. And while before, in like DA:O and ME1 [inaudible] the balance was over here, it starts to shift more towards a corporate-focused way, so I think that the thing that probably, the central, the C-suites need to do is, figure out how to give back the studios back that resistance, that willingness to say, ‘you know, the game’s not ready, it’s not gonna hit the fiscal year’. And they say they do, but they really don’t, because it’s, the culture’s just eroded away over time. It’ll be interesting to watch Respawn because it’s EA’s newest acquisition, and right now, just culturally, that resistance just there, just like BioWare in 2008, 2009, but let’s see what’s happened with Respawn in 5 or 6 years. I hope they can keep that up, but I don’t even think it’s, it’s not like ‘Evil EA’ infecting on purpose, I just think, naturally being within a bigger organization, it just happened through osmosis over time.”

“DA:O is about 7000 staff months to make, so it was a huge game at the time. Most of that was done before BioWare was owned by EA. Salaries went up dramatically, way higher than inflation after BioWare was acquired by EA, so that made a big difference. But DA:I was more staff months than DA:O by a fair amount and, so, a couple of things. The entire code base for DA:O was, I think, about two million lines of code. Frostbite is like 20 million lines of code. So that is, there is development cost of just holding that together, but things are just more complicated. As games get bigger, they get expensive.”

“When KOTOR put in voice-acting for all the conversations apart from the player. That changed the industry. At that moment it became no longer acceptable to not have voiced conversations in AAA games.” “DA:I has a horse because at the time it was seen that you had to have a horse in a fantasy RPG. I don’t think that’s true anymore, you’d get away with not having a horse today.”

“I would argue that a consistent problem of a lot of BioWare games is we try so hard to explain to you in the first three hours what’s going on, how everything works, all the mechanics, everything, we’re just dumping so much on the player that they’re overwhelmed and bored, probably bored. But also overwhelmed, if you throw too much at me you’ve actually reduced my ability to learn it, so you’ve actually made the game, in your effort to make me understand, you’ve actually made me understand less, potentially.”

“I think we made the wrong decision on DA:I. I think the crafting system in DA:I is completely inaccessible. It’s a very complicated system, there are no recipes, it’s all based on, like, combinations of different things giving you different materials and then there’s an appearance system layered on top of that which adds an additional layer of complexity. I think as a result, we have a system that is basically not engaged with by most players, by the vast majority of players, do not engage in crafting because it is inaccessible.” “Something that’s come up a couple of times in BioWare’s history is the idea of story-mode difficulty, so the ability to play through the game on essentially, you can’t lose combat. ME3 has such a difficulty, but we didn’t do that in DA:I. And the reason is not because I don’t think, given what BioWare games are, which is a lot about the interaction of different characters and engaging in the story and that, I don’t think that a story-mode difficulty is inappropriate for a BioWare game. But the problem is if you play ME3 on that difficulty, combat’s kind of awful, like it actually kind’ve makes the game, it damages the game in the process because combat is easy but fast, so it’s kind’ve just this weird morass you have to dig through. So I think when you’re thinking about accessibility, something like that, you have to think about, how does the more accessible version still allow the game to be good.” “A common example in a lot of BioWare games is puzzles. So you’d put a puzzle in, and then the game is broken and you’re going along and then the level comes together and it’s weeks or months later and then QA start playing it saying, ‘I can’t figure this puzzle out’. And you’re like, but it’s obvious in my head! Says the puzzle designer. And then you have to decide what you’re gonna do. You can pull the puzzle out completely, which has happened a lot in BioWare games, you just end up pulling it out. Or you put the answer on the wall, which you can see in tons of BioWare games, where it’s like, figure out this puzzle! Oh really? ‘Cause the answer is literally written on a giant poster right beside the puzzle, which I think just undermines the whole puzzle, what’s the point? Or you just say, forget it, we’re just gonna leave it. And the way that we’ve typically made the decision at BioWare for things like that is, if it’s on the critical path, the expectation is it should be accessible to every player, so you should be able to get through the main line of the story even if you can’t figure out any of the puzzles. So we might put a puzzle on the critical path to introduce the concept of puzzles to you, but the answer is on a poster board right beside it. If you’re off the critical path, if you’re on the optional content, then, all bets are off. If you can’t figure it out, then you can’t figure it out. But that comes from a belief that we want most people to finish the story, which I think might actually be a mis-placed belief. Maybe 2008, 2009, I had this feeling that, you know, Bethesda’s got a big problem. People don’t finish their games. You play their games and your last experience of a Bethesda game is always ‘ehh I guess I’m done’. But what I realized more recently is, actually, in a lot of ways, that’s maybe the best experience you can get from a player. Because if you think about how you experience a ME or a DA, your last experience is one of two things. Either it’s, what the fuck was that, I hate that ending, I am angry. Or, it was, that was the greatest ending I ever experienced! Now I’m disappointed that it’s over. And in both cases the actual last emotion is actually negative. It’s either a positive followed by disappointment, or it’s a negative right off the bat. I’m guilty of the obsession of, we want people to finish our games, but actually, maybe we don’t? Maybe we just want people to have their last experience not be negative and lots of positive experiences in the middle. I dunno.”

“Ray Muzyka was always certain that one of BioWare’s competitive advantages was replayability. But actually I would argue – there are people that have played DA:I thirty times, but most people, they don’t do that. Most people go through, you experience the story through a particular viewpoint, and then that’s the viewpoint. You might go and you know, make a Qunari just to see what it’s like, but what you see in the data is, if a person finishes the game, usually they finish the game once and then maybe they might have a few little ‘I played for 45 mins or an hour just to goof around’. But very rarely do you get people that are like, I played through the entire game like 10 times. It happens but it’s not common. I think replayability in these story-driven games is actually kind’ve an illusion.”

On EA not understanding what BioWare is: “I think there’s a lot of things, but I think fundamentally EA is a company that understands sports games. They understand how to make sports games which come out every year at a very high quality, monetize very well, they understand, they know how to market those, they know what production for those looks like, they know how to keep that team moving forward and proving their quality, they know how to do lots of things there. They know how to put processes in place to make the risk go down. I think when you apply those processes to shooters I think they actually work pretty well, though maybe they don’t work anymore. But I think they did work pretty well. You can kind’ve market a shooter like a sports game and it basically works. I think that one of the huge advantages that sports games have is, you already know if you like soccer or not, so I’ve already, so now I’m selling you the product, not the concept of the product. Shooters you can kinda do the same thing. You kinda know if you want a shooter or not, now I’m just selling you on this specific shooter, not the concept of shooters in general. RPGs aren’t like that, you can’t, because RPGs are so different from each other that you can’t sell me on the concept. Like, I don’t know if I just like RPGs, I need more than that to know if I can make a decision, which makes marketing them different. Also, for whatever, for a variety of reasons, RPGs are the most expensive genre you can make because they have, in theory, all the complexities of a shooter plus you have to tell an engaging, interactive story that branches on top of that, plus you need progression systems that are more complicated than your shooter on top of that. And that all needs to work together into some sort’ve combinatorial mass, to be frank. So I think that what EA wants from all their studios is they want things that can sell 10 million copies or 20 million copies, I mean that number changes. And the truth of the matter is, is, that maybe is just never BioWare. I mean, I say that, DA:I sold more than 10 million copies, but I mean, I think that what you have with BioWare is, maybe, you have the Oscar studio. Do the Oscar movies make three billion dollars? No, but they win you the awards. If you want that, do you want the studio that wins you the awards? But maybe, it makes money. I’m not saying that EA should just let BioWare lose money, that’s stupid, but do you want something that’s less profitable, but earns you acclaim? And if you do, then you need to measure in a different way. Do you want something that can build new IP? BioWare can build new IPs, and then maybe you take those IPs and you do other things with them. Not that EA has done that, and maybe EA doesn’t need to because they own like 40, 50 IPs that they’re currently not doing anything with, so. But, I mean, like building an IP is incredibly expensive, and incredibly difficult. Does EA want new IPs? Maybe, but again I don’t know that they, so what they have with BioWare is they have a company that gets into the conversation at award season, that can push culture, that can build new IPs. But, you know, be in the conversation at award season, push culture, and build new IPs, are those characteristics that EA wants or do they want ‘can sell 25 million copies and make a billion dollars’? And probably you can’t have those first three things and get that fourth thing. You can be profitable, but you’re probably not selling 25 million copies and making a billion dollars. I mean Skyrim did, but that’s. But I think honestly Skyrim just proves how hard it is. It’s the one in the RPG space that you talk about, and that’s from 2011. It’s the exception that proves the rule. That’s the RPG that was culturally relevant, relevant at awards season, but also made a ton of money.”

At the end of the interview, they had tech difficulties, so they transcribed the last segments of the audio to post for folks to read. This can be found pinned in the comments of the YouTube video.

[source and watch link]

[verosvault]

🚨SPOILERS FOR FANTASY HIGH JUNIOR YEAR EPISODE 7🚨

Dimension20 "Fantasy High Junior Year"

Episode 7 "Stress Tested"

Timestamp: 00:36:06

Video Length: 4min. & 43sec.

Adaine gets a job at Basrar's! 😆😀

Brennan: "Who else knows what their DC 5, their first focus and priority's gonna be?"

Siobhan: "I'm gonna go job because up until now my academics are pretty good. So I can focus..."

Brennan: "You are not in danger of expulsion."

Siobhan: "Exactly. So, I can have one week where I dip a little bit."

Brennan: "Hell yeah."

Siobhan: "If I have to."

Brennan: "Let's see what the roll is."

Siobhan: "Omg, I thought that was a one. It's not. It's a seven. But plus four, which is an 11. Oy-yi-yi."

Brennan: "And what skill are you rolling for that?"

Siobhan: "Investigation."

Brennan: "Cool."

Murph: "You do have a bardic."

Ally: "The DC's five though, right? Didn't you totally pass 'cause you picked it for your first one?"

Brennan: "Yes, you did. So this-"

Siobhan: "I did, but I still, I need to get to 'well off' to not roll with disadvantage for my Academics. And 'well off' is a 25."

Lou: "What did you get?"

Siobhan: "11."

Murph: "Oh, okay. Yeah."

Siobhan: "I mean, I basically can only get a 25 if I crit because all of these skills, I don't have anything good in."

Brennan: "But you do have Bardic and if you want to re-roll." *tempts stress token and rattles the box* 😭✋

Emily: "Well, what about Divination rolls? I would think, especially with investigation."

Siobhan: "Well I- I rolled my Divination rolls."

Emily: "Oh, Okay."

Siobhan: "I used one. And the other one is also not very good."

Emily: "Okay."

Siobhan: "So, um..."

Ally: "Are you gonna re-roll or are you gonna add Bardic to that?"

Siobhan: "I mean, maybe I will use my Divination roll. So that brings me up to a 15. And then, I'll-"

Emily: "Can I also give you Bardic? So that your-"

Brennan: "I think we're gonna only allow one Bardic per."

Siobhan: "I'll use my Fabian bardic to see if I can-"

Lou: "It's a d8 now."

Siobhan: "Ooh!"

Siobhan: "Let's see if I can get it up to 20 at least."

Brennan: "Cool."

Siobhan: *rolls* "Nah."

Adaine to Fabian: "But thank you anyway. I appreciate your friendship."

Fabian: "Hey, you can always come by an get an espresso."

Adaine: "Thank you."

Ally: "You made a dollar."

Brennan: "Adaine, go ahead and roll two d10 and you get that many silver pieces."

Siobhan: "Okay."

Brennan: "As you do so, let me ask you. There are a couple different job opportunities. Part-time counseling at the student center. There's some other part-time work around. But you do see there's a job listing for a server at Basrar's."

Siobhan: "I mean, I'll do that. If I work at Basrar's can I get advantage on Popularity?"

Ally: "Ooooohhh."

Brennan: "We're actually gonna cut over and see this little scene. So, it's the first week of school. Like, I guess you head out. Basrar's is not too far from Mordred Manor. How do you like- what's going through Adaine's mind as you walk off to apply for a job at Basrar's?"

Siobhan: "I mean, I feel pretty good about it because me and Bastard already have a great relationship. I also have that thing of like, I really enjoy going to Basrar's. And so I'm like, 'So working there will also be great.'"

Brennan: "Yeah."

Siobhan: "So I think I'm going in very optimistic."

Brennan: "Basrar looks at you and says,"

Basrar: "Adaine, the Elven Oracle."

Adaine: "Hi!"

Basrar: "It is wonderful to see you."

Adaine: "Oh yeah, you don't have to- you can just call me Adaine. Actually I was wondering, I saw you had a part-time job available and I would really love to..."

Siobhan: "I just hand over my résumé, which is 'Elven Oracle' and then 'one week of working at Oodles of Strudel.'"

Basrar: "And do you have any references from Oodles of Strudel?"

Adaine: "Unfortunately, the entire mall was destroyed in a cosmic incident."

Basrar: "No email address or?"

Ally & Lou laughing 😂😂🤣🤣💀💀

Adaine: "No, unfortunately. No, and I actually- I was gonna say I could give you a reference for the Elven Oracle, but I actually don't know. I guess my sister. Yeah, I could- yeah, she's an elf."

Basrar: "Great. I'll give her a call right now." *waiting to hear the number*

Adaine: "Yeah. Great."

Basrar: "I don't have her phone number."

Adaine: "Oh. Yeah." *gives the number to Basrar*

Brennan: "He punches it in. You see him over in the corner."

Basrar: "Mmhmm. This is Basrar of Basrar's Soda Fountain calling for an application for a job for one Adaine Abernant. Just wanted to hear any reviews as her work of the Elven Oracle. Mmhmm." *continuous nodding*

Siobhan: "I start texting Aelwyn."

Adaine's text to Aelwyn: "What the **** are you talking about? What are you doing? Don't ruin this for me. I'm so broke."

Brennan: "You hit Send. A winky face comes back and he goes,"

Basrar: "Ha ha, a bit. Yes, very funny. Good. Yes, yes, yes."

Brennan: "You see he hangs up and says,"

Basrar: "Great, you can start working right away."

Adaine: "Oh, amazing. Thank you. Amazing."

Brennan: "All he has to do is summon ice cream. So it's an easy gig for him. It's just you carry it. He's like,"

Basrar: "Some of the ice creams have gotten very complicated and are hard to carry."

Brennan: "And there's like huge tureens and sundaes and boats of stuff."

Siobhan: "I'm so good at carrying things because I have a Mage Hand. So I'm doing a regular carry, but then my Mage Hand is also carrying three ice creams also."

Brennan: "Hell yeah."

[midnight1nk]

this week's episode...

Mr Puzzles Clubhouse

[Spoilers below cut, modified images to timestamps]

Guys, I'm terrified. I can make as many predictions and theories to my heart's content but even I don't know what's in store for us.

If you guys have or haven't been on Twitter, Shadow made a post saying this:

Shadow: I feel very excited today for whatever reason, #smg4 community. What about all of you? ;)

Shadow, you can't say these things a few hours before the episode is released what am I supposed to THINK

(the following is my live-time reaction:)

it's incredibly funny that the show is poking fun at the people comparing the show and the showgrounds to mickey clubhouse (and of course, twitter being twitter *sigh*)

[00:17] I KNEW HE WAS GONNA THINK BACK TO THAT BATTLE

[00:25] it is kinda strange that he would hold a grudge against Melony, Saiko, and Karen but I guess you can argue that since they are part of the crew, Mr Puzzles would associate them for being part of his downfall. It's kinda how when you know this one bad person and then you see their friends and believe "oh, they must be bad too for them to be around this person". Not to say that is what everyone thinks, but it's what some people do. For Puzzles, it's an "everyone's to blame" kind of deal.

[00:36] :(

LOVE the new expressions OMG (couldn't get all of them, sorry)

also love that the episode included a lot of characters from underrated movies!!!

[01:39] designer clothes, huh? who's your tailor, Puzzles?

[02:28] holy shit, that is seriously a good model of mickey! whoever made it, props to them cuz he is so expressive (it's probably not from the crew but either way still props)

[02:57] you know didney is a complete dumpster fire right now when Mr Puzzles of all people doesn't want to join whatever mickey is up to

[03:51] (*reading this frame*) ...upside-down nose disease...eyebrowitis... pausing to read— OH FOR MEME'S SAKE

also don't think I didn't see bill cipher hidden on that contract

[03:59] Mr Puzzles: Well... A professional, such as myself, has... standards! Y'know? And looking at the state of your precious Didney... It's not worth my time.

DAMNNNNNN

[04:57] "It's a re-remake" ...puzzlevision 2? okay i'll stop

[05:20] wow how in every universe, mickey and minny are a lovey-dovey couple

[05:27] i know this has been a fact for a long time, but with the inside out 2 news coming to light, this really hits

(but also smg4:inside out??? 👀)

[05:50] WALL-E! EVE!! oh, it's one of my all-time favorite movies... wait... did they see us make wall-e AUs of smg34 and marware....

[06:26] i guess every entertainer has a rating label, huh...

[06:43] KINGDOM HEARTS MENTION

[07:02] "engine room" oh, so that's what the other side of that door. We solved that mystery, gang, pack it up!

[07:31] Mr Puzzles: "The most... important?" 👀HMMMMMMMMMM🤔

[08:00] GUY GUYS GUYS THE CARNIVAL OMGGGGG

[08:24] ATTENTION EVERYONE WE HAVE A CONFIRMED PARENT I REPEAT MR PUZZLES HAS A DAD

Okay so, Puzzles did have at least a parent back then. They were strolling by outside the park so it didn't seem Puzzles was taken there at all to have some fun. And his dad doesn't support his dream at all. now we don't know when exactly in Puzzles' past does this takes place, if he's in the early stages of his TV obsession, or if this was the event that pushed Little Puzzles to start his obsession.

Either way, because of this, Little Puzzles turned to the TV for guidance and inspiration. If his dad can't support his dream and without any friends, then all he has is himself... and the screen in front of him. Seeing the creativity shown on TV, the answer must be there somewhere... right?

[09:23] ...I should've seen this coming I SHOULD'VE

and yep, it's all because of his dad [*sad sigh*] damn Puzzles can't catch a break, huh.

also the red face is back!!! [*chanting*] eye of ra! eye of ra!

also also thank you Puzzles for getting rid of that rat

[10:27 - 55] Mr Puzzles: "Let's get to work!" [*theme from the "Friends on the Other Side" plays*]

😨

...how did...I literally said this in my "WOTFI 2024 Predictions Revisited" post:

Will we get goop!4? God, I wish. I was listening to "Friends on the Other Side" and I was just imagining scenarios of Mr Puzzles taking complete control of Four with the goo. If it doesn't happen for whatever reason, I'll write it myself.

...do they know...?

Ink, it's a didney villain song. it's just a coincidence.

Sure, maybe. I'm just gonna hide under my desk, just in case...

:) ← mentally unwell

[11:00] consider my gasted flabbered

I'm just waiting for Marty to come up on screen and be like "I too have a grudge for the SMG4 crew, let's work together"

[11:10 - 12] A crew? 😨 LEGGY?

[12:09 - 13:00] just this conversation between Meggy and Mr Puzzles is just *chef's kiss*

(why could I just imagine Puzzles having a similar conversation with Four?)

[13:33] [*hearing Meggy's screams*] 😨 mom I'm scared...

[13:48] Mr Puzzles: "Those fools won't see it coming..."

Me, a theorist: "Surprise me then. Do it. You won't."

[14:06] lastly, congrats to Fakerbingus for being featured at the credits 🎉

.・-: ✧ :--: ✧ :-・.

That... was an incredible episode! Wig? Snatched. Flabber? Gasted. Mom's? Spaghetti! The voice-acting, the bits of animation, the storytelling! 10/10 for me!

Mr Puzzles being TERRIFYING and UNHINGED, I LOVE IT! I feel horrible for Meggy, oh my god. We need to get the whole crew into therapy, like seriously. TRAUMA after TRAUMA. It's nice to see some more of Puzzles lore but I wish we had a little bit more, y'know? Having his dad being one of the catalysts of his troubles is good, but I think we need that extra push to show that yes, Little Puzzles really lost himself at such a young age. "This is what sent him over the edge of his obsession". I'm sure we're going to get a bit more in upcoming episodes but I suppose this is a start.

No Marty, which is surprising, and again, he might be in the next one. Like I said before in my previous theories, the two are likely to work together. "A businessman and an entertainer." And with Karen being in the picture for this year's WOTFI, there is still a chance!

Well, we might have to change some things, that the WOTFI carnival would take place in what is formerly Didney Worl and not the Showgrounds. With what I said in my last review, the whole "carnival coming to the Showgrounds" thing could literally mean the crew receiving those tickets and not take it in the literal sense. We can't rely on the posts on all social media platforms of the crew holding their ticket were taken at the same time frame as the episodes take place. For all we know, the previous episodes happened in the past, before those pictures were taken. WHICH could explain why Meggy wasn't in the picture. Lots to think about for sure... 🤔

Anyways, my dear fellows, it's time to get scared of what's about to come. New WOTFI rap, someone might get sacrificed. Goop!Four? I don't even know anymore. We're getting closer and closer to my predictions coming true, so let's hide under the blanket and hold on to our plushies i guess.

No website change, that I know of. I'm looking over all the recent posts from the people working on the show and they're just TEASING us at this point, THEY CAN'T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS!!!

I don't even know what the next episode is going to be about, we would just have to wait and see.

but like seriously,

WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT EPISODE?

/pos

(but also scared?!?!?!)

[keef-a-corn]

Dat’s right, People, it’s time for ‘Keef watches TFP and you just get the notes!’

This is for season 1, episode 14: Out of His Head

I write down the timestamps, but I watch Transformers Prime on Stan (an Australian streaming service) so they may be slightly off.

ALSO! I try my best to note points for every character, but tend to get a little caught up by Bee (although I think I do a pretty good job with the notes regardless) so do be warned.

~~~~Transition~~~~

~recap~

00:48 - I’m pretty sure that’s what pupils actually do when you shine light in them.

00:52 - Ratchet’s using a torch fr.

00:58 - *sigh* here we have an example of TFP skipping over recovery arcs, although there probably wasn’t much to Optimus’s.

01:05 - ‘OlD fRiEnD’ tryin to convince us they ain’t married.

01:07 - Ratchet making sure Bee got credit, aww

01:08 - They’re so proud of him.

01:12 - Tryin to be modest as if he didn’t do that.

01:15 - with confidence ‘did you just say that?.’

01:18 - gotta bring focus back to husbands recovery.

01:24 - ‘Megatron shouldn’t be a problem, Arcee probably killed him.’ Not too confident with that one though.

01:28 - they looking at Arcee. How would they not have noticed something was up with Bee?

01:36 - these shots would be useful if you needed a reference for Bee’s hands.

01:39 - It’s annoying that Optimus doesn’t notice something’s wrong sooner.

01:46 - Megatron chilling in the dark could mean one of two things. 1. Bots that are awake don’t have a mind scape or 2. Bee doesn’t have a safe place to imagine himself if that he can rely on.

~intro~

03:08 - Bulkhead’s just chilling watching Bee as if he couldn’t go defend.

03:19 - I know someone who passes like that. It would constantly jar my fingers while trying to catch her pass.

03:29 - not even slightly concerned about Bee pegging the ball at your head?.

03:42 - oh no! Babee!

03:51 - one would thank that for closeups of Megatron’s face they’d make sure he was looking forward.

04:24 - really entertaining himself, huh? Also this plot is only here to get the boys out of the building.

04:33 - where has he been keeping that? …up his as-

04:48 - Starscream’s so entertaining to watch.

04:53 - so… Megatron’s child?

04:57 - I recommend watching that scene on loop while playing ‘bet on it’

05:01 - why he gotta lean like that?

05:13 - Robots bowing gotta be(e) one of my favourite genders fr

05:17 - Huh…

05:20 - H OL UP Raf has parents, right?? Can’t he go to them to drop him off? Do they know that an expensive ass car is driving their son to school?

05:41 - What exactly is Megatron doing? If he was smart he would’ve been snooping in on the bots or is he seriously just waiting?

05:45 - The camera’s very fair away from Bee and there’s a loud noise. How haven’t the other bots noticed something’s wrong?

05:50 - this is much uncomfortable. Between Megatron being able to control Bee to the tone he uses when encouraging him.

05:59 - the transition from Megatron to Bee is so smooth I can’t breathe. + Ratchet calling out his name causing Bee to regain control is beautiful.

06:02 - Look at hiiiimmmmm awwww

06:03 - RATCHET’S SO HEAVILY ANIMATED I CAAAAN’T it’s almost like the animators forgot they are metal.

06:05 - with confidence ‘what?’ Also this is how my dogs look when I put their food in their bowls.

06:07 - I don’t understand why or how, but Ratchet looks stunning here.

06:11 - Bee proving that if he was bitten during an apocalypse he would tell the people around him.

06:14 - so remember before when I said that Megatron chilling in the darkness means one of two things?. Will the first one couldn’t be true, otherwise this line wouldn’t make sense.

06:17 - There’s something so interesting about the way Bee powers down.

06:19 - This shot just looks cool.

06:21 - Optimus looks so concerned. + Heavily animated Ratchet.

06:25 - Heavily animated Raf, huh.

06:25 - Optimus just silently standing their looking between Bee and Ratchet. It’s slightly upsetting to realise that he doesn’t say a word during this scene as if he wouldn’t have something to say.

06:33 - Man, I wish I could get that.

06:47 - that ‘why?’ is so done with Fowler.

07:01 - LOOK AT THAT SIZE DIFFERENCE.

07:13 - good thing.

07:40 - I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t. We are talking about the Arctic, right? As in the place that is sheets of ice floating on top of water? If it was the Antarctic, sure, but I’m pretty sure ice that melts without land underneath just melts, rather than increases water levels. I could be wrong though.

07:42 - my face when I realised that they added in this stupid B plot so that the A plot could focus on Bee, Ratchet, Raf and Megatron, but that came with the price of Bee struggling with something and the rest of team Prime choosing not to get involved or say a word on the matter, including Optimus.

08:28 - this means that Power down mode is not like a coma. Raf’s honestly wasting his breath because he’ll have to repeat the story later.

08:49 - 👁👄👁

08:52 - That’s how it feels when someone shows me a photo of a baby and goes on about them, while I try my hardest not to tell them that the baby looks kickable.

08:57 - Honestly, most realistic reaction. There’s probably something here that could be used as a parent Ratchet & child Bee fic prompt.

09:02 - The way Ratchet dismisses Raf until he links it back to Bee + the subtlety of Ratchet’s eyes widening + the cue of the music coming in.

09:03 - THE SMILE CAUGHT ME SO OFF GUARD I CRIED. YOU KNOW THAT HE’S FRAGGIN PROUD OF BEE- MY HEARRRRRT. (Fun fact, I was showing my friend this shot later and they got very worried because I started crying in class)

09:09 - ngl, kinda forgot his was standing their unconscious.

09:13 - BOOOOOOO! M’kay, Imma stop hating on the subplot now. Just hope I’ve made it clear that I don’t like why it’s there.

09:21 - This is so amusing to see because it’s such a Scooby Doo sorta thing.

09:27 - Optimus flexes his hand just to ball it up again.

09:38 - Here we have a time when Prime is not a good start off show (that and because your standards get raised really high and you get thoroughly disappointed when other medias aren’t the exact same) because they don’t explain wtf ‘the end run on Polyhex’ was.

09:39 - Bee’s wings, when he’s powered down, rests at a lower angle, but when he’s awake we know that they point up. One idea could be that when he’s awake, they rest at a higher up state (cue fanfic prompt where a bot realises Bee’s awake because of the wings).

09:47 - ya’ll seeing what I’m seeing?

09:48 - That’s the opposite way to how he powered down. Literally. The angles, the movement. It the exact same, just in reverse. This ain’t a bad thing by any means.

10:06 - I highly recommend watching the way Bee’s pedes/feet work. It’s interesting.

10:30 - why doesn’t Ratchet think to a) call Optimus or b[ee]) FOLLOW BEE?? Why is he just standing there??

10:50 - why are so many bots blind in this episode?? HOW DID YOU MISS THAT?!

10:56 - from this you can tell that Megatron’s not used to controlling Bee’s hands/servos because he kinda fumbles when originally trying to pick it up.

11:14 - YES. YOU SHOULD!

11:17 - I get it. I do. But here’s the thing.. Bumblebee had just gone into Megatron’s mind, then later mentions that he’s seeing Megatron’s face, he’s now gone to the location that he doesn’t know after waking up from a forced power down! YOU COULD AT LEAST LET OPTIMUS KNOW

11:27 - HE SOUNDS LIKE A MUM! I C A N ‘ T

11:30 - *grabs child’s wrist*

11:31 - *child immediately opens hand to show what he’s holding* it’s a muscle memory.

If anyone tries to deny that Ratchet is a parental figure to Bumblebee, I’m going to bite them.

11:34 - It was this moment we got to find out what it would look like getting punched by Bumblebee.

11:35 - RATCHET NO!

11:36 - Okay but that pose- damn Bee.

11:38 - Why is he whispering?

11:42 - I get this is menacing and all but he looks like he’s doing this: Ò^Ó

12:02 - now we watch as he DOESN’T CALL OPTIMUS.

12:07 - ‘I’m fine. More importantly is Bumblebee?’ Making me tear up.

12:26 - when you mess with the wrong medics child:

12:41 - … to be fair… yeah.. Ratchet did his research, he should’ve known.

12:54 - This episode could’ve gone differently if THE HAD CALLED OPTIMUS. THIS ONE I AIN’T LETTIN GO.

12:59 - Raf, listen buddy… someone needs to man the ground bridge while all bots are in the Arctic. Also you’re gonna get hurt, ya dip.

13:05 - *cri*

13:09 - I’m like 90% sure this is men in the bathroom.

13:29 - Starscream’s worse than Megatron.

13:33 - YES! MY ‘TRANSFORMERS BOWING’ COLLECTION EXPANDS!!

13:36 - BREAKDOWN! I CHOOSE YOU!

13:43 - love that ‘evil’ laugh for ya, king

14:32 - When characters believe a character that’s being mind controlled can ‘fight it’ is so incredibly frustrating. It’s mind control, not a physical fight, there’s so much more to it.

14:55 - RAF. WHY THE FRAG WOULD YOU YELL THAT WHIKE RATCHET’S TRYING TO SNEAK IN??

14:57 - Once he knew it wasn’t his child, all bets were off. Ratchet attaccs.

15:01 - ya know who would be really useful if this sort of situation? OPTIM-

15:09 - Reminder this is not a memory issue, this is a warlord CONTROLLING BUMBLEBEE FROM THE INSIDE OF HIS HEAD. Raf is an idiot.

15:13 - it’s the listening part that got him, not the ‘remember me’ part.

15:14 - Aww.. the babies trying his hardest. Watching the way Bee’s eyes shift is genuinely heartbreaking.

15:17 - he looks adorable.

15:21 - the way Bee’s wings are so high up-

15:27 - NO! He’s obviously in pain.. I can’t!!

15:44 - YES! (But imagine how much easier it would’ve been with opt-)

15:50 - Raf’s genuinely making me mad. WHEN HAS THAT WORKED THIS WHOLE EPISODE??

06:00 - … H o w D o e s T h a t W o r k ? Is he actually beeping? Is that actually Megatron’s voice? Is he beeping but it sounds like Megatron’s voice??

16:05 - FOR FRAGS SAKE RAF-

16:27 - weirdly pretty.

16:31 - oooh~ love me some height difference and from Megatron’s perspective.

16:51 - I was kinda expecting ‘daddy’s home’

17:02 - Man, I had the Mandela affect on this. I always thought the Megatron said ‘I outta thank you for your hospitality, Scout. Deceptions, finish these pests.’ Might’ve been from a fanfiction but I swear I’ve seen it. + this shots remind me of the scenes that Megatron was talking to Bee in Sick Mind.

17:17 - dunno how I’m supposed to feel about Ratchet leaving Bee in open fire.

17:35 - HE CAN FLY

17:37 - that was cool ngl

17:39 - if he kept his legs closed he would’ve had a gymnastics technique going there while he mounted the spike. If you know you know.

17:53 - Sorry Arcee, you don’t got those strong legs like Bee.

18:04 - Transformers on ice. (Decided to see if it’s real and omg)

18:23 - that’s rich, ain’t it?

18:27 - I love that so much.

18:41 - So light em up up up, light em up up up-

18:49 - If I had a dollar for every time the screen went white in this episode, I’d have two dollars.

19:29 - and you’ll never believe who brought him back

20:45 - oh I see, so the guilt of failing to fight off Megatron’s control and bringing him back is gonna come later, got it!

20:52 - On the scan Bee’s head and chest are red.

20:58 - ignore me, that’s normal.

21:04 - Why is Optimus wearing his battle mask? Wait why is everyone so excited?

21:28 - AHHHHHHHHH

———————

So that was Out of His Head!

I really enjoy the episode, but wish they had done a bit more with Bee being controlled by Megatron, especially if they had touched on the group noticing the little things more.

I mentioned at that start that TFP skips recovery arcs and that is certainly the case for Bumblebee, especially considering that for a bot loyal to Optimus, bringing back Megatron could be viewed as traitorous. Not by Optimus, but by Bee himself.

I also thought that Raf’s role was pretty weak. He didn’t actually do anything for the plot.

Then you have the very apparent part of Optimus not being as involved with the A plot as he should’ve been.

But I thought the animation was beautiful, the dynamic between Ratchet and Bumblebee was enjoyable and Bee being common ground for the dynamic between Raf and Ratchet.

Despite all the negatives, when you’re just watching the episode and not deconstructing it the way I do for the notes, it’s very much an enjoyable watch and I sincerely hope I haven’t ruined the episode.

[nullbutler]

Season 2 but it's only when Alois is around

so I just finished rewatching season 2! I made TO THE SECOND time stamps of every time Alois Trancy appears on screen (as well as a few other notable things, such as when the explicit/violent parts happen, when Luka appears, and a few lines that were worth mentioning). here is your Tumblr Alois Stan Season 2 Survival Guide! While it's not everything (I didn't write down the post-mortem Hannah eyeball scene) it is 95% of the Alois content in that season!

This was using the version currently avaliable on Netflix. if the season has been cropped or altered on other streaming sites, I don't know how helpful this guide will be! sorry about that! Also, while I tried my best to warn potentially triggering subject matter, and I'm pretty sure I got all of it, I am not 100%, so if you're going to rewatch the season, please get in a headspace where you know, there is a small chance you might see something. The worst, however, has been caught

TIMESTAMPS FOR THE CSA

EP#1 CLAWED BUTLER -- 0:00-1:14

EP#8 DIVULGING BUTLER -- 9:06-10:36, 12:36-13.59 18.35-18.46

EP#9 HOLLOW BUTLER -- 16:43-16:57

Episode 5-7 have a lot of Alois scenes, but nothing in relationship to his trauma, so if you want an entirely 'safe' and non-triggering viewing, those are your best bet! Episode 1 is also fine, if you start it directly after the opening

TMESTAMPS FOR OTHER DISCOMFORTS

If I were to try to keep track of all of this, then the list would be extensive and long BUT in regards to Alois in particular, a few scenes did jump out at me as being potentially a little ... weird

EP#1 CLAWED BUTLER --

9:27-9:42 (Druitt says something weird and pervy)

EP#8 DIVULGING BUTLER --

0:00-2:02 (Nothing explicit, but he is naked, bandaged, and the camera is...you know how the camera is. Some weird dialogue too, between him and Hannah and Claude. It's nothing too bad)

3:39-4:31 (The Hannah scene. Some people told me they were uncomfortable with the way he tackled her, even if it was just the camera being a little weird)

(If the triggering stuff really bothers you, just don't want Divulging Butler, that episode was...weird)

LIVE LUKA REACTION

EP#8 DIVULGING BUTLER -- 5:02-9:04

EP#9 HOLLOW BUTLER -- 11:45-13:15

EP#11 CROSSROADS BUTLER -- 14:58-16:25

EP#12 BLACK BUTLER -- 12:05-12:28

ACTUAL TIMESTAMPS

It'll take ages to jot these down, so here are the pictures of the notes I was taking. Every time Alois Trancy was on screen, I took note of it

Uhhh fun fact my therapist called me halfway through and I had to write down a number. That's what that scribbled out thing is. Haha...oh, if only she knew...

ALOIS OUTFITS

Also, as per something @hateweasel said, I decided I had to keep track of what outfits he was wearing throughout the episodes. And I can proudly say the little shorts only show up in episode 1, 2 minutes in episode 5, all of the scenes of him in the present in Episode 8, and all of the scenes of him in Ciel's mind palace in episode 12. So about 20 minutes total. This is out of the approximate 50 minutes of Alois Time in the series, with his other outfits cycling in at the maid dress, the devil costume, his normal outfit but with trousers, and then Ciel's outfit while he's possessing him, and then his clothes as a kid.

Here is a diagram. I made up those numbers. I could have added it second by second, and that was my plan, and I started, but it was really really boring

NOTABLE LINES

Some things I just found funny

EP#1 CLAWED BUTLER - Druitt says 'Among us' at 9:55

EP#5 BEACON BUTLER - Alois licks Ciel at 15:34-15:40. It should be noted he spends like 10 seconds proceeding that playing with Ciel's hair and Ciel DOES NOT pull away from him or even seem that disturbed. Huh.

EP#7 DEATHLY BUTLER - There's these shots as the two butlers fight each other where they show the boys reacting. We get 'live Lois reaction' at 6:12, 6:19, 7:39, 9:01, 10:18,10:38, 11:27

In the same episode, the piss line is at 15:23-15:50

EP#9 HOLLOW BUTLER - Ciel actually says he feels regret after Alois dies. This is at 10:10.

Alois's village is also revealed to be called Arachnophile. Ah.

Alois is dead at 20:39

EP#11 CROSSROADS BUTLER - while possessing the body of Ciel Phantomhive, Alois actually tries to hurt himself. It's kind of painful to watch. This occurs at 6:23-6:59, 11:57-13:07

EP#12 BLACK BUTLER - Alois speaks last at 12:05

[domaindiver]

A full timeline of the RTVS Forewarned run in which Scorpy no-clips into the crypt and needs rescuing: Complete with timestamps for Wayne and Scorpy’s POVs.

Wayne’s POV [Orange, everyone’s in by 24:44] Scorpy’s POV [Blue, in at 43:40] Gir’s POV [Not timestamped, everyone’s in by 29:00]

Forewarning (haha) that this is VERY LONG! If you click keep reading you will be subject to quite a bit of text. Let me know if there are any edits I can make to this for accessibility! Notes and post-scripts may be added at a later date.

[No timestamp] > Scorpy is having connection issues, and cannot walk particularly fast as he’s stuck in a constant crouch position. Wayne suggests he try to fix his headset, but he is reluctant, and instead picks up a torch, a camera, and a medkit off of the supply table.

[38:04 | 56:30] > While attempting to fix his headset at the Tomb’s entrance, Scorpy no-clips into the wall and falls down a floor. None of his companions (Gir, Trog, Wayne) notice, as they are distracted by their iPads. 

[57:06] > Scorpy resumes viewing the game, and in doing so clips even further down. He lands in a massive room with a ball of blue fire marking the entrance, and begins to explore, calling out for his friends.

[39:15] > Wayne realises Scorpy is missing and begins searching outside for him, chat informs Wayne that Scorpy has no-clipped through the map and is in the tomb. Trog steals Wayne’s boombox.

[1:00:25] > Chat tells Scorpy that he is being searched for, he walks into the blue fire and begins to explore the area he was teleported into. 

[42:39] > Wayne picks up a sheet of paper and the Mejai appears for the first time. Trog begins to think that chat was fucking with Wayne, and Scorpy isn’t actually in the tomb.

[1:02:00] > Scorpy drops his torch in an area he can’t reach due to collision. He takes a picture of a skeleton.

[44:36 | 1:03:05] > Scorpy ventures into a puzzle room, but cannot solve the puzzle because it references cardinal directions, and he does not have a compass. He speaks to Wayne and Trog through a wall, and tells them he is “moving heads” (the puzzle requires you to rotate the heads of the Four sons of Horus)

[47:13 | 1:05:40] > Wayne continues to explore, and eventually hears Scorpy again, this conversation leads both parties to a gate, which Scorpy is trapped behind. Wayne runs off in an attempt to find the corresponding lever to open the gate. 

[48:05] > Wayne runs wild in the tomb, repeatedly running into the Mejai (who he thinks is repeatedly putting out his torches) [Note: This is later proven to be false, as Dekan the Lost does not interfere with burning fires.] as he talks to chat. Wayne is very quickly rendered completely lost, and spends the majority of his time screaming and running around in circles as his torch burns out.

[No timestamp] > Trog and Gir lose Wayne, and assume he has died. 

[1:09:20] > Scorpy attempts to reconnect with Trog and Gir as he can hear them discussing Wayne’s death, but is repeatedly scared away because of the Mejai outside of the gate. 

[1:10:23] > Trog eventually tells Scorpy that Wayne isn’t dead, but they can’t find him. Scorpy hangs around the gate but still cannot make it all the way due to cobwebs blocking the path. Chat tells him that he needs the torch to burn the webs, so he makes his way back down to find it. 

[52:33 | 1:11:03] > While downstairs, he speaks to Wayne through another wall. Wayne informs him that “shit’s bad, dude!” but there is nothing Scorpy can do as the lever still has not been found. The rest of the crew (Gir, Trog) are able to locate Wayne shortly after.

[1:12:40] > Scorpy continues downstairs, and manages to retrieve his torch. He burns away all of the cobwebs and waits by the gate. 

[54:55 | 1:13:55] > The Mejai physically manifests, so Trog, Gir, and Wayne decide to regroup upstairs away from it. Scorpy speaks to the group through the ceiling, and informs them of his current situation.

[56:23] > Wayne and Gir decide to split off and attempt to search for the lever together. 

[1:15:50] >The Mejai lurks outside of the gate, and while trying to figure out what to do, Scorpy drops his torch through the bars, out of reach. His attempts to retrieve it are all interrupted by the Mejai attempting to kill him through the gate. He takes a picture of himself, but only manages to capture the top of his helmet in the shot. 

[1:17:23] > Scorpy decides he should spend his time attempting to figure out what Mejai they are being chased by, figuring he is safe from it on his side of the gate. Trog visits Scorpy and gives him his torch and the boombox, nearly getting killed twice in the process. 

[1:21:25] > Trog speaks to Scorpy through a different wall, telling him that Wayne is nearly dead. Scorpy informs Trog that he is most likely “occupying the monster” in his gate. [Note: This is later proven to be true, as the boombox was attracting it to his location while preventing it from actually getting to him]

[1:22:50] > Scorpy continues his investigation, hopping back into the blue fire and exploring the area he originally no-clipped into.

[1:24:51] > Scorpy returns, and is once again visited by Trog, who confirms that Gir and Wayne are missing. Scorpy takes a picture of Trog, using his last piece of camera film.

[1:27:20] > Trog leaves and returns with “toys”, an iPad, geiger counter, and  assumed “walkie talkie”, actually a spirit box device used to communicate with the ghost. None of these objects are ever used practically. 

[1:11:04 | 1:29:30] > Wayne and Gir finally return. Scorpy warns them of the Mejai outside the door, and Wayne informs Scorpy that they have travelled for 30 minutes and still have not found the lever to get him out. Scorpy asks for a compass to complete the puzzle on his end of the door, in hopes that it may substitute for the lever. 

[1:12:20 | 1:30:50] > Wayne gives Scorpy the compass and he leaves to do the puzzle. Meanwhile, Wayne tells the rest of the group that he thinks solving the endgame tomb puzzle may be the only way to get Scorpy out of the room. He suggests the group make a guess as to what the Mejai is based on what they’ve been experiencing so far and run with that.

[1:13:15 | 1:31:43] > Scorpy is instantly distracted by a second iPad, Wayne begins to make his guess.

[1:32:35] > Scorpy begins to solve his puzzle. 

[1:15:25] > Wayne guesses that the Mejai is Necraph the Shadow, and is incorrect, so he makes his way to the afterlife. This incorrect guess locks the tomb door, leaving Gir upstairs and Scorpy and Trog trapped downstairs. 

[1:16:00] > Wayne reincarnates as a hostile mummy, and trails Trog upstairs to scare him. 

[1:34:40] > Scorpy, hearing that Wayne has died from chat, goes upstairs to get his torch as defence. While upstairs, the actual Mejai (Dekan the Lost) finally manifests inside of the wall because he is drawn to the boombox Scorpy is holding on his side of the gate. This spawn location unfortunately instantly kills Scorpy. 

[1:17:11] > Trog kills Wayne and hides on top of the stairs, Gir and Trog recuperate. Following this point, Wayne is stuck spectating, and nobody can hear him. [Note: This happens at the exact same time that Scorpy is killed, leading Gir and Trog to believe that it was Scorpy who Trog killed instead.]

[No timestamp] > Trog tells Gir to go over to the car and end the level. For some reason, the car’s trunk will not close, and Gir notes that because he cannot die they are effectively softlocked. 

[1:36:10] > Scorpy reincarnates as a live person, and respawns on the other side of the gate, albeit completely lost because he no longer has a torch.

[1:18:25 | 1:37:02] > Scorpy finally locates Gir and Trog. Trog and Scorpy decide to search for the lever so they can escape.

[No timestamp] > While attempting to find a way to quit the game, Gir discovers they have mapped out 97.9% of the crypt. He begins to trail them using the mapping device. 

[1:24:15 | 1:42:44] > Trog finds the lever with Gir’s help, and in pulling it is almost instantly killed by Dekan the Lost. Gir shouts to Scorpy, who takes off running for the door. Because the tomb door is now open and all of their companions are dead, the car door is no longer bugged.

[1:24:50 | 1:43:19] > Scorpy grabs a scroll off of Trog’s dead body, himself and Gir escape the tomb together. 

FIN.

[placegrenette]

We are never ever ever getting back together English subtitles.

Timestamps, according to Google Translate:

00:00 Announcement 01:57 Who was the first rap battle with? 5:32 How did you come to Almaty? 10:37 The happiest moment? 11:33 Scariest moment? 13:10 Reason for leaving Ninety One… 17:37 It is a difficult period in my life 19:47 What did you find in 5 years? 22:07 What did you learn from Erbolat Bedelkhan? 23:03 "He wanted one of us to be in politics" 25:29 About SHAM label 28:18 "The man lost me" 32:51 How did you accept the news of Raim and Erke? 34:33 Have you dedicated a song to a man? 35:27 How is your relationship with Raim? 36:31 How many times did your mouth burn from love? 38:47 What is connected with Ziruza? 44:10 You and Zaq were a solid tandem 47:41 It's been a while since you left your parents... 48:56 Who is left around you? 53:33 I don't mind returning to the group! 57:20 There is a fade in my creativity 1:06:43 What percentage did you lie?

(Raim, of Raim and Artur fame, and Erke Esmahan, whom AZ publicly dated for roughly [if I’m remembering correctly] a year and a half, married recently.)

So as usual I don’t have a prayer of giving you any actual information about AZ’s plans for his label, or his feelings towards Ninety One or ZaQ, or what that bit about politics is about, or any of it. But at least the man looks good! I don’t love the calf-high-hemmed pants and blindingly white socks combination, but his glasses suit him.

[nonalcoholicaficionado]

Top Non Alcoholic Dark Brews To Try This Winter 2024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxih8Wdi4j8 Top Non-Alcoholic Dark Brews to Try This Winter 2024 #nonalcoholicbeer #winterbrews #darkbeer Hi Everyone! Welcome to the Non-Alcoholic Aficionado Channel Looking for the perfect non-alcoholic dark brews to enjoy this winter? In this video, I review some of the best NA dark beers of 2024, including Untitled Art S'mores Dark Brew, AleSmith Speedway Coffee Stout, and Collective Arts Emerald Dark. These rich, full-flavored brews are ideal for cold winter nights. Whether you love the chocolatey s'mores taste or bold coffee notes, these brews offer something special without the alcohol. Watch as I taste, compare, and rate each one to help you choose the best for the winter nights around fire. 🔔 Ready for the non-alcoholic revolution? Subscribe for top-rated NA beer reviews, engaging expert podcast interviews, and the latest in non-alcoholic drinks! https://www.youtube.com/@theNAaficionado/?sub_confirmation=1 🔗 Stay Connected With Me. 👉 Instagram: https://ift.tt/o127TEO 👉 Linkedin: https://ift.tt/uI27UAJ ☑️ Timestamps 00:00 Intro 00:36 Untitled Art S'mores Dark Brew 03:20 AleSmith Speedway Coffee Stout 06:33 Collective Arts Emerald Dark 09:11 Wrap-Up ============================= 🎬 Recommended Playlists 👉 July Go Brewing NA Beer Reviews https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_VhxCEuUKQQumq7ZDQEnT3ZHnDtvIZ_E 👉 Go Brewing -- NA Beer Reviews https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_VhxCEuUKQS8eCcmpIIptr0i2_FuCPfj 🎬 WATCH MY OTHER VIDEOS: 👉 How Pilot Project Brewing Empowers New Breweries: The Story Behind MASH GANG's US Launch! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=putcanPnFfg 👉 Deschutes & Patagonia’s Kernza Golden Brew: A Refreshing Non-Alcoholic Adventure https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_sVoSHOBSY 👉 Beaglepuss NA Beer Journey: Podcast With Head Brewer Kevin Barnes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJdMHSMxD3w 👉 Go Brewing’s Non-Alcoholic Oktoberfest: The Perfect Fall Brew! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO-fRIJL8P0 👉 Canadian Non-Alcoholic Beer Review: One For The Road’s Saskaberry Blonde & Amber Ale https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-7229FVAjw ============================= 🔎 Related Phrases: Best Non-Alcoholic Dark Beers 2024, Winter Non-Alcoholic Beer Reviews, Untitled Art S'mores Dark Brew, AleSmith Speedway Coffee Stout, Non-Alcoholic Dark Beer for Winter, Coffee Stout Non-Alcoholic Beer, S'mores Flavored Non-Alcoholic Beer, Non-Alcoholic Beers With Rich Flavor, Best NA Beers for Winter, Tasting Non-Alcoholic Dark Brews #nonalcoholicbeer #winterbrews #darkbeer #nabeer #nonalcoholicdarkbrew #s'moresbeer #coffeestout #bestnonalcoholicbeer #nonalcoholicbrews #winterbeer #nastout #sobercurious #nabeerreview #nonalcoholicdrinks #beerlovers #craftbeer via The Non-Alcoholic Aficionado https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp-sFlcEgZwSw_ntEZR7GWw December 08, 2024 at 03:28AM

[chetchat101]

Top 25 Idioms and Phrases For Competitive Exams

Watch This Video to Learn Top 25 Most Repeated English Idioms and Phrases For Competitive Exams (With Examples) | CUET/SSC/CGL/Banking!

==========================

⏱ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - Intro 00:40 - Beat around the bust 01:35 - Once in a blue moon 02:18 - Face the Music 03:25 - Under the weather 04:11 - A Bolt from the Blue 04:41 - Bury the Hatchet 05:30 - Wild Goose Chase 06:10 - Cost an Arm and a Leg 06:47 - At the eleventh hour 07:20 - Blow one's own trumpet 08:00 - Break the Ice 08:35 - Get into hot water 08:56 - Hit the Nail on the Head 09:38 - Have an axe to grind 10:28 - Smell a Rat 11:10 - Call it a Day 12:00 - Gift of the Gab 12:30 - See Eye to Eye 12:54 - Flog/Beat a Dead Horse 13:29 - At the Drop of a Hat 14:08 - Leave no stone unturned 14:58 - Let the cat out of the bag 15:36 - Paint the town red 16:14 - Show your true colors 16:40 - Spill the Beans 17:19 - Quiz 19:22 - Outro

==========================

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[jcmarchi]

Best Games of 2024 (So Far) And Anger Foot Review | GI Show

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/best-games-of-2024-so-far-and-anger-foot-review-gi-show/

Best Games of 2024 (So Far) And Anger Foot Review | GI Show

In this week’s episode of The Game Informer Show, the crew attempts to highlight the best games of 2024 that have launched between January and July. This is not all-encompassing. Rather, it’s more a conversation about this year’s early standouts and other releases we plan to visit before our official Game of the Year discussions in December. Before we properly dive in, Marcus breaks down his review of Anger Foot, developer Free Lives’ new first-person shooter. Afterwards, Alex highlights a small desktop game (literally) called Rusty’s Retirement. We hope you enjoy this episode and find new games to play!

Follow us on social media: Alex Van Aken (@itsVanAken), Kyle Hilliard (@KyleMHilliard), Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7)

The Game Informer Show is a weekly gaming podcast covering the latest video game news, industry topics, exclusive reveals, and reviews. Join us every Thursday to chat about your favorite games – past and present – with Game Informer staff, developers, and special guests from around the industry. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Matt Storm, the freelance audio editor for The Game Informer Show, edited this episode. Matt is an experienced podcast host and producer who’s been speaking into a microphone for over a decade. You should listen to Matt’s shows like the “Fun” And Games Podcast and Reignite, a BioWare-focused podcast. 

The Game Informer Show – Podcast Timestamps:

00:00:00 – Intro

00:03:29 – Anger Foot Review

00:18:36 – Rusty’s Retirement

00:30:06 – Best Games of 2024 (So Far)

01:34:51 – Housekeeping

[a-sh0t-in-the-dark]

10:00 AM

'Zod'

Nothing was out of place though something was playing on the T.V: "You just sold your soul to the Devil {Himura}" - Samurai X - Episode 25. ⏩ "All the pieces are in place. Relax." Hades - Kingdom Hearts. 📺 A segment of a child playing against a robot in chess at the Moscow Open followed right after. "...There was a light peeking through the door this time." 10:04 I muzzled pea with my palm and planned on how i'd make it to the mansion. 📳..a text from Amber. A picture of her at the hospital: her hair was shorter; "Just leaving, how long has it been? You know....wait. Yes, haha! I see; print $v9886 ^.^ $v9887????" "Ah...stage three.." I sent her a picture of Pea with her bell chime as a figure made its way out of Matt's bedroom. ("Holy") I screamed internally; it was Matt. "Hey" he paused for a brief moment; "..did you clean my room?" "Not today..I don't think. {Wait..no....}up for a game?" I handed him a cigarette as i'd gotten up. "Just testing you. Sure." "I want to be a knight." Badger - Breaking Bad{Negro y Azul} Almost instinctively, I positioned my left knight in front of my King. "Been gone for a few days." He mirrored my move; "Had to "wrap my head" around the scenario we're in.." I said nothing and continued fortifying my defense. "Came up with a solution though." He opened a clear lane for his queen to take a free knight. "Oh.." I backed the knight with a pawn. "Forgive me, Mr. Spock..I should have known better." Star Trek - 'The Squire of Gothos' Timestamp {49:00 - 49:06} "I got an invitation to some kind of dinner at that mansion a few miles down Star Desert Ave; I showed him the crumpled piece of paper. "...dine with the White Queen and me?" He looked at the position of the pieces on the board. Silence. For a reason I can't explain, he appeared nervous. A bead of sweat rolled off of his temple and followed the structure of his face, then disappeared as though it never were. "..." I wanted to say something, but his gaze suddenly met mine; The mirror shattered. 10:28 After awakening from my brief daydream of being a prisoner behind a compromised looking glass; "A would be God (in dungarees) strangled by an illusion. That will of the wisp mirage..." 📺 Twilight Zone - 'The Mirror' Timestamp {23:51 - 23:57} I looked at the board: "I castled?"

"That's a first.." said Matt. "...." Another text from Amber. He looked at the chessboard, as did I.

"A dance as old as time itself, you; the wily old king. (And) I, the slender young knight." - Code Monkeys - "Just One of The Gamers'

Adam: "Want to call it a draw?"

Matt: "I have one less rook."

Adam: "I castled."

10:36

I crunched two aspirin pills and rolled a small heap [of] shredded [leaves] into the dust mound before rolling it into a cone. We just sat there and smoked as a segment of [House] played on the TV. "So..you and Mei have a thing?" I randomly stuttered. Before he could answer, I said: "It's cool、it's cool; heh...I had to fetch Pea and it...uh...it just became apparent heheh." "Nah..one time thing." I tried passing the cone but he emanated disdain. I took another puff and started playing Superman 64. He notioned for the cone; I obliged.

"...gonna be honest, I don't even think it's on. I went a mile up the road to the pharmacy and no shock, no beeping; Ms. Pratt would've been at my door by now but, nothing." "So you're gonna go?" "Worst case scenario..first violation? Wanna come with?" "Sounds like a personal matter." "Could be my P.O setting me up, I could use the leverage..." Before I could contemplate any further, he rejected. I was too high to induce persuasion; the elephant in the room dwarved as the smoke accumulated. I think Pea could see it too. "What happened here?" Matthew was in the exit hallway; I didn't even know he'd gotten up. I met him in the hallway; The mirror was cracked in several points. "......." I cut my finger attempting the trace one of the fractures. "First the window, now this; no clue what happened." There was no glass on the floor, nor was there anything in front of the closet to indicate something was thrown at it. "There's another one in the closet I could hang so.." "Has a cool aesthetic." he interjected. "How so?" "Seven large shards.." he stood in front of the mirror. "Almost like looking at seven different versions of yourself." "I don't follow.." I applied pressure to my finger. "I dunno..could be overthinking it. But the pieces are just about evenly sized. Almost as if it were hit in dead center. Just looks cool, nothing to dissect from my statement, heh." "Huh.." "Well, gonna go pick my car up from Zens; later." "Ah..uh....leave the door cracked." An attempt at a joke, either it wasn't funny or he didn't get it; the door lay slightly ajar.

I looked in the mirror for a little while. "All there." My brown hair had grown shaggy over the weeks, slightly covering my brow. I could count three cigarette burn holes on my shirt. I still had my non prescription glasses on from the other night. The glare from the lens made my eyes appear a lighter shade of green. They're contacts. The image before me wasn't the real me; a doppelganger. I moved in closer, paying attention to each reflection as I turned my ear to the glass. I heard nothing, so I knocked. Still nothing. I made sure that my heart was still beating; "..yup, all there." I didn't have time to contemplate on what Matt had said; "Oh right, Amber..." I checked my phone: "empty subject".

I removed my glasses after sliding my phone back into my pocket and gave the mirror one last look. My reflection cracked a smile at the same moment as I, before turning his back, making way into the kitchen; my.

[nbaaholic80yt]

NBA Ankle Breakers Exposed: Who's Left Red-Faced?

Get ready to witness the most devastating ankle breakers in the NBA! In this video, we'll expose the players who were left red-faced and humiliated by these impressive moves. From Steph Curry to Kyrie Irving, let's take a look at some of the best ankle breakers in the NBA. NOTABLE TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:25 Kyrie Irving 1:36 Steph Curry 5:51 Russell Westbrook 6:06 James Harden 7:37 Terry Rozier ✅ Subscribe To My Channel For More NBA Videos: https://www.youtube.com/@NBAAHOLIC80/featured✅ Stay Connected With Me: 👉 TikTok: https://bit.ly/3yyGEsz ==============================✅ Other Videos You Might Be Interested In Watching: 👉 NBA Viral Moments - The Most Insane And Memorable Moments In League | NBA-A_HOLIC80https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHRZaurEX6M👉 The Best Of NBA Bloopers - Reliving The Funniest And Most Memorable Basketball Fails | NBA-A-HOLIC80https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-KAi8-psPY👉 Ja Morant's Best Plays Of The Season - A Highlight Reel You Can't Miss | NBA-A-HOLIC80https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSF_z-yCIho👉 NBA Highlights - The Top 10 Crazy Plays That Left Us In Awe This Year | NBA-A-HOLIC80https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4-hWD-9Kzw=============================✅ About NBA-A-HOLIC80: NBA Basketball content, whether funny, highlights or just recaps of games around the league, the way it should be shown. NBA-A-HOLIC80 is an American brand founded in 2023. We produce some of the most entertaining NBA content on YouTube.I hope you enjoy it and subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@NBAAHOLIC80/featured =====================#NBA #anklebreakers #crossover #basketball #sports #hoops #basketballmoves #nbadribbling #handles #dribble #nbaankles #basketballskill #nbaskills #crossovermoves #anklebreaker #ballislife #hoopmixtape #basketballhighlights #trickshots #nbaartistryDisclaimer: We do not accept any liability for any loss or damage incurred from you acting or not acting as a result of reading our publications. You acknowledge that you use the information we provide at your own risk. Do your own research. Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational, or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use© NBA-A-HOLIC80