#what if i just launch regardless idk

[ghostlypawn]

black mirror going from casting relatively unknown british actors to renowned hollywood stars is one of my villian origin stories btw

[wp100]

finally picked up pokemon shield after months of not playing it and i really enjoy it this time

think i was just not into pokemon at the time, when i was first playing it and trying to get into it. it's not that bad, really. not the BEST pokemon game, but it's alright for what it is

[elusianknight]

it was bc astarion and durge had the same writer for a period of time, potentially also affected by the fact that a lot of the production was done at the mocap studio Neil runs, so his availability is probably far more flexible than others (who have day jobs outside of acting/production/etc). neil also directed a lot of mocap, and did mocap for characters other than Astarion as well, including many monsters, all character creation animations (origins, etc).

it is a bit annoying how much content astarion gets with dark urge compared to literally every other companion. like yeah, i get budget/time constraints, but it's so obvious that astarion was larian's darling and while it's not exactly unwarranted (astarion is a great character, he's easily one of my favourite companions!) it's kind of sickening that astarion gets a whole conversation to talk you out of breaking up with him, reassuring the dark urge that they're not a monster and they're worthy of his love, whereas lae'zel and shadowheart are kinda just like "oh [default sad expression] okay"

to not even make the slightest mention of how wyll in particular was treated with regards to larian's writing (which again, i get — his rewrite was a slapdash addition to the game because he wasn't very popular in early access)

[jinxedjackie]

Promoted from being the aunt she wants to kill to the step dad who’s going to be her support system (kinda)

This is how I imagine their dynamics is going to be in season two. I think Sevika will be repulsed by Jinx at first, especially when she finds out Jinx killed Silco, but she eventually yields when she learns about the rocket launch, the council being blown up, and what this could mean for Zaun (but I think it’s only when Piltover starts a manhunt for Jinx).

I read a tweet about how they will parallel with Ambessa and Caitlyn, and I think their relationship will also parallel with Silco and Jinx’s. Anyone would argue that Sevika probably just sees Jinx as another opportunity for the cause and just another clog in the machine, but I think she’ll learn to empathize with Jinx and would actually be the mentor that Jinx needs. She saw how Jinx grew from being a little girl who lost her family to Silco’s weapon of mass destruction to now becoming a symbol of their people but Jinx is still only a kid, yk? (Kind of a head canon but) she sees herself in Jinx and understands how tiring it is to be someone they wish they weren’t. She’s honed herself to become a weapon, too. To protect herself and others.

Also, adding this screen capture bc I’ve always believed that she cares for Jinx regardless of what’s happened between them.

I wish I could elaborate on this topic more but English isn’t my first language and Idk how to articulate stuff. 🤠

[monstermoviedean]

hey im so sorry to just pop in here but i have been LIVING for your s14 takes!!! the precise way you've been deconstructing sam's treatment of dean and how that arc in general leaves dean's feelings and needs so deeply unaddressed is so important to me. i guess i just wanted to talk about one thing that really devastates me in 14.12. twice sam is like let me talk about, in detail, what being in the ma'lak box will be like.

first he says, "We know we could die, uh, doing what we do. It’s always a possibility. But what you’re talking about is far worse than death. Michael’s an archangel. He could literally keep you buried in a coffin, alive, forever." and then later, talking about Donatello (but clearly meaning it's also about Dean), he says, "Trapped. Trapped in his own body, somewhere between life and death. It’s just tough to think about somebody going through that."

and both times he says this as though dean hasn't thought about that? or like as though he can scare him into not going through with it? Dean pushes back both times at first saying he never said he wasn't scared. and the second time, after Dean says not to think about it and Sam says that's easy for Dean to say, Dean says it's NOT!!!

idk those parts just crush me so much. cause of course dean is terrified out of his mind at this choice he feels like he has to make. of course the psychological weight is pounding down on him. and yet sam just keeps prodding at that fear and those feelings as though... somehow dean isn't feeling them??? or he can scare dean out of doing the right thing????

sorry to just yap at u but im just so excited to see people talking about these eps this way!!!

no apology necessary!!! omg i love asks like this. thank you!!! and thank you for being so so kind :') (also i love your spreadsheet so so so much thank you for that too!)

i'm glad i'm not too far off the mark with season 14. i think part of it is that i am approaching it for the first time, for better or worse. it's interesting because i have the basic summary that i've picked up from tumblr in my head, and i keep noticing what events i don't really see people talk about. they feel to me like missing puzzle pieces slotting into place to form my understanding. knowing how s14 ends...i can see how we're getting there. i can see how dean is getting there. (i'm not going to make a judgment on dean's behavior until i actually see it, but i see what looks like a breadcrumb trail!)

the first bit of dialogue you cite - i can't get over the fact that this is the sequence of events: dean has a nightmare -> sam asks if he wants to talk about it -> dean says no -> sam keeps talking anyway. it's not just that he launches into horrifying detail, it's that he does it after dean has very clearly said he doesn't want to talk about it.

and the bit about donatello happens because dean reaches out! dean extends an olive branch and asks if sam is alright, and sam uses that opportunity to make this pointed comment about how hard it is for sam to think about that happening to somebody. again, dean has said he doesn't want to be talked out of this. he wants to be allowed to talk about it on his terms (ie, his "deathbed apology" to sam), but sam shuts that shit right down. if sam wants to talk, sam is going to talk, regardless of what dean wants.

and that is what i find so frustrating. that sam is prioritizing his own wants and needs, that he will do and say whatever he wants, regardless of the effects on dean. and the implications of this are deeply troubling to me. because like you said: is sam saying all this because he thinks dean is too stupid to understand what he's getting into? does sam think dean hasn't thought this through? sam thinks it's easy for dean to not think (this is the "easy for you to say" / "no, it's not actually" exchange).

maybe sam doesn't think dean is stupid. maybe he thinks dean is fully aware of the ramifications and is just so "self-destructive" that he doesn't care. okay, fair. but how is it going to help at all to try to guilt him into caring? like you said, to scare him out of doing the right thing?

i understand sam's coming from a place of care and he doesn't want dean to die - very reasonable! but the way he is expressing his care is by bombarding dean with things that are designed to make dean feel fear, guilt, and shame. fear of what michael will do to him, guilt over "leaving" sam, shame over "giving up" and doing things the "wrong" way. he doesn't give him one affirmative reason to abandon the plan - he's not saying dean is strong enough to beat michael, or dean is good and doesn't deserve an eternity of torture, or dean is making a difficult but right choice and his sacrifice is honorable. it's all about how bad this is will be.

and then sam takes it a step further and makes it about dean not believing in sam enough. if dean does this, it's because he doesn't think sam can save him. if dean doesn't think sam can save him, it cannot be because they're up against impossible odds, it must be because dean doesn't believe sam is strong or smart or dependable enough to save him. that is a monumental leap, in my opinion. and in a bass-ackwards kind of way, sam is taking responsibility here. he's suggesting that if dean does this, it's sam's fault for not coming up with another plan. it's self-centered in a very weird way. it's almost like sam thinks dean can't be trusted to make his own choices, and sam has to make those choices for him, and if dean tries to make choices it's because sam has failed. (not 100% solid on this, gotta think about it some more. but it's weird right?)

i do believe that sam is doing all this because of the enormity of his feelings. he is afraid of dean giving himself up like this and afraid he won't be able to survive without dean. he feels guilty for not "saving" dean. i can have some sympathy for sam having a very very bad time. but he's taking it out on dean. it's not like he's saying to cas, "wow, i don't think dean has thought this through" or asking mary to comfort him. he is doing everything he can to make dean give up this plan, and he either does not realize that this is potentially very harmful and unfair to dean, or he does realize it and doesn't care. he keeps reminding dean of how bad it will be. he encourages dean to doubt himself. he doubles down on the guilt dean already feels for everything by emphasizing that dean is giving up, abandoning his family, etc. he creates situations where dean, who is facing down an eternity of torture, comforts sam.

that is a very fucked up thing to do. like i can't emphasize enough that it's fucked up to treat a human being like this. especially one that you care about. i said it last night but i'll say it again: i wouldn't wish this kind of treatment on anyone. i am definitely more sensitive to it because it's dean and i love him but i don't want anyone to be treated the way sam is treating dean. and i'm kind of stunned that sam gets away with it. i think it goes to show how beat down dean is at this point and how he's so crushed by the psychological weight of everything that he accepts this as if he deserves it.

[vangbelsing]

Time for my ten morbillionth vent post for Veilguard. Or more accurately, me bellyaching about my very specific nitpicks that most other people will not have. Not really gonna include spoilers, but I'll add a cut since I'm certain not everyone is keen to read yet another complaint post for this game. So if you're not interested in reading a huge vent post about Rook, go ahead and skip this.

I have to say, for as much as I like the game, I think all of my pre launch anxieties were well founded. Rook is actually everything I assumed they would be, and I do not mean that as a compliment. And no, I'm not upset that pre launch headcanons are largely not applicable to Rook, but I do think that Rook is several steps back from the Inquisitor. I've always maintained that Inky was one of the best rpg protagonists in any of the games I've played, and this has just solidified it.

Inky was perfect to me. They couldn't be evil, but you had so many opportunities to flesh out who they are, what they believe, their personality and what their life was like before. And despite Veilguard having a wider variety of options for customizing your characters background, it actually feels more rigid than DAI. Not only does Rook feel less like my character in terms of their personality, a lot of their background, regardless of what you picked, feels more set.

I also have a huge beef with how Rook is treated. Where the Inquisitor was age ambiguous and could ultimately be played as pretty much any age you wanted, with only a handful of places where it could be argued to that the dialogue might come off as immersion breaking, Rook is treated like they're fresh out of college at oldest, constantly being called "kid" or having characters bring up their youth. Not only does it feel restrictive in terms of character building, I'm personally just legitimately sick of being forced to play 20 somethings for every single game. My characters age should be a choice, or ideally, not brought up at all. What is the point in letting me customize my character to look older or mature if you're just going to practically ruffle their hair and call them a silly scamp no matter what I do?

(And yes, before anyone brings it up, I'm painfully aware that DAO and DA2 are actually guilty of this as well. DAO being the even worse example, considering you can not only make your character look 87 while having an older brother look younger than you are or a cousin of similar age look like your grandchild, but every one of your family members, no matter your origin, is always white, even if you are not. So literally every DA game has handled that better than Origins.)

I feel like, in some ways, BioWare knows their player base too well, and that's both good and bad. I think they know their players will ultimately ignore things and rewrite/headcanon things for themselves, and I think that will often lead to them deciding something isn't worth investing in since the fans will just do the work themselves. And I don't want that to come off as vitriol towards the team or an undermining of the effort that went into this game. I know it was hell, and I know that time, budgeting and other things had an impact on what the team was able to do, but I feel like deciding to make Rook some young 20 year old that apparently is oblivious by default wasn't so much an accident caused by development problems so much as it was a choice. You should be able to play your Rook that way, certainly, but in an rpg about choice, shouldn't you be able to... Idk, roleplay and choose??

I'm just disappointed because I thought the Inquisitor was almost perfect, and Rook feels like a massive downgrade. In a game for which one of the core pillars was lauded as "be who you want to be," it's just a bit of a letdown that I'm less able to be who I want to be than in any DA game before, except for maybe DA2. And it's doubly upsetting, because in some areas, Veilguard is actually so good about roleplay. Getting to choose your characters identity, getting to decide whether Rook is a virgin or if they have experience, etc. Smaller things like that feel so personal, but they're so few compared to the parts that feel like my choices for who Rook is aren't meaningful.

I just don't think I should have to shake my head and go "nuh uh" every time my Rook speaks in order to build a character that I find enjoyable to play. And I say all of this as someone who genuinely enjoys this game. The game has its issues, but I truly do find it such an enjoyable experience. Except for Rook. My Rook in my mind is so different from how I can make them due to how limited the rp is, and that's never been the case for a Dragon Age game before.

That's it, that's the post. If you got to the end, I'm SO SORRY you had to read my whining. Have a random Emmrich for your trouble 🙏

[wretchedelights]

A Spoiler-Free Guide to Dodging Marazhai's Romance Bugs

This info is based on the state of the game as of Hotfix 1.0.89. A lot of this will hopefully become irrelevant as Owlcat puts out more patches.

EDIT 10/01/2024 // 8PM ET - clarify companion quest info, correct info about post-recruitment scene, and add missing known bug info about doin the dirty for the first time

EDIT 11/01/2024 // 2PM ET - further changes to info about post-recruitment scene

I've seen a lot of people struggling to successfully romance Marazhai in Owlcat's Rogue Trader CRPG, due to Owlcat continuing their time-honored tradition of launching their games with an obscene amount of bugs.

After a lot of troubleshooting, I was able to successfully finish a sub!Marazhai romance with the "good" romance ending, and I ended up having a pretty good grasp on how the whole thing works. So I thought I'd share what I've learned to save others the trouble. This info should be good for both sub!Marazhai and dom!Marazhai.

Toybox

If you don't have it already, Toybox is highly recommended. You can get it on Nexus Mods. It will help you make sure things are progressing as expected, and fix some things if they get messed up. However, it's not necessary at this point if you're careful, the only thing you need it for is to fix some flags to get some really minor extra dialog.

If you choose to use toybox, you can see the tree + flags for the dialog you're currently in by clicking the "Dialog & NPCs" tab. You can also make flags show up directly in the dialog boxes in game with the "Preview" settings in the main tab. "Dialog Results" will show changes to flags + etudes that will happen if you choose a given dialog option. "Dialog Conditions" will show the conditions required for a dialog options to show. I kept both checked for my whole playthrough for peace of mind.

Flags/Etudes

There are some toybox flags + etudes that are important to Marazhai's romance. (flags are just values like true/false/a number, etudes are... properties set based on flags I guess? idk exactly). You can browse etudes in a tree structure in the "etudes" tab. If you need to change the value of a flag, do that in the "Search 'n Pick" tab.

Etude - Romances >> Marazhai should be flagged as "Active". If it says "Completed", something has gone wrong.

Etude - Romances >> Marazhai >> Counters >> Domination and Romances >> Marazhai >> Counters >> Submission. These determine Marazhai's attitude. If "Domination" is "Active", you get dom!Marazhai, if "Submission" is "Active", you get sub!Marazhai. You have to stick to one or the other, or Marz will be unhappy with you.

Flag - Ascention. This flag needs to be, I believe, minimum 4 by the time you get his final romance scene in Act 5 to get the "good" romance ending. It's pretty easy to get Ascention points as long as you play along with Marazhai, respect his uh... culture, and stick to your dom/sub role.

Etudes - Companions >> Marazhai >> Marazhai_States >> Domination and Companions >> Marazhai >> Marazhai_States >> Submission. You can safely ignore these, they don't actually affect the romance as far as I can tell :)

Regarding Marazhai's Companion Quest

Doing the sub!Marazhai route will lock you out of a certain outcome for Marazhai's companion quest. I don't think this is a bug, because narratively, it makes a lot of sense that this happens. However, the outcome you get locked out of could be considered the "ideal" outcome (though I also think this is debatable, and I was happy with my outcome/ending for my sub! Marazhai). You can get a good romance ending regardless of the outcome of this quest.

The flag related to Marazhai's personal quest is called TempestCounter, and you need it at 5+ for the "ideal" outcome. All TempestCounter points are based on whether Marazhai's dom or sub etude is active, outside of the points you get from the errand mentioned below. dom!Marazhai adds points, sub!Marazhai removes points. Which is why sub!Marazhai locks you out of an outcome.

Act 3 - Post Recruitment Scene

There are two versions of Marzipan's post-recruitment scene. The "Normal" version currently has a bug with dom/sub points, but you can work around it.

Normal - this is what most people see. There is an opportunity to get a dom or sub point in this dialog, but it's bugged so they're flipped. If you want your RT to be dom, pick the sub-y dialog option, and if you want your RT to be sub, pick the dom-y option.

Dogmatic party members starting drama - There's some confusion about what exactly triggers this. My recommendation to get this version of the scene: make sure you recruit Ulfar before you recruit Marazhai, and if you have Argenta and/or Heinrix with you for the Act 3 location, make sure you put them back in your party ASAP (they will get temporarily removed from it), so that they're with you for the event where you recruit Marazhai. To be safe, bring one of Argenta and/or Heinrix with you for Act 3. This dialog also has an opportunity for a dom or sub point, and is not currently bugged. ALSO it unlocks an errand that will lead to a little bit of extra dialog, and potential TempestCounter points.

Act 3 - Marazhai's Possessions

You'll get an act 3 companion quest for Marazhai where he asks you to help find some stuff he has stashed away. Eventually, you find a specific item he's very excited about. Make sure you let him keep this item. There's also an opportunity to get a dom or sub point here, but the flags are flipped again. So like last time, if you want your RT to be dom, pick the sub-y dialog, and if you want to be sub, pick the dom-y dialog.

Congratulations, this is the last flipped dom/sub flag situation you need to worry about! (at least, I'm not aware of any others)

***Also MILD SPOILER WARNING due to flag name***

I guess this is really only a spoiler if you're familiar with 40k lore but... anyways... This scene should probably start etude MarTookAgonizer, and should also probably start either PlayerTriedAgonizer or PlayerTriedAgonizerOnMar (depending on what you did). Start the appriate etudes manually for some fun little bits of bonus dialog later :)

***END SPOILER***

Act 4 - First Void Jump With Marz

In act 4, during you first void jump with Marazhai, he'll cause... problems. You'll ultimately have 3 ways to deal with this:

Let him do whatever tf he wants. Sets Companions >> Marazhai >> Marazhai_States >> Domination to active. Currently bugged, prevents completing the quest associated with this event and prevents romance progression.

Compromise? Sets Companions >> Marazhai >> Marazhai_States >> Sybarite to active. Confirmed to work for both dom!Marazhai and sub!Marazhai romance paths

Lock him up. Sets Companions >> Marazhai >> Marazhai_States >> submission to active. Immediately breaks the romance. Used to work with romance, but according to patch notes was causing Big Bugs so it just ends the romance now. It should get restored in a future patch, but for now, DO NOT PICK THIS.

Act 4 - Sleeping with Marz the First Time

There is a known bug where after you sleep with Marazhai for the first time after going for a "walk", you get dom!Marazhai flavoured dialog no matter what. The sub!Marazhai flavoured dialog for this doesn't even seem to be in the game. So... nothing you can do about it, but it won't break your romance. It will just seem a bit off if you've been doing the sub!Marazhai route.

Side Content - Equipping Super Cursed Item

This doesn't affect the actual romance in any way, but it's a bug you can experience if you have an active romance with Marazhai. There's a side planet where you can loot a SUPER cursed item, that warns you that you won't be able to take if off if you equip it. If you try to equip it anyway with romanced Marazhai in the party, you'll get a special interaction with him over it. Unfortunately, it's bugged, and as a result the item will be stuck on your character but with providing any benefits, so it effectively just removes one of your equipment slots, which is super annoying. Do recommend saving and then trying to equip the item just to see the scene though :)

Companion Quest Journal Bugs

You may notice Marazhai's optional Act 3 errand and his Act 4 companion quest not getting removed from the quest log. Don't stress it - if you've done what's required by them, you're good. The quest/errand is done, the journal entry is just stuck because it's bugged.

End

Aaaand that's pretty much it! There used to be a few other bugs affecting Marazhai's romance but they've since been patched. Now it's mostly a few issues early on, and then smooth sailing once you get past those.

General, non-bug-related tips for succesfful romance:

Don't be a coward, Marazhai respects wholeheartedly embracing Drukhari culture and will break things off if you don't

Stick to your established dom or sub role

Play along with Marazhai's shenanigans

Keep in mind that you really can't be a good person while completing this romance path

If you have any questions or need clarification on anything don't be afraid to ask! I'll do my best to help.

[atopvisenyashill]

didn't want to add this to the mmd post because it's kind of off-topic, but it has always struck me that the story the boy in meereen tells ALSO echoes robert's rebellion. the slaves rose up and killed the boy's father and brother, raped and killed his mother, one of them is still living in his father's house, and one is even fighting for dany now. it sounds very much like dany seething about "the usurper and his dogs." the westerosi rose up and killed dany's father and brother, raped and killed her sister-in-law, one of them is still living in dany's father's house, and the man who killed her father even directly serves the king. but dany issued a blanket pardon for all of that—not unlike robert dismissing tywin's actions toward elia and her children. she's no different from robert and she doesn't even seen it.

wait okay this is on the topic of what i wanted to rant about lemme paste that here-

the “you’re doing a slavery apologism” thing is very annoying because certainly i think it’s possible to get really bogged down in or even disingenuously frame a group of people violently reacting to or overthrowing a despot as being inherently bad and unnecessary. but it is incredibly obnoxious how much people default to the “you’re doing slavery apologism” when it’s like. well. but you see. dany sacks the city. and the thing is. the whole mirri chain of events is started because dany is clearly triggered by the raping happening when drogo sacks the lhazareen village. she interferes because, even though she can’t admit drogo is a bad man, she understands on some level that he raped her and that these men are raping these women right now, and technically in her name. she can’t live with it. she knows what the brutality of a sack looks like because her trauma response to the brutality of a sack caused arguably thee most important moments of her life.

“well but she was stopping innocent people from being raped, in meereen she’s sacking slavers.” correct! she was on the other side last time. her side were the slavers doing the sacking. the great masters. and she was still so horrified by what they were doing she tried to stop it. so if she can recognize that some things morally cross a line regardless of intent despite the position she was in. surely. there had to have been at least a handful of abolitionists in meereen, no? but she’ll never know because she sacked the city despite knowing how unhelpfully violent of a way it is of taking a city & having access to an army that purportedly won’t commit particularly heinous acts she explicitly tells them not to commit in the unsullied.

and like yeah, the thing is that, like, idk it is very silly to say that a rebellion is justified bc like, morally speaking i think robb has a right to be like “joffrey can kiss my ass actually” but he very much lets the situation escalate into a war because like, he wants to be the hero, the young wolf in battle and not another king who knelt, and he gets to say that joffrey can suck a fat one bc he was a born a lord and well if he gets the dudes who also killed mycah or jory, that’s nice and all but no one’s asking mycah’s parents or beth cassell what THEY want done with their relatives’ murderers are they.

COMMA BUT. even the smallfolk were sick of aerys lol like that man was out and out burning randos alive there’s a REASON why robert was able to hide through the battle of the bells, there’s a reason why he manages to launch really the only successful rebellion in the last 300 years, and it’s bc he was up against a guy that just SUCKED. it doesn’t really get more justified than robert’s rebellion lmao like a lot of them are left in a situation thag is very much “well what else are we supposed to do here” because aerys is straight up saying “hand me more people to torture to death” and random sex workers in the crownlands were going “actually you can kiss my ass.”

COMMA BUT. Not only were Elia, Rhaenys, and Aegon (and I would argue Rhaella, Viserys, and Dany) just really obviously and objectively not aligned with Aerys or even RHAEGAR for that matter, Robert doesn’t even do like a half assed “well let me execute amory lorch for it and we’ll call it even” type thing, he straight up…….pardons everyone for crimes they did during the sack.

it’s obviously not a perfect metaphor and there are some contextual differences. the lannister army aren’t an army of newly freed slaves getting the slaves in the city to join their uprising against the freedmen. but a) we’re back to ‘dany has an army that won’t rape or kill anyone she tells them not to at her disposal’ that she could have used to make sure taking the city doesn’t spiral out of control and she purposefully doesn’t use them in that way and b) well well well we’re back to khal drogo sacking the lhazareen village aren’t we.

she was that boy. and she chose to kill the slave. i’m not saying this inherently dooms her. i think it’s really important to point out characters like arianne, asha, & theon, who do stuff that are a) goofily violent that get innocent people harmed and b) a part of their culture that they just kind of uncritically emulate without doing any sort of introspection into how they would react and have reacted while in a position of powerlessness. it’s in fact a very important part of the story of basically everyone, from jaime saying he’d rather be dead than a cripple to asha fleeing a forced marriage only to run smack dab into a shieldmaiden from bear island (a place she may very well have uncritically and stupidly attacked herself!) to force asha to face the fact that this culture she’s fighting for, even with her more forward thinking ways, has some pretty fucked up foundations. but i think this is all obviously calling into question what exactly is motivating dany and whether dany is the right person to be doing any of this!

[bridgertonopinions]

PR Anon - Part 2 (last post from me because i should really unplug and enjoy my vacation lol. I appreciate everyone being interested in my opinion, i do enjoy my job and human behavior. For context, I work in corporate PR, mainly male executives. I'll say this, regardless of industry, men are men. sometimes...) Here is my personal thoughts about LN. I think he's a good actor and handsome, none of what i'm about to say is to hate on him at all. I'm thinking of him in context as if he was my client/a male actor on a hit show. 1. LN was/is underprepared for what he needed to do to really take this opportunity to the next level for his personal career. Idk if it's because he expected things to just happen, didn't pay attention to his team or is just choosing to ignore advice; but he's fumbling the bag. I truly understand that he can be overwhelmed by it all, but you have a team you can lean on and utilize. He may be 31, but I think he lacks some maturity that's coming into play. 2. The Canada interview was at least the second time LN has mentioned that he's learning from NC because she's had previous success with Derry Girls. He needs to stop with that narrative because i have a feeling it's going to bite him in the butt. I think it's an immature way of thinking because LN was on a Disney Show (Disney training/media/etc for their actors is no joke) plus he was in a boy band. They may have not amounted to the same amount of hype/success as Derry Girls, but it's nothing to scoff at and he should be building upon those things as well. This feels like he's using it as an excuse for the way he's handling things.... 3. Social media is critical to the success of actors these days. The industry wants a ROI on their investments. So much of the $$ actors make these days will come from brand sponsorships/marketing and right now, his social media scoring is not great for someone on a highly promoted show compared to NC. (yes, marketers will compare bc as of right now, they are tied together) 4. Idk what type of actor he's looking to be (artistic vs commercial) but either way, he's going to struggle if he doesn't make some changes IMO. If he wants to do artsy films that get critical acclaim, they don't pay well and he'll need to supplement income via brand sponsorships etc. Hence the issue with #2. If he wants to do commercial things, he'll need to get onboard with media training for studios to consider him. I said it in a previous post, the marketing money into season is insane, it's being noticed by the industry. 5. Lastly, I think he's in a real pickle at the moment. NC is very beloved; she's getting critical, commercial and public love. If he does launch his relationship with A (who knows, don't care) the internet is not forgiving and the same shitstorm from last week will come up over and over again. If he says nothing, then he needs to be aware of how he's perceived by the general public in all the upcoming promo. He was a bit standoffish (IMO!) on the Canada show (crossed arms, distance between themselves, deflection in answers). People have noticed and there is chatter already about it online. He needs to warm it up to smooth out the "landing" of this promo season. I really do wish LN success and want to see him really grow into his own. I wish both NC and LN a ton of success in the near future. If anything, this has been a really interesting case study for those of us in the PR industry and maybe for those of you who are interested in how the PR industry thinks of things. It's not an easy job, lots of consider with human behavior and free will of your client.

I’m not sure I am buying into this but thank you for sharing!

[idollandhero]

I think in a year we'll look back at our time with Idol Land and think of it like a weird dream. A time when there wasn't a Pretty Series show announced and everything was in limbo. A time where King of Prism was a dead franchise. A time when songs were performed at Pretty Series live shows that wouldn't premier in the anime for years. The game teaser in every single Pretty Series announcement only for it to be delayed again. The YEARS long gap between episodes 2 and 3. The DISASTROUS launch. When we realized it was just a reskinned version of the switch game. Or when we discovered that it was mostly made by some unrelated dev who had only made one failed mobile otome game before Idol Land.

The Pretty Series' pivot to focusing on AiPri & KinPri instead of Idol Land & DanPri makes the past few years of Idol Land content, and the past less than a year of Idol Land actually being out, feel like an illusion.

It's frustrating because the concept of a PriPara mobile game sounds fantastic! When I play games like SIF2 or Idolish7 or whatever I think about what could have been. Was it money problems? or time problems? Or some combination of both. Regardless I can't help but yearn for a game with a budget that this franchise deserves.

And the web anime was great! But only 12 episodes, and its own budget problems, plus the games delay keeping it finished and in limbo for 2 years! (+ the lack of any western fansubs picking it up, seriously how is do we still only have subs for up to episode 6) meant that it never got the place in the spotlight it deserved. Some people speculated that it was meant to air on TV because the episodes are formatted as such, but with AiPri starting in that slot the same month the show is ending that doesn't seem to be true.

It's hard to say where PriPara is going from here. It's the series 10th anniversary and the arcade game is being shuttered to push players towards AiPri Verse instead. Idol Land's anime finale is going to air to little applause because it's stuck on an app with less than 20,000 active users, and in the same month as the launch of the new series that's slated to be a real PreCure competitor.

Idol Land's EOS hasn't been announced yet, but the missing Nino birthday coord, the April monthly update with entirely rerun coords, and the fact that Idol Land is getting very VERY close to running out of content from the switch game. Well, if not EOS I expect this game to go into maintenance mode pretty soon.

Yeah idk what my point here was exactly, but man Idol Land really was a blur. Sometimes I think we understate exactly how inexperienced the devs really were. The game doesn't have any type of Google Play integration, and when the game launched the account recovery only lasted 15 minutes. I have a newer phone and the game isn't compatible with my hole punch front camera. There's just a black bar there. I only have this problem with older games, anything made in the last 4 years doesn't have this problem except for Idol Land. I honestly think the lack of region locking is because the dev doesn't know how to turn it on. Someone on discord reported that they've been buying gold, and then contacting Google and asking for a Play Store refund. It's worked multiple times and they are not banned. How is a ban for chargebacks not something they implemented day one. Also this game doesn't have any deals or discounts, ever. It's hard to believe that, like every game I've ever played has a buy two and get 50% off the second one bundle. But it's like the devs don't know how to implement anything past basic gacha mechanics. I could also ramble about how expensive the prices are, but I've done it before I won't do it again. Also the photo room, it's implemented pretty badly. You upload a photo for the background and it crops it weird and squishes it and makes it blurry. I didn't know this at launch because it was a paid feature for like six months. The pass itself was a horrible value unless you were buying it specifically to get the episodes early, you got exactly how the amount of gold you paid for. Why not just buy the gold then. But they either realized that, or were preparing for end of service; because they took it down. I'm rambling about things the devs messed up but I haven't even mentioned the first three months of the game. There's been so many points in this game's history where playing a promise was borderline impossible for one reason or another. This game didn't feel finished until that November update that included immediate promises. God there's so much more. The photo competitions just being about editing for some reason. Also they went away, so clearly those didn't work. The amount of coords they've implemented that were broken in some way. Sometimes it was the wrong coord entirely, sometimes the cylume didn't work. It's like the dev team is so small that there's no QA people. Also on that note, Open Dream Land was just fixed in the mid March update. The game went more than 6 months where one of its two unique charts was off sync. Also remember the voice bug, that lasted forever.

I'm sorry I just started rambling lmao. This is the problem when I write posts with speech to text, I say way too much. Ultimately I enjoyed my time with Idol Land, but it's existence feels surreal. Especially because 80% of the features from this game I can turn on my switch after end of service and play, and it's free because I already paid once and never have to pay again. I even have Waku Waku O'Clock on Switch. One day, probably soon from the way things are going, I'm going to wake up and not be able to play Idol Land on my phone ever again. But instead of reminiscing of this game, I will think about the game that could have been if Idol Land got as much love as Prism Rush did.

KASHIKOMA ✌️

[jungkookslipring]

thank you so much for voting! Here’s a sneak peak (aka the t-word scene of my intro chapter to my long form fic)

this can also be read as a stand alone!✨

idk how to introduce this please don’t @ me lmfao😂😂😂

Lee! Minho

Ler! Y/n

relationship: platonic

genre: fluff/tword (for this chapter)

AU or non AU: Non idol au

When you decided you had enough screen time for one day, you packed up your backpack and headed back to the apartments. When you walked in, Minho, Hyunjin, Felix, and Jeongin were all in the living room; it was chaotic. Jeongin was on the ground laughing as Minho straddled him, attacking his neck, while Felix and Hyunjin were on the couch smiling at the two. This was nothing new, tickle attacks were far too common for your friend group. When you came around the corner they all looked up at you with a smile. 

“Hi y/n!” Minho greeted without stopping his attack on Jeongin.

“Save mehehehehe!” Jeongin screeched as Minho’s hands dove into the poor boy's tummy. You grinned as you dropped your bag and ran over to the pair on the floor. You ran up behind Minho and started squeezing his sides. Minho yelped and launched himself off of Jeongin, falling onto his back. He tried pushing your hands away, but your hands were too quick, and he was growing weaker by the second.

“You traihaihaitor” he laughed out as you continued your attack. 

“Alexa, play traitor by Olivia Rodrigo,” Felix said sarcastically, laughing his ass off when the speaker started blasting said song.

“Be nice to our kids!” You jokingly scold the second you start digging in his ribs. His sweet laugh filled the room.

“HYUNJIN-AHAHAHA LIXIE HELP MEHEHE” Minho squealed while you effectively moved your fingers up and down his ribs.

“I’m not getting involved in that! She’ll come after me!” He chuckled with Felix snuggled into his side. 

“Then join the dark side and come hold his arms down!” You offer with a smirk. Hyunjin cringed.

“But Minho Hyung’s revenge tickles are 10x worse!” He said, shivering at the memories.

“He’ll get revenge on you regardless,” Jeongin said matter-of-factly. While everyone was having a debate on basically ‘you’re damned if you do and you're damned if you don’t’, Minho has been filling the room with his adorable laughter.

“Y/N I GIHIHIHIVE” Minho begged after you spent a good few minutes attacking his underarms.

“Fine, just don’t go after my kids!” You laughed as you got off of him. 

“How was school?” Minho asked after you helped him sit up. You leaned against the couch. 

“Not bad, I think I’ve become addicted to caffeine,” you shrugged. 

“Are you already pulling all-nighters?” Felix asked.

“Yeah, but it’s just a lot of reading, case studies specifically,” you said, grabbing a pillow and holding it in your lap. 

“Have there been any that were interesting?” Hyunjin asked.

“More like unethical, these stories are heavy,” you said, cringing at some of the stories you’ve read. 

“Do you have to write any papers on these stories?” Jeongin asked. You nodded.

“Eventually I will yeah, which will require more reading and I don't know how much longer I can keep reading these old case studies. I may need therapy,” you chuckled. 

“Well if you ever need a serotonin boost you always have us,” Felix said with a smile. You walked over and pinched his cheeks. 

“Awww thanks Lixie!” you squeal as he scrunches up his nose. Jeongin laughed.

“I’m so happy it's not me this time,” he joked. Minho smirked and grabbed a hold of Jeongin’s face.

“Oh don’t act like you don’t like it,” Minho smiled as Jeongin squawked out protests. 

“Remember what I said about going after my kids!” you joked as you walked towards him with claw-like hands. Minho was quick to stand up and try to run out but you were too quick, once again on top of him while his laughs filled the room. A few hours later the rest of the guys came home. You all had dinner, talked about your day, and had a friendly yet violent Mario Kart Competition.

Can’t wait to share with you the first chapter! ✨🖤

Taglist: @felixmainacc @felixburneracc @myforevermelody143 @dunno-wut-to-do

[rickybaby]

idk what it is but the vibes are off. vcarb didn't really make that big a deal of daniel scoring points (after a penalty and despite their awful strategy) or doing well in qualifying and even he was subdued. to me that mekies statement reads as "look at how hard we all have to try for him to be as good as yuki" and a soft launch for not renewing him. of course this is just vibes but idk. off.

Well, they did have a separate graphic post for both quali and the race, they did team photos afterwards and Daniel did the debrief video for both quali and the race. I think Daniel himself would be embarrassed if they did anything more than that - the man is a race winner after all! He knows these kind of performances should be the norm for him, he’s not about to make a song and dance about 4 points, which regardless, I’m sure were personally satisfying to him.

Nothing has changed about Mekies or the team’s position about Daniel. The team has been consistent with their support for him even when the media has been going on about him getting replaced every two weeks since the Japanese Grand Prix. Mekies talking about giving Daniel the car he needs is because he knows that when Daniel has a car he’s really comfortable in, his performance ceiling is much higher than what he has been able to show so far. This speaks of the trust they have in Daniel that they would still listen to him and bring the car more towards him even when he hasn’t necessarily shown a lot on track so far this season.

[bluecrocss]

And you know what's so crazy about the PJO fans that are up in arms over the changes in the show and have been having a fit over the castings?

ATLA is my favorite show in the entire world. It was my favorite as a kid and still my favorite now as an adult. I have re-watched that show start to finish, more than anything in my life and it's probably the one subject I am most knowledgeable about.

When they announced the live-action I had initially been ecstatic, but as I read more about the direction Netflix was taking it, learning the og creators left the project, and a few casting choices I didn't love, I realized it wasn't for me...

So you know what I did? I just didn't watch it.

I have not concerned myself with the live-action since. I don't stay up at night wishing the worst for the show, I don't hate watch it, I'm not in the comment sections of the cast members I didn't agree with harassing actors that simply auditioned for a part, I'm not on fan pages and fan posts for the show, lamenting all the things I don't like. I don't even interact with the live action fandom.

And it's not out of anger or spite, just pure indifference.

The existence of the live action, doesn't take away from the og show I watched. It hasn't burned it out of existence. I can still re-watch it and get exactly what I want out of it anytime I want.

The existence of the live-action fandom doesn't keep me up at night. Why would it bother me that there are people who enjoy the live action, when I don't? Why would I wish for the cancellation of a show that they enjoy? What difference would not making the rest of the seasons of the live action have towards my life?

Also for the cast, regardless of how I feel about the performances or which castings I liked, and which I didn't... all I can see is a whole host of young actors of color, getting a shot at roles that wouldn't have existed for them like 10 years ago. How can I look at that and be angry? over a fictional story?

Idk man... fandom spaces have been getting progressively more vile and toxic as of late (and this is coming from a fandom veteran). Whatever happened to the concept of "scroll if you don't like"?

It's like people feel this entitlement that every piece of media correlated to something that you liked as a kid, has to cater to YOU specifically (don't even get me started on the Star Wars fandom).

With the PJO show, it's already clear it won't be a 1:1 adaptation from the books, the casting won't follow the physical descriptions of the books... if that's too far for you, don't watch it. Why are you determined to torture yourself, and bring the people who actually did enjoy the adaptation and it's changes down with you?

As someone who read the books and loved them as a kid, and watched the adaptation and also enjoyed it for what it was (Not that I think the first season was flawless. And there are definitely somethings they need to fix going forwards), I just don't understand this behavior.

I've tried to empathize with the people that are still harassing the child actors, and making hour long videos on every detail that wasn't 100% book accurate, and launching think pieces on how Rick Riordan is now the devil incarnate apparently and I just think back to my relationship with the ATLA live action, and I wouldn't even have the energy or desire to do any of that shit. Like, what is driving y'all?

Also, I'm not gonna go into my rant about the new streaming format of 8 episodes, every 1-2 years and the effect that is having on the quality of the shows we are getting, cuz we'll be here all day, but something I have noticed is that shows aren't allowed to have bad seasons anymore.

Like, people will hype up a show before it comes out and if season 1 isn't perfect, they'll start praying for it's cancellation and claiming it's unsalvageable. That's not how showrunning works. Y'all realize if that was how they did things in the past, we wouldn't have shows like: the office, parks and rec, the simpsons, Star trek tng, etc.

Rather than review-bombing a show because the first season has flaws and pushing the networks/streaming platforms to cancel it, how about we encourage shows with good foundations so we don't miss out on the gems they can become in the future?

[pocketgalaxies]

miss ma'am would you like to expand some thoughts on all of the imodna stuff from this past ep? i always love your takes on them :)

hello yes!!

ok starting with imogen. i can't believe it's basically canon that girl's been kinda in love with laudna for so long. like i knew it but i didn't Know it and now i Know it and don't know what to Do with it except be like oh babe. i'm so happy for you for making that move. and the speed at which imogen steered the conversation to that point as soon as they were alone is so endearing, the way she was about to overflow with the need to ask that question. also marisha being like "this wasn't supposed to happen to my dead girl" and laura going "i know :( i know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯" bc sometimes the character wants what the character wants and this character wanted this so so so so so so so so bad

LAUDNA ON THE OTHER HAND.

i've seen a few other ppl say this and i certainly agree that laudna's reaction to being asked "can i kiss you" and what happened afterward is very ambiguous and i'm so curious what the Hell fuck is going on in her head now

what does it mean when someone asks if they can kiss you and you just say "ALRIGHT." like it's not an inconvenience and it wouldn't bother you so sure they can do what they want, you don't mind. it's not a "yes i want you to do that" it's a "yes i won't be upset if you do that" and those are different!! it could easily be either "i was not expecting this holy shit what do i do oh my god wait what okay wait just let her do it first and figure it out later" because laudna as we all know is romantically emotionally stunted. but also it could be "imogen wants this and what imogen wants i will give to her no matter what it is and this is an easy thing to give" which is,hmm,,,,unhealthy

and then immediately launching into like. i think i need you to be with me in order to be a good person. i think i can't separate from you without destroying myself or hating myself. and imogen going "you're not a bad person" and laudna kissing her again like she needs to Consume that in order to believe it

i'm kinda swinging between multiple interpretations of this, the first being like. laudna recognizing that imogen is showing interest and commitment to her but also coming from such a harrowing experience and needing to put that on the table first. "i don't think you realize that i'm unstable. i'm a bad person. i'm unlovable because you're the only thing keeping me from hurting everyone else." she doesn't explicitly say it but it'd be easy to see the implication of "are you sure you want this, want me?" and imogen saying with so much quiet conviction "you're not a bad person you're not a bad person" is why she kissed her again, because she needed to hear it and hearing that imogen still wants her despite her warnings makes her more confident to initiate a lil kiss or two by herself too

but there are so many other routes to take it. did she recognize that kissing is what imogen wants and therefore kissed her only as a way to say thank you for calling me a good person, almost like a reward, a purely transactional thing on laudna's part? did she not enjoy the first kiss but feel like she needed to try again to maybe convince herself to like it because imogen is so nice and wonderful and amazing that she should like it, what if not liking it makes her an even worse person? did she kiss her because she didn't know what to say in response because she didn't believe imogen's words at all and it was an easy distraction? did she just want to kiss her again so bad so she just did it?

idk maybe we're all reading way too much into this dkfjskdfjs but i think any option could be believable and i have things i like and dislike about each theory, and i love the fact that it wasn't a straightforward "omg yes please kiss me we're dating now!" bc it's so chewy and juicy and fun. if laura and marisha aren't on the next episode of 4-sided dive i MIGHT fly to LA and storm the set

anyway regardless of what's going on in laudna's head, i think it's safe to say that it's not a great sign of her general State Of Mental Health when she was kissed by her bestest bestie and STILL bor'dor and delilah were what she wanted to talk about. i think you'd have to be in a Very bad place for a reunion and a kiss with your fav person to not distract you, at least for a little bit, from talking about that stuff. how imodna's relationship changes moving forward (if at all) will be v interesting to see and i'm so so ssosososo os osos oso so os excited.

oh also before i end this post, just want to acknowledge that i'm assuming laura and marisha discussed it during the break and decided to keep it a secret from the rest of the party. i'm SURE we'll see some interesting discussions about that moving forward, both from laudna and imogen when they're alone + the rest of the party once they find out. i'm not thinking too hard about that decision, i think there are countless mundane and harmless reasons to keep it a secret for now, so i'm just gonna look forward to future eps!!

[allthedamnlove]

Hi darling, I read your story, the one where Sofia gets pregnant, and I loved it. Would you write more about them? I think I’ve already read all the ones available here, and it’s so frustrating that our beloved couple is so underrated😩😩

HELLOOO FIRST OF ALL YOU ARE SO SO SWEET THANK YOU SM FOR THE EXTREMELY KIND MESSAGE. As an amateur writer I'm floored by ant comment and it really means a lot to me that you loved it so thank youuu😊🥺🥺🥺❤️❤️😇

And I actually have the skeleton of my long fic "Aquamarine" planned. Its just that one)my lazy ass should put myself to work to write the first chapter and two) I have some stuff that are kinda important but regardless I'm not doing them also so idk what I exactly do other than sleep on my bed..

But I'm planning to write more by actually taking an hour everyday to write for aquamarine as well as one shots. And try editing fancams for rafe and sofia/drew and fiona

OH I HATEE THAT ONLY LIKE 6 PEOPLE (LITERALLY 6 PEOPLE WRITE FOR A COUPLE WITH THAT BUZZ AND CHEMISTRY). But if you want to read more fanfics I suggest you to read Brazilian rafia AUs in twt....I'm not Brazilian at all but I use Google lens to translate them (it's good translation but not finee fine but it's perfect for reading)

I love this babysitter AU, another one called zahir and there's this very famous one called inertia which has been going on from 2023, its enemies to lovers (not my cup of tea but ITS REALLY GOOD if you're into that

But yea in ao3 or tumblr it's like nothing. And I hops that in 2025 more people SEE THE LIGHT and come into the fandom and write fanfics for them.

If pates play the script rt and with drew and fionas acting skills and chemistry, obx has the potential to launch a top tier teen drama couple. I hops to god THAT THEY DONT FUCK IT UP

Againnn just wait for a week or two for me to get settled and I'll get you news about chap 1 of aquamarine

Again million flowers and kisses for being so supportive. It's because of these wonderful messages that i get really motivated to write

[astradyke]

(note: by 'hard launch', i'm thinking specifically either non-ambiguously romantic physical affection, like kissing, or explicitly stating that they are currently in a romantic relationship)

as i've said several times i am not really settled on hard launch hill but the tour is making me rethink several parts of it because like... first of all the seriously imagine it jokes i made about that being their last show actually seems like it will literally happen on their fifteenth anniversary at the concert so, disregard that.

i don't think dan and phil would hard launch in the middle of a tour, though, is the thing. i feel like if they want to like fully hard launch in some theatric way, it would have to be before or after-- and after would be some time after, since i think it's highly likely they add more tour dates sometime into terrible influence and similar thing applies. i could be wrong but i think it'd shift enough things publicly and potentially amongst fans that they wouldn't want to do it like, in the middle of something with high fan interaction.

that being said i really don't see this as being a before thing either? because if so, the clock's ticking on that info drop. they do have a lot of other secret projects they seem to be working on but i don't know if any of them are hard-launch pilled

i think it's possible that well after terrible influence, dan and phil do a doc or something that states-- with the same level of clarity as basically i'm gay, where it's not spelled out but like the word romantic is used-- that they are together. i don't really think they'd be more outright than that.

that being said, i do think they'll do a photodump on oct 19. in the past i thought one of the pictures would feature a ring but i'm not super sure?

ultimately partly why i'm not on hard launch hill is because i think it's not expressly necessary-- dan was pretty clear in basically i'm gay that their relationship was formerly romantic, and regardless of what might have changed the two of them live together, are still each other's life companions and best friends... so romantic or not they still matter to each other, significantly. and i can't really imagine they're like exes about it lmfao. but like it doesn't SEEM needed, there's this kinda connection between dan and phil and the phandom that renders is not like crucial.

but i do think they might hard launch if they (1) decide to get married (which i personally am unsure if they will anytime soon), or (2) for the sake of clearing it up Publicly but, again, not sure when they'll need to do that or what would call for it. i think it's more likely all in all that they just ramp it up before and during the tour and then in like 5 years on their 20th anniversary they're finally married etc.

honestly, honestly, the only thing i really want that might be blocked by the hard launch barrier is for them to play that fucking couple's game. i know they have it. i just think it'd be a good video.

lmk y'all's thoughts, so far i don't think i've accurately predicted a thing in this new era LMFAO so... lmk! also this is unedited so idk if this makes sense lol