#tv shows that lost their mojo

[aiscapades]

thinking out loud abt recent discussions in the touchstarved/obscura fandoms :) literally just my own personal opinion !!!!!

i can't stop thinking abt cirrus bc he's honestly what i want so badly for the touchstarved LIs. it's what i wanted for count lucio.

i was reading y'all's opinions abt the touchstarved marketing and your concerns abt how the game is gonna turn out, and while i was understanding, i also was so confused abt .. where this sudden concern was coming from. and then i played obscura and i was like oh! i didn't know a game could be like this! i didn't know a demo could be like this! i had entirely different reactions to the obscura demo than i did the touchstarved demo

—and yeah that's comparing two totally different games, different studios, different projects. the touchstarved demo served to introduce the characters and the world and it did that wonderfully. it's satisfactory. it's not that they did anything wrong?? but i cannot deny they gave me two insanely different reactions. i was YELLING when cirrus was doing his shit. it was like what i imagine watching trashy reality tv is like. or like watching one of those poorly-made TV movies and just enjoying the ride. i was hollering and jumping out of my chair and GAWKING at the screen. like cirrus was real and he was really saying this insane shit and i was SO ON BOARD and selecting every insane option the game gave me. it was just so wild. and it was so, so fun.

so i thought abt it more and i was like yeah. i actually see where this concern is coming from. rss keeps their stuff so close to their chest that it's hard to tell what routes they're taking, how they're dealing with certain issues, how deep the character arcs go, etc. i have no idea how fucked up their version of monstrosity gets, and for a game that is ENTIRELY about monsters and monstrosity, that definitely gives me pause. we don't know anything. they drop hints and we guess and theorize, but we don't know anything. we know leander is fucked up. we know they're all fucked up. in what way? who knows. does mhin murder people as a giant crow beast every night? we don't definitively know. we kinda assume that based on lore drops, but we don't know. but then other studios are doing semi-regular q&as and dropping information into the laps of their fans on a daily basis (lost in limbo??? hello? every day i get a notif that they've told us something new, either abt ALL the characters or about the world). idk how early obscura devs have been answering questions but they're also doing something similar. but for rss you can send in questions and you're probably never gonna hear back. you can't just ask them what song the m5 LIs would sing on karaoke night and get a response 🧍🏼 they don't do that. which isn't to say it's WRONG of them—i'm not saying they're being bad game devs by any means—but it's definitely a different way to handle game development compared to these other studios we follow.

that lack of fan involvement and information sharing is where the concern comes from, i think. at least on my part!

i mentioned count lucio earlier and i want to elaborate why. firstly, he's my favorite character of all time. i've been writing a fanfic for him for 2 years, and it's nearly 200k words (i'm taking a break from it rn). like i love lucio as a character so, so deeply. is it because of the arcana game? no, actually. it's because of the POTENTIAL his character has. it's because of what the FANS have pulled from him and shaped him into.

the arcana was on the app store. it had such strict rules about what it could and couldn't be. and yeah i can rant about how dumb nix hydra is for taking the mico-transaction phone app route, but my point in all of it is that the devs failed lucio. i think they fumbled a lot, with the other characters as well, but lucio was their watch mojo top 10 biggest anime fails of all time #1 spot.

his bad ending shows him as the new DEVIL and dictator of the world??? and we got to see none of that. his whole route woobified him to pieces. he's just a lil meow meow. he's Baby. he didn't know better. he just made some Oopsies 👉🏻👈🏻 uh oh!!

like he was the main VILLAIN of the story and they turned him into a manchild. the wasted potential of this guy is insane. and i guess i saw that and thought "i can make this motherfucker so much worse" and i did that and will continue to do that. so have his other fans. people have rewritten his route altogether because it was so unsatisfactory.

there's overlap from the arcana in the rss dev team. do i think touchstarved will be the new arcana? nope!!!! but am i also worried they'll play it safe because they think the fanbase wants conventionally loveable love interests? yeah. i absolutely see the concern. it's very real and very there. does red spring studio KNOW we want truly monstrous characters? do they? we're just hoping they do.

leander doesn't have to be just like cirrus. none of them have to be anything. but i do want them to be monstrous. i want to FEEL something the same way i feel something when cirrus orders me onto my knees. like not even in a kinky sexual way. i want to be shocked. i want to hesitate and think "what is this character doing right now? what will i do right now?" i want to be confused and shocked and pleasantly surprised and also horrified. i want the adrenaline high i got while playing cirrus's first chapter. it was like my cptsd was triggered in the best possible way (lmao).

and it's not even about that.

lost in limbo is more fantasy romance than it is horror (save for the goddamn voidbound holy fuck!) but i know that i'll enjoy the game anyhow because i love all the characters. why do i love all the characters? because the devs tell us about them. they don't even have to spoil the game. i know amon smells like chocolate and has a fake southern accent (HELLO?) and that ara can't sing. lost in limbo could be the corniest fucking game and i would still love it because i'm already so attached to the characters.

the reason i turned to lost in limbo and obscura is because my excitement for touchstarved waned. because there's just a once in a blue moon post and it's likely it'll just be a "backers have new updates!" post. which isn't said to shame rss or backers !!!! that's normal and fine and valid!!!! do that!!!! i just mean rss is BARELY giving us what we want. we're stranded in the desert dying and rss is trickling water droplets one by one to each of us. lost in limbo devs are pissing fresh spring water into our mouths at firehose speed. is rss bad for this? no. they're not doing anything wrong. but a natural consequence of their marketing strategy is that fans will move on. i still love touchstarved. i'm going to play it. i'm reblogging fanart and fanfics. i'm posing the mormon leander theory. like i'm still here and still very much active but touchstarved isn't on my mind the way lost in limbo & obscura are.

ravenstar games tells me gael would fail the trial in the tale of orpheus and eurydice and i'm like holy fuck??? holy fuck!!!!!!

would ais? would mhin? i don't fucking know.

and what about elyon and sen? i know they're DLC bonus LIs and they don't need to be fleshed-out as soon as the main LIs. they can be on the back burner until touchstarved comes out. this is fair. but what about them? we know nothing other than 1. elyon is rich because of brothel money and 2. sen is an undead warden? (like a prison guard? like the ppl who watch over vere? i don't even know that for sure) (we also know their flowers but that's barely anything). meanwhile lost in limbo is sharing info about cécile and lázaro as often as their main love interests. they're not forgotten about. i can't even make a mc for sen's route because i know nothing about her!!!!!! which hurts my heart because i love sen. i love the idea of sen. it's the first time a female love interest in one of these games is 1. my type but also 2. not exactly like me (ara i love you but we are twins).

they're impersonal. they are 2D concepts we try to fill out.

maybe rss will tell us the LIs go-to karaoke song after the game releases. or maybe they won't. but there are just so many benefits to sharing that kinda thing and bonding with your fans in that way. that's my whole point. it's not "i need a steady stream of touchstarved content pumped directly into my veins 24/7 or i lose all interest" it's not that!!!!! obviously not because rss doesn't do that and i'm still here. this is my most active blog! i'm having a blast here because the fandom is sick as hell. we're vibing, doing our own thing, and it's great. but rss feels very distant. they are the senobium and we are residents of lowtown wondering when or if things will ever be different. if we're going to have a good day (lore drop or new art) or if things will just continue on as expected.

to reiterate: this post isn't about how rss is doing something wrong or bad or that ravenstar games/rotten raccoons are sososososo much better than rss. rss doesn't have to do everything other studios are doing. that's not what i'm saying. this is just the reality of what rss is doing vs other devs and how i PERSONALLY feel about it. i love them i would literally strap a bomb to my chest and demand my loved ones' credit card info to disarm it for any of these studios/games. i am a fan and i'm hopeful and i want to trust in rss so so so so badly. i want the very best for them. i want them to create a great game and be successful. i want them to be creatively fulfilled and proud of their game. on their own time, their own way. really and truly!

[cssns]

Everyone, Please Help Me Welcome @hollyethecurious back to the CSSNS!!!

Your Tumblr and any other applicable names

hollyethecurious (Tumblr) / HollyeLeigh (ao3 and ff.net)

How long have you been in the CS/OUAT fandom?

Since 2016

When did you start shipping Captain Swan?

When Emma held that knife against Hook's throat in S2

What drew you to this event?

My besties

What inspired your topic?

The TV show Grimm

If you would like to share a snippet/sneak peek/summary of your fic or artwork, please use the space below.

Killian watched the vans depart and began tearing down the police tape they’d used to cordon off the area. The techs had left behind one of their flood lights for him to use while finishing his own tasks, but after he stowed it away in his cruiser he realized how unnecessary that had been. The moon was bright enough for him to do a final patrol with the assistance of his flashlight to illuminate the hidden areas within the trees’ shadows.

He’d just finished a sweep of the perimeter when the skin at the back of his neck prickled and his hair began to stand on end. The area, which moments ago had been softly sound-tracked by an ambiance of crickets and distant hoots of owls, had gone quiet.

Too quiet.

Reaching down to his holster, he flicked loose the restraining strap with his thumb before palming his side arm. “Who’s there?” Killian called out as more prickles of unease crept over his skin and up his spine. “Storybrooke PD! Identify yourself!”

Movement flickered in his periphery and the quick succession of snapping twigs alerted him to someone fleeing the scene.

“Halt!” he yelled out while in hot pursuit with his gun drawn. “Storybrooke PD, I demand you stop and identify yourself!”

Barely able to keep pace, Killian chased after the suspect. His attempt to call in the incident over the radio on his shoulder had been met with static as he was clearly too far out of range. Not wishing to lose the perp, he did not want to risk digging his phone from his pocket, lest it slow him down. The pursuit lasted for an agonizing length of time, drawing Killian deeper and deeper into the woods, his legs burning and his lungs screaming from the extreme exertion.

He finally stopped after bursting into a clearing, biting back curses under his heaving breaths for having lost sight of the suspect. Holstering his weapon, he doubled over with his hands on his knees in an attempt to catch his breath. A painful stitch began to form at his side and sweat from his forehead threatened to blur his vision.

The snap of a branch was the only warning he had before something solid collided with him, knocking him to the ground. Inhuman snarls and the gnashing of teeth curdled Killian’s blood even before he caught sight of the monstrous wesen he was currently trying to fight off with all his might.

Blutbad. The Big, Bad Wolf. In full woge and ready to tear Killian’s throat out.

For our artists: What kind of art do you like to do? Picsets, painting, digital, etc?

picsets and collages mostly

What are you looking forward to most about participating in this event?

As always, all the new exciting stories and art pieces. I'm also looking forward to getting a bit of my writing mojo back.

Ok, am I the only one who had shivers running down my spine at that snippet? Welcome back, Hollye!!! Can't wait for the rest of this on July 21!!

[a-roguish-gambit]

If Gambit participated in a cooking competition TV show, which would it be?

Ok realistically, with his luck if he ends up on a cooking show he probably ends up on mojo's programing where he's forced to like cook over radiation or fight and defeat the ingredients before he cooks them.

The cooking show he would most want to be on is diners, drive-ins, and dives. Cause he wants to hang out with guy fieri and try hole in the wall places.

For a competition he would sign up for, I feel like he signed up for hells kitchen but through horrible x men luck and a wacky turn of events in the BBC his application ends up on the table of the great British bake off, who are really excited to have an "ethnic French American" on the show as a special contestant. The x men have land ownership in Scotland with Muir island so. He technically counts for duel citizenship (right?). He agrees cause he can bake as well as he can cook but dude is too well traveled for that show. He is side eyeing every international dish and does not appreciate being treated like some kind of novelty. Someone comments on his speech pattern and how broken it is, he turns on them and recites Shakespeare at them word for word. In french. People ask him invasive questions about being a mutant which leads to him retorting in sassy remarks

"I hear you can get operations to get the color of your sclera changed...have you considered it?"

"Have you considered dying yours black?"

"what? No that's dangerous I could go blind!"

"DEN WHY DA HELL WOULD GAMBIT DO IT HUH?!"

He gets on Mexican food week and curses so many people out. Shuts down the whole thing when he sees the examples and throws a fit and is just like "NAH we ain't doin dis. We ain't disrespectin Mexican cuisine like dis! Dat shit ain't a taco! It ain't even worthy of a taco bell menu! Let gambit show you sometin'" proceeds to hold the whole crew hostage to show them what actual Mexican food is like, force them try it so that they understand it, and gets kicked off the show subsiquently. His entire presence was then censored from that season and he has been banned from returning.

.....rogue was also banned from the great British bake off set. Because when she heard that contestants and crew members insulted him and his way of speaking she kind of lost it and flew over to have a very strong conversation with the producer of the show. It truly was just a conversation but he was kinda scared shitless of her busting into his office and refused to leave until she was finished telling him off for his shows bullshit.

....needless to say the great British bake off has been banned from charles' mansion.

[countessofbiscuit]

People didn’t visit holohookers for fun. Years of idle Marine chatter had taught John-117 that much. Sailors came here to talk to wives and sweethearts too distant for a call. Amputee veterans came to get their mojo back. Widowers brought their data drives in desperation.

John felt estranged from all these categories, as he always had.

But this was part of the human experience, apparently. Loss. Denial. Bargaining.

The irony wasn’t lost on him. He’d pulled his pellet out, they’d pulled Cortana out, and now he was spending UNSC money just to see her again because everything hurt too much.

. . . . .

drabble for the return of the Halo TV show, which I'm always trying to negotiate with

[devilbeez]

Okay I love hazbin hotel, I really do. I love the characters, I love the song. But I’m willing to admit that it have flaws and one of it being the pacing.

And ngl I think I found out why and it’s because numerous reason

Production. When Hazbin got confirmed for season 1 for all we could know the team only know that they get 8 episodes and that’s it. They don’t know about season 2 yet so either they got confirmed for season 2 when season 1 already out into work to the point there no fixing the script, or season 1 is don’t in production stage going to post when season 2 is confirmed. Giving benefit of the doubt there’s a certain panic to explain everything to the fandom so it’s just plot point after plot point being stuffed in one season without time to breathe.

Episode. This involved with the previous reason because if you happen to live under a rock, for some reason there seem to be a trend in shorten episodes seasons. It went from 26-25 to 12-15 and now less than 10. There’s not enough time to develop a character to the fullest. It seem rush because with the pressure from fandom and the uncertainty of confirmed seasons.

Lastly, it written like a musical but have TV show concepts. I feel like this is most confusing and might just be me so lemme explain. Hazbin hotel from ep 1 to 6 feel like a one whole musical where they kinda have to rush it a little? Cause musicals usually have 2 Maybe 3 hours and 40-50% of it are songs so you have to rush throughout the dialogue a little bit and let songs expressed the characters the most. I feel like this is what the show been doing, it rush through the dialogue and development to throw all the emotions we supposed to feel in songs and don’t get me wrong if it have one theme, one major problem like a musical it would work. However, Hazbin have all these problems, heaven forces, Lilith and Alastor sudden disappearance, the Vees, Angel’s arc, Charlie’s arc etc etc it all isn’t a minor problems like “oh these kids wanna be respected and accepted as they are” in School of rock or “this demigod lost his mojo” like in Moana. These problems are all main problem worthy and most of the time tv series have time to deal with this. Maybe one season address one of those problems, maybe one season have 2 main problems for first and later half. And so when you have musical writing with mostly songs where you need to have concise story but instead have tv series concept with multiple arcs what you get is a story that feel rush

This have been my tedtalk

[bugeyedfreaks]

1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 12 for HIM please

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

He’s fun! He’s evil! He’s fabulous! Who can’t like Him? It’s cool that, as a villain of Townsville, he’s the most serious kind that you can get, and it’s neat that the girls have a villain that’s dedicated to basically just screwing with their brains instead of pulling heists for material possessions like the rest usually do… but I do appreciate when he’s less, like… ~dark and edgy~ evil and more just messing around with the girls’ minds in ultra kooky, goofy ways for his own amusement (like making them take the SATs or conducting choo-choo trains or threatening to drop their teacher into a vat of boiling sharks, all while smiling… you can tell that my fave episode with Him is Him Diddle Riddle, haha).

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

I really like how mysterious and foreboding he is, specifically in the earliest episodes. The show used to air late at night, so sometimes when I rewatch episodes like Octi Evil and Tough Love (and it’s not a Him episode but I feel this BIG TIME with Abracadaver) I can remember being in the family room with all the lights off, sitting in front of the TV, watching them for the first time, and the whole nighttime ambiance made the episodes (and Him in particular) just all the more creepy and evil in my kid mind. He’s got a special unsettling feeling to him that feels lost later on in the last two seasons that aired (they also got rid of his obscure pink house/lair/hell realm that I always held a fondness for… the Dadaesque dimension they designed later kind of sucks and isn’t nearly as creepy).

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

He brought back the Rowdyruff Boys… why? Couldn’t he think of anything original? People think he’s so evil for resurrecting them (and in a way… true, because they’re not great characters) but I think he was just lazy. 🥱 He should have opened a mirror nightmare portal to unleash the Powerpunk Girls instead!

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

His hellish theme music!

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

There have been loooooooooots of super cool fanart and cosplays of Him! It’s always fun to see how people interpret him in different styles, and when I see a Him at a convention it’s always magical. 🔥✨

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

Hmm… well, I have my headcanon that he and Sedusa and Mojo are all best frenemies that like to go have self care days and chill out at the mall with each other, if that counts? 😆

[total-drama-takes-takes-2]

total takes island - character profiles

i made these up for fun if ur on here and want something changed pls tell me. i was gonna do a google forms thing but then i remembered over half of the mods arent even active anymore. anyway ill probably edit this later anyway too since i havent even read it over yet lolz

Name: Mod Ass

Likes: peace and quiet

Dislikes: people kissing engaged guys because they hate his fiancee

Known For: being a silent voice of reason in a world of chaos

Why TTI?: money

Ass is a quiet, thoughtful person who seems to attract drama to them like a magnet in a silverware store. Their life back home is full of soap opera level shenanigans, so they're pretty confident they'll survive here.

Name: Austin, baby!

Likes: women and having a groovy time yeah!

Dislikes: losing his mojo

Known For: his swingin' 60's sensibilities

Why TTI?: to meet more birds and make a little dough to pay off his harassment suits

Austin is a loud and proud, often hateable fella who came straight from the 60's to spread his word of free love and groovy fun times to the low-down pessimists on total drama

Name: Caesar

Likes: drama and slaying

Dislikes: being involved in said drama

Known For: being a great host

Why TTI?: caesar was invited by the producers to acknowledge their past legal feud is behind them

Caesar hosts their very own total drama hunger games, a very popular simulation-based cable TV show that's grown its own fanbase. a few months ago, the total drama syndicate attempted to take it down for copyright infringement, starting a tumultuous "total drama boycott" on reddit that caused over sixteen million dollars of lost revenue. since then, the producers have dropped the case and invited caesar on the show to let the fans know it's all in the past

Name: Courtney

Likes: their friends and piercings

Dislikes: mean people

Known For: their popular total drama takes blog

Why TTI?: to finally have the full td experience

Courtney (name inspired by the former contestant) is a laid-back, though hardworking moderator of a popular total drama centered blog. after an incident involving a past mutual and a widespread callout post that claimed courtney was slandering td contestants, courtney challenged the op to a bet: if courtney could survive the real total drama, the op would take down their callout and delete their blog. now, courtney has to prove they have what it takes to survive not only the fandom, but the show itself.

Name: FNAF Bonnie

Likes: bad opinions

Dislikes: actual bad opinions

Known For: inciting drama

Why TTI?: what better place to spread the most terrible takes known to man?

Bonnie is a #gamer who's origins began in the online reddit gaming community. not because they actually like using reddit, but simply because it's so easy to start arguments there. after having their IP permanently banned for making fake AITA posts on 18 different accounts over the course of two months, bonnie is taking their cause national!

Name: Fren

Likes: unknown

Dislikes: unknown

Known For: mysteriously modding a long-gone blog...

Why TTI?: money

Fren is a mysterious figure who probably won't stick around for long. they have their own life outside of total drama, after all.

Name: Frollo

Likes: catholocism and grapes

Dislikes: sinners

Known For: his awesomely passionate religious sermons about why lust is actually the devil inside your balls

Why TTI?: to spread the word of jaysus

Frollo is an experienced judge and catholic preacher (sometimes) who loves the french lord and hates sinners. he's a sassy, snappy gurl who's always ready to call out someone on their bible-bereaving behaviors

Name: Joner

Likes: their buddies mclovin and michael :)

Dislikes: death threats

Known For: just bein a dude

Why TTI?: to hang out with their besties

joner has been best friends with michael and mclovin (also contestants) for years now. the trio decided to join the show to better strengthen their bond and earn money to build the giant statue of hulk hogan joner wants in their backyard

Name: Julia

Likes: also drama and slaying

Dislikes: not being the center of attention

Known For: being a girlboss

Why TTI?: money

julia is a girlboss and an analytic mastermind who's here with a brand new glasses prescription to kick butt and win money. she's implied to be one smart cookie, as well as being girlypop

Name: Kelly

Likes: corn anon

Dislikes: milfphobia

Known For: being a great host a baddie

Why TTI?: money as well

kelly is actually an incredibly kind classy person we don't know why they signed up for this other than the cash involved. maybe they're here to spread some positivity and support their fellow mods and ex-anons

Name: Kitty

Likes: being incomprehensible

Dislikes: wells

Known For: inciting mass hysteria

Why TTI?: they're just a bit silly

kitty is a chaos icon, but not in the bad way. they're simply able to take a situation and add a little whimsy to it- a bit like izzy, but less crazy badass and more silly forest gnome

Name: Mal

Likes: YAOI!!!! >_< AWAAAA

Dislikes: women

Known For: blogging

Why TTI?: to prove a point

Mal is not only a fujoshi, not only a manipulative mastermind who's able to UwU herself out of any trouble, not only a girlblogger, but also the very same op of courtney's callout doc. she never actually expected courtney to take on the challenge, so she just had to jump in too to prevent courtney from winning. unfortunately, courtney is the only person who knows of mal's true intentions

Name: Max

Likes: reading probably lol nerd

Dislikes: not being taken seriously

Known For: his diplomacy and mildly short temper

Why TTI?: money as well

Max is a practical, usually-calm person with a tendency to make enemies and hold grudges. as someone with short guy energy, he has a hard time being taken seriously by his teammates and is judged fairly harshly. he takes the natural role of leader on his team, though.

Name: McLovin

Likes: having a swaggy time

Dislikes: dudes stomping on his vibe

Known For: being iconic

Why TTI?: joined with friends joner and michael

McLovin is a ladykiller, an annoying nerd, and the least-hateable contestant all at once. he's so non-offensive it's almost sad. still, it's his ability to make close and genuine bonds with the people around him the save him from the chopping block early on.

Name: Michael

Likes: people leaving them alone

Dislikes: total drama fans

Known For: being tired

Why TTI?: joined with friends joner and mclovin

as the only fem-presenting member of the trio, michael struggles with being seen beyond being "one of the guys". while they joined with their friends, they also hope to make some close female buddies, too, who can hopefully dissuade joner from using the 100 grand to build a hulk hogan statue in his backyard.

Name: O

Likes: computers

Dislikes: anxiety

Known For: being scared

Why TTI?: to overcome his fears

O has a small fear of geoff, one of the original contestants, after being harassed by a geoffnon online for months. in order to combat his fear, his therapist sent his application to tdi for some lengthy exposure therapy :)

Name: Patrick

Likes: himself and huey lewis and the news

Dislikes: women and stupid people

Known For: being mean

Why TTI?: money for his skincare routine

Patrick is a no funny business type guy, although everyone else thinks he's kind of a dork. he views himself as a gigachad sigma male who effortlessly maintains his composure to secure his winnings, intimidating and threatening the weaker contestants and attempting to make friends with the chaos harbingers all the same

Name: Peter

Likes: shenanigans

Dislikes: no shenanigans

Known For: his immaculate vibes

Why TTI?: it was the weekly family guy episode plot

Peter is really just a fun dude with a good heart, even though the circumstances he finds himself in can make that hard to see. he enjoys finding the bright side of things, though he can come off as a little clueless

Name: Scary

Likes: lying, being scary

Dislikes: people who take this too hardcore

Known For: being scary

Why TTI?: tomfoolery

inspired by the past events in the show and fandom, Scary decided to join to cause a little more mischief. They have gone on to threaten to murder the losing contestants, and seems to dislike those who take the game (and rules in general) too seriously.

Name: Scruffy

Likes: history

Dislikes: mean people

Known For: carrying on the td legacy

Why TTI?: to collect data for future reference

As a Total Drama historian, Scruffy takes their job very seriously. they don't have a practical purpose for collecting all the future information other than being able to cite it in the future, but they're here anyway. and don't get it twisted- Scruffy is no fan, they're an expert.

Name: Sha-Mod

Likes: haikus

Dislikes: haikus

Known For: being an icon

Why TTI?: legal obligation

Sha-Mod is an inventor of many things; corn anoning, marmaduke, and the many a hundred haikus he's collected. he's really a fun dude who's here to be a part of td history and hopefully avoid making TOO many enemies

Name: Staci

Likes: kinning

Dislikes: kin-shamers and irony

Known For: being an online queen

Why TTI?: to fulfill their kin memories

as their blog title would imply, staci is a cornerstone of the kinning community and is attempting to give their kin identity some grounding by joining tti. as a staci kin, they share all of her memories, so they also love to bring up fun facts about their extensive family and personal connections to every famous person ever. they're aware of the risks of being kin-shamed by the other contestants, but they simply don't care. they're hoping to get booted first to fulfill their destiny

[krimsonkatt]

Dodi, a boss that was is going to be in Chaos;Domain, though likely with a resprite. This character actually has a long and detailed story behind it. Basically, when I was in first grade, one indoor recess the teachers put on Disney's Aladdin. I really enjoyed the movie for what it was, that was until near the end of the movie where Jaffar took control of the Genie's lamp and ordered the genie to fling the tower that Aladdin was in to the North Pole.

That's when the teacher shut off the movie and said that's where the movie ended, to be continued in Aladdin 2. I ended up being super freaked out about this cliffhanger ending and thought Jaffar actually WON. I ended up skipping school on the day they showed Aladdin 2, but later they showed Aladdin 3 and everyone was fine so I assumed Jaffar lost in Aladdin 2, but I had no idea HOW he lost or what sort of damage was done to their world under the control of an all-powerful Jaffar. So, I made up MY OWN plot for Aladdin 2, as I was too scared to watch Aladdin 2 which I assumed to be this super dark scary movie and didn't even want to rewatch Aladdin 1, which I enjoyed, because I was afraid of being re-traumatized by the "cliffhanger." But I still watched Aladdin 3 all the time on this bootleg DVD that had every Disney and dream works movie (as of 2009) on it.

During this period of time (around 2009 to 2011) I came up with this bizarre fan fiction universe crossover between Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Ninjago, Webkinz, Animal Jam, and a bunch of other things that was like Kingdom Hearts if it was written by an autistic 8yo. And like Kingdom Hearts there were clones, artificial humans, ancient prophesies, relics of mass destruction, doomsday cults, multiple apocalypses and universe-shattering wars, not-deities, and tons of other stuff. Believe it or not, this series was the origin of the Chronicles of Chronicles series, albeit a very early form/incarnation of it.

The original big bad of this saga was a guy named "The Emperor" who was HEAVILY based off Palpatine from Star Wars and had two underlings, Dodi (pronounced "Do-die" like the city Dubai but with die instead of bai) the snake charmer and Flon (pronounced full-on like colon) the evil fairy. Dodi was pretty much 1-to-1 with Jaffar with just his name changed and little else, but Flon's backstory and origin is an even weirder example that I'll get to once we get to her sprite. The big bad of the later arcs was Lord Drakos, heavily based off the principal of Gaithersburg Elementary, who loved abusing and manipulating me for his own twisted amusement.

But anyway YEARS later, like around 2014 or so, I discovered that the teacher showing us Aladdin all those years ago completely lied, and there was a whole extra 15 minutes of Aladdin I didn't know existed where Jaffar was defeated in an epic battle and the world was saved. And how did I discover this? A freaking Watch Mojo video. Something about "top 10 most evil villains in Disney" and Jaffar was number 5. During Jaffar's section they showed footage from the last 15 minutes of Aladdin which absolutely blew my mind that there was a whole extra 15 minutes of runtime I completely missed.

After I spent a summer afternoon rewatching THE ENTIRETY OF Aladdin on some shady website, I did some research on Wikipedia and figured out that Aladdin 2 and 3 were actually just cheap cash-ins made in the early 2000s that also served as both the pilot and the series finale of the Aladdin TV show, which aired from 1999 to 2002. The first movie had a beginning, middle, and end and DIDN'T end on a cliffhanger like I was led to believe, and Aladdin 2 and 3 were unnecessary made for TV sequels given almost zero budget. (though I still have an affinity for Aladdin 3, even if the animation sucks ass) This is also where I learned that the overwhelming majority of "Disney sequels" that I grew up with on that bootleg DVD were low budget cash-grabs not even made by the main Disney studio. So yeah, my childhood was a lie and Jaffar never won in Aladdin 1. It's going to be a fun story to share with my future nieces and nephews, though.

In battle, Dodi primarily uses fire elemental arts along with his "hypnosis" and "wrap" arts. He's a lot easier of a boss than the first one, King Kookookaka, that's for sure. The Medusa to that game's Minotaur, to say the least. (SMT4 reference)

[soniabigcheese]

Morning all.

I have come to realise why my Muse has decided to temporarily abandon me.

Because hubby isn't at home to annoy me with his binge watching crappy TV shows. That whole dynamic has changed since he lost his foot.

In and out of hospital for appointments, visits to get dressings changed.

Add on the deaths of ½ of his family unit to deal with. And the aftermath of that still hanging over him.

We haven't had a moments peace.

And when I do have quiet moments, I don't know what to do with myself and struggle to pick up a pencil to draw or a pair of knitting needles/crochet hook

I just mindlessly scroll through social media, the TV is on but I fall asleep in front of it.

Yep. Mojo has definitely gone to ground and I need to find a way of digging it up, giving it a good shake and starting again

Edited to change ⅔ to ½, although I'd say ⅔ is more accurate in this case. 2 were actual deaths, the other one was losing what he thought was a family member, only to be replaced by a complete stranger

[omegawhiskers]

RAW 20/11/23

Good guy, Drew

Raw beings Drew McIntyre is in the ring as he explains his actions from last week when he cost Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes the Unified Tag Team Titles. Drew’s reasoning is sound. Anyone in his boots would have done the same. He also said that he wasn’t a part of Judgement Day but was given a chance to step into Wargames to fight Jey in a cage. Jey eventually comes out and not one word of sympathy from this man’s mouth. The Judgement Day arrive to back Drew up, as does Cody, Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn for Jey.  Things were about to kick off before Adam Pearce stops everyone. He says that the main event will be one member from each team in a singles match. It came down to Drew and Jey. This was a no brainer. Cody says he has an old friend in mind as the fifth member of WarGames. It’s obviously, Ted Dibiase JR.

The first match was Nia Jax vs. Raquel Rodriguez. They had a short but decent match. A few times, Rodriguez tried to lift Jax, but her back kept giving out. More deadlifts are required, I say! Nia eventually wins with the Annihilator.

Becky Lynch faced off against Xia Li. This one was a bit disappointing story wise. Li has been setting her devastating kick, that caused stoppage for both her last matches. Li did catch Lynch with her kick, but Lynch came back to win the match. It would of be great to see the kick at the very start, and then Lynch has to fight her way back. I don’t like Li’s chances tomorrow night when she faces Lyra Valkyria for the NXT Women’s title *UPDATE* Li lost.

Things got frosty post-match when Damage CTRL made a surprise appearance. Charlotte, Bianca Belair and Shotzi also came from Smackdown. A brawl broke out. Michael Cole wanted everyone to fight because Cole is a mad bastard. This was another nice build to WarGames.

Ludwig Kaiser and Johnny Gargano had a solid match. The tilt-a-whirl faceplant from and death valley driver from Kaiser were two fantastic looking moves. Unfortunately, Giovanni Vinci came to the ring to try and help Kaiser, but caused a distraction. This gave Gargano the advantage to win. Later Kaiser to get a verbal whipping from Gunther. I hope to see a Kaiser and Vinci match down the line.

We had a match to find out who will become the number one contender for the Women’s Tag Team Titles. It was Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell vs. Tegan Nox and Natalya vs. Maxxine Dupri and Ivy Nile vs. Kayden Carter and Katana Chance. This was short but fun match. Carter and Chance had some sweet moves, while Dupri showed the most charisma. I didn’t like Natalya and Nox winning. I just have no interesting in them.

The Miz and Gunther had a battle of words in the ring. Miz says he is an entertainer and is proud because he grew up wanting to be like his heroes; Macho Man, Bret Hart, Rick Rude and Shawn Michaels. Gunther said the Miz is a weirdo who was bullied in school and was bullied by his heroes when he arrived in WWE. I don’t think anyone mentioned bullied the Miz. Gunther tells the Miz that he has no respect for him and that he deserves to be bullied. Gunther shoved Miz a few times, until Miz attacked, but was quickly put down. Miz came back when he resorted to a low blow. I hope the Miz loses at Survivor Series, and then goes on a journey to get his mojo back.

Chad Gable and Shinsuke Nakamura and an alright TV match. This is the second loss for Alpha Academy tonight. This stable need some wins. Like Dupri, I would have liked to have seen Gable getting the victory. He could have won. then you could do a second match where Nakamura gets the victory, followed the rubber match.

The main even was advertised as an advantage match that has gone to Judgement Day and Drew. This match felt non-aggressive for two people that hate each other. Post match had another brawl with everyone. This time the babyfaces left with an announcement that Randy Orton is the fifth member of their team. They didn't mention him by name, but Cody dropped some major hints.

This was a decent episode. Some solid matches and progression for the WarGames matches. My nitpick is that there were too many backstage segments. I hope Raw goes down to two hours so all this backstage nonsense can be shortened or dropped.

[spotsandsocks]

Have you read any good books and/or watched any good tv shows lately (besides 9-1-1 lol)?

🩵💜🩵💜

These have been hiding!!!

Books… I lost my reading mojo a while ago!! Can’t even remember the last new thing I read but maybe it was the green creek series by TJ Klune

TV last new thing I watched was heartstopper I’m excited for season 4 of Ghosts (bbc) which is coming out next week.

And I’ll get round to sex education’s new series soon too too!

Sorry I was late to see these!

[news365timesindia]

[ad_1] Image: BCCI/Debasis Sen To start with, Rohit Sharma the Test batter and the white-ball player need to be de-hyphenated. His race in the long-form is all but run, notwithstanding a belligerent TV interview where he rubbished the retirement rumours. Rohit had a forgettable Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia — 31 runs from five innings at an average of 6.20. One-day cricket, however, is a different ball game. Unless the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee pulls off a coup, Rohit will lead India in the Champions Trophy — the eight-team ODI event starting on February 19. Maybe, after the red-ball horror show Down Under, the 37-year-old needs to return to the white-ball format, which is his natural habitat. A tally of 4,301 runs at 40.57 from 67 matches doesn’t make Rohit a Test great. Far from it. Between 2019 and 2021 he had a purple patch, when he scored 1,462 runs from 16 Tests, including five hundreds, at an average of 58.48. That was about it. But he is a bonafide legend in 50-over cricket, with 10,866 runs from 265 games, including 31 centuries and 57 half-centuries, at an average of 49.16 and a strike-rate of 92.43. Even at the last ODI World Cup, he made 597 runs from 11 matches at an average of 54.27 and an excellent strike-rate of 125.94. India changed their white-ball batting template in that tournament and their captain was the marauder-in-chief. The gung-ho style that served Rohit so well in the shorter formats of late proved to be a brass neck approach in Test cricket, as it seriously affected his defensive game. At the Champions Trophy, he can return to his no-holds-barred batting without the fear of failure. Field settings and field restrictions in limited-over cricket will considerably lessen the degree of difficulty. “Also, in the ODIs, he (Rohit) will not be confused,” Lalchand Rajput told RevSportz. India’s former T20 World Cup-winning coach, who is currently in charge of the UAE national team, spoke about how playing with an uncluttered mind could help Rohit regain his mojo. “I found him a little confused about his batting approach in the Tests in Australia. He was even getting out playing half-hearted pull shots, a shot that he plays so well. Over the last couple of years, he has changed his batting approach in white-ball cricket. Maybe, that had a trickle-down effect in his Test batting as well. And as runs weren’t coming, Rohit became more desperate and lost his rhythm in the process.” There’s an apprehension that a confidence-sapping Australia tour might adversely affect Rohit’s batting in the Champions Trophy as well, for he would be under huge pressure to perform. Rajput begged to differ. “I know Rohit very well, and I can tell you he is hurting,” said the former opening batter. “He is a big player and I expect a response from him in the Champions Trophy. He will have his batting exploits in the last ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup to fall back on, and that should give him confidence. I think all he needs is a big innings to get back into the groove. In white-ball cricket, he can free his arms without thinking too much about his defensive game.” Conversations moved to Test cricket and whether Rohit has a future in the longer format. In Australia, it was clear that slowing reflexes have become an impediment. “The older you get, your reflexes tend to get slower. It’s a fact,” observed Rajput. “But Rohit’s Test future will depend on his hunger, how keen he is to do the hard yards.” Like India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir, Rajput, too, feels that Rohit needs to get back to domestic cricket. “A big innings in domestic cricket could help him find his rhythm. Once you have runs under your belt, you tend to feel better and things start falling into place.” India will have a three-match ODI series against England before the Champions Trophy. Mumbai’s home Ranji Trophy fixture against Jammu and Kashmir (from January 23) precedes that assignment. Will Rohit turn up? The post Rohit backed by Rajput to regain

mojo in Champions Trophy appeared first on Sports News Portal | Latest Sports Articles | Revsports. [ad_2] Source link

[news365times]

[ad_1] Image: BCCI/Debasis Sen To start with, Rohit Sharma the Test batter and the white-ball player need to be de-hyphenated. His race in the long-form is all but run, notwithstanding a belligerent TV interview where he rubbished the retirement rumours. Rohit had a forgettable Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia — 31 runs from five innings at an average of 6.20. One-day cricket, however, is a different ball game. Unless the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee pulls off a coup, Rohit will lead India in the Champions Trophy — the eight-team ODI event starting on February 19. Maybe, after the red-ball horror show Down Under, the 37-year-old needs to return to the white-ball format, which is his natural habitat. A tally of 4,301 runs at 40.57 from 67 matches doesn’t make Rohit a Test great. Far from it. Between 2019 and 2021 he had a purple patch, when he scored 1,462 runs from 16 Tests, including five hundreds, at an average of 58.48. That was about it. But he is a bonafide legend in 50-over cricket, with 10,866 runs from 265 games, including 31 centuries and 57 half-centuries, at an average of 49.16 and a strike-rate of 92.43. Even at the last ODI World Cup, he made 597 runs from 11 matches at an average of 54.27 and an excellent strike-rate of 125.94. India changed their white-ball batting template in that tournament and their captain was the marauder-in-chief. The gung-ho style that served Rohit so well in the shorter formats of late proved to be a brass neck approach in Test cricket, as it seriously affected his defensive game. At the Champions Trophy, he can return to his no-holds-barred batting without the fear of failure. Field settings and field restrictions in limited-over cricket will considerably lessen the degree of difficulty. “Also, in the ODIs, he (Rohit) will not be confused,” Lalchand Rajput told RevSportz. India’s former T20 World Cup-winning coach, who is currently in charge of the UAE national team, spoke about how playing with an uncluttered mind could help Rohit regain his mojo. “I found him a little confused about his batting approach in the Tests in Australia. He was even getting out playing half-hearted pull shots, a shot that he plays so well. Over the last couple of years, he has changed his batting approach in white-ball cricket. Maybe, that had a trickle-down effect in his Test batting as well. And as runs weren’t coming, Rohit became more desperate and lost his rhythm in the process.” There’s an apprehension that a confidence-sapping Australia tour might adversely affect Rohit’s batting in the Champions Trophy as well, for he would be under huge pressure to perform. Rajput begged to differ. “I know Rohit very well, and I can tell you he is hurting,” said the former opening batter. “He is a big player and I expect a response from him in the Champions Trophy. He will have his batting exploits in the last ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup to fall back on, and that should give him confidence. I think all he needs is a big innings to get back into the groove. In white-ball cricket, he can free his arms without thinking too much about his defensive game.” Conversations moved to Test cricket and whether Rohit has a future in the longer format. In Australia, it was clear that slowing reflexes have become an impediment. “The older you get, your reflexes tend to get slower. It’s a fact,” observed Rajput. “But Rohit’s Test future will depend on his hunger, how keen he is to do the hard yards.” Like India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir, Rajput, too, feels that Rohit needs to get back to domestic cricket. “A big innings in domestic cricket could help him find his rhythm. Once you have runs under your belt, you tend to feel better and things start falling into place.” India will have a three-match ODI series against England before the Champions Trophy. Mumbai’s home Ranji Trophy fixture against Jammu and Kashmir (from January 23) precedes that assignment. Will Rohit turn up? The post Rohit backed by Rajput to regain

mojo in Champions Trophy appeared first on Sports News Portal | Latest Sports Articles | Revsports. [ad_2] Source link

[kurt-wagner-official]

Post #121: Excalibur Special Edition issue 1 and EX issues 1-2

Excalibur time! There's no good place to put this book in a reading order cause it's so disconnected from the rest of the line, but it's been going on concurrently to the last couple arcs and needs to catch up in time for Inferno. I've been really excited to get to Excalibur. Kurt is my absolute favorite character, and Rachel and Kitty both hold very special places in my heart, but I've never read this book. When I was a kid all the X-Men stuff I had access to was what was in my library, which was mostly Uncanny with some X-Factor and New Mutants, and then some 21st century stuff. The only Excalibur I've read is a few random issues my uncle bought for some reason. Before the launch of the book proper, we get The Sword is Drawn, a story is Excalibur Special Edition. Set soon after Fall of the Mutants, Kitty wakes up in a strange movie studio covered in Mojo's logo, with all the dead X-Men being played by actors under the direction of Xavier. The only one who seems real is Rachel, who is dressed in her hound outfit fighting the imposters. Kitty, who suddenly has control of her powers for the first time since Mutant Massacre, helps Rachel escape from her attackers and is herself attacked by the X-Men, who shed their skin to reveal they're warwolves, weird sentient alien shapeshifter things. She wakes up in her bed on Muir Island, unsure what's happening. She watches the sunrise and thinks she sees a Phoenix firebird in it, which startles her. Alan Davis, penciller on this book, draws my favorite Kitty. His style is sleek and larger than life, and everyone is incredibly attractive, but not in a gratuitous way, and Kitty in particular never feels objectified under his pencil. She cries as she looks at pictures of the X-Men, the family she feels is lost forever. As much as the X-Men abandoned the New Mutants, they also abandoned the members of Excalibur. Kitty in particular really struggles to deal with change, and after her parents' divorce this is really hard on her. It's frustrating to me that at least the New Mutants get to call the X-Men on the shit in X-tinction Agenda, while Excalibur never gets to lay into the family that left them behind to go hang out in Australia. Back to the story; Meggan, Captain Britain's girlfriend who is an empath and shapeshifter, maybe sort of a fairy while also being a mutant, and was raised on tv while locked in a trailer for most of her life, comes back to the Captain Britain lighthouse to find Brian Braddock, who's just heard about Betsy's death and is super drunk, and is also a piece of shit, tells Meggan she can't understand what he's going through cause she doesn't have a family, so she flies off to clear her head. Although I haven't read much of this book, I'm very familiar with the plots and characters, so going in I love Meggan and am not a Brian fan. Knowing that he'll eventually become a good husband makes me less angry at this scene, but he hasn't earned any good will yet. On Muir Island, Kurt is training hard in the gym against killer robots and almost dies before Kitty shuts it off. He woke up from his coma right before the X-Men died and so feels especially survivor's guilty. He and Kitty talk about it and realize they had the same dream last night. I love this duo. Of Claremont's original core four, Kurt is the one that Kitty got the least time with, but it was one of my favorite pairs and in the 21st century has become one of my favorite friendships, so I'm really excited to see where it goes in this book. Meggan shows up, cause apparently she's hung out with Kitty a few times while she's in recovery, just as the Technet- a team of interdimensional bounty hunters who are truly bizarre characters- arrive on behalf of Opal Luna Saturnyne, the Omniversal Majestrix. I'm really glad I've read a lot about this book and read later stories, because I don't want to read all the old Captain Britain stuff and this is all very confusing. Saturnyne tells them over holophone that the Technet are here because Rachel is on her way and Saturnyne wants her. Kitty, who thinks Saturnyne is hot,

that'll be important later, tells them no way they're taking Rachel, so out heroes start fighting Technet. They are instantly demolished, and Kitty and Meggan are taken captive while Kurt desperately ports away. Rachel meanwhile, is on the run in Mojoworld, pursued by warwolves, who are immune to telekinesis. She eventually blasts through a wall and to her surprise finds herself on Earth in London. Off the coast, Kurt arrives at the lighthouse and wakes up Brian. Brian is very full of himself, believing he's a great hero, and since his sister died, he's sunk into nihilism, saying nothing is worth it. Kurt, who did not have that high an opinion of himself in the first place, is rolling with his grief, and gives Brian a satisfying speech about how he needs to get over himself and do his job. Kurt, although he has faith in God and wants to see the best in people, is still very down to Earth, which is why he was everyone's therapist on the X-Men. It's nice to see him angry at Brian, which makes sense because if there's one thing Kurt has no patience for, it's those who claim to be forces of good but don't put in the work to help people. Kurt leaves, disgusted, using a portable Cerebro to track Rachel. She's wandering London, wondering if the X-Men would take her back, when Technet, the warwolves, and Kurt all arrive at the same time. A three way battle breaks out, interrupted by Brian. For how shitty a person he is when he's drunk, and how arrogant he is all the time, he was chosen as the hero of Britain for a reason, and he cares about people. Maybe a little too much, because when he sees Meggan hurt he gets distracted and tackled. Kurt, Kitty, and Rachel get back into their teamwork groove and kick Technet's ass, who have in turn beaten up the warwolves, so both enemy groups flee to regroup. Rachel, who was so scared about facing the X-Men again, gets a tearful embrace from Kurt and Kitty, which almost made me cry. Later, all five are around a campfire, with Kitty and Kurt sharing memories of the dead X-Men. Rachel doesn't trust her own memories of the X-Men, but at the end of the night when everyone is about to part ways, she's the one who gives a speech about the importance of the X-Men and their dream, and how their legacy is up for grabs. She compares it to the legacy of King Arthur, which is very funny actually, and how he left behind his sword to stand for his legacy but it's been interpreted and manipulated a lot of different ways. Despite not trusting her personal memories of the team, Rachel knows more than anyone what the story stands for, and she wants to honor that truth and return to reality. All of them stand in agreement in front of the fire, which morphs into a firebird.

In the debut of the series proper, we see that some time has passed, with Excalibur having established themselves as the heroes of the country under Brian's leadership. Actually first, there's a weird moment with a silent alien wandering around that I assume will come back later. Anyway, Brian, Kitty, and Rachel are tackling a hostage situation. Kitty and Rachel sneak in, but nearby, one of the loose warwolves kills a cop, hitting Rachel with psychic backlash. Rachel, as a Phoenix host who can handle it, is enormously more powerful than anyone else on the team, so to compensate Claremont makes her vast telepathy a weakness, because she's so sensitive to the psychic backlash and stuff. It's necessary because of the weird space Excalibur occupies; sometimes they're battling multiversal forces, where Rachel can get the big feats, and sometimes they're street level heroes like here. Anyway, Kitty does a Batman riff, putting a sheet over her and spooking the criminals like a ghost until Rachel recovers and takes them all out. Brian was outside as backup, but doesn't actually need to do anything until one of the hostages starts hitting on Rachel and Brian intimidates him into backing off. The weird thing about Brian is he actually does respect and support women unless he's dating them, where he's a nightmare of a boyfriend. Later on, Kitty cries over a picture of the X-Men and a letter from Doug's parents. Kitty was a conspicuous absence from Doug's death storyline, although there was a plot reason she couldn't be there, so I'm glad we get a little moment here. Brian checks on her and tells her Rachel keeps getting hit with psychic attacks, which we as readers know means the warwolves are busy. Over on the lighthouse, Meggan and Kurt are hanging out, preparing the space as a new headquarters for the team. Kurt opens a door and sees a bunch of weird aliens, but they're gone a second later. In London, Brian and Rachel are at I think a bank? when the jerk who was hitting on her shows up and Rachel (who's gay by the way, in case you're not picking up on the incredibly subtle hints her) rebukes him, while Brian runs into his ex Courtney Ross, his og girlfriend from Claremont's Captain Britain. Kitty, who's being established as the tech genius of the team, makes some gizmo that emits fake Phoenix vibes, because she suspects the warwolves are the ones zapping Rachel and wants to lure them out. She also puts on hound makeup, which is neat. I love it when a magic team has like, a science guy, and I'm glad Kitty gets to be that. This is also the second time this issue she's come up with a plan that involves disguising herself in some way, which is interesting. My read on Kitty has always been that she cannot cope with change at all, and the way she tries to handle it is by constantly reinventing herself, and I'm glad that side of her is getting front and center treatment here. Back at the lighthouse, Meggan walks in on Kurt in the bath, which embarrasses him and she doesn't understand why. Meggan and Kurt are really interesting foils; they're both very lighthearted, and are maybe the two kindest heroes around, and both had rough childhoods and physical mutations that mark them as different. She's a lot more naïve than he is, though. Kurt goes down to Kitty's lab and figures out what she's doing, so he assembles the team to go get her. Her plan has worked, and they arrive at the same time as the warwolves, who disrupt Kitty's powers and kidnap her.

This one again opens with a weird scene at some abandoned research facility, where a young mutant boy is being hunted by soldiers and then sucked through a portal. Maybe this is Kylun? My favorite thing so far about this read is that I'm super familiar with the character arcs and relationships in the book, but I have no idea where the plots are going. Elsewhere in the facility, a robot head thing, which we saw in the opening of issue 1, so I guess this is where that scene was, wakes up and starts floating around. This is Widget, a character who I don't really understand and maybe I finally will. Back to our main plot, the warwolves are all debating if Kitty is Rachel or not purely cause of her low budget disguise, which is funny. The rest of the team, Rachel in particular, are desperately searching for her. Kitty and Rachel are a couple I ship pretty hard, which is weird because I haven't read all that much of their relationship. When the warwolves try to skin her, she manages to phase at the last second but almost discorporates. Rachel, from across the city, holds her together telekinetically but can't find her, while the rest of the team race to find her. Kurt also gets kidnapped by warwolves, but that helps them find the den, where the warwolf who tried to skin Kitty starts to turn into Kitty. After the battle, it turns out Kitty's powers messed with the warwolf and she ended up wearing it's skin, which makes no sense but is cool. Another Alan Davis thing; her clothes got left behind when she did this, so she's briefly naked when she escapes the warwolf body, but there's not any gratuitous shots, which is a relief. Excalibur put the warwolves in the zoo, and that's that.

This book is delightful. It doesn't have the political themes and symbolism that the other books do, but there is a lot of interesting thematic work with the characters. The smaller cast really works for the book, because each of these five characters gets a moment with every other one, and every pair has something unique. Rachel and Kitty were gay, Kurt and Meggan were cute, and Brian could date Widget I guess. He was sweet with Rachel and Kitty though, and I'm glad this book treats them like teens, which they are. Overall a blast.

[dosesofcommonsense]

Credit to Brian Cates on Telegram

Isn’t the absolute worst possible outcome for the UniParty a Trump/Biden rematch?

What if they’ve lost their mojo?

What if they CAN’T pull off a swapping out of Biden and they’re stuck putting him up against Trump again?

What choices would they face?

Don’t they need a certain level of real votes for Biden to make it close enough to steal?

What if they realize they’re looking at a 15 million vote gap in the battlegrounds? Not 43,000 across six battlegrounds like in 2020. 15 million.

It took their awesome vote fraud systems 3 days of furious pre-printed boxes of ballots being dumped at the vote counting centers to drag Biden’s bony ass over the finish line the last time.

The American registered-to-vote-electorate needs to jump upward by about 15 million voters to cover the gap between Biden and Trump in a rematch. I’m lowballing this to be fair.

If they WERE dumb enough to try to inject 15,000,000+ fake votes into the election total to keep it close enough to steal , how would they explain how the legally registered American electorate jumped upwards 15 million + in just 4 years?

People who know how this works already can see they can’t steal it again in a manner where they could possibly get 85% of the country to go along with it.

A full 35-40% of the public that was asleep in 2020 and didn’t see any reason to object to a stolen election the last time will not stand for a second shit show Biden term being forced on them by incompetent fuck ups screaming at them on their TVs that Biden just pulled off an amazing comeback and beat Trump again.

[alaffy]

X-Men ’97, Ep.1x04 – Motendo/Lifedeath – Pt. 1 (Spoilers)

This episode is interesting as it has one short story and the first third of a second one.  It’s also the shortest episode of the season.  And, really, there’s not much to talk about here (at least for the first half).

Motendo is a story where Mojo kidnaps Jubilee and Roberto and places them inside a video game.  They’re helped to escape by an older (computerized) version of Jubilee.  One who shows Jubilee that her powers will grow in time. 

Just a few things on this episode.  One, Jubilee and Roberto start a romantic relationship here.  Two, this was probably created as a way to have one last light moment before the rest of the season.  Three, the older Jubilee is based on a version of Jubilee who was a slave of Mojo (although she was from an alternate timeline).

Finally, this episode addresses one of the biggest issues with Jubilee in the tv show.  Jubilee, at least back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, actually had the potential to become a very powerful mutant in the comics.  The issue was that, in one of her earlier adventures, there was an incident where she lost control of her powers and blew up a mansion.  People died in the explosion (although my understanding is they were henchmen of The Mandarin and were the cause of her powers to go haywire).  The whole incident traumatized Jubilee and so she rarely uses her powers beyond the fireworks.  Of course, this never happened in the ‘90s cartoon and they just kind of…ignored the whole fact that Jubilee had some pretty intense powers.  So, I’m glad this show is evolving the character.

Anyway, moving on to Lifedeath Pt.1.  This story focuses on Forge and Storm.  Forge is trying to help Storm get her powers back and is working on a machine to do so.  At the same time, Forge and Storm are falling in love.  Forge eventually completes the machine and uses it on Storm, but it seems like the machine doesn’t work. 

The next day (or so) Storm sees Forge working on the machine again and asks him why it’s so important to help her.  Forge tells Storm that the gun used was based on the suppression collars that were used in Genosha.  And those collars were based on an idea that Forge gave to the government.  Storm is angry at being deceived as she believes he’s only helping her to ease his guilt, even though Forge swears he’s also doing this because he’s in love with her.  Storm leaves the home, only to find herself violently brought back to the house by an unknown force.  There Storm and Forge are attacked by a bird-like creature called The Adversary.  Forge is poisoned and Storm is captured.

Lifedeath is based on the story in the comics with the same name.  And like in this episode, we do find out that Forge is indirectly responsible for Storm losing her powers.  However, The Adversary is an X-Men foe from the storyline “Fall of the Mutants.” 

I do have one question as to why Storm doesn’t seem to know who Forge is.  I believe that the few episodes that Forge was in (uh, present day Forge, not future Forge) in the original series, Storm was not present.  However, other X-Men did meet him.  And he was the leader of X-Factor. You'd think she'd be debriefed, at least.