#was everyone on the creative team very stoned?

[green-with-envy-phandom-event]

The Final Scores are in!

(lines by @ovytia-art, @jamiethebeeart, @maebird-melody, @hannahmanderr, @dashing-through-ecto, @minnowmarsh, @dashing-through-ecto)

Congratulations Red Team for filling some very big shoes and taking home the gold!

We did it, Guys~! Green With Envy 2024 is now officially over! Thank you so much to everyone who participated!

@echo-does-art, @half-deadmagicperson, @goodfish-bowl, @ectoblastfromthepast, @furiarossa, @fuyuthefoxwriter, @brothebro, amazing work!

You managed to submit 219 colors in one month!

Pre-Bonus Points Scores

Red - 1832 Blue - 1409 Yellow - 1524 Brown - 703 Green - 109 Purple - 307 Pink - 304

Orange - 347 Black - 297 White - 191

Post-Bonus Points Scores

Red - 2507 Blue - 1920 Yellow - 2145 Brown - 830 Green - 154 Purple - 444 Pink - 434 Orange - 457 Black - 387 White - 256

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If anyone wants to color line art from the 2024 event, these lines are now open for anyone to color, just make sure to read the notes the line artists left you and credit them when you post a color! Last year's (2023's) stuff can also be found here.

MVP’s for Bonus Points Across All Teams Under the Cut!

The top 3 bonus point earners overall were:

@jamiethebeeart from yellow team with 230 points

@ecto-stone from blue team with 194 points

@half-deadmagicperson from red team with 164 points

Here's how well colorists scored with the Mods for slower, but more detailed colors! Each color of this type that we could spot earned that participant 5 additional points!

These people all did Palette Challenges, earning them 3 additional points per entry!

@lavendarlily x9, @craftybookworms x6, and @half-deadmagicperson x1

These people colored in bulk, with every 25 pieces netting them an additional 10 points!

@nanaarchy x2, @fuyuthefoxwriter x2, @half-deadmagicperson x2, @reading-wanderer x2, @jamiethebeeart x2, @balshumetsbaragouin x1, @echo-does-art x1, @furiarossa x1, @ecto-stone x1, @marzfartz x1, @moonfoxgazer x1, @audaciousanonj x1, and @sherry-a-h x1

These 11 people successfully poached points!

Yellow Team @reading-wanderer got x4, @moonfoxgazer got x2, and @marzfartz got x2 For a total of 8 Poaches and 160 points Red Team @half-deadmagicperson got x3, @goodfish-bowl got x1, @echo-does-art got x1, and @brothebro got x1 For a total of 6 Poaches and 120 points Blue Team @ecto-stone got x2, and @sherry-a-h got x1 For a total of 3 Poaches and 60 points Brown Team @audaciousanonj got x1 For 20 points Orange Team @craftybookworms got x1 For 20 points

These people had some extra creative colors, which each earned 5 additional points!

@lavendarlily for their animated lightning @craftybookworms for their creative use of the empty countertop @minnowmarsh for their 3D papercraft @raaorqtpbpdy for spending a very long time adding in sheen effects and using multiple types of coloring tools @raaorqtpbpdy for their elaborate mixed media background with the main art as a 3d floating element @echo-does-art drew and colored all the additional knives @brothebro for their creative punchline to the meme @ecto-stone for trying the hidden transparency trick for first time @ecto-stone for another transparency trick @ecto-stone for this lovely gif worm @moonfoxgazer for the outrageously cursed and elaborate OC Slackjaw born of Susi's lines @moonfoxgazer for their creative punchline to the meme @furiarossa for the above and beyond body and fur texture added to Susi's lines, paired with an amazing background @furiarossa for coloring the lines to look like a statue, and adding a ficlet inspired by the color @ventisettestars for this time intensive Hades coloring style @dreamwraith's VERY time-intensive traditional oil painting @marzfartz for their traditional watercolor with a really nice background @marzfartz for another lovely watercolor @ectoblastfromthepast for their super nice digital piece that took them 3 days of intense focus @summerssixecho for their scanned magazine digital collage @jamiethebeeart for this stunning digital piece that has such a lovely added background @jamiethebeeart for adding basically a whole story to the background of their color @jamiethebeeart for adding a background that just really fit the vibes of the line art perfectly @jamiethebeeart for their portal accident animation @pokerust for their papercraft @goodfish-bowl for their amazing paint pour background @sherry-a-h for their diamond painted furby

Thanks so much everyone for all your hard work to make this such a successful event and we hope to see you again next year~!

Looking for the 2024 Masterpost? Looking for links to last year's stuff? 2023 Free-To-Color Line Art 2023 Event Decal 2023 Masterpost

[blorbologist]

S3 eps 7-9 thoughts below the cut

This is all fresh after the episode and I gotta be up in a couple hours so it won't be fully thought out but...

I love a lot of the creative choices being made! But I think many weren't implemented well, or balanced nicely.

Just! as someone who has deconstructed Campaign 1 and made deviations to the timeline of events and etc (mind you, without the same goal of condensing things for television… but somehow the show has an equivalent perc'ahlia focus to a ship-centered fic?) I think… I can see several avenues of narrative choices that would strengthen the ideas they're going with instead of weakening them.

(My credentials here are 'almost 300k canon divergent AU that converged on a handful of similar plot points to TLOVM', but also the aims of an AU fanfic =/= that of a show. I understand and respect that challenge the team faced. But when a single amateur can point out issues that would be pretty easy to solve and detract from a very enjoyable experience... there might be a Problem)

Ripley doesn't need a sob story, she's getting a book anyways leave it there. Fully agree with @/aq2003. The whole point is that she's monstrous and evil and got her PhD out of a fucking cereal box. Percy is less like her than he thinks. But he dies and she just??? escapes??? IF Percy had to die without VM being present, having Ripley either die of her wounds right after or be unable to flee and get torn to shreds by them would have been excellent.

On that note - only Vex and Cass seem to show strong emotion about his death. Keyleth's supposed to be his best friend, and he and Grog were close this season, but. Well, not like we have any platonic relationships. Everyone's just Kinda Sad.

MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE OF THE MUSIC OVER PERCY'S DEATH HUH. Flashbacks to watching Vampire Diaries as a teenager and pop songs coming on over the end-of-episode drama.

Again just. All the platonic, non-familial (Pike n Grog count. to me. buddies <3) relationships are so scant, which is especially hard on characters who lean on that so hard! Grog and Keyleth especially are hurt by this. Does Keyleth have a single conversation (not quip, conversation) that isn't with Vax? And in group contexts she only loudly brings up her distrust of Raishan without any of the solid backbone it has in fact. (Also her going from Raishan was right last time we should trust her now / She betrayed us! Knew it! / oh maybe she didn't and I should apologize. girl. come on. please)

I have Concerns about 'late Game of Thrones teleportation' syndrome happening here. Scanlan goes from Wildemount back to Whitestone (which are completely different continents) with no explanation. Kash and Zahra make it to Emon (again, different continent to Issylra) just in the nick of time. Which, sure, would take a couple of days to carve Percy a nice likeness (but you have a druid who can manipulate stone right there), and if Kash and Zahra changed their minds and set out as soon as Vax talked to them they might make it! But uh. There's a lot of transport that's omitted, while the scenes give the impression everything is happening within a short period of time. And a lot of these conversations are one-on-ones with the relevant characters without acknowledging they couldn't be there without magical transport. Where is Allura or Gilmore or Keyleth in the back of these shots twiddling their thumbs 'hey can we teleport to the next person on our HELP US list'?

IDK what's going on with Kash. He's likely gonna be used as a lead-in to Something to rez Percy (and him?) but. That quick buildup of him being too carefree to getting smushed was very transparent and Zahra's grief didn't feel earned (though it WAS baller. yes they made them bleed girl <3).

The fact Vax didn't ask him At All about the resurrection ritual in the Tomb stuns me tho. You think Vax remembered the offhand comment Kash made about the body needing to be warm while his sister was dead? We as an audience could have used a reminder, and Vax too. Because anyone who Doesn't remember this one line from S2 is Extra frustrated at everyone for being stupid.

Raishan or Ripley being moved to be the 'Vox Machina, united, with all their Vestiges' fight is... hmn. You could argue Raishan has solid buildup (what with the cameo in Brimscythe's lair), and it does follow campaign canon. She lacks the devastating power to justify the use of all the Vestiges (tbh given Thordak it might feel like a curbstomp unless her necromantic plans are successful)... but I could see it working. But why the fuck has Ripley escaped A THIRD TIME. Percy even duped her twice! How many times are we gonna do that song and dance?

If anything, I'd have moved some Ripley stuff here. If she escapes so be it but VM putting the fate of the world on hold to avenge their friend, THEN have Percy be back for Thordak, would be tasty.

... wait does this mean Percy might not have Cabal's Ruin by the final dragon fight of the season? ffs-

DID NO ONE LOOT CABAL'S RUIN FROM THE FACTORY.

Thordak fight was baller, having all our NPCs there to worry about? a bit much. Cass why are you here. Go home before Whitestone loses its last de Rolo.

Also. Thordak my dude I know you're insane. mad even. but uh... you sent your children into battle. A TON have already died by the time you sadly nuzzle the hatchlings. This was kinda your fault. There's a reason animals don't send their babies into combat. then again you're a large reptile who talks about milk so what do I, a reptile researcher, know -

(Don't give me that crap about reptiles being bad parents we have several snakes who require maternal attendance after birth or they're Asocial Weirdos, crocodilians are VERY goo parents, and there are social lizards too.)

'fix him - FIX HIM' being gutted fucking killed me :c

I sure hope Pike's 'IT'S ME' was uh. about faith in herself. Not abandoning the god she spent all of S1 figuring out how to devote herself to. While wearing the Vestige associated with another god. the vestige that explicitly made this possible and not a nuke fire falls u all die tpk. haha. ha. (@/burr-ell)

Yes yes yes I know the voiceover and visuals fill in for 'I hear my mother in the morning. Fuck you'. but. idk. Felt like the grief of that moment was taken out of it? Also it's a banger line

Raishan's little killsteal attempt being bumped from Vorugal to Thordak was tasty! Go green girl go! ... except it did nothing but set up a few quiet moments before she turned on everyone again.

The amount of times I'm seeing things happen Again in this is... not great.

Glintshore is Not Glinting. Where is my broken glass difficult terrain?

Perc'ahlia arc fuckin impeccable tho. Delicious

And Pike got lots of fun and stunning moments so far! And Grog takin down the lair!

I love a lot of this though. The hallucination gas. Percy vs Ripley in the factory was so cool. Percy downright being Put in a Box for a while. VEX'S CONVERSATION WITH SYLDOR!!! SO MUCH!! Her being the leader and feeling so responsible for all this, and seeing herself become her father! ELAINA BACKSTORY! Scanlan leaving the party only to miss Kaylie too! Thordak being A Dad! Percy's death/Vex's grief being the catalyst for Vaxleth! The animation was fucking stellar - Vax killing Thordak, Percy's death, Pike mastering the Plate.

I don't have concrete thoughts on how I'd restructure the episodes/season (seasons?) to better balance platonic and romantic relationships, and utilize the changes to their fullest potential. But damn if the temptation to do ANOTHER canon divergence rewrite / exploration of cause and effect to make things hit a bit more nicely... make myself a challenge to only use X amount of scenes per episode/chapter, to try and match the difficulty of adapting this to television... idk

[petalruesimblr]

Hello everyone! This project was meant to be for my own personal use but I decided to share with the community. I'm not sure if anyone would find it useful but I mainly created this as a stepping stone to quickly advance in either the Inventor, Painter or Sculptor careers as well as complete the Descendant of da Vinci lifetime wish.

This is for Sims who wants to pursue their passion for the arts (sculpting, inventing and painting) but does not have enough funds to kickstart all three at the same time.

With this part-time, they get shorter working hours and a weekly stipend of at least §360‬/week, which can help with the bills at the start and improve the quality of their work as they increase their skills to sell their creations at a higher price.

If you are interested, click on ’Keep Reading’ below for more information and pictures of the YCA Program Educator Part-Time Career.

YCA Program Educator (Young Creative Artisans Program)

Download Link: Sim File Share |

🔔Updated on 05/03/2024 - added code to remove ’Retire’ option

Job Offer:

Join the Young Creative Artisans Program (YCA Program) and inspire the next generation of artistic minds! Whether you're an expert painter, a skilled sculptor, an inventive genius or just passionate about the arts, we welcome all applicants to be a part of our dynamic team. From fresh graduates to retired Sims, everyone has something valuable to contribute. Apply now and let your passion for creativity shine bright in the halls of our afterschool club!

Career Details:

Career Type: Part-Time Available for: Young Adults, Adults and Elders Available Languages: English Levels: 3 Rabbit Hole: School Work Days: M, T, W, F Work Hours: 1 - 4 PM Does it have Carpool? Yes Does it have Uniforms? Yes (same uniforms used for the Political career; Business casual, refer to pictures above) Version: 1.42 Packs Needed: The Sims 3, Ambitions (Sculpting and Inventing Skill) File Type: Package

Career Features:

The YCA Program was initially planned as a workshop hosted by the school and scheduled for weekends but it was changed to resemble more of an afterschool club. The active Sim will teach students and this change allows you to earn more during weekdays compared to the previous setup.

You don't need the Generations expansion pack; I have only set the time to coincide with the Afterschool Club, which usually starts at 2-4 PM but the Ambitions expansion pack is required for this to work.

I have created only three levels: Lecturer, Instructor and Coordinator, and also nine custom tones that focus on increasing all three skills in each level. All descriptions for the levels, tones and metrics as well as skills required, salary, uniforms and other details are provided on the pictures above.

Please note that the Gives Lecture tone in this career is different from the Education career and I already tried using the same tone EA used but I never received any bonus of §200/lecture when I tested it so it may not work for part-times.

📣This career was made with patch 1.42 and it should work for higher patches as long as you have the latest version of NRAAS Careers Mod. Please be advised that you will need NRAAS Careers Mod for this career to show up in the game, click here.

I’m not fluent in any other languages to translate so if anyone is interested in translating this career, please don’t hesitate to send me a message here or comment on this post and will let you know the details.

I have tested this career in my game, so far it is working and all scripts are showing up. All feedback is very welcome to help me learn and improve my skills so please let me know if you experience any problems on your end and I’ll do my best to sort it as soon as possible.

[sminiac]

౨ৎ⋆˚｡ Minecraft w xikers !

⋆ Ot10 xikers + reader

💌 — This is very self indulgent, and completely random but I feel like playing Minecraft with xikers would be so fun! Also bc I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve last written something for the boys :,)

Minjae would be assigning every member a task of course, and yk, maybe during the process of sorting everyone out so there’s no butting heads he’d receive a little backlash, but still!

Minjae’s your shadow, keeps you safe, keeps your hunger bar full as he’s the one who mainly gathers food. Also scopes out the prettiest places for you to build things, he claims he just stumbled upon his findings but everyone else knows he’s going out of his way to find places for you. Since he’s moderator he often gives only you flying/teleporting privileges, also sneaks you items from creative if you’re struggling to collect them in survival, but don’t tell anyone! He’s also the main member who you see the least of since he’s always flying around the world, travelling far and wide, teleports you just so you can see your favourite animals, the pandas, cats, polar bears, axolotls, even hostile mobs that you think are cool!

Remainder of members under the cut!

Hyunwoo, Hunter and Junghoon are tasked with gathering basic above ground material, wood, sand, stone etc. the only thing is they have to come back with a chest full amount because hello? There’s 11 of you. The thing is you’re so hard to say no to that whatever type of wood you’re recommending for the house they’re immediately agreeing, talking over one another about how they think it would look nice,, even if the material you want only comes from a significantly distant or difficult biome.

Hyunwoo’s a big time hog, makes up whatever excuse he can so you’ll come sprinting to him, like he somehow broke solid stone above him not knowing that gravel was on top of it and now he’s suffocating to death? It’s like a reflex to call out for you to come and save him, even if someone else is closer to him than you are. Will literally pout if someone else gets to him first, “Aww, I wanted Y/n to save me:(“ He’s not shy about his feelings, not at all.

Hunter would keep an eye on you, checking in every few minutes to see where you are, literally takes a break from breaking trees to run and find you. Makes conversation about the vision you have for your shared home, he’d even give you ideas! Taking silent breaks to scroll on Pinterest for ideas that he’d then promptly send to you through a private message, secretly enjoys the attention and praise he receives from you in return. The type to build you cute things on the side, even leaves little sweet messages on signs for you to find, but he would be a little flustered if anyone else just so happened to sprint past it.

Junghoon is incredibly helpful, like Hunter he’s always making his way to come and visit you, quietly dropping you stacks of material you’re supposed to be gathering by yourself and running away before you have the chance to politely reject it. He also frequently asks about your weapons/farming tools, its longevity bar is running low? He’s either offering you his or requesting that someone on the mining team find you iron/diamonds so he can craft you a new, better set.

Jinsik, Sumin and Yechan would already be in the nether, busied with preparations to enter the end, but they’d always find little ways to talk/interact with you.

Jinsik is clingy, isn’t shy about wanting to hold your hand or initiate skinship with you, so when he’s unable to simply be by your side in the game he’s a little restless, so eager to get back to you asap which is why he’s so strict with Yechan, always trying to keep him in line, because it means they could collect what they came for faster and get out sooner. Admittedly he becomes a little selfish… jealous in a sense from hearing the others talk to you about something he doesn’t understand because he doesn’t have the context, all he knows is that he wants to talk to you too :(

Sumin’s really bad for being ‘forgetful’, but it’s really all a ploy so he can come back through the portal to see you. It starts becoming obvious when he doesn’t have the basic material in his inventory to craft the essentials, or food, so he always has to go back, conveniently you’re there! And the two of you will venture out to collect what he needs together because if you’re helping him it’ll cut down the time by half, well… from what Jinsik knows at least. Also the worst for unnecessarily causing damage to his members health, it just doesn’t register so he frequently hits them when they say something funny or are annoying him. Never you though, never ever. In fact! He’s very cautious around you, often telling you to be careful around steep ledges and hostile mobs that attack without being provoked, literally your bodyguard.

Yechan a lot of the time gets distracted whilst wandering around with the other 2 and often ends up always somehow getting into a little trouble whilst entering fortresses, bastion remnants, literally anywhere dangerous by himself for the sake of getting you cool stuff. One of the loudest people in the party besides Junmin, always shrieking and screaming when a mob starts attacking him, partially kicks up the dramatics because he likes hearing you laugh when he’s scared/the silly arguments when Sumin scolds him for running off without them, runs to you when you’re present asking for help because he knows Sumin won’t be mean when you’re around.

Junmin, Yujun, and Seeun are the aforementioned mining team! The 3 who are especially deprived of your companionship because once they get to work there’s hardly time for them to leave the underground tunnels and vast expanse of caves they come across. It helps when you’re able to run them food and extra wood so they can make sticks for torches, they steal you when they can, showing you the cool places they’ve found and the pretty material they think you’d like!

Junmin is mostly by himself for a good amount of time because he’s the one who is closest to the surface, only going so deep into the ground to collect coal, iron, red stone, lapis. He enjoys hearing your thoughts on how to sort out the chests and their contents, especially when you offer to help him with rearranging everything for easier access. He makes for a nice conversation, tells you that if you need help with building anything that he’s your guy! Also offers to go out and find pretty flowers/seeds for your garden, the type to show up with the most random gifts for you, and you’re just “How did you find this” and he just tells you not to worry about it, that he’ll find even more if you want!

Yujun #1 sweetheart, gets so excited when he finds diamonds or any of your favourite blocks/ores and always requests that you’re teleported to him so you can come and see, always ends up giving it to you, telling you to keep it safe and to make good use of it. “I’ll find more for you!” HE’S SO CUTIE 😞 just wants to deck you out in diamonds and rare items, plus bragging rights :b also a victim to Seeun’s habit of always being the main reason for a lot of the deaths, there’s a community wall full of signs and death tally’s, a name that has a reputation for being the most common reason for deaths is Seeun, Yujun being his main victim.

Seeun, aka your #1 hater in Minecraft, like actually praying on your downfall. I really, truly believe his way of flirting is teasing and poking fun at you. You better not lose sight of him in ravines for too long or he’ll show up out of nowhere with a group of mobs behind him that are being led straight to you. He doesn’t let them kill you of course… okay, well maybe once or twice but he swears it was by accident and he just likes scaring you. Even when you think he’s distracted by mining ores he is absolutely not, he’ll wait until you’re looking out at your surroundings and then pretends to break the block under you that’s keeping you from falling to your death. He’ll let it seem like he’s actually going to break it before lifting his finger and returning back to what he was doing like nothing happened, even if you’re laughing, screaming at him to knock it off.

[circuit-if]

Info post for the key characters and romance options for Circuit, with personalities, (some) backstory, and appearance listed. Choose between 4 romance routes - fall in and out of love with the other driver on your team, your rival on the track, your team's head engineer, or the sponsor heiress who's taken a liking to you.

Roman Gray [RO, he/him] - Your rival on the track. Gray came from the same neighbourhood as you, and you've raced alongside him since your very first competition. But he's no longer that young boy, left grinning with adrenaline after every circuit. No, now he's hungry for that prize with a stern drive that wont let whatever friendship you had get in the way of, and faces you only with stone cold glares and ridiculously tough competition.

Backstory - You and Roman grew up racing along tracks all over small town California, proving yourselves to everyone who doubted you over the years and rising fast in the ranks beside one another. You both spend your nights after races at the same bar in San Diego, where you make memories and vow to each other to make it to the top: the URCA championships. If only it were possible to do it together.

Appearance - Short dark brown hair in a textured fringe, gray eyes, soft, one sided smile, lean muscle, fair skin, 6'0. He wears his race jacket whenever he can, usually over casual streetwear with dark neutral tones and greens.

Romance Route - Rivals to lovers. Compete with Roman in the championship league while underlying grudges, hurt, and jealousy get in the way of the love that you share underneath, and the will to forgive. Can you repair what was once there, rescuing it from the rubble of that last night in California, or will you let it fall away under the press' love of rivalries? Or will it become something more?

Nicholas/Nadine Spade [RO, gender selectable] - The other driver on your new team, nicked "The Blade" and loved by many. N has been racing for nearly as long as you have, along the searing tracks of Miami with an effortless talent. Always finding a way to twist the situation into a witty joke and a laugh, they quickly establish themself as someone to trust among the chaos that is your new life as a top racer.

Backstory - N. grew up in Miami, under the legacy of their father, an elite racer from decades prior. From a young age, they were recognised in races for their family name and its power and prowess in the racing world. They struggled to create their own identity, eventually being labelled "Spade the Blade" for their creative tactics for cutting through groups of cars at a time.

Appearance - Dirty blonde hair cut at their neck in beach waves, chestnut brown eyes, freckles, smile lines, lopsided, charming grin, tan skin, 5'8. They wear a lot of graphic tees and have a habit of collecting bracelets for their wrists, with a generally vibrant palatte underneath their leather jackets for motor biking.

Romance Route - Friends to lovers, with a little "just friends" thrown in. Win races side by side, strategise, and plan with a little distraction on the side. Mutually pine for one another between circuits, and realise the importance of your other half not only for the team, but for you.

Sadie/Spencer Monroe [RO, gender selectable] - Your head engineer, a failed aspiring racer with a silent but deadly disposition. S designed your car from the wheels up, with one goal: to win. To win in a way they couldn't on the track themself, despite knowing everything there is to know about the sport. S has high expectations for you and N, and they're not one to disappoint.

Backstory - S. grew up in the countryside of New York, with one goal: to become the most legendary racer the URCA has ever known. With that in mind, they began racing circuits across the mid Atlantic, building and repairing their own cars and taking them into leagues they weren't welcome in because of their ultra-creative mechanic improvements. They quit soon after, turning their engineering talents to the benefit of more talented racers instead.

Appearance - Auburn hair at the base of their neck, hazel green eyes, a dusting of freckles, slender, pale skin, 5'9. They wear a brown bomber jacket over a lot of their clothes, a lot of flannel and warm tones.

Romance Route - Forbidden love. S. is an engineer, ensuring your cars are running exactly as they should, pushing them to their limits with speed and control. Their job is entirely behind the scenes, almost no one knows they exist, and they prefer it that way. You're a racer. The worlds eyes are on you. When you both face your growing feelings, you're forced to keep them away from the rest of the world and hide your romance.

Carmen Caddel [RO, she/her] - Heiress to one of your biggest sponsor companies. Carmen grew up in the lifestyle of fame and luxury, and handles it with such grace and poise that shows in every paparazzi photo and every interview. With her guiding you through the press conferences and afterparties, it should be easy to maintain the public image you're intended to keep. Right?

Backstory - Carmen was born to Defina Caddel, the founder of the creatively named company, Caddel, that has been at the head of the fashion industry for decades. Carmen inherited Defina's expensive taste and affinity for matters of fame from a young age. She was raised learning about her mothers' company, around fashion designers rather than her peers, and preparing for the day she would have to take over as CEO herself.

Appearance - Curly black hair to her mid-back, dark brown eyes, full cheeks, bright smile, tan skin, 5'5. She's only ever seen in designer clothes (most often from her mothers' brand), all of which are sleek and fitted prior to wear.

 Romance Route - The power couple. MC is a driver that has worked from the bottom up, and Carmen was born into wealth and fame. With different skill sets, connections, and experience, you both face the fame and fortune, good and bad, that's coming at you a little stronger together.

- PROMO POST -

[bucketspammer4life]

★ the boxers playing minecraft ★

me when i mine the craft or something

★ glass joe ★

lost, doesn't know anything and is struggling

got killed by bees 10 minutes into the game because he accidentally whacked a bee

collecting flowers and just giving them to everyone when hes bored

horrible at combat, would die even if you gave him literally everything

just kinda robs villagers for fun

keeps getting killed by aran to the point where its not funny anymore

★ von kaiser ★

was doing great until it became night, was running like his life depended on it

somehow got to the nether early, broke his portal and got stuck until he threw himself into lava

keeps forgetting to sleep and is constantly being chased by phantoms

has 50 stacks of bread somehow, willing to share

screamed when he first found a squid while swimming, thought it was aggresive

keeps wandering into places he knows damn well he'll get wrecked at

★ disco kid ★

doing very well, just forgot his base's door open once and had the worst experience of his life but everything else is fine

had to carry joe & kaiser through the game but gave up when Kaiser got sent to the nether somehow

likes doing water bucket trips, convinced joe he could do it with a milk bucket and laughed at him for a while

keeps throwing hands with don for no reason

became a beast once he found note blocks and discs

★ king hippo ★

absolute menace, likes building traps around his base to keep others out, got a business building traps for others in exchange for resources

just got lots of resources, built a cute house, got a dog and just farmed for fun, sometimes has other boxers come into his nice little house

stealing joe's flowers for his aesthetic house

chased bear hugger across the map for fun

★ piston hondo ★

actually finishing the game, practically speedrunning it

was the first one to get a full set of diamond, really happy about it

stealing everything from the villagers, down to the houses and everything

struggling with redstone

tried to build a exp farm but accidentally crashed his computer

Has a army of bees he uses terrorize everyone

★ bear hugger ★

goofing around and just chatting with everyone for funsies

got killed by a pufferfish while trying to kill it

secretly adds onto Disco's stone pile by adding 1 (one) stone every time he adds another one

has 30 crafting tables and is hayr hiding them in everyone elses bases

throws eggs at Hippo everytime he tries to chase him again

fistfighting fish in the sea like they killed his family or something

★ great tiger ★

just breaks into everyone elses bases sometimes to say hello or show them some stuff he got

somehow surviving without a base

had his diamonds stolen by hondo for speedrunning purposes

got a cat and takes care of it like its his child, anyone who attempts to hurt it gets griefed to death

scared of the sounds coming from the mines

tried to sleep in the nether, 10 dead 20 injured

extremely invested in the "bear hugger fighting fish" saga

★ don flamenco ★

trying to build the cutest house ever, keeps getting it griefed by Hippo, there can only be one pretty house in this server

went to the end early somehow and got his ass kicked by the dragon

tried to eat rotten flesh and died. twice

tried to join Tiger in the mines but he kept screaming from the sounds so Tiger chased him away

set Hippos house on fire at one point

★ aran ryan ★

absolutely devious, keeps setting everyone on fire, trapped Kaiser in the nether

demolished Disco kids base, by demolished i mean took EVERYTHING down, including the walls and everything and only left his bed there

keeps hiding spider spawners under dons house for fun

Hondo and Hippo teamed up to kill him but failed thanks to the questionable amount of tnt he has

may or may not have creative mod on

★ soda popinski ★

doing his best but keeps getting unlucky, every zombie targets him, hondo keeps taking his food and has the worst rng ever

keeps fighting macho, has a very bad arena like area near his base where just fights people inside it,bare hands only

had a pet fox that jumped DIRECTLY into lava the second he got it, had a funeral for it & everything

Got struck by lightning 2 times in a row somehow

★ bald bull ★

Just attacking everyone & everything with everything hes got

likes robbing aran specifically for his stash of weapons & tnt

got trapped by aran in bedrock jail when he went afk, aran was generous enough to give him some food & a bed, got his jail titled "bald dude enclosure"

got chased by dogs after he hit one accidentally

fighting soda & macho for fun

★ super macho man ★

hanging out with soda and bugging him

laughed at a house he built for 10 minutes because it looked ugly, its a landmark for everyone now along with "bald dude enclosure"

tried to kill a iron golem after he found it coming for him while he tried to kill a villager

turned on creative mode and just built himself the iconic diamond house and just toured the place

★ mr sandman ★

actually beat the ender dragon & focused on the game but that didnt stop him from robbing others occassionally for fun

keeps having sand blocks given to him with the message "This you?"

audibly screamed "NOOO" When he saw bear hugger lose the fight against the pufferfish

Has a underground base that Tiger somehow found instantly

thinks the enchanting table looks pretty

kept throwing stuff at bull while he was in bald dude enclosure

[jemilyvsjeid]

bye asf azzis mars is literally in libra

here’s some key points and include the comparison to Caitlin and Paige like comparing the three mars signs there’s obviously sooo many elements and parts that go into this but it’s one of the key stones.

Mars in Libra

Element: Air (Intellectual, communicative, and social)

Mode: Cardinal (Initiates action, but in a diplomatic, balanced way)

Style of Action: Mars in Libra seeks to act in a way that is harmonious, fair, and balanced. The energy of Mars is tempered by the intellectual and relationship-oriented nature of Libra. People with Mars in Libra often avoid direct conflict and may prefer to resolve issues through compromise, negotiation, or collaboration. They are diplomatic, but their drive for fairness and justice is still strong.Rather than charging ahead like Mars in Aries or methodically working toward a goal like Mars in Capricorn, Mars in Libra takes a more socially aware and balanced approach to action. There's a desire to make decisions that are considerate of others and maintain peace in relationships. However, this can sometimes lead to indecision, as Mars in Libra might struggle with making bold, quick moves without considering all perspectives.

Strengths:

Diplomatic and Fair: Mars in Libra is skilled at navigating conflicts and creating win-win situations. They excel in situations that require tact, mediation, and cooperation.

Charm and Persuasion: This placement often involves a charming, graceful way of handling situations. People with Mars in Libra are often good at persuading others and can be very tactful in how they approach difficult topics or situations.

Strategic Partnerships: Mars in Libra is highly motivated by relationships and tends to excel in partnerships, whether in business, personal, or creative endeavors. They can be great team players, using their ability to see multiple viewpoints to find solutions that satisfy everyone.

Challenges:

Indecisiveness: The desire to keep things balanced can lead to difficulty in making quick decisions or taking assertive actions. This can create a sense of frustration or inertia when decisions need to be made swiftly.

People-Pleasing: There can be a tendency to avoid conflict at all costs, which may result in over-accommodating others or suppressing one’s own desires in favor of maintaining harmony.

Overthinking: Mars in Libra can sometimes overanalyze situations, trying to weigh all the options and perspectives, which can cause delays or missed opportunities.

Key Differences with Aries and Capricorn:

Conflict Style: Unlike Mars in Aries, which tends to be confrontational or direct, Mars in Libra is more inclined to use diplomacy and tact to manage conflict. While Mars in Aries may dive headfirst into a battle, Mars in Libra will seek to resolve it peacefully.

Pacing: Mars in Libra doesn’t have the same urgency as Mars in Aries or the calculated pace of Mars in Capricorn. There’s a more measured, thoughtful approach to action that centers on finding balance and fairness.

Motivation: While Aries and Capricorn are more personally driven by ambition (Aries) or long-term success (Capricorn), Mars in Libra is motivated by the desire for equilibrium in relationships, aesthetics, and fairness. Their actions are often geared toward creating harmony, justice, and mutual respect.

Leadership Style:

Mars in Libra leads through collaboration, consensus, and compromise. It’s less about taking control or charging forward (like in Aries or Capricorn) and more about guiding others toward shared goals in a way that respects everyone’s input and needs.

In summary, Mars in Libra is about harmonious action, focusing on relationships and fairness. People with this placement strive for balance and seek peaceful solutions, using their social skills and diplomatic approach to navigate challenges.

[stripedstarsblueflags]

i feel so high school (au) pt. 3.A: galex

watched the race late, had a small heart attack, projected my mental cacophony on tumblr and now i need to take a creative scuba dive so anyway here are some high school aus for my fav f1 rpf ships and an exploration of who knows how to ball, and who knows aristotle

(based off american high school setups cause of the song… honestly just getting silly with this one)

water polo!george/mathlete! alex: george knows how to ball, alex knows aristotle. i’m basing this one a little bit off my own high school (way back when) because when it came to sports we were almost complete obsolete, like the laughing stocks of the district because our funding to performance ratio was so ridiculous. but one thing we could absolute SMOKE everyone else in was water polo. we were the 2023 max verstappen in water polo.

so anyways this high school is dominant in any sort of aquatic sport. george plays water polo, he’s not the best on the team but he’s also on swim and he’s by far the fastest. the other sports aren’t too bad, but the frat boy/party king vibes are more limited to like football, basketball, etc. because there’s an elitist aura around the aquatic teams. they’re respected because of how much clout they earn for the school but they do sort of act like they’re above everyone (george included) so they don’t have a lot of popularity points within the student body.

for those of you who don’t know, mathletes is a math program in american schools (i’m assuming it’s only american) where the best mathematicians in the school actually compete in tournaments and competitions like a sports team. alex has always been a gifted kid, not valedictorian but outperforming a good portion of his class, but the area where he’s an absolute prodigy is math. he was taking grade 10 courses when he was 14 and he only got better. he’s really shy and doubts himself a lot, he talks too much when he’s nervous and because kids can be cruel he’s been called out for that more than once. he tends to overanalyze how people are reacting to him and overcompensates by being as quiet as he can, drawing almost no attention to himself. he feels the most comfortable doing math-related challenges and competitions, even if it involves public speaking, because at least it’s logical and formulaic and there’s a definitive right-or-wrong answer.

meet-cute? towards the end of the year, both teams (water polo and mathletes respectively) have gotten far enough in their own series that they’re both traveling more and more for events. it’s a small town, so they often end up going pretty far. one week the place for the mathletes’ next round is less than forty-five minutes farther than the water polo game, so to be efficient the school puts both teams on the same bus, dropping off the water polo team first. cue the most AWKWARD school bus ride ever as one half is chattering over each other running equations and practicing formulas and the other half is bored out of their minds and very much exuding “ew get me away from the nerds”. george and alex end up sitting together because alex needs to be at the front because he gets carsick. right away alex is super self-conscious being away from the people he actually knows and he’s scared he’s going to embarrass himself by being sick and the water polo team is being too loud around him so he’s just sitting stone-still trying to have a really discrete panic attack. george is the only one who notices.

he manages to sort of talk alex down eventually, not even mentioning the anxiety just starting light conversation and getting his mind off the nausea. and george is a really good listener, he’s the only person alex has met in months if not years who will listen to alex talk and not get impatient with him no matter how off-topic he gets. so they end up forming this surprising but enjoyable little connection on the bus until finally they get to the competing school where the water polo match is. everyone has to get off because they need to refuel the buses so the two groups have about an hour of lunch time and just hanging around before they split, george and alex spend most of it together with george buying alex a meal and alex spending the whole time like ???? cute guy being nice to me ??? WHA until at some point george is like “hey wanna go for a swim?”

and alex just turns sheet white and looks like someone’s threatened to strand him in the middle of the ocean and he’s goin “nononononono!!” and george gets confused and a little insulted and he’s like “come on mate what’s the big deal? i’ll let you borrow some clothes, come on it’ll be fun” putting a little bit more pressure than he should until alex straight up leaves in the middle of the conversation and hides on the bus even before it’s ready to go.

both teams lose that weekend. when they go back to home turf alex sits in the back of the bus, doesn’t talk to anyone, eventually does get sick. finally after a few days of trying to get back to normal at school george seeks out alex trying to apologize and also find out what he did wrong, and alex has been beating himself up over the tournament and embarrassing himself and he’s not sleeping trying to review the mistakes he made and he’s more vulnerable than he needs to be until finally he tells george: he can’t swim.

[28dayslater]

after our tozer convo in the DMs i would really like you to give me a franklin expedition starting XI (formation of your choice). preferably with explanations for those of us (me) who don’t know ball

Here's my vision:

Crozier obviously gaffing like let's not take the piss here. He would probably play a Dyche style 4-4-fackin-2 lump it up to the big man none of this bullshit about half spaces but this is a 433. The midfield doesn't really work but let's ignore that

ST: Fitzjames. All the glory of being your team's star player, all the shame when you fuck up. He's flashy, he's the big man, he's got a crushing sense of shame that he's desperately compensating for. And his method of compensation? G/A per 90 stats and extremely brightly coloured boots

LW: Dundy and you know he's trying rainbow flicks and bicycle kicks and what have you, whether or not any of them are leading to a goal involvement is not the point. He is wearing a headband.

RW: You might think Hickey is a leg breaking defender but not to me. Fox in the box. Poacher. Dubious foul winner. He's done it again that Cornelius Hickey you dirty bastard you've done it again

CAM: Goodsir. Being a 10 is all about creativity... setting up your teammates... finding a way to break through defenses. You've got to be able to look at things differently. I feel like he would be very injury prone. Physician, heal thyself

CM: Jopson. I'm thinking of him as an 8... never ever stops running. The most boring job on the pitch but without him there's no team! King of the nice clean tackle and if he nips an ankle from time to time well that's their fault for putting it in his studs' way

CDM: Little. Episode 5 he was temping for Crozier and that's exactly what this is. Drops back into defense, adds numbers to the midfield, does his best to help with an attack here and there. Gets no thanks for any of it and always has a huge mistake in him a la Rice against the Netherlands other day

LB: Tartnell more of a traditional FB you forget he's there most of the time until he pops up and gets an assist. Alternatively Collins bc he's Welsh and sexy like my goat Ben Davies

CB: Irving. This is another mistake prone one bc he's so nervous. But it's not his fault... he's brave he tries his hardest. His positioning is shit he plays every fucker onside but he's TRYING. Flop era John Stones and you know he'd cry if he got caught eating a Magnum

CB: Tozer OBVIOUSLYYYYYYYYYYY. Big lad doing the dirty work defending everyone and getting fuck all credit it's too perfect. You just know his massive bonce is banging in headers from corners left right and centre. I see him as a very old school CB... progressing the ball? Line breaking passes? No, I don't think so. He's busy kicking the fuck out of some brittle boned winger in rolled down socks

RB: Armitage. Your modern fullback is always going forward and inverting and leaving the actual defence to the CBs. Big Toze has it covered you go overwhelm their midfield and- oh, no, it didn't work and every goal we concede is coming down the right side of the pitch

GK: Hodgson. Goalies are always weird. Much like vicario I do not respect him. Largely infuriating but a moment of brilliance once or twice a season so the fans start creaming over him again. Holding five against Scunthorpe United then saving a penalty in the 96th minute of a cup final by being so inherently off putting the other team's striker gets distracted and slips. Message relevant

[albentelisa]

Hey! I've got an ask for you and I don't mind if it takes a while, because I know that you've probably got so many asks in your inbox, but I wanted to know how do you think Jim would (if he ever did) progress to become a villain and no one realises it until too late?

(I'm feeling a bit angsty this week)

Also, btw, I love your hcs- they're actually really cool and really well thought over, and some of them just really get my creative juices flowing. They always make me smile, especially when I've had a bad today so just... thank you 💙)

Hi! Thank you for your kind words ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Actually, I have some 'bad end scenarios' with Jim ending as a villain (or sorta).

Grit-shaka. Let's say, Jim never managed to get to Bular in Young Atlas, so he never realizes the true importance of fear. Sure thing, Grit-shaka caused some complications, but those were more or less minor. Jim decides to use Grit-shaka in battles occasionally. Unfortunately for him, it seems like a great decision at first as he gets several victories (against goblins and several changelings). However, as Grit-shaka is a Gumm-Gumm object, it's actually harmful, not only taking away Jim's fears but slowly eroding his moral brakes, so eventually Jim reaches the point where anyone getting hurt doesn't even matter. That's where Toby and even Draal start to realize the extent of the damage done (Blinky is against Grit-shaka from the very start but no one is listening). However, it's already too late because Jim gets too addicted to Grit-shaka and cannot function without it at all. Grit-shaka also gives him some horrible ideas, culminating in him freeing Gunmar and letting him take over the Trollmarket (and get the power up after absorbing the Heartstone energy) so that Jim can fight Gunmar in his prime. It ends as bad as you can imagine.

Decimaar mind control. So, the trip to the Darklands leaves Jim with an unexpected 'baggage' - it turns out that Gunmar's attempt to mind control him wasn't a total failure. Neither it is a full success, yet Jim has short blackouts sometimes when he cannot remember his actions. It turns out that Gunmar has managed to instill his will upon Jim's soul, basically creating a separate personality who is loyal to Gunmar. Jim isn't aware of it for a long time (he chalks everything to stress and overexhaustion). Meanwhile, his other personality keeps spying for Gunmar and helping him in the incoming takeover of the Trollmarket. When Jim comes to Gunmar for the first time, Gunmar initially wants to make him his puppet, but seeing the second personality who is loyal to him, makes him amused, so he decides to nurture that one instead, strengthening it during each visit. Jim's friends realize that something is very wrong when Jim isn't able to remember some of his actions or conversations they had. However, everyone thinks that it can be an infiltration from a polymorph like Otto. So, the team designs a special code to be able to tell apart the real Jim from the fake. The problem is that Jim's second personality knows code as well, so it's pointless. Eventually, Gunmar takes over the Trollmarket and erases Jim's initial personality, keeping him by his side as his loyal champion.

Aspectus Stone and Hunter Jim. This one isn't much of the villain one, but still nasty for Jim. So, Jim manages to send all of his copies back, and at first, everything is back to normal. However, Jim isn't aware that the experience was damaging to his psyche and now his soul is imbalanced. He turns more mission-focused, gradually losing his other interests. It's pretty minor at first so his team easily chalks it to Jim feeling guilty because of Gunmar's escape. He starts to skip school, refuses fun activities, and is rarely at home at night. Blinky tries to talk to him about it, but Jim just waves him off. Toby starts to panic when Jim stops cooking, and Claire notices how cold Jim becomes towards her and basically everyone else. She encounters him and asks if he is Hunter Jim (as she is the only one who has met that one), but Jim tells her he is the only Jim. That's when everyone realizes that something is really off, but it's too late. Jim cuts ties with everyone and goes alone to fight Gunmar, only to be defeated and fall under his mind control.

Gravesand. So, in this scenario, Blinky doesn't stop Jim's training with gravesand in time, so it causes some permanent damage, leaving Jim with some troll traits and a feral mind. Moreover, Jim gets addicted to the gravesand, stealing it from Strickler (who has already realized his mistake and tries his best to keep it away from Jim). The gravesand makes Jim attack everyone as he gets highly aggressive. He doesn't even remember his role as the protector anymore, simply enjoying battles and carnage. He ends up killing several Gumm-gumms and good trolls and for him, it's no different. Gunmar finds him in this state and finds it amusing, so he decides to keep Jim as his feral pet and force him to fight his enemies.

Merlin taking 'his champion' thing too far. Another not-that-much villain scenario, but well... So in this one, Jim's friends and family never reach him at the rooftop, and Merlin is the one who finds him there. It is the moment of ultimate vulnerability for Jim, and instead of support, he gets the manipulator. Jim confesses that it's too much for him to realize what exactly he has lost (😢) and Merlin proposes the solution - which is basically wiping out all Jim's memories except ones concerning his mission. When everyone reaches Jim, it's already too late, and the irreversible damage is done. In his state Jim has no trouble defeating Gunmar, however, it turns out that he's highly vulnerable to Morgana's manipulations and she makes him change sides, convincing him that she is the one who tries to build the perfect world for trolls (and in Jim's mind, he is the champion of the trollkind, meaning that he has to protect them first). Morgana makes Jim her new champion and uses him to hunt her opponents.

Obsidian shard's corruption. This one is post-Wizards. It turns out that while Claire managed to turn Jim human, the evil influence residue remained. It's unnoticeable at first, with Jim simply being easily annoyed, which everyone explains as a consequence of his transformations and losing the amulet. However, Jim is haunted by his memories of Camelot times and the abuse trolls faced there. Those ignite some rage inside his soul and it takes a while until Jim can calm down (which gradually becomes more and more difficult). He also starts to feel some odd repulsion towards humans. Barbara and Toby suffer from it the most (Claire and Douxie are fine because they are wizards, and Jim doesn't treat them differently). It ends up with the Arcane Order contacting Jim and convincing him to join their side and build a better world for magical beings.

[kitsunerokko]

"When destruction came for our lonesome island, the Turaga knew it would be time for a new group of heroes to arrive. They would be our protectors, our champions... our Toa. But surely something must be afoot. Those chosen by the stones surely cannot be Dosa Nui's heroes! They had, and continue to have, many... problems, that don't inspire confidence in the Turaga, or myself. Their forms even seem as if the Great Spirit saw our image of the ideal Toa and twisted them. They are not the heroes we wanted, but they are the heroes we've got. And so I must, I must believe in them. Or we are all lost." -Chrouhi the Chronicler

So in the past two days I decided to give my OC Toa team a bit of a facelift, reflecting more of what I've learned of using stud.io since my older renders of the team!

Background Image in the Group Photo is edited from a Creative Commons photo by Horia Varlan.

And for individual character blurbs (written from the perspective of the Chronicler character, and so adescribe them before their character development), can be found after the jump!

"Takara is the team's Toa of Fire. His Toa Tools are the Grand Firestaff and the Flare Buster. As I've chronicled many, many, MANY times, he's long been something of a troublemaker, with pranks, ill-thought-out plans, and plenty of disruption. Including intruding on the duties of yours truly. He initially was considered the leader, until his boneheadedness led to disasterous results and lost him the team's respect. Being a Toa has not changed him one bit, much to my dismay."

"Kaumi is the team's Toa of Water. Her Toa Tools are the Mariner's Boneblade and the Zamor Soaker. She is very headstrong and stubborn, never giving up until she gets her way, no matter whom she may anger. Despite her butting heads with, well, anyone, she has at least proven she has a good heart. I've lost count of how many times she was the head of positive social change in our island's history. No doubt this is why she is leader of the Toa Dosa now."

"Okolu is the team's Toa of Ice. His Toa Tools are the Ice Axe, Zamor Snowshot, and, bizarrely, the Hot-Plasma Launcher. He's... eccentric, is the nicest way to put it. He's got lots of positive energy for sure, but seems to have absolutely no filter and other people always seem to be bothered by him. It's actually kind of sad... especially since he's the source of the current singular friendship among the Toa. Granted, this friendship is with Takara so who knows where that influence will end up. Hopefully Okolu's version of 'annoying' wins, personally."

"Kraani is the Team's Toa of Air. His Toa Tools are the Exoskel Shield and the Airblaster. I've heard complaint after complaint about this guy and his snooty, better-than-everyone-else attitude as a Matoran. And much like the others, no change seen so far as a Toa. While he claims to be more effective and smarter than the rest of the team, he has displayed no such standout prowess, though he blames this on his teammates. A Toa really needs to understand the value of teamwork or the team.. will not work."

"Opuro is the Team's Toa of Stone. His Toa Tools are the Twin Dirk and the Chain Ripper. Opuro is extremely competitive and I've written many incident reports where he took things very far when playing sports, doing tasks... if there's a measurable way to outperform someone at something, he'll do it. Sort of like, if Kraani could actually back up his ego. That's Opuro, though at least Opuro is nicer, somewhat. He seems to at least want others to 'get as good' as him, relishing worthy challenges. As such, after becoming Toa he has been very excited, perhaps even too excited, to fight. We'll see if he can last like that..."

"Leonu is the Team's Toa of Earth...? I think. I've never actually seen him use his elemental powers, and apparently no one else has either. Kaumi thinks he might be of another element entirely, and I may be inclined to believe that. I actually don't have much on him compared to the others, he's almost never come up in any news or events I've covered. And interviewing various Matoran around Dosa Nui doesn't yield much either. He's just, very quiet, very keeps to himself, to the degree people just don't know much about him. Anyway, his Toa Tools... the Inika Staff and the Laser Drill."

[kingdomoftyto]

It's taken 15 years, but it was worth the wait...

All right, I've put it off long enough (and had a very busy/distracting couple of weeks) so it's finally time for my review of TAAAM Act 2

For those who missed it, the second half of Turnabout: an Ace Attorney Musical dropped at the end of last month [here's a link to Act 1 for good measure], and to say I've been listening to it a lot since then would be a gross understatement. My partner and I have literally been greeting each other after work each day with, "Today's biggest earworm was [insert TAAAM song], how about you?" Even if I listen to any other music on my morning commute, by lunchtime I'll inevitably still catch myself mouthing the words to "Lotta Things" or "Tomorrow at Last" or whatever else.

What I'm getting at is that this is not just a cool piece of collaborative fanart. This is a legitimately fantastic musical. Period.

The music is wildly catchy, but remains cohesive with every other song. There are repeated leitmotifs and about a dozen reprises and incredibly satisfying references to music from the games (I was waiting for "Cornered" the entire time and was NOT disappointed when it finally showed up late in Act 2). It feels well-structured, like a real Broadway production. All of the songs from Act 1 that I would have considered the weakest--they now stand fully redeemed by their absolutely phenomenal reprises and callbacks in the second half. Every song in this musical, every line, is there for a reason.

And this careful planning serves to accentuate the stated primary goal of the entire musical: maintaining the character-driven narrative of the games and emphasizing the pathos of the story. On both counts, this team absolutely delivered.

Because not only is this a really cool musical, it's also a fantastic piece of collaborative Ace Attorney fanart. (See what I did there?) I know I already said it in my Act 1 post, but these folks understand these characters and what makes the story so memorable even 20 years later. The emotional beats, the character growth, the relationships between them all, are impeccable. Every character gets their time to shine, and in particular I want to praise their handling of Maya and Gumshoe, who feel like fully realized people and each go through their own personal arcs throughout the course of the story that are just as satisfying and heartwarming as Phoenix's own.

And that's a good segue into the subject of what creative liberties the team DID take with the story, because there honestly aren't that many, but what they did change is so good. I replayed Turnabout Goodbyes a few nights ago and was surprised at how much dialogue in the musical is taken line-for-line, sometimes even verbatim, from the source material. But, aside from the changes you might expect from condensing an entire mystery game's worth of story into a few hours of runtime--such as simplifying the cases to require fewer clues to solve--they really only altered the plot in ways that gave more chances to develop the characters, and to create rewarding arcs for each and every one.

They added a whole damn scene of just Gumshoe and Maya having a heart-to-heart. It is easily one of my favorite scenes in the entire play. These writers drank their respecting-Dick-Gumshoe juice that morning, and that single scene gives a better emotional payoff to his loyalty to Miles than I think we ever got in canon, while remaining utterly in-character for everyone involved. Meanwhile, the scene doubles as one of many stepping stones* for Maya's own character arc (which is also much more focused and consistent than in canon, imo!), in which she struggles with her feelings of helplessness and inadequacy as she tries to live up to Mia's legacy.

(It goes without saying that this scene also serves the practical purpose of getting characters in place to further simplify the details of the case, as mentioned before, because the writing is unparalleled and I will keep emphasizing that as many times as it needs to be said.)

In truth, there are only two things I would qualify as "major" changes to the story (in that they're different from canon, not that they actually change the plot itself), and I'm hesitant to spoil them here because both of them are SO good and both of them hit me like a truck when they happened. One has to do with emotional depth getting added to a certain character's arc, and the other has to do with relationships between characters. (Maybe I'll add them as a self-reblog to this post because I still need to scream about them lol.)

In any case, I'm not kidding when I say that the musical's version of events, big changes and small, is so compelling to me that it has now superseded the canon version in my mind.** It manages to tell the exact same story while not only giving some of the "side" characters much more credit, but also tying the cases themselves together into a single narrative. The specter of Redd White and his chokehold on the justice system is present in the back half of the original game, but the musical tweaks things to really make you feel how all of these pieces fit together to direct the characters' actions and growth. It's just... ugh, so brilliant. [chef kiss]

I would be remiss if I didn't also take a moment to directly praise the performance of the actors. As obsessed as I am with the music itself, my single favorite moments in both Acts are actually short lines of spoken dialogue.*** The delivery just struck a chord in me and I still lose it a little every time I hear those parts. (And other parts, but. Shush.) Everyone did a great job, but the three leads (Ren, MJ, and Gavaroc, who played Phoenix, Maya, and Miles respectively) absolutely knocked it out of the park in both their sung and spoken performances. Is it weird to say I'm obsessed with how convincing the screams are in "600,000 Volts"? It is, a little? Okay, well. [cough] Regardless. The whole cast really knew what they were doing throughout this entire production; the emotion is extremely powerful when the moment calls for it**** and they elevate the dialogue--again, a lot of which is taken DIRECTLY from canon!--from something good to something amazing. The delivery of these lines has literally changed how I look at the first game, now. They're that good.

Quick shout-out to some of the other voices that have invaded my brain and instantly become my headcanon voices for the characters. Just off the top of my head: Larry, Payne, Sahwit, Redd, Grossberg, Lotta, Lana... seriously. This cast is absolutely star-studded. Even the ensemble freakin' killed it, absolutely transforming every song they were in. The soprano that hit that high note at the end of "Justice for All (Reprise)"????? MAGNIFICENT. GOOSEBUMPS EVERY TIME.

Good grief, this is already so long and I still have so much more I could say. This is why it's taken me so long to write all this out, by the way. This musical is transcendently good, both from a musical perspective and a fandom one, and I simply have not stopped rotating it around in my head since I first heard it.

It's NOT without flaws. Of course it's not. The sound quality on a handful of spoken lines is noticeably lower. The word choices in a few verses feel just slightly clumsy, or forced to fit the meter. The visuals for the Youtube release are a little goofy at times because of the limitations of the game assets used. The plot of the second act, even simplified, would probably be a little too dense to easily follow for someone unfamiliar with the source material.

But if there's anything to be learned from Ace Attorney, it's that perfection shouldn't be the most important goal. Sometimes a few rough edges are necessary to allow room for truth. And the truth is, in this case, a story. A story about a lawyer named Phoenix Wright, who loses a mentor, gains a best friend, and saves a man who'd lost himself.

It's a story worth hearing, and what better way than in song?

--

*- For the record, my favorite song in Act 1 was "I'll Be There", so among all the MANY times the end of Act 2 punched me directly in the heart, the moment that hits me the hardest is probably still the part of the finale that reprises it. That last stanza (I hope you know I'm glad we met...) makes me want to cry every single time. Maya Fey Protection Squad, indeed.....

**- Except for ONE thing at the very end, but that's a story for the self-reblog where I scream about the spoilery stuff LOL

***- My fav line in Act 1 is Miles' real-time epiphany that Redd White is a murderer. ("The only people in that office at that time were the victim and the- ...killer.") You can HEAR his eyes widen as he falters, and the choice to have that as his turning point in place of Turnabout Samurai is so brilliant in so many ways I can't even handle it. I love Miles Edgeworth so much. Anyway, THEN, my fav line in Act 2 is Phoenix's heartrendingly soft, "I've got you, Edgeworth. I've got you." It's so tender and yet so sure. It's Phoenix catching Miles as he falls, looking him directly in the eye, and telling him it's over, I won't let you suffer for one more day.

****- Another of my many favorite lines is Phoenix's "Did you DO it!?" underneath Miles' singing in "Alone". The desperation. The ANGUISH. During my replay of Turnabout Goodbyes I literally had to stop and take a second when the button prompt labeled "Did you do it?" popped up on my screen. That hurted.

[rueririn]

Hi, same anon, thanks for answering my question. Can you give some more headcanons, shenanigans, etc. if you're still up for it. When will we see others pov? Will they never meet each other? It's a rather… sad ending. Will Kurama's story end with Aliea's storyline or will he and team enter FFI? After the last chapter with Kirino, I honestly didn’t think that you would be able to give them any way out of the situation and that they would just lose the match, but you somehow managed to not only get them out of this situation, but do it in a believable way that gives light and hope . I was very impressed and I liked the last chapter not only for the plot twist but also for the style. Thanks in advance for your answer.

Hi hi ~ always happy to answer. I do think we'll see the other POVs eventually, but it's... well, a long way off, since these fics are all very long and I hesitate to start another installment before finishing one of them. I plan to go into FFI for Kurama and Chrono Stone for Kirino (not so sure about beyond) so yeah. It'll be awhile.

Thanks so much! I'm happy to hear you liked it, and sorry it took so long to get the update done though. Since it is technically a Holy Road match, they've gotta win somehow instead of ending in a draw so I had to really have some creative liberty on the way :/ I do think it would have been much more difficult if I put Hakuryuu in xD good thing I took him out of the equation for the sake of balance, I would've written myself into a corner otherwise.

Unfortunately, they'll never meet again :( Only the members in the caravan survived, so one day they'll likely reunite like Shinsuke and Kurama did, even if briefly-- but for everyone else that was left behind, nothing remains except the found footage.

Onto happier thoughts.

I really do have a lot of headcanons on the OG generation that don't really have any basis but I find them fun? Like Natsumi being a genuine girl gang type delinquent-- her father, in an attempt to contain her, put her in Raimon and told her she had the authority to do whatever she wanted as long as she didn't send more kids to the hospital over minor feuds again. It would be a funny explanation to why she had a different uniform from Aki and Haruna, (Midori, for example, has a longer skirt because she IS is delinquent archetype) haha

I do think it's funny to think that they used to be kinda unhinged already even in canon, but now, they've grown up and somehow have been set loose into the world. The only thing between Former Terrorist Kiyama Hiroto and starting another alien takeover for fun is Endou Mamoru's smile and hope in the good of humanity. Which is shattering right now.

There are a variety of things the OG Raimon left behind after their road trip across Japan, which includes a recipe book for camping food, training menus from hell, a tradition of annual bootcamps, and a set of wooden signs that read 'Currently in Reflection'. I'd like to think some rational person over these ten years saw these training menus, established "hell no, you are not bringing the kids into the woods they are not YOU GUYS" and then got the budget to make the soccer building. They're still gonna do the training, but they are not diving into mud for hissatsus ffs.

[nowis-scales]

Do you prefer Three Houses or Engage?

Whew, okay. I am happy to answer your question, but please be prepared for me to talk a lot, because I have a lot to say on this topic.

I haven’t played all of the routes of Three Houses. At this point in time, I’ve played Verdant Wind and Crimson Flower. As for Engage, I’ve played all of it (though my playthrough posts sure make it look the other way around, heh). From this perspective, it might seem like there is a possibility for a bit of bias here or there. And while I agree that that could be true…

In this specific case, however, I don’t think it matters. I greatly prefer Engage over 3H.

Now, I should start off by pointing out that some of the stuff I say is going to be hyperbolic. I’m at a point where I’m quite jaded with 3H and many of its fans. There’s only so much discourse and disrespect a girl can take before she becomes a little disenchanted with the subject in question. That being said, though… honestly, none of that stuff affects my overall view. It’s mostly just about the way I might be delivering the message.

The thing to understand about me is though I love video games, if it’s a video game with a story as a major point, it automatically becomes the most important part. I enjoyed both 3H and Engage, but… the best way I know how to put why I would choose Engage over 3H is that while both have their share of writing problems, 3H’s bother me that much more.

To me, it just seems like Koei Tecmo and IntSys had this wide scope for 3H and couldn’t narrow down on what they were doing. And yeah, stones in a glass house comin’ from a Fates fan, I hear the people — but for all that 3H gets called this morally grey masterpiece, half the time it just seems like the “grey morality” comes from the fact that they couldn’t agree whether or not EdeIgard was in the wrong. In developer interviews, Kusakihara of IntSys, calls her the villain. Her route is referred to as one where you bulldoze everyone else to get what you want. It’s not exactly flattering, yet that same interview also states her popularity with the creative team. In my playthrough posts of CF, I know I mentioned to the point of annoyance that she rarely, if ever, faces a proper consequence or sacrifice for what she wants. And in Hopes it only seemed to get worse, with the developer interviews there actually confirming that she is actively happier than she ever was in Houses… Even her ending in Azure Gleam, which is sexist and disgusting, can be read as being in her favour, because how can you accuse her of anything anymore? She looks like a grown woman, but she’s mentally a freshly teenage girl! No more consequences! It feels like they’re just constantly flip flopping between “oh she’s right” or “oh she’s wrong”, which is not something you want from a perpetrator of conflict in the narrative. One minute they’re saying she’s villainous, and the next there’s a convenient & unclear excuse that tries to make her a good person for doing it. If something doesn’t favour whatever the devs wanted to highlight in that moment, it just gets unceremoniously swept under the rug. The Agarthans are proof enough of that. That’s not grey morality, that’s just being indecisive and, quite frankly, the opposite of impartial in Koei’s case.

That’s another problem that gets me about 3H’s story. I hate, hate their supposed “worldbuilding” trick where they just throw out minor details about like, a country’s problem with sexism or a group of people like the Almyrans or the Dagdans and just… never elaborate. I’m particularly interested in the Nabateans and the sexism of Adrestia myself, but are those points that ever get elaborated on? No, because it’s time to talk about crests and the crest system, which could have been an interesting look at classism if the concept actually stood up under scrutiny. It is very difficult for me to believe that there is some specific-to-Fodlan classism issue going on when Crests don’t determine whether you become or stay noble. Byleth is not immediately noble once it’s acknowledged that they have one, and Constance’s house fell in spite of it. Considering the possible marriage option for Ingrid in her paralogue, being nobility is not even the only way to ensure success in society. And all this is without even acknowledging the ridiculousness of the idea that the Nabateans would want to perpetuate a system that was actively soaked in the blood of their own. It just feels like, rather than engaging more clearly with how the crest system would actually work and subsequently be attacked, it just becomes this abstract thing that all other interesting thoughts get sucked into, without any concept that it’s real aside from EdeIgard and Sylvain mentioning it. I don’t feel passionately about it, it’s just kind of something that’s there. It could have been interesting to execute, but the way they went about it just doesn’t make it seem real to me — so, again, any attempt at a morally grey conflict there is lost on me.

And then there’s the problem with tell don’t show. I’ve seen people saying that Engage has this too… but 3H is god awful for this. The whole time I was playing Engage, I just remember thinking how much I loved how naturally emotional everything was. When you fight Hortensia again in the Solmic castle, the fact that she’s crying that she just wants her family back is sad. It’s natural. You don’t feel like the game is holding your hand, trying to make you to feel upset on Hortensia’s behalf. You don’t need to be told that Hortensia is trying so hard to be independent and strong and leaderly. You can just hear it in the way that she instead whimpers about how nobody will give her what she wants. You can tell that she’s angry that she cannot emulate her father or Ivy, and that she can’t get Ivy to do the things she wants her to do when it should have been so easy in theory. The way she reacts to the situation laid out before her shows us that yes, Hortensia has been through a lot the last little while and is getting to a breaking point where we might be able to help her. It’s what makes it that much more cruel when Zephia mind controls her to rip her away from us. 3H’s kind of pale in comparison at times, really.

The best way I know how to explain how 3H kinda flops at this is to continue picking on EdeIgard a little (sorry). I’ve rambled about it before, but presumably in an effort to show the legitimacy of EdeIgard’s suffering at the hands of the Agarthans in Crimson Flower, they put in this scene where she sees a rat and gets scared. The implication is supposed to be that there were numerous rats in the dungeon where she was kept when she was being experimented on, and that she now has a trauma response to them. However, when you actually get to the scene, her reaction is obscenely unrealistic — because it’s about being cute. This is a trauma response she’s supposed to be having, and Byleth can tease her about it. When responding to the stimulus of the rat, she doesn’t even respond with intense fear or anything symptomatic of the actual mental illness she would probably have. She just screams, and then tries to act like it didn’t happen, but of course she gets all blushy about it. It is entirely ingenuine, and I can’t just bring myself to emotionally invest if they only know how to give characters subdued, acceptable reactions or have them just tell me that something made them sad or scared. Just hearing that this character has had a sad life — and, conveniently, almost all of them have had a sad life — doesn’t make me feel emotionally connected to them. Representing the more human parts of that struggle does.

Bottom line, I shouldn’t feel like the game is holding up an “APPLAUSE” style sign that says “BE SAD” whenever the characters talk about things that have happened to them.

These are three big things that I just feel really tamper with my enjoyment of 3H to its fullest extent. The game just makes me feel too micromanaged, like it doesn’t trust me to be smart enough to pick up on the things it wants to say. For all that people say it’s the best story FE’s done in years, I would actually disagree on that. It’s the characters and the lore that carry this game. The story is just not that well-organized, nor is it willing to give you any sort of space.

That being said, I do not dislike 3H! At the moment I am… admittedly incredibly sick of it, but I don’t dislike it. There are plenty of things that it manages to do well! Like I just said, I think the lore is really interesting. The Nabateans in particular have always been a subject of interest for me, because there’s something so intriguing to me about them sort of being a parallel being to humanity, but still being so viciously discriminated against. The conflict between Duscur and Faerghus was also pretty attention-catching, and while I’m not super crazy about how the Insurrection of the Seven is portrayed, I do like that this is a kind of political conflict that they would confront.

In fact, the fact that this game does try to confront the more political side of things is another thing I like about it. Whether it does this well all the time is a different situation entirely, but just the fact that they decided to put this in is something I enjoy. One thing I know that I instantly enjoyed about Persona 5 that was also reflected in 3H was the way it brought up how the socio-political issues were affecting the society that everyone was living in. Each country had its own individual problems, with Adrestians struggling with sexism & classism, the Faerghans with their unstable government and newly developed tendency toward anti-Duscurian racism, and the Leicester Alliance with its imbalance/disagreement between people and the doubt surrounding its new leaders. To have these things helps us better understand what the characters are going through, as well as the causes for a war. It also makes the world feel more alive, because now we know what kinds of things each group is up against. It develops them. I’m still not a fan of how sometimes these things are just brought up and dropped in favour of one thing or the other, but there is often enough thought in them to make it most of the way, and that most of the way is awesome.

As for the characters, they have to confront a recruitment mechanic that completely throws their motives out the window at times just to conform to a specific narrative… and they still turned out pretty good, so that really speaks to how great they are! There is a lot of detail to put into each character’s life, and for the most part, the devs took care to make sure that everyone had a tie to someone. If they didn’t, then that felt intentional in some way. Relationships in particular really humanize characters, and I feel like 3H took that into account. I know I said it eons ago, but I’m still so delighted that we know about Maya Kiersten. Other FE games don’t tend to give these minor characters that a main character loves a name, but here we are, getting all kinds of details about her. Same goes for Holst and Rodrigue. It’s fun, and I really like that this happens. It also intrigues me that some of these characters aren’t total angels, and have their ugly sides as well. I need to put this in big bold lettering, but I do not condone the racism of Hilda or Ingrid. However, I do think that it’s an interesting addition to each of their characters. With the ways they are otherwise portrayed, it is possible that you could get too rosy of an image of the two girls. Their own racism undercuts that, it makes them feel more realistic, because bigoted people aren’t all one-note. They can seem otherwise kind and dependable, and still not be able to separate their head from their ass when it comes to being considerate of others. It fleshes them out. Details like this do add a little more to them, even if I wish they would actually explore them more in the context of the world as well. Racism that doesn’t get improved or worked upon is just racism for realism’s sake, and why should people who experience irl racism have to deal with that? They’re very aware of what the real world looks like, thank you.

The thing about 3H in comparison to Engage is that it just trips so many more times. I didn’t know what it was about Engage that just caught me, but once it had me, it had me. The emotional influence was definitely part of it, which I already mentioned, but I think another thing that I just liked in comparison was the fact that it didn’t try as hard as 3H did for some of that stuff. Thematically yes, Engage is more straightforward and doesn’t pile on the angst quite the same. It’s lighter and doesn’t take itself painfully seriously. Nonetheless, the stuff it does try to do comes out beautifully. It (for the most part — we need to have a whole other post about Alcryst) knows when to make you laugh, when to make you feel sad, and when to instill feelings of suspense or hope. It cares deeply about its characters and seeing them to the end of their journey. I never felt like I didn’t know the thesis of the game, and I almost never felt like there was a moment where I really wished they would just tell that part of the story differently. The whole thing just felt very carefully put together to me, and made for a better impression overall because there were no conflicting accounts of what was meant to go on based on the writer at the moment. I could tell that the game trusted me to draw my own conclusions. It made for a much more fun experience, because I love finding these small things woven in by the developers and mining them out like little gems. That’s part of the reason why I love Fates so much. While everyone else is complaining about how awful it is, I get to be searching for and finding all of these amazing parts that just got totally missed. I love stuff like that.

The worldbuilding in Engage is also something that I feel was a lot stronger. Things don’t just drop off. Tensions between Brodia and Elusia, for example, constantly inform the way the characters approach situations. Even conversations that are supposed to be silly, like that of Étie and Goldmary, are informed by that tension. Characters don’t forgive and forget everything that happened to them in relation to their societies just because they’re working together now. Citrinne doesn’t forgive Yunaka for her assassinations right away, she remains suspicious of her for a long time. When Ivy plays a part in the summoning of the Fell Dragon and ends up being part of the reason why Morion was killed, Alcryst holds a grudge against her — even though Ivy was part of the solution for the rest of the group, and even though Ivy herself turns out not to be a Fell Dragon worshipper at all. Things like these are constantly informing the plot and the characters. They don’t just disappear when it is inconvenient for them to exist. This is just one of many examples, but it really made the conflict feel like it was distinct, and thus was more meaningful when they came together.

I also just generally feel like the cultures in Engage ended up being more unique as well. I’ve played the entirety of Crimson Flower and Verdant Wind, as well as about 8 chapters of Azure Moon, and I’m not sure I could do as much to show how the cultures vary as much as I could with Engage. However, to give credit where credit is due, one could argue that the cultures of the Alliance, the Empire, and the Kingdom are less distinct than Elusia, Solm, Lythos, and Brodia because 3H’s conflicts need to build up to the final concept of uniting Fodlan. Nonetheless, the whole point of the nations breaking up from being just Adrestia is at least partially because the cultures are too different, and even if they weren’t… This would still just be more proof of my point that EdeIgard gets stuff weighted towards her. Therefore, I kinda prefer to think that it is not as much of a deliberate choice because the purposeful interpretation is straight up glorifying the imperialism element of the game. It’s just different in the case of Engage, where the differences and similarities are there with much more explicit purpose. The peace of Firene is played quite like the freedom of Solm, for example. Both nations have this seemingly leisurely thing that they value above all else, and it’s something that they know must make them seem overly gentle or carefree to outsiders. Nonetheless, once you start to spend time with characters like Céline and Timerra, it becomes clear just how viciously they fight to protect their people’s right to having those things in their lives. And this, of course, isn’t the only similarity, nor is it the only difference. If you need to see more of what I mean, emblemxeno made a great post on this that might help fill in some more gaps. It’s stuff like this that makes me prefer the way Engage executes its worldbuilding, because you can feel the way the countries influence each other, as well as the things that come innately from themselves. It’s not quite the same as Fodlan’s sort-of similar cultures. The ideas from each place don’t bounce off each other quite the same, so I find they’re not as entertaining to observe.

I could probably keep going on for awhile longer, but the answer to this ask is like… probably way more than you bargained for when you initially sent it, so I might leave it off at that. Any further, more specific questions can always be sent at a later date! I’m certainly not opposed to getting more asks after all ;)

At the very least, hopefully I was able to shed some light on my opinions on the contrasts between 3H and Engage, and why each one either does or doesn’t work better for me. Thanks for taking the time to ask!

[leothil]

so i finally realized why i think buddie is going to happen moreso now then ever before and it has to do with the PR from this season which has been overwhelming in regards to Buddie to say the least. Also the fact that we now know Buddie was going to be in the works by the end of S4 and Buck Bi was brought to the table in S4, which means the shooting was going to be the start of Buddie. To me why on Earth would you bring this to the light for everyone to see in interviews if you're planning on moving in a different direction, that would be unnecessarily cruel to the fans to be like "yeah Buddie was in the plans and it was going to happen but then FOX said no and so we couldn't do it. Now that we're on a different network we've decided we're doing something else." Like to me if that was the case why even bring all this information to light, you know what I mean?

Like just keep all this stuff in the dark if Buddie is not the plan. I think the only reason you're bringing all this information some of which we know but we got confirmation to me is an indication that Buddie is very much the plan and now they can tell the story they've wanted to tell for years on end. There's a reason Tim is back and I think it's to tell the story he could not tell at FOX which is Buck and Eddie's love story.

IDK if I make sense and this of course does not include the very very loud indications from 4 and 5 that Buddie is happening but I'm just going at this from a PR/Interview standpoint. We literally have Oliver declaring himself Team Buddie and Ryan clearly is as well, and hell you can throw in Lou with his basically confirming Tommy is a stepping stone to Buddie and how he thinks something is going on between them.

Sorry this got unnecessarily long.

I'd say this is a pretty good summary of where most of the fandom stands right now (at least the part of it I interact with). It'd probably have made a pretty good post on your own blog, in fact! :) One thing though, I doubt Tim came back just for buddie. Like many others have said, it's extremely likely that a lot of storylines they wanted to do with other characters as well got shot down by the network. So buddie is included in his reasons for coming back, probably, but mostly for the creative freedom he'd get to experience again. And then he immediately put a middle finger up to Fox by including a call they rejected as far back as season two lmao. That's some king behaviour, can't argue with that.

[221b-sociopath-street]

#ted lasso for dummies

Intro Part 1

01×02 Biscuits

00:00:22 'Nestlé Shredded wheat'* *This stuff is for real - Whole Grain Wheat Cereal Biscuits. These type of breakfast food are not in shape of liked by everyone little squares, loops, balls or stars. These are fucking food BRICKS. So I really share Ted's shock.

00:02:37 'The Spice Girls.'* *It's like my childhood all over again. Phrase 'girl power' it's about them, about Spice girls, well-known and beloved all over the world british girl group. Scary Spice, Sporty Spice, Baby Spice, Ginger Spice, Posh Spice! P.S. Plus one of them is wife of football player, former captain of the England national team - David Beckham 😎. So, the theme of football is also present in this conversation between Ted and Rebecca.

00:02:45 'The Gambler himself, Mr. Kenny Rogers'*

*So, here Coach Lasso introduces us to the specific work (song The Gambler) of an American musician (Kenny Rogers). Erm, I must admit that I googled this guy, he and his work were not popular in my country. But this song definitely have Ted Lasso vibe, maybe because of country notes which take us to Kansas - homeland of our coach 🤠.

00:04:30 'We're gonna call this drill The Exorcist, because it's all about controlling possession.'* *Only Ted could compare football strategy with the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother's attempt to rescue her through an exorcism by two Catholic priests, depicted in classic American horror movie 😬.

00:06:15 'Boy George.'* *And another one musical icon from GB. You will recognize him by his soulful voice and his androgynous appearance, large hats and bright make-up.

00:12:05 'Best concert, we got Beastie Boys.'* * Yet another legend in musical industry from America. Beastie Boys are considered very influential in both the hip hop and rock music scenes, with 7 platinum albums and over the top sales in rap genre.

00:12:09 'Actually, did y'all get the O.J. trial over here?'* *And another one football related topic: the case against O. J. Simpson, a former National Football League (NFL) player, broadcaster and actor, acquitted for the murders of his ex-wife and her friend. However, Ted somehow randomly mentions this case in a conversation with Rebecca and Higgins.

00:14:10 'And if we were the Rolling Stones...'* *I must say it's some musical episode! Jamie's comparison of himself to Mick Jagger and Roy to Keith Richards is just gold, but partly accurate! The Rolling Stones - british rock band with over six decades history. Jagger and Richards are the same age, but yeah former one is a front man and latter is like in background, just like our fellas on football pitch.

00:15:19 'Ernie Lounds, The Sun'* * The Sun is bright example of fake media. Among brits it's known for spreading lies about various topics: government, celebrities etc. And football related fact: 'In Liverpool they hate the Sun because of the Hillsborough disaster. Liverpool is a great City proud of their football team. The Hillsborough disaster involved the horrible death of many football fans. The cause was bad policing and the collapse of a terrace at a football match. The Sun blamed the Liverpool fans and spoke all of the dead'

00:16:56 '... the best barbecue sauce in Kansas City.'* * Oh man, Americans and their love for all things barbecue! BBQ is just like national sport for them, witch will be not fully experienced without good BBQ sauce. Ted's favorite:

00:25:05 'Little Phife Dawg and Q-Tip comin' at you'* *Once Phife Dawg and Q-Tip, were members of the music group - A Tribe Called Quest, which split up because of creative tensions between former and latter, who were both vying for greater control of the group's direction. And I personally think that this life story greatly illustrate the current situation in FC Richmond.