#vs imposter gray

[sillypotatochipz]

Meme (part 1)

You guys don't know how much I love Vs Impostor like really.

[sponge-stims]

White (VS Impostor) stimboard for anon.

x x x | x 🎙️ x | x x x

[moodboards-probably]

Grey/Gray VS Imposter V4 🩶💜

Requested by anon!

I hope you like it, I wasn't familiar with the character but I tried my best to represent them accurately <3

[leonelmolinari]

A couple of drawings!

[snatchyocto]

i have made something horrible and i fully apologize

[1c3d-choco]

Slowly going insane

[paintbuckett]

gray

ye (the shading sucks :c)

uhh what am i even supposed to put here

vs imposter cool yea

sure

@igotspikedbyspike wsp bro

[historicalfightingguide]

"Dr. Lisa Orbé-Austin, Psychologist and Fencing Parent, on Impostor Syndrome and Upping a Fencer’s Mental Game"

"EPISODE SUMMARY

Today we're diving into the mental side of the sport, focusing on a common yet often overlooked struggle: impostor syndrome. We're thrilled to welcome Dr. Lisa Orbe-Austin, a licensed psychologist and renowned executive coach, who's made tremendous strides in tackling impostor syndrome, diversity, equity and inclusion, and effective communication within various organizations and educational institutions.

EPISODE NOTES

Today we're diving into the mental side of the sport, focusing on a common yet often overlooked struggle: impostor syndrome.

We're thrilled to welcome Dr. Lisa Orbe-Austin, a licensed psychologist and renowned executive coach, who's made tremendous strides in tackling impostor syndrome, diversity, equity and inclusion, and effective communication within various organizations and educational institutions.

The author of two insightful books, 'Own Your Greatness' and 'Your Unstoppable Greatness,' she’s an expert in overcoming impostor syndrome and navigating toxic or unsupportive work cultures.

In addition to her professional accomplishments, Dr. Orbe-Austin also brings a unique perspective to our discussion today - she's a parent to two budding fencers. Let's delve into her rich professional insights and her firsthand experiences from the fencing world. 

Visit Dr. Orbe-Austin's site 

Read a transcript for this episode"

"In each episode, we’ll talk to someone interesting within the fencing world, including young fencers just learning the sport, coaches, experts from outside of fencing, fencing parents, referees, Olympians and Paralympians, and many more. Ready? Set? Fence!"

So while this podcast is obviously geared directly towards olympic fencers the fact is that there's plenty of folks in historical fencing that deal with imposter syndrome, parenting and similar related issues and that pretty much every fencer out there can keep working on their mental game.

For anyone who hasn’t yet seen the following links:

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Some advice on how to start studying the sources generally can be found in these older posts

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Remember to check out  A Guide to Starting a Liberation Martial Arts Gym as it may help with your own club/gym/dojo/school culture and approach.Check out their curriculum too.

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Fear is the Mind Killer: How to Build a Training Culture that Fosters Strength and Resilience by   Kajetan Sadowski   may be relevant as well.

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“How We Learn to Move: A Revolution in the Way We Coach & Practice Sports Skills”  by Rob Gray  as well as this post that goes over the basics of his constraints lead, ecological approach.

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Another useful book to check out is  The Theory and Practice of Historical European Martial Arts (while about HEMA, a lot of it is applicable to other historical martial arts clubs dealing with research and recreation of old fighting systems).

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Trauma informed coaching and why it matters

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Look at the previous posts in relation to running and cardio to learn how that relates to historical fencing.

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Why having a systematic approach to training can be beneficial

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Why we may not want one attack 10 000 times, nor 10 000 attacks done once, but a third option.

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How consent and opting in function and why it matters.

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More on tactics in fencing

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Open vs closed skills

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The three primary factors to safety within historical fencing

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Worth checking out are this blogs tags on pedagogy and teaching for other related useful posts.

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And if you train any weapon based form of historical fencing check out the ‘HEMA game archive’ where you can find a plethora of different drills, focused sparring and game options to use for effective, useful and fun training.

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Check out the cool hemabookshelf facsimile project.

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For more on how to use youtube content for learning historical fencing I suggest checking out these older posts on the concept of video study of sparring and tournament footage.

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Consider getting some patches of this sort or these cool rashguards to show support for good causes or a t-shirt like to send a good message while at training.

[abyssalaus]

Tokyo Afterschool Summoners x Death Battle AU Part 4 Multiverse

Microverse Omega(ω)

Linked with Shibuya Ward

Bill Cipher vs Discord, Gogeta vs Vegito, Zelda vs Peach, Ganondorf vs Dracula, Link vs Cloud 2, Iron Man vs Lex Luthor, Master Chief vs Doomguy, Red vs Blue

World Rep: BILL-E

Exile: Discord

Microverse Psi(ψ)

Linked with Meguro Ward

Galactus vs Unicron, Goku vs Superman 3, Goku Black vs Reverse Flash, Flash vs Quicksilver, Yoshi vs Riptor, Beast vs Goliath, Optimus Prime vs Gundam, Sabrewulf vs Jon Talbain, Frieza vs Megatron, Hulk vs Doomsday, Hulk vs Broly, Android 18 vs Captain Marvel, Thor vs Vegeta,

World Rep: Frieza

Exile: Unicron

Microverse Chi(χ)

Linked with Setagawa Ward

Heracles vs Sun Wukong, Chun-li vs Mai Shiranui, Tracer vs Scout, Sasuke vs Hiei, Korra vs Storm,

World Rep: Sun Wukong

Exile: Heracles

Microverse Phi(φ)

Linked with Ōta Ward

Venom vs Crona, Venom vs Bane, Black Panther vs Batman, Lex Luthor vs Doctor Doom, Captain Marvel vs Shazam,

World Rep: Crona

Exile: Venom(Symbiote & Eddie Brock)

Microverse Upsilon(υ)

Linked with Shinagawa Ward

Iron Fist vs Po, Solid Snake vs Sam Fisher, Green Arrow vs Hawkeye, Lara Croft vs Nathan Drake, Nightwing vs Daredevil, Black Widow vs Widowmaker, Winter Soldier vs Red Hood, James Bond vs John Wick, Terminator vs Robocop, Leon Kennedy vs Frank West, Danny vs Jake, Jason Voorhees vs Michael Myers,

World Rep: Po

Exile: Iron Fist

Microverse Tau(τ)

Linked with Minato Ward

DIO vs Alucard, Jotaro vs Kenshiro, Pokemon vs Digimon(Red vs Tai), Lucario vs Renamon, Zoro vs Erza, Natsu vs Ace, Sanji vs Rock Lee

World Rep: Dio

Exile: Alucard

Microverse Sigma(σ)

Linked with Chiyoda Ward

Sauron vs Lich King, Guts vs Nightmare, Guts vs Dmitri, Thor vs Wonder Woman, Godzilla vs Gamera, Samurai Jack vs Afro Samurai, Dragonborn vs Chosen Undead,

World Rep: Sauron

Exile: Arthas

Microverse Rho(ρ)

Linked with Chūō Ward

Among Us vs Fall Guys, Eggman vs Wily, Metal Sonic vs Zero, Rogue vs Wonder Woman, Tigerzord vs Epyon, Kirby vs Majin Buu, Wario vs King Dedede,

World Rep: Red Imposter

Exile: Purple Fall Guy

Microverse Pi(π)

Linked with Taitō Ward

Rick Sanchez vs The Doctor, Stitch vs Rocket Raccoon, Silver Surfer vs Martian Manhunter, Boba Fett vs Predator, Fox vs Bucky, Sora vs Pit, Obi-wan vs Kakashi, Spongebob vs Superfriend Aquaman,

World Rep: The Doctor

Exile: Rick Sanchez

Microverse Omicron(ο)

Linked with Sumida Ward

Phoenix vs Raven, Raven vs Twilight Sparkle, Leonardo vs Red Ranger, Megazord vs Voltron, Dragonzord vs Kiryu, She-ra vs Wonder Woman

World Rep: Raven

Exile: Jean Gray

Microverse Xi(ξ)

Linked with Kōtō Ward

Heroes Trunks vs Archie Silver, Wally West vs Archie Sonic, Goomba vs Koopa, Batman vs Captain America, Batman Beyond vs Spiderman 2099, Darth Vader vs Doctor Doom,

World Rep: Archie Silver

Exile: Heroes Trunks

Microverse Nu(ν)

Linked with Edogawa Ward

Might Guy vs All Might, Madara vs Aizen, Hercule vs Dan, Deku vs Asta, Pikachu vs Blanka, Shredder vs Silver Samurai, Miles vs Static, Tanjiro vs Jonathon Joestar, Mewtwo vs Shadow,

World Rep: Madara

Exile: Might Guy

Microverse Mu(μ)

Linked with Katsushika Ward

Scarlet Witch vs Zatanna, Darth Vader vs Obito, Ant-man vs Atom, Batman vs Iron Man, Felicia vs Taokaka, Donkey Kong vs Knuckles, Roshi vs Jiraiya, Batgirl vs Spidergwen, Gojo vs Makima,

World Rep: Zatanna

Exile: Scarlet Witch

Microverse Lambda(λ)

Linked with Adachi Ward

Gray vs Esdeath, Haggar vs Zangief, Ragna vs Sol Badguy, Carnage vs Lucy, Zuko vs Shoto, Killua vs Misaka

World Rep: Esdeath

Exile: Gray Fullbuster

Microverse Kappa(κ)

Linked with Arakawa Ward

Lobo vs Ghost Rider, Kratos vs Spawn, Yang vs Tifa, Aquaman vs Namor, Yoda vs King Mickey, Omni-man vs Bardock, Bowser vs Ganon,

World Rep: Loboast Rider

Exile: Johnny Blaze

Microverse Iota(ι)

Linked with Kita Ward

Ultron vs Sigma, Mega Man Battle Royale, Batman vs Spiderman, Joker vs Sweet Tooth, Harley Quinn vs Jinx, Blake vs Mikasa

World Rep: Ultron Type-Sigma

Exile: Sigma

Microverse Theta(θ)

Linked with Bunkyō Ward

Dr. Strange vs Dr. Fate, Chuck Norris vs Segata Sanshiro, Gaara vs Toph, Naruto vs Ichigo, Aang vs Edward Elric, Beerus vs Galaxia, Bomberman vs Dig Dug, Mega Man vs Astro Boy, Weiss vs Mitsuru, Heihachi vs Geese, Joker(Phantom Thief) vs Giorno,

World Rep: Dr. Fate?

Exile: Dr. Strange

Microverse Eta(η)

Linked with Toshima Ward

Shao Khan vs M. Bison, Akuma vs Shao Khan, Akuma vs Shang Tsung, Goro vs Machamp, Black Canary vs Sindel, Cammy vs Sonya, Sub-zero vs Glacius, Ryu vs Scorpion, Thor vs Raiden, Fulgore vs Sektor, Johnny Cage vs Captain Falcon,

World Rep: Shao Khan

Exile: M. Bison

Microverse Zeta(ζ)

Linked with Itabashi Ward

Dante vs Bayonetta(+Jeanne vs Trish), Kratos vs Asura, Cole vs Alex Mercer, Wolverine vs Raiden, Luke Skywalker vs Harry Potter, Ratchet & Clank vs Jak & Daxter, Mob vs Tatsumaki, Steven Universe vs Star Butterfly, Bowser vs Eggman

World Rep: Dante

Exile: Bayonetta

Microverse Epsilon(ε)

Linked with Nerima Ward

Starscream vs Rainbow Dash, TMNT Battle Royale, Leonardo vs Zitz, Ryu vs Jin, Ryu Hayabusa vs Strider Hiryu, Sephiroth vs Vergil, Genos vs War Machine, Magneto vs Tetsuo, 

World Rep: Rainbow Dash

Exile: Starscream

Microverse Delta(δ)

Linked with Suginami Ward

Smokey vs McGruff, Mario vs Sonic 2, Luigi vs Tails, Scooby Doo vs Courage, Saitama vs Popeye, He-man vs Lion-O, Scrooge vs Shovel Knight, Ivy vs Orchid, Crash vs Spyro, Cable vs Booster Gold, Black Adam vs Apocalypse,

World Rep: Smokey

Exile: Scruff McGruff

Microverse Gamma(γ)

Linked with Nakano Ward

Thanos vs Darkseid, Deadpool vs Deathstroke, Deadpool vs Pinkie Pie, Deadpool vs Mask, Ken vs Terry, Amy vs Ramona, Mario vs Sonic 1, Shadow vs Ryuko

World Rep: Darkseid

Exile: Thanos

Microverse Beta(β)

Linked with Shinjuku Ward

Ben 10 vs Green Lantern, Goku vs Superman 1 & 2, Vegeta vs Shadow, Meta vs Carolina(kind of), Macho Man vs Kool-aid Man, Excalibur vs Raiden, Justin Beiber vs Rebecca Black, Starter Pokemon Battle Royale, Balrog vs TJ Combo, Link vs Cloud 1, Boba Fett vs Samus, The Seven Battle Royale, Omni-man vs Homelander

World Rep: Green Lantern

Exile: Ben Tennyson(In Alien X form)

Microverse Alpha(α)

Our universe/Tokyo

<-Previous|Next->

[f3llow-colbaltblu3-d3mon]

So am i the only one that had a neuron activation moment with this?

[maddrumsticks]

I played the Vs Imposter FNF mod the other day and I just HAD to draw Pink and Gray. Personally, they're my favorite characters from this mod.

I literally only listened to pink and gray's songs while making this.

[davidmann95]

Thoughts on DC's on time and apparently competently done solicits?

Batman: The Imposter #1: So is this guy cowriting The Batman or not? Looks like the answer is 'not' at this point and this is his consolation prize; if this is based on his scrapped ideas, shame on DC for making this but not an adaptation of Nic Cage Superman.

Arkham City: The Order of the World #1: Less than no interest in the premise but oh my god that creative team and that cover, insta-buy.

Catwoman #36: RAM V WRITING GHOSTMAKER, THIS IS NOT A DRILL

Detective Comics #1044: ...David Lapham is drawing a backup?

I Am Batman #2: Jesus, Coipel's gone already?

Task Force Z #1: Wait, why's Man-Bat here?

Batman: The Long Halloween Special: Utterly shameless on the part of everyone involved.

Catwoman: Lonely City #1: So Black Label's been picking up some de facto subgenres of the kind of stuff it's doing, and is 'older Catwoman after Batman's dead' becoming one of them?

DC Vs. Vampires #1: Not clear what niche this fills when Taylor's still definitely doing DC3sed down the road, and I assume Tynion's involvement will be minimal, so this might be a pass.

EDIT: Anonymous asked: Tynion seems like the main guy on DC Vampires from his newsletter! He was the one who pitched it, then brought Rosenberg on board as co-writer.

This does sound a lot more interesting, I'll check it out after all.

Human Target #1: All about it! I think Smallwood was being rightfully groomed as a big name in the making only to be working on Moon Knight when everything came out about Brian Wood, glad to see him making a comeback. Not that familiar with the characters' comics adventures, but it's a good concept that's a great fit for King and that's before Lex gets involved. The only problem is that my love for the franchise doesn't come from the comics - which means I'll inevitably be disappointed by this being something very different - it comes from the TV show, specifically the best opening credits of all time:

Aquaman/Green Arrow - Deep Target #1: Bonkers pairing but really looking forward to what Thomas will do with it.

Batman: The Audio Adventures Special: Did this podcast start and I heard nothing about it?

Wonder Woman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular: Very solid lineup of talent, looking forward to this.

Wonder Woman: Historia #1: At last! I'm not the biggest DeConnick fan but I'm very interested in this, even if it's a shame they finally bit the bullet and brought in other artists for the other issues even if the alternative would be waiting another 5 years or thereabouts for Jimenez.

Nubia & The Amazons #1: Was initially very uninterested but realized I was mixing up Stephanie Williams with Stephanie Phillips, I'll definitely check this out.

Wonder Woman: The Adventures of Young Diana Special #1: If you haven't been getting the regular Wonder Woman definitely grab this collection of the backup feature, it's a lot of fun.

Action Comics #1036: THE CREW IS HERE. Clark wearing his regular clothes and not graying seems to confirm Morrison's guy in Superman and The Authority won't be the 'regular' Clark, however that plays out, which is alright with me given it'll likely help that stand alone as a perennial more strongly. Wonder if Janin comes on partway through here.

Batman/Catwoman #8: lol

Justice League #69: Gonna go ahead and be the one with the courage to say this should have been the issue about the League having an orgy, you know Bendis wants it

Superman vs. Lobo #2: Ok, this sounds fun.

Superman: Son of Kal-El #4: Really keeping it ambiguous beyond the basic details, though this really sounds like it's pushing the "bright mirror to Injustice" comparison.

[margridarnauds]

re: your post about Celtic Studies, what do you mean by respect? do you mean within your department, that you were treated differently from your peers, and in what way? trying to get a sense of what to expect from grad school (not Celtic, but a similar field)

GENERALLY, and I’m saying this from the perspective of one person in one department, so my experience can vary....While quite a few people in the program did really go out of their way to make us feel like we were a part of the program, I got the vibe from some of the fellow postgrads (NOT the faculty, interestingly enough) that I wasn’t...a Real Scholar™? Like, I was tolerated, but it was like I was a tourist who was passing through as opposed to someone who was a fellow scholar. And, in all fairness....we started off with four American students in the program and, by the time that the first semester wrapped up, we were down to two (the other two were older, they had their own families in the States, and things came up - It happens. It wasn’t the program, it was just the reality of being an international student.) 

It wasn’t outright RUDENESS, more.....distance. It was like they didn’t really know what to do with us and we weren’t really PART of the program. They let us sit in with them at their weekly coffees, so it wasn’t like a “You can’t sit with us” type of situation, more “....what do we do with them? Why are they here?” Part of it was that they didn’t really know us, but I can also say from observation that the experiences of the incoming Irish scholars in the program tend to be much warmer to begin with, with less of a....curve. 

I can almost carbon date when it began to turn around: It started sometime around...I want to say January or February of my second term, when our Old Irish tutor looked at me and said “*Professor Name* says you’ve been flying it in Old Irish.” And then, when Covid hit and I made the choice to remain in Ireland, waiting for the library to open up while I was trying to get my dissertation done, I’d say that that was really the general turning point from me being someone to be humored and kind of given a friendly pat on the head VS someone who is genuinely competent in my own area. (Just don’t....ask me about ecclesiastical stuff.)

I will say that, in Celtic Studies at least, they are USED to getting around one or two American scholars per year, and most of the direct anti-American sentiment I was on the receiving end of came from outside - my department actually got behind me when it hit a high point around July or so last year, but there is also kind of the idea that we aren’t as serious about it. But, if you go to a place that has an American professor, that will also change the dynamics, because they can’t really OPENLY disrespect you for it without disrespecting one of their own professors. 

A phenomenon I’ve observed around some grad students is essentially....an “I’m Not Like Other Girls” thing where they essentially toss other students under the bus in order to make themselves look better, so it should also probably be kept in the context of that. Most grad students are lovely people! I value the friendships I’ve made in my program! But sometimes, because imposter’s syndrome is so rampant in academia, you will find people doing that, and taking their misery and insecurities on others. (Also, I’m willing to say this - It’s especially common among female academics, because they’re subjected to misogyny and then take that out on other female academics out of a combination of insecurity and internalized misogyny. Not every female academic, I hope to God I don’t do it and I’m very grateful for the female professors I’ve had for showing me what being a professional looks like, but it does happen) And, in cases like that, obviously, it wouldn’t matter if you’re American or not - They’re going to be miserable one way or another. 

Also, depending on what country you might be studying in, you might be subjected to a different academic culture that can make things awkward. For example - Ireland, for the most part, is quite laid back. People usually show up to class either at the time it’s supposed to begin or about three minutes after, while most American students I know tend to be there at least 5-10 minutes before (I like to be there 30 if I can.) American students, compared to Irish students, tend to be more emotionally reserved, which can create an image of coldness, while our tendency to make strong assertions (which I was always taught to do when writing college papers, being scolded if I didn’t show confidence in my arguments) can be interpreted as arrogance. It took AGES for me to refer to my lecturers by their first names and, if they were to take it in the worst possible light, that could be seen as me distancing myself while, from my perspective, it was giving them their proper respect. If you travel to one of the Germanic or Scandinavian countries, you might find a very different idea - Personally, I tended to get on swimmingly with the German students.

Outside of the field....I will warn you that if you want to be more public facing, you might get blowback. I’ve seen....probably around 4-5 posts on here, at various times, that are very “Irish studies for the Irish”, including insulting the credentials of scholars who were German or American and had been in the field for decades, purely based off of their nationality. And, in the course of some arguments on here, the details of which I won’t go into to keep the peace and which aren’t relevant to the topic at hand...it has been insinuated that I’m only pretending to be a legitimate academic or that I’m essentially dressing up as a Celt. (Should be noted: I always say I’m a celticist. I’ve never said that I come from any Celtic speaking country and am quite open about being from the United States. Some American celticists do gaelicize their names, I never have because, as far as I’m concerned, it’s a part of me and I feel like it would be hiding a part of who I am.)

Which....to some extent, I can UNDERSTAND it, since they have every right to be skeptical of Brits and Americans handling material that....our countrymen have been known to butcher. I can, especially in the context of Ireland as a former country that is rather tired of its materials being colonized. But also, realistically, if I’m in Ireland, studying Old Irish, I think it can generally be said that it’s safe with me? It isn’t like I suddenly woke up one evening and decided that I wanted to be ~one with the leprechauns~. I’ve been studying Old Irish materials for close to ten years at this point. I don’t know everything, but I can say that I have a solid grasp of my given area. It wants some ultra-nationalist ideal that, frankly, has never existed in the field, even when the field was most intricately tied to Irish Republicanism. If you want to take out American mythographers alone, you’d have to take out the contributions of Carey, Nagy, and Gray (her edition of CMT alone...), and that’s not touching on the fact that many of the great early Celticists were German or Dutch (Van Hamel, Thurneyson, and Meyer, among others....which, predictably, got awkward when World War II came around and we’re still dealing with the fallout from that, but I digress) and that scholars exist as far away as Japan. 

Personally? I do feel like it’s still worth it to go for it - I can’t speak for your field, but I can say that....you might have to prove yourself more than the others, BUT you can prove it, at least to the people who really matter. I will say that I’ve never had a professor treat me differently (...okay, they might spend a little bit more time explaining the basics of how Irish is structured and then save the tough questions for your classmates, BUT in terms of bad experiences, I haven’t really had any, everyone in my program was really kind to the incoming students) and, despite the occasionally rocky start, most of the grad students in my program are people who I genuinely do feel a strong amount of professional respect and personal affection for. It is just one of those things that I wish, looking back, my younger self had known.  

[justgenlockthings]

gen:VIEW Episode 2, “There’s Always Tomorrow”

Rooster Teeth knows how to make a premiere that packs a punch when it comes to their serialized dramas (yes, I’m including Red vs. Blue in that category). But it’s the non-premiere episodes that generally give you a better idea of if the show’s gonna be good or not.

Or maybe you’re someone like TheFloofArtist and you were predisposed to hate the show long before you even saw it and so found literally every possible reason to hate it from the 2nd episode and dramatically “dropped it” despite the fact that if you hated the show so much you were shitting on it without having seen a single episode your opinion was never gonna be considered valid.

(Why do grown men throw hissy fits about TV shows?)

Ahem...so. Episode 2 of gen:LOCK...

Let’s Get Down To Business

Where episode 1 was about establishing the relationship between Chase and Miranda, this episode seems to be about establishing the gen:LOCK program itself: how it works and who’s gonna be in it. For that reason, at least for the first half, it’s very expository, but not in a way that ever feels boring. Honestly, the longer episode lengths means the amount of time they spend standing around and talking doesn’t feel like vital time wasted, unlike RWBY which has often made that terrible mistake. This is information we need to get a basic understanding of how this program works, and we also get a chance to hear Dr. Weller passionately talking about his life’s work. Jesus christ, David Tennant gives such a good performance. He really sells the good guy mad scientist voice you expect from Dr. Weller.

I wasn’t entirely sold on Michael B. Jordan as a voice actor the previous episode, but even if at certain points it was clear we were watching a scene that hadn’t been initially animated to his voice, this episode convinced me things were gonna be fine. I loved his performance in the scene of Julian in the tank chatting with Migas: the sort of bittersweetness of the reunion between the two after all that had happened to them, but they were still glad to finally see each other again. Miles Luna deserves some praise too for helping sell the fact that this is a reunion. After all, even though we caught a brief moment of them interacting and joking around in Episode 1, we didn’t really have a chance to establish they were close friends. This scene does well to convince us that yes, they were friends, and they are relieved to see each other again.

Chase and Miranda’s situation was very well-handled in this episode. It was always going to be painful for Miranda to find out Chase was still alive, and even though it’s perfectly logical that Chase wasn’t able to reach out to her in the intervening years, it still isn’t something she can just brush over. She didn’t immediately jump at the chance to see him in-person, and actively avoided him for a day. It would have been a major mistake for her to be the first one who went to visit him. I love this whole situation with Miranda: the way the marketing was going you kind of expected just a bland character defined by her relationship with Chase, and, well, I guess what she does in this episode is sort of defined by the relationship, but it’s done in a way that’s actually interesting, where you actually care about how she feels about all this. Dakota Fanning does a great job conveying the hurt Miranda feels seeing someone she loved after so long who she’d given up for dead. I think she might easily be the third best voice actor we’ve heard so far, behind Monica Rial and David Tennant.

Here’s another case where one of my few pre-show expectations got subverted. From the character teasers I’d sort of expected us to get a depiction of the formation of the gen:LOCK program from the start: presumably that path would have followed Chase and Yasamin’s initial training and the early mech designs we saw in the early posters and the first two teasers. Of course, this was before I had known what they were planning with Chase’s crash, a path in the story that I could not have possibly predicted. And now I’m realizing why they didn’t do that: 1) it would have been too similar to RWBY and probably have made for a very slow show otherwise, and 2) they wanted to get right into the giant mechs fighting things. Sure, it sort of robs us of seeing some cool stuff about what it was like for Chase to join the program, but I figure we’ll get that depicted in flashbacks or in the comics.

One of the accusations regarding Kazu Iida was that having him speak Japanese while everyone else was speaking English would create “The Lopez Effect.” For those unaware, Lopez is a robot on Rooster Teeth’s show Red vs. Blue who speaks “Spanish” (really sentences run through Google Translate) that is translated for the audience via subtitles but no one else can understand. Now, for what the complain actually entails, I think “Lopez effect” is a bad term for it because Lopez’s situation is played for laughs while in gen:LOCK everyone understands Iida and doesn’t bat an eye. The complaint is more that it creates a tonal dissonance in what’s designed as a dramatic show: while everyone’s speaking English Kazu’s saying all his lines in Japanese with subtitles. Now, I can understand why that could all sound a little weird, but the thing is the way they set things up in the episode I really don’t think Iida speaking English is gonna be as distracting as one might think: they set it up where the characters can understand what he’s saying thanks to the augmented reality gear everyone seems equipped with, so that already established a method of communication, and I just didn’t give any thought to the fact he’s speaking Japanese for the rest of the episode. I would honestly be more bothered if he just spoke English all the time.

The other accusation is that the fact that he is the only character who speaks a foreign language was they’d have an excuse to get the voice of Spike Spiegel, which apparently is bad because it’s “weeb-baiting.” I’m sorry, I didn’t realize they were trying to draw audiences in with who they were casting...

As far as the new gen:LOCK recruits go, we didn’t get too much information about them, and this is probably the only issue I have with this episode. Still, there was a lot going on here, so I can forgive not learning everything about them in their first appearance. And the thing is, the sequence with the imposter Sinclair (bravo to Blaine Gibson for being able to flip a coin––heheh––from friendly recruit Sinclair to Evil!Sinclair) offered us a good glimpse into who they are as fighters. Especially in recent years, Rooster Teeth fights are a chance to really get an idea for the character (and for that I wholeheartedly thank Monty Oum) and how they handle dangerous situations. Yasamin is clearly someone who can jump into a fight and hold her own without hesitation, Iida is someone who will jump right into a fight, Valentina will keep her distance but can still be quite deadly, and Cammie is a scared little bean...who with a little encouragement can still be helpful.

Now, the Sinclair reveal was a slight bit predictable if you picked up the hints in Character Reveal Teaser 4 (which I hadn’t, and in retrospect was blatantly obvious). The fact that it was predictable was the source of derision by some of the more gen:CRIT crowd, but honestly? I don’t see predictability as a sign of whether something’s good or not. Things can be predictable and still be fun to watch, so long as it’s delivered in an entertaining manner. And we got a pretty awesome fight sequence out of it.

I’ve seen a few people say that the jokes in this show feel forced. I’m inclined to disagree. The type of humor Gray and Evan are employing in the writing is more grounded than the kind you see in RWBY or Red vs. Blue or Camp Camp: it’s designed to feel more natural to the conversations these characters are having, while also not taking attention away from the more serious aspects of the story. Most of Rooster Teeth’s core group (more recent additions less-so) know how to create an engaging story based in serious tones, but they never really stray from their comedy roots––Day 5, their most dramatic venture to date, was a lot funnier than the concept would’ve implied because Josh and Chris knew where to inject humor when it would be desperately needed. This episode isn’t very different: the drama of Chase basically coming back from the dead gets natural moments of levity from his and Migas brief Siege mention and Dr. Weller being disappointed that he couldn’t participate in the reveal; the tension between Chase and Miranda gets a moment where Miranda refuses to hear out Migas on visiting Chase, a moment that can draw laughs while also being realistic to her and Chase’s actual situation; Chase popping up behind Fake!Sinclair and saying “Boo,” which...actually that was more a legit joke, but I laughed really hard. What I mean to say is gen:LOCK is not trying to be a comedy, but Rooster Teeth knows how and when to make its audience laugh.

(save for Red vs. Blue Season 16 of course...)

Conclusions

Another solid episode of gen:LOCK, and a little more interesting one than “The Pilot” because it delves into the meatier stuff that this series is going to follow. Stellar vocal performances by the cast give us a sense of the relationships that need to be picked up in the four years since the war began, and some amazing fighting shows us gen:LOCK means business as an action series.

My only concern is that the way this episode is formatted it doesn’t quite stand on its own in the way “The Pilot” did, but the fact that it was released alongside “The Pilot” worked in its favor, since both episodes give us a good ground to establish what this show is looking to do, and hopefully further episodes will follow on that.

I’ve said enough about people who were predisposed to hate the show commenting on this episode, but I wanna say this also: people. We are two episodes in. The show premiered less than a week ago. There isn’t a whole lot of content to draw from to know where it’s going. Be a little more patient.

[1c3d-choco]

I have low energy but have this. That's what I found during ItsSoraval's recent stream

[fandom-monium]

Based on episode 18, this aged well 😌✨️

Literally could not have predicted how perfect this episode was tho literally I screamed and cried the entire time for my boi and huntlow and Gus's development 🥺🥺🥺

My fav things so SPOILERS:

We knew Gus is one of those gifted kids. We KNOW. But it still aches to see him struggling w/ the idea that he's "supposed to be the smart one so he should've known better" and he takes his mistakes and failures so hard. Like most gifted kids, perfectionist kids, kids raised to the highest standards. So much depth in his character this episode i was sobbing

My sweet traumatized child, Hunter, omfg where do i begin... I loved where they took him this episode. i predicted he'd be researching grimwalkers and hiding out, imagined him hiding in stacks of book in the library, bedraggled but otherwise safe and well. I could not have predicted THIS: hunkered down back stage, stolen snack from the cafeteria, dirty and scratched up, grimwalker books probs from the library splayed about

I started crying when I realized he had to wear his flyer derby uniform bc all his other clothes are at the coven. which he knows he can't go back to. (also do they not have shower rooms in the school???)

Flapjack yanking on his forelock so often and him not being able to shower so the strand is DIRTY I WAS IN TEARS

But I love that Hunter's still struggling and processing what happened to him in Hollow Mind. Despite knowing what he does, his whole life was UNO reverse carded, and he has yet to move on (least until the end of the episode), wanting to believe he was doing some good, that his life wasn't wasted on being a villain. Like it makes sense, it's understandable and i'm disappointed in myself for thinking he'd move on so quickly.

Gus really broke through him, helped some of Hunter's trust issues

HUNTER LITERALLY BLUSHING AT THE SITE OF WILLOW (even if she was fake)

they really gifted us with the "you're an IMPOSTER and I would know" trope for huntlow and im here for it

Hunter addressing Willow as captain even when she's not around aslhdflks

the parallel of Willow trying to show the real her to an old friend (Amity) vs Hunter (ex?)(friends-to-enemies-to-???) friend who already sees her completely AKJDGDLKHDLIH

Willow and Amity in the process of repairing their friendship in gen it wasn't rushed or forced good shit good shit

I wanted to burn the world down after hearing Gray (Belos mentioned) address Hunter as "it" stg IF HE HURTS HIM I'LL⏤

it hurts to see but Willow being the least eager to talk to Hunter again after seeing him in person after like days, maybe weeks since the last time. like even Viney and Skara were on him hella concerned, but Willow hung back, rightfully more concerned for Gus and the situation in general. the overall mistrust of Principal Bump and everyone for Hunter is totally valid and understandable. Hunter hella fucked up and he's going to have to work to make up and regain that trust. Saving Gus is a good start

Making Willow doubt herself being one of Hunter's worst memories!!!!!!

I wanted to make a post about wanting to see Willow go apeshit with her vines and the writers read my mind

the sailor moon ref slakahdldfjkh

HUNTER HAVING WILLOWS BACK IN THE FIGHT YASSSS

Hunter just having a talk w/ Gus

Hunter's little whistle as he breaths bc of his tooth gap sa;kjgfdas;Khj

Hunter, doing what everyone does when you have a crush by trying to act casual

Hunter blushing to his ears as Willow hugs them

I think thats it thanks for reading what I know yall are thinking

"C-Captain⏤!?"

"I'm so glad you're safe!"

Drew this based on the promo art for Labyrinth Runners! My theory is Gus teams up with Hunter, who's been hiding out in Hexside and maybe even the Secret Room of Shortcuts to research Grimwalkers and stuff, as Coven guards track him down. And after Luz tells them what happened in Hollow Mind, Willow and Amity volunteer to help find him, Willow leading them and maybe having Hunter's back as they scramble to keep him out of the guards' reaches.

But if no one hugs our boi by the end of the season, I'm going to be v sad :(