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kittyprincessofcats · 4 years

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RWBY Volume 8, Episodes 8-12

All caught up with RWBY now! (Except for the premium only episode.)

So, two things first: 1. From now on, my blog will no longer be spoiler free for RWBY! I don’t have premium access, so no spoilers for that, but beyond that, I might now reblog spoilers for everything that’s been released to the public. Blacklist “#RWBY spoilers” if you don’t want to see them.

2. I was going to ask what the spoiler policy in this fandom in general is when it comes to premium access. From what I’ve seen, Youtubers usually wait a week before uploading their reaction videos, which I appreciate – but here on tumblr almost no one seems to hold back. I saw a spoiler for “Creation” before it was released publicly. The day episode 13 was released for premium access, I had to unfollow people for posting untagged spoilers for it. And when I went into a RWBY-related tag for one second, I saw a really big spoiler that put me in a very sour mood because it also happened to be very aggressively worded against fans of a certain character (basically, along the lines of “I’m glad X bad thing happened to Y character because I hate them and their fans”). So, that scared the shit out of me and I ended up looking up more specific spoilers about what exactly happened because I wouldn’t have been able to sleep otherwise. So, from what I’ve seen, this fandom’s spoiler policy is just “fuck anyone who doesn’t have premium access” 😒. Always nice to see people being so considerate.

With that said, let’s get into my thoughts on episodes 8-12. Under the cut, because unlike some people, I try to be considerate of others who might want to avoid spoilers.

- So, the Hound really was a person. Specifically, a person with silver eyes and that’s probably what happened to Summer. THANKS, I HATE IT. This is exactly what I feared it would be and what I didn’t want it to be. (I don’t want Ruby and Yang to have to fight and kill their grimm-ified mom, that’s too sad, okay?)

- I love that Whitley really came through and came up with a plan for evacuating everyone! He’s a good bean after all! And that he managed to press that button on the computer before running from the Hound? Amazing.

- Willow Schnee being one hell of a mama bear and summoning a thing to protect Whitley was epic. She was so close to breaking down before that, but then her child was in danger and she just jumped into action right away. Protective mom instincts ftw!

- Blake’s talk about how she looks up to Ruby and how she herself lost the youthful optimism Ruby still has was SO sweet! (Also, Ladybug is an underrated ship/friendship and I really don’t get why people say they never interact? Have you all just forgotten volume 1 and how Bumbleby’s first meeting happened because Yang was trying to wingman Ruby who was trying to befriend Blake??)

- Penny fighting the virus from the inside was amazing, she did so well! I also loved seeing Nora encourage her (and echo Blake’s earlier words back to her).

- Unrelated to these episodes specifically, but I tried to think about who my favourite RWBY charactes even are right now, and I find it super hard to narrow down because I love so many of them, but if I tried to somewhat narrow it down, then (in no specific order because don’t ask me to also come up with an order): all of Team RWBY (though Blake is a personal favourite), Ilia, Penny, Salem, Cinder. (But then again, I also love Winter and Qrow and Robyn and... you get it, it’s hard to narrow down. Oh, and of course Pyrrha, but... you know.)

- “Witch” was honestly my favourite episode of the bunch. That one was just so full of epic stuff. (And now I’m wondering if Salem being one of my favourite characters has anything to do with my love for witches. I used to be obsessed with witches as a kid. In every story I read that had a witch, the witch was always my favourite character.)

- Yang and her team sure found a way inside that whale fast! Also, really handy that Ren’s semblance evolved just in time for when they needed it. But hey, I don’t want to complain about convenient plot stuff too much. Sometimes the heroes are allowed to have a little bit of good luck.

- Hazel listening to Oscar and deciding to get both him AND Emerald out of there was amazing! He really does have a soft spot for kids and wasn’t kidding about not wanting more kids to die – we love to see it! I also think it makes for an interesting parallel that Hazel decided to do this right as Ironwood was sending students to fight on the front lines and Marrow was calling it out.

- I really liked Ren telling Yang she doesn’t have to hide her fear behind jokes. Ren being able to see emotions is going to bring about so many more good moments, I just know it!

- Emerald and “Hazel’s” talk with Salem gets so much better when you know “Hazel” is actually Oscar – Emerald has gotten so much better at illusions and fooled Salem herself! That’s impressive!

- It’s really practical that Ren could sense Emerald’s fear. But also, the group really didn’t have the time to discuss if Emerald was trustworthy – they needed to get out of there asap.

- The way Salem spits out the word “semblance” when she talks to Emerald shows again that she not only underestimates these “new humans” and their powers, but also considers them inferior. It’s a nice little detail how just her tone when she says that word says so much about her worldview.

- Yang straight-up running up to Salem and blowing her up was epic. It didn’t last of course, but it was still a super bold and epic move. I’ve talked before about how cool Yang is and she just keeps getting cooler.

- Yang calling Salem out was amazing and epic, too! And when she referred to Summer Rose as “my mom” that made me tear up just a bit 😢. (I really don’t like Salem’s smile when she says “her again”, though. I don’t want grimm-ified Summer, I really don’t want it, okay? keep it far away from me where I won’t have to see it.)

- I’m a bit sad about Hazel’s death, but it was a really fitting end for his character and a really cool way to go out. The way he looked at all of those kids in danger (proving again that that’s what it’s about for him), whispered “No more Gretchens” to Oscar, punched Salem in the face as she was about to hurt Emerald, injected all of those crystals into his skin (which looked epic, by the way), told Emerald to go, fought an epic fight against Salem and then grabbed her and set himself and her on fire, burning her like a witch – it was epic stuff! RIP Hazel, you died as a hero and went out in an incredibly epic way!

- Hazel’s sacrifice must have been super tough on Emerald. He died protecting her (and JOYR) and it worked. She got away from Salem, but only because someone else, a friend, died for her. Not only must it be awful for her to lose Hazel, she probably also blames herself. (And, as I’ve seen others point out, it was probably the first time in her life an adult did something to protect her. Wow. Someone get this girl therapy, please.)

- The whale getting blown up was an absolutely epic moment. From the music to the cinematography, I loved everything about it. (That said, I will miss the whale. RIP coolest villain lair ever.)

- I loved Watts’ speech to Cinder – and I’m saying this as someone who became a huge fan of Cinder this volume. I love her, but I also love roasting her, and a lot of what Watts said was stuff she desperately needed to hear. I honestly didn’t even like Watts before that moment, but that speech might have made me like him just a tiny bit. The way he just laughed when she dangled him from a building, the way he spelled it out for her that her methods haven’t been working and threw her failures in her face, the ending with calling her “a bloody migraine” – Like I said, I’m a fan of Cinder, but that was glorious and cathartic and beautiful to witness. But what makes it really perfect is Cinder’s reaction: The fact that you’d expect her to kill him or at least scream at him, but instead she spares him and just sits down and cries. I really love what they’ve been doing with Cinder this volume and that they’re finally showing her as someone way deeper than just a power-hungry villain.

- In general, let me quickly talk about Cinder, because even without having seen the last two episodes I can already tell you that she’s my standout character / favourite character of the season. (It was Ilia for Volume 5, Salem for Volume 6, Penny for Volume 7 – and now it’s Cinder.) I said back in my post about Volume 5 that I wish they’d do more with her because after becoming rather interesting in Volume 4 they just went back to making her a pretty flat villain – and I officially have to eat my words and apologize to RoosterTeeth right now! This volume proved to me that they know what they’re doing with Cinder and explained so much about her. I’m sorry for ever doubting the writing. I now want to go back and rewatch the whole show while paying more attention to Cinder and I can’t wait to see where her arc goes from here (yes, I want an eventual redemption, and what about it?). This volume is obviously setting up something big for her – I just have no idea what it is. And at the end of the day, she’s still the Maiden of Choice. She’s the key to the Beacon relic, and that’s going to become important eventually.

- Oh, and can I mention, just by the way, that I think Cinder looks amazing? I don’t understand all the people who say they miss her red outfits when this is clearly her best look yet. The black eyepatch, the cape, the earrings, the short hair, the high boots, the shorts instead of a dress, all the black – this is her absolute best look, period.

- I’ve also noticed that the scene between her and Watts is the first time Cinder has referred to Penny by name. She’s always referred to her with phrases like “some toy” or “Polendina’s creation” before, but this time she just called her “Penny Polendina”, then “Penny” again, and asked Watts how she’s supposed to take Penny’s power “if she’s dead” (not “destroyed”, which is what Watts said, but “dead” – something you say about a person, not a machine). I think somewhere down the line, Cinder has started to see Penny as a person and respect her as the Winter Maiden. Maybe it’s because of how Penny won the fight at Amity, or maybe (though this might be wishful thinking on my part) it’s because Penny questioned why Cinder serves Salem and showed her and Emerald mercy.

- Also, side-note: While I loved Watts’ speech, it sure is bold of him to call Cinder entitled when his own villain origin story is getting overlooked for a science project.

- Neo is an amazing little troll and I love her. From stealing the lamp and skipping along the ruins of the whale happily to those texts to Cinder, all of her moments were brilliant and hilarious.

- Some characters not just forgiving Emerald is totally fair and realistic. But, as I said before (and as Oscar also points out), they don’t have to. People think a “redemption” – or let’s just call it switching sides instead of using such a loaded term – has to include everyone’s forgiveness, but it doesn’t. If Yang and Jaune never want to personally forgive Emerald, that’s okay. They don’t need to forgive her to recognize that she’s changed and work with her. And, as Oscar and Ren point out, Emerald’s abilities would be very useful to have on their side. So, personal feelings are fine and all, but right now they don’t have the luxury to dismiss a potentially very useful ally. (And same for Oz, by the way. It’s fine if they’re still mad at him, but they also need his help.)

- Also, have I already said that I’m very happy for Emerald? Because I’m very happy for Emerald for getting out of there! (Mercury’s and then Cinder’s redemption next, please!)

- F*ck Harriet for trying to get Winter in trouble for letting JYR go. I’m hating her more every second. And then she seriously said “Who cares?” about Ironwood’s plan to nuke Mantle? She’s the most unlikable of them all.

- Everyone’s reunions were so sweet! I loved Ruby and Yang hugging 😭. And Yang cupping Blake’s cheek and their forehead touch had me all 🥰 🥰 🥰.

- After he threatened to nuke Mantle, I hope we can all agree that Ironwood is a straight-up villain now. The most infuriating part is that he didn’t even have to do anything! Whitley and Weiss had figured out a way to save everyone in Mantle and the SDC ships to evacuate people were already there. All Ironwood had to do was let them evacuate everyone to Atlas, and then Penny would have opened the vault willingly and Ironwood could have used the staff to raise Atlas as planned. Problem solved! He should have just sat there and ate his food – but he was so pissed about things not going his way (or maybe he just genuinely hates Mantle that much) that he thought sabotaging the rescue plan and threatening genocide was a better option.

- I loved Marrow’s arc in these episodes and how you could tell more and more that his conscience was making him turn against Ironwood. First he questioned Winter when she was going to nuke the whale before JOYR were back, then he seemed shocked when he thought they were dead, then he tried to talk sense into the other Ace Ops after Ironwood’s ultimatum, and then he straight-up called out Ironwood himself. That last one was dangerous though, and he was lucky Winter was quick enough to jump in and pretend to arrest him, because Ironwood was going to just shoot him in the back.

- Speaking of, I wonder how long Winter has been planning to double-cross Ironwood. How long was she already disagreeing with him, but waiting for the right moment to make a move? Either way, I’m glad she was there to save Marrow.

- The Renora confession scene was so sweet and got me a little choked up 😢. I’m glad they sorted out their issues and told each other how they feel. But like I said before, I think Nora’s arc of trying to find out who she is without Ren is really good and important and Ren respecting that was really good and important as well. It was just a very wholesome scene. Also, I like that we got a little bit more backstory for Nora (her mom abandoned her? that’s awful), and Jaune awkwardly leaving the room was hilarious.

- Robyn telling Qrow he’s a better Huntsman than Clover because he chose to do the right thing was a really important moment for Qrow, imo. (And just a side-note: I’m sure most Fair Game shippers are pretty chill – and I’m a strong believer in ‘ship and let ship’ – but a certain subset of them is starting to get on my nerves with how they ignore Clover’s canon character and story (acting like he would have rebelled against Ironwood if he were alive as if the whole reason he’s dead wasn’t precisely because he cared more about Ironwood’s orders than doing the right thing) and how they make every new plot point about their ship somehow (Oscar’s semblance? Better be a time-travel thing so Clover can come back. Staff of Creation? Better be able to bring people back from the dead so Clover can come back.) It’s so annoying.)

- Yang and Ruby’s talk about their mom was really intense. Ruby’s been holding all of these feelings in for so long, so seeing her say out loud what we’re all fearing (that Summer was turned into a Grimm) and seeing both her and Yang break down over it – that was a lot. I loved seeing Yang comfort Ruby and tell her that her plan for Amity wasn’t useless. Their sisterly bond is so sweet.

- Penny asking Ruby to kill her was another really intense moment. The look on Ruby’s face in that moment really said it all. Ruby has been through so much, has lost Penny before, so hearing that request – even though they fortunately didn’t have to go through with it – must have still been a lot for her.

- I really loved Emerald’s cute “newly reformed villain” moments. (“You guys have been getting your asses kicked… some of that my fault” & “I’m just going to be super pissed if you all finally decide to give up the moment I switch sides.”) I’ve said before (in my She-Ra posts) that my favourite part of any redemption arc is the “former enemies, now awkward around each other” stuff, so this was right up my alley!

- “The girl who fell through the world” was referenced twice now. Between that, the image of everyone falling in the opening, and the lyrics “sometimes it’s worth it all to risk the fall”, I’m going to predict that someone – most likely all of Team RWBY – will fall into that void and potentially end up in a different world.

- The group’s plan to defeat Ironwood, stop the bomb, and get to the vault was amazing all-around. I love the parts Emerald and Winter got to play in it, I love how we saw the plan’s execution before seeing how they came up with it and I love how everyone got to help, even the Schnees and Klein. I also love that the hole Oscar blasted through the ground of Atlas became relevant again.

- The design of the vault and the door are really nice and now I wonder what the other two are going to look like.

- Saving Penny like that was super risky, but they really were out of options. Just the fact that Ruby had to be quick enough to use her semblance and get to the staff before the virus kills Penny… jeesh, that was close.

- Ambrosius is a super fun character! I love that he looked at Penny and said “I’d love to meet whoever did this.” Also, the staff seems more useful than the lamp. The lamp only lets you ask three questions per century, while the staff can be used as often as you want – as long as you’re okay with whatever it previously created disappearing.

- I honestly still don’t completely understand what Penny is now. Is she meant to be human now? Or is she just a being made up of pure aura? How does this work? Ambrosius only created the copy that destroyed herself, so what’s left is Penny’s aura – but she somehow also has a body now? I guess we’ll find out more about what exactly this means later.

- Also, while I wasn’t sure how I feel about this decision re:Penny at first, now that I’ve thought about it for a bit, I think it works. It fits with the Pinocchio story, and I like that they didn’t phrase it as “she’s a real girl now”, but as “this is the girl who’s been in there all along”. Also, Penny saying “wow” after hugging Ruby and then going on a hugging spree was adorable.

- Watching “herself” self-terminate must have been really traumatic, though. Even if that copy was just a robot, it was still a disturbing scene.

- Who shut down communications in the middle of Jaune’s broadcast? I’m assuming it was Cinder, Watts and Neo.

- The whole dimension with the doorways that Ambrosius created looks amazing. (A while before watching this episode, I wondered if Raven could theoretically save Atlas by getting everyone to safety with her portals. It might not have been Raven, but I’m glad I was at least onto something.)

- “Do not fall.” So, about that… they’re all falling in the opening, (and we referenced “the girl who fell through the world” twice now), so I don’t have a good feeling about that. Also, Watts has been dangled from somewhere high twice now, so the third time has to be when he actually falls down.

- And Cinder is there to ruin the plan because of course she is.

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night-filled-mountain · 5 years

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Putting in a cut before I unload about a bunch of stuff going on in my life right now. See tags for content warnings. I, uh...did my best to hit them all.

Also, I don’t know what it is about the past few weeks, but a lot of people on my dash seem to be having a rough time. I just want to send out waves of strength and compassion to all of you. I really hope I can find the time and energy to send some messages at some point, and I’m sorry I’ve been super absent lately. Hopefully this laundry list of events will help explain why.

So, in the past three weeks, the following things have occurred at my workplace:

A teen came in with a stab wound. He asked me for a Band-Aid. He ended up at the hospital and is doing fine now. The men’s room, lobby, and front door looked like a murder scene. My boss and I stayed 45 minutes overtime so someone from facilities could clean up the blood.

A teen took one of the desktop computers out of the teen room, ran outside, smashed it on the ground, ran back in, grabbed another one, and ran off with that one too, all right in front of my colleagues and me.

A large group of teens started fighting in the library. Police were called, and the whole place was filled with the sounds of cops and teens screaming at each other. We went on semi-lockdown. My kids were scared to leave because they thought the cops would shoot them.

I asked two teens to sign in (which is mandatory), and they gave me a series of fake names. When I called them out on it, they threw several paper balls at me, pulled my chair out from under me, deliberately poured a drink out on the carpet, cursed me out repeatedly, and refused to leave until cops escorted them out, at which point they were still yelling “This bitch needs to mind her own business” over their shoulders.

Despite receiving legal trespass letters, they came back again. Twice. Both occasions were variations on the former scene. I began to have severe anxiety symptoms and flashbacks to some 20-year-old shit I thought I was very much over by now, and for the first time, started very, very seriously considering a change of workplace.

Cops started just...hanging out in the teen room. Constantly. They interrupted a weekly poetry program to intimidate the kids and offend the (awesome) teacher. One teen went off on them and got trespassed for two weeks.

I took one (1) weekend off so Kit, Dragon, and I could go visit Unicorn in New Jersey, kick back, watch a bunch of movies, discuss our D&D campaign, and seriously launch our apartment hunt, because We Are All Moving In Together At The End Of The Summer.

During this, my vacation weekend, the librarian who was covering for me had a horrible, ugly, semi-physical confrontation with a teen who’s been coming to the library since he was six, who I have actively watched turn from Mischievous Computer Nerd to Obviously Traumatized Nightmare Child while flailing with the fruitless desire to Do Something To Help Him. Said teen got an indefinite trespass from all library locations.

My predecessor/mentor/the coolest teen librarian on earth texted me frantically trying to find out what happened, because she saw the trespass letter and was super close with this teen back in the day. I could not tell her what happened, since I was not there.

The librarian involved in the aforementioned incident--who is an incredibly sensitive and delicate soul--seems to have gone AWOL. He was out yesterday, he was out today, he’s out tomorrow. My boss asked me to come in on this, my day off, because we are so short-staffed. I said no to overtime for the second time in my life. (The other was last week.)

I lost three of my work keys. Just...lost them. I have no idea where the hell they went. I’ve been searching home and work frantically for days, and have yet to tell my boss or any but one coworker. The anxiety of this alone has been plaguing me pretty much 24/7.

It’s that time of month, because of course it fucking is, and my endo symptoms have kicked into really high gear, because...of course they have. It’s been almost as bad as it was before I got an IUD. I’ve been getting hit with bouts of crippling abdominal/back/leg pain, waking up around 3 or 4 in the morning, kept awake for hours by this pain, falling asleep again only to have weird, restless dreams and, on one occasion, a horrific nightmare that came for all my real-life anxieties and left me ruined the next morning. My serotonin is practically down to zero. Depression and irritability are coming for me chemically on a daily basis, even apart from everything else that’s going on.

I changed my Thursday hours this week to 12-8 (they’re usually 10-6) so I could supervise a program that I was very proud of having booked. It was super popular with the teens over the summer, and I’ve been trying to bring it back for ages. I’ve been advertising it by every method available, and the kids are all excited for it. ...They just canceled on me last-minute.

My dad--the family member I am closest to by far, whom I love to distraction--called me tonight to say he’s in the hospital. He went to the ER for severe pain, jaundice, nausea, and malaise. Fortunately, it’s just gallstones...probably. But he’s having surgery tomorrow. And I’m going to be thinking about that all day long, while I work in this absolute nightmare of a teen room until 8:00 at night, with no keys, no awesome program, no physical or emotional resources left to even remotely handle any of it.

...After this list, it’s going to sound insane to add that there have also been good things that happened this month, this week, even today. There have been! Truly! I have the world’s most enviable support network of spouse and family and friends-who-are-family. I have done fun things and productive things. But dear gods, it’s been one thing after another after another after another, and tomorrow is starting to feel like some kind of crescendo for all this built-up dread. I’ve rarely made those posts that are like “Please distract me with fun asks” or “Send me cute pictures” or whatever, but, like. If you read all the way to the end of this list of pure unadulterated stress and want to offer any form of encouragement at all, I certainly won’t say no.

#personal #violence #stabbing #blood #harassment #illness #endometriosis #chronic illness #chronic pain #insomnia #nightmares #hospital #surgery #negativity #angst

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queensdivas · 5 years

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Family Christmas!

Alright Alright! Just got done watching 6 Underground and Jesus so many shorts and fics are coming. But of course after the requests and update on the great mazzello are updated. But doesn’t mean I can’t start the outline!!!

Thank you @not-john-watsons-blog for this request cause I thought it was super cute and just in time for the season!!!!!

If you’d like to request something please do so and if you want to be tagged let me know!!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday this year!!!!!

Masterlist

Taglist!

@leah-halliwell92 @mexifangorl @i-live-for-queen @its-funny-til-its-not @brianmydear @bonafiderocketqueen @filmslutt @queenwouldyourathers @jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels

The House of Christmas

By G.K. Chesterton

This world is wild as an old wives' tale,

And strange the plain things are,

The earth is enough and the air is enough

For our wonder and our war;

But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings

And our peace is put in impossible things

Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings

Round an incredible star.

To an open house in the evening

Home shall men come,

To an older place than Eden

And a taller town than Rome.

To the end of the way of the wandering star,

To the things that cannot be and that are,

To the place where God was homeless

And all men are at home.

Do I regret our elopement? No. Never in a million years do I regret our elopment in Blyth during his tour up around there. But I regret not being able to sit down to meet the rest of his family besides his mother. According to what I’ve seen in his photo albums. He’s got a bunch of aunts and uncles because his family is known for ummm. A lot misfire is exactly what I think is the right word for it. Now one of his Christmas presents I’ve unveiling tomorrow would be considered a misfire to most but to me I’m extremely excited.

Our three hour drive was coming to an end as we reached his home just right outside Leicester England for some big Christmas Eve tradition that’s been breaking since he started with Queen. Which was three years ago so not only am I meeting most of his family for the first time, and not being around for three years, we’re kind of screwed!

I rubbed my eyes a little as I sat up in the car to see John was tapping his hands on the steering wheel at the light. Gosh, it was only a three hour drive yet I felt like I’ve been asleep for about two weeks!

“Well good morning sleeping beauty.” John had his cheeky smile on as I looked over at him to then pull down the visor to make sure I didn’t look like absolute shit. We’re good!

“Sorry I fell asleep. The car was toasty and you know that listening to really jazzy Christmas piano always makes me relax.” Going into my purse to apply a fresh layer of lipstick.

“Relax Iris. You look absolutely beautiful.”

“Yeah well I’ve never had to meet a family before with us being married already so you can understand my nervousness!” Growing up in an orphanage then not being adopted can cause a little different mentality. But no sob story! It’s family time!

“Iris. They’re going to love you no matter because you’re the only women who has stuck by my side longer than most. Like c’mon you already survived a tour schedule like mine so I knew you don’t plan on making a run for the hills.”

“That you’re aware of Deaks.” Smirking at him as we turned into the driveway of the house to see a bunch more cars were all lined up. Before we even climbed out of the car he leaned over to cup my face to start leaving kisses all over my lips then trying to make his way down my neck. Going to be honest we haven’t done the deed since I found out because I’ve been getting cold feet, not sure why.

“John I don’t want to smell like sex meeting your mother.” I pried him off me with a little disappointment groan coming from him. He’ll know tonight and hopefully he’ll understand especially after the idea how I’ll be unveiling this idea. I got John pair of baby shoes, and his mother a cute onsie that says “Grandma’s spoiled angel”. Thought it would be appropriate and hopefully if things go well tonight they’ll enjoy the surprise.

We climbed out of the car as we heard the house was blasting with Christmas music, laughter, and even the sound of popping champagne bottles. What kind of parties does this family enjoy throwing for the holidays? He grabbed the box of gifts as I wrapped my scarf around my neck as we began approaching the house. Before we walked inside I stopped in front of him as I grabbed the box from him, putting it down on the ground then giving him one long kiss.

“I love you John. I know I’ve been acting a little funny these past few weeks. I promise it’s nothing you done because you couldn’t do anything. Except when you accidently dropped the coffee machine right next to my feet.”

“For the hundreth time Iris it was a complete accident!” I always remind him that because seeing him so angry just makes me giggle! I cupped his face again for a quick peck as we saw the light coming from the house.

“HEY! YOU TWO LOVEBIRDS GET IN HERE!” A women screamed as we let go of each other to then begin our journey into the world of what most people say a family hell hole. Never experienced one of these before so get ready Iris, a cultural shock is about to happen.

We walked inside the house to see everyone condensed into the living room, children running all around the place, and what looked like an old man sleeping soundly on the recliner. How is that even possible.

The whole room went dead silent as every single person looked directly at John and I with our layers of coats making us look stuffed. I gulped as I began unzipping my coat till a little girl came running down the stairs.

“UNCLE JOHN!” She screamed as she wrapped herself around his leg.

“My goodness Aurora you have grown!” He laughed as an elderly women came out of the kitchen in a minnie mouse apron. She starred down John as she came marching out of the kitchen, even the child walked away from John. Is she his mother? I’ve always been told (by Chrissy) that if a mother doesn’t approve of their chosen girlfriend then it’s game over oh my god!

She stood directly infront of John as we both looked at her in absolute fear from the fact she might pounce at us! I light wrapped hands around his arm just incase I have to use him as a human shield to protect our child. Sorry John I love you but this baby is a whole lot more important and I know you’d do the exact same thing for me.

“John. You’ve gotten much skinner.” Ya know what no! If I can carry a baby in my body for nine months then I can handle any mother come at me! Okay! Here we go!

“Mrs. Deacon. I’m Iris. I’ve heard such wonderful things about you.” Coming from behind John to hold my hand up to her ready to shake it. She looked directly into my soul as she manuvered herself infront of me with a facial expression I couldn’t even read. She gripped my hand then placed her other one ontop of it. Is his when the mother pile drives you into the floor!? Oh dear God she’s going to kick my ass!

“It’s very lovely to meet you Iris. Please come and get acquainted with everyone. And please call me mom because Mrs. Deacon makes me feel so old.” She began walking me through the living room to see everyone making room for his mother and I to sit down. Looking back at John as he just stood there with his bag of presents in complete utter shock.

“So Iris. I’ll try to quickly introduce everyone before I have to back to into the kitchen to make sure dinner isn’t burned to a crisp. Sitting on the reclriner is great grandfather Phillip. To the left of you is who you would consider your cousin Jessabell and her husband Thomas. They’ve got their children running around here somewhere by the names of Ezekiel, Nathaniel, and Esther. And then to your left is great aunt Piper and great uncle Samuel. Now their children are Booker, Sam, Tara, and then their youngest being Natalie. I’d tell you more but I have to get back into the kitchen.” Trying to remember all these names makes me feel drunk I can’t even drink a glass of wine to help me with this whole meet and greet. God is it weird I kind of need John to bring some sort of easiness at the moment.

“It’s lovely to meet you all.” I squirmed out of my coat for John to grab it and place it behind the couch. He then sat down next to me as I grabbed his hand as he began smiling and greeting the aunts and cousins.

“Wheres your family Iris?” I believe Aunt Piper asked if I remember correctly.

“I umm. Never really had a family till I met your nephew..er if that’s the right word.” They leaned forward in their chairs so eager to listen.

“Let me guess. It was one of those situations where you rebelled from your parents because of them not liking the beatles.” They laughed as my grip around John's hand went a little tighter. I know this stuff still shouldn't bother me but there’s a reason why I don’t enjoy talking about my past because I sadly don’t have one. But at the same time when I do have to meet family and they these kinds of things, I just enjoy coming directly at their necks with this line.

“Well I wouldn’t know teenage rebellion since I never had parents.” With the biggest smile on my face as they sunk back into their chairs as I believe Aurora brought us two cups of water. She climbed up on top of Johns lap.

“Are you my new Aunt?” She asked as I gave her a small nod.

“Yes. I plan on being the coolest Aunt you’ve ever had in your life!” Grabbing her from Johns lap to put her on mine. I bounced her on my legs a little as she was laughing her little head off.

“Dinner is ready!” His mother yelled from the kitchen as she darted off my lap into the kitchen. Everyone went into the kitchen as I sat on the couch with my thumbs going in small circles. I’m still extremely nervous and the fact that ham is now the main course and me being pregnant is making me nauseous. And trying to hide this from John is just the greatest idea I ever had in my existence!

“Feeling better?” Nodding as the smell of that ham slithered its way into the living room and around my nose. My stomach twisted in every possible way but I took in a deep breath to try to hold it back.

“Iris. Is there something you’re not telling

“Are you two planning on joining us or run off?” I think that was one of his uncles came into the room as we got up from the couch to walk in.

I sat down next to his mother as everyone began passing around the serving bowls of mashed potatoes, cranberry, ya know the usual Christmas meal. The rolls were placed infront of me as I grabbed one then the ham appeared before me. Oh boy. I bit the inside of my cheeks to grab one thing of meat and passed it along. Just keep it down! Crap I can’t even have wine to help with the whole stomach thing!

“So John. How’d you find Iris?” The green beans were next as I scooped some onto my plate as John swallowed his roll he had in his mouth. I think they’ll enjoy our little meet and greet story yet I somehow find it a little embarrasing still.

“I was out with the boys one night with a few of our first performances. She was at the bar with her friends and I noticed her from the stage. When we got done I started talking to her and well.” My cheeks were beginning to turn red from what was going to come next.

“This guy came up and was trying to tell me that he already had eyes on her from the other side of the bar.. She punched him in the face when he tried to take my seat.” My hnads covered my face as all the eyes landed on me in complete embarrasment. He kept trying to take his seat what was I supposed to do? Just John get pushed around? Dear God.

“You punched someone?” His great aunt asked as I slowly nodded my head. I promise I don’t believe violence isn’t the answer for everything. But he was literally going to throw John from his seat and I couldn’t just let that happen!

“Awesome!” I moved my hands away from my face to see everyone nodding and then his uncle clapping at what I did. Phew.

“So Iris. What do you do for a living?” His mother asked me as I ripped off a piece of my roll.

“I’m an art teacher at St. Gerard in Basingstoke.” I began diving into the green beans as the rest of the table began chit chatting.

“You know something Iris. It’s been quite sometime since I’ve seen John so bubbly and happy. Not sure if he’s told you that his father died when he was young, and when it happened he changed. Became a brand new person who was afraid to get too close to people. But now to see him here playing with his cousins, it’s really wonderful to see him smile. Enough about that depressing matter, you’re an art teacher?” I nodded as I leaned forward to watch John laughing with the cousin that I don’t think I’ve put a name to a face.

“Yes. At first I just wanted to be an artist for most of my life, but found teaching much more fun.”

“I used to be an artist. Maybe after dinner we can swap some sketches.” She smiled which made my heart feel all warm.

“I would love that.”

The rest of the dinner was getting to know his family, turns out John wanted to be a race car driver as a kid, had a very large interest in all kinds of flowers, and threw his cat down the stairs to see if it would land on all fours. It worked of course because that cat lived on to hate John for the rest of his life. While they were telling me this, I could tell John was completely embarrased but I still found it absolutely hilarious.

“Now John was a lovely child of course, but also extremely sassy which he got from his father more than me. I assume you know about his sassiness?” His mother turned to me as I smirked on his face.

“Of course. Our first date was to see MASH and when the ticket person asked if he needed two tickets. He straight up told him. “Oh my god you can see her? I thought she was just a figmant of my imagination.” Then did that stupid cheeky smile and the guy almost wouldn’t let us in.” John nodded as his mother chuckled a little as I finished the last of my Christmas pudding on my plate.

“Alright I say it’s time for presents!”

We sat down in the living room where himself and his mother sat down with me on the couch as everyone grabbed their gifts. They all began putting their gifts in the middle of the room but no name much be attached, consider it a secret santa yet John and I had no idea. That tends to happen when you’re busy with music and being a primary school teacher. None the less were about to be a very busy family.

The little girl began passing out presents to everyone as she was eager to open hers and even everyone elses. She placed Johns in his lap as he was eager to open his since his curiosity was going absolutely wild. I was given a small box that even got me a little curious as well because truth be told i wasn’t expecting to get anything from anyone.

“We want you to open yours first Iris.” His mother told me as everyone was starring at me again. I ripped apart the wrapping paper apart to see it was a jewlrey box which kept me in even more suspense.

“Even though you just became apart of the family with the rest of us, we’re glad you became apart of it. We thought John was going to grow old alone.” It was a beautiful cameo necklace with a dark gold chain, the pendent was a dark blue with a white marble cut out of a woman on it. I was almost brought to tears as no one in my life has ever given me anything like this before.

“You..you..you’re going to make me cry.” I laughed a little as I got it out of the box to hold it up.

“John. Should’ve told me you’re family was going to make me cry.” I laughed as he helped me to clip it as I kept looking down at it.

“Alright let’s keep going! By the way. I’m cousin Booker from Exeter.” He crawled infront of me as he passed John his gift as he recognized the wrapping paper from our little apartment. The rest of the presents were passed out to everyone as John was in complete curiosity of why giving him the present now instead of on Christmas. His mother had the same wrapping paper as well as I sat there waiting for them to open it.

We finally made it over to John who was eager to open his box. He tore the wrapping paper to shreds immediatly as I kept my smile at bay as much as I could. He’s not expecting this and I know damn well the rest of the lot isn’t as well! Please find the little shoes adorable please find the shoes absolutely adorable!

He opened the box as confusion waved over him as he picked up the little white baby shoes. Looking at me. Back at the shoes. TO me..the shoes..to me..the shoes! C’mon John I know you’re smart! The shoes dropped as the rest of the room waited for him to say it or for it to finally click!

“We’re..you..we..” It looked as if he was going to pass out right infront of us till he pratically threw himself ontop of me as everyone began freaking out.

“I’m going to be a dad!” He smiled as I moved the hair out of his face as cousin Booker pratically pild ontop of us.

“Now do I get to be the cool uncle or what?” Wait what? That..that’s not how that works..at least that’s not how I think it works. Oh well!

“Wait get off don’t squish the baby!” John barked as we looked over to see grandma holding up the onsie in front of her.

“It says Grandma’s spoiled Angel!” Mother cried as I managed to get John off me to see her just starring at it.

“Hope you enjoy being a grandma!” I told her as she put the onsie on her lap to give me a very big hug! Her only son to have her first grandchild has completely made the fact that him and I didn’t have a true wedding has been completely forgotten! Phew.

#john deacon fluff #john richard deacon #John Deacon #John Deacon 70s #John Deacon Christmas #john deacon x reader #John Deacon x oc #Queen #Queen Fan Fic #Brian May #Roger Taylor #Freddie Mercury #Queen Fic #John Deacon Fic #It be some cute shit I think #john deacon fluf

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lopez-richter-fangirl · 5 years

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So. Homecoming. Holy fuck. It’s taken me this long to even start to get my thoughts together. Very spoilery post under the cut. Like, as much as I can possibly remember of the show spoilery. Also rambly. And long. Ridiculously long. So you’ve been warned.

Also disclaimer, this is just homecoming to the best of my recollection and it might not be 100% accurate. So first of all the setlist (this was everything they sang but the order of songs in act 2 is a bit hazy, I think it’s about half right. Also I don’t think hardly anyone at the show could tell you exactly because it was just so overwhelming). They did medleys for all the non-Potter shows in act 1 in reverse chronological order, act 2 they did full songs from all the Potter musicals.

Act 1 TGWDLM, Join Us And Die, Show Stoppin Number We Got Work To Do, Make The Most Of It Ani, With My Own Eyes, Back On Top Gone To Oregon, Naked In A Lake, Speedrun No One Remembers Achmed, A Thousand And One Nights, Happy Ending Holy Musical B@man, Rogues Are We, Superfriends Status Quo, Kick It Up A Notch, I Wanna Be Me And My Dick, Listen To Your Heart, Ready To Go Act 2 Going Back To Hogwarts Harry Freaking Potter To Have A Home Different As Can Be (and reprise) Coolest Girl Cho’s Song Hey Dragon Granger Danger Guys Like Potter Wizard Of The Year To Dance Again Sidekick Voldemort Is Going Down Everything Ends Not Alone Days Of Summer Not Alone (reprise)

Thursday 25th The more I think about it the more I realise I really had no idea what I was expecting from the show. We’d been planning before they even announced what it was to fly out for it, but we had very few details. I didn’t even know they had an orchestra until like two hours before. I’d barely been able to watch any of their rehearsal stories. But I don’t think I’d ever been more excited for anything in my life. I was super excited for AVPW but also, it was my first time seeing any of them, the whole thing felt like a dream, and I had no idea how much it was gonna mean to me so it didn’t even hit me properly until the last night. Whereas I already knew exactly how special this would be, it was entirely once in a lifetime and I was nearly shaking.

Outside the theatre I’ve said it before but genuinely my favourite place in the world to be is surrounded by Starkid fans. Seeing people in cosplay, in merch, talking about the same shows and people I love, I just get such a sense of ‘this is home’. There was the classic waiting-in-line going back to hogwarts singalong. And some la dee da da day thrown in for good measure. Liam was walking along the line filming and doing interviews for the bts. Tessa got out of a car right next to us, we saw Jade and Traci and their friend Bella. They’re all gorgeous it’s insane and unfair.

Inside the theatre Spent over $100 on merch but honestly could have spent so much more, really I showed a lot of self restraint. They didn’t have the programmes though which I’m still heartbroken over. Saw Denise Richter which I was maybe too excited about. Didn’t speak to her or anything but even just to see her she exudes kindness she’s the best. Then we were hanging out in the lobby and Tessa was talking to everyone and hugging them and taking selfies and jumping in people’s group pics and I love her. Like she made my night even without me talking to her because she was SO sweet to everyone she spoke to and I was stood there falling in love with her by the second. Also, let’s talk about how cool the venue was? It looked unbelievable and they had a bunch of posters up with AVPM quotes. And the stage? Y’all have seen by now but they made it look like an actual homecoming dance and it was amazing. Considering how far back our seats were it was actually a very good view, it helped that I had an aisle seat so had a clear view of the entire stage. I’ve posted the pre-show playlist here, it was perfect, especially the JATP like, hell yeah to celebrating all their various projects. At this point I literally thought I was gonna die of excitement. AJ and Clark came on stage and as much as I was having great fun freaking out with the groupchat about how soon the show was I couldn’t wait to put my phone away cause that meant the show was starting. And then the lights went down.

Darren Very pleased to say it was not the Darren show, even though he did give the opening and closing speech. And as much as I have opinions about him, when he walked out for the first time it was a pretty special moment because it’s like, this is it this is really happening. The amount of energy in that room when he came on stage my god. You would not have believed there were only 1600 people there. The whole show people could barely get a sentence out without cheering, which in hindsight was probably annoying but it just shows how incredibly loved they are, and we were as grateful to them as they were to us. I loved the atmosphere in both shows, it was completely different both times and I’ll obviously get to the Friday night show, but there was something special about being in a room of majority backers, all of us seeing these show for the very first time, it was totally new. Again, literally no idea what to expect and it was the most exhilarating feeling. Darren did a little ‘look for your exits pretend we’re at Disney’ which was cute after being at Disney for two days beforehand. Classic starkid fashion, he told us they had no idea how long the show would run for. He made a G.L.E.E. joke so it’s nice to know he’s still on our side at the end of the day. I don’t know if it was him that talked about Starkid performing with a 13 piece orchestra for the first time, but I’m gonna bring it up here anyway. I’m so grateful they were overfunded and that they were able to have the orchestra, because it’s probably something they really wanted and it’s also something they 100% deserve. I’d sell my soul to hear every starkid song with that orchestra, it was magnificent. I really hope we do get an album because it all sounded SO GOOD. Unsurprisingly don’t remember much else of what Darren said because I was just so excited for the show to start.

TGWDLM medley So as soon as the opening started playing even as Darren was still introducing people went insane, literally within two seconds I knew undoubtedly that this was gonna be the best two hours of my life (also the fastest. Often watching theatre shows I lose attention a little bit but there wasn’t a single second of this show that I wasn’t 100% in the moment they’re completely captivating, and it went by way too fast). Oh wow this is where we got to see Joey and Lauren for the first time. Fuck. I cannot describe to you how good they looked. Pictures do not do it justice. Thank god the mustache was gone. Thank god Lauren didn’t wear the boots. She was wearing my favourite hairstyle. Joey’s hair looked great. Their outfits were incredible. They literally could not have been more perfect looks for me and I’m so grateful. I could have cried happy tears at seeing them. This in itself could go on for five pages so I’ll leave it there. They all did the whole iconic zombie pose entrance. Corey sang Joey’s astronomical line which was kinda a shame cause I love the way he sings that line however I’m glad they did it like that cause Joey got to sing a lot in the show (still not enough for my liking but then again my liking is Joey and Lauren singing the whole show so I’m good). Wish they did Lauren’s ‘pines after a cute lil barista’ bit. Also kinda wish they did inevitable so Jon could sing because I love him and he deserves better @ starkid when are you going to hire me. However they made up for that when Jaime went ‘it is time’ and the room was absolutely electric because everyone knew exactly what was coming. That note had me shook from the moment I heard it on the digital ticket and I feel honoured to have heard it in person. Jeff was still her hype man. Jaime’s voice is honestly out of this world, she’s the person I’d most heard sing live but it was still mind blowing. She’s incredible I love her so much. Then Robert came on stage so like, room exploded again. Joey and Lauren should have been on stage doing their bit for show stopping number but again, what do I know? This song was 100% pandering but as much as it’s overhyped it is a good song and Robert fucking killed it, he actually impresses me so much. His voice? He did the hip wiggles, maybe even more than were in the show, and people went absolutely wild for it. He did the working boys bit and of course everyone lost their minds. And I loved it, I loved that atmosphere of everyone being entirely obsessed with every tiny thing these people do because that’s what connects us all. Jon did get to be a working boy (as did Mariah) and sounded great. They actually sang so much of this song holy shit definitely pandering. But they really were giving Hamilton some competition.

Firebringer medley Lauren Walker introduced this one, do I remember what she said? No, I was too busy wondering if they were going to sing Climate Change. They didn’t. You sang three songs from every other show but two from firebringer and one of them wasn’t climate change? Okay sure. This sounds like I’m complaining I’m not this section was still gorgeous and I loved every second of it. Hearing music from firebringer was amazing because it has some of my favourite music from all the starkid shows, and also because apart from TGWDLM which was so recent it’s the only show we hadn’t heard anything from since. They sang we got work to do which again, pandering and not even to what most people actually wanted if we’re being honest. But I’m happy about it because hearing Lauren sing that first line was a spiritual experience. Her voice? No words. So good. Can’t believe I got to hear it live? Properly?!? Also Joey got to be in this bless his heart and I couldn’t stop watching him doing the choreography. Lauren’s little expressions throughout the whole thing are adorable god I love her. Meredith sounded so good. Rachael got so much of a cheer when she sang her bit. Joey comforted Joe after the shadow bit. Then they sang from the proposal bit of the finale. Brian was pretending to be jealous when Meredith was singing to Lauren which made my life, p.s. Joey step up your game. The first time hearing Lauren sing ‘this is the dawn’ literally took my breath away. And with that orchestra!? (Will I ever shut up about the orchestra? The answer is no). The CHEERS for ‘we are womankind’. Hell yeah. And then Lauren did the arm thing like way to literally flex on us Lo. Not okay. They did the little Molag dialogue bit and Denise did the being-blessed-with-knowledge face. Watching Denise off to the side was honestly one of the highlights of the whole show.

TTO medley

Now I’m questioning my memory but I think Jaime went offstage after Firebringer when she wasn’t supposed to because I’m sure I remember her not being on stage for this at first. Like everyone else was there and there was a moment where I was like ‘I feel like someone’s missing...’ and then Jaime walked on late. She did mention Julia having to remind her of her cues. Anyway. Gone to oregon was first and I was reminded what an actually good performer Jeff is. He’s great in that show. Corey got the cheers he deserved at his ‘wisconsin’ bit. Lauren singing Naked in a lake was beautiful. Even if not enough people sang with her when she asked for help (spoiler, we stepped up Friday). She was definitely trying to get us to sing the high bits cause her voice was tired and she didn’t want to but that’s fine. This was one of the songs from that show I really wanted them to sing and I’m glad they did, it’s so much fun. Also Lauren does kinda steal the show but watching everyone else in this song is great. Shoutout to the sax guy, I’m glad we as a fandom always appreciate the band/orchestra. I still can’t believe everyone just lets Lauren sing a whole song about skinny dipping but I’m here for it. Then they did speedrun which was. An experience. Still think Joey should have sung wagon on fire but would I have passed out most likely yes so maybe it was better off this way. I’m glad Rachael got a moment. The ‘faster’ bit was fucking insane I don’t know how they had the breath for it. Everyone clapped pace and I’m pretty sure we clapped faster than the song ever goes so, sorry guys that you had to go through that? I think I have a newfound appreciation for this song. It was either in this or possibly in Naked in a lake that Joey did something stupid and Lo looked at him and shook her head. There were a lot of little looks throughout the show and trying to catch each other’s eye across the stage and it was very cute and probably won’t make the cut even though it should it’s the best part of the show.

Ani medley Moses introduced it and he was wearing like the jacket that’s one of his costumes and he wore in the final SK10 livestream idk you guys I’ve seen that show twice. The Ani band is fucking great, they had Mark, Nick Gage (?? idk there was definitely a fourth person I was mostly watching Meredith let’s be real here), Clark and Meredith all sing. Meredith had the biggest smile on her face at all times it was a joy. Ani is such a fun song so many starkid songs are so fun. Also they added a key change (was it even a key change? I’ve never studied music whatever they did it sounded good.) Actually the whole arrangement of this medley I loved, I hope it makes the people who don’t appreciate the music in this show appreciate it. With my own eyes is my favourite song in that show and I’m very happy they did it. They should have had Denise do her choreo when they did Back on top tbh. I love Meredith in this song though.

Twisted medley Joe came out to introduce it but kept hyping everyone up about Ani first. I really miss Joe he has so much onstage energy. I knew they were doing No one remembers achmed but I was still so excited about it. It’s such a good song. And the whole ‘you ooze sex’ bit in the flesh? That’s all. Obviously the best part was everyone yelling tigerfucker. Experiencing that in person is unbeatable. Then they had Britney and Carlos sing their version of 1001 nights and it was beautiful, I very rarely listen to that version of the song but I should, Britney is unbelievable and I love her so much. I can’t believe she’d just flown in and had such a rough time right before the show, you wouldn’t have known it. Dylan walked out and I kinda thought they were gonna have him and Meredith do a quartet (starkid when are you gonna hire me??) but then he sang ‘and with my wife beside me’ and I was like :’) this is good. That part of the song always gets me and Dylan’s voice is a goddamn gift. I love the overlapping parts at the end of Happy ending too so it’s always a good choice. But why they didn’t sing dream a little harder when Alex was right there I do not know.

HMB medley Pretty sure they had Julia introduce it? Guys it’s been a week gimme a break. Either way she definitely introduced something at some point and I’m glad everyone cheered so much for her because she was the glue of Starkid for a while. Nick Gage sang HMB and they had a reverb (again, is that the right term? not a clue) and he looked so pleased with himself every time we laughed. Then they sang rogues are we (rogues medley would have been better but in fairness that would have ruined the whole thing they had going). I do love Lauren singing we are the harlots and the hussies. A lot. But Denise does it so well. And Jaime’s ‘we’re rising up from the underground’?? I don’t think I have a single thing to say about any of the men in this song and I’m not sorry. Superfriends sounded very cool. It doesn’t matter how many times I see it, I always love the matching tattoos bit, and seeing Meredith’s story afterwards about how she was directing hers at Jade made it even better. I don’t even remember who sang Robin’s lines because I was too busy watching Lauren do the dance, she’s adorable. It was funny watching like five of them doing it cause they were the only ones who had learned it before and the rest not knowing it. Also, I don’t know which makes me happier, when they point into the audience for ‘I wanna be your friend forever’, or when they point at each other. Both are good.

Starship medley Denise introduced the show and um hi I love Denise she’s so cute. She said the thing about her mom calling Starship a show for dreamers and I still think that’s the most adorable thing. I will say for the rest of time that having Alex and Mariah sing Status quo was a weird choice. Also made me pissed that basically no one cheered for Alex but of course everyone went fucking crazy for Mariah. Not even that Mariah didn’t deserve it, but she didn’t deserve it more than Alex. Just saying. It did sound very good with the orchestra and they both have good voices, but I still think we deserved it sounding good with JOEY and the orchestra. I would have died to hear Joey sing that song. Moving on though. Kick it up a notch is always better in rogues medley but I do adore the Jim Brian and Jaime trio anyway. And it’s SUCH a good song. Then they sang I wanna be which I was psyched about I love that song (it was straight from Brant’s verse though like hello what happened to Joey rights). Hearing the older songs makes me wish so much they’d remount them because they all sound so good now it would be amazing. Joey’s voice is legitimately a blessing from the gods.

MAMD medley Brian introduced the show and walked away from the mic before he said dick, which was funny but also reminded me of how they said this would be the most PG show starkid had done which is laughable. Joey did a whole bit in the beginning that reminded me a lot of his jekyll and hyde performance in shitty broadway. I love that man. Again, we deserve a remount of this show if only for Joey’s voice. Then we have maybe the most iconic moment of the thursday show which is when Joe had way too much excitement for his entrance, fucking sprinted on stage, knocked over the mic stand and had to rescue it, spraining his ankle in the process. And recovered BADLY, he was trying to figure out what to say to pull it back and Joey basically had to tell him to just sing already. I feel a little guilty now because it looked pretty bad, but it was really fucking funny. And then the cheer at the head tilt, why do we all love it so much??!? Then Joey sang Listen to your heart with AJ (him and Brian are a better duo fight me). I loved their little added dialogue, with Joey being like ‘do I smell?’ and AJ being like ‘so bad’. I always always love the little dance break Joey is the sweetest boy. I think I remember something like ‘am I doing it?’ ‘not even close Joey’. Then Alle Faye and Ali came out for ready to go and it went from their bit. It was really nice seeing them back together again. It wasn’t like nearly ten years had gone by at all. God it’s weird how nostalgic I was/am for something I wasn’t even there for. The ‘we’re finally ready’ bit sounded so gorgeous with the orchestra, I had it stuck in my head for days. They slowed it down, and we had everyone on stage, and it was just beautiful. The perfect way to end the act, which was over way too soon, and I was already feeling sad about the show nearly being over even though there was so much good to come. Wait how could I forget to mention the ‘my hormones are freaking out’ bit. Fuck all of them for that. Even if I pretty much just watched Lauren with a quick glance at Joey, which is an accurate description of what I did for a lot of the show.

Intermission First quick thing to say, as much as I wish we’d heard some more full songs from the non-Potter shows, I think I like that they kept it separate. The first half was celebrating everything they achieved since where it all started for them, and the second half was pure nostalgia. And even though I wish it wasn’t the case, more people know the potter shows so it was kinda nice that everyone was even more united than they had been for the first half. Secondly, what I should have done during intermission was used the time to recover, because the show was a whole lot of excitement and emotions and I knew it was only going to get worse in the second half. But instead I yelled to the groupchat and met @starkidmelly. More JATP was played, everyone was buzzing, I couldn’t believe I was there. I think it was a long intermission but it did not feel it, Nick came out on stage and it’s like oh shit here we go again.

Nick’s speech He worried me because he said he wanted to take a minute to get sentimental, and I’d already cried a couple of times it was too early in the show to do it again. But then he just talked about the movie Starkid and how it was a bad movie and made us all laugh which I appreciated. What I really did love was how much people cheered for him when he came out, and also for Matt in the audience when Nick shouted him out. Especially on that first night the happiness on Nick’s face at everyone cheering made me want to cry it was so special and he deserves every bit of it and you could tell it still comes as a surprise even now. Also I’ll tag it on now because I don’t remember exactly at what point it was, but at some point in the second act Corey was telling people to stop filming, which kinda made me mad cause they’d asked people not to film and he looked so mad, but was also kinda funny because like, it’s one thing being stopped from filming by an usher but it’s a whole other thing being stopped by Corey Lubowich himself. I probably would have volunteered to leave the theatre if I disappointed Corey like that tbh. But anyway back to Nick, he introduced GBTH with the original cast of AVPM and everyone fucking lost it.

GBTH So you already know what you’re about to be blessed with and then you hear that opening note and people are impossibly screaming even louder and Darren comes onstage and crouches down and it’s like nothing has really changed at all. I’ve been in a room of people singing this song before and it was magical, but this was even more people and even more special. This is where it all started, and there we were ten years later. And it was so surreal actually hearing them sing this in person. Darren put the glasses on and people went insane. The amount of anticipation I felt for Joey’s entrance was ridiculous, and he got the cheers he deserved (almost. he always deserves more). And no matter how many times we see it or how long it’s been it always makes me feel a lot of feelings seeing Darren and Joey on stage singing this together. Joey messed up the floo powder a bit and it was cute. Still iconic. It was deafening when Bonnie came out, which I guess was to be expected we haven’t seen her in nine years. I will say that she did look genuinely happy to be there, and they looked genuinely happy to have her there. Plus the line ‘why do you have to be such a buzzkill’ was so much more funny with the irony of her pretty much bringing the house down. The nostalgia factor ramped up even more here and it was pretty awesome to have that original trio back on stage after so long. Again, so much but simultaneously so little had changed in ten years and trying to articulate those feelings would require a hundred page essay. I didn’t expect them to change the original but I still think they should have kept Lauren’s altered ‘that would be cool’ line. It’s better. But I digress. Jaime got to do her bit and it was a masterpiece. But rest in peace to the whole Cho Chang and Cedric bit, you were deeply missed. Lauren’s entrance, do I even need to say more? Fucking iconic as ever. One of the best moments in all of history. I’m glad they kept in most of the dialogue-y bits although I do not remember what her accent was like. People delivered on ‘whatever I say’ and I love how that’s become our thing. The train bit always makes me emotional, even more so this time with so many people old and new onstage. I always think of Lauren saying she hates the train move but she should have told her face that. Dylan did his entrance from the back of the theatre aka right by us and it was magnificent, he held the note all the way down to the front. They added in the lines about sorting here so Tyler got to do ‘hufflepuffs are particularly good finders’ which was a good choice they did good on that one, Dylan’s ‘what the hell is a hufflepuff’ was drowned out by people still cheering for Tyler, it was a pretty great moment. I may have cried a bit at ‘it’s all that I love and it’s all that I need’. Just a bit. I loved so much that they got everyone to be a part of this song.

Harry Freaking Potter Have I lost all my memories of this song? Maybe. I remember it being amazing. Predictably I watched Lauren a lot, it’s very hard not to she’s so cute when she’s dancing. It’s funny to me how they hold out the mics for the last ‘harry freaking potter’ but most people are already cheering so they get nothing. They should have learned by now.

To Have A Home Was possibly next? I know I got teary again pretty early on in the act (saved the full crying at this song for Friday though stay tuned). I know I’m very far from being the only person who felt the most at home I’ve ever felt. How can you not, surrounded by so much support and mutual love for these incredible people who’ve done so much for us. Starkid is a huge family and it’s tangible in moments like that. And ‘to know this is real’ hits hard. Especially because you can really feel it from Darren, as famous as he is now being on stage with his friends is truly home.

Different As Can Be There’s just something about this song that brings so much energy and Joe and Brian are an iconic duo. And they brought the Quirrelmort vibes strong. Loved everyone shouting ‘prevails’. I’m super glad they did the reprise too. The reaction when they go back to back is incredible. Also, Joe’s ‘Quirrell’ was impeccable.

Coolest Girl I will say to Bonnie’s credit that she did a very good job opening this song, considering how many people were there and how much pressure there must have been seeing as she’s suddenly making a reappearance after so many years. And she did get a lot of love for it. But Meredith coming out to duet with her actually made me cry, she looked so happy and they did a cute little ‘hi’ and I really truly consider this Meredith’s song, even if she didn’t originally sing it, so I’m glad she got to do it. It was a special moment having them sing it together with no resentment or jealousy. And then Meredith confirmed that Bonnie was pregnant again at the end of the song.

Cho Chang Of course Darren sang this. Of course. What would a starkid show be without Darren playing his dumb songs on guitar. But nothing beats a room full of people shout-singing ‘that’s in canada’ (side note, why did this stick so much? every time I saw it on the map when I flew to Canada it’s all I could think of). But also, idk why Darren introduced this song by saying he wanted to test if we knew the words like buddy pretty sure we know the words to your songs better than you do but sure.

Hey Dragon More of Darren playing dumb songs on guitar but this is also a pretty fun song so we’re letting it slide. Also he did say that he didn’t want to do this song and said they should cut it to make time for better songs but that everyone else made him do it, which does not surprise me. He obviously had to call out his own songwriting abilities from ten years ago, it makes me laugh every time he does it but this time he really came for himself with how bad the rhyming was and how the lyrics are dumb. I love that he can’t get through the song without laughing because it is pretty stupid but we love it anyway. They trusted us on the ‘la la la’s and I think we came through.

Granger Danger Okay. OKAY. So after all that Darren was like ‘let’s take it to a school dance’ which did not register for me at all because that song has gone way beyond that and now it’s just Joey and Lauren’s song. But then Darren’s playing it (which I found ??? sweet?? for some reason? idk it was good) and Joey and Lauren are on stage and I’m like here we fucking go. This is what I’m here for. Cannot begin to describe how happy I was to hear this song. I literally had said I refused to die before I heard them sing this live and now it will forever be one of the highlights of my life. The amount of power on that stage. Also the amount of attractiveness. They honestly are a power couple. The most iconic duo singing one of the most iconic songs. Their stage presence just blows me away. And it always makes me feel things too because they’ve done this song so many times and when they were first performing it they had no idea where they’d end up and now they’re fucking living the dream together and I can’t believe how far they’ve come. This is a hole we don’t need to go down though. It absolutely is a crime that they haven’t had more songs together but it does make this one particularly special because it’s fucking THEIR song and there’s no doubt they love performing together and their chemistry is so good anyway anyway I swear I’ll get back on track. This song with the orchestra??!? Holy shit you guys it sounded so good. They managed to take a song I love with every inch of me and make me love it even more. They came out and did a handshake because they’re fucking dorks. My heart genuinely felt like it was about to pump out of my chest, the adrenaline rush from seeing this live was crazy it’s a fucking experience. Joey was remarkably in character when it got to Lauren’s bit but she could not be in character for the life of her when he was singing my god she just did not give a fuck. Her heart eyes were off the charts I swear to god I couldn’t believe that dumb girl. Also Lauren was practically making love to her mic stand half the song which was honestly unnecessary but I love her. And her looking at her crotch murdered me. And then Joey was looking at her for most of the ending and she didn’t look at him once so she sucks. As always the last note was heavenly. When do we get a two hour concert version of this song??

Guys Like Potter Maybe came next? I love the apocalyptour arrangement of this song but it was nice to throw it back to the original and Tyler’s great. Joe tried? We’ll leave it at that.

Wizard Of The Year I think this followed after purely because of AJ saying something like ‘that’s enough about that Potter boy’?? And then he only went and did the whole fucking mouse monologue. And the entire time I was sat there having an internal conflict between ‘this is one of the funniest things I’ve ever witnessed’ and ‘they could have used this time to do climate change’. Honestly hearing him pull that out was wild. But then he sang the song and some of the girls came out to do the ‘gilderoy’ bit (which was the best part duh).

To Dance Again The beginning of this song is always iconic. Most important thing to say here is how I’m even more impressed now with Joe’s dancing after seeing what his ankle looked like. Also, hearing all the tapping (thudding) from the audience brings me inexplicable joy. Lauren ran on stage before her cue when Darren came off and had to book it back off and I feel a bit bad immortalising it because I’m sure she’s glad they weren’t filming that night. While we’re on the subject, the Thursday show was a little messy but like, there were no HUGE fuck ups apart from maybe Joe’s in MAMD and it was all surprisingly well rehearsed considering they’d had barely two days of rehearsal and they’re all so so impressive. Still think they should have had a 40 person kickline but the three person Joe Darren and Brosenthal kickline was still pretty good. Also, I remember someone doing a very cool harmony? It maybe sounded like Holden? His voice is underrated.

Sidekick I cannot remember for the life of me if this is actually where this song goes?? I don’t remember if Joey went offstage or not. I just know that he ended up alone on stage and I damn near lost my mind. I know I’ve said it before but Joey’s performance of sidekick genuinely is a show stealer and I never in a million years thought I’d get to see it live so I feel extremely privileged that I did. God bless whoever included this in the setlist you have my eternal thanks. It’s what Joey deserves (and what I deserve). His voice!?! The high notes?!? Still love the irony of Joey singing this song. Classic cheering at ‘am I the hottest’ because yes you fucking are. He messed up a bit and sang ‘am I the one who takes you home’ twice but we love him. He absolutely killed it and being reminded that they’d not long got back from SDCC and finding out he had a fever made me even more impressed because you literally wouldn’t have known it.

Voldemort Is Going Down More on Joey continuing to kill it (but maybe not in this order). It was good to hear this song again, it slaps. And they all sounded so good too. And there was a super cool little piano riff at one point. This song makes everyone so hype I love it so much.

Everything Ends Haha tear time (jk just about managed to save them for Friday). But it is very much when things get sad because you can feel that the show’s coming to a close. This was Robert’s duet with a person he’d never sung with before and it sounded beautiful. We got the return of Joe’s snape voice or am I imagining that? I don’t remember what he said but I’m sure he said something and it probably made me sad. Literally the whole end of the show is just a blur because I couldn’t believe it was almost over so quickly.

Not Alone Jaime. Just, Jaime. Incredible every time she sings this song. Also, so many AVPW feelings because this is what they came out and sang and this song has been extra special to me since. So I was in tears from the get go tbh. God I’m really really really missing AVPW today so this is a lot just thinking about it. And personal feelings about Bonnie and also how much I love newer arrangements of not alone aside, it was unimaginably special to see the original four singing this together again.

Days Of Summer We knew they’d save this to the end (or at least so we thought) but it was still a bit of an asshole move ngl. Like, do you enjoy our suffering? Seeing everyone on stage together singing this song that’s at the heart of starkid, if there was anyone who didn’t cry I applaud them. Darren gave a closing speech where he didn’t thank half the people he needed to because he hadn’t rehearsed. I wish I remembered more of what he said because it wasn’t exactly the same as Friday, it also didn’t make me cry half as much which I guess was a bonus. They did the little going back to hogwarts reprise probably partly to make us all feel a bit better and got everyone on their feet for it and as much as I never know which house to say I still love that moment of everyone yelling their house. Then they had “curtain call”, except they faked us out because Brian stayed on stage with his fist in the air and I’m like okay what are these idiots up to now. And Nick came out to tell him they sang all the songs and Voldemort’s dead, which of course meant ‘dead?! *skips stone*’ and we all needed that laugh. And then Joe came out and they did the ‘okay is good’ bit so I was sad again and god they really messed with our emotions. And everyone came back out and did the not alone reprise and literally stomped all over my heart because ten years ago they did the exact same thing, except now they were on a bigger stage with a bigger audience and a bigger family and they’ve all grown so much and achieved so many amazing things in their careers and their personal lives and they’ve grown up a lot but they’re still these college kids at heart who love performing with their friends and making people laugh and I didn’t want to leave my seat after they all walked offstage because it really felt like my soul had left my body and I was just completely emotionally drained. And unbelievably happy that I was getting to experience it all again the next day.

Friday 26th The one thing I have to say about the line this time round is shoutout to the kid handing out red vines, I don’t know how many people actually wanted one but it made me smile. As we were waiting in the lobby we saw Denise x2 (Joey’s mom still looked like the embodiment of kindness and Denise always seems so happy to be there I love them both).

Anyway when we got to our seats I just sat down and was internally screaming because we were So Close to the stage and I was like how on earth am I going to survive seeing this much beauty. Also I knew that some people had different outfits and I was trying to figure out if Lauren and Joey were wearing the same thing cause that was the most important thing so it was an anxious wait. Then when they came out being that close to the crop top nearly killed me and Joey looked even hotter in that red shirt than he did on Thursday so like, I want that image tattooed on my eyelids.

Oh and we saw MK, Sean, Sarah and Whitney up in the balcony before the show started. This is how the conversation went down... Sophie: is that MK up there? Me: I think so, that looks like Sean Sophie: it doesn’t look like Sean? (spoiler alert, it was Sean)

Also to quickly go back to the live atmosphere, Friday night was INSANE oh my god. Whether it was that it was the last show or whether it was being closer to the stage but the room was absolutely electric, it seemed like so many more people - including me this time - were singing and fucking reciting all the lines like it makes me so happy that we’re all fucking nerds who love these other nerds to death and memorise all their shows. As was my plan, the first night I took everything in and then the second night I just got to enjoy it and make the most of it. So the Thursday show it was kind of like I was observing everything but Friday I was LIVING it, and I really was living. It was a fucking party. And I could anticipate what was coming and it somehow made it even more exciting than witnessing everything fresh for the first time. I was literally sat there having the time of my life for two hours and I hope they all saw it, they would have just seen me with a huge fucking grin the whole time (apart from when I was crying we’re not talking about that rn). Maybe the most fun I’ve ever had. It made all the money I’d spent to get there 10000% worth it because as amazing as the DVD is going to be and you bet I’m getting it (well the digital download shipping’s an outrage), you can’t buy the atmosphere in the room and it was incredible to be there.

Okay y’all know the drill now so this is gonna be quickfire:

Act 1

Seeing everyone doing their crazy eyes in TGWDLM up close was an EXPERIENCE. Jon was a stand out. Also Jaime. Being so much closer the energy was so much higher for Join us and die. I think that was really my main thing about Friday, aside from how emotions were even higher, was how crazy the energy was it was SO MUCH FUN. And Robert is pretty great.

Have I mentioned Lauren’s look nearly killing me? Yes? Good. The gay came out full force in Firebringer. Lo’s talent is out of this world and I feel so lucky to have witnessed it live.

So many more people sang for Lauren in Naked in a lake and she looked so happy my baby. I made eye contact with her at one of the points she was holding the out mic for the audience to sing so I’m glad she saw me (quietly but extremely enthusiastically) singing my heart out for her. Joey made Lauren laugh when they were dancing during speedrun and it’s the most adorable shit I’ve ever seen. Those two are genuinely in their own world half the time they’re on stage together and I live for it.

Carlos wasn’t there this night so I think Dylan should have filled in for his verse of 1001 nights but my ideas are worthless right? Oh have I mentioned how much I live for over a thousand people yelling tigerfucker? And Robert smashed ‘he fucked a tiger’. Also I’m sure they did it the first night too but I noticed even more Denise and Meredith encouraging everyone to cheer when Joe was doing the dialogue bit I adore them.

Brant got so out of time on I wanna be my god Joey looked like he was trying to telepathically tell him to slow down but he never really recovered. But the chaotic energy felt appropriate? It’s not a starkid show without a mess up.

Joe’s MAMD entrance was more controlled this time but honestly it’s a shame the fuck up won’t be on the filmed version because it was definitely a highlight (I hope you’re okay Joe). Mere and Brian had their arms round each other when they were singing ready to go and I was hit with the ‘oh my god they’re getting MARRIED’ feels. Look how far they’ve come. They were also making faces at each other during one song, I don’t remember which one, and giving Joey and Lauren a run for their money for being in their own world. Still not nearly as bad though.

Intermission

I remember even less of this intermission than the first one. I was just in total shock. Also when we came back from the intermission Nick went ‘two people just got engaged’ and almost literally stopped my heart like I KNOW that’s not how it’s gonna happen but where did he expect me to go with it. And then he wanted to be reminded of their names but someone shouted ‘Joe and Traci’ so he had to be like ‘no I’m not talking about them’ which made me laugh a lot.

Act 2

GBTH was somehow even better this time round. It’s actually a spiritual experience. 100% my happy place. Also Joey didn’t have the headband the first night and I didn’t know I needed it until he came out wearing one on Friday, it was weirdly emotional.

To have a home was worse this time around because I had to come to the realisation that I was gonna leave this home behind. That’s always the worst part, it was the same with AVPW, it’s not just that I miss it it’s also that it’s this happy, safe little bubble where everything feels okay and it’s so sad to lose that. So yeah, cried a lot this time. Also Darren went offstage on Thursday too in the instrumental but this time he went offstage and ran round to the other side to come back on which was so much better good job Darren.

When Lo and Joey shook hands for granger danger they both had such cute smiles my HEART. Lauren still had heart eyes for Joey singing, she was just stood there grinning at him the whole time she loves him so much jesus christ. Also she was staring at him when they were both singing the ‘falling in love’ bit just saying. And they got super close to each other for the end but kept alternating looking at the other person and the audience so they were never actually looking at each other and it KILLED me I hate them. I also didn’t even think twice about singing Lauren’s part during granger danger until halfway through oops and now I kind of want to apologise, Mr Joey Richter I love you.

You could tell there were a fair few people in the audience who’d seen one or both of the other shows and knew what was coming so actually shouted out ‘what’s your fantasy’ when AJ was working up to the mouse monologue which made it even better. It was just as insane and funny the second time, but I still couldn’t believe they actually put it in there.

Back to Mr Joey Richter, he brought the house down with sidekick even more than on Thursday. He’s so talented y’all. You’d expect more cheering for ‘am I the one who takes you home’ but the urge for everyone to yell ‘definitely not’ is too much and it cracks me up. And he pointed at the very least in my direction when he sang the last ‘I love being at your side’ so I’ll take it for SURE.

They got everyone standing even earlier on in the show (during voldemort is going down) and I just felt a sense of elation, the whole show but at this point in particular, because everyone was there having a fucking amazing time and pouring out so much love, from our direction and from theirs, and I feel like that song really does do what it’s supposed to and make us feel united.

Everything ends made me cry a lot because it actually was the end this time, and starkid have some fucking heart wrenching goodbye songs that are supposed to make you feel better but really don’t at all. Not alone made me cry more, obviously. Days of summer was so much worse because it really was goodbye, me having to say goodbye to seeing them and one of the best experiences of my life, them having to say goodbye to each other. SO. MANY. TEARS.

Random point, Lauren looked so fucking cute when she came out in her varsity jacket with the sleeves pushed up because it was too big for her I just wanted to hug her.

Joey and Lauren kept looking at each other during Darren’s speech, Joey in particular kept trying to catch Lo’s eye which killed me he’s too soft. And Lauren pulled a face at the mention of a twenty year reunion like she felt way too old for that and he was smiling at her I hate them.

There were a lot of tears, Joey and Tiffany especially and Lauren pulled her trying not to cry face. In the speech Darren said something about starkid bringing about this group of friends and Joey’s wide eyed already-crying-but-trying-not-to-cry-even-more-face was both heartbreaking and funny and I hope it makes it onto the DVD. I don’t remember much else of the speech other than that it was incredibly emotional and it very well summed up a lot of what we were all feeling about the show and how special starkid was. Also I made eye contact with Joey when we were both crying and we smiled at each other (tried to) and honestly that was a bonding moment for us.

And we saw Bob and Denise on our way out which caused a whole lot more feelings because those are their kids up there performing with all their other honorary kids and yep we’re done here.

I don’t really know how to bring this all to a neat end. I don’t really think there is one. It’s an experience that can’t fully be put into words, the emotions it brought up aren’t ones that I can properly label, and it’s going to stick with me forever. But it was a reminder of how special starkid is. Watching their shows at home, scrolling through their social media, of course it brings me so much joy it’s my reason for living. But getting to see them live and feel the impact they’ve had on so many people? Getting to do it with a friend I made because of them? I just wish I had the words or the time to give them the thanks I wish I could. I really hope they felt the sheer, deep love we all feel for them over those two days.

Anyway, I know this was way too long and half of it wasn’t information people care about but I’m done now. And I’m so excited for the DVD and (hopefully) album so I can experience it all again!

#homecoming spoilers

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zareleonis · 6 years

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My Star Wars Top 10 of 2018

This year I fell massively in love with Star Wars, learned more about a galaxy far, far away that I ever expected and started this blog, first to liveblog Star Wars Rebels, and later to share my thoughts on whatever new (and old!) Star Wars media I came across. In honor of what, in my mind, was a really fun year for Star Wars, I wanted to share my top 10 list of my favorite Star Wars things that came out this year, across different kinds of media. Read more because it’s really long :P

Honorable Mention: Flight of the Falcon multimedia series (by multiple authors and artists)

Okay, if I’m honest, this gets honorable mention spot, mostly because I felt like putting it in top 10 when it’s really a BUNCH of comics and books would be totally cheating :P One of the more fun things to come out of Solo: A Star Wars Story, this series of loosely connected books and comics whose main connecting factor is the Millennium Falcon (and Bazine Netal’s hunt for it!) is an absolute joy. Cavan Scott knocks it out of the park with the ridiculously fun Choose Your Destiny: A Luke and Leia Adventure. IDW Comics does what’s it does best by bringing together some exciting and unexpected pairs of characters for the last couple months of Star Wars Adventures. In Lando’s Luck Justina Ireland gave us the coolest darn Princess in Star Wars since Leia, Rinetta Gan. And they’re not even done yet, with 2 more comics and Pirate’s Price left to go!

10. Star Wars: Scum and Villainy: Case Files on the Galaxy’s Most Notorious by Pablo Hidalgo

What an awesome and fun book! So much great art, and Pablo Hidalgo always gives 100% with his work. It’s such a creative concept, following Tan Divo and and his descendants, as they report on the criminals and rebels of their day. I completely geeked out over how it gave soooo much neat new information about characters and organizations from ALL OVER the Star Wars universe. It’s an absolute blast!

9. Solo: A Star Wars Story: Tales from Vandor by Jason Fry

This book is AMAZING. Even among the “replica journal” style books that Studio Fun puts out, it stands out as super unique, written from the point of view of the Midnight, the bartender at The Lodge on Vandor (where Han meets Lando), as if he is telling the story to a guest. It’s such a fun outsider’s point of view of Han and the other characters of Solo. The best part though, is the parts of the book that are just a shameless love letter to Star Wars Legends, with nods to stuff like The Wookiee Storybook, LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace and several novels. Jason Fry’s love for the franchise really shines through.

8. Star Wars: Poe Dameron by Charles Soule and penciller Angel Unzueta

This year we said a bittersweet goodbye to Marvel’s monthly Star Wars: Poe Dameron and goodness gracious it was good. Between the Legend Found arc that was to be the original ending and the final The Awakening arc, where Black Squadron is reunited after The Last Jedi, this comic really touched my heart. The last couple pages of issues 25 and 31 still make me cry. :’)

7. Solo: A Star Wars Story directed by Ron Howard and screenplay by Lawrence and Jon Kasdan

THIS MOVIE IS CRIMINALLY UNDERRATED AND I’M MAD AT EVERYONE WHO LET IT FLOP. I’ll admit I wasn’t exactly desperate for a Han Solo Backstory Movie, but Solo was just AWESOME. Just some good, raw, Star Wars-y fun that you can’t help but smile the whole way through. It might not be groundbreaking, but it introduced some super cool characters in L3-37, Qi’ra and Enfys Nest, gave us Maul’s grand triumphant return to the public at large and has INCREDIBLY charming performances by Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover as the Han and Lando we all come to love.

6. The Mighty Chewbacca in the Forest of Fear! by Tom Angleberger

If Solo, is good, this kid’s book written to accompany it is even better. I mean, Chewbacca meets K-2SO meets Tooka cats meets teenage bounty hunter/librarian?? On a planet with scary monsters and a spooky evil Force user? Also Cassian is there?? And the daughter of This Funny Hat Dude from Return of the Jedi? Hell yeah!!!!!

The book is hysterical, ridiculously fun and I can’t recommend it enough. I just have to say if you do get it, try and grab the audiobook it’s got a full cast of voices for the main characters including Marc Thompson giving his best Shyriiwook as Chewbacca. I laughed so hard I cried at the narration and a K-2SO’s lines done out loud. You won’t regret it!

5. Star Wars: Women of the Galaxy by Amy Ratcliffe and eighteen awesome artists!

THIS is one of the coolest Star Wars books out there and a celebration of all the women we know and love (and sometimes hate) in a galaxy far, far away. It’s such a wonderful collaboration, created by all women (& non-binary) artists and author. I love that it’s got characters from practically everything—movies, books, comics, video games, you name it! We even got to see characters like Jas Emari for the first time which makes me SO HAPPY. it’s one of the books I come back to all the time just to flip through it and enjoy the illustrations.

4. Star Wars Resistance created by Dave Filoni and executive produced by Athena Yvette Portillo, Justin Ridge, and Brandon Auman

I LOVE RESISTANCE SO MUCH!! I didn’t quiiite know what to expect with the new animated series, but was super excited and it hasn’t disappointed one bit. It’s such a fun show and really enjoyable to have a Star Wars show that is almost just ‘slice of life’ compared to the others. The animation is so cool to me and the characters really cute. I’m ridiculously charmed by all of them, especially our main man Kazuda Xiono and really hyped to see where these characters go. It’s more happy and fun than anything, but I know it will break my heart to pieces soon enough (KAZUDA XIONO. HOME PLANET: HOSNIAN PRIME). I hope more people give it a chance because it really is awesome!

3. Star Wars Adventures: Tales from Vader's Castle by Cavan Scott and various artists

LET THIS BE MY LOVE LETTER TO CAVAN SCOTT AND ALL THE COOL AND AWESOME STUFF HE’S DONE WITH THE STAR WARS UNIVERSE!! I was soooo excited when these came out because it’s such an AWESOME idea, I mean? Star Wars Horror story one-shots connected by a wider plot??? YES PLEASE AND THANK YOU. Doubly so when they star Lina Graf, of the Adventures in Wild Space series by Cavan Scott and Tom Huddleston. I was soooo excited to see her again and it’s amazing to see how she’s grown from a young kid to a brave and capable pilot and Commander in the Rebellion.

Then the individual stories are just awesome. It was a joy to see Kanan and Hera back together again after Rebels (or, well, pre-Rebels). The Dooku story was just amazing and such an enthusiastic tribute to Christopher Lee as Dracula. The Frozen inspired Han and Chewie story was also pretty great and I LOVE that it referenced the events of The Mighty Chewbacca in the Forest of Fear! And, my personal favorite story, the spooky ewok story featuring a young Chief Chirpa and Logray was brilliant and I enjoyed getting a closer first-hand look at ewoks (something we don’t have much of, at least in canon!). All in all just an absolute masterpiece in my book and a great reminder of why IDW Comics’ Star Wars stuff has been so freaking awesome.

2. Join the Resistance: Attack on Starkiller Base by Ben Blacker and Ben Acker and illustrated by Annie Wu

I’M BACK AT IT YELLING ABOUT WHY MORE PEOPLE NEED TO CARE ABOUT THESE WONDERFUL, CHARMING LITTLE KIDS’ BOOKS!! This was such a perfect end to the J-Squadron kids’ story. To me, this series is such a hidden gem and I really hope more people give it a chance. It was wonderful how all the characters’ stories closed out. I loved seeing Jo finally openly defy his parents, Mattis putting his faith in the Force and his friends, the return of Klimo, AG-90 and Dec fighting as brothers but growing stronger for it, and Lorica becoming the hero everybody thought she was. There’s so many fun cameos, from Rey, to Hux to Poe and Black Squadron, with the backdrop of the actual climactic battle in The Force Awakens.

And, one thing I really want to talk about that I love, is how the book (in tandem with the first two) give us the first gay character in a Star Wars kids book, with Dec Hansen. I wish they could’ve said it a bit more explicitly, but we actually got the kid and his friends talking about it in the books? And, with most of the LGBT characters falling more on the “scum and villainy” circles of the galaxy, it’s so refreshing to see a brave and unambiguously heroic gay teenage starfighter pilot trainee. Like, holy shit that actually happened!!!! ANYWAYS READ THIS SERIES I LOVE THEM AND YOU SHOULD TOO.

Oh, also, Annie Wu’s illustrations are AWESOME and I hope she does more Star Wars stuff (Pirate’s Price, out in a week!)

1. Star Wars Rebels created by Dave Filoni, Simon Kinberg and Carrie Beck

I don’t think there’s way I could place anything but Rebels at #1. This show changed my life in so many ways and I’m just. ridiculously thankful it exists. without Rebels, I wouldn’t have this blog, I wouldn’t be up to my ears obsessed with Star Wars and I there’s so many friends I wouldn’t have either. It’s touched my heart in a way that.... gosh I don’t know if I can even think about anything that resonates with me quite in the way Star Wars Rebels has. Pretty sure most if not all of my followers have seen Rebels, haha, but if you haven’t. You won’t regret it. Well, you might. It hurts. I hate to say, but it does. But even if the end destination leaves you heartbroken and uh prone to randomly bursting into tears about it, you will never regret the journey. Everything I learned and experienced with Ezra, Kanan, Hera, Sabine, Zeb and Chopper is beyond precious to me and I’m thankful it exists because it made my year in so many ways.

#star wars rebels #star wars resistance #solo a star wars story #the mighty chewbacca in the forest of fear #join the resistance #tales from vader's castle #star wars: women of the galaxy #star wars poe dameron #tales from vandor #star wars: scum and villainy #flight of the falcon #star wars

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sweetpea-cc · 6 years

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Pieces of Me (Part 3)

Summary: You are Y/N McCormick, the Northside Queen with a knack for defending yourself. Ultimately, too many warnings lead to being expelled from Riverdale High School and you transfer to Southside High where you’re immersed in a completely different life. Slowly, you become closer to Sweet Pea, along with the rest of the Southside Serpents while discovering the missing pieces of yourself.

Paring: Sweet Pea x Reader (ft. Riverdale Core Four, Toni) Warning: Language Word Count: 1.9k+

A/N: Your last name is McCormick for reasons which will be explained later. Also, this is a slow burn miniseries. :))

(Part 1) (Part 2)

After about fifteen more minutes of extended and 'I've heard all of this before" speech, Principal Wright finally allowed you to go back to class, which you grudgingly did so, this wasn't exactly how you imagined your first day going here at Southside but at the same time, you guessed things could have been worse. One thing you knew for sure, was that if the ghoulies had a reputation for anything, it was holding grudges, so you were definitely going to have to watch your back for the next few days, if not weeks.

When you walk out of the front office, you almost immediately feel a shadow loom over you and ball your hands up into fists, ready to fight what you assumed was another ghoulie.

Spinning around you nearly collide with someone who was at least half a foot taller than you. Stepping back, you try to play off your jump scare by focusing your attention on your books. It was the same guy who you had spotted in the hall with Toni earlier that morning. The cute Serpent.

"Jesus Christ, hasn't anyone ever told you not to sneak up on someone? Which one are you? Freaking pine tree or something?" You ask due to his incredible height and the way he towered over you reasonably well.

"That was an impressive feat you pulled back there, Barbie." His face was even more handsome up close to you, and you made a note of the way he seemed to always have a straight line or a smirk on his lips.

"I have a name, you know." You retort, rolling your eyes at the nickname that seemed to be running around Southside High.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" He inquired, completely ignoring your useless attempt of banishing that stupid nickname you were given.

"I train. Six days a week." Your reply was simple, and it was true, you did train nearly every day of the week, four hours a day. Your father had started teaching you self-defense, and how to turn multiple everyday items into a deadly weapon at the mere age of thirteen and to most people, that's cruel but you never saw it that way, if anything, you loved the feeling of adrenaline rushing through your veins after a sparring match or intense workout.

Your father had believed it was the best way for you to be protected whenever he was away for months at a time, and he was right about that, however, knowing how to adequately defend yourself tended to land you in the hot seat with school officials.

You decide to check the time, and you have a free period, and it was a strange concept here because what exactly were you supposed to do? You figured sitting outside reading a book, or something would suffice, but you just hoped that no one would bother you like they did at lunch.

From a short distance, you spotted Toni walking towards you with a smile on her face. So far, Toni was the kindest person you had met here, and it was reassuring knowing that you at least had one friend here, sort of, anyway.

"Hey! Is Sweet Pea bothering you?" She questioned, giving him a gentle shove. The height difference between the two was massive, while Sweet Pea looked like some gigantic pine tree, Toni, on the other hand, resembled a woodland creature compared to him. The very thought of that made you laugh out loud, and you were sure they knew the height difference was funny to most people.

"Nah, but someone should probably talk to him about sneaking up behind people. He's terrifyingly tall." This time it was Sweet Pea's turn to roll his eyes, cross his arms over his chest and commence a brooding look.

"We try, but it never sticks. Anyway, you should teach me the kick-ass move you pulled on the ghoulie!"

"Sure, why don't you come over sometime and I will."

"Really?"

"Yeah, why not? What's your number? I'll text you my address." Toni was more than happy to exchange numbers, and maybe it wasn't super smart to invite someone that you had only just met over, but you liked Toni, and after only knowing her for a few hours, she reminded you of Jughead, if anything, she was the female version of him. With a final smile in Toni's direction, you walk away from her, secretly hoping that maybe, just maybe, the two of you would be friends.

The rest of the day went by surprisingly slow, and at four in the afternoon, you were headed off to Pop's to meet up with Betty, Veronica, Jughead, and Archie to talk about how your first day of 'Southside Hell' went. You knew they were just waiting for the scoop on the infamous school, but apart from the creepy ghoulie, you actually had an excellent first day, which pleased you greatly.

Pop's was always your favorite place in Riverdale, then again it was to nearly everyone in the town, but that was expected. The site had been here since Riverdale was established and withstood decades peace and uprisings but no matter how old it was, it remained the same; same delicious food, same decorations, same music, and strangely enough, the same customers. In a way, it was Switzerland between the Northside and Southside.

You spotted your friends through the window, and they already looked deep into an intense conversation which caused you to roll your eyes for the umpteenth time today. You made your way to the diner and took a resident to the booth behind Betty and Jughead.

"Why are you baby trolls frowning so much?" You tease, momentarily distracting them from whatever was causing them to develop pre-mature wrinkles. While you loved your sleuthing and solving mysteries, sometimes you swore your friends went looking for some that weren't even there and often, that resulted in them being a very brooding bunch.

"We hit a dead end with the whole Jason Blossom mess," Jughead admits, yanking off his iconic hat in frustration, you knew that currently, the stakes were high and there were secrets that many people preferred to stay buried.

"As much as I totally support your fetish for trying to take down murderers, however, I must continue to ask that you don't involve me. Lord knows I'd never get my beauty sleep." It was spoken in a joking manner, but you were entirely serious because you were the type of person who, once you got started on something, you needed to finish it. That and you already had plenty on your plate with your sort of secret investigation of the Southside life which your dad had barred you from.

"Enough about us, how was your first day?" Veronica asked, tucking her black hair behind her ears. Pop then showed up at the table carrying four milkshakes of various flavors, and when his attention landed on you, his face broke out into a smile.

"You want your usual, Y/N?" He asked sweetly, and you couldn't help but mirror the same infectious smile on his face.

"Of course, Pop. Always." He nodded his head at you and disappeared behind into the kitchen, and you turn back to your friends, ready to tell them all about your 'adventurous' day at Southside. From the crazy energy surrounding the place to the mean little ghoulie, and over to your little conversation with the Principal.

"I met this girl, she's a serpent, but like honestly, she was one of the coolest people I've ever met, not to mention, she insanely gorgeous. And then there was this like freaking tall kid, he might as well be a pine tree or a beanstalk. But he was really adorable, and he seemed charming. Like really." You wink at Veronica and Betty who both smile and shake their heads at you as they busy themselves with their drinks. Archie, on the other hand, seemed to be slightly annoyed that you were talking affectionately or whatever about a few Southside Serpents.

"Oh lighten up, Archie. I was merely stating that they're pleasing to look at, that's not a crime, is it? Because if you want to talk about crime, you got another thing coming." His mouth forms a completely straight line, and it was evident that you were referring to his illegal, not to mention extremely gross relationship he shared with Ms. Grundy, the used-to-be music teacher at Riverdale High.

"I just want you to be careful around them Y/N, you have no idea what they're capable of." You weren't sure if he was referring to the Southside Serpents or if he was talking about Southside kids in general. It was funny to you considering his best friend was born and raised on the Southside. Pop Tate then came back carrying your favorite; vanilla milkshake with a side order of French fries to dip. You thank him sweetly and focus once again on your collection of strange friends.

"I'm always careful. I mean, have you met me?" Jughead twisted in his seat to face you, and you could tell he was probably annoyed. At you or over his little investigation, you weren't sure, but whatever it was, it was written all over his face.

"We're well aware of your ability to defend yourself, Y/N. I agree with Archie, I grew up on the Southside, and the Ghoulies are dangerous and unpredictable. From what you told us, you probably made yourself a target." His tone was snarky and bitter, but you knew he was saying this because he cared and you appreciated his concern. He paused for a few seconds before eyeing you suspiciously. "Besides, if I know you at all, I'd say you're quite happy being at Southside. Gives you a chance to work on the little project you've been slaving over for the past two summers."

"It's not a crime to want to know more about your history. You know very well that every time I try to bring it up, my dad shoots me down. So, I'm taking matters into my own hands. Do ya think your dad will let me into the Whyte Wrym?" Jughead, along with the rest of your friends look at you as if you had lost your damn mind and he wasn't afraid to the point that out.

"Are you insane? No. Jesus, Y/N, can't you just be happy with your life? You live in a freaking private mansion, and your dad is probably the richest man in Riverdale, if not the whole state. On top of that, you're envied by almost the entire study body. Stop trying to stick your nose where it doesn't belong." His sudden snap caused you to blink a few times and let out a low whistle. Betty, Veronica, and Archie just sat there silently, not wanting to mess with the tension that was starting to build up.

"That's really funny coming from someone who writes mystery novels and solves murders in his free time. And when did the amount of money my dad has become such a problem for you? I'm at Southside for one day, and you're suddenly acting like I've done a full 360 twist on my personality or something."

"Who knows, maybe that's exactly what's going to happen, why wouldn't it? It'll be a thematic experience; poor little rich girl finally gets a taste of the Southside of town but how long before you toss them out too? You tend to get bored easily."

"Oh, fuck you Jughead. Call me when my best friend decides to stop being a judgemental prick face." The tone of your voice was icy and filled with annoyance as you abruptly stood up from the booth, putting down enough bills to cover your meal before walking out of Pop's ignoring Betty and Veronica's calls.

A/N: I HOPE YOU GUYS LIKE THIS PART, THANK YOU OH SO MUCH FOR THE AMOUNT OF LOVE YOU’VE BEEN SENDING IN, MY HEART IS SWELLING WITH HAPPINESS, I LOVE YOU ALL

(Tag List:) @fafulous / @captainstilinskis / @yourwonderbelle / @the-greatt-perhaps / @alexparrsih / @imweirdhowareyou / @wolfpackcreative

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thotyssey · 6 years

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RePoint: Frankie Sharp

One of nightlife’s biggest movers-and-shakers has us shook with all he’s up to these days: parties in Brooklyn, East Village and Chelsea; a live singing show; GLAM nominations; Drag Race Judys aplenty; and everything that is 3 Dollar Bill. And soon, the classic kiki that made him a nightlife name will be resurrected! Frankie Sharp catches up with Thotyssey since our first chat.

Thotyssey: Hey Frankie! Thanks for talking to us again today! It’s been a minute!

Frankie Sharp: Firstly can I just say, you are literally my favorite interviewer to talk to!

Aw shucks, and you’re one of our favorite ever interviewees! So last night at Club Cumming was the year anniversary of your hit live revue MARY! How did it go?

Even a year in, its always so nerve-racking! I think because it’s the most vulnerable thing I do. Literally putting myself on stage, and next to such great singers... I still feel like a wannabe next to them. But it was a beautiful night. It was very celebratory. I’m very proud of MARY. As well you should be! It’s a super popular night for Club Cumming, and it’s a GLAM-nominated cabaret this year!

The GLAM awards are so fun! But they seem very localized with recognizing talent. It’s very uptown-focused, so I’m very honored to be recognized when I am for having mostly downtown and Brooklyn productions these days.

Yes, you actually have a bunch of GLAM noms this time around... what’s your track record with winning those?

I used to win every year Best Party and Best Promoter when Westgay was happening... but understandably so, Westgay was a very specific night that beautifully bridged downtown and uptown, Manhattan and all the surrounding boroughs--which I think is the ultimate goal usually with events. But Westgay actually achieved that.

You’re doing so much right now!

Yes I’m nuts right now. But I like it that way. A wasted minute is hell to me.

Do you have in your mind very specific ideas on what potential acts or DJs you could work in what space, or is it more about just getting those people and fitting them into any gig you can based on their schedule?

No, it’s very, very conscious and calculated. Just because one DJ or performer is successful in one space, that does not make them right for another. There’s many things that come into play... location, demographic, personal perspective.

It’s so much to be aware of! I picture, like, a dozen thotty assistants in a dungeon somewhere updating Frankie Sharp spreadsheets all day and night.

Can you believe for the first time I just hired a full time assistant? And even then I do most of it, because I’m also very hands on and maybe even a control freak. I’m constantly finessing the approach. Everything is about fine-tuning and being aware of every aspect of an event before, during and after. Its all stimuli though, again... no wasted minute.

I was just at Metropolitan Bar in Brooklyn last night--

Metro is just THE SPOT, you know? Its ol' faithful. And they're so incredibly supportive. and I adore the staff, and Steven the manager is one of the hardest working men in the biz.

Yes! And when I was there I saw a poster for an upcoming Metrosensual, which will have Cynthia Lee Fontaine! Metrosensual is the Saturday weekly you produce, and your longest running party now; very often it features Drag Race girls like Cynthia. So many RuGirls have come through for a Frankie Sharp event, are there any who have remained elusive to you? Not really, honestly. Everyone is very supportive, and most girls I have personal relationships with and reach out to them before I reach out to their agents. I take great care of talent and they all get paid well and on time, so there’s no reason to pass up one of my events. Also, most managers of the girls know that I produce 100+ events a year, so they're very responsive.

I’m bummed I missed viral sensation Florida Man’s Metrosensual! How was she?

An actual genius. And a lovely person. It’s so refreshing to get girls from the Bay Area in NYC; there’s almost NO ego attached to the person. It’s all heart and professionalism.

You’re also now the Man behind REBAR’s BOYS, the Friday night party that delivers on its name. Lots of cute dancing boys and top DJs. How are you enjoying the night so far?

Honestly, fab! The crowd keeps growing every week, and it’s quickly becoming the spot to get classically cruisey and bring home a piece of trade you’ve never seen before.The crowd is hot AF, and no one has their phones out unless they’re filming the gogo boys’ group number. Its very Magic Mike up in the club at BOYS. I clearly have a stripper fetish. I grew up around them. Also, I DJ at BOYS for the first set, so I’m having fun myself, too.

Do you get to DJ as often as you like these days?

Honestly the 3 Dollar Bill the Producer Hat has gotten tighter on me... so no. DJing is my favorite thing to do. It’s how I got to where I am now. But it comes in waves. I wish other promoters would book me to guest DJ; I don’t do that much anymore. Although, "busy" is an understatement for me right now.

3 Dollar Bill is such an interesting space. How did it come to be that you’re the event producer there?

Well, I came to see the space for my Halloween party... and while I was doing so I became very fond of Brenda the owner, and we quickly became the best of friends. She expressed some concern over the space--that it was so vast and beautiful, but nothing was happening--so I decided to step in and help.

The partnership thus far has been unreal. I knew I could do everything I always wanted to at 3 Dollar Bill. I’ve just now started to scratch the surface with my, ideas for 3DB.

There is a lot that can be done with the space! It’s a huge cavernous dungeon, but also there’s a giant stage with great tech, and additionally an outdoor space. What is, like, the craziest thing that comes to mind, i.e. something that you’ve always wanted to try and can maybe be done there?

We’re doing an immersive theatre show in January and February from Neon Coven. And MARY is going to start a new production in the giant Club Room as Mary Presents, an immersive club / bar experience where the cast is at the party but also a part of the scripted show. But being that we also have live music venue capabilities, I have BIG plans with some huge performers doing full concerts. I have massive plans for World Pride, but I have to keep those hush for now.

Lo and behold, 3DB will be the home of a Westgay revival on December 29th, starring Alyssa Edwards. Westgay was your Mona Lisa! 2018 has been all about revivals in pop culture, with nightlife being no different... Wigstock returned this summer, too! What made you want to bring back Westgay now?

The best part of my job is helping young producers with their ideas and help turn their events into larger scale forms. In doing so, it was hard to book a Tuesday night; no one was brave enough to do so. WestGay was a Tuesday night, and I posted a Facebook post that said "Can’t anyone up-and-coming do another WestGay?" and some commented "W3STGAY at 3 Dollar Bill?” A light bulb came on.

Ack! Are you excited for the return? A little nervous, maybe?

Very Excited. Like I said before, I get nervous before anything I do. Putting yourself out there is the name of the game, though. But more than the nerves, I’m excited because it feels like a true family reunion.

You were involved as an event producer with a club in BK called Lovegun a few years ago that lots of people remember fondly, but sadly didn’t last. Did you learn a lot from that experience as far as how to make 3DB work?

Yeah... not bring Manhattan to Brooklyn.

That’s true! No matter how much time passes, those scenes are still two distinctive worlds! And in my fledgling work as an event producer, I find it sooooo hard to get friends to break their cycles and travel to “new” neighborhoods.

That was one of the most major problems with 3DB when it first opened. It felt like a Manhattan club landed in Brooklyn, and demanded its revenue and support with no real attachment to the community. My entire career is about not only honoring Manhattan, but also Brooklyn and surrounding hoods... so just New York as a whole. My approach above all else is having this space be a gift to Queer Brooklyn. Its stage, its dancefloor... it’s Brooklyn's, but everyone's invited.

These days, we’re all a bit furious, scared and hypersensitive thanks in big part to this administration and its open hostility to the queer community and minorities. Has any of that effected how you go about things, or changed your role as an event producer in any way?

I think everyone feels anxiety because as a queer community we may lose our rights, our people are being threatened and some even hurt or murdered. Honestly, I blame Hollywood. Hollywood created a false and dangerous narrative that everything has a happy ending, and since we’re not experiencing that we can feel that pain in our gut right now due to all of this shaky, racist and chaotic rhetoric. Also, it was Hollywood that brought this reality shit show of a president to us, too. It’s affected my business because people are feeling more confrontational than ever. So in some ways, what I do in creating spaces is punk rock, which in turn feels celebratory of just being queer... but conversely within the community it has somewhat made it segregated.

The only other way I can think of how the administration and the world in general have changed my event production is that my social media presence has been more conscious. It feels a lil’ strange to witness wildfires in California or massive shootings across the country, and then beg people to come to my weekly Rager. It feels so disingenuous. So I try to express words out of love and good intention. I like to talk about my sobriety, help young people get a jump start on professionalism, and treat others with kindness and respect. The coolest thing you can do right now is be an incredible neighbor.

One thing that’s surprisingly inspired the Right to rage is young children’s exposure to drag--either in Drag Queen Story Hour, or the kids themselves doing drag. Desmond is Amazing is one of the higher profile kid drag stars, and your showcasing them on Saturday at 3DB!

Desmond is a showgirl. It’s gonna be a great show, and that’s what I love. And I honor the hard work they put in, and what hard work their mother puts in, too. The performance is happening a lot earlier than my usual 2AM showcase.

I’m more focused on getting Desmond's rider right, with crackers, berries and Coca Cola. Everyone seems really obsessed with Desmond's rider. Capri Sun and Sour patch kids.

That is a pretty great rider!

Its not much different than my rider, honestly. Most riders are just sugar.

is it weird to set up these big weekend nights at 3DB when you are basically competing with yourself, like with Metrosensual in the same general hood?

The way that I set up 3DB on Saturdays is when it’s MY production, like WestGay or Club Whoa, I make sure the target audience is specific for each space. Metro is a bar party and always always will be bangin’ and busy... and the reasonable cover is always $5-10. 3DB is a club experience with a higher cover, and frankly the demographic is very different. If you like the DRAMA, go to 3DB... but if you like less aggressive vibes but still wanna dance and get laid on a Saturday night, go to Metro. It’s no different than one club night having two rooms with two different DJs and sound systems... these rooms just happen to be a few miles from one other.

Understood! And finally: will [*pop star’s name redacted*] perform at 3 Dollar Bill in 2019?

Real T? I don’t really see her. Perhaps it’s something I should explore, but I just don’t get it. I’m just mystified about her appeal. I just need someone to explain it to me. Maybe it’s a Kardashian thing? I think people find comfort in simple ideas. Thank you, Frankie!

Frankie Sharp produces MARY at Club Cumming (monthly Tuesdays, 9pm), BOYS at REBAR (Fridays, 10pm), Metrosensual at Metropolitan Bar (Saturdays, 10pm) and events at 3 Dollar Bill throughout the week. Check Thotyssey’s calendar for a full schedule of his events and appearances, and follow Frankie on Facebook and Instagram.

Previously: Frankie Sharp (3.17.2018)

On Point Archives

#onpointwith #frankiesharp

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thegallinisystem · 6 years

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65 Questions You Aren't Used To

One of my followers (*cough cough @almostasgayasstartrek ) challenged me to answer all of these questions, so buckle up.

1. Do you ever doubt the existence of others than you?

Sometimes. Usually only when I’m having a dissociative issue.

2. On a scale of 1-5, how afraid of the dark are you?

It depends on if I’ve recently watched a horror play through or not.

3. The person you would never want to meet?

There are many. Pretty much anyone in politics.

4. What is your favorite word?

Anything that’s easily rhymable.

5. If you were a type of tree, what would you be?

Red maple, because the leaves are vibrant and I have sweetness inside

6. When you looked in the mirror this morning what was the first thing you thought?

I don’t really look in the mirror unless I have to.

7. What shirt are you wearing?

A blue shirt that has Chewbacca on it and says “Wookie of the Year”. Which is funny, because I don’t actually like Star Wars very much. But the shirt is comfy!

8. What do you label yourself as?

Transgender, non-binary, queer, Ravenclaw, INFJ, compassionate, empath, neurodivergent

9. Bright room or dark room?

Not too bright, but I prefer a lit room.

10. What were you doing at midnight last night?

Believe it or not, sleeping. I know it’s hard to believe, especially for me.

11. Favorite age you’ve been so far?

I would have to say 24. It was a good year.

12. Who told you they loved you last?

My spouse.

13. Your worst enemy?

Probably myself. I tend to sabotage myself a lot.

14. What is your current desktop picture?

(insert desktop photo here)

15. Do you like someone?

Yes actually. Sometimes it hurts being polyromantic, because even though I’m currently in a relationship, we’ve all talked about having romantic relationships with others. So there’s this person I like who I met a couple months ago, but I know they’re not ready or interested in a relationship and I don’t know if they ever will be. Man, it’s been a while since I’ve had to deal with unrequited love.

16. The last song you listened to?

https://soundcloud.com/tophouserecordings/bass-farmers-unsettling-ft-nathan-brumley-original-mix

17. You can press a button that will make any one person explode. Who would you blow up?

My father. Because then he wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone and hopefully he’s got life insurance, which would help the rest of my family.

18. Who would you really like to just punch in the face?

Mostly all of the politicians in power right now, save a couple of senators who aren’t incredibly evil.

19. If anyone could be your slave for a day, who would it be and what would they have to do?

Jeff Bezos. Firstly, he’d transfer me and each of my friends $1 million. Then, he’d sign a legally binding contract changing how things work at Amazon so that employees actually get what they deserve. Then, he would pay to end world hunger and create housing for the homeless. He’d also pay for all of the people who are trying to transition to get the surgeries they need. I would find a way to do all of this in a legally binding way so that he couldn’t come back and try to sue once the day is over.

20. What is your best physical attribute? (showing said attribute is optional)

It’s not great at the moment, but I take a lot of pride in my hair.

21. If you were the opposite sex for one day, what would you look like and what would you do?

There is a flaw with this question in that it assumes there are only two genders or sexes, and therefore there can be an opposite. The spectrum is wide and diverse biologically and narrowing it down to simply what genetalia you have on the outside is a disservice to that diversity.

22. Do you have a secret talent? If yes, what is it?

I have the ability to bring a crowd wherever I go. People call me a trendsetter, but it’s happened so many times that it’s uncanny.

23. What is one unique thing you’re afraid of?

Having the people around me turn out to be like the abusive people in my past. It hasn’t actually happened since 2013, but I’ve had some close calls and they’ve been terrifying.

24. You can only have one kind of sandwich. Every sandwich ingredient known to humankind is at your disposal.

Well firstly, we’ll start with toasted gluten free bread because of my stomach. Then, we’ll do cracked pepper turkey with mayo and Dijon mustard. Toss in some spinach, lettuce, tomato, red onion, and pickles and you’ve got a great sandwich.

25. You just found $100! How are you going to spend it?

Putting it in my top surgery fund, which you can find here!

26. You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere in the world, but you have to leave immediately. Where are you going to go? Anywhere with a beach would be great by me.

27. An angel appears out of Heaven and offers you a lifetime supply of the alcoholic beverage of your choice. “Be brand-specific” it says. Man! What are you gonna say about that? Even if you don’t drink booze there’s something you can figure out… so what’s it gonna be?

Henri IV Dudognon Heritage Cognac because one bottle of the stuff is worth nearly $2 million and I could sell it and be set for life. (I don’t drink so actually having it for me wouldn’t do me any good)

28. You discover a beautiful island upon which you may build your own society. You make the rules. What is the first rule you put into place?

Everyone gets equal rights. Period.

29. What is your favorite expletive?

Oh Nut!

30. Your house is on fire, holy shit! You have just enough time to run in there and grab ONE inanimate object. Don’t worry, your loved ones and pets have already made it out safely. So what’s the one thing you’re going to save from that blazing inferno?

I would either grab my laptop or reginald (insert picture of reginald here). It’s a serious debate for me, because reginald is my prized possession. But my laptop has a whole bunch of stuff on it that I really don’t want to lose.

31. You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be?

Trump getting elected.

32. You got kicked out of the country for being a time-traveling heathen who sleeps with celebrities and has super-powers. But check out this cool shit… you can move to anywhere else in the world!

That is the COOLEST reason for getting kicked out of the country. Honestly, if I had the money, I’d take my family and move to Europe where they have universal healthcare and know that human rights are for everyone.

33. The Celestial Gates Of Beyond have opened, much to your surprise because you didn’t think such a thing existed. Death appears. As it turns out, Death is actually a pretty cool entity, and happens to be in a fantastic mood. Death offers to return the friend/family-member/person/etc. of your choice to the living world. Who will you bring back?

I would totally hang out with Death from The Sandman, she’s amazing. I’m not sure I would bring anyone back, because bringing people back from the dead has a whole bunch of repercussions that I don’t think we really know how to deal with.

34. What was your last dream about?

I don’t really remember my dreams that well.

35. Are you a good chopstick user?

I’d say so. When I have the option of using chopsticks, 9 times out of 10 I will because I can feed myself with them. I’m not good enough that I’m confident I don’t make faux paus though.

36. Have you ever been admitted to the hospital?

Yes, I was admitted to a mental facility twice this past year.

37. Have you ever built a snowman?

I built several as a kid! One in my backyard lasted for a good couple of weeks.

38. What is the color of your socks?

Not currently wearing socks.

39. What type of music do you like?

Depends on my mood, but I’m almost always in the mood for some electronica.

40. Do you prefer sunrises or sunsets?

I think sunrises are prettier, but I don’t like being awake at the time of day that they usually happen.

41. What is your favorite milkshake flavor?

Chocolate malt

42. What football team do you support?

None? I don’t like football.

43. Do you have any scars?

I’ve got several on my knees from when I was a kid and played outside all the time. I’ve also got a few on my arms from self harm.

44. What do you want to be when you graduate?

I graduated 4 years ago, so this question is moot.

45. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

The severity of my mental illness.

46. Are you reliable?

I don’t feel like I am. My poor physical and mental health means that I have to back out of things a lot and I hate it.

47. If you could ask your future self one question, what would it be?

What helped you heal from the trauma of my past.

48. Do you hold grudges?

Not usually.

49. If you could breed two animals together to defy the laws of nature, what new animal would you create?

A dog that lives longer than 12 years in a healthy way. I know that the question is looking for something like a liger, but this is more fun.

50. What is the most unusual conversation you’ve ever had?

I’ve had a lot of unusual conversations, so it’ll be hard to pick.

51. Are you a good liar?

I can be, but not if it’s for a game. Usually only when I’m trying to hide my mental or emotional health, which I haven’t done for a couple months.

52. How long could you go without talking?

I have gone several days without talking.

53. What has been you worst haircut/style?

I went to a super cuts once and the hairdresser gave me the choppiest haircut ever and a bunch of the strands weren’t even the same length. It was horrible.

54. Have you ever baked your own cake?

I’ve actually done it a lot more lately because of my allergies.

55. Can you do any accents other than your own?

Not well.

56. What do you like on your toast?

Peanut butter.

57. What is the last thing you drew a picture of?

I was trying to express something in therapy so it was more of an abstract piece.

58. What would be you dream car?

Something with amazing gas mileage.

59. Do you sing in the shower? Or do anything unusual in the shower? Explain.

I sometimes do oil pulling, where I swish coconut oil around in my mouth.

60. Do you believe in aliens?

Oh boy do I. I wrote a ton of poems about aliens in high school.

61. Do you often read your horoscope?

No. I don’t really believe in horoscopes.

62. What is your favorite letter of the alphabet?

X! It’s my gender marker now!

63. Which is cooler: dinosaurs or dragons?

How about yes.

64. What do you think about babies?

I don’t really care for them and I’m definitely not having any of my own.

65. Freebie! Ask anything interesting you can think of.

If you qualified for a wish from the make a wish foundation, what would your wish be?

I’ve thought about this one a lot, actually. When I was younger, I probably would have done something with animals, like being able to take care of them or go behind the scenes or something. I didn’t care much about the money or the big grandiose wishes like what I have now. I think I was a simple child.

#ask me #this was fun #about me

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earwaxinggibbous · 7 years

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“Congratulations” VS. “Started From The Bottom”

Started as a bottom, now my whole team’s fuckin’ rears.

Self-aggrandizing rap and hip-hop anthems have existed since the genre was invented. It’s just a really nice, friendly way of saying, “hey! I’m better than you.” Generally speaking, whoever is on the track should have the power and clout behind them to make all of the bragging seem warranted. A great example is Eminem’s Rap God, which has a chorus that literally has Eminem saying he’s beginning to feel like a rap god. And we buy it, because hell, Eminem basically IS a rap god. Regardless of how you feel about him, especially as a person, there’s no arguing that his flows and style require an insane amount of skill. (Or at least, they used to.)

The other big rule, once again using Rap God as an example, as that the song should actually be good. Because if you’re bragging about being the coolest rapper with the most chains and bitches while rapping like complete shit, your point is pretty much moot. When Eminem speed-raps in Rap God, it’s essentially the proof that he is in fact the man named in the title.

There’s only one real problem with these songs when it comes to audience reception: They’re not relatable to anybody except other rich rappers and musicians. Which can be kind of a problem since that’s not really who the music industry is aiming to please. So in somewhat recent times we’ve been getting a different flavor of self-aggrandizing rap. Songs that, instead of saying “I’m super great”, they say, “Hey, I started from humble beginnings and worked my way to the top, and now I’m super great”. Which gives us viewers the idea of this sort of achievable dream that is nearly within arm’s reach.

Enter two very, very different hip-hop artists, at two very different times.

Drake and Post Malone, in my opinion, are both pretty good, in my opinion.

Let’s start with Drake. Drake feels at least a little more like a “real rapper” than Post does. Maybe because he was on Young Money, or because he doesn’t have that sing-songy flow that Post does, but he just feels more like somebody I’d describe as a rapper. If I had any reason, I’d say it’s because Post Malone’s music, even his ego-boosting shit, tends to sound stoned or morose the bulk of the time. Drake’s voice isn’t much fun either, but at least I can believe his ego based on his vocal tones alone. Post has a tendency to sound really, really sad, or just super high.

Now one might say, “Panda, you can’t compare these two songs. Started from the Bottom precedes Congratulations by four years.” But the reason I’m making this comparison is that, despite Drake being considered the superior artist by nearly everyone, Congratulations is basically the better version of its predecessor.

Let’s discuss this.

Now for one thing, I fucking hate the music video of Started from the Bottom. Not because it’s that bad, though depicting “working at a drug store” as “the bottom” is pretty fucking stupid, the video itself does a pretty good basic job at getting across what it wants. I just hate the skit.

I remember pulling up the song on YouTube and thinking, Jesus, this song is 5 fucking minutes long? Half the lyrics are just the title. Relax, past Panda, one minute of that video is a stupid skit that shows up randomly before the second chorus. A full fucking minute of two of Drake’s coworkers, not even Drake himself, but two of his coworkers at Duane Reade or something ogling some woman who’s checking out of the store. It’s not funny, it doesn’t really add anything, and the two guys can’t act. Drake’s body language is awkward and goofy in the music video, I doubt he’d be a great actor either, but that’s fine, he’s just the guy who made the song. Most of what he needs to do is lipsync along to the track and wave his hands around anyway. But the two guys are in a skit, an acted skit that requires acting to happen, and they suck.

It doesn’t help that it’s interrupting what is already one of the most monotonous songs that the lord hath graciously dumped on top of our collective consciousness like a weighty cow turd. The video actually tries to help the song by making it look like Drake really did work a crappy job with a bunch of assholes and was raised in a shitheap. But this isn’t true.

And I hate bringing the lives of artists into their music more than anything. Because ever since really getting into Eminem’s works, I’ve been seeing every musician’s persona as a character. Now some musicians characters, like say, Mary Lambert, are very close to their real-world self, or even identical. Others, like David Bowie or the aforementioned Eminem, are essentially entirely different people offstage. Then there’s incredibly creative people like ThatPoppy who sort of blur the difference between a musical persona and the person behind it. And honestly I find that way more interesting than ripping into an artist personally. (Unless it’s Taylor Swift.)

But Started from the Bottom is an argument against critics who don’t believe Drake ever really suffered or understands the lower class. And I’ve read about him, so I can say that he should. He wasn’t living in a complete shithole, generally Canadian shitholes are better than American ones, but he still dealt with a parental divorce, bullying due to his race and Jewish upbringing, and having to see his father arrested. But there’s two issues once we reach this point.

One. This song never mentions any of that. And two. After dropping out of school he got a TV job to act as a main character on Degrassi. And since this song isn’t about his childhood, I can only assume it’s looking back on his days as a working-class young adult.

NO, Drake. BAD hip-hop artist.

Being an actor on a TV sitcom is not the bottom. Not to mention that even when he left to start making music, he essentially had his career set. Once you’re an actor on television, if people watched your shit, you can almost definitely get a job in music afterwards. It worked for Miley, Demi, Ariana, and Selena, there’s no reason it wouldn’t have worked for Drake. Not to mention that he got picked up by Young Money, which is essentially a free win for anyone who’s better and more interesting than sentient iguana man Li’l Wayne. (Which was surprisingly rare, apparently. Where the fuck is Gudda Gudda’s next single, Wayne?!)

Yes, Drake, we know you weren’t rich. That doesn’t mean you were at the bottom. I live in a comfortable apartment in Midtown and my mom works a law firm, and we don’t even call ourselves rich. “Not being rich” is different from “the bottom”. “The bottom” is only owning hand-me-down underwear, living in a downturned umbrella and eating dirt for nutrients.

But lyrically this song doesn’t tell you anything. All the stuff I know about this guy is just from Lyric Genius and Wikipedia.

Wow, you only argue with your mom once a month?

Lucky bastard.

Also, really quickly I wanna comment on the uncle line for a second. “The keys” are specifically to his drop top Lexus that young Drake was borrowing. I don’t think you need me to say that people who are on “the bottom” don’t tend to own convertibles.

And, like, rich people work at night and get in traffic too. Just because you’re in a limousine doesn’t mean there’s no traffic. It’s just slightly more enjoyable traffic.

And then Drake just spends the rest of the song essentially sucking his own dick without expanding on his hardships, which was supposed to be the point of this track from the beginning. And I don’t get the whole “no new friends” thing he always says, this isn’t the only song he’s said it in. Drake, unless you’re gonna tell me that the entirety of Young Money and several other well-known rappers went to high school with you like some kind of wacky rap music-based sitcom, I’m pretty sure you’ve made some new friends. Either that or your obvious baby crush on Nicki Minaj is painfully laced by inconceivable amounts of mistrust.

So you’re either a paranoid asshole who just admitted to not trusting the people that got him into the game in the first place, or you’re a liar. Good to know!

Honestly this song makes me just kind of not like Drake as a person. Which is probably one of the worst things you can do as an artist. If you’re trying to make a song that allows people to sympathize with your plights or revel in your success, being this illegally unlikable while doing it isn’t helping your case in the slightest.

But honestly the worst part isn’t even the douchey lyrics, it’s just the song itself. It just feels like it goes on forever.

(Pictured: A hook, apparently.)

The chorus itself is so repetitive I’d rather listen to fucking Come and Get It, Drake has a really bad habit of sounding literally bored to death, and the beat just sounds like a Future song jacked off on GarageBand. Lame snares and lame backing tunes. One whole piano key. Wow, Drake, you’re almost as good at playing physical instruments as your mentor.

(Even he hates it.)

Sad to say the beat and production is probably the best part? Drake’s voice wrecks what was already a weak beat. Whenever he wants to be self-aggrandizing he just sounds fucking bored. Like the most self-aggrandizing thing about it is the fact that he doesn’t think he needs to actually try. In fact, The Motto (YOLO) had the exact same problem. I actually prefer that song. The beat still isn’t high art, but it’s got a little more snap to it. Kind of reminds me of Sage the Gemini’s Gas Pedal, which falls into the category of songs that aren’t that great but can be danced to if put on the setlist.

But this? It’s no fun. A hard 1 out of 5, and that’s only because its attempted premise was almost salvageable. But all I really got out of this song was that Drake is an asshole, he went to school with Lil Wayne apparently, his mom is really really nice since they only argue once a month, and he should just go back to desperately wishing his girlfriend would call him on his cell phone. You’re way better at being sad than--

Fucking... goddamnit.

Now Post Malone is kind of... different. In many ways. One time he said he doesn’t write rap music, and while normally I’d attribute that to him being a pussy who’s too afraid to contribute to what is and has always been a predominantly black genre and racism and he secretly doesn’t wanna be associated with them or whatever. But honestly I’m inclined to give Post Malone some leeway because really, he’s a singer. He makes notes. He’s singing with a hip-hop flow and occasionally has actual rap guests who... honestly end up doing a similar thing on his tracks. (In this case, it’s Quavo! Hurray!)

Oddly enough I actually went through a few songs to compare this to before settling on Drake. I considered Cheap Thrills, as they both sort of follow a similar concept of ‘today’s a good day, let’s go clubbing with only three bucks in our collective pockets’. Decided not to because really Cheap Thrills could be more accurately compared to a myriad of other songs. Considered White Iverson, his first single, but decided they didn’t really have enough in common to use it. I had options.

Really the only reason I went with this is because Congratulations succeeds in every place that Started From The Bottom fails.

Rather than attempting to detail Post Malone’s past suffering, it moreso discusses the actual rise to fame. And alllll the people who said he couldn’t do it.

Beatwise this one outclasses Drake’s already. I remember reading critics describing Started’s beat as “haunting”, which was apparently a good thing. I don’t get it. Congratulations, on the other hand, is carried by a sort of stoned, laidback tempo. Really speaks to the whole idea of “hey, we worked really hard, our album dropped, and now we can take a break and have some fun!”

Honestly if Post Malone wrote more songs like this and less straight-up luxury porn/self-aggrandizing rap like White Iverson or rockstar. (I feel like I’m a minority in not really minding either one of those songs.) Also I must say that Post Malone seems to be really good at picking guest artists. On rockstar he has 21 Savage, whose big thing is that he’s gangsta and shoots people and don’t fuck with him, which at least fits into the attempted tone. (Honestly Sav fits better on that song than Post does.) And in Congrats, we get Quavo.

Not only do Quavo and Post sound really good together on this, as their vocal range seems somewhat similar implying some kind of bro-type unity shit. Honestly this song gives me more band vibes than rockstar does, albeit a very different kind.

You know, you just started your band, you’re waiting to hit it big, you’ve put in all this effort with barely any money, you’re living in a shitbag apartment with 4 other sweaty dudes and you all have to sleep together and Quavo keeps rolling over and shoving his nuts in your face. It’s completely garbage and your drummer has to whore himself out for money, you accidentally get paid for a gig in beer tickets like in that one episode of Metalocalypse, and then finally, FINALLY, you drop a tape that hits big. You get on TV, you meet a record exec, and you’re calling your mom during the afterparty and you’re all celebrating because it’s been so LONG since you could just have a BREAK and now everybody’s SAUCIN’.

EXACTLY.

The lyrics work perfectly for this, but not only that, it’s to show all of the naysayers who insisted they couldn’t do it. All the haters who are now suddenly super gung-ho about how they used to be friends with Post Malone even though they actually shoved him in a locker literally every day. This somehow manages to be super-laidback and super-hype at the same time, which seems to be Post’s general style. Candy Paint has sort of a similar feel. That’s also a fucking great song. I love Post Malone. There. I said it.

But the biggest difference between these two songs is that I somehow get some feeling that Post Malone started somewhere. When I hear Congratulations, I feel like he actually had to put in some effort to get where he is. His first big hit only even got released because somebody leaked it. Nobody was ever expecting it to be as big as it is. Stoney in general is an insanely personal album, and it all feels surprisingly honest for the genre despite the drops of luxury porn and self-aggrandizing.

Basically, TL;DR: Drake cares more about the destination than the journey. Post gives us both the conflict and they payoff. Drake’s beat lacks texture or purpose, whereas Post manages to meld his melodic voice with a smooth backing track. Also, Post occasionally bothers with wordplay! Lyricism in a melodic rap song? Who would’ve thought?

Hell, it even manages to fix the “no new friends” idea displayed by Drake by sort of re-interpreting it as “no fake friends”.

And fuck, I almost forgot to mention Quavo.

Oh Quavo. Your verse may be short, severely lacking in punchlines and technically mediocre, but you just... you sound good. You sound good with Post. Somehow Post fucking Malone manages to totally outclass one of the Migos on this track. But Quavo does pretty well. I kinda like the “Huncho Houdini” line and a few of the football puns. In the end his verse is a little too short to really judge as anything more than decent.

(Also, the music video is great.)

But yeah, who would’ve thought this white stoner with braided sideburns would manage to completely slam Drake, the god of the late 2010′s? I’m honestly tempted to give this thing a 5 out of 5, but due to a few not-rhymes that nearly slip past due to Post’s mild drunken slur, I’d have to drop it into a 4.5/5. Still, I love this song. I love this song, I love Post Malone, fuck it. Judge me if you want. I have yet to hear a Post Malone song I don’t like.

Which I guess doesn’t mean much since he only has an album and an LP out, but...

It’s more than can be said for Drake at this point.

#song vs song #post malone #drake #song review #panda posts #music criticism

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mixietrattel · 7 years

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In case anyone was wondering about my drag con experience!!!

So this is going to be all based off of memory, which is in no way completely reliable so I’m probably going to be missing a few details but basically I just want to outline my experience/what it was like meeting the queens/how the convention was set up.

So day one Kayla and I arrived around 9, and they bring all of the non-VIP badge holders to the bottom floor to wait in a giant room. They started letting us in slowly, so a chunk of the line would go up at a time. Luckily we were the second group, so when we got up to the convention floor it wasn’t very busy yet. We were planning on seeing Shea first, but most queens weren’t at their booths yet so we decided to go to Raja and Manila’s line. As we were walking by though, we saw the beautiful Serena Cha Cha at her booth. We were in a rush so we didn’t stop to say hi, but she was super sweet saying like “hi girls how are you have a good drag con!” When we got to Raja and Manila’s line it was decently long and both of the queens were there. As we were waiting though, Raja had to go to the winner’s walk for the opening ceremony. The handler said that everyone could stay in line if they wanted to wait, or form a different line to meet Manila alone. Kayla and I had both met Raja before so we decided to just see Manila. She was so kind, and when I told her my poster was going to be the first one signed with my name (I have two signed ones I bought off of her website) she went “Oh! I’ll sign the back too then!” and proceeded to write my name on the back, so I joked and said “Awesome now it’ll be all over my white walls,” and she just went “oops.” Manila was amazing though, and I’ve been dying to meet her since she’s one of my all time favorites.

Next we went to go see Alexis Michelle because she was a top priority for me and I wanted to get a specific t-shirt from her. The line for her wasn’t bad either, probably less than ten minutes. When I went to buy the shirt before getting in line the guy told me they were all sold out and I guess I looked disappointed/Alexis overheard because she paused with the guest I was talking to and told me that the artist who designed the shirt was at the con and was selling prints of it if I wanted it and told me not to worry. I ended up getting a pretty 8x10 and getting back in line. Alexis was so so sweet and we talked about when she came to my school last year and there was an alt-righter trying to speak, and counter protests, which led to a glass door of the building we were in being smashed. Good memories. Our pic was super cute and she kept hugging me, I love my Auntie Alexis.

I think we went to go try to see Violet next, but she was walking a show at fashion week that day so she wouldn’t be there for a couple of hours, so we bought meet and greet passes for $5 each that we could redeem to get into a priority line. After that we went to go see Laila. Renee Martel was running her merch stand so I chatted with her about seeing her at Rhode Island Pride and Laila’s merch. She probably had the coolest stuff and the most variety, including old prints, little pins, an enamel pin (which I bought and wore day 2 idk if you can see it in pics), and 8x10′s. Her line was decently long, and while we were waiting to meet her we ran into these two women promoting a documentary on Boston drag that Laila was going to be in. The director was SO sweet and enthusiastic, and has been working on the project for over four years so I’m definitely going to post about it when I get more information. Laila’s line took I wanna say 30 minutes and then we got to meet her. We chatted about Keith Haring and other stuff, she was really cool and is super funny.

Pretty sure after Laila we went to go say hi to Biblegirl and check out the dragqueenmerch table. Bible was just kind of chilling in this little alley between two main alleys with Rubber and Lisa. She wasn’t talking to anyone, so we just went right up to her. Bible was probably the sweetest person we talked to all day. She was asking so many questions and kept saying how she was so happy to meet fans and did this all for us. We got to chat with the guy who designed her outfit that day, which was cool. Kayla and Bible bonded over their Libra-ness aka their messiness online. I asked her to tell Soju to get her ass over to the convention because at that point it was two hours in and she wasn’t there, so Bible told us exactly how to sneak into Soju’s gig that night. Again, messy but the absolute sweetest.

After Bible we went to Bob’s line, but Bob was on break so it was stagnant for a while, which was fine. She was probably the first queen we waited over an hour for, but as a winner it was worth it. I didn’t get anything from Bob’s merch stand, so I don’t have anything signed from her unfortunately. Funnily enough while Kayla held down the fort I went to wander around the con looking for Soju who had FINALLY showed up at that point, and I kept seeing Bob literally running around in her little clown costume. I went back to the line and after some more waiting Bob came back. The line moved pretty quickly so we got up to Bob easily enough. Her setup for pictures was a little tight and she had a guy there to take pictures, so I kept apologizing for getting in the way because I had to take pictures for three people, plus get pictures myself. Bob clocked Kayla’s accent and asked if she was Canadian, then turned to me and said “now I KNOW you’re Canadian because you’ve said sorry probably a million times,” and I told her that I was from Rhode Island, and her camera guy came to my defense saying he said sorry a lot too. Bob was a ton of fun to meet.

We wanted to go see Fame after Bob, and on our way I spotted Soju and her team off in a little empty area alone. I quickly yanked Kayla and our little group over and ran up to DS, because I was wearing my Soju shirt and had been DYING to say hi. When Soju saw me/my shirt she got so happy and pulled me into a hug. Then she turned to DS and told him to turn the camera on and all of the sudden she was interviewing me. She asked a bunch of questions and was super sweet, it was really surreal getting to talk to her in person. I didn’t get a picture with her though, so if she edits me out of the episode I’m going to be a little pissed.

After Soju we got in line for Fame and it was.... a mess. We waited for Fame for probably two hours. The line kept getting mixed up and people were jumping in and out. Plus, Fame was in a really heavily trafficked area and had an open setup, so a lot of people were stopping to take pictures and confusing the crowd. By the time we got to Fame we were pretty irritated, but nothing makes Kayla happier than Miss Fame so it was worth it. Fame recognized Kayla immediately so the two of them chatted for awhile, and I snapped a million pics but none of them turned out fantastic. I didn’t chat with her as much but Kayla was having her Laganja moment so I didn’t mind. Fame’s line took so long though that the convention was winding down to a close. We didn’t really have time to go meet another big queen, and I really wanted to see Joslyn who was nearby so we decided to make her our last queen for the day. We went over, and though you didn’t HAVE to buy anything to get a picture with her I really wanted a print so I got one anyway. Joslyn looked adorable but we didn’t really talk much as she was having too much fun dancing around to the music playing. We got a pic though, and Kayla got a video for one of her friends saying Happy Birthday. After that we just left the convention and went home. Day 1 was kind of stressful because the amount of queens was overwhelming, plus the lines were all ridiculous. Even though we both love Shea and Trixie we knew neither of those two were options to meet.

Day 2 we got in around the same time again, and I saw Michelle Visage in line for Starbucks which was a little surreal. Also, Meatball was wandering around dressed like Jackie-O so Kayla got a cute pic with her. We had a list of maybe five queens we wanted to see, and Naomi was up there so we hopped in her line first at like 10. Her people said Naomi would show up at 11, and since the line wasn’t too bad we decided to wait. Naomi got in at 11:30 though, and we still had the passes to go see Violet but she had to leave at 12. So I told Kayla she should just take our Violet pass and go meet Violet with two of her friends already in line, and I’d meet Naomi instead. If I made it in time I would’ve joined them at Violet’s, but it didn’t look like it would work out that way. I ended up talking to a guy in line though, so I wasn’t left completely alone. Brian from Soju’s show was the guy taking pictures for Naomi, so when the person in front of me was taking pics I got to talk to him a bit. When it was my turn, Naomi was so gushing with compliments and incredibly sweet. She told me I was beautiful, and she loved my hair, and all this stuff that was making me blush. She looked stunning in person too, so I was just a mess. Our pic together was probably my favorite from the whole weekend, maybe tied with Bob’s.

Kayla really wanted to meet Laganja and Gia next, and they didn’t have a line because they had closed it off for a break, but decided to stay longer. It cost $30 to meet them, so Kayla was the only one who wanted to do it, plus she got two cute t-shirts so it was worth it. I didn’t really hear what they talked to Kayla about because their camera guy was helping me edit my manual camera settings to better fit their specific lighting setup. He also gave me his flash attachment for my camera, so the pictures turned out really high quality. I didn’t talk to them much though so I don’t have a lot to say, Gia looked STUNNING though (no pun intended).

We got in Peppermint’s line next, which also took over two hours. The wait times were ridiculous, and even though they worked out some kinks by day two the queens kept having to leave their tables so lines would halt for twenty minutes at a time. Kayla and I just hung around in line, and got the same 8x10′s. There were these two little kids who both got Peppermint’s fans who popped them for her, and she was so enamored with them. She kept dancing with them and talking to them, it was adorable. When we went up Peppermint remembered Kayla from the awesome scrapbook she did, so Peppermint was talking about how much it meant to her and holding onto it. Pep had her own camera guy, so we both took pictures. Then I went up and Peppermint was incredibly sweet. I don’t remember exactly what we talked about but she just gives off such a good aura. So did her whole team, they were all so warm and inviting.

After Peppermint’s line we were kind of done with waiting for big queens. Aja’s line was a mess, Shea was charging an intense amount of money, we didn’t even look at Kim’s line. Even Bible had a decent line of people to see her, even though she didn’t have one yesterday. We decided to wander around to see what queens had shorter lines, and after searching all weekend we finally spotted Kimora’s booth. There was no one really there, and the setup was confusing because it was technically one booth split down the middle, one half Kimora’s one half Cynthia’s (who was not present at the time). Kimora was talking to a handler, and it seemed like they were getting ready to leave so I asked the guy behind the table what was up. He said they were going on break and they’d be back in fifteen minutes. I asked if we could wait in line and he looked super confused and said sure, we could wait at the table. We ended up being the only ones there and they left, so we just kind of hung out while she was on break. She didn’t take too long, and seemed really apologetic about making us wait. Her voice was super hoarse too, and she had a water bottle, which was probably why she had to go on break. Kimora was definitely the nicest Ru Girl we met day 2. She told me she was obsessed with my outfit, and we bonded over our love of wearing black. She apologized for her weird booth set up, and we talked about how odd the setup of the convention was. After her the whole day seemed kind of lame because she was just such a bright spot and just the best to talk to.

Kayla and I decided to go back to Bible after that, and waited in line for a few minutes because we’d rather have someone we could talk to than wait two hours for another big queen. Bible was again so cool and chatted with us for a while. We also had to retake pictures because our first day ones did not look so cute. It was just a reminder that drag really isn’t just Ru Girls, and sometimes your local talent is just as if not more interesting.

The convention was almost over, but Kayla had friends waiting in Fame’s line so we went to go join them. Kayla bought another print and I decided I’d rather just take pictures for Kayla, and stopped over at Shea’s booth to pick up a t-shirt that I really wanted. Fame’s look was even more stunning the second day if that’s even possible, and the wait was definitely better the second time around because we joined people instead of standing there the whole time. After Fame I tried to track Soju down to say hi again but the lights were getting shut off so we decided to leave.

Overall, I would say Drag Con was one of the best weekends of my life. I got to finally meet Kayla in person, and was surrounded by a community of people I felt safe and accepted in. There’s no way to really describe the surreal feeling that occurs from being around so many of your idols in one place. Both days when we left and were riding on the subway, our passes dangling from our necks as we were surrounded by normal people again (more often than not staring at our strange ensembles), we kept asking if that was real, because it honestly felt like a dream. Of course there were a lot of downsides. It was expensive, disorganized, the lines were eternal, the lighting was homophobic, and we deprived of food and water all day. Hopefully next year they can sort things out better, and more queens will come since it won’t be so last minute. Maybe with bigger names like Adore, Katya, Willam, and Alaska the Farrah line will be more accessible. I’m honestly counting down the days until Drag Con NYC 2018 is announced.

#this is sooooooo long and mostly for me to remember but basically my weekend experience!!!#drag con

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sqwdink · 7 years

Photo

http://sqwdink.deviantart.com/art/Pin-Up-Girls-Finished-Sketch-697279010

click link and download the picture if you wanna see them closer

1. ayane: Age:19 Birthday: 1/9 A fun friend and the life of the party. Ayane likes playing video games, has posters on their wall, and likes to do art. They don’t like spicy foods, don’t like magical girl games and thinks they’re quite generic. He normally likes to play Horror games and record his reactions and post them on his blog. Has a huge following and loves interacting with fans.Normally found in room recording videos. 2. Airi: age: 43 Birthday: 5/24 a gentle parent type friend who enjoys dancing. She loves the beach and marine life, she isn’t too big into sports, but she sure tries, 9/10 she’ll be your best friend. Though when she needs to step her foot down she dose. Not just for Ayane, but for the whole Powder Puffz group. she normally brings the Snacks to the photo shoots.Normally found walking around town enjoying life. 3. Chinatsu: age:19 birthday: 6/15 a total doll, likes frilly things and also bugs. She’s chill and confident. She likes sightseeing, Hiking, and cooking. is probably afraid of fireworks but never admits it. Not very social, but if you share a love in bugs, she’d yap all day. she also doesn’t like birds all that much since they normally target her favorite beetles the “Japanese rhinoceros beetle”. Normally is found hanging out in the local forests with a net looking for bugs and playing animal crossing music on her phone. 4. Etsuko: age:18 birthday: 5/4 has a tendency to erupt like a volcano due to her short temper and nasty attitude. You wouldn’t know it by looking at her but shes very over protective of her friends and is the tough love sort of gal. she hates fuck boys, math, and any one that dares insult her and her flat chest!If looks could kill that girl would be a serial murderer. Though her face normally looks like that even when shes enjoying life. Most of the time found at the practice field helping her fellow cheer mates learn the new dances for the games at their college. 5. Hoshi: age: 20 birthday: 2/6 a peppy, strong, idol girl. Everyone’s pep talk friend, she has words of wisdom and sometimes says the most awful shit jokingly too. LOVES eating yakisoba buns and gets super moody if she can’t get one that day. The gym is her territory and shes super loud. She doesn’t like sweets. hates fried foods unless its squid (or a yakisoba bun). never tell her to “chill” when she’s riled up or she’ll throw you. Normally found at the gym or training her cardio by running around town sometimes bumping into Airi, and getting a free apple, or fruit every time. 6. Izumi: age:20 birthday: 6/14 the definition of pure! Shes as sweet as the malasadas she eats and as gentle as the oceans waves! She loves surfboarding hula dancing bonfires and many outdoor activities! She isn’t one for the cold weather or storms all life in the sea is her best friend! She moved to Japan for the Photo gigs so she feels a bit strange, but quickly became friends with the Puffz. Normally found at the gym swimming in the pool or at the local lake if the day is nice enough. 7. Junko: age: 20 birthday: 9/19 A girl with a soft voice and a loving smile. She doesn’t mind being chubby but sometimes tries working out with Hoshi, but she’s a bit too much…. Junko likes stuffed animals, lychee mochi, and owns a bunch of heart shaped lace pillows. What she doesn’t like all that much are dogs and cats. Mostly because she gets attacked way to often by them. Spicy food is a must-have. but despite liking spice, she doesn’t get along with Etsuko that well. Etsuko scares her. Normally found at her job at a maid in a chubby maid cafe. She really enjoys her job since it builds her confidence. 8. Kyo: age:18 birthday: 4/22 you need a motivator? Shes your gal pal! She enjoys jogging yoga and Mixed martial arts. She has a voice softer than any pillow but can be louder than a mega phone! Shes the captain of the cheerleaders and is peppy as one can be! She cant tolerate bullies or sea food, and she has a small sweet tooth for ice cream! Tries to work with Etsuko though their dancing routines always never mix well. So since shes submissive they normally don’t do her dances. 9. Miho: age:22 birthday: 8/31 A weeeeeb. She’s peppy, childish, and super loud. She watches dance videos and sometimes tries to dance in public to get people’s attention. She also runs a blog with those Anime Aesthetics™. She doesn’t like the emo aesthetic™, dark music, or pastels. Shes an Electro Diva so when shes not bothering the public she DJs at their local club “FuaFua Beat”. Her room is also filled with anime hentai figures, and lets no one in her room except her best friend Chiharu. 10. Natskui: age:23 birthday: 4/22 an energetic go getter who loves to run, rock climb, and watch wrestling videos! Her piercings are the most notable but coolest facial feature she has! Shes a natural born mountain climber and loves her vegan diet. Her hair is clearly naturally amazing, she hates studying, exams, and anything super greasy. If you aint moving you aint working in her book. Found in the woods running and parkoring sometimes scaring away Chinatsu’s beetles. Making their relationship as friends unstable at times. Especially if it was a special beetle. 11. Ren: age: 23 birthday: 4/23 She’s a model with a slightly different body shape and she’s proud of it. She’s a day dreamer and likes to speak her mind. She likes warm weather, perfect for showing off frilly bikinis and other swim wear. She hints at being slightly promiscuous as well. She doesn’t like the cold. she dislikes sea creatures. But she has a puppy Yorki that always brings back a crab from the beach or a weird clam. Her only other hobby is scrap booking, but since she joined the group she finds herself a bit to busy to even do that. 12. Shinji: age:32 birthday: 12/7 shes the life of the party and an awesome baker, and gives the worlds best blow jobs -since her shirt says slut- shes a hyper active sex hungry woman who gets all the guys wanting her both romantically and sexually. Shes very kind but can be tough when necessary, hates doing laundry and vegetables ( ; ) ). Owns a bakery and helps out the girls whenever they need a cute place to photo shoot or need a free birthday cake. 13. Tomomi: age:18 birthday: 5/10 quiet and reserved. has an obsession for plushies and likes recreating art projects she finds online and has dreams of becoming an anime figure sculptor one day. She also really loves sweets. She always keeps her husbando figure in her book bag, so whenever shes nervous she reaches into her bag and holds him. She doesn’t like sour candies, anything spicy, and she’s a picky eater. Found on occasion in the library in the manga section since she cant afford all the manga she wants to read. 14. Umi: age: 23 birthday: 10/4 Quiet big sister kind of gal pal. She gives very good life advice and enjoys reading. Shes loves small talk and drawing. She isn’t one for spicy foods or cocky people at all! She just likes to doodle things in her sketchbook whenever she can, and she hangs out a lot with Tomomi in the library to kill time. She sometimes is involved in cult rituals, but she never specifies what the cult is called or what they do. 15. Yoshiko: age:18 birthday: 7/23 A cute little ninja student as agile as a cat. She shows off by walking on fences and doing parkour to the best of her ability. She loves helping people, ever since she was a kid, she was everyone’s hero. She dislikes bullies, bigger breeds of dogs, and loud noises because she’s just jumpy. You can find her on the roof of her house just calling people and showing off how she got up there with no trouble at all. Found at the park a lot just swinging and listening to audio books off her phone. 16. Naruto: age:20 birthday: 10/31 Dreams of going to the Olympics or owning her own Ramen shop. Shes a huge ramen lover and tayaki lover. Being a proud extrovert she’ll be overjoyed to show off with various flips or her incredible flexibility. She isn’t one for fighting, but when needed to help someone else like her little sister Yoshiko she will help even if it is risk to herself. Watching her parents making ramen her whole life and loving to make it boosted her passion for cooking the dish, and making it a small place in the city one day. Normally found at the grandparents farm helping clean or making meals for them since they cant take care of themselves much. 17. Momo: age: 22 birthday:7/17 staying true to her name, momo is as soft as a peach. With rosy cheeks and a round body, she’s such a huggable girl. She greets everyone with a big hug and ends every encounter with one too. She’s strong and can lift someone up with a hug. Her favorite drinks with an azuki bun are peach slushy milk and and hot apple cider. She also loves bunnies and is Yoshiko’s best friend. Momo just about loves everyone and everything but certainly does not do alcohol or fizzy soft drinks. shes also deep in some kinks though she never has admitted to any since she wants to avoid being called names. Normally found at the park taking pictures of random bugs, or people for her blog. 18. Ichigo: age:22 birthday: 2/27 shes an artist at heart and a great writer, edm music is her thing and shes a huge dog person. Chamomile tea is her favorite drink but doesn’t like to sit around for long periods of time, she has to do something or her hands start shaking a tad if she doesn’t have a figit cube or spinner in hand. With ADHD it was hard to make friends, but later opening up to Momo about some things they were able to become the best of friends. Normally walking around with Momo or at home writing erotic yaoi fanfiction. 19. Anzu age:23 birthday: 4/15 a major couch potato, and has no shame in it. Heavily into the feeder community the only reason she joined the Powder Puffz was to see if she could find more fans for her feeder blog. Is used to being called names, but with her cocky attitude most people cant tear her down. She enjoys swimming and webcam shows. She really hates when people make her travel or do any exercise. She will never get tired of the attention her size gives her. 20. Nashi: age:24 birthday: 5/12 a timid and nervous, But she does her best to speak to her friends. At times shes so anxious she can’t even talk! Give her some ice cream and a nice hug and everything will be fine. She hates being the center of attention so she will always back to the wall in parties. Though this is only with people that know her. At night she dresses as a masked wrestler and fights in the local gym as the Black Mamba. she always wins. 21. Misato: Is a fucking punk ass who sells drugs to the local teens and adults. Been arrested a few times for drug possession. Only reason that she keeps getting away with this is because her father is a cop. Her dad told her if she didn’t find something else to do he wouldn’t bail her out next time so she found the flier to become a Powder puff so she joined. she still hangs around the alleys and sells drugs, but shes a lot more careful and observant. 22. Mizuki: age:25 birthday: 11/22 Full time tattoo artist full time gangster girl. Loves to kick ass and crush her bitch enemies. Major fan of motorbikes and giving tattoos to her cronies. She loathes disrespectful guys who don’t know their place. Shell wreck your ass with her fighting knowledge like the Triple Fox kick her signature move. Shes a very dirty fighter always having brass knuckles at the ready. Normally found in her tattoo parlor “Mini Rosies” 23. Chiharu: age: 21 birthday: ½ A short girl who’s always mistaken for a small child. Annoying since shes always looking for a boyfriend, but rejected because “they aren’t into that sort of thing” No one ever believes her when she says her age since shes so short and flat chested. She likes to break dance at the local gyms classes, and really the only time she feels care free. She smokes on the regular and people tell her that cuts your life short, but her response is the same every time “why the hell do you think im smoking in the first place” and walks away. Her mom Yui is the Co creator the the Powder Puffz. 24. Yui: age:45 birthday: ½ Chiharus Mom and co creator of the group of girls. Strong willed and loves to lift weights and run. Divorced, but still kicking for those quick one nighters since her marriage really meant nothing to her. Shes the definition of a cougar always looking for 18 to 24 year old to spice up her life. Her daughter calls her gross while she calls it exciting. 25: Kaede: age: ??? birthday:??? day found 1/25 I legit have no fucking idea. she just showed up one day doesn’t speak and only they really know is that she eats a lot and has a pet snail she normally carries around in a small plastic carry tank. she also doesn’t age, and was found by Yui in the snow almost frozen to death with her hugging her snail tank. 26. Violet: age:26 birthday: 7/11 Happy go lucky she also doesn’t really age though she said she was from somewhere far far away and was looking for a certain someone in taht area. She has super strength and normally lifts cars for her husband when he needs to check something under the car. (note: her husband looks like Mat from Dream Daddy). Shes has stopped the city from being destroyed multiple of times with Kaede, and no one can really explain it so they just see her as ok. we all chill shes our one punch man I guess. 27.Kathy and Cathy: age:22 birthday: 5/28 these two are almost like Siamese twins never leaving each others sides. Complete game nerds and are real MLG pros. Winning multiple torments for their teams. Only interested in 360 no scooping and never really think about dating except if the person is as good as they are at gaming. Kathy likes do draw while Cathy likes to 3D sculpt her sisters creations. They also go and geek out at the library since no where else has that much free anime and quite space.

#sqwdink #powder puffz

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itsbenedict · 7 years

Text

i just finished Horizon: Zero Dawn, which holy dicks, might have been my game of the year if persona 5 hadn’t also come out this year. spoiler-heavy impressions (in the form of chatlogs with zero) under the cut:

god damn this game is just fun to play all the sneaking around and shooting stuff is really satisfying, and it feels great encountering some new machine that you don't know how to handle, and figuring out how to deal with it the balance is just right- strong machines can fuck you up, but nothing's a one-hit kill- if you fuck up, you get to chug health potions and run like hell until it loses interest, and then you try again it welcomes and rewards experimentation you organically develop strategies for taking them on stuff that seems intimidating and impossibly hard at first eventually becomes easy- not because you leveled up and got stronger numbers than it, but because you've done this before, you know how to dispatch these things in a matter of moments the giant crocodiles- scary, but you can knock off two thirds of their health by igniting their blaze canisters, and then play keepaway with their easily dodged ice blasts while you chip off the rest with easy headshots the swarms of hawks- overwhelming at first, but they completely flip out if you shoot two fire arrows at them, and you can keep them all downed while you work on taking them out the giant charging desert bulls- a couple ice bombs from the sling more or less immobilize them and make them take massive damage you always start terrified, trying different ammo on different weak points until you find something that works and then you feel like an invincible badass despite not really being any stronger in absolute terms

Zerovirus: that's the good shit

Benedict: it reminds me of the witness, in that you progress and gain abilities by learning systems and getting good, rather than by getting abstract experience points and leveling up i mean, you do level up, but it's just more health mostly

Zerovirus: health, more inventory, better harvesting abilities is what i think it was? and some jump ambush skills

Benedict: it's health and skill points the skills are pretty cool- none of them feel mandatory, but they all make something slightly easier like one gives you a few seconds of bullet time to line up a shot- it doesn't let you do anything you couldn't before, but now you're more likely to succeed and then there's the stealth melee takedowns that i barely use because everything in the fucking game notices you if you get too close no matter how quiet you're being for the same reason, i haven't used overriding since the game made me for a quest early on my advantage is in staying far away and hidden and able to disengage at will getting in close is always such a bad idea

Zerovirus: on the other hand, i'm pretty sure eventually you can override t-rexes and just watch kaijus fight

Benedict: oh yeah the cauldrons the first time i encountered one of those was incredible like, okay, here's a post-apocalyptic wilderness, but OH GOD TETRAHEDRON SPACESHIP ZONE

Zerovirus: were they disorienting for you as a player?i kept getting lost watching the lper navigate them they were really damn cool though what a great total environment change

Benedict: no not really so far they're pretty linear anyway they'd be cooler if the reward for completing them wasn't "now you can do that thing you never do to more things"

Zerovirus: just do the one that lets you do that thing to t-rexes it's entirely viable to go for an override playstyle with sufficient bolas and big boss monsters to hax i mean, you have the bolas, right the.. i mean, the ropecaster the thing-what-lets-you-tie-robots-down-and-make-them-easy-killings

Benedict: oh, right i uh haven't used that either like at all, i haven't tried it yet

Zerovirus: dude try out the ropecaster the ropecaster is what makes override viable as a playstyle it's basically 'shoot it three times in any part of its body to totally immobilize it for a few seconds' (bigger ones might need more than three i think)

Benedict: honestly i haven't thought about it much since my other weapons are so cool, but huh i think the reason i didn't try was because it seemed too good to be true "yeah, this thing you just shoot and it stops the enemy"

Zerovirus: no dude the ropecaster is easily the coolest weapon really locking down enemies is super effective well, that and setting up wire traps and just letting your enemies walk right into them that one never gets old either

Benedict: i use the tripcaster... probably not as intended

Zerovirus: ==>?

Benedict: like you're supposed to put it in an enemy's patrol path so they walk into it but the problem with that is they're usually around other enemies and if you go in to capitalize, you'll get ganged up on

Zerovirus: what the lper i watched did was set up like eight traps in a ring around himself and then make lots of sound and just watch the mobs walk into his death circle it was, frankly, really amusing

Benedict: i tried that once- it failed because i tried it on sawtooths, who, uh they jump. over. the wires. and kill you. oh my favorite enemy to fight right now is ravagers they're huge and scary, but it's so easy to kill them one tearblast arrow to the exposed gun pick up gun fucking annihilate everything in sight there's only a few things that really bug me about this game so far one is that the voice actors are way better than the writers, and it feels so weird hearing good voice actors try to breathe life into really fucking tedious dialogue there's been maybe two characters with more than one personality trait

Zerovirus: the plot of this game isn't super deep or anything don't worry about it too much it's very hollywood robot apocalypse scifi

Benedict: yeah, i'm not- i'm here for the cool robot hunting the game does some pretty ham-fisted stuff to explain why the player is the only one who can do a quest 90% of the time it's "this area is taboo, and everyone but you is too superstitious for some reason" also: the inventory screen is bugged out wrt the little exclamation points to indicate you have new shit i can't discern a pattern, they just seem to be placed at random

SEVERAL DAYS LATER

Benedict: so zero you told me not to worry about the writing, the plot isn't super deep or anything but holy fucking shit almighty horizon zero dawn got so damn cool i think my gripes with the writing early on were a product of how the nora suck they're an offensive native american caricature, a bunch of nature-worshipping tribal dimwits with more superstitions than brain cells as soon as the writers stopped writing the nora, the writing improved immensely and i'm pretty much almost done with the plot at this point i reached zero dawn and went and heard gaia's message in all-mother mountain and holy fuck this plot got so cool i honestly wasn't expecting explanations for stuff the beginning of the game got me thinking they'd be more interested in treating the whole sci-fi backstory as a mythology for the world like yeah cauldrons make machines, they're like, some fuckin factory whatsit the Mysterious Ancients made instead of what i got, which was several extended sequences of crawling around in ancient ruins and getting a meticulously thought-through backstory through audio logs and stuff my jaw was hanging open for like the whole zero dawn facility section "no, they didn't stop the robot apocalypse halfway- they let it play out until the robots ran out of biomass to eat and reduced the earth to a lifeless hunk of rock, and then deployed a friendly AI to re-seed it with biological life" holy shit incidentally: holy FUCK was the Hades subsystem a phenomenally shitty idea hey gaia try this: if you fuck up, reset things yourself!! you don't need an autonomous ABSOLUTE DEATH GOD that fucking takes over your systems and fights you for control!! it was just such a terrible plan that it breaks my suspension of disbelief a little with all the audio logs in the zero dawn facility with candidates second-guessing and questioning the entire project, no one thought to bring up "hey, maybe the WIPE OUT ALL LIFE AGAIN adversarial subsystem we're building carries a few inherent risks" the conflict here kinda seems like a diabolus ex machina, honestly they could have easily just had Hades be an accidentally reactivated Horus unit- the Faro robots kind of already have a wipe-out-all-life directive that would make perfect sense technobabble your way into saying the Faro plague hacked Gaia somehow, and boom but fucking Hades the whole conflict driving the plot is the equivalent of the supervillain who builds a big red self-destruct button on his machine that aside, this game's plot has turned out to be really fucking cool i came close to tears a few times in the zero dawn facility humanity's best and brightest having various visceral reactions to the shock and despair of the project's nature god damn was that one of the coolest reveals i've ever had in a video game i'm really pleasantly surprised by how much detail it gave me- it really made "find out what the fuck is the deal" the player's central motivation i think the nora shit in the beginning got me expecting that their worldview would be more or less validated by the narrative but now i come back to the starting area to save all their asses, and it becomes abundantly clear that these people are small and backwards and the world is so much bigger than them likewise the moment where fuckin whatshisname dadmurderer captures you and puts you in the sun-ring right on the heels of all the huge plot reveals he's standing there monologuing about prophecy and the sun and how important he is and following what i'd just gone through, it was so, so pathetic to watch this half-naked thug go on and on about how this, this moment of knocking me out and capturing me for some gladiatorial shit, was the most important moment in the world and i'm just sitting there shaking my head at him like, dude, you ain't shit. you ain't even in the vicinity of shit.oh, you've got a corrupted behemoth for me to fight, totally unarmed? don't make me fucking laugh, i eat that shit for breakfast (sorta took the wind out of sylens' rescue at the end when whathisface sicced two corruptors on me) (like dude i had this. two corruptors is god damn child's play.) i'm so fucking overpowered right now, i've completed every single sidequest save the armor one, where i still need the core from the last area oh, corrupted thunderjaw pinning down the entire nora tribe? Y-fucking-AWN ice bombs plus actual bombs, dead in two minutes not that the combat has become boring- attacks still hurt, i have to dodge and get the fuck out of the way and heal off hits that take off more than half my bar, it's really tense- but i can always heal, can always dodge, there's a great rhythm to attacking and dodging and attacking and dodging

#horizon zero dawn #hzd spoilers

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